A few minutes ago, inside Gringar's Tavern, Zephyr decided to take a quick meal first. With that said, he nudges the sleeve of a meal server and whispers something in his ears.

"Huh!?"

The server reacted, displaying an expression of disbelief. Zephyr on the other hand looks like he's expecting this to happen, though he's seriously hoping that it won't.

"Who do you think you are ordering me to get you the special set of breads and cheeses Chief Gringar keeps for special guests. You look like a swindler to me."

Zephyr pulled his hood down whilst avoiding eye contact from the people who've been looking in their direction, seemingly talking about him.

"A-uhhh…I think there's been a misunderstanding here. I mean, it's really been reserved for-"

"Your suggestion spell won't reach me, give it up swindler."

A cold and sinister aura then emanates from the entrance of the tavern which feels like it could devour a human in whole.

"Oh shit…don't tell me–"

While the server is silently choking as if someone is strangling him, Zephyr slowly turns his gaze towards the direction of the person emanating such an aura.

Step, step – the light steps from this certain person sends strange chills down the spine of those who have caught glimpse of her gorgeous form. It was a dark haired woman, with an expression like a statue, with her choice of white and black dress, she looks like a ghost pafh. Her demeanor is as if she has no care whatsoever about her surroundings, a witch who's only focus is to master her spells.

Zephyr uses his skill: .

"....." The woman stopped leaking her ominous aura. It was very effective!

'Here comes the hard part…' Zephyr thought to himself as the woman slowly made her way towards him whilst still wearing an inscrutable expression.

"....." Zephyr tilts his head, what surprised everyone was that he's directly looking into her eyes, by which no one could possibly do right now due to the immense intimidation she has brought with her as she entered the tavern.

"Ana, I'm here, all is well. Yeah…?"

The people watching were flabbergasted. They then whispered at each other's ears-

"White Sorceress, cold demeanor, long dark hair, chilling red eyes…and an aura that can swallow you whole…isn't that-"

"No mistaking it, that's her–"

"{The Witch of Frost and Dark}, Anastasia Komilova…the Prism-ranked Sorceress of [Grim Fate]!"

"All is well…as long as Master Zep is with me."

Ana shows a little smile and buries her face into Zephyr's chest as she hugs him.

"Wha–!? Did she just call him her Master!? Does that mean–!?"

"....."

"OH SHIT-!"

As soon as the server realized it, he immediately rushed over to the kitchen and grabbed the special set of bread and cheese and handed it over to Zephyr.

"H-here you go, honored guests!! I'm sorry for my impru-"

The sinister aura returns as Ana interprets the server's shouting to be an interruption between her and Zephyr's bond. In response to this, Zephyr slightly panicked as he grabbed a slice of bread and packed it in his mouth, he then took hold of Anastasia's hand and squeezed it gently.

"L-let's just go in…shall we? Haha…"

Anastasia's aura decreases once again as she is calmed down by Zephyr's voice. She then took the initiative and led onwards as they both entered the hall with their hands still together and Zephyr still on the verge of munching the bread in his mouth.

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"You've finally arrived, [Grim Fate]."

Gringar raises a brow as he sees Zephyr who looks like he just got dragged along. Soon after he laughed at him as if he's already been acquainted with him for quite some time, which is indeed true.

"Ha-Hahahaha! Go and sit, looks like you two are the only ones available in your guild, I take it?"

Zephyr finishes the bread quickly, though his stomach is still not satisfied.

"Yeah…the others are currently away for days already. Good thing Ana came back in time to go with me."

"I will always be on your side."

Ana remarked quickly, even though Zephyr doesn't ask for her opinion.

As expected, the judging eyes of all the hunters inside the hall are glued to them.

"Those two…are from [Grim Fate]?"

The collective gaze sends nervousness throughout Zephyr's system, however, he learned back then that at times like these, before the eyes of a predator, it will be wiser to match their intimidation but if not, just try to blend in with their expectations. His display of confidence somehow lifts the hesitation of others from the belief that he's part of the strongest guild.

With no hesitation and prior judgement, the leader of the guild [Diamond Trading & Co.] stands up and places her hands on her chest. She then elegantly bowed down and with a smile, greeted the two.

"Greetings, members of the legendary [Grim Fate]. I am Meiren Diamond, the successor and leader of the widely known merchant's guild, Diamond Trading and Company."

Mature, elegant and professional-looking. That's how one could perceive Meiren judging from the outside. She has short ash-colored hair, braided to the sides whilst wearing their own guild's hat, as well as a customized eyeglass artifact. The way she represents herself is as if she's been experienced already with handling principal clients in her whole life. This time is different however, as she looks back up after bowing, what she saw was something else entirely–

"....!!!"

Something unexplainable, out of this world. Even with the existence of bizarre dungeons, her eyes look like it has witnessed something that should not be seen.

"Ah…ahh…Fate…Threader…"

Everyone was alerted with what she just said. Her members immediately rushed over and checked her.

"C-Chief? What's the matter?"

As soon as she blinked, Meiren snapped back into reality. It's as if her mind was imprisoned for a few seconds.

"A-as expected…even with just eye contact, I almost fell into the void. Forgive me for being not strong enough to handle your aura!"

As soon as their Chief bowed down, her members followed suit.

"....."

"What the hell–" Zephyr's not showing it, but he's extremely uncomfortable with whatever is happening. But then he realized- 'Oops…don't tell me, I forgot to turn that artifact off…'

"This guy…" before Fiona adds more, Erika uses her shoulders as a platform of her light hands to raise herself up.

"Wait, that's…the good citizen that helped me navigate the place!"

Ana steps forward and patted Meiren's back. "Do not be sorry, it is understandable that no one holds a candle to Master Zep's attributes."

'Wait, wait, wait, wait - Ana!! Don't stoke the flames more!' Zephyr couldn't say those words however, as he's too afraid to speak.

"Wait a moment, are my ears playing against me, or did she just call that ordinary looking human, {Fate Threader}? Do you mean that {Fate Threader} that's supposed to be the leader of [Grim Fate]!?"

It was one of the representatives of a Blood ranked guild called [Sharp Steps], his voice shows disappointment after witnessing him in person.

"Fuhahahaha!!"

A laugh breaks out from the other side.

"K-King Crow-sama…?"

"Oh come on Darius, it's laughable. To think that someone as plain looking as him could be mistaken as the legendary {Fate Threader}. And here I thought, the eyes of the daughter of the esteemed Reich Diamond are as sharp as his."

"What did you just –"

Meiren taps his subordinate's shoulder and halts him before he even speaks more. With hushed voice, she reminds him-

"Discipline, remember?" With that, the man backs off and lowers his head.

"Gentlemen–" Meiren then was about to speaks for herself until-

BAM!

Something awestruck just gets unleashed from the hall, emanating from none other than the lady in white and black dress, Anastasia.

"Master Zep, I want to murder those people who laughed at you."

Zephyr's inner system shakes after she announces her intentions. The other guilds raise their guards as the power they felt is nothing to joke around, it's as if it can subdue even the strongest monsters. Zephyr however, was unaffected, mainly due to the fact that he has been with Anastasia long enough to consider her aura as a normal part of his daily life. With that said, King Crow narrows his eyes down –as a prideful warrior, he cannot admit that he was affected by Anastasia's subduing power, but then as he looked towards the plain looking human in front of him…it seems like he could withstand or even–

"W-what!?"

–smile at this point. (Zephyr smiled to contain Anastasia's "sulking")

"That human just smiled even though he's that close to the caster…!"

"Huh? Eh?"

The Guild, [Crow's Nest], with all of their representatives stood up, their leader, King Crow, opened his arms and laughed.

"Fuhahahaha!! My bad, one bad thing about getting old is that my eyes are getting a bit hazy. [Crow's Nest] is humbly welcoming the one and true {Fate Threader}!"

"Pfffft!!"

Zephyr choked with his eyes nearly closed, it's as if he's getting attacked from within. He thought to himself: 'Please, stop it. Stop with the Fate Threader name…I'm no such legend. Just call me Zep!' However, this act of his just made them wary.

King Crow thought to himself: 'He squinted! He's studying us one by one, don't disappoint now, my subordinates!'

"Is there something wrong, {Fate Threader}?"

After asking, King Crow briefly turns towards his subordinates as if signifying them to stand proud.

Zephyr is calmly looking at them after putting himself back together. Though, he still doesn't know what they're trying to do.

'What the hell- Do I need to do something…?' He looks at Anastasia and asks in a hushed tone- "Ana, what should I do?"

Seeing him whispering something to Anastasia, the members of [Crow's Nest] sweats, with the exception of the confident King Crow.

In response to Zephyr's question, Anastasia looks at him in the eye and bows her head.

"Everything is yours to decide, Master Zep."

'No, I'm passing you the baton!! Please take it from here!!'

Bang! The giant Gringar clasped his hand to get everyone's attention.

"I'm sorry to break it to everyone here, but greeting [Grim Fate] will have to wait until the discussion is over. For now - Zephyr, Anastasia, please be seated. Though, I would have to confirm–"

"We're it for now."

Zephyr responded immediately. He then places his hand at the back of his head.

"The others are currently away." Anastasia interjected- "Everything will be decided by our Master, what he will accept and reject this day, will be the agenda of our guild, [Grim Fate]."

With this remark, it is definitely official. The man before the intimidating guilds, who looks like an ordinary human…is none other than the leader of the strongest guild in all of Navea, {Fate Threader} Zephyr Gersche.