Damian's back was now cold. So very cold. Little blips of moisture were making their way around his armor and into his clothes. A shiver ran its way down his back.

  He was on the ice cart, dragged behind his party. Frey was walking beside him and holding his right hand. It was the only warmth he was feeling at the moment.

  If he really tried, he could walk, but he wouldn't be able to keep pace. It didn't hurt to move, but it was more like his senses were dulled and that he was moving through mud.

  As for circumstances, they needed to keep moving. His alternative for transportation would have been to let Alex or Elaina carry him.

  The thought brought a chill down his spine. He wasn't going to let himself go through that humiliation. They'd never let him live it down.

  Turning his head to his left, he came face to face with the bulwark assassin. The other three were piled up just behind. All tightly wrapped with rope.

  The stealthy assassin had burn marks all over his left side. Frey's scroched laser had actually landed in the initial attack, doing devastating damage. Missing skin and exposed muscles crept over his body.

  Elaina noted that he used a replacement skill to avoid the brunt of her attack. He had disappeared and been replaced by another stump of wood before the Scorched Laser could fully connect.

  Is that considered teleportation? Where did the block of wood come from? A spatial storage? Was he limited in the number of times he could use it? Could he have used it to teleport forward to attack?

  The skill was strange in Damian's mind. Something in him craved to understand it more and figure out all the ways one could use it to their advantage. But sadly, it wasn't easy to train a skill you fancied.

  Sometimes it would work, other times you'd end up with something in a similar vein, but its core would differ. His own Wind Form was debatably better, but much simpler.

  Damian stared at the stealthy assassin's corpse a bit longer. What had actually killed the man was a series of stabbings by Elaina. Numerous blade wounds covered his entire body. Not just the chest, but each extremity had puncture wounds. She carried out the task rather zealously.

  A small part of him feared that he would return as a wraith due to the body's mangling, but that was unlikely. An undead would still be able to control a body riddled with holes. Even if all of the tendons were cut, they could still move normally. The only thing these wounds would affect was the amount of black mist pouring out of the bastard.

  Elaina had reasoned that the assassin had targeted Frey to sow discord within their group. He had been listening in on them speaking and learned that Frey was Elaina's weakness. At this moment, she was hovering at Frey's other side. She had given her cord of blood rope to Alex to pull.

  They had come very close to losing Frey. Elaina had said that what Damian had accomplished should have been impossible. Although what was impossible when magic was involved?

  "Are you sure there won't be more assassins?" Damian cautiously asked Elaina.

  "I'm fairly sure. When my skill first detected people, I could only sense the first two. I suspect that the last piece of shit had been in stealth the whole time. If he had lifted his skill or tried to make contact with his superiors, I would have noticed."

  "Um, how far-reaching is your detection skill?"

  Elaina smiled at the question.

  Why is she so open about the fact that she'd abandoned us, but so cagey with her skills? Although if word got out about some of the ones that could be disguised, that could cause a lot of issues for her later on if enemies got word.

  If Damian hadn't concluded that the teleporter could teleport, then Alex might be dead. If the invisible man knew that Damian could pull him into the wind, he might have sacrificed a few moments to avoid him. Knowledge was a matter of life or death.

  'sigh'

  "So... About those other sis---- Ouch!" Frey had poked Damian in his side with her free hand. Now defenseless, Damian couldn't stop her wraithful nature. Not that he could before.

  Guess that topic is temporarily taboo.

  "How about your mo- Ouch!" Again, Damian's question had been thwarted. Frey currently had an impenetrable defense against any teasing.

  "Pft!" Fergus and the rest of their party were laughing softly ahead of them.

  'sigh'

  "Hey, Higgins! What kind of environment did you grow up in?" Damian decided to learn a bit about their new ally.

  "Huh? Me? Ah... I grew up in an orphanage. Lots of people I consider my family are from there. Several of us joined the military when we were old enough. Ah..." Higgins's mood deflated a bit. She looked lost in thought.

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  Damian remembered her mentioning some people's names when she learned that the healing center had been destroyed.

  "I'm sorry for your loss."

  "Loss? What do you mean by loss? They should be at the border with the Empire. We just exchanged letters last week."

  Oh...

  "Psh! Hahaha! Ah~ Sorry for laughing. I hope your family is doing well." Frey interjected.

  "Yep! We're all going to rise up the rankings and be core pillars of the Union!"

  "What happened to not caring about a promotion? That you'd rather have money?" Alex poked Higgins's motives.

  "Both are nice... I don't exactly care about money. It's just that I don't want to be indebted to Betty. I've seen debt tear friends apart before..."

  Ah... it can also tear apart families...

  "Well, I'm sure you'll be able to get out of debt quickly! If you must, you should beg that First Price Lark for a huge reward! If what we have proves that the Second Prince was behind this whole thing, then our reward will be humongous! We'll buy a whole street and name it after ourselves!" Alex boasted.

  "... Um, what is your group's name?" Higgins innocently asked. Little did she know that she had touched on their weakness.

  "... ..." Their whole group stayed silent. Alex even started whistling while looking away.

  "You don't have a group name? No, seriously, what is it?" Elaina had joined the conversation and prodded for a response. It seemed that Frey had left it out of any letters she sent.

  "We don't have one." Frey outright lied.

  Elaina squinted her eyes and gave her sister a long look.

  "You know what happens when you lie to your Big Sister, don't you, Frey?"

  Frey's grip on Damian's hand doubled in strength.

  "It's Daffid! I chose the name!" Damian stood forth (metaphorically) again and took the blame that was rightfully his. Déjà vu?

  "..." Elaina just gave Damian a puzzling look. Like she couldn't believe that he had actually chosen that name, another invisible dagger made its way into his heart, tucking itself nicely next to the other three. Her stare of disbelief hurt many more times than any of her words could.

  "Oh! I like it! Daffid Street has a certain ring to it~."

  Oh, Higgins... Goddesses bless your heart. You're the best of us, clearly. I'm so glad I saved you when you got stranded on the other side of the wall.

  Higgins's ranking in Damian's Favorite People List just soared to the top.

  Best to change the topic while we leave it on a high note.

  "So, about..."

  "Daffid, really?" Elaina questioned. This question proceeded to turn the knife already lodged in him.

  "It was the first letters of all our names organized in something that almost seemed like a word. I'm not sure if I really want to change it anymore. It'd be like we're leaving Isaac behind..." Damian spewed out an explanation that poked at a fresh wound.

  The conversation took a dark turn. So much had been going on that the topic of Isaac kept getting pushed to the back. They had come to a moment of peace when they witnessed Isaac's wraith sacrifice itself, willingly or foolishly, it didn't matter. But the wounds were still there, with little time to heal.

  "I say we keep it. Daffid feels good. Next time we'll tell people our party's name with pride." Donna stated. She had a certain clarity about her.

  "Why the hell not? We're Daffid!" Alex joined in.

  'sigh' "I suppose I'm fine with it too. It wouldn't be right to change it now." Frey chimed in.

  "What are you going to do when you get a new member?" Elaina had to pour cold water on their resolve to take up a really lame name.

  "Um, we can search for someone whose name starts with an 'I' ?" Damian offered.

  "Really? So you'll take a subpar bulwark to keep that name? Please, have it changed and recognize yourselves as being Daffid in the past. Your reputation will be damaged by using it." Elaina stated as a voice of reason.

  Frey then began to sigh in relief. She really didn't want to keep the name. Just getting dragged along in their moment of solidarity.

  "Any recommendations?" Damian threw out to the group.

  "How does Miracle Workers sound?" Donna offered.

  "That'd make us sound like a healers-only kind of group. Only two of us can heal anyway." Alex rebutted.

  "What about Fergus's Protectors?" Damian chimed.

  "Rejected!" Fergus was quick to cut the idea off.

  "Little Titans?" Frey suggested.

  "I feel that I've heard that name several times before, and who wants to be called little? I sure as hell don't." Alex seemed to draw a firm line when it came to her size being lessened. She held pride in her sculpted body.

  "Since I rained on your moment, let me help." Elaina decided to facilitate the naming.

  "What has defined your group throughout this disaster? Anything in particular? It could even be centered around something Isaac did."

  "... ..."

  Damian and everyone in their group were replaying the events of the last two days.

  - Isaac had saved their lives while escaping from Hans

  - Alex had saved them from getting blown up at the healing center

  - They saved Higgins and her men.

  - The discovery of the bodies in the carriages

  - The defense at the wall

  - Defeating the ape wraith

  - Hiding the evidence

  - Escaping the military

  - Fighting assassins

  They were reflecting on these moments and coming to their own conclusions.

  "Saviors" "Giant Slayers" "Wind Waker's Party" "Stalwarts" "Seconds Matter"

  "Ok, I'm going to do you all a favor and throw out all of those except for Seconds Matter. I've seen far too many Giant Slayers & Saviors, while Stalwart is boring. Wind Walker's Party? Really, Damian?"

  Damian looked away in shame. He had thought that the name Ms. Sanderson had given him was pretty cool in the end. So why waste something that was already so amazing?

  This time, the dagger aimed at his heart had been deflected by his own stubbornness. Nothing was going to change his mind about Wind Walker.

  "Donna, may I ask why you suggested Seconds Matter?" Elaina continued.

  "... Isaac saved us with only seconds to spare. His wraith also saved a lot of other wraiths for a few seconds. We survived while they didn't. I thought that a matter of seconds could change everything. Even earlier that day, Alex shouting 'Operation Start' had likely saved our lives. I suppose we could also go with Moments Matter."

  "No, no. Seconds Matter is good. I like it. Meaningful and catchy. All in favor?"

  "Yeah!" Everyone agreed in a cheer.

  Their new name had been decided.

  "Did you hear that Seconds Matter took down a tier 6 wraith?"

  "The military tried to chase down Seconds Matter and ended up losing them!"