Dungeon of Niflheim

Internally the manor was just as renovated as the outside, new wallpaper, carpets, cleaned out rooms, the servants had done a real through job over the past several weeks. Quickly brining the entire manor back up to snuff, as though the past couple years never happened.

Knock knock

“What is it?” An annoyed voice sounded from behind the office door, clearly not happy at being interrupted from his work.

“Master, Sir Frost and Lady Maya are here to visit.” The head butler replied with a confident smile. After a couple seconds of silence rustling could be heard from the room as well as the sound of powerful steps.

The door was opened revealing Douglas standing tall and full of vigour, a sharp contrast to the weakened and near death state he was in when Frost last saw him. Though he had bags under his eyes the man had regained a great deal of his lost weight and his skin had pinked up. The shadow of the man that was once a B-rank adventurer could be seen; Douglas was clearly far on the mend.

“Frost, Maya and little Nanna and Loki it’s wonderful to see you all, Bastion just reported to me what happened with your scouting quest. We owe you a lot for that integral information.” Douglas showed a wide grin and his eyes glittered as they passed over Nanna and Loki. He and Ryuu were currently in the middle of discussing the protocols for the red alert after receiving Bastion’s report, very serious stuff. Nanna and Loki’s adorable appearances were just what he needed to recharge. After his wife demanded another child he too had warmed up to the idea.

Douglas expected Frost and Maya to come at some point given their arrival in Furano but not right away, he couldn’t help but feel a little moved by their actions. It showed that he and his family were high up in their list of friends.

“No problem Douglas, I accepted the quest and just reported what happened, simple as that. Plus, the guild’s already given me ample payment for the quest and agreed to purchase the damaged remains of the ice griffin as well.” Frost smiled back towards his friend while patting his heavy coin purse.

.....

“Have we caught you at a bad time? Bastion said something about a red alert state so we can come back later if you’d prefer.” Frost offered as he saw several staff members behind Douglas hard at work sifting through documents. Ryuu was one of them, but he was too focused to even notice their arrival.

“Unfortunately, yes, Ryuu and I need to go over a lot of stuff before we properly enact the red alert status, and it can’t be put off.” Douglas let out a sigh before responding. Though he’d love to take a break and catch up with Frost and his family he really couldn’t afford to, Ryuu wouldn’t let him hear the end of it if he ditched him with all the work. The image of his son Leo popped into his mind along with a few choice words. The so called heir to the territory was noticeably absent.

“I can’t catch up with you right now, too much work but how about we do dinner tonight here in the manor. I’ll try to move the schedule around so everyone can be there.” Douglas came up with a compromise. By dinner time the red alert protocol would have already been enacted and he, at least would have some free time.

Though the red alert signified war and danger once it was in place he as the ruling lord would actually have a lighter workload. Everything would follow pre-set rules and arrangements in regards to running the territory and the military would take control of the most of the defences. He would just have to coordinate with Colonel Hamon and Bastion. Once you’ve dealt with disaster enough, survival becomes relatively simple.

Frost couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed, he wanted to hear more about the upcoming stampede from the point of the ruling lord but guess that’d have to wait.

“Ok that sounds good, we’ll join you for dinner tonight. We plan to stay in Furano anyway before heading back tomorrow, this is just a short visit.”

“So soon, you’re not staying within Furano for the stampede?” Douglas asked nervously, eyeing Nanna and Loki as he worried about their safety.

“Sorry duty requires that we be somewhere else during the stampede, but I’ll try and come back near the later stages and offer up my blade.” Frost responded in much the same way as he did with Bastion, he couldn’t be here, he was a dungeon core and not a resident of Furano, his priorities differed.

“Haaaaaaaa oh well to each their own I guess, there’ll always be a shelter for you here if you change your mind however.” Douglas let out another sigh, shaking his head in disappointment. If Frost and Maya stayed with them not only would he be able to guarantee the kids’ safety, but they’d have a very powerful addition to their defence. Douglas’s instincts as a noble made him realise relying on Maya the woman neither he nor Ryuu could see through would be pointless. People with that level of strength had different levels of what they deem worth their time.

Frost however seemed to be more than willing to rush into battle, a powerful young man that could face off against an ice griffin and come out victorious. Even if he wasn’t B-rank he likely wasn’t far from it, he’d make a powerful addition to the town’s defences.

“Thank you for the offer, we definitely appreciate it.” Frost showed a gentle smile and nodded his head in thanks as did Maya.

Bastion then looked up to the clock that hanging in his office, 11am “Ryuu and I are quite busy, but Cassandra should be free. Why don’t you go out to lunch with her, my treat of course.” Douglas thought of his darling wife who’d also been overworked and stressed recently. A nice meal out with Maya and the kids could do wonders for her mental state.

Maya answered instead this time. “That sounds perfect we’ll do that then, Frost already promised to take me and the kids out shopping so having her come along would make the journey that much more pleasant. Plus, I’ve missed the tasty dishes at the phoenix fledgling restaurant.” She displayed a charming smile beautifully hiding her desire to eat at the most expensive restaurant in town. Frost’s lips couldn’t help but twitch in response as did Douglas’s.

He looked at this charming and beautiful wolf woman with intrigue, her personality was so like his wife’s. Douglas didn’t balk at the cost of eating at the phoenix fledgling restaurant, he was a noble and after retrieving a fair amount of goods from Adam’s compound he had surplus cash.

“Perfect it’s a deal then, you can find her in one of the reception rooms round about now, have the head butler here lead you.” Douglas smiled boldly towards Maya, overlapping his wife’s younger face with hers as he replied. To which Maya showed an even wider smile, she wasn’t going to go easy with her order, more than willing to take advantage of Douglas’s money. Nanna and Loki however couldn’t understand the subtle meaning of their discussion, just excited that they could eat at the phoenix fledgling restaurant again.

“Ryuu quick come and say goodbye to Frost and his family, we won’t fall behind because a ten second break.” With plans set Douglas shouted towards Ryuu still in the office who had yet to even raise his head in acknowledgement.

In response the severely sleep deprived court mage looked up towards the door and finally noticed Frost and his family. “Ah! Frost it’s good to see you and Miss Maya pleasure as always. Nanna, Loki I hope Frost’s been good to you these past few weeks.” Ryuu quickly got up out his chair knocking several paper documents to the floor, but he didn’t care at the moment. Frost and his family were here, they’re far more important that a little mess. He bowed respectively to Maya to which she curtsied in reply while Nanna and Loki both nodded their heads with vigour. Ryuu was another person embedded in their hearts, he was there with Frost and Luna at their darkest moments.

“Sorry I’d really like to catch up with you but there’s mountains of work to be done.” Ryuu’s greeting was polite and brief, he promptly returned to his desk, diving back into his pile of documents, not even taking the full ten second.

“Haaaaaaaa he’s unfortunately right. I’ll see you all at dinner tonight oh and feel free to sleep here if you want, I’ll have the servants prepare you a suite.” Douglas sighed again before waving and closing the door, an exhausted expression returning to his face.

“The madam’s right this way.” The head butler who had moved out the way while his master and Frost were speaking walked up and gestured for everyone to follow him. He knew his master was hard at work, but a short visit from friends certainly improved his mood. He was a good butler, very aware of his superiors health and mental states.

Frost, Maya, and the kids thus followed the head butler to where Cassandra was, though Frost had a nagging thought in his mind.

‘Where’s Leo and Luna?’