Dungeon of Niflheim

The old man turned to face Frost who sat across from Bastion, he ignored Nanna and Loki as well as Maya, he lacked enough strength to see through her.

‘So, this is the young man that I’ve been hearing so much about.’ He took stock of the young Frost, comparing him to the stories Bastion revealed to him as well as from Kamey’s endless praising.

“You are Frost, the new adventurer that’s highly praised by the guild master as well as the ruling lord.”

Frost looked briefly towards Bastion and Kamey before responding “I guess I am.” He smiled gently towards the Keeper, showing neither arrogance nor a lack of confidence,

The Keeper was silent for a couple seconds before a large smile adorned his face “Hahaha good, good, Furano could do with young blood such as you, keep up the good work lad, I have high hopes.” The Keeper chuckled before giving Bastion a solid salute.

“Understood guild master, I’ll get to work right away, red alert.” Energy seemed to return to the old man’s body, he was full of vigour as he rushed out the door to enact Bastion’s orders.

Red alert was the state Furano and the other bastion towns would enter whenever the monster stampede was on route to arrive within a week. The town would prepare for lockdown procedures, hunkering down for the long siege that was set to come. Civilians who wanted to leave before the stampede arrived would have 48 hours to get out otherwise they’d be locked in until the stampede was over so as to guarantee their safety.

Only the refugees fleeing towards the bastion towns, the military and adventurers coming to their as well food caravans arriving from the south were permitted to enter the bastion towns during the stampede, none however may be permitted to leave once the 48 hours were up, no exceptions.

.....

Once Bastion spoke with Douglas and Colonel Hamon and they confirmed the red alert status they would start informing the local populace. This was done by an expansive tannoy system that spanned throughout the town, a siren would go off announcing the red alert before Douglas Furano would give a speech, declaring the situation.

The Furanos had been defending against the monster stampedes for centuries and had come to learn that the more involved the ruling nobles were and the sooner and calmer they announced the situation to the populace, the easier it was on them.

By the time the monster stampede arrived at Furano’s doorstep they would be more than prepared. The soldiers and local guards would be ready, armed to the teeth with weapons, armour and of course war machines. A disaster was a lot less devasting if you prepared for such an eventuality, a philosophy which Furano understands well.

As the Keeper left the room Bastion spoke to Kamey “Kamey please retrieve 3 gold coins from the vault as payment for Frost and the [White claws of Niflheim].” He gave out an order before looking at Frost. “Considering the fact that you encountered not only a C-rank monster on your quest but the all-important Ice griffin you’ve earned this much at least. By the way if you have the remains we’ll be more than happy to purchase them, I’ll just need our materials master to examine them and give you a fair price.” The 3 gold coins were just for his scouting report, half for the general scouting payment and the other for his high priority information and hazard pay. A nice addition that Frost welcomed given the happy smile on his face, receiving gold coins was always a pleasant experience.

Kamey nodded her head before once again leaving the guild master’s office. The 3 gold coins were official payment, so it had to be brought out of the guild’s official coffers.

“I didn’t bring the meat, but I’ve got everything else from the feathers to the bones though there is a lot of damage considering the scars it had before we engaged in battle.” Kiba also did quite a number on one of its wings so Frost didn’t expect to get a super high price, but it was better than holding onto stuff that could degrade. It should be easier as well to sell to the guild since they’d likely buy up everything instead of just choice pieces like individual merchants.

“That’s fine we’ll give you an appropriate price regardless. The guild can find uses for pretty much all high ranked materials especially during such tumultuous times. The smiths and tailors are currently working nonstop to provide weaponry, armour, ammunition and all manner or equipment for the stampede. Even if the materials are a little damaged sometimes quantity means more than quality.” Bastion didn’t care too much about damage, right now they needed materials regardless of quality. The red alert status would have them devour through their reserve of materials at rapid pace.

“Alright sounds like a deal.” Frost shook Bastion’s hand, agreeing to sell the griffin parts to the guild. Maya’s eyes currently radiated gold as she pictured what she could purchase with their sudden influx of cash.

Now that she and Frost were an official couple she needed to purchase some impressive dresses, make up and all manner of things especially given that after the stampede she’d have a rival to compete against. The kids could also do with new stuff, clothes, training materials, books, toys, and the like. Frost had already promised a shopping trip and now with his influx of gold it’d be so much less restricting.

Kamey returned with Frost’s gold a minute later. Bastion used his guild master stamp on Frost’s guild card, officially bringing his quest to a close and marking the first quest completed by the party [White claws of Niflheim] -even though it was solely Frost who did the work.

With 3 gold coins richer Frost and his group followed Kamey down the stairs and towards the back section of the guild hall, where the material examiner worked. While Bastion brought out the guild’s communication crystal and contacted Douglas and Colonel Hamon, to report the situation.

Ring ring ring kacha

“Bastion what is it we’re really swamped here?” The one who answered was not Douglas but Ryuu, his court mage and the third person in their little trio of best friends.

“Haaaaaaa you don’t think I know that Ryuu, I’m swamped here as well, where’s Douglas and Cassandra I need to speak with them it’s urgent.” Ryuu was in no mood to deal with extra work which seemed to always come whenever Bastion called.

Bastion would normally engage in an argument with his long time friend for speaking in such an annoyed tone with him but now was not the time.

“I need to request a red alert.” He spoke with a solemn tone, his eyes staring right at Ryuu’s face.

“.....I’ll go get him right now.” Ryuu was silent for a couple seconds as he took in what Bastion said before immediately putting on a serious expression and running to fetch Douglas.

A moment later Douglas appeared with Ryuu standing behind him both sporting stern expressions. “Speak,” Douglas gave a simple order to which Bastion reported exactly what Frost told him and the results of the lie detector test.

“Haaaaaaaa” Douglas let out a long sigh as he massaged his forehead. He should have been elated that Frost was back in Furano but the information he brought with him was disconcerting. Another stampede was here, meaning another disaster to endure.

“Permission granted Bastion, I’ll begin preparation for the red alert, contact Colonel Hamon and tell him the news, we’re going to be very busy for the next few days.” With that Douglas ended the call, the red alert would be enacted, and he’d have to inform the populace.

Kamey led Frost and the rest down to the storage area of the guild that actually took up more than half of the entire building. Here they’d examine monster materials and temporary store them before sending them to where they needed to go. They also had dismantlers that would take apart entire corpses at a professional level so as to ensure minimal damage to the useful parts. Over a dozen people could be seen hard at work but next to a large polar bear corpse a very large and musclebound bear beastmen could be seen carving it up like it was made of butter. This was the man in charge of materials sent to the guild, Grisham.