Many thoughts have circled Ragnar's mind recently. His plan to go out with Skadi was partially a success, he was able to spend some time with her but his real intention was to try to get some answers to his questions. Who was Sigurd? What happened to those who joined before him? Was she the one who commissioned the axe and why?

The first of those would soon arrive as Noel found the book he was looking for, it was a matter of time until he found the results.

Still, many questions left unanswered and the one person who could give him a clear response was avoiding it every time. It was not a topic that she was fond discussing, that much was clear, but that won't stop Ragnar from trying.

Voices were ringing in his ears while he was still focused on those thoughts, his eyes were seeing movement but he was not rationalizing anything until he felt someone pushing him to the side and blocking the attack of a monster.

"Captain! "

His senses snapped back to reality as he saw the big shield and behind it the man standing tall as a Needle Rabbits focused an attack with its horn. The sound of metal echoed as the attack failed.

"Right…" The blond nodded, and gripped both axes, side stepping Albrecht and quickly swinging, cutting the tiny monster's head and making it disappear as the Magic Stone fell to the ground.

The Dungeon went quiet afterwards, the adventurers had a moment of respite as no monsters were showing up after that long encounter.

"Cap', is there something wrong? "

"No, I was just… thinking about something."

"Well, you better stop doing that or you will get killed! " As always, Theresa's responses felt more hostile which were fitting for her angry expression.

"Don't worry, it won't happen again." The leader leaned to grab the stone and put it in his pocket, or rather tried because it was almost full. "Tsch, I can't carry anymore. Anyone can? "

The group started to look at their pockets and pouches but they were either full of Magic Stones or other items such as potions, the rare morsel they brought from the surface or other utilities such as whetstones or ammunition depending on the case.

"Alright, let's go back to the staircase and make inventory of what we have" The new order was agreed by many and met with some opposite reaction by the usual suspect.

They were not too far, the seventh floor was as far as they could go in terms of supplies. They all knew that if they wanted to they could push towards the ninth floor if they were careful enough but once again, it was an issue of supplies.

Even if they were able to split all the money they earned each day, their income was not that big. Most of them spent their money on their own necessities such as potions, they had a few pouches but they were mostly for their weapons and the occasional loot which in other words didn't leave a lot of space sadly.

"We have…" The silver haired kept counting until the last stone they collected. "Around forty stones. Given the size and the state of them, I can only imagine we can get about fifteen thousand Valis for all of it."

"Only fifteen? How are we supposed to get rich if our rewards are getting smaller with each expedition! "

"We're not finding a lot of monsters lately and we have to pick our fights carefully, but I agree with Hilda. We're not getting a lot of money recently."

"And the few quests that get posted are out of our reach." Noel added. "Five floors below is a huge leap in what we find."

"But it is also more profitable, right? "

"The Middle, Lower and Deep Floors are difficult for us but yes, the rewards from there are worth more than what we can earn here." Fanis and Albrecht also joined the conversation.

Ragnar on the other hand was walking back and forth, rather than thinking on a solution to this problem he went back to the thoughts from earlier. But it took only an angry Amazoness to slap the back of his head to bring him back.

"What? "

"What do you mean what? We need you here, not wherever you go with those thoughts of yours."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I do have a lot of things on my mind right now."

"Captain, I know it might be hard to agree with Theresa…" Alain felt the gaze of the tan woman on him, he didn't even need to look at her to know that she was ready to smack him. "But we can't have you distracted in the middle of a fight. If there is anything that we can do to help…"

"No, don't worry. It will be resolved in time." Or at least he hoped. "Now as for the problem at hand…"

This was an issue that presented itself back when it was just him and Noel. The amount of stones they could carry was limited and while they never filled their pockets, the use of a backpack was not necessary as a small pouch that the Vice Captain carried with him was more than enough, it was also not something that weighed a lot and thus it wouldn't be much of a hassle having it around, especially when they were fighting.

But now they had more people, a simple pouch was not enough and to make matters worse no one had a backpack or something similar which brought the main issue to the metaphorical table:

"If we want to get more stones not only we'll have to go deeper into the Dungeon but we'll also need a Supporter."

"Wouldn't that cost us money to make a contract?" The Cat woman tilted her head "Would someone even be willing to join the Familia just to be a Supporter?"

"The other option is that one of us takes the role until we find someone or we all get bags to carry more." Ragnar looked at the rest of the group. "Anyone wants to volunteer? "

But the silence was a dead giveaway that no one wanted to be in that position, let alone be relegated to just being in the back while everyone else fought.

"I can offer to be the team's Supporter, albeit carrying a bag like they do will hinder my abilities to fight."

"And we need you in the front for that…" A sad sigh parted the blond's lips. "I'll figure this out, don't worry about it. For now let's just grab everything and go back to the surface. I'm sure we've been down here long enough." The disgruntled noises of everyone else were noted as everyone picked up the stones and put them in their pockets and continued the march down the long hallway and on the way back to the surface.

There weren't many words to be shared at first, often calling out for any movement they found but other than adventurers, their path was mostly clear.

"Say… Capt- er… Ragnar, mind if I ask you something? " Alain looked at the guy in front of him who looked back and saw at the duelist from the corner of his vision. A quick nod as he looked back at the front.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but there is something that I've been wondering for a few days now." He took a breath and continued. "Vice-Captain Noel mentioned that you two fought a bear before we all joined."

"It was mostly the Captain who did it." Noel corrected the Raccoon Man "But if you're wondering if it was true or not, rest assured that I was not lying. To make matters worse, he recognized the bear too."

"Oh, no. I know there are bears in the Dungeon but the person from the Guild told me they mostly inhabit in the Middle Floors."

"A shift in the Dungeon? Our abilities may not suffice if that is the case, a monster of that caliber could catch us by surprise and the result would be catastrophic! "

"It is not uncommon for monsters to leave their floor, however unless there's an extraordinary circumstance they would often wander one above or below."

"Okay okay okay." Ragnar took a step forward and stopped the group on their tracks. "The bear existed, Noel saw it, Bryn saw it, and Heimdall Familia saw it. It's right here!" He gestured at the bear pelt that was on his shoulder, but that was not enough proof. "No, I know what will convince you."

Ragnar removed one of the belts and raised the chain armor revealing the massive scar left by the claws of the monster.

"Huh, you really got battle scars. I thought someone like you would be clean."

"Are those… safe? "

"It has to be, right? Otherwise he would not be here with us, right? " Livia got closer and was ready to touch the scar but the Captain let go of the armor. "Aww, that's no fun."

"Can we continue? This talk is making me uncomfortable." And they did in fact continue, but the conversation was far from over.

"Well, I have no reason to doubt the bear was real but what was it doing in the Upper Floors? Either people were scared of it or it was able to sneak past any other adventurers, and I'm sure it would've found level twos or three even along their path."

"So what about that story? You knew that bear? "

Ragnar could feel the eyes of everyone else on him. "I saw the monster near my village, it destroyed everything. I remembered that one of their eyes was pierced and it was the same case for this one."

"Coincidences is something that I do believe but what are the chances of this encounter to happen? "

"What do you mean? " He looked at Hilda. "It was the bear, I recognized it! "

"I don't think she means that, Captain… sir. But if it attacked your village then how could it make its way to the Dungeon? "

"Fanis is right, it couldn't have just stormed into Babel and then go down. People would've known, there could've been panic on the streets and if anything other adventurers could've killed it."

"Well… you're not wrong but…" And he had to agree with those ideas.

There was a truth to that. If the bear truly originated outside of the Dungeon then how did it get down there in the first place? Were there other entrances outside of the city? But then when they rescued Titos he said that the monster disappeared.

It was a thought that kept him thinking that day but as the time went on and with the battle against such creature, he ended up dismissing it.

But now that was a question that came back to his mind. How did the monster go from the villages in the north, all the way to Orario's outskirts and then ended up in the Dungeon? That and many other doubts were impossible to answer on his own and he doubted Skadi would know either which meant that the other place he could get any semblance of information…

"Whatever, I'll look into it at some point, again. Our priority is heading back."

And after a long day of training, killing monsters and exploring the depths of the tower, all of the members of Skadi Familia safely returned albeit with some concerns about their personal finances and progress.

What remained of the day went by in a normal fashion. The next day was when the Captain would have to get his brain to work.

The Familia divided into two, one group would go into the Dungeon while the other would go to the Guild to gather information among other business. Although while one group was led by Noel, the other had the Captain in charge.

The problem was that out of all the members, Ragnar was the only one that went to the Guild, everyone else headed to Babel.

Still, he couldn't see the likes of Theresa or Livia inquiring in the Guild about the bear, one without starting a fight and the other without flooding the employees with millions of questions.

Much like any other visits that he made, he requested for a certain elf girl to help him and then was directed to one of the private rooms where she could assist him.

After a long wait, the red haired girl entered the room with two books, quite a surprise since every visit was always her carrying a handful of encyclopedias.

"Alright, information on monsters and the Middle Floors." She dropped the books in front of her seat and then sat down. "Though, I do not know why you want information on the Middle Floors, last I checked I still haven't authorized you to go past the eight floor."

"Well, it's not exactly that but I was just… curious, you know?"

"Ragnar, you sound troubled. Is there any issue that I should know? " Esther's eyes widened as she realized what happened. "Wait, you went to the Middle Floors without my permission?!"

"What?! No! Well, not exactly but we are finding a problem recently." The silence from the elf was a sign for him to continue. "We need more money, and going to the Dungeon every day does help but… we want more."

"I feared this day might come." She sighed. "But I guess that I can't hold you any longer in that regard. And you have shown some growth and your Familia is more than you and Noel." She opened the book about the Middle Floors. "So I am willing to strike a deal with you. If you can hold your end of it then I will consider you and your Familia good enough to dip your toes in the Middle."

"You will? That's great news! I thought you would never let us go there unless we were all level two or higher."

"Uh…" The sound that came from Esther's mouth was more akin of embarrassment. "Well… I asked for some advice to my coworkers and they said that I should be slightly stricter. Guess that I was overdoing it a bit."

"No, you were doing it fine… so what's this deal about? "

"A quest none the less. After all if you need money this will be of use to you, yes? I will need to finalize some details about it but rest assured that before you leave here you will have all the information needed."

"Thanks Esther but I… well, we have a bigger issue." He leaned forward. "We are having issues carrying all the Magic Stones and-" But he couldn't finish his sentence as the Guild employee raised her hand and had a smile on her face.

"I think I have another solution to that problem." She was going to open the second book but stopped after realizing something. "Oh… right, I never thought I'd get to use it." Even if she sounded calm, Ragnar could notice that she was embarrassed. "I saw yesterday some paperwork related to Supporters."

"So you can actually give us a Supporter?" There was excitement in his voice, not only one but two of his issues were easily solved.

"Hah, if only it were that easy. I can help you get in contact with them, after that it's up to you to convince them and establish a contract. Though if your finances are… well, needy, then I can only hope someone will be willing to work alongside low level adventurers."

Even if it was meant to be informative, he could feel the jab thrown at him. "R-Right…" Ragnar rested back on the chair once more.

The issue with earning more money could be over soon and having a Supporter meant that the carrying capacity problem could be a thing of the past, the only thing left would be the contract.

However, there was still one more thing on Ragnar's mind that needed to be settled.

"Esther, how much do you know about monsters? "

"Mh? A fair share of it, I know a lot thanks to the monster's guide. Why? "

"I am not sure how much you know about the time I got attacked in the Dungeon, but I heard from the people in my Familia that giant bears exist down there."

"That's correct." Esther pushed the Dungeon book aside and opened the one from the monsters, quickly going through the pages to find the information about the relevant creature. "Magnum Bears are the correct terminology for them and they are usually around floor fifteen, rarely on sixteen."

She turned the book around and showed the page which depicted a drawing of a bear. It mentioned a lot of information like size, strength and even possible drop items. On top of that there was strategies and recommendations on how to handle such creatures which could've been useful in his fight back then.

However there was nothing about teleportation or magical capabilities or similar.

"Uhm… is it possible for a monster to teleport? "

"Teleportation? Uhm…" She took the book again and started going through the pages, confused at the inquiry from the adventurer. "I know of creatures that have some sort of magic but teleportation? Maybe they are very fast and it looks like they are teleporting? "

"No, I mean, actual teleportation. Like a monster going into the Dungeon by teleporting from the outside."

"I don't think that is possible in the slightest. Are you sure you saw that correctly? "

"No, it's not that I saw it, it's-… never mind." Unfortunately, the one question that could yield more information was deemed impossible by the creature itself. However, that didn't mean that his search was over.

"In any case, I think that's all of it for me."

"Alright, then let's wrap things up here and I'll set the meeting with the Supporter and then the quest. Though if I were you, I would try to tackle both of them as soon as possible."

Grabbing the books, the two of them left the room; Ragnar went back to the reception area while Estherisiana to the back of the offices. A few minutes of waiting and a flustered elf came out, apologizing that none of the papers were there and that she would have to find them, however she reassured him that he will receive a letter with all the information of both the quest and the Supporter she had in mind.

Thus, a day that started somewhat bright ended up being a slight disappointment, although the surprises haven't stopped there.

On his way back to Fimbulvetr, he found a familiar face heading there as well.

A deity clad in a very informal attire with sandals and a scarf around his neck, which didn't help that he was still wearing shorts. The carefree look on his face and the horn that he was carrying with him were the dead giveaways that the man that Ragnar found was:

"Lord Heimdall? "

"Mh? Ah, Ragnar. I am surprised to see you here at this time of day, I was assured that you and your compatriots spent every day on the pits of Babel."

"Well, everyone else is, I just had to go to the Guild for some pressing matters. But what about you? "

"Oh, I'm on my way to visit Ska-cha, pretty much preparing for the Denatus later this week."

"There's a Denatus so soon? "

"Yup, and I have to be there unfortunately, one of my children just got promoted and it is my duty to make sure that they land a fun-… good name."

"Were you going to say funny? " Whether he meant it or it was joking, the expression that the God had was hard to read.

"Regardless, Skadi has no business being there but still wants to participate out of… I don't know, interaction with other of our kind." Heimdall put a finger to his chin. "Say, Ragnar. Do you mind if we talk about something on the way there? It won't take much of your time."

"Sure, I guess."

"Great!" The two of them continued to walk towards the Familia's home. "So you know how I care about Ska-cha and I am often worried about her, right?" Ragnar nodded. "Well, it saddens me that she is still sheltering herself in Fimbulvetr and I wish she would be more outgoing, like how she used to."

"Well, I invited her to a meal the other day, hoping to get some information but it ended up being just an outing."

"Ah, a date? Honestly little Captain, I did not think you had it in you to ask her out. It is fun in a way."

"Wait wait, that was not a date, why does everyone think that was the case?!"

"Hah, don't worry, I was joking. But I thank you for letting get some fresh air. It's hard for her to go out of her home alone, the only times are when there's a Denatus or an emergency although there hasn't been an emergency in a long time."

"Speaking of that… Lord Heimdall, what do you know about Skadi Familia before I joined? "

"Plenty, I was there when that happened. Although it has been… phew, many years now. I remember Fimbulvetr being quite lively, it's a shame, really."

"Okay, but what happened exactly? Skadi mentioned something about being careless or something."

"Oh, if she didn't say anything to you then I don't think it's correct for me to divulge that. If you want answers then I recommend you discussing that with her." A mental grunt from the young boy who knew full well that was not going to happen that easily, and in a way Heimdall knew that as well.

"But may I ask this small favor? "

"Huh? Sure, what is it? "

"Help your Goddess, make sure she goes out more often and breaks out of her shell. She can be a bit more outgoing and happy, maybe not to my level but she was different. Give her a reason to abandon the past and look forward to all of you children. I know she can smile, but she still hides her pain behind that."

It was no secret, Skadi was hiding things and if what Heimdall said was true then it all came with an insurmountable amount of pain. The loss of many children was already painful but there had to be more behind that.

"Lord Heimdall, is the reason of that pain… what happened years ago? Is it related to those who were before me?"

"Yes, but there is more I'm afraid. But better hear it from her than from me. We're friends and I hope you understand that I respect her decision if she hasn't opened up to you yet."

"But she did..." Although the blatant lie was easily caught by the deity. "Fine, I'll try to help her. I don't know if she'll be back to how you remember her, but if anything I do have something to gain out of this."

"There's your motivation! " Heimdall patted the blond's head. "Though, if I may, allow me to give you an advice. Free of charge of course!" He wrapped his arm around Ragnar's neck and held him close as if they were best friends. "Be wary of the shadows, you don't know who might be lurking in them, even a place like Orario has some very dark shadows."

"Excuse me? "

"In other words: Be wary of this city and do not blindly trust someone."

"Is this related to what happened to the Familia years ago? "

"Perhaps, but it is also a good life's advice." He released the Captain and gave him a few pats on the back. "Let's go, better not keep your Goddess waiting! "

Ragnar's day continued normally albeit he decided to stay in Fimbulvetr for the day, no point in going to the Dungeon. By the time everyone returned, they were all exhausted and shared their experience fighting monsters and the business at the Guild.

Ultimately there were still questions about what happened to the Familia a long time ago and what caused Skadi to be the way she is now but also the deal with the bear and how it was able to leave the surface and go to the Dungeon.

So many questions that needed to be answered but he could not get much from them. If anything he would have to consult all of that with the pillow, for tomorrow would be a new day, a new quest and perhaps a chance to meet what could be a Supporter.

And I was able to update it before it reaches the month! The words from Heimdall might get some gears running for Ragnar as he will try to pursue to help Skadi and get some more information about what happened before his arrival and a Supporter along with a quest will shake how the team has to move around but it everything goes well then further expeditions should be far more profitable, right?

August and September have been very rough months for me that I have barely been able to recover from but I did try to get a chapter out at least. As always, thanks to everyone who follows the story and puts it on favorites and often leave comments. I try to improve, both in writing, content and trying to stick with the world building of the story since I was able to find an audiobook of a lot of the light novels and I was able to go through LNs 1 to 9 (which goes from Season 1 to the first half of 3). Also Season 5 in two weeks! We'll see how that will develop.

Falna information on Theresa and Albrecht in the next one. (Also I did correct a little mistake on Fanis' stats that I didn't notice until a few days ago)

As always, hope you enjoyed the chapter, have a great weekend and as always: See you in the next chapter.