Supporter

It was a new day in Orario. A goddess and two elves had just woken up and were getting ready to go about their day.

Hecate was making breakfast, her cooking had easily become the favorite food for both brothers. Who knew a goddess could make such delicious food?

After breakfast, both of them packed up and left for the guild where they would get information from Rose and then hire a supporter.

Quickly reaching the square of the guild, Cassian and Nico got ready to enter but were interrupted.

"Heey misters! The two elves with white and blue hair!"

The brothers looked toward the voice calling them and saw a small person, a girl addressing them.

She was about 110 centimeters tall (3'7 Inches), barely reaching their torso. Dressed in plain cream-colored robes, with a hood covering her head. From the hood peeked out brown-colored hair. She wore a massive backpack, easily at least 5 times as big as her.

'No way…' was the thought running through both of their heads as the girl looked up at them with happy, eager eyes. Eyes that were completely forced and fake to Cassian's experienced gaze. She reminded him of the pickpocket children going around the streets scamming people, mostly tourists. A fair share of orphans from their orphanage also did this regularly.

"Yes? How may we help you?" Cassian quickly shook off the surprise of meeting her out of nowhere and answered her.

"Pleased to meet you! If you don't mind me asking, are you two looking for a supporter?" She asked with the same faux excitement.

"Oh? And what gave us away?"

"The backpacks on your backs seem fairly large, meaning you're carrying your own supplies." She answered nonplussed, the white-haired elf's question.

"Huh, guess you have a point. Why are you asking?"

"My name is Liliruca Arde and I'd like to offer you, great adventurers, my services as a supporter in the dungeon. Lili may be a poor supporter and not compare you amazing adventurers, but Lili promises to do her job well!" She declared resolutely while not forgetting to add flattery and reverence to her words.

Adventurers were an arrogant and prideful bunch in Lili's eyes, looking down on everyone beside them. Add elven pride on top of that and the best strategy for her was to sufficiently butter them up. And considering the wide smile the younger elf wore, it seems she was successful.

"Ye- "/ "Thank you for the offer miss Arde, but we'll have to refuse." Cassian interrupted Nico's words and firmly shut down the idea, making both of them stare at him with wide, surprised eyes.

"W-what? Are you not looking for a supporter then?" Lili was unsure about what to think, the younger one was eager to agree but the older one shut it down.

"We are looking for a supporter, but rather than hiring a random person off the street, I prefer to hire one recommended by the guild."

"Brother, what are you-" Nico was confused and began inquiring about his brother's intentions, but a quick look from him shut him up. It was a look that told him to leave things to him and that he would explain everything afterward. As such, Nico closed his mouth and continued to watch the exchange.

"B-but a guild recommended supporters charge more! Lili promises to only ask for a small percentage of the earnings and Lili will work hard and earnestly!" Lili said with a bit of desperation seeping into her tone. She had to get these two.

Lili had done a bit of investigation when looking for new marks. That's when she discovered these two elves accidentally when she saw them at the exchange booth. There were two of them only and yet they had killed enough monsters to earn 50,000 valis in a single dive. If she could get a share of that…

"Sorry, but my answer remains the same. I'd rather dive with someone trustworthy."

"You- Lili will- " / "No means no Arde."

The pallum glared up at him in hatred before turning around and leaving. She may have missed out on a massive paycheck but it was better to not push her luck with them.

'Adventurers, they're all scum.' She thought with anger and hatred in equal measure.

Meanwhile, back with the brother, Nico turned towards his older brother with narrowed and suspicious eyes.

"You never liked Lili as a character, don't tell me that is why you refused her?"

"I never liked Lili as a character because her background was garbage and done solely for pity points. Every single adventurer she encountered was a cruel scumbag? Please, while the adventurers have their fair share of assholes among them, most are decent people. If all and even most of the adventurers were like the ones Lili saw, then Orario would be a lawless warzone with familias acting as gangs. And yet Lili somehow only encountered the assholes until the heroic Bell came into her life? Makes no sense whatsoever."

"But no, I didn't reject Lili because of personal distaste. The problem is her intentions and psyche. I have no intention of being robbed of monster drops, and I sure as hell don't want to constantly be on edge about a possible betrayal." Cassian continued. Personal likes or dislikes didn't play a part in his decision. Even if her godawful way of speaking in 3rd person was very grating on his nerves.

"I-I guess you're right about that. But what about her circumstances? You know what's going on with her."

"Sigh, I do, I feel empathy for her and would like to help her but it's useless. Her problems go beyond mere abuse from Soma addicts. She's a massive ball of psychological issues, trauma, and insecurities. Neither of us are therapists. She needs Bell's naïve and overly kind nature to truly heal and save her. We could take that role and act like him, but the moment she senses any deception it will all go worse."

"Dammit. So there's nothing we can do?" Nico had a pained expression on his face. It didn't feel right to abandon someone like that. Especially when he was intimately familiar with the situation. He was always kind-natured like that.

Cassian didn't like the situation either. It was an annoying issue but there was nothing they could do about it. He'd gladly help, but he knew it wouldn't truly help Lili, it would only deal with the surface issue.

"Bell will be coming here in a year. She just needs to endure till then and she'll be fine." Honestly, if the issue was more severe, he wouldn't care about any of them and just go for it, but as bad as Lili's situation looked, it wasn't bad enough to warrant that. She wasn't being tortured or sexually abused, just taking a couple of beatings. Which, for adventurers who dive into the jaws of death every day, shouldn't be a huge issue.

With that, their meeting with one of the main characters and following discussion was over and they proceeded to the guild's entrance. Though Cassian kept one last thought to himself.

If Lili's potential betrayal had placed Nico's life in peril…

Cassian would have killed her. He wasn't as forgiving as Bell.

--- The Guild ---

"Hey, Rose! How have you been doing?" Cassian asked as they walked up to Rose's spot.

"Oh, it's you two. I've been well." The bored-looking receptionist looked up at the two elves standing before her desk.

"We've been doing well too! I'm improving a bunch at magic and Cass learned blacksmithing! Hecate has been helping me a bunch…" Nico started prattling to her with a familiarity that bothered Rose. No matter how cold she acted towards the younger one, it was like it all went over his head and he continued acting as friendly and close as before.

Rose had to valiantly defend the walls she had put up from the over-excitable elf.

"Wait you mentioned blacksmithing? Are you planning to become a full-time blacksmith Cassian?" Rose asked with a bit of hope leaking into her voice. She even forgot to use honorifics.

"Ah, sorry Rose but no, it's just a side job. I'm still going to be an adventurer. Glad to see you're warming up to us though!" Cassian finished with a grin, having caught her slip-up.

Rose quickly became disappointed as Cassian talked but as she caught on to the last part of his words, a small blush lit up her face in embarrassment at her mistake.

"Ahem, anyway what did you come here for today Mr. Cassian?" She coughed to dispel her embarrassment and then tried to move the conversation away.

"Well, we would like a lecture about the 10-12 floors, since we're planning on going down there. Also, we would like to hire a supporter. Could you recommend anyone?"

"Hmm, I'll see what I can find. First though, how good are you at a protection detail?"

"Uh, I guess it depends on the situation. I'm guessing you're asking about how well we can keep the supporter safe?"

"Yes, there are two types of supporters. Ones from familias, these supporters rarely dive with people other than their familia, and there are those that are known as 'free supporters'. Free supporters don't belong to a familia and they don't have a Falna consequently."

"Wait what? People would enter and work in the dungeon as supporters without a Falna?"

"Some would for various reasons. Usually, those who came to Orario to become adventurers, but were unable to find a familia to join. To keep themselves afloat they could be free supporters to get valis. But it's a dumb decision. There are plenty of safe jobs that could earn them a livable wage." Rose finished with an annoyed face at the prospect of people throwing their lives away that idiotically. But she shook it off and continued.

"The dungeon is extremely dangerous. That is ten times truer for those without a Falna. But there are some who don't have much of a choice or anything else to do. We don't ask questions in situations like these. But some are dead set on becoming adventurers, so they chose to do this to accumulate experience in hopes of joining a familia in the future."

"Plus, their life and income are completely dependent on who they make a contract with. If they are trustworthy and capable of defending them, and if they are competent to generate good income. That is why I asked how good you can be at protecting someone." At that, Cassian started thinking and strategizing about how he could handle it.

"Although if you don't want that, I can find a trustworthy supporter from some familia and arrange a meeting. They have a Falna and will be easier to protect, but deals like this with other familia can be troublesome. There are a lot of matters to think through. Plus if the supporter were to die, it could spark conflict and animosity." Rose had a grim expression at that. It seemed she had seen her fair share of altercations like that take place.

"Hmm, can we move somewhere more private?" Cassian asked to which Rose responded with only a raised eyebrow, before taking them to her private office.

"So, what did you wish to talk about away from other's ears?"

"This. Quen" Cassian responded to Rose's question before casting Quen on her.

Rose watched with a shocked and intrigued face as she was covered in a golden light which condensed into a skintight screen before vanishing, leaving only golden sparks jumping around her body. It took her a moment to get her bearings back and tear her eyes away from the flickering specks of light before looking at Cassian with a questioning face.

"That is one of my spells. It is a chantless protection spell that surrounds the body in a barrier that absorbs all damage dealt up to a certain point, at which it will break, but I can simply cast it again." Quen and his senses should be more than enough to protect a single person from harm in the dungeon.

Rose's eyes widened and she realized what he was getting at even without him stating it. With a spell like that, he could definitely protect a supporter well. She smiled slightly at this, she could finally deal with that troublesome brat.

For weeks now, a newbie has been bothering her about signing up as a free supporter. This happened because the newbie failed to find a familia to enter. Rose was incapable, as an employee, of denying this, but she has been delaying finding a party for the newbie to join deliberately since she could not bring herself to send them off to certain death. But if it was these two… and with the spell Cassian has shown…

"Very well, I'll send word to the free supporter to come meet you immediately." With that, she exited the room to send someone on an errand before walking back into the room with the brothers. "While we wait, I'll start explaining the floors you wanted to explore. The first thing you need to take note of on the 10th floor and downwards is the mist…"

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Sorry I haven't posted a chapter in a while. Had a busy week, but it's settled now.