By the late afternoon, Meliodas had taken a train to Onibus town. From there, he took a carriage heading west towards Lily Town.
"This is as far as I can go." The carriage driver said. Meliodas thanked the driver and jumped out of the carriage. He looked out in front of him towards the town. The town was surrounded on all sides by high stone walls, where the only visible point of entry was a large gate. Meliodas approached the gate where he was greeted by one of the guards.
"State your name and business." The guard said. The guard was wearing a full suit of armor where only his face was visible. He held a spear in his right hand and had an extra short sword at his waist.
"Meliodas. I accepted a mission to deal with a guy named Ogre." Meliodas said as he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the flyer. The guard looked at Meliodas and raised an eyebrow.
"What guild are you from?"
"Fairy Tail." Meliodas replied as he lifted his right sleeve up, revealing his guild marking.
"Strange. Some members of Lamia Scale have already arrived to help with the problem. But I guess another mage to help out doesn't hurt." The guard turned around and faced the gate. "OPEN THE GATE!"
A large creaking sound could be heard from the gate. The doors of the gate opened slowly and Meliodas looked inside. From where he was standing, he could see the main road of the town. The houses were nowhere near as magnificent as Magnolia's and the roads were made of dirt and stone. Meliodas walked into the town and the gate closed behind him.
"So what's going on in this town?" Meliodas asked as he looked around. There were a few council members scattered about the town and several more guards patrolling.
"People have gone missing and we don't know how. But every night, several people go missing and the only clue we have is gold dust. The council narrowed down any users of gold based magic and have deduced it was by a man named Ogre." The guard replied.
"Ogre you say?" Meliodas pulled out the flyer again and looked at Ogre's face one more time. "I guess he looks like an ogre."
The guard led Meliodas to the town hall at the center of town. Meliodas looked up at the building. It had four large white pillars made of marble supporting the front. At the front of the town hall was a fountain with a statue of a dragon in the middle with water gushing out of its mouth. The guard escorted Meliodas inside and Meliodas took a seat at one of the benches.
"Here, the mayor will be waiting for you."
Meliodas thanked the guard and entered the hall.
There were already three people waiting in the lounge. One was a slim young man with bluish silver hair, most of which are spiky strands that jutted upwards, with a few strands falling over his face. The other was a young woman with blue eyes, pink hair, large breasts, and a curvaceous body. The last of them is a short, slim young man with extremely bushy and square black eyebrows. His eyes were also black, while his hair was a bright blue color.
Meliodas entered the room, and the trio's eyes turned to the kid who had walked through the door. The silver haired man walked up Meliodas. He had a cold and composed look on his face.
"You are?"
"I'm Meliodas, from Fairy Tail!" Meliodas replied, grinning cheerfully.
"Fairy Tail!?!" The young pink haired woman exclaimed as she walked up to Meliodas until she was looking straight down at him. "This mission was given to Lamia Scale. How would you also have it?"
The silver haired man interrupted the young woman.
"Sherry, calm down. However, she is correct. This mission went to our guild, so it's a little bit strange that you are on behalf of Fairy Tail for the mission."
Meliodas was confused, but still pulled out the flyer for the mission. He also rolled up his right sleeve further to show them the Fairy Tail emblem on his right arm.
"I picked up the mission today from our board and came over here. So I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about."
The trio calmed down for a bit after seeing the emblem on Meliodas's arm.
"Anyway, I'm Lyon. These other two are Sherry and Yuka.
"Well it's nice to meet you guys. I didn't know it had been passed on. I don't mind splitting it with you all though." Meliodas added. He had travelled a bit far for the mission and he did not want to go back empty handed.
Sherry was about to protest when she heard a voice calling out from inside the hall.
It was a middle aged man with a large rotund body and short blonde hair swept to the right. He had a large mustache that twirled at the ends while the rest of his face was clean shaven.
"Thank you all for coming here. I am the mayor of this town, Willard Phorum. As you've already been briefed, there has been a man who has been kidnapping our townsfolk. A few nights ago he was spotted by a few of our guards as they gave chase, he disappeared in what was described by them as a cloud of gold dust." Willard explained. "Then just last night, he appeared again, but this time he was caught by lacrima vision. He stabbed a few of the guards with golden weaponry and carried off a couple of more villagers as he disappeared again.
"So he uses some sort of gold make magic?" Yuka asked.
"Possibly." Willard replied.
"His gold make will be no match for my ice make. Let's go deal with this guy. He comes out at night only right? Well it's already getting dark. We can catch him by surprise." Lyon said as he gestured for Sherry and Yuka to follow him.
"Wait! There's more-" Willard yelled but it was too late as they had already closed the door to the building behind them.
"More?" Meliodas asked.
"Yes. The council informed me that Ogre has henchmen. Although they have never been seen with him up to this point, so be careful."
"Understood mayor. Just leave it to me!" Meliodas said reassuringly as he began walking towards the door. 'I wonder how those guys from Lamia Scale are going to split the reward if we're all working on the same mission…'
Meliodas walked outside and looked up into the sky with the sun beginning to set. He looked around to see if the Lamia Scale members were nearby but couldn't find them. Meliodas started heading towards the wall of the town, to scan the perimeter.
The sun fully set and night began. The sky was bright with many stars and the half lit shape of the moon illuminated the ground. The sound of an owl hooting could be heard nearby as Meliodas continued walking around the perimeter in the shadow of the wall, surprised he hadn't ran into any of the Lamia members yet.
'I wonder where they-' Meliodas's thoughts were cut short as he instinctively leaned back as a blade missed his head by a hair's length. Meliodas jumped backward, landing on top of a nearby house. He looked back down where he was just attacked but there was no one there. Meliodas narrowed his eyes but quickly ducked down as he felt another presence behind him. A blade whiffed over his head and Meliodas turned around. He delivered a fierce kick behind him, hitting nothing but air.