"Well, well, well. So this is the capital." Meliodas gazed at his surroundings; Vistarion, the capital of the Alvarez Empire. The city consisted of many tall castles surrounding the exterior. The interior contained two to three story buildings that barricade the streets along with bridges that connect from one side to another and balconies for viewing. In the middle of the city is a gargantuan castle with many towers and sections that towered over the rest of the city.
'But where do I start?' Meliodas started to walk towards the castle in the center of the city. On his way, he noticed a line of people in front of a stand. A sign in front of the stand read "Vistarion Tours. 4,000 rupees per person."
'Rupees? I completely forgot that Jewels don't work here!' Meliodas scratched the back of his head as he pondered a quick way to make money. He turned his head to look at Neo Mel Force on his back. Selling Neo Mel Force would make him quite a lot of money, but he already learned his lesson with selling Lostvayne in the past and if he were to meet Musica again, he wouldn't hear the end of it.
Meliodas began to walk down the streets further trying to think of how to make money. There he noticed a pawn shop at the corner of one of the intersections. An idea sprung into his head that he can sell a bunch of his old stuff there. He walked inside and was greeted by the owner, an old yet muscular man with a large gray mustache, bushy beard, and long hair that fell to his shoulders.
"What can I help you with?" The old man asked. Meliodas pulled out the remains of Gravity Core from his requip inventory.
"What can I get for this?" Meliodas asked. The old man immediately scoffed.
"What is this trash? Just a broken sword. It's practically just a hunk of metal. I got plenty of those lying around in the shop already. Hell, that lacrima inside of it is broken too. Quit wasting my time."
Meliodas wondered what else he could have on him that he could make some money off of. He glanced back up at the man and noticed behind him in the other room, there was an entire shelf filled with various types of alcohol.
"You wouldn't happen to be a fellow collector of booze would you?" Meliodas asked.
"Tch. You're gonna try to sell me some cheap excuse for booze that's no better than cat piss now?" The old man questioned.
"Nope. I got the good stuff." Meliodas said with a cheeky grin. The old man raised an eyebrow. Meliodas looked around the shop and saw no one else around. He requipped a bottle of White Wyvern Ale into his hand and placed it on the table.
"This is from Fiore. You won't get this stuff here with the trade ban with Ishgar and all."
The man's eyes widened and a look of intrigued formed on his face. Meliodas could barely make out a smile underneath the man's thick facial hair. Meliodas popped open the cap with his thumb and handed it to the old man.
"This one's free." Meliodas said. The old man eagerly grabbed it and took a huge gulp.
"I haven't had his brand in twelve years!" The old man exclaimed. "This was one of my favorites back in the day!"
"Shhhh!" Meliodas said while gesturing to the man to be quiet. "I also happen to have dozens of cases of this stuff. Interested?"
"Looks like I misjudged you. How many cases do you have?" The old man asked. A cheeky grin formed on Meliodas' face again.
"That depends. How high can you count?"
—
Meliodas walked out of the shop with a grin on his face. The old man only had enough money to buy fifty cases. Meliodas had originally bought each case of ale for 4000 Jewels. He ended up persuading the old man to buy them from him for 40,000 each because they would be impossible to buy otherwise and the old man ended up paying Meliodas 2,000,000 Rupees for 50 cases.
'Guess I'm set on money for a while. Maybe I should take that tour and find out where everything is in the capital.' Meliodas began walking back the way he came to where he saw the tour sign. He noticed the line was now gone and there was a huge bus-like carriage in front.
Meliodas approached the carriage and was greeted by a young man with black spiky hair and black eyes. He wore a white collared button up shirt tucked into black slacks and had a badge on his chest that said "Tour Guide."
"Welcome! My name is Itsuki Shou. I'm the guide for the Vistarion tour. Would you like to join?"
"Yeah. It was 4,000 rupees right?" Meliodas asked. Itsuki nodded his head and Meliodas handed him the money. Itsuki gestured for Meliodas to get on the carriage.
Meliodas stepped inside and saw many rows of seats filled with people. Meliodas thought it was almost like a train, just a lot smaller. Meliodas took an open seat closest to the empty driver seat. Itsuki closed the carriage door and sat in the driver seat, strapping an SE plug onto his arm and picking up a microphone.
"Welcome everyone! Thank you all for coming! Today I will be driving you all around Vistarion, showing you guys the historical landmarks, places to eat, and at the end we'll even get to drive right up to the castle grounds although we won't be going inside. The tour will last for two hours and after one hour, we'll stop for fifteen minutes for a restroom break. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will answer them to the best of my abilities!"
The vehicle began to start as Itsuki poured his magic into it through the SE plug. Meliodas looked out the window, gazing at the castle in the center of the city as Itsuki stopped every few blocks to explain certain landmarks and locations.
The bus started to slow down and come to a stop followed by Itsuki's voice echoing on the microphone.
"And we'll stop here to stretch and for those who want to go to the restroom. Please be back in fifteen minutes."
People began leaving the bus to walk around or just stand up outside, leaving only Meliodas and Itsuki in the vehicle.
"Hey Itsuki, I got a question for you." Meliodas said as Itsuki was unstrapping his SE plug.
"What's up?" Itsuki asked.
"You wouldn't happen to be familiar with the name "Selene the Moon Dragon God" would you?" Meliodas asked.
"Never heard of that in my whole life." Itsuki responded. "There are a few libraries scattered around but for a name that grand…you might need to try the Capital Library. We won't get to see it on the tour because it's inside the castle grounds."
"How do I get to it?" Meliodas asked.
"Well you can submit an application to enter. They'll screen you through a series of background checks then you'll be put on a six month waiting list. But they got a crazy amount of information on various types of magics and other history that you won't find anywhere else on the continent." Itsuki said.
A smile formed on Meliodas' face. 'Just what I was looking for.'
"You wouldn't happen to do castle tours would you?" Meliodas asked.
"Nope. There hasn't been a castle tour ever since Emperor Spriggan left the continent. And I'm not qualified for that kind of stuff anyway. Sorry I can't help you there." Itsuki responded.
"Don't worry about it. Guess I'll just have to submit an application after this tour." Meliodas said, knowing full well he didn't actually mean it. 'Guess I'll have to take a shortcut.'
—
Night fell over the city of Vistarion. The towers of the castle were still very well illuminated as well as the streets. A crescent moon dimly lit the sky above. Meliodas put his Crime Sorciere cloak on and covered his head.
Meliodas, suppressing his magical presence entirely, hopped over the castle walls under the cover of night, evading the guards watching the front entirely. He landed on the soft grass at the other side. In front of him was a massive courtyard lit up by the lanterns of many guards walking around.
Meliodas stuck to the shadows, treading carefully not to make too much noise and going from building to building and peering inside looking for something that even remotely resembled a library.
Eventually, Meliodas found a building in the courtyard that had a monument of a book right in front of it. 'That has to be the library.'
Meliodas stealthily made his way over and noticed two guards standing at the front. He looked up at the top of the building and noticed a balcony area. 'There must be another entrance up there to that balcony and hopefully no guards.'
Meliodas scaled the wall of the building, unnoticed the guards down below. He pulled himself up onto the balcony where one guard was standing next to the open door looking the other way.
Meliodas sighed. 'This would be a lot easier if I was Ban.'
He slowly climbed over the balcony rail, the guard completely unaware of his presence. As he got closer, he heard a strange noise coming from the guard.
Meliodas, now right in front of the door and behind the guard, could hear clearly the guard was snoring. He had fallen asleep and was sleeping standing up. Meliodas smiled, slightly amused by it before turning to the locked door. He placed his left hand on the door.
'No magical seal. Just a regular door. But I can't just break it down.'
Meliodas lifted his right hand up, leaving his index finger extended. Darkness began to leak from his fingertip as he pushed it inside of the lock.
A small clicking sound was heard as the door unlocked. Meliodas could still hear the guard's snores as the guard remained unmoving. He slowly opened the door, slipping through and then closing it behind him without a sound.
Meliodas' eyes widened as he entered the library. Rows upon rows of shelves, stacked high. He had never seen so many books in his life. The library in Fairy Tail didn't compare at all to this one. He looked down and noticed there was only one guard inside, sitting at the desk with some kind of musical device in his ears, similar to the ones Laxus uses.
From where Meliodas was standing on the second story, he could see the entire library. It was very dimly lit as the main lights had been shut off. However, being a demon that thrived in the dark, this did not impair his vision at all.
Meliodas made his way down the stairs and started walking down the corridors, making sure not to alert the guard at the front. As he scanned the shelves, he noticed a book called "The Dragon King Festival."
'Guess I'll start here.'
—
Night passed and Meliodas snuck out of the library with no problems, spending the rest of his night and day at a hotel close to the castle. As he looked out his window at the castle, he thought about what he learned.
'Nothing useful about Selene. There was no mention of her at all. Although there was something briefly mentioned about a thing called "The Space Between Time." Also, there's apparently a guy named August The Wizard King who knows every magic. Maybe he knows a magic that can get me back without having to resort to finding Selene in the first place.'
Hours passed and night fell once again. Meliodas prepared himself for the second day of going to the library to find information. He did what he did previously and made it to the balcony, only this time something was different. There was no guard stationed there and instead, there was a magical seal on the door.
'Well, well, well…looks like they increased their security. I wonder if I was spotted…' Meliodas spent a moment thinking about how he could get inside without triggering the seal.
Suddenly, a loud siren blared out from the courtyard. Meliodas turned around and saw dozens of soldiers running towards him. Meliodas suddenly heard the door open from behind him. Two guards immediately rushed towards Meliodas.
"Stop! You've violated the law!"
"You have committed crimes against Alvarez and its people!"
Meliodas quickly pulled his hood further over his head to make sure his face couldn't be seen. Black wings sprouted from his back and he immediately took off into the night sky, the guards below helpless to follow him.
"Damn he got away." One of the guards said.
"Did you catch what he looks like?" The other asked.
"Not most of his face, but I think I saw the guy had blond hair." The guard replied.
"Blond hair and those wings of darkness…must be some sort of devil or demon."