If Yuri had a calm and mature temperament, showing her naughty side just to him, then Cecilia was a headstrong girl through and through. Especially after the things they had been through the past year, further deepening her Serenity, bringing her closer to her Clarity, she had come much closer to her true nature. Acting on her instincts, diving headfirst into danger… these things had become like second nature for her.

Thankfully, her instincts were based on reasons, and correct most of the time. Not to mention that she looked much cuter when she was lively. As for the times that she was wrong, she had him and Yuri to help her clean her mess, did she not? She had rarely given him such chances in recent times, but he was always ready to come to her rescue.

However, it was exactly because Alnea knew how she normally behaved, that he could rest assured after he heard her words. Cecilia may have sounded a bit disgruntled with Vestia, but since she warned the blue robed woman, she had basically accepted the fact Vestia was joining their team. Vestia herself did not know much about Cecilia though, and took her grumpy attitude as her dissatisfaction—which was not wrong in a sense— stepping in to better her impression in the Heart of her new teammates.

“Now that you know about why you need teammates, what should I tell you next?” Vestia said, pretending to get lost in her thoughts for a moment. “How about learning more about the city?”

“We do need to know more about the city, or else we might end up making a fool of ourselves once again. But before doing anything, there is one thing that we must do.”

“…Do not hesitate to ask for my help if you need it.”

“I will gladly take you up on that offer, Vestia. Though just your help would not be enough. After all, what I am talking about is something that all of us must do together.”

“…Now you are starting to make me curious.”

“You are overthinking,” Cecilia said with a snort. “He is never up to any good, always thinking about useless things… Just ignore him.”

“I am serious.”

“Given your record, it is hard to believe your words,” Yuri said with a straight face, but failed to hide the slight fluctuations of amusements in her voice. “Or have you forgotten what you did the day before?”

“…I was just trying to cheer you two up,” Alnea mumbled. “But this time, I truly am serious. There is really something that we must do before doing anything else.”

“I believe you, Alnea,” Vestia said, winking at him, only for Cecilia and Yuri to glare at both of them the very next moment.

“…It would be better if we focus on more important things,” Yuri said. “And stop flirting with the first girl that talks nicely with you.”

“…What did I do?”

“…Idiot.”

It was Vestia who had winked at him. How was it his fault? Under the glare of the two girls though, he could only admit his mistake, or risk facing their wrath. Fortunately, he had better options.

“This is important as well,” Alnea said. “In fact, this is the most important thing we need to do.”

“If you are being so adamant about it… What is it?”

“Name.”

“…Name?”

“That’s right. Name. It was fine before, when it was only us, but with Vestia joining us, we need a name for our team.”

“…I would not go so far as to say that it is the most important thing, but I agree that naming our team is indeed a very important matter,” Vestia said, with the brightness in her eyes matching the smile on her face. “Since you three are so close to each other, I thought that you would have already have a name.”

“We do,” Cecilia said, sneakily trying to slip in her version of the team’s name. “We are Green Warriors.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Why not? It is much better than Night Rangers.”

“I agree.”

“…Although I would like to agree with you, but on this, I concur with Cecilia and Yuri.”

…On the positive side, at least they agreed on something.

“Then you cannot call us Destiny Wanderers either.”

“Or Fate Breakers.”

“…Then we are back at square one.”

“It seems like none of can agree on the same name.”

“But we cannot be without a name either… Why are smiling so much?”

“It’s nothing,” Vestia said, shaking her head. With her smile widening with every passing moment though, she did not seem particularly convincing. “…It’s just that you three have been putting so much pressure on me, that I was subconsciously treating you the same as other Wanderers I have met in the course of my journey.”

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“What do you mean by that? I will let you know that we are proper Wanderers, who have broken more than forty records in just twenty trials.”

“I know… But you are also kids who have just become Wanderers.”

“…You are not that much older than us either.”

“And that is why we should talk with each other in a much more straightforward manner, should we not? Why skirt around the things that we want to talk about, trying to outsmart each other…”

“…Stop being so long winded,” Cecilia said, waving her hand to dismiss Vestia’s worries. “I may not like you much, but since you are a part of the team, I will naturally treat you as one.”

“…I should also apologise for being so aggressive earlier,” Yuri said with slightly flushed cheeks, breaking her stoic face for the first time in a while.

“It is fine. Your concerns were valid. And my intentions are not exactly pure either. If you had not put me through so much gruelling, you would not have accepted me into your team so easily, would you?”

“…I will not let you succeed,” Cecilia said, glaring at the blue robed woman.

“And I will not give up until I succeed… If I choose him, that is. For now, I just want to enter the inner city with you.”

“…If you are done making up, can we get back to naming our team?”

“Of course,” Vestia said, turning towards Alnea. “Before we begin though, how about I give a suggestion?”

“That is exactly why I have brought this topic up in the first place. As a part of the team, you have just as much right to naming our team as any one of us. So, go ahead, and feel free to say what you want.”

“I am glad that you think so much for me, Alnea,” Vestia said, with her smile widening in satisfaction, while Cecilia and Yuri both let out a hum. “What I want to say is that in the world of Wanderers, taking a name is a very mystical concept. Sometimes, it can even be linked to your Fate. Especially if the names can be linked to your identity. This is why most, if not all, of the Orthodoxies link their names with their patron Gods and Goddesses.

“So, naming your team randomly with what you think sounds good might seem like a good idea, but it can very dangerous. It would be fine if nothing happens, but if you get tainted with the wrong fate… No matter how trivial it may seem to you at the moment, you cannot take joke around with the identity that you are going to use in front of hundreds of thousands of Wanderers.”

“…The names are not random,” Cecilia mumbled. “We came up with them after months of deliberation.”

“I admit that the names you have come up with do sound interesting and may not have any bad fate associated with them, but only if you take those names for yourself. For the team, none of those names are suitable, because none of those can describe the three of you as a whole.”

“…Why does this vixen sound so reasonable?”

“Because she is right,” Yuri said with a sigh. “I do not like this feeling.”

“Being corrected?”

“…Being corrected by a vixen. That too, one just a couple of years older than us.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s just that she has more experience than you.”

“And you would like that, won’t you? A girl who has more experience over a girl who has none?”

“…What are you talking about?”

“…Forget it. I am just a little stressed.”

“I can see that.”

“And tired.”

“I can see that too.”

“…It’s not that I don’t like dealing with other Wanderers.”

“I know.”

“I just don’t like dealing with vixens.”

“…It’s alright, Yuri. How about we go get some rest?”

“No. This is important. We really do need a name for our team. And we still have to learn more about the city. Since we have let her join our team, we need to make best use out of her.”

Yuri’s words sounded wrong on so many levels… Alnea wisely chose to side with her this time though, urging Vestia contribute more to the team.

“How should we name our team then?”

“For now, there are just four of us in the team. So, technically, the name would not matter much, as long as we can agree on one, that is. But we will obviously have more people join our team in the near future. As such, we need a name that our future team members would also be able to agree upon. A name which can bind all our aspirations, and goals, and bring us together—

“Keep it short,” Cecila said impatiently.

“…The easiest way would be to start with a number. Any number would do, but the number of maximum team members that we aim to have would work the best.”

“…I doubt I would be able to handle even one more member like you, but let’s go with seven.”

“Oh? So, you plan to have three more women join the team? It would be—

“No!” Cecilia and Yuri said in unison, almost shouting at Vestia. “No more women.”

“…I do not prefer any more women joining the team either,” Vestia said, winking at Alnea once again. “Unless Alnea has any other plans, of course.”

“I have no such plans,” Alnea hurriedly said, raising his hands in surrender. The blue robed woman… She may look cute with her dimples, but she was like an Abyssal, trying to push him into despair. Could she not see the glares that the girls were giving him? Why was she winking at him at a time like this?

“That would make things a little more difficult, but it is fine. Since we know how many people there are going to be in the team, then next we just need to find something that is common between us. A trait that all of us share…”

“…Our goal of entering the core city?”

“Not so common.”

“Our strength?”

“It would be too arrogant, but that is not a bad idea. We can come back to it if we fail to find anything suitable.”

“We can also go with our common Arcanas.”

“Or Martial Styles.”

“Even Glyphs would do.”

“Common Mysteries…”

“How about Bloody Seven? Because we will always leave our opponents bloody…”

“Or Seven Deaths. Because we will always send our opponents close to Death.”

“That’s actually a very good name. Much better than ‘The Seven Apostles of Death’ that I was going to say.”

“Apostles of Death… not bad…”

“Perdia’s Seven…”

“Absolute Seven…”

…Vestia had just lectured them about how arrogantly they had been acting for the past few days, yet the things she was saying were even more arrogant. After all she said, she even dared to bring the name of the Gods in the name of the team… Most importantly, Cecilia and Yuri were seriously considering her words. Why were all the girls that he knew so crazy?

“Let’s just go with Star Seekers,” Alnea said, stepping in between the girls before they could doom him to bear embarrassing names for the rest of his life. “We chase after the stars, seeking the one that belongs to us.”