The Seven Deadly Sins
Page 1
The Seven Deadly Sins:
Seven Scars They Left Behind
© 2015 Shuka Matsuda / Nakaba Suzuki. All rights reserved.
First published in Japan in 2015 by Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.
Publication rights for this English edition arranged through Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.
English language version produced by Vertical, Inc.
Art by Nakaba Suzuki.
Published by Vertical, Inc., New York, 2017
Originally published in Japanese as
Shosetsu Nanatsu no Taizai—Gaiden—Karera ga Nokoshita Nanatsu no Kizuato.
Prologue, Chapters 1-3 translated by June Jungreis; Chapters 4-7,
Epilogue by Maria Maita-Keppeler.
This is a work of fiction.
Ebook ISBN 9781945054860
Vertical, Inc.
451 Park Avenue South 7th Floor
New York, NY 10016
www.vertical-inc.com
v4.1
a
Prologue
A time before the human and nonhuman worlds were separated.
Before giants and fairies disappeared and became myths—when they lived side by side with humans.
When magic and martial power were intertwined.
There were soldiers who still possessed within themselves magic that most other humans had lost—when was it that they came to be known as “Holy Knights”?
It was said that one Holy Knight boasted the strength of a thousand ordinary knights; they became part of the saying, “Where there is a kingdom, there are Holy Knights; where Holy Knights are naught, no kingdom shall be.” By then their fame was acknowledged by all.
In the Kingdom of Liones, the most powerful in all Britannia, there was once a legendary order of Holy Knights who were deemed the strongest in the land.
The order brought together seven savage criminals, and they came to be known as the Seven Deadly Sins.
Christened with the names of the seven sins that lead people to ruin, each member of the order was believed to possess tenfold the magical and martial abilities of ordinary Holy Knights. However, there were many mysteries about their origins. Some were so mysterious, no man had ever seen their faces.
Their strange origins, coupled with the endless secrets surrounding them, made their very existence fit to be called a living legend.
However—
One year, on the morning of the kingdom’s anniversary festival, they suddenly betrayed the kingdom.
They brutally slayed Zaratras, the Captain of the Holy Knights, and then fled, evading the pursuit of the entire Holy Knight army. They henceforth hid away somewhere and became fugitives.
But someday, perhaps they will return…
Perhaps their betrayal was the beginning of the Prophecy of the Holy Crusade—that legend passed down since antiquity, of a great battle between light and darkness…
At least, there were those who whispered such rumors.
However, there were two people who knew the truth behind what happened that day.
The secret was too big for the two, still young and innocent, and it consumed them and tore at their minds. But for ten long years they would do their best to bear it in silence.
This is the story of one summer during those ten long years.
The story of a beautiful princess and her faithful knight, and the people who knew them.
The story of the seven scars that the Seven Deadly Sins left behind when they fled.
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter One The Princess of Sorrow and the Minstrel’s Song—from Escanor
Chapter Two The Boy and His Spear—from King
Chapter Three A Recipe She Could Not Crack—from Merlin
Chapter Four The Three Sisters and the Curious Puzzle—from Gowther
Chapter Five His Cuisine and the Answer to the Secret—from Ban
Chapter Six The Fate Altered by the Giant—from Diane
Chapter Seven The Courage Charm and Their Vows—from Meliodas
Epilogue
About the Authors
Chapter One
The Princess of Sorrow and the Minstrel’s Song
—from Escanor
The bright full moon shone quietly on the surface of the lake.
A small island floated in the middle of the lake, and on it, an old castle stood leaning over the edge of a tall cliff.
The castle was made up of a snug keep with living quarters and two towers. Lights shone from several windows.
Faint laughter could be heard, and it seemed that even past midnight, the residents of the castle were still not asleep.
The shadow of a man loitered atop the rampart connecting the living quarters with the First Tower.
The man had a tall, thin build and was wearing clothes that were much too baggy for him. The features of his slightly oval face were well put together, in their own way, but his stooping posture and unconfident expression ruined them.
“Hahh,” he sighed, leaning on the edging along the top of the wall.
His gaze had been fixed on the tower to his right for some time.
A light flickered in the window on the top floor of the tower. The man had been staring at the light, but after a while he turned his eyes away and sighed again.
Looking down from the rampart, he could see the sandy beach that spread out on the other side of the lake. It stood out palely in the moonlight.
“ ‘The beach suspended in moonlight is like your pale white arms. Coming in and out of sight in the dark waves, revealing the truth’…”
He muttered the mysterious words, then let out a self-deprecating laugh. “Search as I might, I guess someone like me could never find the words to express her beauty and kindness and intelligence.”
He looked up again at the First Tower.
“Oh, but I wish I could…Merlin.”
1
The Kingdom of Liones, extolled as the strongest country in Britannia.
Surrounded by a city wall to guard against attacks, the royal capital sparkled in the dazzling morning sunlight.
It was June; the nights were short and the dawn broke early each morning. Most of the people were still asleep.
In Liones Castle, which looked down on the capital, the bedrooms of the royal family, too, were all quiet and still.
The king’s oldest daughter, Princess Margaret, nearly fifteen, lay in bed clothed in layers of silk and lace.
However, her beautiful face was strained with anguish.
Her white hands gripped the bed sheets, and her lips trembled. Her mouth opened as if to scream, but made no sound, and shut tightly again.
It was as if she were holding back, even in her sleep.
Margaret was dreaming.
It was a dream about two years ago. A dream of that terrible morning.
She was in a room in the old castle on the outskirts of the royal capital. In the room was a man’s corpse, drenched in blood.
The corpse had been pierced by innumerable spears and swords, and now hung in the air.
His beautiful silver hair and golden armor were stained a deep red.
His bloody feet floated above the floor. Plip. Plip. Blood dripped down from them and spread out across the stone floor.
Margaret held her hands over her mouth and stifled a scream.
She had to keep herself hidden. If she were discovered, it would be the end for her.
Two figures stood in front of the mutilated corpse of the Captain of the Holy Knights.
Two men who should not have been there, who could not have been there.
They were huddled close together, discussing something.
Pale cheeks. Margaret could just barely hear their words.
“Yes—this should do.”
All that was left was to wait for the Seven Deadly Sins…“…!”
Margaret awoke with a start.
She was covered in sweat.
She slowly sat up in bed and steadied her breathing. From the light slipping through the curtains, she realized that it was already morning.
I should get up, she thought. At the same time, a brisk knock sounded against the door to the dressing room attached to Margaret’s.
“Princess Margaret. Good morning. It’s me, Grace.” The voice sounded troubled.
Grace was one of her lady’s maids. She was probably worried that Margaret hadn’t gotten up yet, even though it was past time to.
“Your Highness?”
With a click, the door opened a crack. Margaret caught a glimpse of Grace’s red hair.
“Don’t come in!” Margaret shouted reflexively.
“Ah—a thousand pardons!” The door closed in a hurry.
Grace was a new lady’s maid who had come to the castle just that spring. She was only fifteen, the same age as Margaret. Today was her first day helping with Margaret’s morning routine, and perhaps her mistress’ sudden scolding had given her a shock.
Even so, Margaret had a reason for not wanting Grace in her bedroom.
Yes—and it wasn’t just Grace. Margaret didn’t want her other lady’s maids, or her sisters Veronica and Elizabeth, or even her father the king to come into her room.
She never wanted anyone to enter.
At that moment, the lace canopy of her bed swayed, though there was no wind.
Margaret flinched in surprise.
“Get away,” she whispered bluntly. The lace swayed again.
An invisible presence—something dreadfully large was staring at the bed.
“Don’t come near!”
There was the sound of something dragging. That thing must have been moving away from the bed.
Slowly, sluggishly, making that faint dragging sound, the thing moved toward the edge of the room. When it reached the wall, its presence disappeared.
Margaret shivered.
She hadn’t seen its physical form since that day two years ago. But she had always known that the horrendously creepy thing was lurking nearby.
It wasn’t a creature of this world. It was a grotesque monster born of sinister magic.
It was a fearsome guard that had kept watch over Margaret ever since she bore witness to that secret two years ago.
Doing her best not to look at the corner of her room, Margaret got out of bed. Even though she couldn’t see it, just knowing it was there made her feel sick.
The monster had shown its hideous true form once, and the sight was still etched in the back of her eyelids, even now.
Eyes that stuck out to the left and right; a body shaped like a giant slug; the wings of a bat…
Margaret shivered again, then shook the memory from her mind.
She slipped on a lace shawl hanging on a nearby chair and gently opened the door.
Grace was sitting on the sofa in the corner of the dressing room. She looked up when she noticed Margaret coming in, but was wringing a handkerchief tightly in her hands, and her eyes were red.
“Oh my, Grace, are you all right? Did I speak too harshly?” Margaret hurried over to her lady’s maid.
“No, no, it’s not your fault, Your Highness. I’ve just got something in my eye…” Grace nervously tried to explain it away, scrubbing at her eyes with the handkerchief.
Margaret knelt down in front of Grace and grabbed her hands to keep them still. “Don’t rub so hard. You’ll hurt your eyes.”
“Don’t—Your Highness, please don’t kneel.” Looking shocked, Grace took Margaret by the arm and tried to make her stand.
But Margaret shook her head. “I really am sorry, for shouting at you. I had a frightful dream before I woke up, and I was all worked up about it.”
“My, was it really such a frightful dream? Now that you mention it, Your Highness is covered in sweat…”
“Oh, is it that bad? But I’m fine—it was just a dream.” Margaret touched her hand to her forehead and made herself smile.
“But, Your Highness, they say nightmares forewarn illness. And I’ve heard they can also be a sign of an evil magician’s curse.”
Margaret’s breath caught at the word “magician.”
But she quickly smiled again.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing like that. Sorry for worrying you. Anyway, please help me get dressed, or I’ll be late for breakfast.” Margaret took Grace by the hand and pulled her up from the sofa.
“Y-Yes.” Grace finally smiled, too, and stood up with a swish of her short braid.
2
“…and that’s what happened, Erica.”
That afternoon, Grace was walking down a corridor in the castle alongside Erica, another one of Margaret’s attendants. Since Grace had had the early shift, she was wearing plain clothes now, but Erica was wearing her aproned maid’s uniform.
“Hmm…that’s happened to me, too.” Erica was only two years older than Grace, but she had been in the service of the princess for over five years. “Or perhaps I should say, these past two years, it’s happened several times…Princess Margaret has changed a bit.”
“She’s changed?”
“Yeah. She used to be more cheerful. Then again, a lot has happened since then.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, there’s what happened to Lord Zaratras, for one.”
The moment the name left Erica’s lips, a soldier walking down the corridor a little ahead of them glanced back with a start. Erica quickly faked a smile, then lowered her voice. “You know about it too, right? How Lord Zaratras, the previous Captain of the Holy Knights, was killed.”
“O-Of course.”
There wasn’t a single person living in Liones’ royal capital who didn’t know about it.
There had been a tragedy two years ago, on the morning of the kingdom’s anniversary festival. Zaratras, at the time the Captain of the Holy Knights, had been brutally murdered in the old castle on the outskirts of the capital.
It was said that a single Holy Knight possessed the martial and magical power of a thousand ordinary knights. The captain who governed over all of those Holy Knights must have been unimaginably strong.
That such a personage had been atrociously murdered would in and of itself have been a major incident, but what was more, the offenders were the members of the Seven Deadly Sins—an order of knights who were well trusted by and served directly under the king.
But the Seven Deadly Sins, just seven people surrounded by all of the kingdom’s Holy Knights, had broken through the ring, shaken off pursuit, and escaped. Their whereabouts were still unknown.
“Captain Zaratras was an old friend and trusted subordinate of His Majesty the King, so to Margaret, he was like a favorite uncle. She and young master Gil, Captain Zaratras’ son, were practically like siblings,” Erica said, taking the opportunity to show off her seniority.
Grace tilted her head. “When you say Gil, you mean Lord Gilthunder, the Holy Knight apprentice, right?”
“Yep.”
Even Grace knew Zaratras’ son Gilthunder. A boy with reddish-brown hair and good features, he stood out among the apprentices training to become Holy Knights. “Was he close with Princess Margaret?”
“Yes, he was. They grew up together. He was like her personal bodyguard, you know? Even though the young master is a year younger.” Erica continued with a ribald grin. “This is just a hunch, but I’m sure Captain Zaratras and His Majesty the King must have considered the possibility of setting the two up for betrothal! Young Gil would succeed his father and become Captain of the Holy Knights, and Princess Margaret would become the Queen of Liones…Romantic, isn’t it?! Like it was meant to be?!”
She got excited as she talked, and her voice rose ag
ain. When Grace frowned at her, Erica just laughed, Tee hee, pretending not to notice.
“The two of them don’t seem quite so close now, though,” Grace pressed, to which Erica sighed.
“That’s true. You could say young Gil completely changed after his father was killed. He used to be a cute little boy, open and cheerful and a bit of a crybaby.”
“Wow…”
“But it’s not just those two, though. Ever since then, His Majesty the King is often melancholy, and the whole castle has gotten gloomier. We keep getting nothing but more of the most boorish soldiers. Lord Dreyfus and his lot all seem tense somehow, too.”
Dreyfus was the late Zaratras’ younger brother. After the incident, he assumed his older brother’s role as Captain of the Holy Knights. He was an earnest man and, not believing himself to be fully ready to act as captain, received special permission from the king to share the position with his good friend Hendrickson.
“Which is probably because they know that those backstabbing Seven Deadly Sins could always return—they can’t let their guard down against a group of such heinous villains who scattered all the Holy Knights with just seven people. In the end, it just goes to show that no matter how strong they were, gathering criminals to form an order of knights wasn’t a good idea.”
They reached the rear entrance of the castle.
“Your house is on…Birch Street, right?” Erica asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m heading in that direction too, so let’s go together. I’ve got to pick some things up at the sundries shop on Birch Street.”
They pushed open a small wooden door and came out into the West Garden, where a refreshing breeze was blowing across the greenery. Summers were beautiful in Britannia.
“…Ah, speak of the devil—it’s young master Gil.” Erica pointed discreetly. Grace looked over as well.
Toward the edge of the garden, several young soldiers and knights seemed to be engaged in some sort of training. Some were sparring with swords, others were pointing at and discussing the rampart around the garden. The boy with the pretty face who stood out among them was Gilthunder, son of the late Captain Zaratras, and Princess Margaret’s childhood friend. One year younger than Margaret, he would turn fourteen this year, but he looked rather grownup for his age.