Dungeon of Niflheim

Chapter 44: Joining back up with Leo and Luna

While Frost and Maya were dealing with the aftermath of the wyvern poison, Leo and Luna were in distress. It had been over 4 hours since they split up with Frost and they were feeling antsy. During the first hour they were relatively calm, doing their best to heal and rest however as time dragged on, they grew more and more panicked.

Tap Tap Tap

Luna was sitting on a chair near a roaring fire, tapping her feet incessantly on the floor. She had bitten through many of her nails as she fidgeted in her seat. Leo was currently pacing back and forth around the room unable to stay still.

“It’s been over 4 hours already, what’s going on? Is Frost, ok? Did he beat Alex and Redhawk? Did the inspection team arrive?” Leo mumbled questions over and over as his gaze constantly drifted towards the locked door.

They obeyed Frost’s instructions, locking the room’s only door, and reinforcing it with a large chest of drawers and didn’t leave regardless of what they heard. Unfortunately, they didn’t hear a thing, their room was too far away to hear the sounds of battle and the wait was killing them.

“We should go and check right?” Leo looked hopefully towards Luna and just sighed in response.

‘How many times has he asked this.’ Luna wanted to agree but logic always prevailed.

.....

“And what good would that do? You and I at our best are not even equal to one of Redhawk’s deputies let alone Redhawk himself. Alex is even more out of the question, and don’t forget that this is a monster lair, what would we do if we came across a frost wolf or something worse? And let’s say we safely arrive at where Frost is fighting what then, he’d have to protect us in addition to fighting while outnumbered.” Luna grew more and more angry as she spoke.

“B... but it’s been over 4 hours I can’t wait here any longer, doing nothing.” Leo clenched his fists so hard that his nails pierced his skin, drawing blood.

“I’m going whether it’s the right choice or not, are you coming?” Leo had reached his limit; he was always rather impatient and would rather take action than wait. He’d rather die fighting than continue hiding in this dreary room. He made his choice and wasn’t going to be deterred by logic this time.

Leo looked towards Luna with determination, waiting for her answer.

Receiving this heavy stare Luna’s heart grew soft and tears threatened to pour from her eyes, she felt the same as Leo. The struggle could be seen in her eyes, she repeatedly opened and closed her mouth unable to speak.

“Luna!” Leo shouted with vigour as he moved closer towards her.

“Together!” He stretched out his hand hoping Luna would join him. The confusion in Luna’s eyes lasted only a moment before she wiped her eyes with her sleeve and smiled.

“Together!” She grasped Leo’s hand causing him to smile. She made her choice; she wouldn’t allow Leo to fight alone. Even if they died, they’d die together.

Leo pulled Luna from her chair and the two started working together to move the heavy chest of drawers blocking the door.

Once that was moved, they unlocked the door and pushed it open together with great force.

“Bang! Owww!” The door failed to open fully as it slammed into something. Leo and Luna were shocked by the sudden yelp.

“Damn that hurts!” On the other side of the door Frost was crouching while covering his nose. He had just teleported from the private space to let Luna and Leo know that they didn’t have to worry anymore. Yet when he went to knock on the door he was suddenly slammed in the face.

“Frost senpai!”

“Frost senpai!” Luna and Leo both shouted and leaped towards the crouching Frost unable to contain their excitement.

“Are you ok?” Luna asked with concern.

“Sorry about that senpai.” Leo awkwardly smiled as he apologised. Frost released a mild groan in response.

“I’m fine I don’t think it’s broken at least.” He wiggled his nose and shook his head; the pain was quickly subsiding. Seeing he was fine the two kids helped him up. Once he was standing before them Leo couldn’t hold back his curiosity anymore.

“Did you win?” His voice was filled with expectation and anxiety, if Frost failed, he didn’t know what their next move would be. Luna also looked at him with hope in her eyes.

In response Frost smiled without restraint “it’s done.”

“....” The two kids were silent, they looked at one another in shock before suddenly jumping in joy. This was followed with the two hugging Frost with tears in their eyes. They survived.

After they calmed down Frost proceeded to explain what happened.

“I was only able to confront 4 people, Redhawk, Alex and his two deputies. The rest I assume were killed by the monsters in the lair.” Frost proceeded to bring out certain items from his sleeve.

“T... this is Alex’s sword and that’s Redhawk’s bandana; it has the red hawk symbol on it.” Leo recognised the items in a single glance. The high-quality steel short sword had the emblem of house Furano engraved on to the hilt so as to identify the house’s knights. And Redhawk was known to wear a bandana decorated with a red hawk on his right arm. These were clear proofs of identity. Leo laughed out loud there was no better evidence than these items.

“How did you do it?” Leo’s eyes were filled with fanaticism. His arms trembled with excitement as he grabbed onto Frost’s shoulder.

Frost recognised the meaning in Leo’s look and sighed.

“You overestimate me, I didn’t do it alone.” He received a confused look from both Luna and Leo.

“I only fought against Alex, and it wasn’t an easy fight by any means. Redhawk and his deputies were taken care of by monsters. I ambushed them at the end of the second area, killing one of the deputies with an ice bolt spell, his blood thus attracted a nearby pack of frost wolves.” Frost decided to omit the polar bear part, if they knew a polar bear roamed the dungeon then it may increase the danger level assigned by the adventurer guild. Having groups equal in strength to the [Artic Warband] would be best for now.

“The wolves fought against Red hawk and his remaining deputy while I chased Alex towards the third area allowing us to fight one on one.”

“They didn’t fight together?” Luna asked rather confused, if Redhawk and Alex fought together, they could easily deal with multiple frost wolves before combatting Frost as one. She found this fact rather unusual considering the amount of work Alex put into their assassination it’d be weird for him to not take advantage of such an opportunity.

“No, in fact before I made my move it looked as though they were about to kill each other so when the frost wolves appeared and attacked Redhawk, Alex abandoned him without any hesitation.” Frost had already practised on how to respond to certain questions with Maya earlier. The less he said the better, Frost didn’t want to mention the tracking device either in case they asked for it as evidence, that would be his spoils of war.

“I see” Luna nodded as though convinced.

“After killing Alex, I returned to the second area to find Redhawk and his deputies already dead.”

“And then you had your nose slammed into by us.” Luna smiled subconsciously. Frost tapped his nose in agreement causing the three to laugh.

“What about you, were you hurt?”

“Not really a few minor cuts and bruises but I already tended to them, however Alex did try to stab me with this with his last attack.” Frost pulled out a wyvern venom coated needle from within his sleeve. To make sure he wasn’t accidently stabbed again he bounded it in a piece of torn cloth.

“Hmmm?” Luna took the needle and sniffed it before her face quicky paled.

“Wyvern poison! Adam you evil bastard!” Luna screamed and attempted to slam the needle on the floor in a rage.

“Woah!” Leo quickly moved behind her and restrained her arms.

“Stop! we can use that.” He whispered into her ears calmly however inside he was just as furious. The wyvern poison was mostly likely meant for them, they would have died slowly and in immense pain. Leo and Adam were related by blood, yet he could easily use such diabolical methods in his grasp for power. Any family bonds Leo had left were now gone, even if his uncle was butchered in front of him, he’d happily watch. His gaze then drifted towards Frost.

‘If Frost wasn’t as strong as he was and failed to dodge, he would have been the one poisoned.’ Leo’s heart grew ablaze, he wasn’t going to take this lying down. He took the venom coated needle from Luna’s hand and bowed towards Frost.

“I’m sorry Frost senpai for putting you in such peril, I promise to make it up to you.” Leo stared directly into Frost’s eyes no longer looking like a child, this event forced him to mature.

‘Hoh, I like the look in his eyes, this uncle Adam of his will certainly pay the price but...’ Frost was angry as well, the pain he suffered was immense and he desired revenge.

‘This Adam will have to suffer the wrath of a dungeon core as well.’

“You’ll use that as evidence against your uncle?” The mood between Frost and Leo became serious.

“Yes”

“Then what, how will he be punished?” Frost released some of his killing intent putting pressure on Leo.

“.... Death!” Leo was silent for but a moment before replying without a single ounce of trepidation. Frost felt a shiver down his spine with Leo’s response before he smiled and laughed.

“Hahaha good, good, yes you should kill those who wish to kill you hahaha.” The laughter was eerie but genuine, Leo also laughed, the two were in agreement.

To the side Luna was wiping tears from her eyes, she looked lovingly towards Leo. ‘Finally, he’s grown up.’ Luna knew of Adam’s deceitful and shady actions and repeatedly argued with Leo about it, but he’d always answer with he was still his uncle and would try to look the other way.

The lord of Furano was the same always overlooking Adam’s actions due to his natural kindness. People frequently abused this weakness of theirs and she could only watch as Leo and his father were taken advantage of. But now Leo was no longer na?ve, he would show no mercy to those that harmed him. A ruler can’t be lacking when it comes to making hard decisions.

“I’ll hand over the needle and anything else you many need from the corpses, I have no need of them anyway.”

‘Of course, I’ve already taken what I wanted.’

“Thank you Frost senpai I’ll make sure you’re reimbursed for the lost loot; I give you my word as heir of the Furano Viscounty.” Leo didn’t try to deny the items simply promising to pay him back, much to Frost’s pleasure. He needed money for when he visits Furano with Maya in future.

He already used the dungeon’s system to collect any coins and useful items before absorbing the corpses. The twenty underlings only had some coppers each, the deputies were a bit better with a couple silver, but Redhawk and Alex were pretty well off. They each had close to 20 slivers each. Altogether Frost managed to gain 45 silvers which according to Maya was more than enough to pay for several nights at a decent inn or good quality sake.

“I’ll hold you to that when I visit.”

“You’re not coming with us?” Luna asked with disappointment.

“No, I’ll stay with you until the inspection party comes but after that I’ll be heading back home.” Leo and Luna couldn’t help but feel deflated with Frost’s decision.

“But how will we repay you?”

“Hahaha no need to worry I’ll be heading to Furano in a few days’ time.” He rubbed the top of their heads as he spoke.

“You can show me around Furano when I arrive.” Frost smiled; it’d be good to have a free guide in such a large town.

“Un we’ll show you the best sights around!” The three then laughed creating a harmonious atmosphere, releasing all the pent up stress accumulated.

“Let’s get you two home then.” The group of three then travelled together towards the dungeon’s exit. They didn’t encounter any monsters and made great time thanks to Frost leading them.