Conquering His Cold Heart

The high priced meal between Frost and the leaders of the merchant convoy went swimmingly. Respect was gained and a subtle agreement was made. If the merchants and guards rested well and met no unforeseen circumstances during their stay they'd regale their visit to the inhabitants of Furano and quite possibly the Jade flower kingdom.

A camp of such standards erected around one the new so called Dungeons was a windfall waiting to happen. Artun could literally smell the gold emanating from the camp. This place was going to be big; he was sure of it.

"Now all we have to do it wait." Frost muttered as he relaxed against the sofa, a bright smile adorning his lips.

"Not quite, you also need to resist devouring the vast the sums of DP they promise." Maya commented from his side.

"True but it's not as tempting to me as you might think. The monster stampede already granted far more with a single late stage wave, so the sum isn't that eye catching to me plus I know better than cash in a short term windfall in exchange from long term gains.

The words of a well-established merchant convoy, and their guards are for more valuable than what I can gain from reaping their lives during the night." Frost was determined to be as efficient as possible, that was the true method to reaching the top of the rankings.

"If you say so." Maya simply shook her head before leaning against his shoulder.

The night passed without any fanfare, the merchant convoy suffered no mishap and each of its members awoke feeling very well rested. Even Artun who was rather experienced with a high level of service found the bed to his liking, furthering his image of Frost as someone to keep an eye on.

Though many were loathe to leave so soon they had a job to do. Shortly after dawn the convoy was once again ready to continue its journey to Furano.

"Thank you Lord Frost for your generous hospitality, hopefully by the time we are set to return to the Jade flower kingdom we'll be able to enjoy your facilities for a second time." Artun bowed with respect before alighting the most luxurious carriage in the convoy.

"Glad to have you Artun, Talion, safe travels." Frost with Maya and Daki at his side bade farewell to his first customers, trying very hard to dilute his smile.

The convoy only stayed for half a day, but he netted over 2000DP. Originally it was going to be 1500DP but thanks to the locks added to the inn's rooms the input given by the residents was tripled. Shame there was nothing he could do about the mass lodging quarters but you can't have everything. Money was especially enjoyable when it was gained with hardly any effort.

"The convoy will spread word about the camp but that can be a double edged sword." Daki said once the convoy had departed from view.

"Though we'll attract customers we'll also attract people with less savoury intentions." Bandits, ruthless privateers and perhaps even hidden forces of the [order of the ice shield] and others who'd have a vested interest in claiming the location and its newly erected infrastructure.

"Hahahaha let them come, our walls are erected, and we have more than enough forces to defend ourselves from multiple battalions of well trained soldiers let alone bandits. In fact I'd be remised if they didn't come for us as we'd be losing out on mountains of easy DP." He had no issues slaughtering those who held evil intentions for what was his.

Bandits, privateers or even soldiers if they came to wreck or take his camp then they only had themselves to blame.

'Perhaps I should establish a prison deep within the dungeon, out of sight of the regular delvers. Then I can truly milk them for what they're worth hehehehehe.' The young dungeon core started laughing evilly as he imagined such a scenario.

"Findlay! Khuno! Come with me we've got work to do hehehehe!" Fully determined to prepare this prison Frost called upon his right and left hand to start the proceedings. Daki and Maya simply shook their heads in response before teleporting away. They had found that the best way to deal with his evil impulses was to just ignore him and let him have his fun.

Over the following days Frost expanded his infrastructure projects, he even summoned additional ronsos to help put them into action. First was the prison that would hold any troublemakers. The place was built on the 10th floor -the current lowest level of the dungeon- out of sight, behind large obtrusive boulders and cliffs.

One would have to really look hard to find the place especially given the fact that a convenient blizzard constantly obscured the surrounding 200 metres, he didn't want to take any chances.

The room itself wasn't anything special, an allotment of dozens of individual cages that held a simple bed and a bucket for bathroom needs, nothing else. Those placed in these lockable rooms would not be given decent treatment. Meals and water would be provided to extend their suffering if need be but not a single occupant would leave the dungeon alive.

Frost wisely kept this feature hidden from Daki and the kids; they didn't need to know of the darker sides of the dungeon.

Apart from that more buildings were complete within the interior of the camp and female ronsos were placed in strategic locations, serving as eye candy and draws for the rough adventurers though if any of them acted upon their impulses they'd quickly find themselves bereft of a couple limbs.

Daki finished preparing some rudimentary stock for her shop and helped the ice dwarves in charge of the gained monster materials clean up some hides, bones and other materials for sale. The convoy may not have had much interest in their wares but the same couldn't be said for the coming adventurers.

The medical clinic that was set up had a swath of low level health potions, mana potions, and other elixirs Frost managed to find for sale in the dungeon menu.

Turns out the potion itself is rather cheap it's the container that costs an arm and a leg. He managed to purchase a large barrel of health potion for the same price as 3 vials, a complete steal.

However, glass was used for a reason. Degradation happened rather quickly when it came to subpar containers making the usual price not so outrageous. But thanks to Frost's stinginess and desire to experiment he found a solution that worked almost as well for a fraction of the price.

Half the potions and elixirs for sale in the clinic were stored in vials made of high quality ice, summoned either by Frost or the Yuki-onnas. Natural ice didn't work as well but conjured ice managed to preserve the potency of the potion at a 90% rate compared to the glass vials. A very worthwhile trade off in Frost's opinion, especially when delving into a dungeon.

He sold these 'ice vial' potions for 30% less than the glass vial ones but would in fact make a much larger profit margin from them. A caveat of such as solution however in addition to their slightly diminished preservation capabilities was their restriction to cold weather climates, weakness to fire based contact as well as only being viable for low level potions.

Anything mid-level or higher would see their potency evaporate at a frightening rate. To help promote honesty and customer satisfaction Frost decided to inform the buyers of the first three caveats, the last one however shouldn't matter.

By the time the first 'actual' customers arrived the camp had went through another metamorphosis, making it seems as though the Convoy bulwark and their clients underestimated the place.

Several more buildings were completed thus making the place feel less empty. Female ronsos were nearly as plentiful as their male counterparts within the camp, helping to entice a large market of adventurers. Like the males the females were tall, and muscular but more athletic in definition as opposed to their power lifting counterparts. These girls were sure to break some hearts in their future.

It was a shame he couldn't enlist the aid of the yuki-onnas as easily as they were deemed rather monstrous in Northrend despite appearances.

"Perhaps in the future there'll be no distinction within the confines of my territory" Since the dungeon was so close to Northrend his customers were primarily beholden to its culture and political views. If the dungeon was perhaps deeper within the glacial mountains there wouldn't be any distinction or at least people wouldn't devolve into attacking on sight.

Multiple adventuring parties that either felt themselves growing rusty or had spend all their savings made their way towards the camp shortly after the merchant convoy sang its praises. They were eager to delve into this so called dungeon and experience something ground-breaking as according to their sources the place had changed drastically since the monster stampede.

2 F-rank parties, 3 E-rank and even 2 D-ranks, over 30 people walked through the ornate gates of the camp with minor trepidation.

"Welcome to the Dungeon of Niflheim."