Dungeon of Niflheim

“Good luck, we’ll see each other again when this is over, goodbye.” Frost said his farewell as did Maya and the kids, time to head off. First to pick up his glaive at Borris’ shop before exiting the east gate and heading home to prepare for the stampede in their own way.

Frost wasn’t the only one keen to face off against the stampede, Nanna and Loki were eager to test their knowledge in leading the dungeon’s forces against the invading horde. They weren’t strong enough take part in direct battle, but they could help their master as commanding aides. The two phoenix kin had practised a lot since the dungeon war with Gobuske and were excited to show Frost their improvements.

Frost directed Kiba towards the [money pit] district where they all descended on arrival. Kiba was considered the same as a carriage and wasn’t permitted to enter so he’d have to wait for them within the carriage parking lot.

“Stay here Kiba we won’t be long.” Frost rubbed the big tiger’s head with affection causing Kiba to purr in satisfaction.

“Maya if there’s any last minute shopping you want to do with the kids I suggest you do it now, it shouldn’t take me long to pick up my glaive. We’ll meet up back here in 30 minutes tops ok.”

“Master can I go to the weapon’s shop with you?” Loki boldly asked wanting to be by Frost’s side, he was keen to do some shopping that didn’t involve clothing.

Frost looked down at Loki before looking at Maya who simply shrugged, she was alright with it, Loki wasn’t necessary for her to go shopping.

‘Actually this might be a good thing.’

.....

“Ok young master you take Loki with you, and I’ll take Nanna.” Maya hugged Nanna from behind, her little head feeling an intense feeling of softness, she blushed in embarrassment. She and Maya were going to go purchase some bras for her to grow into after their little encounter in the bath house. It wouldn’t be right to bring Loki on such a shopping trip.

“Alright then Loki you’re with me, I’ll introduce you to Borris, a capable and experienced smith. And perhaps if you’re lucky we’ll find something there that’ll suit you.” So far Loki and Nanna only had one piece of armour, the wrist guards that were fashioned by Daki. If Loki behaved Frost was more than happy to purchase another piece of equipment for him.

“Un!” At Frost’s words Loki excitedly nodded his head before grabbing hold of his master’s outstretched hand. The two then made their way through the crowds towards Borris’s shop, leaving Nanna and Maya alone, one smiling proudly and the other showing a mixture of expressions. Blushing from what she and Maya were going to purchase as well as jealousy towards her younger brother for getting to go to a weapons shop. She also wanted more armour to increase her battle capability.

Maya looked down warmly at the young girl in her arms “Don’t worry Nanna we’ll be shopping for armour as well, just a different type, the type unique to woman hehehe.” She giggled lightly before leading Nanna off towards a clothing store that she and Luna had visited back when they first visited the [money pit]. There’s was quite a selection of woman’s garments there, it was their specialty. Frost had left her with a gold coin’s worth of money, more than enough to fully garb Nanna in starter bras as well as get herself something nice.

The streets in the weapons and armour section were even more busy than yesterday, Frost and Loki struggled to make their way to Borris’s shop. Eventually Frost was forced to place Loki on his shoulders to stop the poor boy getting buffeted by every muscular adventurer passing by.

Borris’s shop was packed to the brim with people, leaving very little movement space within the shop. The same two young dwarves could be seen shuttling boxes of stock in and out of the shop floor, sporting much more strained looks than yesterday. Another two had also been brought in, one managing the queue while another assisted Borris at the counter, quickly dealing with customers as fast as possible.

The red alert had been enacted resulting in their decent sized floor space to become completely packed ever since. Borris even extended the shops opening times by 2 hours each way to accommodate the massive increase in customer traffic. His sons, nephews, apprentices and other family members were all hands on deck during this time. Pumping out weapons in bulk. Even Borris himself had to help out, though he primarily focused on forging the higher end products suited for the C-rank adventurers as well as the officers in the frost wolf battalion.

Thankfully due to the monster stampede being delayed they had a decent sized stockpile prepared in advance but even still, the volume of people was taxing. This monster stampede showed hints of being one of the worst thus people were throwing restraint out the window, buying up weapons and armour like they were disposable. Very much in the mindset of better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Purchasing such items during the actual stampede would not only be harder -due to stock issues- and more expensive but would take up valuable battle time. Once the horde advances on the walls, people were divided into strict shifts and couldn’t leave unless injured. All your preparations needed to be dealt with beforehand, defending the town was much harder if the commander couldn’t trust that his soldiers wouldn’t be in place when he needed them. Adventurers signing up for the town’s defence would be under military control, they’d suffer severe penalties and punishments if they disobeyed orders. Thus all the weapons stores and stores that stocked battle items were completely full of customers right now.

Frost brought Loki down from his shoulders lest he bash his head on the doorframe before they joined the queue. Well Frost did, Loki’s eyes were sparkling as he saw the dozens of strong adventurers all sporting impressive gear as well as the shelves of weapons and armours constantly being chosen and then replaced by the restocking dwarves.

“Go and look but be careful not to get in anyone’s way.” Frost wanted to encourage his childlike behaviour, seeing it as a good sign that the slave tattoo was no longer dominating Loki’s soul. So he gave permission for him to explore.

“Thank you master.” Loki energetically shouted before dashing off towards and empty area of weapons, picking them up and inspecting them with excitement in his eyes. The stuff before him wasn’t as pretty or as good quality as his new daggers but it was exciting none the less.

A few customers however grunted and showed annoyed looks towards Frost for bringing a child to a weapon shop during the red alert. Only those who were going to be in the heat of battle should be here right now, this was no time to get a kid some training gear. But the grunts and looks were as far as it went as Frost gave a sharp glare of his own whenever they looked at him or Loki with malice. His aura even seeped out a little causing them to shiver in fear before promptly returning to their own business.

Eventually it was Frost’s turn, “Hey Borris I’m here to pick up the glaive, is it done?” The old dwarf had a fair few bags under his eyes, clearly the man didn’t get much rest last night.

Borris fully expecting Frost’s arrival looked up at the clock that currently showed a little after 9am. “You’re a little earlier lad but you’re in luck, my son finished it first thing this morning, come I’ll take you to it.” Borris gave a look to his young assistant, handing the reigns over to him while he took Frost to his glaive.

His gaze then drifted over towards Loki who was still enamoured with the surrounding equipment, armour now in particular. Unfortunately nothing was in his size causing him to look a little crestfallen.

“Is that your kid?” Borris asked

“In a way yes, I’m his guardian why?” Frost looked toward Loki with warm affection. He didn’t see Loki and Nanna as his slaves in the slightest, more as family, children he was responsible for.

Borris showed an interested smile as he took in Loki’s frame. “He’s pretty good, have him come too, I might have something for the young lad.” Borris’s store of course forged items for young kids as well, mainly as training equipment but none of that was out on the shop floor at the moment given that it wouldn’t suit their current clientele.

“I’m sure he’d be over the moon with that, Loki come over here.” Frost called out to the slightly disappointed Loki who instantly changed gears, bounding over to Frost and Borris with a smile.

“This is Borris the skilled smith who forged my glaive, say hello.” Frost placed his hand on Loki’s back encouraging him to introduce himself.

“Hello Mr Borris, I’m Loki it’s nice to meet you.”