A few days passed since the incident in the Dungeon, life in Fimbulvetr returned to normal with everyone visiting the depths just to earn their keep.
Or at least that would be the case for many of them. The night before there was another incident in the mead hall, albeit one that could've been avoided if someone had better tact at it. One of the windows was broken due to a certain outburst from an Amazon as a feline was trying to call her out for grabbing more food for herself, plenty of words back and forth ended with a broken window caused by a tankard that was directed at the Cat Girl.
The punishment wasn't that severe, at least in the eyes of everyone but her. A whole day without going to the Dungeon got her mad and spent every minute since she woke up training with her sword. Her eyes were full of rage and if there was a monster in front of Theresa, there would be no doubt that it would get obliterated almost instantly with how furious she was.
What about the rest of the Familia? Ragnar, Fanis, Livia, Albrecht and Hilda went to the Dungeon, since the one detail that they did not expect was that everyone would have to put some money in order to repair the window since they all participated (or rather didn't stop) in it.
As for Noel, he was sitting on the porch of the mead hall, sitting by one of the old chairs and letting his head rest on his fist as he watched the Amazon fight against nothing in particular just to keep her training going.
"I'm surprised you didn't go with the others, Noel." The Raccoon approached the Vice-Captain, he wasn't wearing his usual armor and instead had a big bag with him.
"Just taking the day off, everyone is worried about getting back their money but I'm not that much in a hurry." He smiled and focused on the other issue. "Say, Alain, why are you here? I thought you would be with the others."
"I wanted to but the Goddess asked me to go and buy the new window and then install it. Wanna come with me? "
"I'll pass, I'm just going to stay here for a while before I do something else."
Alain raised a brow, confused as to why the Vice-Captain would decide to stay but the moment he saw what he was focused on… he was even more confused.
"I don't get it, are you making sure she doesn't run away? She would've done it already just to spite the Goddess but I don't think even she dares face the consequences."
"What?! No, I was not thinking about that at all." Noel replied. "But I was still hung about that one time we went with Heimdall's children, I tried to help there but I just felt…" Useless, that was the word he wanted to use. That memory of Theresa looking at him with disgust still felt fresh in his mind and no matter how hard he tried to fix it that face still remained.
If he were to compare himself he would be disappointed, the only one who might be equal in terms of strength would be Fanis which is a low bar for him since she is a mage!
But there was also a little seed of doubt, was it really the disparity in strength that made him question his strength or was there something else?
The silver haired felt a hand hold his shoulder and when he looked up he saw Alain looking back at him, his face did not show disgust but it was a mixture of fear, worry and probably some disgust.
"I knew plenty of troublesome people and I don't think she is worth it, Vice-Captain."
"Huh? Wait, don't think of it that way! "
"I can only pray for your soul and hope that the Goddess guides you to Heaven." The Duelist clasped his hands together and walked away, praying for Noel's safety.
However his journey would be short lived, he had to walk past Theresa who was training on the side of the main road of Fimbulvetr and the moment they were close…
THUD
And Alain fell to the ground, not seeing that the Amazon had her foot raised without him noticing earlier.
Noel was far away but he could make out some of what they were saying, namely insults being thrown at each other on top of Theresa hearing the conversation between the boys. She was rightfully pissed about it.
After the Raccoon left, she looked from the corner of her vision and spotted that the Vice-Captain was looking back at her.
"What? " She yelled, waiting for a response as she tightened the grip on her sword.
"Oh! Nothing, don't worry about it." Noel could easily hear that she clicked her tongue and went back to her training, disregarding the silver haired once more.
However in his mind, he felt like she did that same face to him once again. The face of disappointment, the eyes that were telling him he was a failure, useless, that he had no reason to be in the position he was in.
He felt inadequate, that he was not the right person to be the Vice-Captain. No, that was not it, he repeated to himself that his position was nothing to do with being powerful or the most intelligent. It was a different problem and he needed someone else to help him with it, another voice that could give him wisdom.
The Goddess? No, she was already busy with her own thoughts, on top of cleaning and preparing everything so they would install the window later.
Heimdall and his children? Wouldn't be a good moment to bother them with his thoughts.
If there was someone who could give him some wisdom or more specifically advice on things was going to be the red haired elf at the Guild. He went back inside, told Skadi that he was leaving and then headed into the city.
The familiar sight of people going back and forth down the streets, adventurers, merchants or even idle citizens. Noel couldn't forget the years he spent at the orphanage, how most of his time he had to see all of the adventurers from going to the Dungeon even if had to imagine what it was like from the window of his room; he remembered his parents who were adventurers but one day they were gone, killed in the same place that he would visit every day.
That same night a familiar figure showed at his doorstep, telling him of the unfortunate fate that his parents suffered and then took him to the orphanage that would serve as his home for the next few years until an adventurer would rescue him.
"It's been so many years, hasn't it? " He whispered to himself as he continued walking down the main road.
Sooner or later his feet would take him to the Guild which, to his surprise, there wasn't a lot of activity in the morning.
He entered the building and saw a few adventurers in queue, others looking at the announcements that were posted but overall there were about ten people total, not counting any Guild employees or himself.
Noel waited in line but before it was his turn, he saw a red mane leaving the office area and heading outside.
"Miss Esther!" He followed suit and the Elf girl turned around.
"Oh, Noel, you just caught me going to my lunch break." She showed him a paper bag, the smell of cooked food was hard to miss. "If it is anything related to Guild business then I'm afraid you'll have to wait until I'm done."
"No, not necessarily I just needed someone to talk to about…" He pondered as to how he could describe this but it was difficult to do it without a big explanation. "Well, it's not a quick chat I'm afraid."
"If you don't mind then we can talk about it during the break." The young adventurer agreed and followed Estherisiana to a park nearby where they could have some privacy.
The park was nothing more than a small patch of green on the side road, a statue of a warrior and not a lot of people around, just those that want some quiet from the bubbling main street.
"Ah, nothing like a good lunch before I am drowned in paperwork again…" The bittersweet tone in her voice was palpable as she ate the noodles, the slurping sound mixed with a sad look on her face.
Once Esther was done, she gave a sigh. "So, what is it that you wanted to talk about? "
"It's… well, nothing big but it's been on my mind recently. There's someone in my Familia that looked at me in a strange way, like… it's not that big of an issue again but, it's been bugging me."
"That doesn't sound like Ragnar at all."
"It's not Ragnar it's… Theresa, the Amazon in our Familia."
"Ah, yes! I'm not the one advising her but one of my coworkers said that she can be quite the hassle."
"Yeah… that's her. In any case she looked at me strange, like she was… disappointed in me." Those eyes were still lingering in his mind, like she was still judging him even if she was nowhere close. "And I started to think about it, comparing myself to others and maybe… I'm not the right person for my position. I'm not strong enough."
"Stop." Theresa had a small cup of hot tea in her hands. "I feel like I heard that in the past, and I'm also sure you did too. All about not being strong enough brings back memories of someone, and you know who."
It was impossible not to remember Ragnar and his search for the bear in the first place, his mind was only focused on one thing: Getting stronger no matter what.
"I feel like I know that feeling to which I want to ask you two questions. First: What do you think makes a Vice-Captain? Is it their Level? Their knowledge? Strength or what? "
"Well, I don't think I've been put in this position because of any of that. I was the second one to join the Familia and everyone else just started calling me that ever since, even if the others were stronger than me." He didn't lie, while he considers himself more knowledgeable than the others, his wisdom is not always applied in the right places or outright not applied. He knows about the stories of old and the feats the heroes made but what can that do in a fight against a monster?
"I just landed in the position out of coincidence, I guess."
"There's your answer, they trust you enough to be the second in command, well, after Ragnar and your Goddess." The Elf smiled, taking more of her tea. "As for the second…" She frowned and looked at Noel in the eyes. "What is this Amazon to you? "
The question caught him off guard. This was the second person in the day that implied something similar. Was he giving those type of vibes? Clearly not but maybe what he believed was different from what others thought?
"W-What?! No! I mean… We're part of the same Familia, aren't we? I respect her as part of the same team, even if she doesn't see me the same. I just wish… she could see me in a different light, to be useful to her-… er… everyone."
"I see…" Esther smiled, she got her answer. "If you want to be useful, ask yourself what you're lacking. Is it strength? Perhaps synergy? In my eyes you are useful as you are, take that from your Guild advisor." The employee saw that Noel felt somewhat relieved, even during her break she was still able to perform her job, albeit not the way the Guild intended perhaps.
But now it was time to change sides, it was her the one who would ask Noel something important, something that for the last few days has been questioning her about something.
"Noel, I do want you to answer me something." Her calm tone was now more serious, she looked at her bowl of noodles and the empty teacup. "The other day Ragnar showed up at the Guild to report the quest but there were many parts of his armor and weapons that were covered in blood, he didn't want to talk about it but there was one thing I could still smell from that…" Her voice trailed off. "What happened that day? "
Everyone in the Familia knew that Ragnar did not talk about it that day and even if Skadi got informed the day after the fight with the adventurers, the stance was.
"We got ambushed, we almost didn't make it." In hindsight, it wasn't a lie. Ragnar's group got ambushed and they had to fight, Noel's side joined later and they were able to kill the adventurers. But how would their reputation be affected if they found out? Posters all over Orario claiming that Skadi Familia was composed of murderers, bandits and anything under the sun that could tarnish their name.
And yet…
"Miss Esther, you said that while we are in this break you do not do any kind of Guild work, yes?" She silently nodded. "So… any kind of conversation that we do…"
"Will not be reported, is that what you're wondering? Well, assuming that what you're about to tell me does not involve destroying Orario or its people then I suppose it's not something the Guild should meddle with."
"I suppose. That day was something to being with, we were ambushed, but…" And Noel spilled everything. How the group got split up, the ambush and how they had to defend themselves.
He made it clear that they didn't start the fight and the strangers were the ones who were out to kill the Captain, while he was not there to witness the start of this conflict, many would corroborate that it was self-defense at the end of the day.
Esther was paralyzed after hearing the silver haired's words. In her mind she expected something else and while murder was one of the options, she quickly dismissed. She didn't see Ragnar as someone who would go for the kill, nor expected Skadi Familia to be murderers either so to hear this confirmation was certainly shocking.
"And these people… do you know what Familia they belonged to? " But Noel shook his head.
"Once the battle was done and we composed ourselves we just left the area. We didn't look back about it, we didn't loot any of the corpses nor did we think about bringing them back to the surface. I know we should've done that at least but what explanation could we even give? "
Esther remained there, silently pondering about it, remembering a little fragment of information she got in the last few days. "There was something that was mentioned a few days ago, a group of adventurers' bodies were picked and returned to the surface. Couldn't hear what Familia they belonged but all I know is they've been buried already somewhere. I take they were probably the same people…"
"What are you going to do, Miss Esther?"
"What can I do? For all that matters this conversation is not supervised by any Guild's rules and like you said, all of you protected yourselves from an attack. I can't punish you for what you did but I can advise you to, at the very least, rescue the bodies. Other than that, there's nothing I can do."
Noel nodded once again, taking a deep breath as a weight, no, two of them were finally off his chest. "Thanks Miss Esther."
"No problem, but do you mind if we can change subjects? I don't want to talk anything related to work right now."
"Sure, I can do that." He giggled. "Say, Miss Esther, I always wondered more about you."
"ME?!" She almost choked on her noodles. "I-… uh… me? W-why? "
"Is it wrong to ask about my advisor's history? I am curious for the most part."
"Mh… where do I even start…" Estherisiana was slightly embarrassed, her cheeks blushed red. Noel's first impression was that she was embarrassed of her own past but in the girl's mind it was the way he asked the question.
"I… I come from a certain forest, a little bit away from Orario. And uhm… I just arrived and become a member of the Guild! Yeah…"
"That can't be all of it, right?"
"Well… not exactly but…" She sighed. "Noel, can you promise me that what comes out of my mouth you will not utter it with anyone else? Not even to Ragnar."
"Is it that bad, Miss Estherisiana?" The boy raised a brow, what was it so special about her story? "Sure, I promise."
"Alright." Deep breath in and then out. "I do come from a forest far away from Orario, I come from an aristocratic family, albeit not one of high renown or power. Yet, that means I had my duties to do as the first child of my family."
"Wait, aristocratic? That means you're a High Elf?!"
"SHHHHHHH" Esther covered Noel's mouth and looked around but fortunately the few people that were there didn't pay any attention to them. "Yes, I am, and I decided to renounce to all of that just to not follow my family's orders. I didn't want to become someone's bride because it is our pride and duty as an Elf, I just didn't want to do it."
"Then why run away to Orario? "
"I'm sure you know how this city is lauded as the Capital of the World, right? A place far away from home where I could live and never turn around, granted, any status that I had would be forfeit but I didn't care at that point." She paused. "Also because I kept sending letters to a friend of the family, another Elf who suggested me to go to Orario and join her Familia to become an Adventurer."
"But what happened? Why did you join the Guild? "
"I just didn't see myself in that position, the risks and the horrors of what lurks beneath… there are better people suited for that." She sighed. "Become a member of the Guild would help me meet a lot of people, I didn't want to believe what my father told me about the other races."
"And what did you think? "
"That he was wrong…" She lowered her arms, dejected at the next words she was going to utter, if she could stuff her face inside of the bowl she would've done so already if it weren't for the fact that she might get her uniform dirty. "But I wished that the Guild work was better than what I am doing, I had to spend so much time in the back areas filling up paperwork, checking books and helping my coworkers that it took so long before I could start helping Adventurers…"
"But aren't you happy that you are now doing what you wanted to? "
Esther was silent, looking at the empty bowl but smiled. "It's not much but can't say that I don't like it. I just hope that I can help more people in the future." After she was done with her lunch, she packed everything back into the bag she brought in the first place and stood up.
"I don't doubt that Miss Esther, you've been a great advisor for me and Ragnar, I'm sure you will be working with many more soon! "
"Thanks Noel, it was nice having you around during the break." She patted his head. "And don't forget what I told you: You are useful, but if you want to get close to your Amazon friend then you should do something together."
"I don't want to get closer to her! " Noel got up from the bench in anger, seeing as the Elf was already walking off. "Oh, Miss Esther? " She turned. "If you don't mind me asking, what Familia does your friend belong to? "
"Huh? Well, that would be Loki Familia, of course. Have a good day Noel! "
The silver haired remained quiet. His brain was processing those words, if Esther became an adventurer then she would've been part of one of the most powerful Familias in Orario. Who was she friends with in the first place?!
"That's another in the list of what if? that will never happen." Noel muttered to himself and looked at the clouded sky.
He got an answer and reassurance, even if her job is to advise Adventurers when it comes to Dungeon affairs, the wisdom he got today made him think and doubt a little bit of his situation. Was he lying to himself about something?
He didn't know the answer to that.
Noel felt hungry and thought that Alain was probably back at Fimbulvetr, better to handle installing the new window to the two guys who had a better tact than the Amazon who (most likely) was still fuming since the morning.
However, on his way back he stopped at a small store that had some armor and weapon on display. Unlike the big shops in Babel, these were more affordable and on par with their quality level.
The young one focused on a sword, bigger than his usual dagger but not enough to make it unwieldy, he was getting ideas about it. To gift Theresa a weapon? No, she would definitely not replace hers with how unique it was, but there was something else he could do.
The rest of the day remained slightly uneventful. The rest of the Familia returned home with their well-earned money, the window was replaced and everything returned back to normal.
At least it was until night arrived. Even after the sun was long gone from the sky and the stars and moon were overlooking the city, Theresa was still training and while she was not as angry as she was in the morning, the way she swung the blade and stabbed gave a quick impression that she was still not happy.
Everyone was already in their rooms with the exception of this girl, and perhaps another bystander. The sound of footsteps walking on grass were approaching to her, the lights of the mead hall casting the shadow of this person.
The Amazon sighed. "If you're going to be pedantic that I should go to bed, I will after I'm done training. I still need to get a shower."
"It's not that." Noel approached her, in his hands there was something. A sword, albeit a wooden one that was used for training. "If you don't mind, Theresa, can you give me a moment of your time? "
"Why? "
"Well… is there a reason why we couldn't talk? "
The sword whip was stopped moving and the tan girl turned around, just as he expected, she was far from being happy. "Listen, if you are going to tell me to apologize for throwing my tankard then you can just go away. What I did was the right thing, she kept calling me out and wouldn't shut up about it- why do you have a sword? " Her eyes looked down at the blade in his hands. "Please don't tell me you want to fight me."
"No! Not at all, it would be the complete opposite. I-"
"You want me to fight you? "
"No…" Noel groaned, he felt like talking to a brick wall. "Theresa, I have seen you fighting, how you deal with the monsters and your attitude is…" He coughed, looking away from the Amazon. "The way you looked at me back when we were training with Heimdall Familia made me think that despite being the Vice-Captain I feel… inadequate for this position." He turned his gaze back at her. "That is why I want to train with you. I want you to train me in how to use a sword."
Silence, Theresa wasn't surprised, shocked or even showing any other emotions. She just stabbed the grass with her weapon, approached the young one and took the wooden sword from his hands.
THUD
The raw noise of the wood hitting the side of his head, it made him stumble if not for the fact that the sudden pain kicked in.
"Are you serious right now? Why do you even want my help? If you're in that position and you call yourself weak then step down and let someone else do it."
Just as he expected, his attempt at asking help ended up with nothing but a headache (in more ways than one). Noel sighed, picked up the sword and stood up from the grass. "Sorry to bother you. Good night Theresa." He turned around and was on his way to the mead hall when suddenly he heard the clicking of a tongue.
"Tomorrow."
"Huh? " He turned around, his eyes widened as if he couldn't believe those words.
"I'm not going to repeat myself. Tomorrow at this time, I'll teach you how to swing a proper weapon. Don't make me regret it."
"T-Thanks! Thanks Theresa, I won't disappoint you, I'll-"
"Yeah yeah, go to bed. I need to focus." She was not facing him but could imagine the big smile on his face.
With the victory under his belt, Noel ran to the mead hall, turning off the last remaining lights and then headed to his room underground.
The Amazon on the other hand picked up her own sword and took a stance to start swinging her blade but she couldn't. She was thinking about this training but most importantly how impromptu it was. Why did she say yes? Why did she even agree in the first place?
"Tsch, stupid kid. I can't focus anymore." She swung the blade one last time. "Better take that shower now."
The day was wrapping up. Noel couldn't sleep just yet, he was looking at one of the books he took from the orphanage.
Ever since Ragnar tasked him with looking information about the so-called Sigurd he's been dedicating a little bit of his time before going to bed to read his collection. There were tales about heroes of old who beat monsters, saved the princess and made the world a better place; people wanted to be like them, to be revered as a hero and remembered as such, perhaps it was the reason why being an Adventurer was one of the most wanted professions in Orario, they all want to leave their mark and Noel was no exception.
However, his books bore no results, going from the epics to informational ones, he was slowly losing hope about it, and he just couldn't bear telling Ragnar that this Sigurd they were looking for was nowhere to be found. He remembered reading about it once, so he had to exist!
He was down to the last book, if there was nothing there then he'd have to go back to the orphanage and take a few more books as well as returning some.
This one was slightly more modern, in a way, it talked about the heroes of old, their feats and how it reflected into the Lower World or even Orario.
The index had plenty of chapters albeit pretty small, but if there was one thing that caught his attention was the one name near the middle: Sigurd.
He quickly skipped pages and got to the seventh chapter with that title and started to read.
The legend of Sigurd is perhaps not well known nowadays, compared to the heroes of old where they achieved multiple feats, Sigurd fought against a dragon that terrorized the villages in the north and was able to bring peace to those lands. However, this is where the tales diverge. Some say that he was blessed by the powers of the Heavens, some others that he defeated more than just this mythical creature while there are still others who claim that he was a king.
There are a few facts that have been confirmed: He killed a dragon with the power of his mighty sword Gram, he was married to a woman by the name of Kriemhild and fell in love with another woman who bore a child of his own blood.
His death has been debated even to this day, whether it was a quarrel between his wife and this unnamed woman, slain by a creature he tried to fight or perhaps dying in his sleep of old age. Unfortunately, my dear reader, I cannot give a certain response.
But in some places the legend of Sigurd can be heard in some taverns. Many chroniclers tried to track down the blood of this warrior over generations, his daughter Aslaug was able to live a prosper life, continuing the bloodline to this very day.
The research made as of writing this has provided results that I could not have imagined in the first place. The blood of Sigurd was located in the very center of the mortal realm, Orario. There is an Adventurer that has earned the title of Sigurd and acts as an Executive member at-
Noel read the next sentence and stopped himself, he cleared his vision just to confirm that he did not make a mistake.
"There is an Adventurer that has earned the title of Sigurd and acts as an Executive member at…" His voice trailed off, his eyes widened.
He jumped from his bed and left the room in a hurry, he didn't care what time it was or how loud he was at the time, he made the discovery of the day.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
He kept banging at the door next to his, no doubt that the inhabitant heard it as the sound of footsteps were heard. If anything he would apologize to him and to his Goddess in the morning.
The door opened and a very sleepy Ragnar came out, his eyes were half open and his hair was a complete mess.
"Ugh, what is it Noel? It was a tiresome day at the Dungeon, do you really need to go knock like this right now?"
"Ragnar, I found something important, I found information about Sigurd and-"
"Can't it wait until morning?" He interrupted the silver haired. "I need some rest."
"No, it has to be now." Noel raised the book so the blond could read, he pointed specifically at the paragraph that he was reading earlier.
"Let's see…" Ragnar squinted. "The blood of Sigurd was located in the very center of the mortal realm, Orario. There is an Adventurer that has earned the title of Sigurd and acts as an Executive member at…" He stopped at the same place that Noel did.
"…and acts as an Executive member at Skadi Familia."
Behind the closed door, laying on the bed was the Goddess. She woke up from the loud knocking and overheard the conversation between her children.
Skadi knew full well that tomorrow was going to be a long day.
More Noel content! I want to set up a few more things for the future on top of giving some love to other characters that didn't have that much time to shine so far yet. The good news into all of this is that the young boy was able to get some good advice from Esther (if not bringing more questions about the advisor), being mentored by Theresa and finding more about Sigurd.
The bad news might not be for him but for Skadi who knows that she will have to give some explanations to a certain someone.
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, I had this one prepared in terms of dialogue and situation for a long time so it wasn't much of an issue to write it. Thanks to everyone who've been following the story and giving follows, it makes me happy seeing the messages in my email every now and then. Unless those emails are from reviews or PMs that want to do a collaboration. I am not interested in getting scammed.
It's getting late here and I still need to watch the two episodes of season 5 as well as contiuing the LNs. Have a great weekend and as always: See you in the next chapter!