Dungeon of Niflheim

‘So, it wasn’t only us that enjoyed those times.’ Cassandra and Douglas struggled to retain much love for their servants after discovering the number that were serving Adam. But seeing this group of young servants who obviously disobeyed their superiors’ orders to maintain this room filled their hearts with joy. There were still some servants that valued loyalty.

Cassandra struggling to hold back her tears dashed towards the young maids and embraced them all in a hug, ignoring her status as lady of the house. These young girls helped to heal another wound in her heart.

The young maids broke down in tears after being hugged by Cassandra, repeatedly crying out ‘mistress’ and hugging her back. Douglas and Leo watched this heart-warming scene with smiles on their faces.

Since the dining room was fully cleaned and ready for use, Douglas gave out orders to prepare a large feast before sitting down in the master’s chair. Receiving orders from their master for the first time in nearly two years the servants moved with excitement.

Luna and Maya were brought to the dining room a few minutes later having changed into some of the nice clothes that they purchased earlier. They both moved over to lady Cassandra and started to chatting happily as they waited for their meal. Whereas Frost chatted with Douglas and Leo, mainly discussing the tour and how Frost found their town. It was a nice and peaceful atmosphere, rather strange considering the events that transpired earlier in the day and the attack that was scheduled to happen later tonight.

Although the house was declining due to Adam’s actions the kitchen was still filled with glorious ingredients -mainly used by the former head butler- more than enough to prepare a spectacular three course meal that would fill them with strength in order to deal with tonight’s festivities.

.....

Ryuu and Bastion didn’t join them as they were too busy preparing. So only Frost and Maya joined Douglas, Cassandra, Leo, and Luna for dinner. The servants preparing the meal and working in the dining room were all people that could be considered on their side, meaning they were free to discuss the details of the night’s operation.

“Leo did you get a chance to show Frost around the residential district?” Douglas asked his son as he dug into his starter, a bowl of winter vegetable soup perfect for the cold climate.

Leo placed his spoon down before replying.

“Unfortunately, not, we ran out of time.” Leo regretted this fact, but it wasn’t imperative that Frost see it before tonight given that he should be travelling with Leo and Luna.

“I see, Damarcus bring me a detailed map of the residential district.” Douglas ordered one the guards to fetch a map from his study, it wouldn’t be at the same level as seeing it in person, but a detailed map would certainly help.

“Yes master” Damarcus left post haste after bowing.

“We can look it over together while we eat.” Douglas smiled towards Frost and his son before digging back into his soup.

“Mmmm that’s good soup.” Douglas relished in the flavour, most of his meals over the past couple years were filled with bitter medicines, not very appetising. Another benefit in portraying a strong vitality, his wife allowed him to eat a regular meal. Of course, there was a little medicine added in but not at the level it could affect the flavour.

Damarcus returned just as they finished their first course, when the servants were clearing the table.

“Perfect timing Damarcus, lay it out on the table.” Damarcus was carrying a large, rolled parchment bound with a ribbon.

“Wait, give it a quick dusting first.” Cassandra quickly called out when seeing the dust that had accumulated on the parchment.

‘The maids worked so hard to keep this room clean, we can’t ruin their hard work.’ She scowled at Damarcus waiting for him to obey.

Like a good guard he obeyed his mistress, giving the map a light clean with a cloth and duster before laying it across the table. Once the map was flat it stretched to over 2 metres each way. Luckily, this was a large noble’s dining table otherwise it wouldn’t fit.

With his job done Damarcus bowed and returned to his post.

The atmosphere changed slightly once the map was revealed, it become less light-hearted and more serious. They were now going to discuss issues pertaining to the attack tonight.

Cassandra grasped Luna’s hand tightly when she noticed her slightly trembling. She regretted her lack of strength, Luna was only 15 years old, a little girl, she shouldn’t have to take part in such a dangerous operation. It should be her. Cassandra unfortunately had zero talent in regards to magic and weapons. She was purely an academic type, specialising in economics and management. She ran most of the administration work in the territory prior to Douglas falling ill, she also dealt with their affairs with other nobles compensating for Douglas’s weaknesses.

She had tried in the past to increase her strength, but she barely improved in the slightest. Her body grew a little more toned and flexible which certainly had some enjoyable benefits but in regards to her strength she’d struggle to win against a couple goblins.

With Cassandra holding her hand, Luna’s trembling stopped, she calmed down. She didn’t realise how anxious she was about tonight’s attack. She just survived a near death experience and hadn’t fully recovered yet now she was walking right into something with potentially more danger.

Her gaze drifted over towards Leo and all her fear disappeared, if he was going, so was she.

“Frost this is a map of the residential district, and we are currently here.” Douglas at some point received a pointing tool which he used to highlight the lord’s manor. The map on the table was incredibly detailed even including any and all known underground routes. As Leo mentioned earlier the lord’s manor was fairly close to the central zone of the town.

Douglas then manoeuvred the pointing tool to the southwest, near the town’s bordering wall.

“This is Adam’s manor here.” He circled a large area. Adam’s manor rivalled the lord’s manor and in some ways was larger.

“From what I know there’s only one main entrance, here. Whereas the manor itself is surrounded by tall walls of at least 4 metres” Douglas pointed to a gate at the front of the manor.

“The manor was built against the town’s southern wall making access from that side impossible, the east and west walls however can be scaled if your strength is high enough but will most likely be well guarded.” The plan was for the hired adventurers to attack from the east and west, with their strength a 4-metre wall was nothing. Frost, Luna, Leo, Ryuu and Bastion would enter through the main gate, drawing Adam’s attention while the adventurers quietly take out the guards until caught. After that it would be a simple full-on assault, with Ryuu and Bastion sticking with Leo and Luna until they come across Adam’s elite guards.

Douglas then highlighted several underground pathways that led out of Adam’s manor towards either other buildings in the area or towards other areas of the town.

“This map shows at least four underground escape routes but there’s most likely more.” Although the map was incredibly detailed it was several years old and not everything could be discovered. Douglas was almost certain that not even half the escape routes were shown given how paranoid his younger brother was.

Leo spoke up at this point.

“We’ve managed to uncover an additional three routes through the underworld gangs and have taken steps to destroy them the moment we move to attack.” Some of the weaker adventurers as well as a few of the gangs aligning with them were set to guard and destroy the exits for these underground tunnels. What was most unnerving was that there was a tunnel directly leading under the southern wall. Douglas used this tunnel for his smuggling operations, No wonder Adam was so rich.

Douglas and Leo then highlighted all the known underground routes as well as some of the landmarks around the area in case a chase ensued above ground.

“If everything goes according to plan, we’ll box Adam inside his manor, leaving him no opportunities to flee. Frost you, Luna and I will be left to deal with Adam by ourselves once Ryuu and Bastion take on his elite guards.” At some point Leo brought out some chess pieces to simulate their movements.

As Leo was talking the second course was brought in, a meat dish that smelled sublime, rivalling that of the Lagombi stew Frost had in the phoenix fledgling restaurant albeit lacking the inherent mana.

Pausing their discussion, the group ate their meals but only Frost and Maya were savouring the flavour, the rest were too high strung and nervous.

‘Oh, this is good.’ Frost praised the dish as he ate mouthful after mouthful.

‘Not as good as the Lagombi stew but still delicious.’ He nodded in appreciation, quickly clearing his plate. From everything Leo and Douglas had described, Frost felt even more confident in tonight’s operation. Knowing the location as well as the predetermined routes to be on guard against showed that Leo had put in a lot of thought. All Frost really had to do was fight, a simple task. He also looked forward to using his recently purchased glaive.

Frost smiled as his gaze drifted over to a wooden rack behind, the rack was holding his glaive in all its glory.

The second course was finished rather quickly, and the dishes were cleared by the staff.

“Do you have any questions?” Leo asked Frost, he was nervous. A great deal of their plan relied on Frost protecting him and Luna. He could plan and strategize as much as possible along with uncle Ryuu and retrieve as much information as humanly possible from the local gangs and his own information network but that means diddly squat if they don’t have the firepower required to take down the compound. They were sorely lacking in the numbers department, although the adventurers gathered by Bastion were a considerable force there were at most a dozen or so, any more would have alerted Adam of their intentions. The whole operation is focused on killing or capturing Adam, with so little people it’d be easy for him to slip through their fingers if they weren’t careful. That’s why he and Luna were going, not only to supplement the number shortage but to provoke Adam. Would he really give up a chance to erase a major threat to his right to rule if it offers itself on a silver platter like a na?ve sheep. No, he wouldn’t but that also means they’d be attacked by a substantial force ergo the importance of Frost.

Seeing Frost with a stoic expression and remaining silent, the rest of the group grew nervous as well, especially Luna.

“Frost-senpai?” She nervously asked.

“I’m thinking” Frost placed his hand on his chin and tilted his head in thought before replying bluntly. He was thinking but more, so Maya was speaking to him telepathically.

‘Young master this plan is full of what ifs and relies heavily on your strength are sure you want to go ahead?’ Maya wasn’t impressed, although it appeared that Leo had done a decent amount of investigation that was only on the surface, nothing was confirmed and much of his intel was gathered through underworld gangs, not the most trustworthy of people. Plus, everything was done with one hand tied behind their backs since it had to be done sneakily, Adam also had a significant advantage, being in control of more people, money, information and being the one on defence. Maya could immediately understand that without Frost working over-time this plan was doomed to fail and even if he does, the chances of Adam successfully fleeing were high. Then they’d have to be on guard forever, waiting for his counterattack.

‘You’ll not only have to most likely fight Adam but his hordes of weaker goons not to mention if they misjudged his security you could have to face off against C-rank fighters.’ Leo had only mentioned a single B-rank and two C-ranks under Adam, and that was the most that Ryuu and Bastion could handle at one time. Just one more high-level goon and Frost could be in real danger.

Maya sighed, she felt as though she understood her young master’s temperament, although he promised that if things grew beyond his abilities, he’d run away but ‘when’ he’d run was the problem and would it be alone. Frost had grown fairly fond of Luna and Leo, could he really leave them to fight alone while he flees. The answer, a resounding no way in hell. She admired that quality, it’s a great quality that’s quite rare but it also puts her young master in great danger. To her Frost’s safety was paramount.