A few hours later, the reporter had finished his job and left the guild hall. The guild hall began quieting down as people began leaving and going on missions again now that the reporter was gone. Meliodas saw that Macao and Wakaba were passed out drunk and stopped drinking his ale. He dispelled the ale bottle, returning it to its pocket dimension, and approached the bar.
Makarov was already seated at the bar and saw Meliodas approaching him.
"Meliodas, how is your search going?"
Meliodas' mood changed slightly. Unfortunately, he hadn't had enough time to research spatial magic.
"I haven't made much progress besides learning miscellaneous magic."
"That's a shame. However, there are still many books you haven't read in the library that may help you with what you're looking for."
Meliodas sighed. He didn't enjoy reading but he had no choice for now as he turned around and walked towards the library.
---
Five days had passed Meliodas had spent the entire time in the library reading at 18x speed thanks to the gale force glasses. He looked like a broken rag doll as laid moaning in the ground. Meliodas had already read every book pertaining to spatial magic and was reading other various things on Fiore to see if it was possible there was someone else who was in his situation written in history. To his dismay, he could not find a written record of anyone.
Levy, who visited the library frequently, noticed a groaning Meliodas who was surrounded with stacks of books while sprawled out on the ground. She walked up to him and tried to help him up.
"Meliodas, are you alright?"
Meliodas groaned before answering.
"My head hurts."
Levy couldn't help but laughing a bit before she helped Meliodas back up.
"Let's go back. How long have you been in here anyway?!"
"Uhhh...5 days…?" Meliodas grumbled. Levy's laughter quickly faded as she heard his answer and a shock filled expression covered her face. Five days of reading non stop was unbelievable, even for her.
"How do you go without food or water for that long?!" Levy questioned. Meliodas did not reply and Levy dragged Meliodas upstairs.
"That's enough reading, you need to get some food…"
Levy sat Meliodas down at the bar next to Makarov who was already there. Makarov gave Meliodas a puzzled look as Mirajane approached them. Upon seeing them, she gave the two of them a worried smile as she looked at Meliodas's comatose state.
"I'll get him some food." Mirajane said to Levy reassuringly. Levy nodded and left Meliodas at the bar while Mirajane walked away into the back and a few minutes later, returned with Pork simmered in Magnolia Craft ale with Magnolia Berry Ale as a drink. The aroma of the food awoke Meliodas from his slumber as he quickly scarfed down the food and ale.
"Whew! That was refreshing. You're the best Mira!" Meliodas said, delighted with his meal. Sitting next to Meliodas was Makarov, who chuckled at Meliodas.
"Did you learn anything?" Makarov asked.
"Nope… just more information about common miscellaneous usage of spatial magic and a few used for combat." Meliodas answered.
"Unfortunately, we don't have too many users of spatial magic. It's a rare magic to begin with."
Mirajane suddenly interjected as the two were conversing.
"Why don't you try talking to guild members from other guilds?"
Makarov nodded at Mirajane's suggestion.
"She's right. We maintain a friendly relationship with the other guilds. Although they might not let you see their library collection, they have their own unique wizards, who might be able to help you."
Meliodas also agreed. He didn't want to read any more. Going outside and exploring would be a good change of pace. Meliodas stood up from his seat and stretched as prepared to leave.
"Alright, it's decided. I am going to the other guilds to see if they have any information."
"Meliodas, fight me!" A voice was heard from the side. It was Natsu, who rushed at Meliodas with his hands ablaze.
"Fire Dragon's-"
Meliodas faced Natsu with a smile as Natsu was about to strike Meliodas. Natsu suddenly felt a sharp pain on his chin before being launched upwards. His body shot into the ceiling, causing bits of wood to fall to the ground below as half of his body was now stuck in the ceiling.
"Sorry, I am busy." Meliodas said as he began walking out of the guild hall. The other guild members who were watching looked at each other and began talking amongst themselves at what they just witnessed.
"One hit…"
"He beat Natsu again in one hit…"
"He beat salamander in one hit..." Gajeel said. He observed Meliodas walk out of the guild hall and shocked at his strength as Gray laughed while he watched as Natsu tried to get himself unstuck from the ceiling.
"Master, he is quite strong." Mirajane said, staring up at the ceiling at Natsu, who was trying to pull his head out of the newly repaired ceiling.
"That's true, considering he just spent 5 days reading. Logically, he should be quite exhausted." Makarov commented. Meliodas' strength had surprised Makarov. He didn't sense any magic in his attack. It was just pure physical strength which surpassed human expectation.
Meliodas left the guild and went towards his house. The old landlord was seated outside on the porch reading the newspaper. He eyed Meliodas who had arrived.
"You have two days until you have to pay your rent again." Schneider reminded. Meliodas nodded and approached him. He raised his hand out in front of him and a glowing stack of bills appeared in his hands. The stack stopped glowing as Meliodas handed it over.
"I'll be gone for a few days. So I'll give it to you in advance." Meliodas said.
The old man nodded and took the money.
"Take care of yourself."
"You too Schneider." Meliodas said as he walked back up to his room. 'Hmm...I might need to do a new mission soon. I'm a bit low on money.'
The following morning, Meliodas cleaned himself up and prepared to set off. He made a quick stop at Fairy Tail to speak with Makarov. While there, Natsu approached him, challenging him again but he ignored Natsu's challenge as he exited the guild, to Natsu's dismay.
According to Makarov, the guilds he recommended were Lamia scale, Blue Pegasus and Quatro Cerberus. Meliodas put his hand out in front of him, summoning a map with requip. Meliodas couldn't help but admire the convenience that learning requip had come with. He looked at the map, and saw which towns the guilds were in.
'The best one to go to would Lamia Scale. It's the closest to Fairy Tail. Looks like it's southwest of Magnolia Town at a place called Margaret Town.' Meliodas put the map away and made his way to Magnolia Station, where he boarded a train to Margaret town.
'I finally arrived.' Meliodas thought to himself as he finally arrived in Margaret town, several hours later, which was the home of Lamia Scale, one of the strongest guilds in the Fiore Kingdom. The town was split into two by a river and was nearly the size of Magnolia Town.
Meliodas walked across the town and finally arrived at the large building in the center of town. It was a large stone building, with a banner at the front displaying Lamia Scale's crest. At the front, was a stone statue with the upper body of a bikini clad young woman and the lower body of a serpent.
'Speaking of Lamia Scale, weren't those three from the Ogre mission from Lamia Scale…?' Meliodas thought.
Meliodas approached the main entrance of Lamia Scale, and knocked on their large door. A few bystanders began commenting about Meliodas.
"Why is he knocking on the door? He knows he can just walk in right?"
"Poor kid, he must be lost."
"Maybe he's here to request a mission."
The doors opened and a young man stared at Meliodas.
"Why are you knocking on the door? You can just walk in…"
Meliodas shrugged at the young man.
"Manners I guess..."
The young man chuckled and let Meliodas in.
"Yo Jovan, who is that?" Another person asked and approached Meliodas.
"I don't know, he was knocking on our doors." Jovan replied as he turned to Meliodas.
"By the way, why are you here?"
"I came to talk to your master."
A few members nearby laughed when they heard Meliodas.
"Kid, you can't just walk in here and request to speak with the master."
"What a funny kid."
Meliodas's abrupt arrival and request caused a commotion in the guild, prompting more members to gather at the hall entrance where he was standing. Lyon, who was picking up a mission from the board, turned his head over. Some more guild members walked over to Meliodas.
"Hey kid, why do you want to meet the master?"
"Are you lost?"
"Are you here to make a job request?"
"What is all this commotion." A voice came out from the side. It was a tall and massive man with a heavily muscular figure, with a bald head and a pair of oval-shaped black marks just above his black eyes, in place of where his eyebrows should be. The guild members immediately moved aside for the man who had just appeared and commented among themselves.
"I can't believe it. Jura's talking to this kid?!"
"Oh he's in for it now!"
Jura ignored the remarks and faced Meliodas.
"Young man, what brings you to our guild."
Meliodas looked at the large man in surprise. This guy seemed strong. Stronger than most of the people he had encountered so far.
"My name is Meliodas, I am here to talk with your guild master."
Jura sized Meliodas up. He looked like an ordinary kid, but he got a weird sensation from him. Despite his childlike stature, he was definitely concealing more power.
"I see. May I please know where you are from?" Jura asked, a bit suspicious of Meliodas.
"I am--"
Before Meliodas could answer a voice came from the side.
"Meliodas!"
Meliodas turned his head and saw Lyon who had called out his name. Beside him were Sherry and Yuka.
"Oh! Lion, Cherry, and..." Meliodas said, blankly staring at Yuka for several seconds trying to remember his name. "So how have you been?"
"It's Lyon!" Lyon exclaimed.
"Who the hell is Cherry?!" Sherry asked.
"It's Yuka! At least mess up my name damn it! Don't just forget it!" Yuka yelled.
Meliodas scratched his head and laughed at the trio.
"Right, right… How have you guys been?"
"Good. Thank you for your help back then." Sherry composed herself and thanked Meliodas.
"Yeah. If it wasn't for you, who knows what would've happened." Yuka commented.
"Don't worry about it." Meliodas smiled and turned to face Jura. "Anyway, can I see the Master?"
Jura eased up and clasped Meliodas's shoulder in a friendly manner.
"I didn't know that was you, thank you for helping our guild. As for seeing the master, she is not in at the moment. If you have any requests to make of her, I can try assisting."
"That would be great. I am looking for information on a certain type of magic."
Meliodas said as he asked Jura about anything and everything relating to teleportation and spatial manipulation magic.
Jura conversed with Meliodas for thirty minutes, giving him a good amount of information he himself gathered. Of course, Jura held back some things pertaining to guild and Magic Council secrets.
"That's all I can tell. And unfortunately we don't have mages that really use spatial magic besides requip magic." Jura said.
Meliodas sighed and thanked Jura.
"Thanks for the info, I'll be on my way then."
"I am sorry I couldn't provide you more information."
"That's alright, I'll see ya around." Meliodas waved.
Meliodas grabbed a quick drink at their bar and conversed with Lyon, Sherry and Yuka before going around the guild for another hour, asking around for information. Despite his efforts, he did not get any other useful information and decided to leave the guild.
'Where to next...' Meliodas thought as he exited the Lamia Scale building.