"Aaaah! It's freezing!" the white-haired boy yelped, his breath puffing out in frosty clouds.
The cold was biting so hard his tongue felt numb.
"HAHAHA! What an idiot!" Nora doubled over, clutching her stomach. "He scarfed down the whole bereezy star, hahaha!"
Alioth shot her a sour look. He'd just bitten into that weird exotic fruit.
'Damn brat. You're the one who told me to eat it like that.'
The fruit had been green, thick-skinned, and shaped like a star, packed with juicy electric-blue seeds.
He hadn't thought much of the intense light-blue glow it gave off when he first examined it, but clearly he should have.
Turns out the thing was loaded with ice spirits. Eating the whole thing at once had turned his mouth into an icebox.
It was interesting, really. In this world, anything cold meant an overload of ice spirits; anything hot meant too many fire spirits.
Though Alioth usually thought of them as spiritual particles instead.
"Nora, quit messing with your new friend and help me pack up the stall," Tata called, already stacking crates onto the cart.
Alioth raised an eyebrow.
'Who said that little tornado was my friend?'
He thought, irritation flickering through him.
"Coming!" Nora chirped, bounding over to obey.
The cart was soon piled high with all sorts of exotic fruits, some familiar from Earth, others completely alien.
"Do you need any help, ma'am?" Alioth asked, trying to sound polite even though he really didn't want to lift a finger.
The woman shook her head as she loaded another box.
"No need boy. You've already put up with enough of my daughter's nonsense today."
Alioth relaxed a little. He couldn't argue with that.
Nora, though, clearly didn't like the comment. She shot him a sharp glare.
'Why's she looking at me like that?'
The boy grumbled to himself.
"By the way, Alioth, how come I can't see your aura? That's never happened to me before," Latisha asked while sliding an empty crate onto the cart.
Alioth swallowed hard. He had a pretty good guess why, but he couldn't exactly say it out loud.
"Well... you could say my Ka levels are extremely low," he answered, voice tight with nerves.
The truth was worse: he had zero Ka at all.
In this world, that vital energy was literally essential for life. Without it, he was basically a walking anomaly, like someone on Earth living without a heartbeat.
To everyone else, he probably looked like some kind of vampire or undead thing.
"Oh, I get it," Latisha nodded.
"Makes sense! No wonder you're so weak," Nora added with a smug grin.
Alioth gritted his teeth.
He couldn't even deny it. She was right, he was weak.
"Hey, Nora, that's rude. Low Ka doesn't mean he can't get strong someday," Tata said firmly, though she was probably just trying to cheer him up.
Or at least that's what he hoped.
"What? Ka literally decides how powerful you are. Everyone knows that," Nora shot back, crossing her arms.
Tata just shook her head.
"Things have changed a lot lately. Ever since the dwarves got their freedom, technomagic has advanced like crazy," she said with conviction. "And don't forget the story of Raganon. He started as a nobody, but became a legendary hero through sheer effort."
Alioth's eyes lit up.
What story was she talking about? Was there actually hope for him?
Suddenly he was hanging on every word.
"But he only became a hero because he got that magic sword. And Rugus told me the holy ministry ordered all artifacts destroyed after Zagreus's revolution," Nora countered energetically.
Tata's face darkened. She slammed a crate down hard onto the cart and glared at her daughter.
"Don't you dare call what that monster did a 'revolution'! He just slaughtered people, do you understand me?!" Her chubby cheeks flushed red like a ripe tomato.
Nora opened her mouth to argue, but one look at her mother's expression made her clamp it shut and drop her gaze.
"Sorry," she mumbled, voice small.
Alioth watched the exchange quietly.
From what he knew, Zagreus had fought for the rights of fairies and demons, launching an attack on the empire, wiping out the imperial line, and forcing the country into a republic.
He'd been killed for it, but his actions had dramatically improved life for fairies and demons, who used to be little more than slaves to the Vanir.
Still, the blood he'd spilled was staggering.
"It's fine, as long as you remember," Tata said, calming down a bit.
Alioth knew the event wasn't ancient history. Tata might have been a child when it happened.
But that wasn't what interested him right now. He wanted to hear more about the dwarves, though he didn't want to seem pushy.
"Tata, is it true dwarves can summon the powers of legendary weapons into new ones themselves?" Latisha asked, maybe to break the awkward silence, or maybe to help Alioth out.
Either way, he felt grateful.
"It's true," Tata nodded. "Back in the old days, dwarves gave names to their weapons to give them souls. That's how artifacts were born. Later they figured out that if you gave the same name to a different weapon, sometimes you could make the legendary one reincarnate into it, though it didn't always work."
Alioth's eyes widened.
'That's it!'
His heart hammered against his ribs. For some reason, this felt like the key to fixing everything.
He needed to know more.
"Oh! Right, I almost forgot," Nora suddenly piped up.
Alioth clicked his tongue in annoyance.
'Can't you just stay quiet for once?'
He thought irritably.
"The girl I saved earlier, where is she?" Nora asked, bouncing on her toes.
Alioth raised an eyebrow.
'Pretty sure I was the one who saved her.'
"Mmm, you mean the one who came with you? She's been standing in the same spot all morning, hasn't said a word. It's kind of weird," Latisha said, sounding worried. "I wasn't sure if I should talk to her or just leave her be."
Alioth's black eyes drifted back to the girl.
Her hair was tangled and filthy, her clothes no better. Her grayish eyes stared blankly ahead, completely empty.
"Wow... she's a noname," Tata said softly, a note of sadness in her voice.
Nora tilted her head, clearly confused. Alioth could practically see the question marks floating above her.
"Noname? What's that?" she asked.
Her golden hair caught the wind, sunlight turning it into shimmering silver strands.
"Someone without a name," Alioth answered, a touch condescending.
He'd studied how it worked.
"So what?" Nora asked, still not getting it.
Alioth's lips curved into a smug little smile.
"What? You don't know?"
Nora's cheeks flushed red as she shook her head quickly.
"Of course I know! I was just... checking if you knew," she stammered, embarrassed.
A rush of smug satisfaction washed over Alioth.
Still, he decided to explain.
"You see, by giving a name to something or someone, you're adding a characteristic that serves as a differentiator of an ontological classification, granting it a unique identity," Alioth commented with the tranquility with which you'd indicate the way to a traveler.
He got blank stares in return, and a soft giggle from Aida.
"That sounded just like Legba," the doll said, amused. She turned to Nora. "Look, someone can be blonde or red-haired, have green eyes or brown. Lots of people share those traits, right?"
Nora nodded slowly, gears visibly turning.
"But when you give a person a name, it becomes something special and unique. It gives them an identity," Aida continued gently.
"They say a name is the start of your story. Everything you do after that becomes part of who you are. But if no one ever names you... you never get to start your story. You never develop a real will."
Golden and green spirits pulsed softly in the air, their rhythm calm and steady.
That was how this world worked. A name defined your existence.
That's why nonames existed. The Vanir had deliberately kept them nameless so they could be treated as property.
Only the holy magisterium had the authority to name children now.
And while freed slaves could theoretically receive names these days, very few people actually wanted to give up their labor force.
"I see," Nora said slowly, though she still looked half-lost. "So... we just give her a name, right?"
Everyone turned to stare at her.
It was such a simple, innocent idea that it almost felt too good to be true.
Was it really that easy? Wasn't it too late?
Could it even work?
Alioth swallowed hard, questions racing through his mind.
But something inside him said he had to try.
His expression turned serious as he nodded.
"Alright. I'll handle it."