All he was thinking right now was getting quick to the north side of the city, if the words from Syr were true then he might get some answers to some of his long-awaited questions.
But what could he ask? What type of monster attacked or who was the victim? No, he needed more concise information but even then what if he didn't get any answers? Maybe some pointers or a lead on what to do next but even then.
For now he would have to improvise on the fly.
By the time he was approaching the northern gate, he saw more and more people gathering around a cart but the horse was nowhere to be seen.
The transport had a lot of boxes and other goods in the back that were in a bad shape, the cart itself was in perhaps a worse state, the wooden parts were heavily damaged, the wheels looked like they were about to give in and in some parts there were traces of blood.
`Maybe it was too late´ Ragnar thought to himself, worried that this little detour was for naught.
What could he even do? Returning, he doubted anyone at Fimbulvetr would know much about it. He needed to dig for more information.
"Uhm, excuse me, " the adventurer approached the group of civilians that were just muttering things near the cart. He also spotted many guards that were talking to each other and taking notes about the situation with someone that belonged to the Guild. "What happened? "
"From what I heard, an old merchant arrived not too long ago and he was in a really bad shape."
"Yeah, look at the cart, it must've been bandits or probably some creature. Can't believe that guy survived this long."
Two random people commented to the blond's question. It lined up with the few bits of information he had, but it was still vague.
"Please… don't tell me that he is…"
"Mh? No, well, at least he was still alive by the time they took him away." One of them spoke again. "There is a small clinic not too far from here." They pointed at somewhere on the inner alleyways of this part of the city.
"Thanks, that helps." Ragnar tilted his head to acknowledge their help and then turned around towards the direction they pointed out.
He could feel his heart beating, as if he was getting close to a checkpoint on this long road he started not long ago, a hurdle that he has been waiting to get across and now he was very close to putting it behind.
Of course, that was wishful thinking, for all he knew the survivor could be dead and all the questions he wanted to make would end up nowhere; he wasn't tired or annoyed of being in Orario but he was definitely miffed that he could not make any advancements.
All the training that he has done so far was definitely helpful but when it came to the real challenge would he be able to overcome it? Would he win?
"Tsch, of course I would." He said to himself, almost annoyed that he would even doubt his own abilities.
But even in that brief moment, walking down the alleyways while keeping an eye on the clinic, he got a little bit of doubt, perhaps a `what if? ´. The only solution would be to keep on training, to become stronger to the point that he would be able to fight what has been haunting him for almost two months.
His legs stopped moving when he saw a sign that was hanging near the entrance. His heart kept a rapid beating as he tried to compose himself.
The clinic was located in a cul de sac. Perhaps the best way to describe it is that this dead end of an alleyway ended in a small plaza with many buildings surrounding it. While there were some stores and the aforementioned clinic, there were also plenty of houses, some even located on the second floors of the stores, overlooking the entrance to this area.
The clinic was on the first floor, the door was no different than the others but the sign was already standing out. There was a flower shop next to it which was already open.
He could hear people inside of the clinic, they sounded like they were in a hurry so maybe it was a good sign that the person was still alive. Or perhaps it was something else? He couldn't make up his mind.
Ragnar took a deep breath and turned the doorknob, walking inside as the door opened.
At a first glance he saw two nurses and a man filling some paperwork behind the desk at the front.
The clinic was a house, or at least it used to be since it was given a new purpose. What this placed like in size it was compensated in being long and with many rooms; it felt claustrophobic at times, a long hallway with many doors and the nurses entered in one of them and closed the door. This place did not stood out on the inside, if anything it felt like a boarding house with a grim vibe, or that is what the captain's mind was believing.
"Sir? "
"Huh? " Ragnar turned to the person sitting on the chair and with ample paperwork in front of him. He was wearing a robe and his eyes showed that he did not have any good sleep in a while, on top of his gray hair were a pair of small round ears.
A Demi-Human, half-human and half-raccoon, not the first time he has seen one but certainly the first time one that looked like that.
"Ugh… what do you need? " He pinched the bridge of his nose, his voice was slow and almost quiet. "I apologize, it has been some busy days lately and even now we have an impromptu patient.
"I came because of that. You brought a person here not too long ago, a merchant that arrived from the northern gate? "
"Yes, did the guard send you? "
"No, he…" He needed to think of something quick, he instinctively said no already so even if he wanted to use that as an excuse he had to come up with something else. "He… is my uncle… or rather I hope he isn't…"
A lie, not the first one he ever said and he knew that it would not be the last one. Regardless, he had to play into it, make it as convincing as possible.
"And why is it that you hope that? "
"Because if he is then…" The captain spoke in a low voice, his eyes looking down and put his best worried expression that he could muster at the time. If he saw himself in a mirror he would laugh at his own face, an image he did not need to think about it right now.
The man behind the reception sighed again. "No… I get it." He sounded annoyed rather than understanding and stood up, grabbing a clipboard. "Usually I would go ask for some identification or anything but we are talking about someone that is in a very delicate situation."
"What do you mean? "
"Please follow me." The news did not bode well, was he too late? No, otherwise he would've told him already. His head was swirling with so many questions. "The old man arrived almost twenty minutes ago, he is in a very delicate condition, from fractured bones, to some of his organs in a bad shape. Truth be told, we were more than surprised that he reached Orario in such a condition and alive." The Raccoon-man grunted "Sorry, I'm guess I shouldn't be giving those type of news."
"No, it's… it's alright. But wouldn't you be able to heal him regardless? "
But the doctor remained quiet, as if pondering with his question. "You are an adventurer, yes? " An affirmative sound came from behind him. "As you know, your Falna gives you more power to fight monsters but it comes with some side effects. If you got hurt you probably noticed that you heal relatively quick, yes? This man does not have the same benefits."
"So we can just take him to a God and give him a blessing, it should be enough, right? "
"If only it would be that simple… I said it before, he is in a delicate state, moving him out of here might prove fatal… in fact, he may not live to see tomorrow."
The worried expression that he had to put up earlier felt more natural now; having to hear those news was horrible, knowing that the person he might be meeting could die at any moment or even worse being the last person they could see.
He understood that but that did not mean that he had to like it or be comfortable with.
"I… I see…" The quiet tone remained. "Can I still talk to him? "
The doctor sighed. "Are you sure you want to do this? It's best that you remember your uncle in a better light than how he looks right now." But Ragnar nodded. "Very well." He knocked at the door and the two nurses came out. "How is he? "
"He is in a better condition than when he arrived but… I'm afraid that won't change the outcome."
"Understood." He gestured at Ragnar to get in the room. "Go on, we'll give you some privacy." The doctor and the nurses let the captain get in the room and closed the door behind him.
It was a small bedroom, there was a light hanging from the wall near the bed. The bed occupied most of the room and right next to it was a chair with a bucket full of water with many bandages thrown in there, the bloodied cloth already tinted the water red.
But perhaps the elephant in the room was the injured old man in the bed who was still breathing, albeit in a labored way. His body was covered in bandages to the point that Ragnar could see more bandage than skin, and most of them were already starting to show some degree of red. The head was also covered in bandages and even one of the eyes had many wraps around it.
It was clear that this man has suffered quite a lot on his way to Orario and he must've looked way worse before the nurses helped him. Now he understood what the doctor meant that he might not live to see the next day.
Ragnar found his way to the lone chair in the room and sat beside the bed, looking at the injured man.
He started to feel bad for lying his way to there. Why he should be there? Taking advantage of a man who could give his last breath any second. He wanted the answers but at what point was it worth it what he was doing? If he told Skadi what he was doing she would definitely be angry or disappointed, possibly both. That is what the blond was thinking, maybe he couldn't lie to her but did she really need to know?
"You are no nurse, are you? "
Ragnar was pulled from his train of thought when he heard the deep voice of the man in the bed calling to him. "Sorry, I did not mean to bother you. I…" He gulped, mustering some words despite a certain unwillingness from himself. "I'm your niece, when I heard what happened I came here to-"
"Please… do not lie to me." The old man sounded annoyed. "My brother never had kids, so…" He took a deep breath and coughed violently. "…what do you want? "
His cover was blown, yet he did not seem to call the nurses or the doctor about this intrusion. "I came here to ask you a few questions, I believe they might help me understand more about what happened."
"You are not from this city, are you? "
"Do I look like I don't belong here?" Truthfully it wasn't the first time Ragnar was told that, even though he was slowly getting used to Orario and how it was living in the so-called `Most important city in the Lower World´, he still acted like a complete newcomer. "I am from the Skadi Familia, or rather… I belong to a small village to the north, a peaceful place known as Winter Pine."
"Ah, yes… I remember Winter Pine. A beautiful small community, snow almost every day except for a few days of summer. The Elder would often trade plenty of wood for other fish from my town, we were just hours away. That was some excellent firewood." He coughed again.
"Heh, I think I would know that, my father was the village's designated woodcutter. He knew how to make a good cut to every tree that was in his path."
"But if you are here then…" The old man grumbled. "Then what I heard was true. Winter Pine suffered the same fate as my village, the only thing left is debris and corpses in the snow." A grim image returned to the captain's mind, something that was repeating in his memory every now and then. "I may not have much time left in this world, even attempting to leave this bed could be the last thing I might even do, so tell me kid… what do you want to know?"
"What happened exactly? Who or what attacked you? "
"Hmph…" The old man tried to remember. "It was… about a week ago, perhaps even less… I can't remember honestly. But it was just another day at our village, I was ready to come here and do some of my work but… those things arrived…"
"Things? "
"Monsters, about three of them if memory doesn't fail me; they were like bears… no, they were bigger than that; more violent and savage, but at the same time… there was something off."
"Off, you say? Like what? "
"Think, do you believe a beast like that destroys villages on a whim? There were multiple too. Killing people, destroying houses, there was fire everywhere and those bears did not run away from the fire. Two of them died, but only one remained…"
Ragnar opened his mouth but there was nothing he could say to retort that comment. It was known that the bears at the first sign of fire they would back away, or so was he told. Maybe they were different? Or perhaps there was something more to these creature's logic.
No.
There was something else.
He remembered something on the day he left his village. The monsters were attacking but there was something else, a blur in the distance. It was the shape of a person.
A bystander who saw the village getting destroyed and he resented that stranger for they didn't do anything.
"It was brief but I saw someone." The merchant said. "Two people, actually."
The boy's eyes widened at that comment. It was the same, no, this time there were two strangers.
"How did they look like? Were they young? Do you know where they are now? " Ragnar immediately stood up from the chair, his heart beating quicker than before at this revelation. "Anything could help me!"
"I'm afraid not, they were using cloaks and could not see their faces. I assume they were male because they were big, I don't think I'd see an Amazoness that far north, heard the cold scares them." He laughed, but it felt more painful, the creaking of the bed did not help with the sounds in that room. "Though… I saw something…"
"What? What was it?!"
"The bear that survived… its eye… it had something lodged in it. A stick, maybe a spear; that one looked to be the leader of this monster pack."
Ragnar's breathing was shaking. That information, that little brief moment in the end made his heart skip a beat as images from the past flowed back in front of him.
A village in flames, the scream and sorrow from the people as the oversized bears were rampaging, destroying houses and mauling the innocent people that were under their massive paws.
To his side there was someone who was shouting at him, giving instructions on where to hide. A familiar face that he could not forget, one that was with him since the beginning and taught him many of the things that he now knows. One that he longed to see yet he feared that will never be a possibility.
In this memory he saw a heroic act from the man he looked up to. A valiant rush with a wooden spear. The building right in front of him collapsed but the last thing he could see was that creature reeling in pain as the hero run away from the scene and back to him.
He heard a voice calling out to him again, not from that hero but from the merchant. He snapped back to reality and returned to that depressing room with the man on his deathbed.
"Are you alright? "
"Mh? Y-yeah… I just… I feel like that is all." Ragnar was ready to leave, he headed towards the door and placed his hand on the knob, although it did not move.
He felt bad, leaving a man to his own devices, especially one that probably won't see the sunrise.
"Hey, you never told me your name."
The blond turned around, looking at the merchant. "It's Ragnar, sir."
"And tell me, Ragnar. What is it you want to accomplish with this information? "
He remained quiet, a test of his own resolve or perhaps just doubts in his mind? No, he knew what he wanted, what he needed to do.
"I will find that monster with the injured eye and kill it."
"Ragnar, the monster hunter of the Skadi Familia." The man gave a mixture of a laugh and a cough. "Oh… right, the whip."
"Whip? "
"One of the hooded people, they had a whip and there was a strange glow coming from it…"
It was indeed strange, perhaps it could be another lead. Maybe those people were not just some bystanders? Maybe there was more to it.
He had information and he had more clues as well as something in common: Villages all over the north were attacked by monsters, killing and destroying everything and everyone in it; there were bears or rather something similar and there was at least someone watching everything happen that had a whip. On top of that, the same monster that attacked the man's village was the same one that attacked his.
Although two were not a pattern in his mind, he did find it strange that it was a similar case.
"Make sure to cut that damned thing's head, and if you find the people that were watching, give them a punch, will you? " He smiled.
"Don't worry sir, I will." Ragnar smiled back, trying to hide the sadness of the moment. "If you don't mind, I'll stay here with you, for a while."
"Please, leave me alone. I just need some time to think."
"Are… are you sure? I don't have anything else to do."
"I insist, I don't want to take the time of a young man, even more so when I don't have much." Ragnar opened the door, looking at the merchant one last time. "Even then… thank you for your time, Ragnar the monster hunter."
It was a bittersweet moment, but he couldn't bring himself to break the old man's last wish. The captain left the room and headed back to the reception of this clinic. The nurses were nowhere to be found but the Demi-Human was back with the paperwork.
"How is he? " The doctor asked.
"Lively, I think I made his afternoon better." Ragnar smiled and approached the exit. Right as he was about to leave, the doctor called him out.
"Hey, was he your uncle? "
Ragnar looked outside at the plaza in this dead end of an alleyway. "No." He shook his head. "He looked similar but no. Still, thanks for letting me see him."
The Demi-Human saw the door close. He sighed and kept filling the paperwork in the silence of the clinic.
Once outside, Ragnar took a moment to compose himself. All this new information, a lead and perhaps even more. The injured monster was still prowling in the north and could be a threat to anyone nearby, on top of that there was at least someone with a whip that was whenever the beasts attacked.
As depressing as that conversation was, he still got what he wanted as well as a bit of guilt for his actions.
He looked up in the sky and saw the sun still there; it was still the morning so there was time to go back to Fimbulvetr and have some more training back at the Dungeon.
"Still, lots to do…" He muttered to himself and walked outside of that place, returning to the alleyway until he was back at the main street.
It would be a normal walk back to familiar territories, away from the big castle of the Loki Familia. He might need some time to think now, trace every step so far and plan to do next, in his deep thoughts he knew that killing more of the monsters underground would help.
As he was getting closer to Babel he heard a voice calling out to him.
"Ah, excuse me." It was a female voice, soothing and quiet but audible for the captain to hear her. "Do you mind helping me with something? "
"Yes?" He turned around and saw a woman dressed in a cloak and hood that reminded him of Skadi except that he could see some of that beautiful silver hair.
The next few seconds felt strange for the blond. He felt lightheaded, his vision became blurry and felt weakness in his legs. Perhaps it was the quick breakfast he took or the change of scenery from that clinic back to streets. Did the stress got to him? No, it would've happened before.
He tried to keep focused but his vision went black. Everything was gone for a brief moment.
"Captain? " There was a voice calling him out, he recognized it.
"Captain!" His body felt heavy, he wanted to sleep more and not be woken from this deep slumber, at least for five more minutes.
"Ragnar! " The blond quickly opened his eyes when he felt a nudge on his shoulder.
Ragnar was sitting on a bench by the main street, some people were looking at him before continuing on their way. He did not understand what was going on nor where he was at first until he saw the hulking tower. In front of him was the white haired adventurer that has been following him, members of the same Familia and friends.
"Noel…" The captain yawned as he stretched his arms. "What are you doing here? I was on my way to Fimbulvetr when I got a headache."
"Are you alright? "
"Yeah…" He looked around, everything was normal, other than him being fatigued from that moment. "I think I'm feeling better now. What about you? Are you feeling for some adventure? Killing some monsters? "
But Noel tilted his head in confusion. "Uhm… captain, what… what time do you think it is right now? "
"Well, it was still the morning, right? " He looked up and saw the orange skies, the sun was on the opposite side, almost threatening to disappear in the horizon. "Wait… how long was I gone? "
"For almost eight hours. The goddess was starting to get worried so I went around the city to look for you. I asked around and found you here, sleeping. What even happened? "
"Ugh, wish I knew." The blond held his head, trying to remember the events. He left early in the morning to give the axe back to the Ganesha Familia, stumbled upon a waitress from the Goddess of Fertility and helped her deliver some of the groceries. He then headed to the northern gate when he was told about some attacks and ended in a clinic talking to an old merchant who gave him plenty of information about the monsters and perhaps people related to those attacks.
After that he left the clinic and headed to Fimbulvetr only to feel a massive headache and a need to rest.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
"Must be because I was hungry." He slowly stood up with the help of Noel. "Let's just go back, Skadi is either worried or angry at this point."
"Probably both."
"Yeah, and that's what worries me." The two of them laughed and way on their way to the base. "Say, Noel, how would you feel about hunting down a special monster."
"A special monster? "
"Yeah, it's kind of… well, perhaps a bit out of our way when it comes to what we usually fight against. I presume it is stronger too."
"Well, can't say that I'm ready yet, there are still many things to learn and perhaps there could be strategies that we could work on. But once the time is right, I will be right there with you, captain."
"Thanks Noel." He smiled and patted the young one's head.
As much as he wanted to fight the monster right now, he needed to heed the boy's words. He was far from prepared, if that beast was enough to wipe out most of the village alone then he had to prepare himself, perhaps even bring more people but at what point was he willing to risk other people's lives for this personal goal? It wasn't even in the Dungeon so what kind of excuse would he give?
An internal grumble among all those thoughts. The day that should've been a short one became very long and part of it he spent it sleeping. `What a waste´ he thought.
For now, it was time to go back to Fimbulvetr and perhaps not to mention everything to Skadi, the last thing he needed was to worry his goddess even more.
And we're back! Hello everyone and happy 2024. Hope you had some good holidays and I know I spent this time to think about the story and to relax. But alas, I did say that I would continue this year and so I did.
Now, for this chapter, oh boy. Ragnar gets more information about his personal goal but it is still long ways to it. Or perhaps there might be a helping hand that would pull the strings to facilitate an adventurer's growth? It can be all a mystery, nothing out of the ordinary, of course.
As for all the guest reviews that I've been receiving, do know that I cannot reply to them until I post a chapter so do understand if there is no quick response. With that being said, the story will continue although I do try to avoid the mistake I did in some of my past stories where I accelerate the pace way too fast and it does not give me enough time (or rather it is too late) to have some character development or just developing the scenarios at all.
Yes, Ragnar will get stronger but let's not rush the story. Patience is key when developing something good ;)
And with that I bid farewell, let's hope for a new great year full of new chapters, ideas and who knows, maybe we'll get Season 5 this year!
Have a good week and as always:
See you in the next chapter!