Dungeon of Niflheim

129 Chapter 129: Saying goodbye

With the festive mood restored the servants brought in the first round of food which everyone dug into with relish.

The feast was glorious, it rivalled the food served at the Phoenix fledgling restaurant in taste albeit without the residual mana. By the end everyone in the room was completely stuffed and rubbing their bulging stomachs as they groaned from the pressure. Even the woman were acting the same way, lady Cassandra included. It was rare for them to have such a feast and be in the company of friends and family therefore she didn’t hold back. Sending all mannerisms of a noble lady to the back of her mind, she even fought tooth and nail with Luna for an extra slice of snow velvet cake.

“Zzzzzzz”

“Zzzzzzz” both Nanna and Loki had passed out shortly after finishing their deserts, falling into a food coma, and lightly snoring. The servants not wishing to disturb them, lightly placed blankets over them as they rested against the table. It was getting late, and they weren’t the only ones tired. Jaina and Luna were leaning against one another, their eyes drooping. Bastion had allowed them to have a small amount of his prized alcohol, and unlike him Jaina was not a strong drinker. Just a single glass and the two became tipsy.

“Hahahaha” Bastion and Douglas laughed in joy with their arms rapped round one another, almost empty glasses in their hands. They’d already fallen into a strong stupor; they even sang a few tunes along with Leo. They tried to rope Frost in, but he was having none of it, he wasn’t drunk enough to embarrass himself so, plus he didn’t know any songs. Maya however was more than up for it, but Frost adamantly refused on her behalf. Eventually lady Cassandra whispered into her husband’s ear, convincing him to stop. If he was any louder, he’d wake up the kids.

“I guess we should call it a night then hiccup.” Douglas surveyed the exhausted looks of his friends and family as well as finally listening to the reports his body was sending his brain. He really shouldn’t have been drinking given his recovery, but he couldn’t resist. His wife realised that and didn’t stop him but enough was enough. Everyone bar Bastion was tired and ready to rest so he listened to his darling wife and brought the feast to a close.

“Mandar if you could see to cleaning up and having some of the servants assist in escorting our guests to their rooms.” Noticing that Douglas was starting to slur some of his words, Cassandra gave out her orders to which Mandar bowed and instantly gave word to some of his subordinates. Cassandra had already given a few orders throughout the feast, many of the unused rooms had been cleaned out and prepped while they ate.

“Bastion you and Jaina can share your regular room.” Cassandra turned to face her husband’s friend with a little bit of aggression. Although she allowed her husband to indulge himself in some alcohol, Bastion should have really reigned it in. They weren’t young anymore and Douglas wasn’t 100%, yet they’d gone through several bottles of Bastion’s secret stash as well as the bottles that Douglas had the servants bring in.

Luckily Bastion wasn’t drunken enough to not be aware of his actions, feeling Cassandra’s glare he awkwardly laughed feeling a little ashamed. He knew what he did was wrong, but it was so much fun. He sauntered over with a bit of a wobble to his nearly passed out daughter.

.....

“Up we go,” with grace he helped her up and rested her against his shoulder, Jaina still red in the face simply giggled and wrapped her arms around her father calling him daddy. A servant lead Bastion towards their room.

Next Leo who was only a little drunk since he needed to get up early and work the next day assisted Luna to her usual room.

While Damascus moved to help out lady Cassandra in carrying Douglas, Mandar moved over to Frost, he’d lead them to their room personally.

“It’s fine Mandar I remember where our room is.” Frost waved him off, he’d already picked up Nanna and Loki. They remained asleep, leaning against his chest, they were still pretty light even after stuffing themselves silly with food. Maya who had a slight rose tint on her cheeks was attached nearby, slightly unsteady she used Frost’s body as an anchor. Bastion’s special stash was very, very strong stuff, even by dwarven standards, she liked it a lot. And much to Bastion’s displeasure she had almost an entire bottle to herself.

“Ah sir Frost the madam has arranged for a different room to be used. It’s much larger and is on the western side of the second floor.” Mandar replied. Their previous room was nice but contained only two beds, one for Frost and one for Maya. Now however there was 2 new party members in their group and all four were likely tired. Lady Cassandra had some servants clean out and prep one of the nicer and larger guest rooms that was usually used to house visiting noble families.

Frost wasn’t expecting a new room, but it made sense, he smiled towards Mandar before replying.

“If that’s the case then please show me the way” This manor was massive and he hadn’t spent enough time here to memorise the layout plus many of the doors looked the same, you’d never know which room you’re in until you enter it.

Receiving permission Mandar thus led Frost and his group to their assigned room acting very professional. He asked Frost questions about how he found the dinner and the changes in the servants with a whisper, too avoid waking Nanna and Loki.

When the finally reached their new room, Mandar opened up the doors and led them inside before speaking with a heavy tone.

“Sir Frost”

“Yes?”

“......Thank you” Mandar bowed deeply as he spoke. Because of Frost’s aid his employers as well as his town were saved. He expressed his heartfelt gratitude before leaving the room.

Frost smiled gently as Mandar left the room.

“Intoxicating, isn’t it?” Maya spoke up from his side, Frost turned to face her unsure what she meant by that.

“What do you mean?”

“The gratitude for saving someone, the act of being a hero. The feelings of admiration and heartfelt thanks can be quite addictive.” Maya spoke with slight warning in her voice. Sometimes people could do just about anything to relish in such feelings again.

“Yes, it is quite pleasant I have to admit, I’ve grown to quite like it but....”

“But?”

“It still doesn’t compare to the feeling of absorbing dungeon points.” Frost smiled knowingly towards his guardian aware of the warning she was giving him. Maya smiled gently in response, happy with his reply. Her young master wasn’t as na?ve or innocent as she thought, he’d grown up.

Frost looked around the new room, it was much larger and nicer than their previous room, it was close to a hotel suite. This bedroom was separated into four rooms, two bedrooms, each with two large beds, the living room where they were currently and a bathroom. It was nice, very nice.

Frost moved over to one of the bedrooms and tucked in Nanna and Loki into their beds, being careful not to wake them before walking back into the living room where Maya was sitting on the sofa waiting.

“So, then I guess this’ll be our last night here for a while.” Maya lounged back on the sofa, her bountiful chest stretching against her dress, along with her pinked up face she looked incredibly alluring.

“Yeah, I don’t plan on returning until sometime after the family meeting and then only if something major happens.” He’d had his fun exploring the nearby town, made some friends, killed some enemies, and shopped around. There wasn’t much left in Furano that could interest him. Given the amount of money he now had, performing tasks as adventurer seemed pointless, well at least until he became higher ranked but that’d take a while. It’d take at least ten E-rank quests including a gateway quest to gain the qualifications to rise to D-rank. Then of course he’d need to pass a written exam and have his combat skills tested. A long and tedious journey that he had no interest in embarking on, at least not yet anyway.

“Sounds good, do you have an idea on where we’ll go next?” Maya fiddled around with her nails as she laid back against the cushions. She only had a year of time with Frost and needed to make sure he was prepared for the dangers that he’d encounter in the future. Frost had already come across foes that he’d have no chance against plus there was this issue with the Church of Light. Maya was quite keen to return to the dungeon and begin Frost’s next level of training.

“To be honest I do, but you might not like it?” Frost sat down on a nearby chair. He’d thought long and hard about how he was going to spend this current year wherein he sort of had a protective bubble around his heart. After the family meeting, the barrier blocking off his core would dissipate making him vulnerable, but he’d still have Maya as a backup, albeit only once.

“Hoh? Why would that be?” Maya frowned, she sat up and faced her young master.

“After the family meeting, the next place I want to visit is the Glacial Mountains.” Frost spoke with conviction. The moment he witnessed the entrance to the massive ice capped mountains he was curious, and now after his discussion with Douglas he was desperate to explore them.

“That doesn’t sound too bad, in fact that sounds great.” Maya tilted her head to the side, unsure why she would have issue with that suggestion. At least in the mountains Frost wouldn’t need to interact with people and could focus on exploration and fighting. It’d be a great trip for the two of them or rather the four of them. Nanna and Loki would be healthy by then and could easily manage a trip into the Glacial mountains alongside them. Given their bloodline, Maya surmised that they were ice aspected phoenixes, very resistant to the cold like her and Frost.

“Even if I’m going alone?” Frost knew exactly what Maya was pondering but he had other plans. He wanted to charge into the external regions of the Glacial mountains alone. While Maya looked after the kids, teaching, and training them. That way he wouldn’t need to worry about his core or having to protect Nanna and Loki. Also, with Maya not be with him it’d feel much more dangerous and real, something he felt he needed if he wished to improve.

Although the events a couple nights ago when storming Adam’s compound were dangerous and risky, they were also incredibly exciting and beneficial. Frost managed to greatly increase his abilities even breaking through the ceiling that was adept glaive mastery (level 3) and learned his first weapon skill.

Maya was not too happy with this response and her face showed it, her expression was dark, she was frowning, and her eyes were cold.

“You want to explore the Glacial Mountains alone with your current strength?” Her voice was cold and sort of mocking in tone.

“Ugh” Frost felt an invisible fist punch to his heart, yes, he was weak so what.

“I’ll only go into the external regions, and it’ll be after the family meeting, so you’ll have 3 weeks or so to train me, plus I’ve still got that teleportation talisman you gave me.” Frost removed the talisman from his spatial ring and waved it around.

Maya continued to frown and glare at him, he planned to go off and have fun while leaving her stuck at home with the kids, constantly worrying about him.

This standoff continued on for another minute before Maya moved like the wind and snatched back the teleportation talisman, shoving it deep into her cleavage and returning to the couch.

“Haaaaaaa fine but we’re going to have to train extra hard in the next few weeks, don’t want you getting eaten by a C-rank monster that wanders across your path.” Maya reluctantly gave her blessing with some requirements which Frost was more than happy to comply with. With his current strength he was still considered entry C-rank meaning confronting a C-rank monster would be beyond him.

The young Dungeon core and young Fenrir then retired to their bedrooms, falling asleep quite quickly, the beds in this room were a fair bit nicer than those of Kathy’s inn but still below the ones back home.