"Friend?"
Virel snorted coldly upon hearing this.
"Is a friend someone who does nothing?"
He said as he turned and entered the tavern, but in the end, he left the door ajar.
"What do you mean by doing nothing? I... you know my status, I..."
Klei initially felt angry upon hearing this, but after following him into the tavern, he said just two sentences before his mood seemed to deflate, and he finally sat down at the bar and said nothing.
On the contrary, Virel, despite his harsh words, took out a bottle of wine from the bar cabinet, poured a glass for him, and then poured another for Ethan, saying, "Young master, you can trust this guy, he's Al's friend; he helped to broker the ceasefire, and he risked getting Leonardo's body back."
Upon hearing this, Ethan came over, picked up the glass, and clinked it against the glass in front of Klei, saying, "Thank you."
"No need to thank me, I truly am someone who can't do anything."
He said with a self-deprecating smile and drank the wine in his glass.
The tavern door was closed, dim light filled the room, and after pouring another drink for Ethan and Klei, Virel left the remaining wine and walked away with Anya, becoming a silent statue, leaving Ethan and Klei facing each other.
"On the day of the negotiation, I was supposed to go, but because of an urgent matter, I was sent away. I understand Sandro's intention, he didn't want me to get involved in this affair anymore." Klei drank another glass, "He assured me that you'd be fine. Do you know what I thought?"
"What did you think?" Ethan poured him another glass.
"While I was outside during those days, I felt uneasy, I always felt something would happen. I thought, if something really happened to you, I'd come back and kill everyone in the Cappreya family and then go before Sandro to end my life." Klei had the third glass of wine.
Ethan silently poured wine.
"I know you still don't trust me, but it's okay, you're alive, and that's good." Klei stopped drinking and instead put his arm around Ethan's shoulder, patting it firmly.
"Ethan, good kid, good kid, you did an amazing job, I don't even know what I can do for you, come on, tell me, let me do something for you."
"You don't need to do anything for me." Ethan shook his head.
"No, I must do something for you, otherwise, what kind of friend am I?" Klei fell into a short silence.
Ethan could feel the guilt and helplessness radiating from him.
"Let me think, money, armed protection, you don't need these right now, what else do you need? Allies? You've already taken care of that yourself. Oh, I know, the true name, you've only recently inherited your father's true name, and since he left so soon, you surely have many questions that haven't been cleared up, right?"
Klei looked at Ethan somewhat excitedly.
Ethan didn't give an opinion; he just took a sip of the wine in his cup.
"I'll take it that you want to hear," Klei took a sip as well and then began a lengthy discourse.
Actually, Ethan had heard most of what Klei was saying before, it was no different from what Anya had said that day.
It wasn't until the topic of inheriting the true name came up.
"...The true name can be inherited, you should already know this, as you inherited your father's true name. But what you might not know is, the true name has a repulsive nature, not everyone with the bloodline can inherently inherit the true name. Inheriting the true name is a complex study, within known knowledge, the most important aspect is compatibility."
Klei seemed to have been talking too long and felt thirsty, so he tapped the table, Ethan poured him another glass, and he satisfactorily took a sip before continuing.
"What we call compatibility means you must be highly in sync with the true name you are inheriting. For instance, your elder brother Leonardo was exposed to the family business from an early age, participated in various actions, and personally was fully immersed in the underground world. You could say he was crafted for your father's true name, the violent unifier. But he still encountered some issues during inheritance, not enough compatibility, so even until his death, he was only at the stage of a thug."
"Therefore, you're the real genius, you haven't managed any family business for a single day, nor have you immersed yourself in the underground world, yet you can directly inherit your father's true name, amazing. I can feel it, you're even stronger than your father, a person like you might be the legendary chosen one? One hundred percent compatibility."
Ethan still didn't speak, nor could he. He couldn't possibly say that he hadn't inherited, but rather he created a new true name.
"We've talked about inheritance, now let's discuss bestowal. Inheritance involves directly gaining a part of the true name, bestow is different, it's merely feeling the aura of the true name and potentially awakening the true name. For example, Fred and Joan, they were given the true name by your father as a reward for outstanding performances. Just to add, Fred is a traitor, and Joan more or less too, he left the Bolita family over ten years ago, tried to make it out on his own, then returned to launch counterattacks."
Hearing this, Ethan resolved a doubt he had, which was why he could use the 'True God's Name' to counter Fred and Joan, yet it didn't work on other true-namers; their origins were consistent.
Moreover, the bestowment of true names was too weak; unlike his bestowal, which involved directly giving the genuine items, like with Anya.
Klei rambled on about various topics, but none of them were what Ethan wanted to hear. He sought knowledge about the plundering of true names.
After he killed Fred and Joan, he distinctly felt a sense of plundering, acquiring part of their power, which expanded his own true name.
But Klei didn't mention it. Was it possible that such a thing didn't exist among normal true-namers?
"Alright, that's enough for today. Regarding other true name systems, my knowledge of ancient languages is zero, so I can't tell you any more. Next time I'll bring you a copy of the latest issue of The Truth Newspaper; it contains detailed information." Klei hiccuped from the wine, stood up, and prepared to leave.
"The Truth Newspaper?" Ethan finally spoke a sentence.
"Oh, you surely don't know. It's a newspaper circulated only among true-namers, available at the Gathering of True-Nameers. Oh, Gathering of True-Nameers... Next time there's a Gathering of True-Nameers, I'll take you, and you'll understand."
Gathering of True-Nameers was yet another new term.
Klei wobbled as he walked out of the tavern, and before he closed the door, he suddenly turned back to look at Ethan.
"Ethan, kid, listen, no matter what you think, what I want to tell you is, I am forever your father's friend, and I am your friend too. Whenever you need anything, you can come to me, and I will help you, okay?"
He closed the door, while Ethan merely poured himself a glass of wine.