Although every life in Earthland can find a corresponding existence in Edolas, this existence is not constrained by time, race, or blood relations.
There are quite a few such examples:
Grandeeney in Earthland is a dragon who lived four hundred years before the original work, yet her counterpart in Edolas is Porlyusica, who is about the same age as Makarov.
Ichiya in Earthland has as his counterpart in Edolas the Exceed Nichiya.
Jellal of Earthland is clearly of orphan origin, but his counterpart in Edolas is the son of Faust, Makarov's counterpart.
In addition, there is another example that may or may not count, and that is Irene.
Irene is Erza's biological mother, born four hundred years before the original work, but only after she completely died did Irene in Edolas come to be born as the daughter of Edolas's Erza, and the two even have a very high possibility of being in a relationship of "soul reincarnation."
Therefore, it is not strange at all that Zeref of Earthland has a counterpart in Edolas who is alive in this era.
Even so, encountering Zeref's counterpart in this world and at this time still made Weston feel surprised.
Because he had changed the life trajectories of Mavis and the others, everyone had still not met Zeref up to this point, and Weston had always looked forward to his first meeting with Zeref, but he had never thought that their first meeting would take this form.
Passing by Little Zeref, Weston and the others walked into the old tavern he had just noticed.
Only when they got closer did they discover that at the entrance of the old tavern hung a wooden sign bearing the emblem of the Fairy Tail guild.
"Not only the name is the same, even the guild emblem is the same?"
"Clearly existing in two completely different worlds with no intersection at all, yet there are so many similarities?!"
Precht took out his little notebook once again and began recording his observations.
That focused expression made Weston involuntarily think: if one day he wanted to change jobs, perhaps he could become a research scholar.
"I think it's probably not completely without intersection."
"Look over there!"
Warrod extended a finger and pointed toward a certain spot inside the tavern.
Everyone followed his gaze and finally saw the person who had been missing for many days.
"Ah! It's Yuri!"
At this moment, Yuri was being surrounded by a group of people, consulting him about the workflow and precautions of this Fairy Tail before them.
He looked like some kind of consultant.
"I knew it would be like this…"
Weston helplessly patted his forehead: "If I'm not mistaken, this Fairy Tail was created by him!"
Mavis also instantly understood the situation before them: "From Yuri's perspective, after discovering that he had been transferred to this world, he could neither contact us nor know when we would be able to find him, so forming a new Fairy Tail as a gathering symbol really is the best method."
At this moment, Yuri also noticed everyone's arrival.
His expression clearly froze for a moment, then was immediately filled with wild joy.
"Ah!!"
"It's everyone!!"
"You guys finally found your way here, this period really made me wait so long!!"
He pushed away the people crowded around him, spread his arms, and lunged over in three quick strides.
Everyone was familiar with his personality and had long anticipated that he would do this, so Weston swiftly pulled Mavis and Zera back a step, while Precht and Warrod also tacitly shifted to the side, all avoiding his bear hug.
Only Edolas-Yuri, who was not familiar with Yuri, remained quietly standing in place.
Boom—!!
Just as Yuri's bear hug was about to land, a fist smashed into his face.
The lunging motion came to an abrupt halt, like a bird crashing into a glass window, awkwardly sliding down to the ground.
"Sorry!"
Edolas-Yuri withdrew his fist and said flatly: "But being hugged by a man who looks exactly the same as yourself still feels pretty weird!"
Yuri on the ground rubbed his reddened nose and raised his head in displeasure, muttering: "What the heck, you hit so hard! You guy… uh…"
The resentment he had originally wanted to vent instantly dissipated upon seeing the face of the person before him, replaced by shock and confusion.
"Who the heck are you…??!"
Ten minutes later.
"Ehhh??!"
"You're saying this place is called Edolas, another world?!"
Seeing Yuri's worldview-shattering look of shock, everyone felt even more helpless.
"No way, you really didn't notice anything at all?"
Yuri scratched his head awkwardly: "I mean, I kind of did, after all the people here don't know Fairy Tail and haven't heard of the Council either, but I always thought this was just some remote place like Tenrou Island…"
"What about magic then?"
"You couldn't use magic, didn't you find that strange?"
Yuri still laughed heartily.
"You mean magic…"
"I thought Weston had used some special method to seal my magic and was joking around with me."
"You tell me, under normal circumstances who would realize they'd been transferred to another world? The probability of something like that is even smaller than me becoming the king of the Kingdom of Fiore!"
That… isn't entirely without reason.
Weston rolled his eyes: "Under normal circumstances, no one would think it was a joke either, okay?!"
Everyone exchanged glances.
"Well, um…"
"I do think that if the person joking around was you, Weston, the probability would still be pretty high…"
"Warrod, what did you say!!"
Warrod guiltily shifted his gaze away: "Just kidding, just kidding…"
"Stop lying, that totally wasn't a joking tone!"
Everyone burst out laughing.
After the noisy exchange, Yuri's gaze lingered on Edolas-Yuri for a long time.
"So you really are my counterpart in this world, and you're even the prince of this country?"
"That's right."
"That's really unbelievable, I never thought I actually had the qualifications to become a prince…"
Edolas-Yuri pursed his lips: "It's me, not you!"
"Even though we're counterparts, I am me and you are you, our souls are different and our personalities are different, in the end we're two different individuals, it's just a coincidence that our names and appearances are so similar…"
"What the heck, there's no need to draw the line that clearly…"
Yuri still wanted to say something more, but the others had already shifted the topic to the guild before them.
"Speaking of which, I really didn't expect Yuri to think of establishing Fairy Tail as a gathering point, it really makes me see you in a new light."
"If it weren't for this, who knows how long it would have taken us to find you!"