"I appreciate that you joined me today, Albrecht."
"My suspicions on both letters have not disappeared, yet I do agree that letting a Supporter wait or much less not showing up at all might be a sign of disrespect towards this person and the Guild worker that offered you this chance."
"Right, one step at a time…"
Earlier that morning a courier arrived at the gates of Fimbulvetr with two letters, both of them addressed to Ragnar himself, although there was something off about them: Both of them were open.
When they questioned the courier about the letter, they said that was how the Guild gave it and after that it was completely untouched.
This, of course, felt strange to the few who were at the gate listening to the exchange but ultimately they let it slide, with the only exception being Albrecht who was still fixated on that detail.
One of the letters had information about the Supporter as well as some information such as her Level, name, race and a small picture to identify her. A Level 1 female Elf by the name of Florine Sela.
There weren't any more details like stats, Familia, weapon of choice or anything, just that she was the Supporter they were supposed to meet on that day and the meeting spot would be in front of the Guild's headquarters.
That was the simple part since the second letter they got was the formal instructions on the quest.
Unlike the last one where they had to kill specific monsters and obtain their tails, this time it was retrieval. A failed expedition of a small Familia led to one of the members getting lost in the Dungeon and losing a bag full of reagents and materials they carried. Unfortunately the body was never recovered nor returned to the surface in the last few days, thus the goal is not only to find and deliver the fallen adventurer but also the bag they had. There was also a bonus if said person was alive.
The quest also detailed that the adventurer was last seen on the eight floor.
This was their test, the one that would put Skadi Familia on the map for future endeavors. If they completed the quest then they would be allowed to visit the Middle Floors and thus fighting stronger monsters to level up. But would they be really prepared?
Never mind that for now, they would worry after completing the mission on how to prepare properly for that area.
It was a long and quiet walk, the usual sight of stores opening and adventurers going down the main street towards Babel. It would still be a bit before they would reach the Guild which gave Ragnar the idea to start some small talk.
"Say, Albrecht. You mentioned that you did some mercenary work before joining us, what kind of work was it? "
He glanced at the blond before looking back forward. "Depends on the contractor. Protecting caravans, merchants, some fools that thought they could be too carefree… We didn't have a specific place where we worked, we did a few jobs in a town and then we would move away."
"Have you considered Rakia at all? "
"We did, fighting alongside the famed God of War would've been an honor but of course we did have our price and so did they."
"Was it too much? "
"They wanted us to swear fealty to Rakia, their God and be part of their Familia."
"But? "
"We needed money, something that many of the company agreed. And since Rakia was not willing to provide it, we had to find our ways to obtain it."
Those words felt somber the more Albrecht spoke; Ragnar could guess what those ways could be and it sent shivers down his spine. He was hesitant on whether to continue, maybe he didn't need to worry at all or maybe it was a cause for concern.
To kick a member for their previous actions wouldn't be a weird idea, even more so if that person was a mass murderer or a criminal, but what if he was wrong? He didn't see any wanted posters in the city nor any mentions about a mercenary company of the sorts.
Still, if Albrecht was someone that was willing to kill others just for money, he would've done it already, or that's what Ragnar was thinking at the time.
"Well, who am I to judge, right? " He gave a nervous laugh. "I'm sure you all had your reasons, but I'm glad that you joined us, right? " But the response was just a silent nod.
There was no further talk between them, Albrecht was not willing to open up unless Ragnar asked and the latter didn't knew how to even continue without breaching that topic or sounding awkward.
Regardless, their slow march led them to the Guild, or rather outside of it since that's where they were supposed to meet the Supporter.
There was a lot of people, going back and forth which made this task difficult and there were many adventurers with big backpacks that did not fit the description from the letter.
"Maybe the person hasn't arrived yet? " And now came a newfound fear. To be waiting all day for the person to arrive only for her to not show up in the end. Surely the Guild could have a say in this but what could they do? Penalize the Supporter? Or maybe something else happened.
Ragnar was pulled from his trance as he felt the tall man nudging him and then pointing in a certain direction.
There was a bench, and in it there was a person with a big backpack to their side. A female elf with dark cyan hair tied in a ponytail that was asleep; she was wearing a cape and some light clothes that were better suited for warmer temperatures, yet she didn't seemed bother by it. Right next to her was one of those big backpacks that were usually seen around the city.
The two adventurers approached the snoring girl, blocking the sun out of her eyes in hopes that she would wake up but unfortunately she kept tight to her small pillow.
"Uhm… hello? The Guild told us to meet you here. We're from Skadi Familia, looking for you, a supporter." But despite how honest (and awkward) Ragnar's words were, the elf's only response was…
"zzzzz"
"I don't think she would be a good fit, she can't even wake up." Ragnar gestured at her while looking at Albrecht who just glanced back at him in silence. "How can we wake her up without causing too much trouble? "
"May I try a simple method? "
"Be my guest…" He shrugged.
Ragnar was expecting the tall man to do something outrageous like shaking the elf or throwing the bench away. Surely one of the most silent members of the Familia wouldn't do such a thing but after the last conversation maybe there was a slim chance that it could happen.
But the simple method was indeed simple in the end with a gentle kick to the girl's boot prompted her to wake up.
"Eh? What? What time is it? "
"It will be nine past seven in a matter of seconds."
"Oh so it's been only five minutes…" The now-awake elf took the pillow resting behind her head and put it inside of the giant backpack. Then she fixed her hair and looked at the two adventurers. "Yes? "
"You've been here for five minutes and fell asleep? "
"Florine didn't have a good night's sleep, okay? " She stretched her arms and yawned. "What do you need? "
"We…" Ragnar looked at Albrecht and then back at the elf. "We're from Skadi Familia, we were supposed to look for a Supporter, a girl uh…" He pulled the letter from his pocket to review the information. "An elf by the name of Florine."
"Florine? Yes, Florine's my name."
"G-Great! We were looking for you, the Guild said that you will be helping us and that we should talk about a contract."
"Florine doesn't want to sign with Mithras Familia, they make things too overcomplicated for my brain…"
"But we are not the… Mithras Familia? "
"I think she means that she doesn't want to involve them, word around the city is that if they oversee a contract they will make sure it won't be broken." The explanation left much open to the Captain's imagination.
"In any case, we can just make an agreement here! How about… 70 – 30? "
On the way to this meeting there was the inner discussion on how to split the payment. A small cut for the Supporter meant that she wouldn't agree to working with them but having something like 50 - 50 meant that the Familia would have to split even less money between them.
This was the time for Ragnar to act like a proper negotiator, a man of business ready to make arrangements and concessions just to make this deal work. Even if she asked for a bigger percentage of the earnings, he would have to stay the ground and make sure that at the end, the right Familia would be getting more benefits.
"Alright." Florine yawned."
Or maybe not…
"Wh- that's… that's it? You are not going to bargain for more? "
"Florine doesn't want more deals, she will take a fair share." The sleepy elf stood up and grabbed her backpack, hanging it from her shoulders. "Where are we going exactly? "
"To Babel, we have a quest we need to take care of."
And so, the three of them set their path to the giant tower where they would find the rest of the Familia who were waiting for them, some with a more bored look than others.
Without much delay they all headed down the stairs and into the Dungeon, they had a quest to accomplish.
"So, Miss Supporter, tell us more about yourself! " Livia walked back from the formation to be next to the elf. "Is this your first job as a Supporter? Oh, maybe you have first-hand experience? Are you really level 1? What Familia do you belong to? "
"Mh… Florine wants to go home and sleep…" The barrage of questions overwhelmed the new girl as she tried to cover her ears in despair.
This was now time for Alain to step in rather than the talkative Cat girl. "So uh… Miss Florine, yes? Who's your God or Goddess? "
"Lady Fortuna, she told Florine to go do something rather than sleep and Florine doesn't like that…"
"Fortuna? "
"The Goddess Fortuna is said to be the patron of the lucky" Explained Noel. "From what I heard, her Familia is not the adventuring type and instead resort to other types of businesses like fortune telling."
"And… does it actually work? "
"Lady Fortuna is naturally lucky and her predictions lead others to have a lucky day." Florine added. "Florine doesn't like fortune telling and Lady Fortuna told me to earn money in the Dungeon."
"Wait, so you're telling me a Goddess is lucky? I thought deities were not allowed to use their powers." Theresa joined the conversation, carrying her sword over her shoulder and turning her head at the small group.
"I think it works like our Goddess." The eyes were on Fanis who tried to hide in between her shoulders. "W-what I mean was that Lady S-Skadi is naturally cold, her body is like a gust of cold wind."
"A lucky Goddess? Her abilities then must be used for the greater good of Orario, nay, the whole of the Lower World. Perhaps even by striking at the heart of corruption itself in the city: The casinos in the Entertainment District."
"Florine's Goddess is banned from going to those places after she kept winning. She is prohibited from setting foot on the Entertainment District as a whole…"
Rivalries between deities was not surprising, although being outright banned from a whole part of the city for being lucky was slightly extreme, then again it was uncertain how much money Fortuna gained to earn the honor from being banished from that place.
At least most of the children from that group were grateful that their Goddess was nothing like that.
"Cap', what are we supposed to find exactly? " The Amazoness.
"Did you not hear the briefing that we had prior to arriving at the tower? Both the Captain and the Vice-Captain went thoroughly on our assignment for today. I am ashamed to know that I have a teammate whose priorities are anywhere but the onus of our mission."
"Keep talking all you want, all I know is we have to deal with some monsters and find something." Theresa opened and closed her free hand, mimicking a mouth and mocking the archer.
"The target is the eight floor. A missing adventurer and a bag that need to be retrieved, the mission does entail that if the adventurer is alive then we will have an even bigger payment."
"Although the Dungeon can be quite treacherous even if it's still the top floors…"
"No need to be that discouraging, Vice! " Livia patted the silver haired's back. "Since it's an adventurer then at least we know that they know how to survive in this hostile territory, right? They might be a little banged up but nothing that your magic can't solve."
"I already told you, my magic is not healing per se, it is more of rewinding any kind of damage done to a wound. Even then if the damage is severe I might not be able to fully restore it."
"Ugh, Florine doesn't want to listen anymore, I just want to go back home…"
"Hey, if we do this right, we'll be home before night arrives."
"Ugh…" The noises from the Supporter were easily noted as the party continued going down.
For better or for worse, their path was not peaceful as they kept encountering monsters on the path or saw them coming out of the walls. Goblins and Kobolds, Frogs and Lizards; and as they were getting closer to the eight floor they kept encountering more dangerous creatures to deal with like Killer Ants or War Shadows.
While they proved to be difficult, their strength in numbers was able to overcome such a challenge. And the added benefit that all of the Magic Stones and drop items were on Florine's backpack so everyone else could fight freely without having to worry about the weight from those.
Although there was a bigger challenge in bringing a Supporter, while she had a small mace to defend herself, most of the job was meant to be done by the others and if Florine was harmed then they were not doing their job well. Although prolonged battles meant a bigger problem:
"zzzzz"
"She fell asleep again! "
Florine has proved to be someone who could fall asleep easily, whether she was sitting, laying down or even standing up, she could close her eyes and be completely unaware of her surroundings. Even when the sound of fighting and magic were almost getting louder, she would not wake up, fortunately a little nudge was more than enough to bring her back.
After a long battle, the party was able to rest a bit. They tried to catch their breath while the elf girl kept picking up the Magic Stones.
"How far until we reach the person? " Came the dull voice of the Supporter.
"I dunno, we've been on the eight floor for a while and all we got is monsters, monsters and oh, guess what? More stupid monsters! "
"Theresa, I didn't expect you to be the first one to complain about fighting."
"Shut your mouth or I'll pull your tail right off! " The Amazoness' response prompted Livia to grab her tail close, protecting from the imminent threat.
"And so far we had no sights of the bag or the fallen adventurer…"
"Potentially fallen adventurer." Noel corrected Alain, cleaning the blade.
"Let me ask you, fellow adventurers, would you rather bring our target back alive or dead. And the most important question would be who shall carry it? "
"Is… is it really necessary to bring it back? "
"If we want to complete the quest, yes. And to answer: Alive, of course. We want more money out of it, don't we? Why don't you ask something different and less… gruesome? " The Captain was in charge of the lookout while they were resting, looking at the possible entrances in case any monsters showed up.
"Verily! A riddle to make all my compatriots think. Perhaps something of general interest." Hilda stopped for a moment, thinking for a proper question. "Ah, finally an idea. If any of you were to sparkle a conflict with another adventurer, who shall it be? "
"To fight another adventurer? " Fanis stopped. "Maybe- huh?!" She turned. "Did any of you hear that? "
"Oh oh oh, I know! I have seen some other of my people in this tavern the uh… what was the name?" The feline turned to the mage. "Fanis, what was the name? "
"Oh um… something of Fertility? "
"Whatever, there was someone there and I want to test my skills against her. I'm pretty sure I'd win" Livia's chest puffed with pride at those words, letting her gauntlets rest at her side.
"Certainly I shall challenge the best archer this city has to offer, although my skills have proved to be the best to the point that I do not consider any other to be my rival."
"Right…" Ragnar slowly nodded, while he understood everything that Hilda said, he (and everyone else but her) were quite certain that there were probably many adventurers before her that had better skills with the bow. "Alain, Noel, Albrecht? "
"Mh? Me? Oh uh… I don't pay too much attention to that. Don't know a lot of Familias out there to compare. Maybe someone from Heimdall's? A friendly spar or something."
"Perhaps a strong soldier or someone with military experience. I have seen members of Ganesha Familia being the acting guards in the city, I could learn something from their techniques."
"Honestly? I don't know, maybe I'll go with Alain's idea and choose someone from Heimdall Familia as well."
"Hmph, all of you and your weak plans." Theresa leaned on the rock. "If you plan to reach high then you'll need to aim bigger. The Captain of this Loki Familia, I am sure I can beat that brat." She said it with such confidence but everyone knew the truth: She would get demolished.
"I see… now how about a more reasonable person? "
"You think I don't have what it takes, Cap'? " Ragnar was ready to open his mouth but the Amazoness frowned. "Don't you dare finish that. But if you want something that feels more reasonable, then I don't think-… No, I know just the one. That girl, that… prick who bested me the last time. I'll swear that I'll beat her no matter what."
"Girl? Oh, you mean Bryn? Well, she's got more experience than you." And with that a wicked thought crossed the blond's mind. "Say… maybe she could be here in the Dungeon, training, for all we know she could be deeper below where she is getting stronger." There were a few times where Theresa mocked him or his peers so it was time for a little revenge, a small jab that would hurt no one.
"Hey, something is near, can't you hear that? "
Theresa looked at the Captain and frowned, while her expression showed her usual anger, in her mind she imagined herself bashing Ragnar's skull against the rocks. But instead she contained herself, not because she wanted to, but because that thought of Brynhildr getting stronger was pissing her off, even more so than the blond.
"Tsch, consider yourself lucky." Theresa pushed herself off the rock and walked away from the group. "Hey, Supporter! We're moving, where are you? " But the lack of a response made some of the party wary. "Damn it, she must've fallen asleep again."
"Florine is here." She came back and had a small bag in her hands. "Found this bag nearby when collecting the stones."
"Wait, what? " Ragnar stood up and approached the Supporter and took the bag from her hands and looked inside.
There were many items in there, from herbs to flasks, dust and branches, mushrooms and even small pieces of ore. It was almost filled to the brim.
"This might be the bag, but just where you found it? " Ragnar looked up at Florine but noticed something off, her hand was red. "Huh? " He grabbed it and noticed that it was still wet. "Where did you get this? "
"Florine found them there." She pointed at a corridor and got the bag back.
A horrible thought came to the Captain's mind, the idea that their Supporter killed the person they were looking for. Was it possible? Certainly, even if the odds of it happening were low. He turned around the corner and found what they were looking for this entire time.
A dead adventurer sitting on the floor and with its back against the stone. The blood on the floor was still spreading and in their hand was a small dagger.
"Guys!" He called out and the rest of the group came to him. The look of surprise was visible in some of them.
"Are they…? "
Albrecht approached and kneeled over the adventurer, grabbing their hand for a pulse but it didn't take long before he looked back at the others and shook his head.
"Their death was recent."
"We were so close! "
"There goes our extra payment…"
"Hey, don't think of it that way, it makes us sound greedy! " Livia started hammering Theresa's back to scold her but the latter did not feel a single hit.
"Still, we have to take the body back to the surface, yes? " Alain commented, approaching the body. "Miss Florine, why didn't you react to the dead body? "
"Florine is accustomed to such sights; the deaths of monsters unfazed Florine from seeing dead adventurers."
"I think it doesn't work that way…"
"Wait." Noel interrupted and also approached the body. "Something's not right." He kneeled to inspect the fresh corpse. "They died fairly recently, perhaps some minutes ago."
"While your investigation is appreciated there is no need to rub about our poor performance."
"That's not the issue. Look" Noel stepped to the side and pointed at one of the wounds. It was a huge gash, perfectly cut on the stomach and another one on the neck. "The monster that did this was not only powerful but also smart enough."
"This is no monster." Albrecht stood up. "This was the result of a blade."
"So what? Landforms exists, monsters can use anything they pick up as a weapon."
"That's the problem, monsters can't use blades, and there's nothing in the Dungeon that can make that clean cut."
"Captain, what do you mean? "
The silence afterwards was deafening, they all knew what it meant. There were adventurers that wanted to kill monsters to be revered as heroes, others did not care for that. To get strong, to get money, fame, there were many reasons and much like there were good adventurers, there was the other side of the spectrum.
"H-hey… something's coming…" Fanis' words were heard but not taken into account once again, she was focused on the path they came from, her legs were shaking.
"Unfortunately there's nothing we can do for them. Our best… if not only option is to bring the body back. We have a quest so I don't think anyone will question why we're carrying a body." Despite the calm demeanor, Ragnar remembered the time at the mining expedition, he turned around for a moment and all the people from his group were murdered.
Was this any different? At that time, he couldn't made up his mind about it.
"Albrecht, you carry the body, I'll take the lead." The front line of the party nodded and carried the unfortunate adventurer over his shoulder. "We're going back to the surface, our job's done."
While many wanted to ponder as to what or who caused the death of their target, they couldn't linger for long and eventually they all agreed to return.
They left the corridor and found Fanis looking in the direction they originally came from, her staff aimed and with a fearful look on her eyes.
The party turned and saw many red eyes appearing and getting closer. Many monsters were running in their direction.
"Battle positions! "
The party was ready to receive the incoming monsters, even if they were way more than they expected. Although it was completely doable, there was a new problem brewing.
"Captain, we are soon to be overwhelmed! " Hilda pointed in the opposite direction of the group. More red eyes approaching at fast speed.
Fear coursed through some of the members of Skadi Familia; this was not a battle they were able to win if they had to fight on both fronts, even if they were plenty, their abilities would not suffice.
"Uh… uhm… G-get ready!" Ragnar tightened the grip on his weapons, looking for any way out. His eyes were scanning the front, then the back but there was no incoming solution for him. He looked up, thinking of a way to dig through all the layers of stone but it was impossible.
No, there was a way to solve this.
"Fanis!" The girl yelped with the Captain's roar. "I need you to use your magic to destroy the ceiling and block the path behind us!"
"U-Uh…. I-… Wouldn't that be dangerous? " But the young mage shook her head. "R-right!"
The human turned around and aimed her staff at the ceiling above the gateway where the monsters would come from.
"May the light illuminate your path, clear all your d-d-doubts and show true resolve."
The monsters were approaching, some of the faster ones were Kobolds that were immediately dispatched but the worst was yet to come.
"Show your hope, let it shine like a b-b-beacon to all those who wander."
The sound of weapons clashing against the incoming creatures was getting louder and the anxiousness of the mage was increasing tenfold as the threats were imminent.
"Let the dreams of tomorrow becomes the power of today. Make a wish and let it happen. "
"For I am the beacon that will light the path for those that surround me. "
"Let my hope guide my future: vað-áss! "
The staff channeled all the power from Fanis and let out a powerful beam of light that hit the ceiling.
The explosion caused from it fractured the stone and just like it was expected, it fell on top of the gateway, killing some of the monsters and blocking the path.
Although this was the intended result, it did not stop there. The ceiling kept fracturing as more rocks were falling, this time near the party.
"Watch out! "
"Out of the way! "
The ceiling completely crumbled and the entire party had to scramble so they didn't get crushed by the rocks.
As the dust settled and they were all able to recover their breath, they saw the damage caused by Fanis' magic.
They were on the same corridor they found the body, although the path was now blocked by boulders, the sound of monsters was getting quieter and their beating hearts were calming by the second.
"What was that?! " Said Livia, laying on the floor and looking at the ceiling, fortunately this one was not cracked.
"I think they call it a Pass Parade, never thought I would see one, let alone experience it." Alain rested his back against the wall, slowly falling down until he sat on the floor.
"Tsch, what was that?!" Theresa approached Ragnar and grabbed him by the lapel of his armor. "What kind of plan was it? Trying to kill all of us?!"
"It was the first thing that came to mind, didn't know the entire place would collapse! " He pushed her away, looking back at the blocked entrance. "There were no other options, it was doing that or die on the spot." After recovering, the blond looked back at the party. "Fanis, thanks for doing that. You saved-…" He stopped.
He had to count the amount of people that were there: Theresa, Alain, Albrecht and Livia.
No, that wasn't right.
He did the count again. Four adventurers and then there was him.
"Huh? Where's the Vice Captain? " Asked the duelist, looking around for Noel.
"It seems that our Supporter is also missing." Albrecht wiped the dust off his armor.
"Well, explains why everything is quiet…" Theresa referred to Hilda's missing verbose in this conversation.
"Wait…" Livialiska sat "Where's Fanis? "
They all turned the attention at the blocked path. They saw a trail of blood coming from beneath the rocks, whose blood was it? They didn't know, but if the silence of the cave meant anything…
Then the worst outcome could've happened.
We're back and going from a very calm morning where they picked up their new Support to pretty much almost getting crushed. But this begs the question: What happened to the other half of the party? Well, that will be a question to answer in the next chapter.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, on top of that Season 5 is already out and I haven't got the chance to watch the second episode yet, fortunately (albeit slightly late) I got the chance to listen to the audiobook of the LNs and are near the end of season 3 so the good thing is that there's plenty of worldbuilding and characters that are not that well developed in the anime and can use that knowledge and apply it to the story to flesh it out a bit more.
Also, as mentioned in the last chapter, here are the last two sheets that were remaining from the Familia:
...
Name: Theresa Latif
Age: 27
Affiliation: Skadi Familia
Level: 1
Strength: F 309
Endurance: G 221
Dexterity: H 181
Agility: G 264
Magic: I 15
Skills: -
Magic: -
...
Name: Albrecht Glig
Age: 28
Affiliation: Skadi Familia
Level: 1
Strength: G 287
Endurance: F 315
Dexterity: G 241
Agility: H 186
Magic: I 0
Skills: -
Magic: -
...
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, have a great week and as always: See you in the next chapter!