Kingdom of Fiore, northeast, Oak Town, Wizard guild-Phantom Lord.
The lavish castle in the center of town was the most conspicuous building in all of Oak, and the Phantom Lord flag atop its spire fluttered in the wind.
In Fiore, this had once been the undisputed number-one guild. Or rather, in the minds of Phantom Lord's members, it still was.
At noon, the ground-floor hall buzzed with voices. The clinking of glasses and bursts of laughter never stopped.
Several burly men with bizarre looks and assorted delinquent hairstyles sat together, bottles raised, watching a man beside them talk with spit flying.
"Hahahaha! You should've seen it!" A burly man with a scar on his face planted one foot on a bench and said animatedly:
"The looks on those Fairy Tail bastards' faces when they saw their guild destroyed-tsk, tsk! Every last one looked like his dad had died!"
"Their guild's a wreck now. They can only work out of the basement, using wooden crates for a counter." He slapped his thigh and jeered, "Haha! Like a nest of rats!"
The hall erupted in laughter.
"Fiore's number-one guild? My ass!" someone in the corner sneered. "Just a bunch of lunatics who only know how to tear down buildings."
"That old man Makarov's a real coward, too. His guild got smashed to pieces, and he didn't even dare make a peep."
"The old man's lost his nerve with age. All he can do is swallow it. With a Guild Master like that, Fairy Tail must be a whole nest of cowards!"
"Hahahahaha!"
By the bar, a tall, skinny man chewed on peanuts and drawled, "Speaking of which, doesn't Fairy Tail have some guy called Forest Blanc? People out there make him sound like a god. They say he's even stronger than the