For Ivan Dreyar, today was clearly not a good day.
Just a short while ago, someone from Fairy Tail had delivered an utterly baffling message: he was to go to Ryuzetsu Land and collect the members of Raven Tail.
Ivan knew that some of his guild members had gone out to Ryuzetsu Land.
Nulpudding and the others had mentioned it before leaving.
What he did not understand was how things had developed to this point.
Had those so-called official guilds decided to ignore basic decency?
Did they refuse to acknowledge Raven Tail's status as a legal Mage Guild?
Had they openly excluded and attacked Raven Tail?
If that was truly the case, then Ivan Dreyar was going to file a complaint—properly and ruthlessly.
Did the Magic Council's rules mean anything anymore?!
Ivan did not even need to think to know that Fairy Tail must be responsible.
Otherwise, why would someone from Fairy Tail have come to notify him?
With a dark expression hidden beneath his mask, Ivan made his way to Ryuzetsu Land.
"He's here, he's here!"
"The Guild Master of Raven Tail!"
Ivan Dreyar's arrival immediately caused a small commotion. The onlookers were all excited, eager to see what would happen next.
After all, Raven Tail had once been a Dark Guild.
They had even claimed to stand alongside the three great guilds of the Balam Alliance, calling themselves the "fourth great power."
With a name that big, surely they had some pride, right?
And with all the bad blood between them and Fairy Tail, could Raven Tail really swallow today's humiliation?
"What fourth great power? Even the real three great powers were beaten easily by Fairy Tail. What does this so-called fourth one even count for?"
Some people hoped to see a fierce clash, but others did not think much of Raven Tail at all.
Were they even qualified to fight Fairy Tail?
Hadn't they been so frightened that they reformed themselves and became a legal guild?
In fact, there were far more people who were not optimistic about Raven Tail.
Everyone had eyes.
Raven Tail was obviously all bluff and borrowed fame. They had no real achievements to back up their claims.
Fairy Tail, on the other hand, had a mountain of proven victories.
"..."
Ivan Dreyar walked silently to the center of the crowd. His gaze landed on the handsome, sun-bright young man standing at the front.
"It really has been... a long time."
Looking at Marco as he was now, Ivan felt a storm of emotions twist inside him.
Of course, what filled him most was hostility.
Ever since Marco was a child, Ivan had never liked him.
When the old man insisted on taking Marco in, Ivan had tried everything he could to stop it.
Unfortunately, in the end, he still failed to change Makarov's mind.
"It has, Mr. Ivan. You really are a busy man. Meeting you once isn't easy at all. I could never find where you were before, and now that we finally meet again, you've somehow become a mage of an official guild.
"How unpredictable life is. It would have been wonderful if I could have seen you sooner." Marco spoke with a smile, his tone perfectly polite.
But the meaning behind his words made Ivan's temper rise.
This was not even subtle mockery anymore. It was practically open insult.
Marco was calling him a turtle who had hidden in the shadows for years, avoiding Fairy Tail and never daring to show his face.
And now, he had outright surrendered by turning Raven Tail into an official Mage Guild.
Marco's words were full of regret.
Regret that he had not found Ivan earlier.
Regret that he had not encountered Raven Tail while it was still a Dark Guild.
That way, he could have captured Ivan directly.
"Someone tell me what happened here."
Ivan Dreyar's face flushed with anger.
He refused to answer Marco and instead looked toward the Raven Tail mages groaning on the ground.
Seeing the miserable state Nalpudding and the others were in, Ivan could not help cursing them inwardly.
These useless wastes had not even managed to injure Marco?
What Ivan did not know was that Marco had not needed to lift a finger to leave them in that state.
The little troublemakers who had beaten them were all hiding outside the area and observing the situation now, not daring to come close.
The only ones present were Marco, Erza, and Mirajane, which caused Ivan to misunderstand.
He assumed Nalpudding and the other three had been defeated by those three.
If that was the case, then Ivan could understand their defeat.
Ivan had always thought highly of himself, but in the face of absolute strength, he was not so blindly arrogant.
Marco's power was not an empty reputation. It had been built through battle after battle.
From Jose Porla, to Jellal at the Tower of Heaven, to the Oración Seis, and now the recent rumors about Grimoire Heart, no one doubted Marco's strength.
Because of that, standing alone before Marco, Ivan could only endure it, no matter how furious he was that this brat had stolen the position of Fairy Tail's Guild Master.
"Gajeel. Natsu. Come here."
Faced with Ivan Dreyar's question, Marco called out two names.
"Aaagh! Why me...?"
Marco's words immediately drew a miserable wail.
Natsu walked over with a deeply unconvinced expression.
Gajeel, on the other hand, looked normal enough.
He had indeed joined in, but he was also the one Raven Tail had provoked first, so he felt that he was at least somewhat in the right.
"Tell him what happened. Let Guild Master Ivan understand the whole story."
Looking at Natsu and Gajeel, Marco nodded and told them to explain the process.
There was no need to beautify anything.
They only needed to tell the truth.
At Marco's signal, Gajeel roughly repeated the conversation between himself and Nulpudding's group.
Natsu stood beside him, angrily adding details from time to time.
Natsu did not think they had beaten the wrong people at all.
Those bastards had clearly come over to bully their guildmate first!
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