136 Crisis in Silva

"T-thank you so much!" Miller cried as he got down on his knees and grovelled. The group returned awkward smiles to him as he pulled out a large wad of cash.

"Then we'll be on our way." Jellal said. The group waved goodbye to Miller as they made their way up and around the mountain. After an hour of walking, they arrived at the other side of the mountain with no trouble. They stood on a tall cliff at the edge of the mountain, overlooking the great city of Silva.

"Wow! That's Silva?!" Meredy commented, her eyes lit up with excitement.

The city itself was massive, almost the same size as Crocus. From where they were standing, they could see the city was divided into three rings, with each ring being elevated higher and higher as it approached the middle. The outside ring consisted of what appeared to be a large residential district with many one to two story houses similar in design to the ones in Magnolia. The middle ring consisted of many taller buildings, ranging from three to four stories. The upper ring had several large manors along with two massive buildings in the dead center that towered above the rest of the city.

"We're not here to sightsee, we're here to stop a dark guild." Ultear said as she looked at Meredy. Meredy became noticeably saddened but she nodded her head.

"Come on Ultear. We can walk around a bit. It's not like anyone will recognize us here. Besides, I've never had Bosconian Ale before." Meliodas commented as he nudged on her shoulder. Ultear looked at Meredy who was looking at her with pleading eyes. She looked back at Jellal who shrugged his shoulders.

"I suppose we can stay there for a bit longer…" Ultear commented.

"Yay! Thank you Ultear!" Meredy said cheerfully as she jumped towards Ultear, embracing her.

---

The Crime Sorciere group arrived at the entrance of Silva. The entrance was a large gate, over ten meters tall and six meters wide with five meter tall cobblestone brick walls on each side. Standing at the gate were two guards, who were eyeing the dozens of people traveling in and out of the gate.

The group began walking through the gate, trying to mingle with the crowd and blend in as they avoided eye contact with the guards. Suddenly, one of the guards approached them.

"What business do you have here? We don't get a lot of travellers wearing cloaks like those." The guard said. Meliodas pulled down his hood and gave a friendly smile at the guard.

"We're mages. We're hoping to visit the mages' college." Meliodas said. The guard looked at Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy. Meredy returned a friendly smile to the guard as Jellal and Ultear returned awkward forced smiles to him. The guard looked back at Meliodas, his initial skepticism having quickly vanished.

"I see. I apologize. We've had a lot of shady characters coming here so we have to be extra careful." The guard said.

"Shady characters?" Meliodas asked in an innocent tone.

"Yeah. There's been some dark guild activity that has increased lately. But it's nothing you should worry about. Just make sure you stay away from the southern forest." The guard said.

"Will do." Meliodas replied.

"Also, if you follow the main road, you'll arrive at the Mage's college. Enjoy your stay at Silva." The guard added. Meliodas nodded and gave a small wave to the guard as he and the rest of Crime Sorciere walked into the town.

"Good work Meliodas." Ultear commented. "Now we have definite proof that the Astral Duchess guild is in this area and it confirms that they are south of the city."

"We could go scout the forest and try to find their base and-" Jellal suddenly stopped as he looked around. To his surprise, both Meredy and Meliodas were gone. Ultear noticed Jellal looking around and began looking around as well.

"Where did those two go?" Ultear questioned.

---

Meredy and Meliodas walked down the main road. The road began to curve upwards, leading to the upper district. Next to the entryway to the next district was a map mounted to the board. The two of them stopped there to look at the map.

"Looks like we're about to enter the Sakura district. The one above that is called the Castellan district." Meliodas commented as he read the map. "Apparently, Castellan District is also called the "Cloud'' district."

"There's a really high end sweets shop in the Castellan district. Let's go there!" Meredy said excitedly.

"Hmm...I just realized that Jellal was holding onto all of our money. And I don't know where the currency exchange is." Meliodas commented.

"We probably shouldn't have just left them." Meredy said with a nervous smile.

"There you two are!" Ultear shouted as she and Jellal ran up to Meredy and Meliodas from down the road.

"Oh good timing. You still have the money Jellal?" Meliodas asked.

"We can worry about sightseeing later. Right now we should focus on-" Ultear's words were cut short as a loud bang echoed throughout the town followed by the crash. The group all turned towards the direction of the sound, coming from the upper district. One of the massive towers that stood in the middle of the Castellan district was slowly crumbling to the ground and smoke filled the air.

"Looks like trouble. It could be related to Astral Duchess." Jellal said. "Let's head over there!"

The group nodded at each other and quickly ran towards the upper district. They arrived at the top where they saw dozens of limp bodies on the ground, each one wearing what appeared to be uniforms.

"Those were students of the mage college!" One of the citizens cried out.

"Who could have done this?!" Another citizen exclaimed.

"It's the work of that dark guild!" A citizen shouted.

Among the mass panic, guards began to swarm to the area, cordoning off the destruction site from the rest of the citizens that were beginning to gather.

"They might still be in the area." Meredy said.

"Then we'll split up and find the assailant!" Jellal declared. The group nodded at each other and pulled up their hoods over their heads, each of them running in a different direction.

Meliodas ran through the back alleys of the Castellan district. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a cloaked figure run by him. Meliodas immediately shifted directions, chasing after the figure. The figure noticed Meliodas giving chase. Suddenly, a large cloud of black smoke filled the alleyway, with Meliodas losing sight of the figure.

"That was close…but I think I lost that kid." The figure commented.

"Lost who now?" Meliodas said smugly as he suddenly appeared right in front of the figure.

"Y-you?! When did you-" The figure's words were cut short as Meliodas vanished from their line of sight. He reappeared behind the figure and delivered a swift chop to the back of their neck.