Conquering His Cold Heart

Frost with a warm heart smiled gently and shook his head. "Relax Borris I had a plan."

"Which was?" Borris wanted specific details and Frost was more than happy to oblige now that the danger was over. He removed two items from his storage ring and showed them to Borris.

"Hmm" The old dwarf failed to recognise one of the items, but the second one was covered in rather familiar runes. "Is that?"

"A teleporting talisman and a flash crystal."

"A flash crystal?" Borris had never heard of such an item, but he could roughly guess its purpose from the name. He weighed the two objects in his hands and immediately understood Frost's supposed plan. "A distraction followed by a sudden magical disappearance and a high level health potion to quickly resolve any debilitating injuries." An effective plan but rather costly he surmised.

Just the health potion alone would likely have cost multiple gold coins let alone the teleporting talisman. Both were items beyond the grasp of the common adventurer.

"Exactly."

Borris fumbled around with the teleportation talisman and was able to roughly gauge its limits. '10 kilometres or so in a random direction.' Pretty high level stuff but hardly a guarantee of safety given where they were.

"Your plan relied too much on luck, next time don't take any chances lad….you only have one life after all." The old dwarf wasn't satisfied with Frost's precautions so he hmphed in a grumpy manner and refused to look in his direction to show his displeasure.

Avira arrived a couple minutes later to see Frost awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck and Borris standing silently off to the side with a fresh glass of whiskey in his hand. It was clear to her that something had happened between the two of them while she was getting ready.

The young woman who had been donning disguises since the night of her parents' murder no longer had a need to hide her appearance as she had reached her destination, her proclaimed sanctuary.

"Wow." Borris who had been keeping silent in protest couldn't help but gawk and exclaim the moment he saw Avira standing at the top of the stairs.

The beautiful young Princess was wrapped in a satin blue dress enamoured with silverly specks, reminiscent of the night sky. It hugged tightly against her slender curves, leaving no question in regards to her gender like her previous attire did.

Her shoes were no longer of the practical sort, black high heels that made it almost impossible for her to run and move with purpose, they did however make her taller and add more definition to her ass.

Her long silver hair was done up in a beautiful princess style braid and lay comfortably across her chest. A small amount of make-up was used to touch up her skin, masking the minor blemishes brought on by her difficult journey and less than ideal sleeping habits.

Her clothes, shoes and make-up were all elegant in style, creating the image of a more mature beauty, less Princess more, Empress.

Avira subtly smiled in response to Borris' exclamation, but her real focus was on Frost. As she gazed down at the young man she batted her eyelashes in a flirtatious manner and arched out both her chest and rear so as to appear more curvy, hoping to shock him with her beauty.

Of course even with her wearing a beautiful dress, high heels, makeup and her obvious arching the young Princess was still no match for Maya and Daki in the shape department, but she was still a kingdom toppling beauty.

"You look beautiful V." Frost gave his honest opinion in a smooth fashion.

"Hehehe thank you Frost." Avira blushed and giggled, very pleased by his choice of words.

Once Avira descended the stairs an attendant entered the embassy and politely announced "Your highness, Lord Frost, Lord Darksteel there's a carriage waiting outside to take you to the palace."

"Perfect I can't wait to see uncle Runak again after so many years." A redness formed in Avira's eyes as her emotions swayed in nostalgia. She hadn't seen the man she called uncle Runak in over a decade; would he even recognise her now.

Find your next adventure on empire

"V." Frost the perfect gentleman held out his hand, offering to serve as her escort/chaperone, an offer Avira was more than inclined to take. With a bright expression she took hold of Frost's hand and was led into the awaiting carriage.

"Haaaaa can't believe I'm being a third wheel at my age." Borris grumbled and complained as he entered the carriage after the two 'supposed lovebirds' but the smile on his lips relayed his true feelings.

The carriage ride was quite smooth, no sudden bumps or shaking throughout the entire 30 minute journey. Both the carriage itself and the road they travelled upon were of a very high quality, the Duke being a military man knew the true value of a smooth and solid road.

"Entering her highness Princess Avira Northrend, future Empress of the Empire and her companions Sir Frost and Lord Borris Darksteel." The group was announced by a loud attendant and a round of salutes from the nearby soldiers.

Avira was used to such receptions given her upbringing and Frost was unperturbed given his own status but Borris who was practically a laymen was unnerved by the welcome. The hundreds of eyes staring at him gave him the willies.

'How am I supposed to remain calm somewhere like this.' He suddenly missed Furano, the Viscounts were far more casual in their actions and tended to host only a small amount of people during celebrations.

"Relax Borris just think about smithing, and you'll be fine." Avira being a skilled noble whispered some advice in the old dwarf's ear which allowed him to calm down somewhat.

The room they entered into was a massive hall with a long, thick ice table in the centre. A grand assortment of food was placed upon the table that stretched from one side of the room to the other, allowing up to 50 people to dine in comfort though there was considerably less than that currently present.

At the head of the table sat a large man with snow white hair and an intimidating appearance. Behind him constantly in arms reach was a black heavy sword, 2.5 metres long and at least 60cm wide. Its dual sided edge glinting whenever the light passed over it. This was Duke Oscar Runak, War Marshall of the War Ursa Battalion and the Empire's strongest soldier.

And the weapon that was placed behind him was the [Night's descent] the War Marshall's personal weapon that was almost as famous as the man himself.

Seated next to Duke Runak were his vaunted generals, Katrina Orwell, Maximus Landow, Jessica Tunray, Vox Nitros as well as Astra Pocise, all big names in Northrend. Famous individuals who stand at the peak of the nation's military.

If these powerful men and women weren't intimidating enough the walls of the hall were decorated with the heads of powerful A-rank monsters and soldiers adorned in heavy plate armour and armed with military pikes lined the edges of the room, silently watching everything like hawks.

It was clear that this whole thing was a show of strength but whether it was for intimidation purposes or support Frost couldn't tell. All he knew was that he was nothing but an ant before these people, any one of them could crush him without any effort. Strangely however he didn't feel fear but excitement, especially when his gaze landed on Duke Runak.

He could feel something instinctual, a pressure hidden deep within that wasn't present amongst his generals, something he'd only felt from Maya and the other guardians. This man was truly strong.

While Avira looked intimately at Duke Runak and Frost felt his blood start to boil from excitement Borris who was previously anxious locked onto the black sword sitting behind the Duke.

"[Night's descent]" He quietly mumbled as his heart threatened to burst. The [Night's descent] was a 6 star weapon forged over a century ago by one of the Empire's greatest ever blacksmiths. For someone like Borris it was like coming across the greatest of all treasures, a genuine masterpiece of craftsmanship.

He desperately wanted to take hold of the prized weapon and study it for weeks perhaps even months alone in a private forge but thankfully his reasoning overcame his desire though it didn't remove the obvious twinkling and sparkling in his eyes.

'Interesting.' While Frost, Borris and Avira were taking in their surroundings Duke Runak was examining them. He smiled gently and felt a joy in his heart when he gazed at Avira, recognising the young woman instantly as she was the spitting image of her mother.

For Borris he initially felt that he was a blacksmith at the end of his tenure, someone with a decent level of skill who could be put to good use but lacking in passion and the possibility of improvement. The reports he received earlier however were a far cry from the real thing.

The supposed old dwarf who lacked passion and fire lit up like a child the moment he saw [Night's descent], a reaction completely opposed to one who had lost the joy of their craft.

However Frost was the most intriguing of all , a young man who appeared from nowhere and took the Northrend empire by storm. Within a year he managed to reach B-rank from the early stages of C-rank, a trusted friend of the Furano Viscounty, someone who didn't fear battle and a man who was protected by someone at the S-rank, a level even he couldn't reach.

Now that same man, the lord of a swiftly growing territory right on the border of the Northrend empire, an enemy to both Princes yet an ally to the Princess was standing before him and his generals with a look of excitement rather than fear.

A reaction that couldn't simply be chalked up to arrogance, there was something truly special about Frost and Duke Runak was curious to know what it was.