Conquering His Cold Heart

For a good few moments he wished that Nanna or Loki were adults so he could pawn off such duties to them and truly savour his relationship with Maya and Daki, but they weren\'t. Thus he donned his robes and left the room that smelled oh so sweet.

Nanna and Loki had already left their rooms to start their regular daily activities leaving just him alone in the kitchen well almost.

"Purrr!" Kiba who was for once asleep in the bed he bought for him woke up with a deep stretch and sauntered over to rub up against him. There was pleading look in his eyes before his stomach loudly rumbled. Like Frost he slept in and missed the breakfast prepared by Nanna.

"Raw or cooked." Since he wasn\'t much of a chef the list of what he could prepare was quite limited. He himself was only planning to have a couple sausages and eggs for breakfast.

"Garow."

"Raw it is then." Thanks to their soul bond Frost was able to accurately understand Kiba despite the obvious language barrier. Raw made his job a lot easier but it would also cost him a lot more. Kiba was a smart little tiger, since a raw dish required no cooking skills he could have high quality meat for breakfast. He looked up at Frost with an expectant look in his eyes and a puppy dog expression.

Frost would cave in anyway this at least gave him some sort of excuse.

"You really have become a spoiled house cat haven\'t you." Frost remarked with a shake of his head but still opened up the dungeon menu and purchased a thick slab of mammoth steak. Kiba quickly bit into the juicy meat and carried it to the table, he was a refined kitty after all.

A few minutes later Frost walked over the dining table with his own breakfast in hand, sausages and eggs as initially planned. "I\'m guessing the steak was nice." He sat down across from Kiba who was in the process of licking his paws and face clean. The large tiger simply purred happily in reply before continuing to clean himself of what little remained of the steak.

Frost dug into his hastily prepared breakfast, finding the taste rather lacking compared what Nanna and Maya usually make, plus seeing Kiba devour a mammoth steak certainly didn\'t help but it wasn\'t bad.

"Oi where do you think you\'re going?" Just as he ate the last piece of sausage Frost saw Kiba slinking back over to his bed to sleep off his breakfast.

\'This damn tiger really thinks of himself as a damn domestic cat.\' Kiba had become far too lazy of late, and he was determined to put a stop to it.

Kiba turned around with a confused and irritated expression.

"There\'s no napping for you, you\'re with me today got it."

"Garow." Kiba grumbled in protest, but Frost was having none of it.

"Time for you to pull your weight." Frost placed his plate and utensils in the sink, cast cleanup magic on both Kiba and himself before teleporting them into his office in the camp. "You\'ll be following me as I interact with the local residents and talk with Ladius and her team.

The people are on edge and in the dark about the whole war thing, so we need to be present to provide some stability in their lives." Kiba growled a little more but knew when to fall in line.

Frost quickly went through a few document that had built up on his desk during his absence, notifications, permits, applications the usual before heading out with Kiba to begin the rounds. People in the camp quickly flocked over the moment they saw him. Many were distressed about the whole dungeon situation, worrying about whether or not they\'d be able to maintain business here.

Frost calmly spoke with many of them in his capacity as Mayor and reassured them in their time of need.

Though he didn\'t go into any specific details he personally vouched that the Dungeon was back to normal and that things should return to how they were a few days. Frost\'s personal evaluation eased a lot of their worries especially those who had been with the camp since the early days as well as the adventurers who knew of his strength.

If a B-rank fighter such a Frost was saying the dungeon was back in business then what did they have to worry about. Of course, there was still danger but that was part of the job anywhere. More than a few adventuring parties who had been playing it safe since yesterday decided to dive right in, thanks to his words, which brought a smile to his face.

Eventually after visiting the different sectors of the camp a ronso came up to Frost and whispered something in his ear. "Thank you, I\'ll head right over." Miss Palmer had finished resting and compiling her notes and was requesting a meeting, likely their last.

"Kiba come" he called on Kiba who was posing heroically for a few newbie adventurers, they had heard the tales of Frost and Kiba from their seniors back in Furano. A handsome elf with unlimited potential, hero of Furano and his reliable battle mount Kiba who carried dozens to safety during what was probably the worst monster stampede in recent history.

It was an honour to see the two of them in the flesh.

After saying their farewells Frost and Kiba made their way back to Frost\'s office.

"Are we still in agreement?" Frost asked from behind his desk. Kiba was nestled in the corner while Ladius and Terrance sat opposite. One with a smile on his face and the other with an expression of clear reluctance.

"Yes, yes that matter has already been cleared by the higher ups. You can expect word to be sent out in the coming weeks or months." The federation would reveal some details to the public in regards to dungeon wars thus allowing Frost and his siblings to maintain their attractiveness to adventurers.

Even those battle hardened adrenaline junkies would balk at the idea of being locked in these places with no chance of rescue. Why take the risk when there\'s perfectly good monster lairs already in abundance throughout Nova.

"That\'s good." Frost nodded his head, pleased with the deal they made. All he had to do now was bring up the topic of an agreed upon warning system with his many siblings and their father and he\'d be set. In future he\'d be able to manage his territory and easily go to war with his siblings without fear, allowing him to rake in the cash from both ends.

His lips began turning upwards at that thought which irked Ladius.

"That\'s good, that\'s all you have to say?" She puffed up her cheeks and threatened to leap from her seat. Terrance in response looked to the side and sighed as if trying to separate himself from the situation.

"Yeah pretty much. Our business here is concluded is it not Ladius?"

"Ow." Ladius covered her heart as though she\'d been stabbed "that\'s pretty cold Frost."

"Well I do specialise in ice."

"...."

"...." His cliché joke lingered in the air, leaving an awkward silence.

"You know what I mean?" Eventually Ladius continued, as if the joke never left Frost\'s lips.

"…..Terrance I\'m pretty sure we already had a celebratory farewell several days ago right, the one where we all got together and had a nice meal and literally said goodbye to one another."

"That is true we did say our farewells and were set to leave, our business concluded." Terrance replied in a stoic manner.

"So what does she want?"

"I believe since we didn\'t leave and even got involved in another situation with you she wants another party."

"Is she that clingy or starved for social interaction?"

"No I believe she just wants the opportunity to barter more knowledge from you, like with the dungeon war agreement." Frost and Terrance spoke about Ladius in the 3rd person despite her being present in the room.

"Are you sure she just doesn\'t want to go h….."

"OI!! Stop that right now!" Ladius had had enough, she leaped up from her chair and started waving her finger at both Frost and Terrance with an enraged expression. The two men shrugged their shoulders and stifled their laughter in response.

Eventually Ladius managed to coax out a round of farewell drinks with Frost, Maya and Daki after they finished up with the adventurers\' guild which Frost wasn\'t too against. He had no intention of bartering anything else with this die hard investigator. As soon as she and her team were away he\'d be able to sleep soundly in his bed.

After dotting a few I\'s and crossing some T\'s Frost, Ladius and Terrance met with the representatives for the local adventurers\' guild where they reported some of their findings. Ladius\' team were the only group held within the Dungeon during the transition that made it out alive so of course the guild was desperate to learn what transpired.

The talks didn\'t last long but already a crowd had gathered outside and inside the guild hall to hear the result. Frost gave them all a wave and a smile as he walked down the stairs with Ladius and Terrance.

The representative of the guild however leaned over the railing of the second floor and loudly announced that the danger zone notice for the Dungeon of Niflheim had been lifted and that the guild would transition back to normal activity.

Cheers erupted in response as guild staff placed new quests on the board and adventurers rushed in to accept them. The period of unknown was over, and life could go back to normal