Chapter 50: The Otaku Receives a Message (And the Warden Makes Her Move)
Night settled over Southval like it owned the place.
Quiet.
Clean.
....and still lying.
Meliodas sat on the edge of the new mattress, which Rem had already claimed as her own by virtue of being the first to lie down and refuse to move. She was sprawled across it like a cat who had discovered central heating, tail occasionally flicking in contentment.
Kaelen sat on the floor, back against the wall, eyes closed. Not meditating. Just resting. The day's training had drained him more than he wanted to admit.
Edrin had finally stopped writing. He sat at the desk, staring at the pages he'd produced, expression unreadable.
Bud remained on the windowsill, glow dim, watching the street below with lazy interest.
The room was quiet.
Not the tense quiet of waiting for something to attack.
The comfortable quiet of people who had done enough for one day.
Meliodas reached into his coat and touched the pouch with Rem's gold.
Fifty-eight gold.
He still wasn't sure how he felt about that.
Rem's voice drifted up from the mattress. "You're thinking too loud."
"I'm not thinking at all."
"Liar."
Bud's pulse came through, dry and amused.
'She's learning.'
Meliodas ignored both of them.
Tomorrow, they would train again. Kaelen would get stronger. Edrin would provide more information. Rem would continue being Rem.
And somewhere in the city, a Magic Knight called the Warden would either stay hidden or make a move.
Meliodas preferred hidden.
Hidden meant time.
Time meant preparation.
Preparation meant survival.
He closed his eyes.
---
Morning arrived with a knock on the door.
Not loud.
Not urgent.
Just... there.
Meliodas was on his feet before his eyes fully opened, Moonsing half drawn.
{Observation Haki} stretched.
One person. Outside. No weapons. Heart rate steady.
Not a threat.
He opened the door.
A young woman stood there. Plain clothes. Messenger's satchel. She held out a sealed envelope with the casual efficiency of someone who delivered things for a living.
"Message for Meliodas."
Meliodas took it.
The woman waited.
He looked at her.
"Payment's already handled," she said. "Just need you to take it."
Meliodas nodded once.
She left.
He closed the door.
Rem sat up on the mattress, ears alert. "Who was that?"
"Messenger."
Kaelen was already on his feet, moving closer. "A message? From who?"
Meliodas turned the envelope over.
No return address.
Just his name.
Written in clean, precise script.
He broke the seal.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
One sentence.
The garden remembers those who tend it. Meet me at the old fountain. Noon. Come alone.
No signature.
No title.
But the handwriting was too careful. Too controlled. The kind of script that belonged to someone who had been trained to write reports.
Military.
Official.
Magic Knight.
Meliodas's expression didn't change.
Kaelen read over his shoulder. "Master... that sounds like a trap."
"It is a trap."
"Then you're not going?"
Meliodas folded the note and tucked it into his coat.
"I'm going."
Rem stood, tail rigid. "Alone? After she said come alone?"
"Exactly because she said come alone."
Kaelen's jaw tightened. "Master, that's—"
"A message that specific means she wants to talk, not fight. If she wanted me dead, she wouldn't warn me."
Rem crossed her arms. "That's very logical and also very stupid."
"Both can be true."
Bud sent a pulse through the bond.
'I'm coming.'
'No.'
'Yes.'
'You're still recovering.'
'I'm coming.'
Meliodas looked at the tiny dragon on the windowsill.
Glow steady.
Eyes sharp.
Stubborn.
He sighed.
'Fine. But you stay hidden.'
'Obviously.'
---
The old fountain was in a part of Southval Meliodas hadn't visited.
Not abandoned, exactly. Just... quieter. Older. The kind of place where buildings had been standing so long they'd stopped bothering to look impressive.
Weeds grew between cobblestones. A few stalls operated half-heartedly. The people here moved slower, talked softer, noticed less.
Good place for a secret meeting.
Meliodas arrived at noon exactly.
The fountain was dry. Cracked. Someone had tried to grow flowers in it once, but only weeds remained.
A woman stood beside it.
Not in armor.
Not in uniform.
Just simple clothes, plain and practical. Brown hair pulled back. No visible weapons. Average height. Average build.
The kind of person you'd pass on the street and forget immediately.
Meliodas's {Observation Haki} told a different story.
Controlled breathing. Deliberate posture. Eyes that tracked everything without seeming to move.
Trained.
Dangerous.
Magic Knight.
She smiled as he approached. Not warm. Not cold. Professional.
"You came alone."
"Obviously."
"Your dragon stayed behind?"
Meliodas's expression didn't flicker.
Bud was currently curled inside his coat, pressed against his ribs, glow dimmed to nothing. Tiny. Hidden. Listening.
"He's resting."
The woman nodded like that was expected.
"I'm sure."
She didn't introduce herself.
Didn't offer her name.
Didn't apologize for the cryptic message.
Just looked at him with those careful, assessing eyes.
Meliodas waited.
Silence stretched.
She spoke first.
"You've been busy since arriving in Southval."
Meliodas said nothing.
"Guild registration. C-rank promotion. An incident at the Lost Foal. A rather dramatic encounter with a drake on the eastern road. And now you're training a young man with very interesting blood."
Meliodas kept his face neutral.
Inside, he added another thread to the web.
'She's been watching. Closely.'
"You seem well informed."
"I try." She tilted her head. "The Archmage's interest in you is... unusual. She doesn't usually involve herself with wandering adventurers."
"Maybe I'm special."
"Maybe." Her smile sharpened. "Or maybe you're a problem she's trying to understand before it becomes a threat."
Meliodas met her eyes.
"And which are you?"
She laughed. Soft. Genuine.
"Neither. I'm just someone who likes to know what's happening in her city."
"Her city?"
"Figure of speech."
Meliodas didn't believe that.
He let it pass.
For now.
"The note said the garden remembers those who tend it. What garden?"
She gestured at the fountain. "This one. Used to be beautiful, apparently. Before the water dried up."
"Why bring me here?"
"Because it's private. Because no one listens to old fountains." She looked at him directly. "And because I wanted to see if you'd actually come."
"And?"
"And you did. That tells me something."
"What?"
"That you're either very brave or very stupid. I haven't decided which."
Meliodas almost smiled.
"Both, according to my friends."
She laughed again. Warmer this time.
"I like you. That's unfortunate."
"Why?"
"Because I might have to kill you later."
She said it the way someone might discuss weather. Casual. Unbothered.
Meliodas didn't react.
"Then why meet now?"
"Because I wanted to give you a warning." Her voice shifted. Softer. More serious. "The cult you've been poking? They're not done. The breach at the village was just a test. They were measuring something. Someone."
"Kaelen."
She nodded. "His bloodline is old. Older than most kingdoms. If they get their hands on him, they won't just sacrifice him. They'll use him. Anchor him. Turn him into a door."
Meliodas filed that away.
Consistent with Edrin's information.
"Why tell me?"
"Because I don't like what they're planning." Her eyes hardened. "And because if they succeed, this whole region burns. I live here. I'd prefer it not to burn."
Meliodas studied her.
{Observation Haki} read truth in her words. Fear under the calm. Purpose under the fear.
She wasn't lying.
But she wasn't telling everything either.
"There's more."
She smiled. "Sharp."
"Spit it out."
"The Warden is moving. Not the cult. The Warden herself. She's been quiet since the village, but that's changing. I don't know where she'll strike next. I don't know who she's targeting. But I know she's watching you."
Meliodas kept his expression flat.
Inside, his mind raced.
'The Warden. Edrin's mystery Magic Knight. Moving.'
"Why?"
"I don't know. Maybe because you're interesting. Maybe because you have a dragon. Maybe because you keep surviving things you shouldn't." She shrugged. "Pick a reason."
Meliodas considered.
Then asked the only question that mattered.
"Can you help?"
She smiled. Slow. Deliberate.
"That depends."
"On what?"
"On whether you trust me."
Meliodas looked at her for a long moment.
Then he turned and walked away.
Her voice followed him. "That's it? No goodbye?"
He didn't look back.
"I'll find you if I need you."
Her laugh echoed off the old stones.
"I'm sure you will."
---
Bud's pulse came through as soon as they were out of sight.
'She's dangerous.'
'Yes.'
'She's also useful.'
'Maybe.'
'You're going to work with her?'
'I'm going to watch her. If she's useful, I'll use her. If she's a threat, I'll deal with her.'
Bud's pulse was warm. Approving.
'Good.'
They walked back through the quiet district, past the slow-moving people and the half-hearted stalls.
Meliodas's mind turned.
The Warden was moving.
A Magic Knight named only by title.
A cult that wanted Kaelen's blood.
A woman who knew too much and offered too little.
And somewhere, impossibly far away, a world called Earth that still felt like home.
'One step at a time.'
Bud's pulse came back immediately.
'Food first.'
Meliodas almost smiled.
Almost.
---
They returned to the inn to find Rem pacing and Kaelen standing by the window, sword drawn.
They both relaxed when Meliodas walked in.
Rem crossed her arms. "You're alive."
"Disappointed?"
"Relieved. There's a difference."
Kaelen sheathed his sword. "Master, what happened?"
Meliodas sat on the edge of the new mattress.
Rem immediately claimed the spot beside him.
He didn't react.
"A woman. Magic Knight. Not the Warden, but connected. She warned me that the cult is still active and that the Warden is moving."
Kaelen's face paled. "Moving where?"
"She didn't know. Or wouldn't say."
Edrin, still at the desk, spoke quietly. "Did she give a name?"
"No."
"Description?"
"Average. Brown hair. Forgettable."
Edrin's eyes narrowed. "That's either real or deliberate."
"Probably both."
Rem leaned against Meliodas's shoulder. "So what now?"
Meliodas looked at the window.
Southval gleamed in the afternoon light.
Clean.
Quiet.
Lying.
"Now we train harder. We get information faster. And we wait for the Warden to make a mistake."
Kaelen nodded slowly.
Rem's tail flicked against Meliodas's leg.
Edrin turned back to his papers.
Bud sent a sleepy pulse.
'Food?'
Meliodas closed his eyes.
'Soon.'
---
[END OF CHAPTER 50]