"What did you say!?"
"A dungeon raid with–"
"That's not what I meant!"
Heinrich points his finger towards Zephyr who is casually whistling in secret.
"I'm the one who's supposed to be issuing a challenge! And I am challenging that man!"
'Why are nobles always the stingiest person in a group? I mean, if you want attention, get all the attention you want, you're doing me a great favor doing that anyway…'
As Zephyr thought of that, the finger pointed at him turns black from the tip as it spreads like some sort of a plague into the hands of Heinrich.
"I-IIIEEEH!!"
"Uhm, hold it Ana."
"Master Zep, this unworthy finger is pointing at you. I shall destroy it."
"Well, if you do, we'll leave a bad reputation with the nobles so - maybe let's go back to the raid challenge ones."
Anastasia closes her eyes slowly. As she does, the darkness within Heinrich's finger begins to vanish.
"Y-you bi-!" He stopped halfway after getting glared at by Gringar who's not tolerating any more unnecessary provocations, even if he is a noble.
"We're all gathered here with an agenda to unite and fight off an unidentified threat. We don't want this to turn into a dog fight."
Gringar massages his chin and looks at Zephyr who is seemingly calm regarding the situation.
"Though, if a challenge was posed, it is the decision of the challenged if he would accept it or not. In this case, I'll be fair, Heinrich might have the right to be the challenger."
'Well, that's expected. He is the one questioning the leadership and wants to know the capability of said leader. With that said-'
Zephyr chuckled.
'-with me as the Clan's leader already leads to a bad end. Maybe I'll just pass the baton to him - yeah, good idea, me.'
Zephyr clasps his hands and takes a breath before speaking up.
"If that's the case, would you mind leading the clan on my stead?"
"....."
The whole room went silent, everyone stared at each other and finally rested all of their gazes into the man who was offered leadership by {Fate Threader} himself.
"H-hah, I never said I'm interested, but if you insist I–"
"Then I'm out."
King Crow immediately demonstrates his withdrawal.
"It's better to be ripped apart by monsters than to be ordered around by a puny and self-centred brat."
"If that's the decision of our leader, everyone would follow."
Meiren who is seemingly sweating, and her guild fall quiet all of a sudden. As she inhaled a lot of air, she internally screamed-
'WAAAAAAAAH, {Fate Threadeeeeer}! Why would you make it so difficult for us! If we decline his leadership, then that would create a rift between our guild and the nobles! But - but! I don't want to be under him, please just accept the position Lord {Fate Threadeeeeeer}!'
Heinrich's glance fell towards Meiren, as her internal scream somehow reached him. She tried her best to look away whilst pretending to clean some artifacts they have brought.
A heavy sigh then can be heard from the direction where the prism ranked guild, [Winter's End], is residing. Despite not having to say anything, it could be an interpretation of disappointment, pointed towards the arrogant noble.
[Shadow Core] on the other hand supported King Crow's words, with Fiona as their speaker.
"I would side with Lord King Crow on this. Though we respect you and your guild, our decision has already been made from the start."
"....."
'T-THIS IS-!'
Gringar's eyes widened in surprise. It's as if he just realized something, though it's already late.
'With just those carefully picked words, he turned all of the people against Heinrich. The passing of the baton was a trap from the very beginning! He just wanted to show Heinrich how far their gap is between each other without even showing off his skills!!'
Gringar swallows his saliva and squints.
'{Fate Threader}...now I know how difficult it is to go against you.'
"..???"
Zephyr raises a brow as if something is not right. He then looks at Anastasia who seems to have a satisfied expression despite having a poker face.
'What? Is it the time to be satisfied? When the whole plan of expanding is falling apart?'
Gringar cleared his throat.
"Sorry to break the ice, but if you don't know it yet, {Fate Threader} is just testing you."
'I do?'
"It has something to do with charisma and of course, attitude. To lead a vast number of strong people, you just don't have to be strong. What you need is something more: the mind and spirit to bring all of your allies into one mindset, to make them all focus towards your goals and the necessary actions to achieve it."
He stood up and nodded towards Zephyr.
"And with that said, Zephyr Gersche, I hereby name you - the first Clan Leader, with [Grim Fate] as the principal guild."
Meiren screamed in joy, internally. She lets out a sigh of relief, followed by all of her guild mates, with the knowledge that Zephyr was only testing Heinrich out and see if he could muster up something to make the people inside the hall convinced that he is worthy to become a clan leader.
"Master Zephyr, I have second thoughts about having more people join us on our circle, but as long as I'm still with you, all is well."
Anastasia looks at Zephyr with idolizing eyes. Meanwhile, the said person is crying internally as he already abandoned all hope of becoming a normal citizen.
"....."
Heinrich clenches his fist in rage. It was the first time that he was embarrassed in front of many, moreover, important people in different parts of Navea. He turns around with a sour face, the nerves in his head are showing. It was evident at that time that he is not going to let this one slide and is planning to take measures upon those who have defied him.
Gringar's eyes narrowed down as he observed Heinrich. With that said, he and his guild [Silver Blade] has left the hall without saying anything further. A member of the prism ranked guild [Winter's End] then bids them farewell.
"It was a delight to hear this news, we will be sure to reach out once we have made our decision."
Their leader hasn't said anything throughout the whole time. With that said, their guild has left the hall without causing anything.
King Crow stands in front of Zephyr.
"Fuhahaha! Well then, I think there would be processes for forming this sort of alliance. Since we're staying in this city for a long while, I'll be keeping in touch with you, {Fate Threader}. Oh! Before we forgot-"
He gestures toward his subordinates as if asking them to bring him something.
"Darius!! Bring me that artifact from the |Forest of Clouds|!"
A one handed axe, made from unknown metal. It has a dark blade with a sharp edge. The unique thing it has was the eye on the bottom of its handle, which has a hidden purpose.
"...!?"
Meiren was alerted after seeing that King Crow has taken the first move to (suck up) form a good network towards [Grim Fate]. She then displays her professional expression and lightly claps her hands twice, which makes her guild mates hand her a Jewel type of relic, seemingly like a processed Jade, shining bright like a star compressed into a stone.
"Lord {Fate Threader}, I would also like to present to you our humble gift. Please accept this as part of our future and long lasting allegiance."
King Crow and Meiren then look each other in the eye, as if their eyes are producing sparks, signifying their competition.
Meanwhile, the members of [Shadow Core] look a bit down.
"....."
'I…I haven't bought anything as a present. I failed as a lead representative!' Fiona thought to herself.
Zephyr on the other hand still weeps (but he does not show it). While being presented with rare artifacts, he lets out a sigh, finally surrendering himself to the duties that he would face in the future.
"...!?"
"E-eh?"
Meiren and King Crow have both witnessed his sigh. They both interpreted it as a sign of disappointment! While Zephyr has finally snapped back to himself, seeing the artifacts being presented to him-
"Ah, those artifacts-"
He raises his hand to collect them, however, the ring he was wearing has been revealed to them.
"T-thats!!" ← King Crow
'N-no wonder {Fate Threader} doesn't consider these gifts like it's just normal..!!' Meiren thought to herself.
'...? What now?'
As if it captures the eyes of all that witnessed its form, the ring could be perceived as a relic of a once powerful hunter who had lost his way to the Abyssal front, which was now retrieved by Zephyr. It doesn't have the most grandeur of designs, however, it possesses some kind of otherworldliness no ordinary human could describe. With this kind of perception towards the ring, Meiren and King Crow has lost their confidence to the artifacts that they have presented to Zephyr.
'Shit! I should have known that {Fate Threader} possessed more outrageous and powerful artifacts. I got carried away by how astonished I was back when I got a hold of this axe. Now it feels useless!'
'As expected or {Fate Threader}. Not only does he have godlike artifacts, but the fact that he has the means to wear such an artifact without any drawbacks and treat it as a part of his daily life, it's mind blowing…'
Gringar walks towards them with a satisfied smile.
"That went as expected huh, Zephyr. Though I don't want to impose…there's actually an urgent matter that we would like you to tend to. It's connected about the appearance of a monster outside of a dungeon-"
–Meanwhile, on the far off outskirts of Telmaris–
"Run!! We should be able to see the exit soon!"
"Damn it! I thought we're already prepared to raid a Blood ranked dungeon!"
As the group was nearing the exit, they were blocked by an unexpected silhouette.
"No, that can't be…a monster…was guarding the outside…!?"
ROOOOAAAAAAR!!! A deafening shriek. It was the last thing they heard, before everything turned dark…