Conquering His Cold Heart

An awkward silence followed Frost's accusation; Auriel started sweating bullets as his heart warned him of danger. He could likely handle Frost alone, but Frost wasn't the only danger present in the camp. There was Findlay the ice troll lord as well as the feeling of something else, something far more powerful gazing down on him from who knows where.

This was not how the plan was supposed to go down. He was supposed to arrive at this new and unsanctioned camp -in the Order's opinion- and meet with owner and subject him to pressure thus allowing him to glean the required information and further the Order's agenda.

They wanted to hold sway over all the camps and special areas within the glacial mountains, to consolidate their power and gain access to untold levels of wealth. The order had grown to the point that it wanted to uplift itself from the machinations of its creators, to become a truly independent organisation.

Frost's Niflheim base camp actually played a large role in their plans. Not only was its location ideal for spying upon the nearby Northrend empire it was built around one of the brand new dungeons, a monster lair that could evolve and grow exponentially if their sources were to be trusted.

The wealth potential it had was something even the wide reaching Order didn't want to give up that's why they sent Auriel, a skilled negotiator and powerful fighter. They believed that sending him would either make Frost feel honoured or allow them to pressure him into following their will. Unfortunately they underestimated Frost's strength as well as conviction.

Auriel's mind was spinning as he tried to think of some way to salvage the negotiation.

"L…Lord Frost please calm down; I didn't mean for my words to come across as a threat. I was merely stating advice. Our organisation holds far more benefits than you believe so denying us the opportunity to work together would definitely be an unwise decision." He first backtracked, hoping to cool down Frost's anger…. it worked. Frost pulled back his aura and presented a calmer expression.

"As I've already stated I have no need of your services at this time at least not any that require you to establish a base of operations within my camp. I'm more than willing to engage in the occasional trade and exchange with the Order.

By no means am I intending to become your enemy it's just that I do not require your involvement in how I run my own territory Sir Auriel." Though he was firm in rejecting the Order's involvement within the confines of the camp Frost didn't wish to reject them outright.

The organisation was still a very big player within the Glacial mountains and offered many services he'd find useful whenever he went exploring. He just needed to make it clear that he didn't want to engage with them when it came to his territory, individually was fine. However that wasn't what the Order wanted.

Auriel tried to make Frost reconsider his stance many times but was continually rebuffed. He ended up leaving the office with a disappointed expression, he didn't achieve the outcome he set out to achieve. The camp was truly an individual endeavour, but the owner was not willing to allow them any core access. They'd be treated no different than regular merchants and adventurers.

"Haaaaaaa headquarters isn't gonna like this." Auriel sighed and shook his head as he walked away with his entourage, there was nothing left for him to do but report back his failure.

Frost was left in a rather foul mood thanks to Auriel, so he teleported out of his office and into the private space for some R&R. Daki was already waiting on the sofa. She patted her thighs inviting him for a lap pillow which Frost saw no reason to reject.

"Better?"

"Much better." The two giggled as they enjoyed one another's company.

"Is Maya training the kids?"

"Yeah they started about 15 minutes ago, Loki was all decked out in the equipment I forged for him yelling that he was now unstoppable."

"Hahahaha that's sounds like him." Frost brought up the dungeon menu to view the training room. There he saw Nanna and Loki all fired up as they faced off against a rather slow and predictable moving ice golem while Maya lounged at the side, advising them on their form.

"They've got a lot of potential, it's rare to see such drive and passion amongst children as young as them."

"They want to be strong enough to work in the dungeon like Findlay, Kiba and Khuno." Frost knew that their desire to pay him back and protect their new family was what drove them. It wasn't the best life for children, but the fact was, training brought them joy. They loved improving themselves and fed off being guided by their family.

Frost and Maya thus saw no reason to stop their training nor did Daki, but she did emphasise the fact that they needed additional hobbies. Nanna had cooking but Loki was still lacking in that regard.

"Have you thought about teaching Loki to forge?"

"I have but unfortunately he doesn't have even the slightest interest in the craft." Daki shook her head completely rejecting the notion, Loki enjoyed wearing his armour and using his weapons and even fawned over their craftmanship, but he held no interest in learning to craft his own.

"That's a shame." Frost knew that his girlfriend wanted to share her passion with her new family, but no one seemed to share her interests, even he showed little inclination towards forging.

"However I do think there's another craft he might excel at." Daki had spent a lot of time with the kids over the past  few weeks as she tried to improve their relationship. She learned a great many details about them including some of their dreams, aspirations and personal interests.

"Oh what's that?"

"Medicine, Loki cares a great deal about the health of others and has shown keen interest whenever Maya heals our injuries." Back when they were still enslaved, Nanna would always stand in front of her younger brother to take the majority of the beatings while he would do his best to nurse her wounds as he cried.

Though those dark times were over he never stopped worrying about the health of his sister.

"Medicine huh, that sounds interesting, I'll arrange some time later where he and I can talk."

"I'm sure he'll love that." Both kids adored their private time with Frost, it was rare and very special.

Frost enjoyed some comfort with Daki, allowing him to relax and let go of any built up stress. He brought up the dungeon menu to examine the overall state of the dungeon and camp now that it had been functioning for almost a month. The time really flew by given that there was always things for him to do.

Whether it was taking part in the actual physical building of the camp, dealing with visitors, privateers, merchant applications or even deciding who to off in the dungeon he was pretty much always on call from dawn to dusk. This left very little time for family time and actual training, he really needed to start delegating some of his work.

His true job was to control and develop the dungeon, the camp was simply a way for him to gain DP and territory.

"Thanks to the mass attraction of adventurers our DP levels are back in the green, standing at 120,000, a significant sum." A reserve that was certainly nothing to sneeze at, he could build and fully furnish multiple floors with that amount… but there wasn't much need for that, at least at the moment.

The dungeon currently had 11 floors 10 of which being monster infested. The sixth floor or rather floor 5.5 was designed as a safety floor where the first internal camp was due to be set up. Daki's personal forge and many of the high ranking mines and quarries were also built on this peaceful floor.

The final floor was added in a week ago to evenly split the dungeon into 5 upper floors and 5 lower floors. The upper floors were restricted to those at D-rank and below whereas the lower floors required adventurers to be D-rank at the very least lest they wish for a quick death.

Of course a few chose not to adhere to this warning and thus met a gruesome end but since the warning was given the fault lay with them not the dungeon.

Few had made it to the safety floor and beyond, but all were shocked by the situation. Safety areas were occasionally found within monster lairs, but they were very rare and in many cases very unique and dependent on certain circumstances but within the dungeon of Niflheim the entire floor was a safety area.

For the first week or so after its 'discovery' delvers refused to let down their guards but eventually after zero attacks throughout the entire floor people naturally began to relax. The sight of Ronsos and even Frost himself preparing an outpost of sorts certainly helped conjure an air of safety upon the floor.

A lot of rookies desperately wanted to visit the fabled floor but unfortunately they were too weak to make it passed the guardian D-rank monster and its helpers, stationed at the end of the 5th floor.

Some disregarded the danger and died thus providing the dungeon with plentiful nutrients while others tried their hardest to improve their skills for the sole point of unearthing the dungeon's many mysterious.

The increased activity within the dungeon not only increased the amount of DP coming in but also the amount going out. More and more spawners had to be erected and monsters had to be manually replaced more often by either Frost or one of his officers. But despite this his current balance was still sitting at 120k proving that the income was higher than the expenditure.

Even when C-rank parties grew intrigued and delved into the dungeon the situation was manageable. The groups never even made it passed the 8th floor despite their strong willingness to do so.

Of course this was still the first real month of business, he was confident that after a few more attempts the same groups or others would surely reach the 9th or even the final 10th floor but it likely wouldn't be too soon.

"Where should I start?"