The next morning, Meliodas walked into the guild hall. He took a seat at a table at a secluded spot by himself, thinking about a way to get back home with a bottle of ale in hand. Meliodas thought of his conversation he had with Hibiki. The information transferred to him with Hibiki's magic gave him more insight on various types of spatial magic but none of them were particularly helpful towards his case. As he stared off into space, his thoughts were interrupted by a particular pair arguing at the job bulletin.
"Wendy, you know it's too dangerous for you to take this kind of mission!" Carla yelled.
"I'm...I'm just trying to be helpful!" Wendy yelled back.
"There are other missions you can do that you can still be helpful in but not get in harm's way!" Carla continued.
"Carla you don't understand...I couldn't do anything against the Oracion Seis...I had to keep relying on everyone else…" Wendy said somberly.
"Wendy, I understand, but doing that mission is not the way! You hardly have any magic to protect yourself!"
"I knew you wouldn't understand! I'll just go by myself then!" Wendy shouted again. She quickly grabbed one of the flyers off of the job board and began walking away from Carla.
"Hmph. Fine!" Carla yelled back, turning her head away.
At the bar, Makarov watched as Carla and Wendy fought. He sighed as he took one last sip of his mug of ale and placed it firmly down on the table.
"Wendy hold on." Makarov ordered as Wendy walked by him on the way out of the guild hall. Wendy immediately turned around to face Makarov.
"I understand you want to take this mission to prove yourself, and that's fine. However, I will not permit you to go by yourself." Makarov said sternly. Makarov began looking around the guild hall. Compared to most days, it was fairly empty and quiet, with many of the louder members not present. Makarov scanned the room for someone to go with Wendy. 'Hmm…' Makarov thought. He saw Wakaba and Macao drinking and reading Sorcerer Magazine at their normal table. He quickly decided against it and looked elsewhere. At another table, Cana was chugging down an entire barrel of ale by herself. Makarov shook his head as he needed someone to look out for Wendy.
Makarov continued scanning the room and saw Meliodas sitting at a table watching the scene from afar as he quietly sipped on his ale.
"Meliodas! Come here!" Makarov said.
"Sure thing." Meliodas said as he hopped up from his seat. On his way, he gulped down the rest of his ale, throwing the empty bottle into a bin right next to the bar as he approached Makarov.
"Are you busy today?" Makarov asked.
"I had no plans in particular." Meliodas responded.
"Would you go with Wendy on this mission to make sure she's safe? I'm well aware of your strength so I ask of you to let Wendy do most of it on her own so she can prove herself."
"I don't mind at all!" Meliodas said amicably as he turned towards Wendy. "Mind if I see the mission?"
Wendy nodded and handed Meliodas the flyer. Meliodas looked over the request. "Defeat the beasts that are destroying farmland. 350,000 Jewel reward and it's just south of Onibus Town." Meliodas said as he read over the job description.
"Well then. We should head out now." Meliodas commented. Wendy nodded and the two of them walked out of the guild hall as Carla watched them, with a worried look on her face.
"Wendy will be fine. Meliodas is with Wendy after all." Makarov said reassuringly to the white cat, noticing the worried look on her face.
"I guess so…" Carla said.
---
Wendy and Meliodas walked to the train station and boarded the train heading towards Onibus town. Meliodas took a seat at a booth and Wendy sat across from him. Meliodas looked out the window as the train started up and began moving.
"Meliodas…" Wendy whispered nervously, unsure of whether she should try to start a conversation.
"Hmm?" Meliodas averted his gaze away from the window and looked at Wendy.
"How did you become so strong? You look like you're no older than I am yet I hear our guild talk about how you might even be the strongest in the guild." Wendy asked.
"Oh that? Well, I'm not actually that young. It's a long story, a lot of stuff happened and it kept me from aging properly I guess." Meliodas responded.
"O-oh…" Wendy said, not quite satisfied with Meliodas's answer. She decided not to ask anymore as it seemed like something personal.
The two had a relatively silent train trip towards Onibus as Meliodas quietly stared out the window at the scenery. Wendy wondered what was on his mind, but decided not to pry.
By the late afternoon, the duo arrived at Onibus Town. They got off the train and walked towards the outskirts where the farmland was at. Meliodas and Wendy approached a large, red barn. In front of the barn, was a middle aged man who appeared to be a farmer based on his attire. The farmer wore blue overalls and a white shirt underneath along with muddy dark brown work boots. He had sweat running down his face and dripping off of his shaggy brown beard. The farmer saw Meliodas and Wendy approaching the barn and raised an eyebrow at the two mages.
"Are you two the mages from Fairy Tail?" The farmer asked. He glanced at Meliodas' right arm and noticed the Fairy Tail insignia as Meliodas got closer.
"Yes sir. Are you Mister Marco?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah that's me. But they really only sent two kids for this kind of mission?" The farmer said with a look of disappointment. He had expected the guild to bring powerful mages, not children. Wendy returned his look with a shy smile as Meliodas looked at the farmer indifferently.
"I-I'm Wendy Marvell." Wendy introduced herself.
"Meliodas." Meliodas added as he gave the farmer a short wave. "So you wanted us to deal with some monsters attacking your crops?"
"Yeah." Marco pointed towards his fields. Meliodas and Wendy looked to where he was pointing. The fields were completely ravaged. The dirt was kicked up in sloppy mounds and there were holes everywhere with not a sight of any crop growing anywhere.
"Those damn moles...they keep stealing food. At first it was just a few carrots here and there...but then they started taking the potatoes and the corn and before I knew it, all of my crops were gone. I tried to stop them, but they're smarter than your average mole. They understand human speech and can even speak it. To make things worse, their leader uses some kinda earth magic. A couple other farmers tried to fight off the moles but they were too damn strong..." The farmer explained. "I need yall to go out there and kill em."
"Hmm...sounds simple enough. Lead the way Wendy!" Meliodas said as he smiled and gave Wendy a pat on the back. Wendy turned around and gave Meliodas a worried glance.
"Uh...yeah!" Wendy nervously replied. She and Meliodas turned back around and started walking towards the other fields, only to trip on a mound of displaced ground as her foot got stuck in the earth. Meliodas quickly grabbed onto Wendy's shoulder as she was about to fall forward.
"Careful." Meliodas said reassuringly. Wendy nodded her head, her face flush with embarrassment before the two of them began to walk through the fields. The farmer looked at the two Fairy Tail mages and shook his head.
"Those kids are screwed..." The farmer said to himself before walking inside the barn.