The day after the recruitment was very important; the new members of Skadi Familia had to register at the Guild as adventurers and maybe obtain new information or to make things clear.

Ragnar wanted to update Estherisiana on how the Familia grew but also wanted some advice or directions on what to do next, it was one thing to lead a group of only him and Noel and it was a complete different thing with eight people in it.

He expected a quick procedure, some talks here and there, more information and advices but it ended up being a longer process.

Why? Well, after everyone was able to talk at the Guild, it was Ragnar's turn.

He was sitting in front of the table, silent as the red haired elf was going through a pile of papers and books.

"So this needs to be added here… and… some numbers don't add up but-… Ah, there it is!"

"Esther, I don't mind waiting here while you do your work, but can you at least tell me what was so important? "

The Guild worker asked him to go to the rooms in the back for a private talk, she mentioned that it was an important business related to his Familia and it was better to address it in the back rather than in public. She didn't sound demanding nor angry but something like that did not give the Captain a good opinion on what she might tell him.

"Just a moment… aaaaaand there." She finished writing on one of the pages. Her smile while writing was gone as soon as she clasped her hands together and looked at the blond on the other side of the table. "Now, to business. I appreciate that you came here as soon as possible."

"I was… in the lobby? "

Silence ensured for a bit. "W-well, what I meant was… y-yeah! Congratulations on recruiting more adventurers, but that is the issue here."

"What, am I not allowed to get more people to help? "

"No, but it is who you recruited that is our focal point." The elf pulled a few more papers, reports from other workers about the new members of the Familia. "Unfortunately I am not overseeing any of your fellow teammates but my coworkers gave me a rundown on some of them and… well, they were quite the spectacle."

"That good?"

"That bad you mean." She corrected him and put the first paper on the table. "You recruited a human mage who was too nervous to talk with the Guild that required her sibling in order to function properly. They were able to get plenty of information and talk to them." Esther moved to the next paper.

"Look, how bad can everyone else be? "

"A Raccoon-man was overly nervous when we were asking him questions but unlike the siblings he was dodging some other questions my coworker did." The third paper didn't have much about it. "Another human, this was a surprise."

"Was it really that bad? "

"On the contrary, it went smooth, but he did not talk much." Esther looked at what was written for any kind of errors or the kind of comment she could make but it was impossible. A perfect interview which was surprising given the rest of the Familia.

"So that means that the two left are…"

"Yeah…" She sighed and grabbed yet another parchment. "Your self-proclaimed `Hero of the Lower World, Orario, Rakia and the list goes on. It's not that it was difficult to ask her question it was that she was…"

"Loud, yes, even underground we could hear her talk last night." An audible groan from the Captain made it evident that being quiet was not Hilda's forte. "But there's more to this, isn't there? "

"Of course, the last thing that I have is about-"

"Here we go…" Ragnar was well aware that the Amazoness would bring nothing but trouble.

"Ahem, yes. Perhaps the most troubling of the people in your Familia, if I may say. She said that it was impossible for her to be a level 1 despite her strength and what she did yesterday, whatever that was. Tried to pick up a fight with one of my coworkers when he asked some questions." The girl sighed, putting the last paper down.

"Ragnar, I have to ask you this. Did you recruit everyone because of their skills or… maybe it's your taste?"

"What?"

"What?" Esther looked around before clearing her throat. "Allow me to rephrase: Have you tested them in combat? And while Noel did tell me a little bit about it, I mean against monsters."

"Well, no, but I was hoping now that the Familia is more numerous we could visit the middle floors."

"The… middle floors?" The question left the elf dumbfounded, not because she didn't understand it but because the circumstances… "Rag-… no. I…" She sighed. "Ragnar, you understand that I am technically your boss, correct? "

"That would be the case, yes."

"Then if I tell you not to do something you won't do it, correct? "

"Are you saying that we're not allowed into the middle floors? " A silent nod from the other person made the Captain raise a brow. "Why? "

"You explained it yourself, your new party doesn't have experience against monsters, and while I am not dismissing any of their abilities, I need to ask you this: If you were in a difficult situation against a monster, do you trust the rest of your Familia to help you? "

The answer would be yes but Ragnar couldn't let that out. Was it doubt? Hesitation? He didn't deny that if the situation turned sour Noel or any of the other members would try to help him, but were they skilled enough? What if they were also in trouble?

Going to the middle floors was, in other words, a death sentence.

"Everyone in the party needs to understand how to work together, their synergies, their strengths and weaknesses. It's true that you can go deeper now that you have more people but at the same time you must understand the costs of that such as potions and food for instance."

Esther spoke true, a bigger party was beneficial but also meant a higher maintenance and when money is an issue, a long expedition was out of question.

"If you can prove to me that your Familia can work together then I will consider granting you access to the middle, but until then…"

"That's all? " She nodded. "I want to ask something, or rather advice to be precise." Ragnar leaned forward. "How can I act better as a leader? Like, with Noel it was simple but this time? And what you told me of everyone else's interviews…"

"You accepted them for a reason, didn't you? "

"Well… yeah."

"That means you trust them, even the most problematic one." He hated that she was right; Theresa was a troublemaker but even then he wouldn't deny how effective she could be. As much as she would love to take over the Familia he knew that she would come to his aid. Or at the very least hoped his intuition wasn't wrong.

"Work with them, make them trust you and show how good of a Captain you are. If you are there for your people, they will be there for you when you need it."

"Wow Esther, that's… a deep advice."

"You think? One of my coworkers said that I need to give advices like that or be a bit more mystical about it." She waggled a finger, having a little blush and a smile from that compliment. "But your answer is there, be an exemplary leader and they will follow."

"Thanks, I needed that to clear my mind." Ragnar smiled back at her and stood up. "If that is all then I will be heading to the Dungeon." The blond tilted his head forward, thanking the Guild worker as he headed to the door, turning the doorknob before he was stopped by the same girl calling him out.

"Ragnar, I know you may not hear this a lot but… congratulations." His response was just one of his eyebrows raising in confusion. "For making your Familia bigger, you may not see it but I have high hopes of you. I'll be watching you, Noel and Skadi Familia's growth."

"Appreciate it, Esther." With those words, he left the private room and headed to the main lobby where he found Noel talking with Livialiska while Albrecht was looking at the quest board.

"Where are the others? "

"Outside, they're all waiting for you, Rag-… Captain." One of the agreements that Noel and Ragnar arrived in the morning was that the former would call the later by his title while `on duty´ as to keep some form of ranking within the Familia.

Although they agreed to it, the leader was not fond of being called that.

"Captain, can we go already? " The feline was happy, moving her tail from one side to the other, no doubt that she wanted to go straight for the Dungeon.

"Yeah, there's nothing else to do, let's go."

"Captain Strand." Albrecht approached the trio. "May I have a moment of your time? "

"Huh? Sure, what is it? " The tall man gestured at the quest board and the Captain followed him there. "Quests? I don't think we can do any of them, they are beyond our reach and we are certainly not prepared."

"There is one that could be beneficial to us." He pointed at one of the papers that was hanging in the large board.

Adventurers required!

Merchant Titos is needing a total of 10 (ten) brown lizard tails in good condition.

Deliver before the end of the week.

"Titos? Wait, I know him!" The merchant that Heimdall requested to save a while ago, it was a good thing that despite the attack from the monsters he was able to continue with his business and even better, settle in Orario. "But what is the catch? "

"Perhaps the contractor is offering a smaller reward compared to the others." Said Albrecht. "Which is why not a lot of adventurers might not take it, the effort put into it might not be worth it."

"And if it's posted here then it means that the Guild approved it. Alright." Ragnar took the notice from the board and rolled it. "Would be a good test for team. Let's go!"

It would be an easy mission, the lizards were not that dangerous and in a group like this where everyone was eager to test their skills against what the Dungeon had to offer, it would be simple. In and out before the end of the day.

When all of them came out, they found Alain, Fanis and Hilda talking to each other, although they looked worried.

"Wait, one… two… Where is she? "

"Sh-sh-she…"

"That villain of an adventurer found our debate tiring and undertook a quest on her own towards the depths of the abyss! "

The silence that came afterwards was broken when Ragnar looked at the other Demi-Human who hasn't spoken yet, hoping he would give him a clear answer.

"She's off to the Dungeon."

"What?! And you didn't stop her?!" Noel was surprised by the inaction of the other trio.

"Her words were… t-they were…"

"Vice-Captain, you have to be honest, do you really think we could even stop her? "

"Well… no and don't call me Vice-Captain, I don't have a fancy title!" Ragnar bit his lips, trying to contain a little giggle. How the tables have turned.

"Priorities first, we should go to the Dungeon right now and meet up with Theresa." A wave of his hand and everyone was following the Captain towards the giant tower in the center of the city.

"Cap, do you think she's in danger down there?"

"If I'm honest, I think the Dungeon is the one in danger with her around…"

Despite the joke, all of the adventurers moved together towards Babel, hoping that not only they could find Theresa quick but also to make sure that she didn't cause any chaos on her path, the last thing they wanted is a conflict because someone was impatient.

The clear skies were soon replaced by darkness as they entered in the tower; many adventurers going down along with their loud equipment, from armor to weapons, the children of Skadi could see that it will be yet another day of monster slaying for everyone.

But if there was anything they were surprised about was someone waiting for them near the long staircase into the Dungeon properly. A woman sitting on top of a box, using the pommel of the sword as a support for her shoulder.

"What took you all so long? A little bit more and I would've gone by myself!"

"Yeah, well, thanks for the gesture." Ragnar's voice was far from happy, if anything it was unamused. "Hope you didn't cause any trouble on the way here."

"Please, do you think I'm someone who would start a fight over anything? "No one voiced their opinion but the children agreed what the answer would be, even if they barely knew her for less than a day. "Well? Come on, aren't we supposed to kill monster to earn money? "

"Not just any kind of monsters." The Captain took a few steps away so everyone else would pay attention to him as he pulled the parchment from earlier. "We are hunting down Brown Lizards, a merchant needs ten tails, while I do not mind any of you killing any other monsters, on the contrary go for it. But do understand that the lizards are a priority, so please do not turn them into paste, dust or anything similar, cut the tail and then strike for the Magic Stone, whether it's on the body or the head."

He could see it already, a well-oiled machine of a party, fighting alongside one another, protecting and defeating everything. Now, it was very idealistic of him but he did have his expectations set, perhaps he was worrying too much and everyone's attitude would be put to good use.

The blond gave the instructions and they all set on their hunt for lizards. Many of them excited to shed some monster blood while others didn't voice their opinion or were too nervous about it.

A well-oiled machine, that was Ragnar's idea. In reality it wouldn't work that well, there could be flaws, someone not knowing how to react or not being in line with a set strategy (which they had none), failure was on the table but of course no one wanted to die on their first day, much less being the `loser´ where they couldn't get a single crystal so morale could only be at an all-time high.

Right?

The hunting grounds were between the second and the fourth floors, pretty early in their expedition and a relatively short walk back to the surface. Noel and Ragnar had plenty of experience in these floors but the others were complete rookies. Still, a few hours of work were due to keep some good numbers within the Familia.

Some fought monsters and there was proof of it. Theresa, Albrecht and Hilda had the upper hand, from quick attacks to shield blocks and bashing enemies with it and even arrows finding their targets.

Livia and Alain were not that proficient at killing monsters yet they were trying their best.

The only one who was frozen in place was Fanis whose legs kept shaking as she saw the other adventurers killing goblins and kobolds easily.

"Fanis, what's wrong? " Asked Noel.

Both he and Ragnar were on the side, acting mostly as spectators, if any of them got in danger they would step in to assist.

"I-I… I can't…"

Most of the party was pulling their weight or attempting to but the mage was too scared to even try.

"I wanna go home…" She muttered with shaky words, closing her eyes until everything was over.

"What do we do? "

"We can't kick her out, her sister will leave." The Captain crossed his arms. "We can't push her to do something she can't do either."

"But she can, the issue is that she needs to keep her nerves in check." The white haired added, a finger to his chin as he turned around, attracted by a strange sound. "Huh? You hear that? "

"Yeah, sounds like a lizard." Ragnar was wary of the monster nearby but before he could even take a step to investigate, the creature attacked.

A big brown lizard, came from the ceiling, ambushing the one adventurer that was far away from the rest. Its scales were dark and could hide well in the ceiling. The long tongue was ready to attack the mage along with its massive weight to trap her down.

"FANIS!" The Captain shouted, raising his axe and preparing to throw it.

Everyone turned around and saw the monster drawing closer. The feline was quickly on her way to help but a bigger shadow went past her.

The dark eyes from Fanis were soon clouded as a massive body was standing right next to her with its shield facing the creature. A loud thud and a scream from the girl came back to back.

Albrecht was able to catch up to the mage, using his shield to make the creature land on top of it to make sure that she wouldn't get hurt.

"Are you alright? "

"Y-y-y-yeah… t-t-th-thanks." Fanis' legs were no longer shaking and instead it was her head that was moving violently, nodding at that question. But from the corner of the shield she saw the tongue, ready to lash out at the tall man protecting her. "W-watch out! "

Albrecht was ready to push the creature away from the shield but saw something from the corner of his vision.

The Amazoness used her sword-whip to grab the lizard's tail to drag it from the shield and onto the ground. A loud thud was heard and the next thing they knew was Livia jumping on top of the creature, punching nonstop the body.

"Take that! And that! And have THIS! " She shouted with each punch, making ripples on the lizard's flesh even to the point of hearing broken bones. "You. Will. Not. Scare. Fanis. Like. THAT! "

With each punch, the lizard stopped its movements, seeing the light extinguish from its eyes, and with each attack the stone that acted as the creature's core was visible.

"Wai- wait Livia don't-" But in a fit of rage, the feline pulled the Magic Stone from the body and the lizard turned to dust. "…pull that." Ragnar groaned at this misstep.

"Oh? Ooooh, right, the tails." Livialiska stood up, cleaning up the dust from her clothes. "Uhm… sorry Captain, but I just get angry if someone threatens my sister."

"Duly noted…" Alain whispered, taking a step back from the girl, afraid that she might get another outburst like that.

"T-t-thanks for the help…" Fanis on the other hand was recovering from that ambush. "I'm… I'm sorry that I couldn't do anything, this is all new and-…" But she stopped talking, her eyes fixated on a spot on the wall behind Noel.

"And? Are you out of words after an attack like that? Perhaps you should find a way to compose yourself lest you want to be caught with no one else to help you." Hilda spared no words; her advice, while true, was quite blunt.

"VICE-CAPTAIN, WATCH OUT! "

"Huh? "

Another ambush. Yet another lizard hiding almost in plain sight in the wall, this time the victim was going to be Noel who was paying no attention to his surroundings.

He quickly turned, knife in hand and seeing the lizard ready to jump him; he wouldn't be able to fully protect himself from the attack but knew that his teammates would be able to give him a hand.

At least that's what he expected at first, the monster jumped only to be pinned by a beam of light that grazed the white haired boy.

The spell casted by Fanis was a quick one, it wouldn't be enough to completely eliminate the lizard but it was certainly useful as the monster was once again on the wall.

"Finally a proper opportunity to show my marksmanship, a creature of the depths will fear my bowmanship for the best heroinemanship!" The archer let out a volley of arrows, some of them were lodged on the stones, others bounced but there were a few that pinned the lizard further against the wall, making it easy to hit it.

"Alain!"

"Huh?! Y-yeah!" Noel called out to the duelist who followed behind him.

Noel swirled the knife in her hand and a wide cut from side to side loosened the tail which fell to the ground. The young one stepped aside quickly as Alain stabbed the lizard in the chest, hitting the Magic Stone with a clean stab, turning the monster dust as another victory ensured.

"Hah." A tired laugh from Noel, kneeling and grabbing their prize. "Finally a tail, how many more we need? "

"According to all the monster that we killed, including the Brown Lizards that we came across, we only have one tail out of the two lizards that we found."

"Only two lizards?! You would've thought that in the span of hours we could find a dozen at least, even hundreds!" Livialiska's upset was completely understandable after hearing Albrecht's words. "What do we do now? "

The group turned towards the Captain, waiting for their next orders.

Ragnar wanted to be happy about this result, the new recruits were able to give a good first impression in the Dungeon and how to work together, even if it was an emergency. On the other, they got a good haul of Magic Stones they can sell but when it comes to what they were initially looking for?

"Let's just get back to the surface, we've been here long enough for a single day. We'll come back tomorrow and see if we can have better luck."

One out of ten tails and they had three more days to collect them all.

And so the new members of Skadi Familia have proven themselves with this first foray into the Dungeon and while the quest they have taken is not going as well as some initially expected, they are still within the schedule.

This chapter was meant to be released two weeks ago but writer's block, losing about a quarter of the chapter due to a power outage and life happened and thus the delay.

As always, thanks to everyone who follow and fav the story as well as reviews. I try to answer them as best I can without going much into spoiler territory.

Also, the story is going to be a year old next week! Can't believe we got this far.

Hope you have a great week, I bid farewell but not before saying the usual final words: See you in the next chapter!