27 Crooks

Musica watched as Meliodas walked away into the distance. ' What a strong swordsman, I haven't met someone like him in ages.' Musica mused to himself.

'It feels great to have a good sword again.' Meliodas thought to himself as he walked through the town. The town was lively today, with many people walking about the streets and a plentiful amount of vendors trying to pick up customers. While he strolled through the town and enjoyed the surrounding scenery, he felt the gazes of many curious eyes on him. Meliodas ignored the gazes and continued walking. As Meliodas walked by a large group of people gathered in front of a food stand, he could hear the comments they were saying to each other.

"Look at that kid, he's just walking around with a sword on his back. It looks very nice though." A man commented as he stuffed his face with food.

"Why is he carrying it around though?"

"You don't see many swordsmen these days."

Meliodas ignored the comments of the bystanders and continued walking around until he found a wooden bench to sit on. He sat on the bench and unsheathed his weapon from its scabbard. Bringing the side of the blade up to his face, he took a closer look at it. The blade shimmered in the light of the bright sun shining above him. 'I wonder how much stronger my full counter will be with this.' Meliodas thought. He turned the blade slightly, causing it to glint briefly before showing Meliodas's clear reflection.

As Meliodas continued looking at his weapon, a few more passersby began to stare at his sword in awe. The craftsmanship was impressive, but their attention was caught more specifically by the unique music note symbol on the blade.

"That's a Musica sword!!" One of the passersby gasped with excitement.

"No way!! It has to be fake!"

"Well Musica does live in the forest near here, and I saw the kid walking out from there."

"Damn, what a lucky brat!"

Unknown to them, a cloaked figure was watching Meliodas from across the road in the shadow of a building. A greedy smile formed on the person's face as observed from afar. In front of him was a rare sword that would sell for a pretty penny on the black market. And to his luck, the sword was wielded by none other than what appeared to be an unaware child. The cloaked man stared at the sword for a long time before planning his move.

'Hmph, even if it isn't a Musica sword, whoever made that is definitely a top notch blacksmith. It should sell for quite a bit.' The man grinned before taking a few steps back, his feet crunching on shards of broken glass as he seemingly melded into the darkness of the alleyway behind him.

---

The cloaked figure had followed Meliodas all the way to the train station. To him, the blond boy was completely unaware that he was being followed.

Meliodas sighed as he finished purchasing his ticket. He was aware he was being followed from the moment he got up from the bench and walked to the train station. 'Could someone be after my sword?' Meliodas thought. He pushed the thought to the back of his head and boarded the train. He looked around, noticing a free seat by the window.

Meliodas sat in the seat and his bottom sunk slightly into the red cushion. It was a comfortable seat, with his only complaint being that he couldn't lean back. He placed his right arm on the sill of the window and rested his head on it, his cheek pressed against the cold glass as he waited patiently for the train to move.

Several minutes passed before the train began making chugging noises followed by a toot of the horn. The train began to move as Meliodas once again marveled at the novelty of the invention. 'So much better than carriages. I need to propose this idea to someone in Britannia...'

An hour passed as the train continued to move. During this time, Meliodas stared out at the serene landscape of rolling hills and various animals grazing on the long, silky grass. The sky was a bright blue with not a single cloud in sight. As he watched the landscape roll by him as the train moved along, the thought that had plagued Meliodas's mind earlier reemerged. 'I'm still being followed.'

Meliodas closed his eyes. To an observer, he would appear to be sound asleep, but Meliodas was still acutely aware of his surroundings.

---

The cloaked man glanced over at Meliodas. The man was seated at the opposite end of the cabin. He adjusted his head to look past the heads of the other people on board until Meliodas was clearly in his sights. From there, he could see Meliodas was seated several rows down from him, his face leaning against the window. From the reflection of the glass, he could see Meliodas's eyes were closed.

'Good, looks like he is asleep.' The man got up from his seat and walked towards Meliodas as normally as possible, to not give away his intent to him or the other passengers. Several steps later, the man was standing right next to Meliodas. Meliodas's eyes were still closed and he could see the rhythmic rising and falling of Meliodas' body as he breathed.

'Fast Asleep. Perfect.' The cloaked man looked around. No one else was paying attention to him. The passengers in the cabin were either sleeping or looking out the window. He slowly leaned over and reached for the sword on Meliodas's back. As his fingertips were about to touch the handle, Meliodas's eyes opened. Meliodas turned his head and stared at the man who suspiciously had his arm reaching towards his sword handle. From what he could see underneath the cloak, the man had fair skin and a bald head. He had sharp, black eyebrows and a scar that ran down the right side of his face.

"Can I help you?" Meliodas asked.

The man immediately lurched to a halt, not expecting Meliodas to actually be awake. He quickly retracted his arm back, and gave him a friendly smile.

"I was just trying to wake you up. It's very dangerous to fall asleep on the train like that."

Meliodas continued to stare at the man for another moment. He could tell he was up to no good and that this man thought he was a child. 'Let's see how far this guy will go. There's nothing to do on this train anyway. They don't even serve ale here…'

"Oh I see, well thank you then." Meliodas said, smiling widely like a child.

"Of course" The man laughed as sat down in the empty seat across from Meliodas. There was a moment of awkward silence as he and Meliodas locked eyes. He could feel a bead of sweat beginning to run down the side of his bald head.

"So where are you headed?" The man asked, trying to make simple conversation.

Meliodas stared at him for a few seconds before replying sarcastically. "My parents told me not to speak with strangers."

"That is good advice." The man commented, failing to detect the hint of sarcasm in Meliodas's tone. Meliodas returned a fake friendly smile to the man before turning his head back towards the window. Another hour passed by as Meliodas and the man sat without saying a single word.

Out of the corner of his eye, Meliodas glanced at the man. The man was obviously trying to look at Meliodas without looking suspicious as he averted his gaze whenever their eyes met. 'We are already near the station, let's see if he attempts something.' Meliodas thought to himself. He slouched back in his seat, and closed his eyes.

The man waited patiently and observed Meliodas for half an hour. During that time, there was no indication that Meliodas was going to wake up any time soon. 'This time the kid should definitely be out. I should act fast, we're almost at the station!' He thought to himself.

The man looked around. The other passengers were not paying attention to him as usual. Silently, he stood up from his seat, with his right arm concealed underneath his cloak. As he shifted his cloak, the faint shimmer of his dagger reflected off of the light.

With his dagger in hand, he jabbed directly at Meliodas. 'Sorry kid, but you've brought this on yourself.'

As his blade moved closer to Meliodas, he felt as if he had suddenly struck steel. The man's dagger rebounded and he dropped his dagger on the ground. He put his right hand out in front of him. His hand was shaking. The man looked back up and saw Meliodas had propped his left foot up to block the man's strike. He stared at Meliodas with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Well, well, well." Meliodas said with his arms crossed. "Looks like you finally showed your true colors."

The man snapped out of his daze and quickly picked his dagger up from the train floor. 'Shit! This kid was toying with me! I need to get out of here now!' At this point, the other people on the train were staring at them curiously, wondering what the loud noise they just heard was.

The man quickly took a step back to turn around. Before his body could finish turning, he felt a sharp yet heavy pain hit him right under his chest.

In that instant, Meliodas landed a kick. The force of the kick caused him to cough up blood as his body was launched through the train cart. The man's body collided with the wall. A sound of breaking glass echoed through the compartments as shrapnel of steel and wood splintered around the impact site. Meliodas looked at where he had just kicked the man and saw a human shaped hole in the compartment wall. From the hole, he could see they were already approaching Magnolia Station and the train was already slowing down.

A few passerby noticed the man as he came flying out of the side of the train and landed on the ground with a thud and a puff of dust. A crowd immediately gathered around him.

"Wow, he just came flying out of the train."

"Tch, kids these days, always in a hurry. What, he couldn't wait a few minutes till the train stopped?" An elderly man commented.

The conductor immediately rushed over, panicking over the human shaped hole in the compartment. He approached the hole and peeked inside to see if anyone else was there. However, after a few glances, he saw that the train was completely empty. He scratched his head in confusion and looked back at the unconscious man on the ground. 'Did he really jump through a moving train…'

Unknown to the conductor, Meliodas had stealthily departed the train, not wanting to wait around to be questioned.

'That was close, I didn't realize we were that close to the station. I can't believe that guy. He actually tried stabbing me. There are just crooks everywhere…' Meliodas thought as he exited the station and walked towards the guild.