Dungeon of Niflheim

309 Chapter 309: The fifth floor

The breakfast served was a fry up, filled with a selection of eggs, sausages, bacon, fruit, and scones made of potato as well as tomatoes. With a great many of the ingredients being of monster meat. Yarrow of course as he was on the mend was given a very generous helping of meat as dictated by Doctor Mira. But even without that he needed meat to recover after last night’s grand battle, Sam was the same, his choices practically mirroring his father in laws.

Seeing their voracious appetites Chia and Lola felt a strong pang of hunger as well though not for food. Their hands slipping onto their husband’s legs causing them to jolt up and look at their respective wives almost in disbelief. Didn’t they satisfy them enough last night? This question however was quickly forgotten because it didn’t matter, they had no reason to refuse such an advance. They both kissed their wives on the cheek and whispered sweet nothings into their ears.

The meal minus the loving looks being shared by the two married couples was delightful, good food and good company.

“My, my look at the time, you kids need to get ready for school.” Lola looked up at the nearby clock and exclaimed when she noticed the time. Her statement received an almost instinctual moan of displeasure but then the three of them remembered that school wasn’t their recent being sequestered to a room with a tutor but actual school. They could hang out with their friends again.

Jasmine and Ren both quickly leapt from their seats and ran out the room to get ready. Lola sighed and ran after them, it’d been a while since she had the chance to help get them ready, an opportunity she didn’t want to miss.

Tulip wanting to maintain a mature and respectful image in front of Frost, so she excused herself with a courtesy before following after her mother. After she was out of sight however she ran, just as eager as her younger siblings. Sam, Yarrow, Chia, and Frost were thus left in the dining room to nurse their drinks.

“What time do you plan to leave today?” Yarrow decided to get straight to the point.

“Probably around noon or so, it depends on when Daki finishes my equipment and how long the contract ceremony takes with Kiba. I’ve never contracted with a monster before so I’m not really sure what happens.” Frost replied while draining the last of his coffee. It was around 7 in the morning at the moment so 5 hours to cross off the things on his list. Other than meeting up with Daki and contracting Kiba, Frost still wished to visit the brewery as well as the quarry.

He also wanted more information about the current political state of the Glacial mountains. The different countries, empires as well as the order of the ice shield and Northrend’s war ursa battalion. Books and or documents about them were high up on his list. Frost knew that at the moment he was nothing but a small fish but as his territory grows he may butt heads with his neighbours. Having more information about them would help in the long run.

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“I don’t know how long Daki will take but you don’t need to worry about the contract with Kiba, I’ve arranged for the best materials to be used so as to ensure the highest compatibility. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes for the contract itself. So, what shall we do to fill in the time?” Several hours wasn’t enough time for Yarrow to give a full blown lecture and lesson on governing a territory but he could provide some rudimentary advice. Plus, he needed to talk to Frost about sending aid once his territory got up and running. From there they could go about cementing trade relations between their territories.

Yarrow was even more excited than Sam and Lola about Frost establishing his own territory. Not only would Kranor have an ally there was someone he could help from scratch. Kranor was already established, and his daughter was already half qualified to run the place. Yarrow was a doer, he always had to be active in some form. For retirement he planned to take up a great number of hobbies to fill the time. But aiding an up and coming lord to establish his territory sounded much more fun plus his wife always wanted to go on a trip, just the two of them. The gears started turning in his head, removing him from the current conversation so Chia took over.

“Sam took you to see the top floor that holds our major business district as well as the agricultural district on the bottom two floors so that leaves the residential district, government district and the 5th floor.” Chia gave a judgemental look as she brought up the 5th floor.

She had nothing against the adult industry personally and even understood the necessity of such a place but still it brought a bad taste to her mouth when mentioned. A married woman such as her really shouldn’t have anything to do with that place and more importantly neither should her husband and son in law but in the end boys will be boys, always wanting what they can’t have. It was even more annoying that the brewery and quarries were on the same floor giving them a legitimate excuse to inspect the floor as their roles dictated.

“Lola why don’t you and Sam take him to the fifth floor to see the brewery and quarry before working your way back up. I’ll work with the old man here to scrounge up some useful books, tomes, and documents that we can give Frost and after a short respite you can set out to complete that monster contract with little Kiba. Then to finish you can visit Daki and invite her to lunch at Ramsey’s star restaurant to say farewell.” Chia quickly outlined an itinerary which satisfied all present before she dragged the still in deep thought Yarrow towards the manor’s library and his many offices.

Sam was more than happy with his mother in law’s suggestion, thankful that she brought up the brewery. He no longer had much or any interest in visiting the adult district given that Lola drained him of the majority of his strength last night and likely will tonight if he continues to play his cards right. Alcohol however was always interesting plus at the end of their tours they always gave out free samples.

“Sounds good mother, shall we dear?” Sam stretched out his hand for Lola to grasp onto, his excitement bubbling. Lola shook her head but still placed her hand in his. She wasn’t a massive fan of spirits or beer, much preferring wine like the one they partook of last night but making wine was not within Kranor’s skill set, at least not good wine. That had to be bought in from visiting merchants or from other enclaves that specialised in such trades.

Frost thus went with the happy couple down to the 5th floor, using the super-efficient lift system -of course it wasn’t as awesome as his teleporting throughout the dungeon but not just anyone can do that. Shame however that he couldn’t really take advantage of such a system given that he didn’t want people to be able to skip passed his monsters.

‘Ah but maybe it could be useful in the future. It’d be a real pain if the high ranking adventurers had to cleave their way through the weaker floors. Perhaps once I’ve got more floors established I could create a lift that descends 5 floors or so. Allowing the more experienced groups to bypass the weak monsters thus saving them time and my monsters from a quick death.’ Frost tried to think of ways to incorporate many of the things he saw in Kranor such as the lift mechanism.

“Here we are the 5th floor, home of the fabled adult district which you can see over there.” Sam pointed to west where the outskirts of a heavily developed town could be seen. The lift didn’t drop you right within the town like the others but nearby. This way people didn’t need to enter the adult district whenever they needed to head to work in the quarries or brewery. Due to the time the adult district was far quieter than normal as most visitors were either still in bed or heading off to work. But given how developed the place appeared it was clear that it regularly hosted a large amount of patrons.

In terms of governance such a district was a god send. Not only did the place rake on a veritable gold mine in coin every year, it greatly reduced the local crime rate in Kranor and even increased the citizens mood levels. If people got over their preconceptions about the services offered there, it was nothing but a boon to the enclave and any community really.

As long as the rulers of the territory managed such places properly and made sure to tax it effectively not only would the money flow in there would be no health issues which would normally be associated with such areas. Furano could learn a lot from Kranor in this regard. Though they too had an adult district it wasn’t nearly as well developed or maintained given that right next to it was the slums and messy workshops.

Frost made sure to note down this comparison in his mind, not ignoring the benefits of such districts. It was a shame that he didn’t get to visit the place during its working hours otherwise he’d surely learn more.

‘Perhaps another time.’ Frost gave one last look at the large town that was the adult district before following after Sam and Lola.

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