Chapter 2: The Crow, The Dragon, and The Princess

The afternoon sun filtered softly through the windows of the Boar Hat's second-floor bedroom. Elizabeth slowly blinked her eyes open, her vision blurry as she met the sight of a cozy wooden ceiling.

Suddenly, she felt a soft, casual squeeze on her chest.

"Yep, heart rate seems steady!" Meliodas said with a straight face, his hand resting directly over her breast while he casually poked her cheek.

"KYAAAA?!" Elizabeth shrieked, her face turning bright red as she scrambled backward, clutching the bedsheets over her chest.

"Dumbass! What do you think you're doing to my—I mean, to the girl?!" Rimuru snapped from the doorway, smacking him on the back of the head with a rolled-up tray. "Keep those perverted hands to yourself!"

"Ow! Hey, I was just doing a medical checkup!" Meliodas rubbed his head, grinning impishly without a shred of shame.

Sitting on a wooden stool beside the bed, Rimuru blew out an irritated sigh. She turned back to Elizabeth, her golden eyes immediately softening. "Are you alright? Don't mind him, he's just an idiot."

"I-I'm fine... thank you," Elizabeth stammered, blushing furiously. She looked at the young girl with stunning blue hair tied back loosely and warm, golden eyes. She was holding a damp towel, looking at Elizabeth with a gentleness that felt strangely... familiar. A deep, instinctual comfort washed over Elizabeth, though she couldn't explain why.

"Where... am I?" Elizabeth murmured, glancing around.

"You're at the Boar Hat tavern. You collapsed from exhaustion the second you walked through our door," Rimuru smiled gently, placing the towel down on a nightstand.

"I... I see. Thank you so much for taking care of me, Miss," Elizabeth said, bowing her head politely. "My name is—"

"Elizabeth," Rimuru finished softly, her golden eyes lingering on her sister's face.

Elizabeth gasped lightly. "How did you...?"

"You're wearing the signet ring of Liones' royal family," Rimuru smoothly covered, her intellect effortlessly crafting a plausible lie on the spot. "A runaway princess in a suit of rusted armor... you must have a pretty heavy burden on those shoulders."

Before Elizabeth could answer, Meliodas popped his head into the room carrying a plate of questionable-looking food, with Hawk trotting behind him.

After a brief, chaotic meal where Hawk happily devoured Elizabeth's untouched food, Elizabeth's face turned serious. She looked at Meliodas and Rimuru with determination in her eyes.

"I am on a journey to find the Eight Deadly Sins," Elizabeth declared softly, her hands trembling slightly against her dress. "The Holy Knights... they have staged a coup d'état. They've imprisoned my father, the King, and are pushing Liones toward a senseless war. The only ones who can stop them are the Sins!"

Rimuru leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms. "The Eight Deadly Sins were branded traitors who tried to overthrow the kingdom ten years ago. Why would you look for villains like that?"

"Because the Holy Knights are the ones causing suffering!" Elizabeth urged, her voice filled with conviction. "The Sins were heroes. Even if the world calls them evil, I believe in them!"

Rimuru's lips twitched into a faint, affectionate smirk. 'Still as stubborn and kind-hearted as ever, Elizabeth.'

Suddenly, the ground beneath the tavern violently shook.

BOOM!

A massive shockwave ripped through the air, shattering the silence of the hill. Outside, the trees were sliced clean in half by a terrifying, invisible force.

"Attention, rust knight!" a harsh, arrogant voice roared from outside. "By order of the Holy Knights, you are under arrest! Surrender or be executed!"

Down at the cliff's edge, an enormous man in heavy, spiked armor stood holding a massive broadsword. Sir Twigo—an apprentice Holy Knight—grinned maniacally as his men surrounded the base of the hill.

Elizabeth, Meliodas, Rimuru, and Hawk rushed out onto the grass. Twigo’s eyes locked onto Elizabeth, recognizing her instantly. "The third princess, Elizabeth! What a harvest! Decisive!"

Twigo swung his blade, unleashing a vacuum slice—"Judgement!"—that tore through the hillside, collapsing the terrain around them.

"Run, Elizabeth!" Meliodas called out.

Seeing the destruction and knowing Twigo was after her, Elizabeth turned and ran up the steep hill behind the tavern, her heart pounding in her chest. "I can't let them die because of me!" she thought, tears streaming down her face. "If I draw him away, they'll be safe!"

Twigo leapt high into the air, his shadow looming over the running princess. "Die, Princess!"

He brought his giant sword crashing down toward Elizabeth's back.

CLANG!

A sharp metallic ring vibrated through the air.

Elizabeth skidded to a stop and gasped. Standing directly behind her was Rimuru, holding off Twigo’s massive blade with just the sleek sheath of Tempest.

"W-What?!" Twigo gasped, his arm trembling from the sheer density of the block. "A slip of a girl stopped my blow?!"

"You're awfully loud for a third-rate knight," Rimuru said coolly, her golden eyes flashing with a terrifying, ancient coldness. With a casual flick of her arm, she repelled Twigo's massive weight, sending him tumbling back into the dirt.

Twigo scrambled up, his face twisted in rage. "Insolent pests! Judgement!"

He slashed his sword with maximum force, sending a massive, roaring wall of compressed air rushing straight toward Rimuru, Meliodas, and Elizabeth to destroy them all at once.

Meliodas casually stepped in front of Rimuru, drawing the broken dragon-head hilt from his back.

As the apocalyptic air pressure reached them, Meliodas swung the broken blade with perfect timing.

"FULL COUNTER!"

BOOM!

The attack was instantly reflected with double the power! The massive pressure blasted back into Twigo’s face, shattering his armor, snapping his sword, and hurling him hundreds of feet into the sky before crashing into the cliffside below.

A powerful gale of wind swept over the hill, whipping through their clothes.

The breeze blew Meliodas’s left sleeve up, exposing the tattoo of an Ouroboros Dragon coiled around his arm.

At the same time, the wind blew Rimuru’s long, silky blue hair aside, exposing the right side of her neck—revealing a tattoo of a Crow with its wings spread wide.

Twigo, barely conscious in the rubble, stared up in absolute horror. "The Dragon mark on the arm... and the Crow mark on the neck... It's them... The Dragon Sin of Wrath... and the Crow Sin of Deception!"

As the dust settled, Meliodas lowered his broken sword, turning back to Elizabeth with his usual goofy, unbothered grin. He casually strolled over and gave her rear a quick, shameless pat.

"Gah! Meliodas!" Rimuru shouted, instantly grabbing him by the collar and tugging him away. "Can you refrain from being a pervert for five seconds?!"

"Hey, just checking her reaction time!" Meliodas laughed, before turning to Elizabeth with a warm, genuine smile. "So, to answer your question from earlier, Elizabeth... I'm Meliodas, the Dragon Sin of Wrath. Captain of the Eight Deadly Sins."

Rimuru brushed her blue hair back over her neck, giving her little sister a gentle, protective smile.

"And I'm Rimuru," she added softly. "The Crow Sin of Deception. Vice-Captain. It looks like your search is officially over, Princess."

Elizabeth’s breath caught in her throat. Tears filled her eyes—not of fear, but of profound relief and overwhelming awe as she looked at the two legendary Sins standing proudly before her.

"I... I found you..." Elizabeth whispered, her heart swelling with hope for the first time in years.

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