Conquering His Cold Heart

"So Daki, what did you think?" Eventually they managed to get back to the original topic. Frost was quite keen to hear her opinion since she played a major part in why he accepted the challenge in the first place.

"Honestly I was completely blown away. I\'ve seen the military in action back in Kranor, you know when things got real dangerous as well as the mighty battalions of the Great Dwarven hold Karak Kanz so I\'m not exactly new to the hole war thing, hell I\'ve even played a part in a few during my early twenties." Daki reminisced about her past.

Times when a rival enclave attacked Kranor when she was a young child, times when large groups of bandits tried to takeover her home as a teenager. And then of course were the battles she witnessed and took part in as a young adult throughout the great kingdoms of the Glacial mountains. All of which had shaped her view of war and battle.

In her eyes the Dungeon of Niflheim was a far cry from the armies defending Karak Kanz and the other great kingdoms but it could give a few enclaves a run for their money. A rather substantial feat given how young the territory was.

"Your forces didn\'t act like a newly trained army in slightest. They followed orders to a tee and responded to any and all situations in a calm and collected manner. Even without you at the helm your many officers controlled the battlefield as though they had decades of experience under their belt…" She gazed at Frost and all he was with clear eyes.

"Their loyalty is inspiring and potential….frightening."

"Frightening?"

"Yes frightening, you\'re ability to mass generate soldiers and slide them effectively into your army puts all other territory\'s to shame." Daki shook her head and sighed in disbelief; her man was guaranteed to change the face of Nova.

"But did you enjoy it, being part of that frightening potential?" Frost asked with a smooth smile.

"..." Daki was silent for a moment. Her mind reliving the earlier experience, the feeling of authority, responsibility and of course the rush of victory that she helped achieve.

Honestly the whole thing brought on waves of excitement and seeing her man leading the charge with thousands of soldiers rallying behind him and valiantly returning with an air of victory turned her on so much that she struggled to restrain herself.

A wild smile grew on her lips as she leaned over and whispered a few steamy words into Frost\'s ear causing him to audibly gulp and feel fire grow inside him.

Doing his best to restrain his desires until later in the evening Frost asked Nanna and Loki give their reports. The children smiled from ear to ear and shuffled atop his legs to get comfy. They were very keen to give their reports so they could receive lavish amounts of praise and perhaps a reward in form of candy.

Loki especially was quite thorough in his report, going the extra mile to ensure said reward. Frost struggled to keep a straight face as Loki really wasn\'t one for subtlety. He joyfully put aside a set amount of DP to spent on candy once everything was finalised.

While those three were interacting Maya pulled Daki to the kitchen to help her prepare tonight\'s celebratory feast. Frost could only hear a few whispers and ominous giggles as they worked, the two of them were certainly cooking up more than dinner.

20 minutes later, shortly after Findlay handed over the total loss report he received a call through the dungeon core. Frost set aside what he was doing and answered the call with a smile on his face, he was waiting for this call.

"Hey Karrick, you\'re looking better." He opened with a light taunt, causing his younger brother to lightly laugh.

"Considering that the last time you saw me was after you beat me within an inch of my life I should think so…..thanks for the potion by the way." Karrick\'s face appeared in holographic form along with the background of his own private space which was of a very different style to Frost\'s.

"Don\'t mention it, the least I could do after putting you in such a state…..how\'s the damage to your dungeon?"

Karrick grimaced upon hearing his question. "And people say I\'m blunt, haaaaaaa I\'m pretty screwed to be honest. I only recently recovered from the war with Pyro now I\'m back to where I was a couple months ago. The DP I earned from killing your forces won\'t even cover half of my expenses for the war..." Karrick could be seen rubbing his temples to alleviate a headache.

"Do you regret the following Pyro\'s orders and challenging me to a war?"

"….Yes to the first no to the second."

"Hoh"

"I should have never allowed myself to be used by him that\'s something that I will always regret but going to war with you, no. I may have lost a hefty chunk of DP and the majority of my forces thus setting my dungeon\'s development back several months, but I also made some important gains." Karrick looked through the holographic screen and into Frost\'s eyes, revealing true sincerity and gratitude.

"Thanks to you I now know how to use my monsters effectively in wars, manage my traps and even environment to hinder and penalise invaders but most of all my personal development that had hit a wall after fighting Pyro has seen some major improvement."

Frost\'s eyes lit up upon hearing that. "You feel you can break through the barrier?" This was great news, a whole new world opened up once one reached B-rank.

"I do. Immediately after I finish setting up my plans for the dungeon\'s recovery my guardian Lapata and I will enter the training room. I won\'t leave until I break through the wall." There\'s was a fierce determination radiating through his eyes as he made his pledge.

"I wish you luck little brother."

"Thank you Frost, you\'ve enlightened me and for that I can\'t thank you enough." Karrick bowed his head in gratitude.

"Pshua enough of that Karrick there\'s no need for such heavy feelings of gratitude between family. We\'re all brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the Dark God, equal in stature. I\'m just a little bit older so I gave you some tips that\'s all, nothing more, nothing less.

Hold your head high and blaze your own trail in the future rather than following the whims of another." Frost quickly lectured Karrick hoping to raise his self-confidence. All of them were siblings and were equal regardless of their rankings. Karrick had no need to follow the orders of Pyro just because he was older and a little stronger right now.

"Hahahaha I understand brother and I promise that in the future when I challenge you to another war it\'ll be because of my own desires not someone else\'s." Karrick laughed and then showed a provocative smile. He would challenge Frost again in the future with the intention of evening out the scoreboard.

Frost\'s upper lip twitched as he heard Karrick\'s declaration, and a sinking feeling filled his gut. He actually dreaded having to enter Karrick\'s dungeon again, the heat was really unbearable.

The two siblings chatted amicably about their personal lives for a little while before moving on to more important topics.

"Those sapients, you promised to tell me about them once the war was finished."

"I did."

"Well, I\'m waiting." It was strange to imagine that these two were insulting one another a few days ago, now they looked like the best of friends.

"Have you heard of the federation of knowledge?"

"A few references why, are they from that organisation?"

Frost then gave a short description of who the federation of knowledge were and why they were snooping around dungeons.

"So they\'re envoys sort of speak for Lord father." Karrick was one of the dungeon cores that referred to Dark in a very respectful manner.

"Yeah pretty much. They were in my dungeon to investigate all the nuts and bolts of how it works and report back their findings to their organisation\'s headquarters. From there some information will be disseminated to the public to help understand the nature of our dungeons and reduce the overall death rates.

I suspect that in the coming months or even years there\'ll be books written about our dungeons that\'ll help adventurers delve in safety to a certain degree. Our popularity will also skyrocket. If you haven\'t thought about setting up some sort of territory with your dungeon I\'d advise you do so soon since people will start flocking to the area.

Best to beat them to the punch and assert control over your own place." Even if you ignore the DP possibilities it was nice to control the area around one\'s own dungeon.

Karrick took down a few notes but to be honest the idea of running his own territory didn\'t interest him in the slightest, too much hassle but even so he listened and took his elder brother\'s words to heart.