"How about <Aezaleon Eyne Ezodious>, I think that’s a good name, no? What do you think, Master~!" Clementine probed with a teasing tone. Her voice a soft velvet trap, inviting him in with a playful purr.

He nodded with a satisfied smile as she had expected. "Aezaleon Eyne Ezodious!" Repeating after her. "Indeed, that’s a... good name, but what does it mean? It should have a meaning behind it for you to give it to me after a whole minute’s contemplation, correct?"

Aezaleon questioned with a curious tone. Looking into his companion’s crimson eyes with an eager expression. Clementine smiled, feeling amused on watching his reaction. His eagerness was like a young sprout stretching toward the morning sun.

"Actually, the name <Aezaleon> comes from a rare species of flowers unique to my world. It’s a flower that blooms in blood, while collecting the soul fragments of the ones fallen near it. It absorbs the blood and the fragments it had collected over time. Subsequently, when the flower is properly processed, it becomes into something we call <Zayon Dust>."

"Something of a luxury item, only accessible to the royalties and the other top powers of my world, because of its rareness and how hard it is to process the aezaleon flowers and make the amazing Zeyon Dust. As for what it does, it can be used in many products—in cooking, wines, alchemy—but considering its luscious and aromatic fragrance, the Zeyon Dust is mostly sprinkled over the dishes as the last touching, all to make them more savory and scrumptious."

"It really magnifies the taste after all. Not to mention its soul revitalizing, blood nourishing and regenerative effects. It truly is a one-of-a-kind item, that we vampires in particular enjoy very much."

Clementine explained. Her eyes were a bit dazed with a faint melancholy on her flawless face as she remembered about her past. The memory was like a bittersweet wine, rich with age but heavy with sorrow. Nonetheless, shaking her head she quickly composed herself and had her attention focused on the matter at hand—the explanation.

"As for your middle and last name..." She continued, gazing into his eyes, who listened to her words rather attentively. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"It is simply the name of a good friend of mine that I had a long time ago, but most probably she is also already dead by now."

"She was an undead, an Archaic Lich, proficient in Nether and Death Laws and was also a strong Divine Entity. Not as strong as me, but she was there; she was quite strong alright. Needless to say, there is no particularly deep meaning behind your name; I just came up with it on the spot after all." She shrugged. Giving him a glance.

"However, if you really are looking for a meaningful name, then I’d say this name means: a collector of dead and unfortunate souls! Like a Connoisseur who collects the damned and the wretched in his soul, though one who has just begun on his journey and doesn’t know much about his field."

Clementine smiled, ending her explanation. A smile like a predator’s grace, elegant yet hiding a thousand secrets.

Aezaleon Eyne Ezodious was left completely speechless and overwhelmed by the long and tedious explanation the woman gave him over a simple name. ’Wow, did she actually think so much in such a little time!’

SIGH!

He shook his head.

"I’m curious?!"

"Go on, tell me!" Clementine raised her brow at the question. "Curious about what?" She already had a guess, but she still waited to hear it directly from his mouth.

The air between them hummed like a taut wire.

"Why didn’t you give me your own surname and had instead chosen to give me your friend’s name?"

Aezaleon asked, and as though he suddenly remembered something, his eyes narrowed. "By the way, why don’t you introduce yourself too, since aside from your name, there really is nothing I know about what or who you even are, Clementine Eyth Lifeblood!"

"Hmm. Of course you would ask this!"

She nodded. Her lips arched into a knowing smile.

"I don’t give you my name because the House of Eyth Lifeblood only has one member in it and that is me: the Founder. When I was alive I didn’t have many subordinates and I wasn’t close with anyone either to give them the honor of bestowing my family name to them."

"And as you already know, I have a lot of enemies, so the moment it is known that there is someone roaming the worlds with my name, two conclusions would immediately come into my enemies’ minds. First, that I had a child that I was able to save from their relentless pursuit of me—but that is impossible as I still maintain my innocence even to this day, not because I’m cold or heartless or that I see men as lower creatures, but because I never found someone both worthy enough and also to my liking for me to give my innocence to him and bear his child. Anyways, the second conclusion would be that I left behind my inheritance or something and had finally found a successor worthy enough to give my name. In any case, in both situations, you will get hunted down by them before you can even reach your full potential since they wouldn’t want to leave any loose ends behind that could prove to potentially become their enemies in the future. It’s like nipping the bud before its bloom, which is not good both for you and me, and you already know why that is the case, correct?"

The smile never left Clementine’s curled lips as she gave the reason. Her logic was like a cold iron cage, trapping him within its undeniable truth.

Aezaleon exhaled, massaging his temples. Of course he knew what his companion was talking about; as a calamity and more so as an intelligent calamity, he already had a very big target on his head.

After all, every outsider that came into this realm came because of the abundant resources of this place, which were the calamities themselves aside from many other materials.

After all, the world looked at his kind as a harvest waiting to be reaped.

His whole race was seen as nothing but objects by the outsiders to kill and grow stronger, or to enslave them for their benefits, or as they called it in more pleasing words: To tame the beasts! The so-called <Beast Tamer>, or the now newly popular word: the Calamity Tamers!

All in all, if Aezaleon isn’t strong enough by the time he comes into contact with the truly strong ones, then death or becoming a slave is all that awaits him. So, making more enemies and exposing himself to more people would only do him more harm than good.

It would be like carrying a torch into a den of sleeping vipers.

At least, Aezaleon should lie low until he can grow confident enough to keep himself alive no matter the situation he is thrust into.

"In any case, we will talk about me some other time. For now, why don’t you create a body for me that you told me about, Aezaleon?" Clementine suggested. Her suggestion landed with the steady weight of a falling anchor.

"So sudden...!"

HuH!

"What do you mean so sudden, Aezal? Just look at me!" Clementine pointed at herself.

"My rank one soul cores have already expended more than fifty percent of their energy to maintain my current physical form. Which I don’t like one bit; I’m not even doing anything aside from conversing with you and even then it has only been just over thirty minutes. It doesn’t justify the energy I’m expending at all to maintain my current form; it’s so wasteful."

She complained in a flat, slightly angered tone.

"To think I have fallen so low. Becoming so weak that I can hardly believe it, not to mention, my control over my energy has also become so poor. How embarrassing...!" She exhaled and shook her head.

Her frustration was like a storm trapped in a small, fragile bottle.