Dungeon of Niflheim

“Hyahhh” Edwin whipped the reins of the horses, and the carriage made its way to the restaurant.

‘Wow,’ was all Frost could say as he stood before the restaurant’s entrance. Gold and jade as far as the eye could see, it screamed expensive. The door itself seemed to be built with special wood, a beautiful grain, adorned with gold inlays and handles. Two jade phoenixes guarded either side of the door, creating and aura of majesty. Frost subconsciously rubbed the coin purse hidden in his sleeve.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have offered to split the bill.’ He felt that just sitting down here would cost gold coins. Maya however was only slightly impressed, she was more interested in the dishes being served than the furnishings, a true experienced Ojou-sama.

“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” Luna commented as she also stood in awe, she’d only been here a few times in her life, usually with her father or alongside Leo and his parents.

“Not bad, I guess, I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve eaten.” Maya shrugged her shoulders.

“It does look impressive, but Maya’s right the value is in the food.” Frost agreed with Maya in an attempt to not appear like a country bumpkin.

.....

“Is it called the phoenix fledgling because it serves phoenix?”

‘I wonder how a phoenix tastes?’

“Eh! No, no if it served phoenix then it wouldn’t be set up in Furano, even the empire’s royal family would very rarely get to eat phoenix let alone it being served in a restaurant out in the boonies like this.” Leo quickly shot down Frost’s aspirations.

“It’s just an ambitious name, they also chose to go with fledgling instead of just phoenix to avoid that misconception.” Luna chimed in to resolve the confusion.

‘If they wanted to avoid it then they shouldn’t have used phoenix in their name at all.’ Frost and Maya felt disappointed with this information, the jade phoenixes at the side of the door now looked rather tacky.

Leo and Luna looked at one another unsure on how to respond to Frost and Maya’s attitudes.

‘That’s Frost-senpai for you.’ Their bias took over resulting in this conclusion.

No longer as excited the group walked through the entrance. A pretty waitress greeted them as soon as they entered.

“Hello, do you have a reservation?” The human waitress greeted them with a smile, her uniform had a red phoenix stitched on the chest.

“No, we don’t, is there any table free on the second floor?” At the mention of the second floor the waitresses eyes turned upwards with joy.

‘Perfect another big spender.’ The phoenix fledgling restaurant was split into 3 floors with the first being for the regular customers, a tad more expensive than the average restaurants but no restriction on access. The second floor however was for those with status, nobles well known merchants and those with court ranks. The dishes served on the second floor were a cut above those served on the first and had an equivalent increase in price as well. The waitress would likely get a sufficient tip serving someone eating on the second floor.

If the group asked for the third floor, she’d have to hand control over to the restaurant manager but only a very small group of people had access to that floor.

“Why of course, right this way sir.” The waitress winked flirtatiously and wiggled her ass as she led the group up to the second floor, completely ignoring the fact that Leo and Frost were not alone.

“Tsk slut” Maya clicked her tongue and spoke under her breath quiet enough that the waitress couldn’t hear but Frost and Leo could.

“Yep” Luna agreed without hesitation, glaring at the waitress’s back as they walked. She didn’t find the waitress pleasing in the slightest, lowering herself just to increase her chances of getting a tip. She’d be fine with it if it was towards two single guys but her and Maya were clearly dining with Frost and Leo. So far, the restaurant wasn’t off to a good start.

Leo could feel Luna’s anger from behind, he’d be a dead man if he gave the waitress even a single copper as tip.

The waitress was oblivious to Maya and Luna’s feelings, and even if she did know she’d probably act the exact same way, men would always like some eye candy whether they were with woman or not.

The waitress showed the group to an unoccupied table near a window. There wasn’t many tables on this floor around a dozen or so and only four of them were occupied. The group’s entrance to second floor drew the others notice. Only two of them recognised Leo, they nodded and smiled his way as greeting. A couple men ogled Maya and Luna a little before returning to their meals, they were a lot less obvious than the adventurers in the guild and Kathy’s inn.

“Here’s the menus, I’ll let you browse for a few minutes.” The waitress smiled and leaned close to Leo and Frost giving them a view of her cleavage as she put down the menus before giggling flirtatiously and walking away while shaking her hips.

Craaack!

The wooden table cracked from Maya clamping down on it, she was seething.

‘That bimbo’s flirting so obviously right in front of me, that bitch and you call that a cleavage.’ If looks could kill that waitress would be dead a hundred times over. Luna wasn’t faring much better, although she was significantly weaker than Maya physically, she turned her anger towards Leo who just sat there in silence before kicking him in the shins.

“Oowww” Leo shouted in pain and looked at Luna as if he’d been wronged. Luna simply hmphed and turned her head.

“Let’s just order some food and enjoy the meal at least.” Frost opened up his menu.

‘Woah’ Frost’s eyes opened wide when he saw the first page. The cheapest thing on the menu was 5 silvers, a glass of D-rank wine, with most of the meals starting at 15 silvers, much more extravagant than Kathy’s inn.

There were items such as steaks from C-rank monsters like artic war bears and ice drakes. Soups containing rare herbs and parts of D-rank monsters and a wide selection of fish dishes. Everyone of them had a grandiose description of the dish causing Frost to salivate.

‘It all looks so good.’ Frost licked his lips as he read the menu, some options even had a picture drawn, displaying the beauty of the dish. He had some knowledge of some of the monsters being used but the rest he had no idea where to begin, he didn’t even know if they were reptiles or birds. Everything however sounded delicious regardless.

One dish in particular, Lagombi stew with artic vegetables seemed particularly appetising. It was set at 25 silvers and was considered a D-rank meal, based on the Lagombi being a D-rank monster. The meals were divided into ranks on the menu similar to how alcohol was ranked. The phoenix fledgling offered D and C-rank meals on the second floor and only for very special occasions would there be a B-rank meal, but they’re usually reserved for the top floor.

Frost was tempted to order the Lagombi stew but didn’t know what a Lagombi was. The description just spoke of how it’s prepared and what rank the monster was not anything about the monster itself. It was under the meat section, so he knew it wasn’t fish at least. His knowledge regarding monsters was limited, Lagombi was not included in that knowledge.

Intrigued, Frost leaned over toward his partner Maya and whispered in her ear.

“Maya, do you know what a Lagombi is?” Maya was more experienced than him and should know about the monster.

“Hmmm sorry what?” Maya was distracted by the list of wines available and didn’t hear the question. Frost managed to get a glimpse at where her eyes were focused, and he flinched.

She was eyeing a C-rank wine going for 25 silvers for a single glass. She didn’t know the meaning of the word restraint; he just purchased her a bottle of C-rank sake for 50 silvers yet now she wanted him to pay 25 for a single glass.

‘God damn money succubus.’ He felt he’d not get the chance to enjoy his newfound wealth before his partner ate him out of house and home.

“I asked if you knew what a Lagombi was?” He suddenly felt however that his meal would be rather lacklustre if Maya was ordering a C-rank meal and drink.

“Oh, a Lagombi is a D-rank monster found in cold climates such as the Glacial mountains. It’s like a giant wombat with large fangs and thick pelt, strength wise it’s similar to a polar bear. It’s meat is quite tender and tasty if cooked correctly. Are they selling it here?” Maya removed her focus away from the list of alcohol for the first time towards the food.

‘So, it’s a giant wombat I wonder if the meat is gamy like bear or mild like rabbits.’ He was tempted to try the ice drake steak which was a full gold coin. Ice drakes were one of the higher level C-rank monsters almost reaching B-rank.

Drakes were better known as lesser dragons similar to wyverns however they cannot fly but do have a breath attack. Ice drakes were apparently prevalent in the central regions of the Glacial mountains and are always highly desired since pretty much the entire corpse could be used.

‘Yeah, let’s just stick with a D-rank meal after all, best to not waste all my money in one day.’ It’d probably cheaper for him to just buy the ice drake steak through DP anyway, all he needed was a high rank chef to prepare it. Maya was a decent cook, but it wasn’t to the extent of being a professional, just a good home cook.

‘Hmmm I wonder if there’s a monster that’s good at cooking.’ The more Frost thought about the possibility the more excited he became. The frost dwarves were too unskilled to be proper smiths but the higher rank ice dwarves that he hadn’t unlocked yet would be able to so why wouldn’t there be a race that could cook. He even had a brief notion of kidnapping the chef of this restaurant if the food was up to par.

After a few minutes the flirtatious waitress sauntered back over, exaggeratingly swinging her hips.

“Are you ready to order now?” She smiled and faced Leo, she felt he was the wealthiest one here and since Frost was covering his face with a mask, she couldn’t be sure on his looks so focused her attention on Leo. She licked her lips provocatively as she waited for a reply. Even though he was completely innocent, Luna still glared at him and pressed on his foot causing him a fair amount of pain.

“Ugh... yeah we’ve decided I’ll have a glass of frost leaf wine and the braised polar bear paw please.” Leo did his best not to look towards the waitress hoping to alleviate Luna’s anger, but he wasn’t exactly angry at the waitress. He understood her reasoning and to be honest some part of him was enjoying the attention.

Frost spoke next.

“I’ll have the Lagombi stew, and I’ll also have a glass of frost leaf wine.” The frost leaf wine was the second cheapest wine available at 6 silvers a glass.

Frost looked at Maya to have her answer next but suddenly felt a chill down his spine, he then saw a slight smirk on her lips.

‘Shit what’s this woman going to order that’s causing her to smile like that.’

“I’ll have the C-rank ice griffin breast on northern rice and the C-rank wine glacial starbalm.” Maya looked at the waitress full of aggression as she spoke, completely ignoring her young master’s pained face.

‘T...that’s going to cost me a gold coin, a whole gold coin for a single meal and drink sob sob.’ Frost felt like crying although he expected it, he still wasn’t prepared. The ice griffin breast alone cost 75 silvers and the wine was the one she was looking at earlier for 25 silvers.

Frost was unable to get angry at Maya, so he redirected his hatred towards the waitress, looking at her maliciously causing her to flinch.

‘Eh why is he looking at me like that?’

Not letting Maya hog the spotlight, Luna followed.

“I’ll have the same as Maya, miss waitress.” She too looked aggressively at the waitress while still pressing down on Leo’s foot without mercy.

There was silence and tension amongst the group, the waitress was still reeling from Frost’s aggressive stare and couldn’t reply.

‘Did I go too far?’ She thought she read the men before her correctly, that her actions would annoy the woman they were with but they themselves would enjoy her advances but....

‘Those eyes, they’re like ice.’ She gulped, unable to avert her gaze from Frost’s piercing blue ice eyes. she was frozen in place.