Dungeon of Niflheim

“Yes, sir Frost the young master returned just under an hour ago. He should be within the master’s room.” The butler answered back in a hurry before dashing back to work, there was no time to dawdle with all this work needing done.

“Thanks” Frost thanked the butler as he vanished out of sight.

“Let’s head up to Douglas’s room then, I wonder if he’s awake?” Frost hadn’t had much chance to speak with Douglas in the past two days.

Maya nodded as did Nanna and Loki, before following Frost upstairs.

Knock knock

“Come in” Douglas’s voice came from the other side of the door, it was a lot less strained than a couple days ago, deeper too.

Frost opened the door and walked through with Maya and the kids.

“Ah Frost-senpai perfect timing.” Leo was present in the room, sitting by his father’s side with pages and pages of documents splayed out on the bed. Cassandra was sitting on the other side with a gentle and proud smile on her face. Her little boy had grown up and was taking responsibility for the territory. The three of them turned around when the Frost and the gang entered the room.

.....

Frost looked over at Leo, his expression looked quite haggard. Clearly, he was having difficulties with his newfound responsibilities. Douglas however was in a great mood, finally there was someone else to take care of such annoying issues. Leo looked at Frost as his saviour, he leaped to his feet knocking several pages of documents to the floor without care. He dashed towards Frost, taking his hand, and dragging him over to the bed with an eager smile on his face.

Maya took Nanna and Loki over towards the sofa and Cassandra moved over to join them, leaving the boys to discuss the boring technical details. Cassandra requested one of her maids to fetch fresh tea and snacks, bringing smiles to Nanna and Loki.

“You’re looking much better Lord Viscount.” Frost spoke honestly, Douglas was still in bed resting but he looked and sounded much healthier and no longer required several pillows or his wife to sit straight. He was currently wearing a pair of reading glasses while going over a few documents that Leo supplied.

“Hahahah thanks to you young Frost, and please just call me Douglas.” Douglas smiled and laughed without having to cough his guts out.

“Very well then, Douglas, I’m glad the antidote’s working.” Frost plonked himself down on a chair nearby.

“So am I, so am I ....the weather’s no longer quite so shit.” Douglas smirked as he cursed before he and Frost laughed.

“Looks like you’ve got your hands full here Leo, am I interrupting, I can always come back later.” Frost spoke while pretending to get up out of the chair.

“No! no! you’re not interrupting at all not at all, please sit, sit.” Leo panicked, moving to prevent Frost from leaving. For the past two days he’d be trapped dealing with bureaucrats and signing off on so many documents. He was tired and dangerously bored, he needed to do something different otherwise he’d explode.

Leo really wasn’t suited to such a role, but Ryuu was already helping out the most he could and many of the usual people in the government were corrupt, thrown their lot in with Adam. Leo had to not only restore the balance in the territory, but needed siphon out all the bad eggs in all the industries, solidify the local guards in preparation for the underworld’s actions as well as calculate and deal with Adam’s estate. A lot of work for a young man not skilled in dealing with such problems. Luna helped out a little but made herself scarce when Leo tried to off load the majority onto her, they weren’t married yet, so this was his problem.

Leo was forced to run to his parents for help even though he promised that he wouldn’t, given that his father needed to recover.

Frost and Douglas released another chuckle, finding Leo quite humorous.

“Leo, I know you’ve been busy, but have you managed to decide on the rewards for the operation?” Frost decided to jump straight to the point. He’d already been in Furano long enough, it was time to return home.

“Ah!” Leo exclaimed not expecting Frost to be so blunt, he looked towards his father who nodded in response. They were actually just deciding on what to reward Frost and Maya with. Simply money wouldn’t be enough, no it had to be something special.

“The way you’re asking I’m guessing that you’re planning to leave soon?” Leo asked with a frown, he knew that Frost would be leaving at some point, but it still felt rather soon.

“Yes, we plan to leave tomorrow morning. I need to return home with Nanna and Loki.” Frost smiled gently; his eyes full of nostalgia for the Dungeon. He missed it greatly, wondering how the frost troll was getting on without his input.

“I see....” Leo grew a bit depressed, his head hanging low and eyes starting to redden.

“Leo” Douglas nudged his depressed son, this wasn’t the time, Leo can cry and mope when they’re saying goodbye besides it wasn’t like they’d never see each other again. Frost’s home was in the Glacial Mountains, he was practically their neighbour.

“Ah, yes your reward.” Leo gave a signal to one of the servants in the room and they left to fetch the items.

“I’ve discussed the rewards with my father and mother, other than gold coins we’ve picked out a few choice items from Adam’s vault that no longer have an owner as well as a few things from our own vault.” Some of the items in Adam’s vault were illegally sourced, and still had owners that Leo planned to return the items too, stuff like artwork and jewellery whereas others didn’t belong to anyone thus Frost could take them. Leo also awarded the 14 well 13 adventurers with a couple of these items as a bonus.

A couple minutes later the servant returned with a storage ring seated on a velvet pillow, it contained the rewards with the ring as an extra bonus. It only had another year or so of stability left anyway, best to use it than let it go to waste. Leo had also received the document describing the list of items in the ring.

The servant brought the ring over to Leo and placed it on the table beside him before backing away. Once the ring was placed, Leo assumed his station as a young noble, emitting that rudimentary regal aura. His actions caused Douglas and Cassandra to feel proud, Leo was showing the real makings of a fine noble.

“Frost, Maya as thanks for risking your lives in the service of not only the Furano household but for the entire Viscounty, I Leonardo Vaccos Furano grant you these rewards as well as state that you shall forever have a friend in the Furano house.” Leo then passed the ring over to Frost as though this was an honourable ceremony. Enjoying the mood Frost acted in concert, accepting the ring, and nodding his head in thanks.

“Within the ring you shall find:

· 15 gold coins

· 5 D-rank mana crystals

· 1 C-rank mana crystal

· A duram chainmail vest

· Ice python skin bracers

· 2 medium health potions

· 2 medium mana potions

· 3 low level ice resistance potions

· A detailed map of the area, including the external regions of the Glacial mountains

· A communication magic device (in form of a locket)

· Magic skill scroll for 2nd circle spell; ice spike (good quality)

· Weapon skill scroll for crescent slash (good quality)

· And finally, something my mother chose, a bottle of B-rank wine, glacial starbalm.”

With the last item mentioned Cassandra winked towards Maya who’s ears perked up at the mention of wine. Maya smiled towards Cassandra in appreciation.

Frost however was taken aback by the long list of items; it was far more than he expected. Just the 15 gold coins alone was an incredible reward let alone the rest. Frost took hold of the storage ring with slightly trembling hands.

The magic scroll and weapon skill scroll were particularly appealing given that the dungeon core would charge a minimum of 1500DP for each. The detailed map was another great bonus, he planned on buying the single gold coin one from the adventurers guild before they left but this one was even larger and more detailed.

‘Having friends in high places is certainly advantageous.’ Frost applauded his forward thinking when he decided to attach himself to this money train that was Leo. He’d find it difficult to gain access to half of these rewards even if he had the money.

He placed the ring on his left index finger, he now had three storage rings, two of them being completely full albeit not with his stuff. They still needed to retrieve their stuff from their room in Kathy’s inn, so an extra storage ring was sorely needed even if it’d only last less than a year.

“Thank you, Leo,” Frost thanked Leo sincerely with a gentle smile, feeling that taking part in the operation against Adam was very worthwhile.

“You’re more than welcome Frost-senpai, I’ve already set up the communication device. Linking it to ours in the manor as well as uncle Bastion’s in the guild hall. It’s not capable of video chat but can voice call from over 500 kilometres away. This way we can stay in touch with one another.” Leo smiled as he explained, this way he could talk to Frost whenever he wished, well as long as Frost picked up the call.

“Sounds good, I’ll give you a call once I make it back home.” Frost was quite pleased with this addition.

‘Now I don’t need to visit Furano just to be appraised of current events.’ After the first month was up, Frost wouldn’t find it so easy to leave the safety of his Dungeon. At the moment the strongest monster he could summon was D-rank, not strong enough or smart enough to guarantee his core’s survival when he wasn’t present. By calling Leo every so often he’d be able to learn what was going on in the nearby territory, as well as the movements of the royal family in regards to his little slave issue. Leo also promised to let him know about any findings they uncover about the Church of Light. If such a dangerous group was in such close proximity, he should be within the confines of his Dungeon where he could unleash his entire strength.

Frost rubbed his new spatial ring and Leo smiled brightly eagerly awaiting Frost’s first call.

“How’s everything else going? You look kind of worn out.” Gotten what he wanted Frost now acted like a good friend, concerned about Leo’s wellbeing.

“Haaaaaaaa miserable absolutely miserable! There’s soooooo much work and it’s all sooooooo boring and no ones there to help me! Most of the capable administrators were corrupted pieces of shit that were bought off by Adam. One thing my uncle did right was keep very good documents regarding his illegal dealings, possibly as blackmail haaaaaaaa we discovered so many turncoats and now I’m left with nothing but a skeleton crew. Uncle Ryuu’s doing all he can but he’s just one man plus there’s some things that I need to do myself given the fact that I caused this situation and am to be the next lord of the territory.” Leo looked towards his bedridden father with respect in which Douglas replied with a gentle smile and nod.

“Luna too also took off after a few hours work, true I did try to pawn off the entire workload on her given her abilities but come on she didn’t have to completely abandon me to these mountains of documents alone, right?” Leo grasped onto Frost’s robes with a desperate look as though begging him to agree.

Frost’s face was twitching, he was speechless and instinctively wanted to kick him away.