Dungeon of Niflheim

Kamey didn’t call him over the moment they arrived but chose to wait until Grisham was done carving so as to not interrupt his concentration. Frost was thus able to watch Grisham’s deft movements with appreciation, finding the man to be very skilled with his blade.

A few movements later Grisham was finished, and he noticed Kamey waiting quietly with a group he didn’t recognise. He smiled lightly, appreciating her forethought in not interrupting him, she had learned from her mistakes.

“Kamey how can I help you today?” He asked with a smile but looked quite intimidating given the amount of blood splattered on his apron. Nanna and Loki subconsciously trembled and hid behind Frost and Maya but Grisham wasn’t bothered, he was used to accidentally frightening people when he was in work mode.

“The guild master needs you to evaluate the ‘choice materials’ Frost here has on hand and give an appropriate price.” Once she said that Kamey whispered into Grisham’s ear that it was an ice griffin causing the large man’s eyes to open wide in shock. He never suspected that the young elf before him was capable of taking down an ice griffin, but he also realised what this meant.

“Come with me.” Grisham led Frost, Kamey, and the rest into his personal workspace, reserved for dealing with choice materials as Kamey put it. He closed the door once everyone was inside.

“Has the guild master enacted a red alert?” Grisham asked with a tinge of nervousness in his voice.

“Yes, the Keeper should get around to informing the staff shortly.”

“Haaaaaaaaa,” Grisham let out a deep sigh before turning his eyes to Frost. “Please unload the materials onto the counter.” Now that the red alert was going to be enacted he needed to work at an even faster pace.

.....

Frost nodded before removing all the parts of the ice griffin he collected and placed them on the massive countertop. Grisham gave a cursory glance, nodding slightly. “There’s a lot of damage to some areas but it seems as though you took it apart with acceptable losses. I’m quite swamped at the moment so give me a couple hours to check it thoroughly and I promise to give you a worthy estimate. Kamey here can take care of your receipt, just drop by the guild once I’m done to receive payment.” Grisham quickly got to work, analysing the materials, not wishing to waste any time.

Kamey thus filled out a receipt form and stamped both it and Frost’s guild card, connecting them magically before leading Frost, Maya, and the kids back out into the guild’s reception hall.

Since she was also in a rush to get back to work she waved goodbye before dashing up to the guild master’s office, promptly returning to her position as his secretary.

“Well, that was a little more exciting than I expected.” Frost stood outside the guild hall, his coin purse feeling much heavier and a smile adorned his lips. The news that the monster stampede would arrive within a week was good news for the dungeon. He wouldn’t have to wait long before raking in massive amounts of DP.

Another couple days of desperate adventurer activity should gain him more than enough DP to purchase additional individual monsters such as the frost revenants, elementals or even the lesser yuki-onnas Findlay advised him to put some focus on. If his knowledge was to be believed then this stampede would last for a few weeks at least, meaning a lot of DP and a lot of experience to be gained by his monsters.

Frost was keen to expand his monster repertoire even further through evolutions. Findlay had taken it upon himself to evolve those that had reached max level during his absence thus unlocking the priest and warrior castes for the frost dwarves as well as a new tier for the frost spiders and artic stags.

Frost spitting spiders, E-rank 190DP: Frost spiders that can not only fire freezing webs but also frost poison darts, still very afraid of fire.

Great horned stag, E- rank, 130DP: the next stage of artic stag, slightly larger and more muscular with ice sharpened antlers that can pierce through foes with ease.

The spiders had a few other choices to choose from but only a single one managed to reach max level without dying. The remaining were a few levels shy, something that could easily be achieved during the monster stampede.

The early stages would be filled with massive amounts of low rank monsters perfect for his upper ranked monsters to slaughter without much danger. Frost was really looking forward to this long term stampede that would pass by his dungeon’s territory.

“Seems that we really can’t stay here long young master.” Maya replied with a hint of warning. If the monster stampede was due to arrive in under a week they had even less time to prepare given their proximity to the Glacial mountains.

Frost turned around to his partner with a smile, picking up on her subtle hint. “I know, we’ll stay for a maximum of one night so let’s go and visit Douglas and Cassandra first then we can go shopping.” His suggestion earned him a round of happy smiles.

The group mounted Kiba and headed towards the Viscount’s manor. Frost was eager to learn more about Douglas’s family lineage as well as his personal experience in regards to the stampedes.

Thanks to Kiba’s quick speed they made it the manor faster than any carriage. The two same guards were standing at the gate, looking imposing and stalwart, yet pride could now be seen in their eyes as they protected the Viscount’s manor.

The manor that was in desperate demand for some skilled TLC last time Frost was here was indistinguishable to what it was now. The entire place had received a luxurious paint job and all the cracks had been carefully filled in. No more wayward vines or unkempt plant life, it had had a thorough makeover, bringing it back to the dignity it once had. This was a manor worthy of a Viscount and his family; Frost and the rest were very keen to see what had transpired internally given how good the outside now looked. Hopefully now the place would radiate warmth and cleanliness instead of being covered in dust and feeling neglected.

Many new servants could be seen hard at work all over the property bringing it up to code whereas the guards walked with confident gaits and proud expressions, this was an entirely different place to when Adam was still alive, far more refreshing, and noble like.

The two gate guards quickly recognised Frost and Maya; they couldn’t help but smile despite their stoic attitudes. These were the people responsible for their current glory, the saviours of their lord and lady.

“Sir Frost welcome back to Furano, please allow me to guide you inside and announce your presence.” The guard on the left happily offered to lead Frost and his group in.

“Thank you.” Frost nodded his head before having Kiba follow the man into the courtyard and up to the grand entrance.

“We can take care of your monster mount while you’re inside, the lord and lady will be very happy to see you.” The guard placed his arm across his chest, vowing to treat Kiba well while Frost and his group were inside. Though Kiba was contracted it was very against protocol to allow a monster inside the manor as it wasn’t designed for massive 3 metre tall tigers. Thankfully however due to the high powered maintenance done on the manor the mount stables were back up to code, granting Kiba a sufficient rest area.

Many nobles had monster mounts serving as transport thus they needed somewhere to keep them therefore many nobles kept areas for such creatures within their courtyards. Currently however the Furano’s mount stables served as a station for some of the higher ranking military mounts owned by the Frost Wolf battalion. So Kiba would not be alone, an interesting prospect for the young glacial winged tiger.

“Very well, Kiba behave while we’re inside. We shouldn’t be too long.” Frost and the rest dismounted and petted Kiba’s soft fur as a servant came and guided Kiba to the monster mount stables.

“Head butler please inform the lord and lady that Sir Frost and Lady Maya have arrived.” The guard called out to the new head butler, handing over the reigns of guide to him before heading back to his station.

The head butler was someone Frost didn’t recognise but the man certainly recognised him. He had a rather frantic expression on his face before resting his eyes on Frost and Maya.

“Perfect that’s wonderful, I’m sure the lord and lady would be delighted, please come this way, I’ll take you right to them.” The head butler was all smiles as he lead Frost and his group upstairs. Many servants passed by in a desperate rush, hard at work but many couldn’t help but bow in respect towards Frost and Maya as they passed, clearly recognising them.