Names. Since time immemorial, all humans had taken on names for a myriad of reasons. At the very core, however, was the need to identify someone without poking or nudging them physically; it also served to help the poor, misguided humans in forming their own identity. As for the choice of name itself, many children were named for various reasons, like luck, lineage and well wishes.

Of course, one could change their own name in the future for a variety of reasons too. Like say, for instance, to avoid calamity.

Schwarz rapped the table with a wooden hammer — Moons knew where he got that from — and cleared his throat. “Ladies, gentlemen…it’s time we settled the issue of our name. The Moon Lords. We chose this name without giving it too much thought back then, since no one could have expected the Moons to actually freaking descend. While it sounds majestic, awesome and now serves to identify the few of us here and outside as the key movers of Licencia, it’s also a ticking time explosive.”

He paused. “Despite the fact that Lily isn’t here.”

Everyone laughed. Schwarz allowed a small grin to grace his face for a moment, and then rapped the table again. “For obvious reasons, the Moon Lords is a really problematic name. Fortunately for us, Claud isn’t around to suggest bad names, but unfortunately for the two of them, they might not know that we changed the name of our organisation.”

“Can’t we disseminate the news?”

“And risk the offending name entering the Moons’ ears? I think not,” Schwarz replied. “Anyway, we need to think of a nice catchy name. One that probably won’t impinge on the Moons and the Dark.”

Nero hummed. “The Good Guys?”

“One, half of us are ladies. Second, that sounds lame. Every single fake goods peddler I’ve met calls their shops Honest Joe, Goodman Grey and Candid Cathy, so let’s not use that really dodgy name,” Schwarz replied. “How about the Paranoid League of Commerce and Combat?”

“Let’s drop the word ‘Paranoid’. League of Commerce and Combat…” Risti scribbled something on a piece of paper. “That’s a bit acceptable, but if we want to make it sound catchy…”

Farah hummed. “Licencia’s League of Commerce and Combat? Does that sound good? We can abbreviate it to LLCC too!”

Dia found herself bobbing her head, but she didn’t chime in. While it sounded good, it felt a bit…off. For some reason. After a little dithering here and there, everyone turned to Risti next, who looked like she already had an idea.

“Risti?” Schwarz prompted gently. “What do you have?”

Risti rubbed her nose. “Well, it’s just a little thought. I mean, we don’t really do all these things because we have some grand intention to, right? What was our original intention in creating the Moon Lords?”

Everyone fell silent, and Dia found herself contemplating. How did it happen? She remembered teaching Claud about the strength of an organisation, and then Claud flipped it over and suggested that she and the others join up with the two locals, him and Schwarz. Farah, who had caused a scene, apologised, and then…

Hmm. Did I get some events wrong? Dia tilted her head. Either way, their little group had been established for various reasons that everyone of their own had. For Dia, it was to protect herself…of course, to the others, it seemed like the lookalike just wanted to safeguard herself while being fairly obvious, although that goal had probably tripped into a wayside ditch at some point.

Now, Princess Dia of the Lustre Dukedom was a thing of the past. Ever since the Moons and the Dark took the stage, Ruler Umbra’s murder was no longer on everyone’s mind. The coronation of Ruler Istrel…

“Speaking of names,” said Dia, “is the Istrel Dukedom still called the Istrel Dukedom?”

“Last I checked, yes.” Schwarz guffawed. “The Moons’ barrier severed all connections to the outside world, so there’s no way that Emperor Grandis’ plans for the old Istrel Dukedom would make it in. One could say that the Istrel Sovereignty — the actual core territory — is now ten times the size of every other sovereignty’s core territory.”

“How confusing.”

“Right? Anyway, what name did you come up with, Risti?”

Risti cleared her throat. “Seekers of Life.”

Schwarz opened his mouth, and then slammed it shut. His voice polite, he asked, “Why did you choose such a name?”

“Don’t laugh at me, okay?” Risti took a deep breath. “We all joined because we wanted to find this thing called ‘life’. Sure, it’s different for most of us, and Claud was very literal in his pursuit, but all of us joined for some reason or some variant of ‘life’. Farah sought a lifeline for her county by joining up with you guys. Dia sought a lifeline for her and her mistress, drawing attention as a tough target. Schwarz is Schwarz.”

Dia ran through those words slowly.

“Life, huh.” Farah nodded. “Yeah. It’s a descriptive name, but one that is mystical enough that no one would know what we exactly do.”

“I didn’t think that far,” Risti admitted, her eyes shifty. “but yeah.”

Dia saw an opportunity to end it here and jumped in. “I think it’s a good name too. Seekers of Life.”

“Alright,” said Schwarz. “This is a majority vote, and since Claud and Lily aren’t here, we’ll tentatively rebrand ourselves as the Seekers of Life. I’ll make the necessary arrangements. Once our lost lovebirds return home, we’ll tease them a bit and then ask them for their opinions on our new name. Sound good?”

“That’s fine,” Dia replied, and the others nodded. Nero, who was sipping at his own apple juice, raised his cup and said nothing.

In Dia’s opinion, he actually was entitled to a say in this matter, but again, Nero hadn’t quite joined them of his own volition. He had been awakened in very damning circumstances; only the fact that the Third had been revealed to be the one responsible had saved him from many nasty fates.

“What?” Nero looked at her. “I’m not going to say anything here, alright? And I can’t think of any names either. Besides, I like the mystical aspect of it. It sounds good.”

“…Alright, then.” Dia shrugged, and then filled up her cup for the eighth time. For a moment, she had the feeling that someone was glaring at her angrily, but when she looked up, everyone, especially Schwarz, was immersed in their own drink.

The bartender’s cup shook the table a moment later, and he cleared his throat. “Since Nero has no objection, I hereby declare that we’re called the Seekers of Life. This name may be changed depending on Lily and Claud’s impression when they return, but for now, we will call ourselves that. I will work on rebranding our image with the people. Farah, you handle the necessary procedures with the Nightfall Palace. Risti, you deal with our contacts, and Dia, you handle the guards at the gates. Any questions?”

Everyone raised a thumb.

“What about me?” Nero asked.

“Uh…just continue to be our mascot,” Schwarz replied. “A tetra-folder holding the fort is no joke. There’s a reason why crime has dropped so drastically, and it’s not because Claud did a good job.”

“I’m so good, I scare off criminals with my presence alone…” Nero grinned. “Sounds great.”

“Right?”

Everyone fooled around and chatted for the next few hours. It was rare for them to be in attendance like this, given their hectic schedule of burning mana circuits over the past few months, so they weren’t holding back on the drinks and chatter.

Schwarz’s lips would tremble every so often, though. Especially when Dia refilled her cup. Was it a sign of a dwindling supply?

Dia shook her head and smiled.

They were pouring out another round of drinks when a bell chimed, and everyone jumped. The sound of someone requesting entry was so foreign to them nowadays, especially since the Moon Lords — er, Seekers of Life — had retreated into Moon Mansion.

Their home probably needed to be renamed too, now that Dia thought about. As well as the Moon Guards and other Moon-themed things.

Shaking her head to clear it of random thoughts, Dia watched as Risti got up. “I’ll go and check out who’s at the booth. Haven’t stepped out for some time anyway.”

“Sure, go wild,” Schwarz replied.

“Just remember to greet them nicely,” Farah added.

Risti rolled her eyes and left the room. Before Dia could even finish her drink, however, Risti had returned with two visitors in tow, and everyone stood up on instinct.”

“What are you guys doing?” Count Nightfall asked. “Sit down. We haven’t met for a few months, and you’ve all reverted to this formal way of treating me. Really?”

“You’ll break our hearts,” Caroline added. “Anyway, it’s good that you guys are out. Trouble’s brewing.”

“And you two can’t deal with it?”

“In short, yes. We need capable agents that can act in an unofficial capacity,” Caroline replied. “You guys are it.”

“…I want to say no,” Schwarz replied, “but you guys are going to make an offer we can’t refuse.”

Count Nightfall cleared his throat. “There’s a stash of medium-ranked lifestones sitting around. You guys might find a good use for it.”

“See?” Schwarz shook his head.

“Take a seat,” said Farah. “Let’s hear what we’re up against…”