The welcome dinner with Gin's new recruits ended close to midnight.
He waved the newbies away, telling them to rest up while he cleaned up the table with Hel and Elise.
It was weird how his familia had more than doubled its size within a single day. Pock and Pott, the pallum twins; Remilia, the female swordsman; Elily, the dwarf tank.
Four new additions. Four new comrades. Four new responsibilities. Four people that he couldn't let down.
…His adventure should get easier with more people, yet he felt a weird sense of burden instead. The weight of responsibility.
It wasn't something he had felt before, to be honest.
He had always been living alone.
Even if he messed up, he would face the consequences on his own.
Now, though? If he messed up, if he couldn't live up to his position as a captain… his four new comrades might be gone as quickly as they came.
He didn't want that.
"Something is weighing on your mind again, my champion."
Gin turned to Hel and sent her a wry smile. "Yeah, a little."
"The weight of four lives is heavy indeed. It is no surprise that you will stagger as they fall upon your shoulders." Hel closed her eyes. "You will stagger, you will stumble… Yet falter you will not. No matter how fearsome that possibility, you will pull yourself forward toward the setting sun."
"These tremors in your chest are not proof of your fear." She placed a hand on his chest. "It is mere proof that you treasure life."
"I know what you worry about, and this might seem cruel to you, but you always answer my orders, and so… I shall give you another one."
"Do not let any of them die," Hel declared to him. "If their departure will bring you grief, rather than trying to get used to the pain, you are better off not tasting it at all."
Absurd.
Adventurers died all the time.
Expecting a familia to never lose a member was beyond foolish.
As that thought raced through his head, he saw Hel looking at him with a solemn look.
"Is it a hard task, my champion?"
Hard task? Hell yeah, it was, but… As long as it was Hel's order, he didn't have any choice but to make it come true.
"…No." Gin knelt to her. "By your divine will."
Hel was a goddess of death, and he was her champion.
He had always wondered, what did being a champion of Hel even mean?
A champion of the goddess of death—the image that came to mind would be a warrior that spread death.
The truth couldn't be more different.
As the champion of the goddess of death, the thing that he needed to do was treasure life.
He wasn't her champion because he would kill her enemies.
He was her champion because he would never let anyone die.
Captains were the most important figures, barring the gods, in any familia.
They were the leaders of the familia, acting as stand-ins for the deities they served during an operation.
The large number of familias meant that there were also numerous types of captains.
Some of them were bona fide leaders like Finn, making decisions and strategies for his familia to follow.
Some were like Alise, a dependable figure and mood-maker for a like-minded group.
Some were like Tsubaki, a laid-back person who only acted like a leader during important times and busied themselves with their craft or hobby the rest of the time.
Some, like Ottar the Warlord, became the captain because they were the strongest in the familia or the person the gods trusted the most.
Some, like Gin, became the captain by default for the sole reason of being the first one in the familia.
Well, he could say that he was also the one Hel trusted the most, along with being the strongest of the group by virtue of Miss Dum-Dum's absence.
So there was that.
The thing was, being the strongest or the one trusted the most by Hel didn't mean much to his new recruits.
His status as a Level 2 did bring a certain amount of credibility, but no amount of cred could substitute for the trust and respect of his members.
Elise, being the good girl that she was, respected and deferred to his judgment most of the time.
He couldn't say the same for the other recruits.
Pock's sass was obvious, but Gin could tell that the other three didn't really trust or respect him that much either.
Thankfully, they still followed his orders to a certain degree, but he needed more than just adequate trust if he wanted to keep them alive.
He feared that these guys would run like headless chickens in the face of danger and ignore any of his orders during critical times.
That was something he wanted to avoid, obviously.
....
So now, the morning after their addition to the familia, he gathered all of them to begin their first actual activity as a familia to build their teamwork.
"Alright, we will now start the first of hopefully many more 'Helheim Open Discussions: Breakfast Edition,' where we discuss important stuff like dungeon and familia stuff, over other more important stuff, which is breakfast," Gin declared to the others at his table, holding a cup of coffee in his hand.
"We shall open the meeting with a nice sip of coffee. Oh, for those who prefer sweet stuff, cream and sugar are of course provided. Please pass them around, Elise."
"As you order, Captain!" Elise saluted him and went around the table, carrying out his order.
In the end, Remilia was the only one who didn't add anything to her cup.
For having such a sassy mouth, Pock surprisingly had a sweet tooth.
Gin input the fact into his mind, saving it for potential teasing later.
"Okay then, to the success of this meeting… Cheers, ladies and gentlemen." Gin raised his cup to his mouth and took a sip.
""Cheers."" Replies with various levels of enthusiasm came from around the table as the Hel Familia members drank their coffee.
"With that, the meeting is open," Gin said as he grabbed a hash brown. "So, the first thing on the list is knowing what fighting styles, spells, and skills you all have. If any of you have any secret techniques or something like that, keeping it hidden is fair game. Just know that if we ever get into a potentially deadly situation in the dungeon, I want you all to go all out."
"I'll go first, then. I have two spells and a skill," he said, hiding Éljúðnir's existence completely. "My first spell is a wide-range weakening spell. I can target all enemies that enter my sight, and it lasts for around six minutes or until I lose sight of the enemy. It doesn't consume too much Mind, so I'll use it quite frequently."
"Wait, so you can't blink to keep it active?" Pott asked. "And if your line of sight is cut off, the spell fades? That's quite a weakness."
"No, blinking is fine, but if any of you completely block my view for a full second, the effect will stop. It can't really be helped having that weakness. Ginnungagap isn't a Curse, though, so I can fight normally even when it's active," Gin explained to them.
"All of you don't need to worry about accidentally blocking my view. I will stay on the move to make sure the spell stays active for as long as we need it."
"Heh, neat. So either Elily or Remilia will cover for you when you chant," Pott surmised.
"Nah, no need. Naturally, I'll act as a rearguard, so having one of the frontliners focus on guarding me during chanting would be a waste. Besides, I can use concurrent chanting."
"Wait! Concurrent chanting!? Isn't that a difficult skill!?" Remilia looked at him, half-shocked and half-admiring. "Could it be that you are actually an amazing person, Captain?"
Gin huffed smugly. "Of course I am amazing! My archery is top-class, after all."
"We are talking about your magic skill, though," Elily commented from the side.
"Moving on."
"Oi, he completely avoided the topic." Pock was being a nitpicky pallum, as usual.
Elise leaned in and whispered in his ear. "Well, Gin is sensitive about his magic skill. If you want to compliment him, you should compliment his bow or his knowledge of Hel-sama."
"Yikes, what a pain in the ass."
"Moving on," Gin repeated, letting the remark slide. "My other spell is a personal defensive spell. If something completely out of our league happens, like say, a sudden Monster Party, or some douche does a Pass Parade on us, I will run a distraction while you all regroup to a safer place."
"Captain, if you are so confident about that spell, then shouldn't you fight on the front line as well?"
Gin shrugged at Elily's comment. "No way. Blikjandaböl's Mind consumption is rough. The chant takes around 20 seconds to finish. I can only use it seven times a day. I won't be using it frequently, so just treat it like a trump card."
He continued onto the last topic.
Honestly, he wanted to keep this one a secret, but trust wouldn't bloom if he kept piling secrets on top of secrets for them.
"My skill… Well, it's a trump card too. I can boost my stats for a short while, but I won't come out unscathed after using it." His mental state, that is.
"My usable skillset is those. My high-skill archery, my debuff spell, concurrent chanting, and those two trump cards I just mentioned. Needless to say, if any of you leak it out to outsiders, I'll shoot you dead. So please don't do that~."
"Oi, he just said something scary like it's normal," Pott muttered.
"Our captain is clearly abnormal. What did you expect, sis?" Pock answered boredly.
"Hahaha, Captain, you are just joking about that, right?" Remilia's laughter slowly faded as Gin joined in the laugh.
"…Right?"
He just kept on laughing, ignoring the pointed look.
The discussion continued on. After Gin, Elise followed his lead and talked about her skills.
"I have a healing spell and I can use it repeatedly as long as I get some breaks in between. Well, it's not that strong, so reconnecting a severed limb would be too much. Oh, but if you ever ended up like this—" She raised a donut.
All of them grimaced at the not-so-subtle image Elise brought out.
"I could heal you up if I gave it my all! Probably!"
"The 'probably' part isn't instilling any confidence here, Cap," Pock nudged Gin. "You sure her healing is up to par?"
"Honestly, I am not sure," he whispered back. "I never get injured that badly. Her healing spell is fast and effective, though. She could heal distant targets as well, so mid-battle healing should be easier."
"Well, that's good enough. None of us are in any hurry to get a gaping hole anyway."
"I can also use Dragon Vein."
The two of them turned their attention back to Elise as she explained her skill.
[Dragon Vein].
Elise had explained it to him before.
How it was a skill passed down to the royalty in her world and how it could literally change the surrounding environment.
Unfortunately, the skill had undergone a downgrade during her incarnation here.
Rather than calling out lava from underneath the enemy, or building a bridge out of stone in an instant, [Dragon Vein] gained a more subdued but still effective merit.
"As long as we are in the dungeon, all of the Hel Familia will get a pseudo [Spirit Healing] development ability! It's only about I-rank in effect at the start, but if we go deeper into the dungeon, the effect will rise to around E-rank on the deep floors."
Gin snorted at the others' surprised expressions.
Yup, Elise's [Dragon Vein] granted an auto-Mind regen during dungeon exploration, and the effect grew stronger as she went deeper into the dungeon.
She effectively became a walking Mind charger just by being present.
Any familia would gladly offer their members' virginities if they could get access to her. Elise was that valuable even without any fighting abilities.
"Oh, needless to say, if that skill leaks out to an outsider, I will bonk you with my mighty staff." Elise put on her mean face to no effect.
Puppies would look more threatening than her, so being a good captain, Gin assisted her from behind.
He stood behind her and slowly raised another donut. The new recruits nodded obediently, understanding his subtle threat.
"So… anyone want to go next?" They only traded glances at his words. "Sheesh, what's up with you guys?"
"It's obvious we are feeling the pressure here, you goddamn genius. We'll sound like sideshows when compared to you two." Pock clicked his tongue.
"I know you're a record holder so I expected you to have fancy spells and skills, but even this shorty is a walking treasure."
"Hey, the one who calls people short is the short one!" Elise pouted indignantly.
"Calling pallums short is racism. I'll cancel you."
Wow, playing the race card? That was just low, dude.
Wait, would using the word 'low' be counted as a slur towards pallums too? Dammit, interracial relationships were complicated.
"Oh, I am sorry Pock, Pott. I didn't mean it." Elise was such an angel. Hopefully, Ais would grow up like her someday.
"Then I'll call you a meanie! Pock is a stupid meanie!"
Never mind, Elise was still a kid too. That insult was just uninventive.
Ignoring the backyard insult session of Elise and Pock, Gin turned to the other three instead.
"Pock and I are used to working together. I think our coordination is pretty good, but that's it, Captain," Pott finally spoke up.
Gin nodded to her in support, edging her to continue. "If you need a supporter job, we could chip in as well. We are used to it."
A supporter job, huh? The only supporter jobs off the top of his head were carrying supplies and harvesting magic crystals.
Other than that… pulling corpses maybe? He fought from long range, so he didn't worry about stumbling on corpses, but with the new vanguards, having someone to clear the field would be helpful.
Gin shook his head. "Nah, no need for supporter stuff. I picked you guys to be vanguards, not supporters. Pott, and you too, Pock!" He raised his voice to catch the male pallum's attention.
"Both of you need to do your duties as attackers. Your weapons are a mace and a hammer, right? You won't be accidentally hitting anyone with those. Coupled with your…" He wanted to say small stature, but just in case it was a slur too, he changed his words.
"Agile and nimble movements. I expect you to do hit-and-run stuff. Deal lasting damage if you can, but just a distraction is fine too."
"-! Of course, Pott and I will show you our combination attacks. Learn teamwork properly by following us, Cap."
"Hehe, roger. You can leave it to us, Captain," Pott chuckled. "I don't mind dealing with odd jobs too, so don't worry and order us when the situation calls for it."
Gin recognized their happy tone.
Not assigning them to be Supporters seemed to win him a couple of brownie points.
Pallum Pride… It was a term that he had heard from Riveria before.
"If you ever welcome a pallum in your familia, try to put your expectations on them. They might be famous for being weak, but their tendency to rise up for something they believe in is exceptional." Riveria told him in one of their sessions.
The topic had come up because they were discussing Finn's motivations.
"Pallum Pride. Aware of their weakness, they will appreciate those who see them for their strength. Most have lost or buried it deep, but it exists just the same."
Gin turned toward Remilia and Elily. They seemed to be more relaxed than before.
"Uhm, Captain, about me." Remilia raised her hand. He nodded and signed her to continue. "I think I am quite decent both at attacking and defending. I don't have any Skills or Spells, but I promise I'll work doubly hard to make up for it."
"If I am not wrong, you use both a sword and a shield, right? That's a classic one."
"Hahaha, it's quite plain, isn't it?" Damn, this girl was actually pretty self-derisive.
"Hey, if it works, it works. They are classic because they are effective. A sword and shield combo might seem plain, but I would trust someone with a sword and shield over some dude with a… I don't know, a spear and a meat cleaver or a chained coffin or something."
"I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to try that kind of thing." She giggled at his comment.
Eh.
The world was wide, not only that, but other worlds actually existed as well.
There were probably one or two edgy characters who used something like that to look cool. Gin was not one to underestimate the potential stupidity of people.
"Remilia, you are the most flexible in terms of adapting to situations. Things will definitely get rough for you, since you will be juggling two roles constantly, but never forget that I am—well, we are counting on you."
"That's quite the big expectation." Gin frowned at her awkward laughter.
"Yeah well, live up to it. That's your job," he shrugged. "No worries, though, I am the captain. My job is to make sure you get to that point unmolested. I do my job. You do yours. Capiche?"
"Yes. I will be counting on you, Captain." Remilia smiled and saluted him.
Gin saluted back. "Good. At ease, Recruit Remilia."
She chuckled at his mock knight impression before seemingly noticing something.
"Oh, Captain. If my name is too long, you can just shorten it up, you know. A nickname is okay too."
Shortening it? Well, her name was four syllables long.
It might be better to have a short name to make it easier if he ever needed to command her during a battle.
But a nickname, huh?
"Hoo, a nickname for Remilia?" Pock perked up and joined in the conversation. "She's Remilia Bloodedge. Why not call her Bloodedge? That's two syllables."
"Hmm, that's actually not a bad idea," Elily chipped in. "Coming from you, anyway."
"What? Speak clearly, I can't hear you over your muscle spasms."
"Don't call me muscular!"
Remilia accepted the idea calmly. "Calling me by my family name? Well, that's actually fine." Remilia gave a nostalgic look. "It reminds me about my folks back home. Bloodedge, huh?"
"Bloodedge sounds cool, Remilia! Aahh, I wish I had a cool name too," Elise sighed.
"Right, her plainness aside, her name sounds so cool." Pock proudly pointed at Remilia.
Meanwhile, Gin could only stay silent during the whole exchange. Bloodedge is cool? These people were clearly sick in the head.
He imagined the future where Bloodedge became her actual nickname.
'Captain, Bloodedge needs backup!'
'Bloodedge, engage the enemy!'
'Hey Bloodedge, pass me the sauce.'
Nah, nope, he needed to stop these guys. If one day Remilia turned sane like him, she would receive damage just by getting a greeting.
He decided to speak up.
"Rem. You are Rem. Sweet, short, easy to remember. Yup, Rem is good."
He used his authority as a captain to push the name forward.
From that moment on, Remilia gained the name Rem as a nickname.
He turned his attention to the last one on the list. Elily was playing with her hair as she waited for the current discussion to die down.
"So Elily, it's your turn. It's fine if you don't have Skills or Spells. Even without those you could still be a powerful tank."
"…Because of my muscles?"
Gin could sense the trap coming from miles away.
Dealing with Elily was quite hard since, despite her fierce appearance, her inside was that of a delicate flower.
Well, he was used to treating people with contrasting outer and inner looks though.
Finn looked like an innocent boy, but inside he was a man with probably the most calculating mind in Orario.
"Elily, physical power comes in second before courage. I asked you to join because I know that you are a defender that I could trust. You are a brave woman. I can feel that," he said to her gently.
"No amount of power would last if the heart breaks first. You are strong. Not because of your muscles, but because of your heart."
"You are just saying stuff to make me feel good about myself, Captain."
"If you don't trust me, that's fine. Ask our goddess what she thought about you, and I'll bet you that she will say the same thing as me."
He was not lying.
Unlike most people, Hel was the type that directly judged people by their character.
The first thing she commented about people would always be their personality or their way of life.
Once she gave an okay to all the new recruits, he pretty much knew that none of these people were jerkasses deep down.
Yup, even Pock. He might be some noble sacrificial type for all he knew.
Elily still looked a little unconvinced even after he mentioned Hel.
Well, time to pull out a motivational speech he'd learned from a certain elf. He took a deep breath.
"Elily, your strength might be something you don't want to accept, but it is still yours. You can make use of it. Use it to help people, to protect the things that you want to protect, to get what you wish for."
Elily looked surprised at his words, not knowing that he was thanking the past Ryuu inside his mind.
"Ca-Captain!" Elily cried and hid her face. Gin and Elise patted her back, trying to give her some comfort.
"I... my body, my Skill... none of them are something that I want. I want to be prettier, but not even my Skill allows me to have that."
"You have a skill, Elily?" Elise asked her slowly.
"[Second Wall]. It hardens my body the more strength I have," she sniffed. "Even my Skill is telling me to accept this strong body! My only good point is these muscles I hate!"
Alright, he actually felt bad for her. He didn't want Niflheim either, but that skill appeared anyway, and he had been forced to depend on that stupid skill.
Perhaps Elily felt the same about her skill and power?
"Elily, listen to me. No matter what kind of talent or power you have, things won't change. You are still you." Gin ran out of Ryuu words, so he decided to just say what he thought.
"Well, you hate your Skill, but a Skill is the reflection of your desire, right? That means deep down, you care more about protecting people than your own happiness. That's rad as all hell."
"Gin is right, Elily! I think you are cool as well!" Elise joined in, sending a nice smile toward the crying dwarf.
"Well, when you think about it like that, I guess she ain't that bad."
"Cheer up Elily! Having a skill like that means you are a great person."
"You are always so kind, Elily. I am glad that we could still work in the same familia."
As Pock, Pott, and Rem joined in on comforting Elily, Gin could finally see a glimpse of what kind of familia he was going to lead. [Not just a familia but a family], huh? Well, he might as well make that quote come true.
"Y-You guys!" Elily suddenly got up and reached out to all of them. "Thank you so much!!!"
""Gyaagh!""
Elily's crushing embrace enveloped the five of them, and Gin realized the true horror of unbridled power.
He glanced around him and noticed that he didn't arrive at that same conclusion alone.
Well, it couldn't be helped.
Elily was pouring her heart out here. He just had to be a man and accept it.
It was his job as her captain after all.
…
…
…
Yup, his breath wouldn't last at this rate.
He whispered out the words that would lead to his salvation.
"I descend to the end. Overtaking the galloping horse, across the loud stream, over the high walls. Walking through the feast of the dead. My feet step into the innermost chamber of the beloved goddess. My body becomes the curtain that foretold disaster! For I am beloved by Hel! Blikjandaböl."
As his spell worked, he slipped away from the deadly group hug and thanked fate for manifesting his desire to survive.