–A little while ago–

“Phew…man am I tired.”

Denzel and his little group just came out of a dungeon, although they haven't cleared it.

“This thicket ranked dungeon needs more work than I expected. At least we got ourselves some loot to trade.”

As they exchange some words, Denzel can be seen looking down with his fist closed as if he's deeply thinking about something. One of his members noticed it, and so he was consoled–

“Leader, don't be so down, as I said, we'll make it somehow, just give it time.”

Denzel looks at his member and smiles. As far as he's concerned, he thinks he's the weak link of their group. Despite being a leader, he thinks that he does not do much to contribute to their lineup, or rather, what he's doing is still not enough to be called a leader of a guild.

“I think I just…well, I need some more motivation, that's all. Anyway, let's head back.”

Denzel then went back to his usual self in order to not demotivate his team.

“Let's camp in Fritz Forest for tonight. Since the nearby dungeons there were recently cleared, I bet no stray hunters would be interested in passing through the place.”

The guild then moves quickly since they already crave some rest. As Denzel leads his little group through the forest, he notices numerous silhouettes from behind the shrubs, though it's already too late for him to warn his members.

“Everyone, stop for a mom–” ← Denzel

“Eh? Who are you guys? Are you all from Telmaris?”

Denzel sweats. His instincts were telling him that the group in front of them is nothing but trouble. In addition, he knows that they stand absolutely no chance if they were hostile.

Ajax chuckles as he spins his lance around, showing off his weapon handling expertise.

“Nope. But we're definitely excited to go there. You see, we are part of a little group that idolizes many strong guilds that are currently residing in Telmaris especially– [Grim Fate].”

Celaeno sighs. His hands make a shoo-ing movement, signifying that he doesn't want to further get involved with such a small and insignificant cluster.

“Move along now. We have a project here that needs no spectators.”

“Hey now Master, aren't we going to make a gift out of them to present to Telmaris?”

Celaeno turns his gaze towards Ajax.

“Hm. You and your brute methods.”

He then massages his chin as if he has thought of something.

“I was just going to let them return and report us to the local guild branch, but it seems your way, although barbaric, might be a better plan to make a commotion.”

Denzel and his little group were alerted due to the fact that they're announcing their intentions loudly in front of them like it's just their normal way of thinking.

“W-what are you guys talking about…?”

“This is perfect, I would love to test out some new magic that I learned.”

Celaeno reaches out to his staff, but as soon as he does, Denzel and his little group turn around and run for it.

“Haha! Look at them go!”

With a wide grin on his face, Ajax assumes a dashing stance while holding his spear

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“Ajax, they're my test subjects. Lay off.”

“Keh. As you say, Master Celaeno.” Ajax backs off with disappointment written on his face.

Celaeno then weaves a sign using his staff.

A spirit of a fearsome wolf then materializes in front of Celaeno.

“Whoa, summoning magic!?”

Ajax was surprised. Summoning magic, or the spell to animate and materialize a wild animal or even a monster is, after all, quite the rare path a sorcerer could take. It's rare not because no one wants to walk its path, rather, it's rare because few humans have the attribute system perfect to master it. As anyone can see, Celaeno is one of those humans. Though to date, no hunter is successful in animating or summoning a monster.

The spirit wolf then gives chase to the running hunters.

“Let's see how fast my new spirit wolf takes down a group of low ranked hunters.”

‘Hah. This sly old man. That's why he's so obsessed about claiming that woman’s research. He wants to tame monsters and animate them as his own spiritual summons and make a dungeon in the process. Keh, talk about dreaming to become a master of a dungeon.’

“L-leader! Something is chasing us! I-It’s a monster!!”

Denzel turns around to face it.

“No. I've heard of this, it's summoning magic! No monster should be able to survive outside of the dungeon.”

He then draws his longsword and pulls it back as he charges for a powerful attack.

“For a trash ranked hunter, you're quite knowledgeable. Let me bestow you with some more spells you most likely have no cognizance of.”

Even if he's far from them, it seems like Celaeno knows their exact location and hears what they have to say. He points his staff in their direction and weaves a spell. He then chants–

Multiple lesser wolves then started to converge around Denzel, showing a visible spiritual link to the Spirit Wolf which transforms into a .

“HAHAH! Don’t you think that is overkill, Master Celaeno?”

“As I have said, Ajax. I want to test out my new creation. This is not going too far, this is simply an experiment.”

“Leader, we’ll back you up!”

Every single hunter in Denzel's little group gathered around him, each covering their backs.

“Thank you everyone…let's go, we’ll get out of this if we work together!”

“YEAH!”

– – –

Going a few hours back when Zephyr, Anastasia, and Hywel return to their own Guild Hall, the three have gathered inside the Guild Master's room to discuss some matters.

While Zephyr is seated, Anastasia stands beside Zephyr and Hywel stands in front of Zephyr's desk.

‘Why won't they just sit? There are free chairs you know.’

“I won't beat around the bush then since you already know Zep, but I have met the alchemist lady that you let go on purpose. I just want to confirm if she's really headed to Sophia.”

Zephyr was surprised as there's only such a small chance that one of their members would encounter Alice on her way to Verspala. He thinks that this was planned somehow by Hywel and is pretending to not know anything at the moment. And so he plays along-

“Yeah, I sent her to Sophia. Is something the matter?”

He completely forgot about Sophia’s request to be discreet about her location.

Hywel pauses for a moment as he thinks.

‘Am I missing something here…is that alchemist one of the key elements to expose the hidden purpose of turning Verspala into a kingdom?’

Giving up on thinking what could be Zephyr's master plan is, Hywel just simply raised his hands playfully as he chuckles.

“You got me Zep, hehe. Whatever you think is best, I'll gladly follow your script.”

Zephyr tilts his head, confused about what Hywel meant. Said master plan is, after all, none existent or whatsoever.

“Anyway, what do you say about our Clan? Sorry for not really hearing out everyone's opinion before deciding to create one.”

Both Anastasia and Hywel gently shake their heads.

“Master Zep, everything is for you to decide. What you have chosen, the Guild shall follow.”

“That’s right Zep, [Grim Fate] is Zephyr and Zephyr is [Grim Fate]. Your plans for the present and future will always be the Guild’s agenda.”

‘Man, all of you are so dedicated. Though again, I'm really sorry for being such an indecisive and incompetent leader.’

“Err…if that's what you guys say.”

Zephyr shuffles some documents from their records and stumbles across Sophia’s past documentation about the conquering of the Abyss ranked dungeon, |Never-ending Labyrinth|. He then thinks about Alice's aim to slave the monsters. And so, what if it comes to fruition? Then they would be able to conquer dungeons without any fighting at all. Though, even with all that said, Zephyr is a pacifist, he will always choose an option where fighting could be prevented as long as it's within their jurisdiction.

“Hywel, do you think Sophia would be interested in that kind of study? You know, the slaving of monsters and stuff.”

With no prior hesitation, Hywel gently shakes his head without speaking any further.

“Yeah, right. It's just as I expected.” ←Zephyr

As far as the members of [Grim Fate] are concerned. They would all know that Sophia, despite being the genius and curious alchemist she is, would never dare touch something that would throw the world out of equilibrium. As the conversation between the three went on, the day passed by.

As morning came, a sudden news then spread throughout Telmaris: members from a certain Hunter's Guild hailing from Telmaris were found beaten up and critically injured in the Fritz Forest. A scroll was left in the scene which is clearly a taunt, which says:

“We will be visiting your borders again. Be sure to send out stronger fighters next time.”