Conquering His Cold Heart

Dark's prized children were quickly making their marks upon Nova, bringing a bright smile to the old god's face.

"Things seem to be progressing well, even better than I hoped." Dark sat in his prized garden with a glass of his personally brewed wine in hand, gazing at multiple screens that showed the lives of his children.

"So diverse and already I can see signs of the stagnation lifting." He nodded his head while praising his own genius before frowning.

"Light, what are you doing?" The Light God his creationist counterpart already declared his disgust for the dungeon cores, demanding their immediate destruction shortly after their birth. The man had been hard at work in the background trying to conjure up favour among the other Gods as with their support he may be able to overturn their stalemate.

Unfortunately for him not many agreed with his views, seeing him as being nothing but paranoid, afraid of change and untrusting towards anything new after the events of the church of light. This of course angered Light greatly and only furthered his vendetta against the dungeon cores. Dark was starting to get worried about his friend, fearful of what he might do.

"Haaaaaaa all I can do is hope for the best. Prepare yourselves my children, only with strength can you endure what he plans to throw at you." Dark particularly worried about some of the youngest cores, unlike their elder siblings they were barely scaping by when it came developing their own dungeons but even, so he refused to lend a hand.

Their lives and destinies were their own, he had provided enough aid.

Back to the Dungeon of Niflheim.

With the dungeon's continued development and popularity more and more people flocked into the camp, quickly filling out the remaining space. Shops, hotels, workshops and permanent residences cropped up everyday thanks to Frost and his workforce but even then it didn't seem to be enough.

More and more people wanted to settle down and invest in his territory, the dungeon of Niflheim had become a real hotspot.

Alongside new buildings farms were being developed in the southeast corner of the camp as well as beyond the southern wall. With the trading caravans as well as the vast population it had become necessary for the camp to start growing its own fruits and vegetables.

Purchasing through the dungeon menu was quite efficient but difficult to rationalise over a long period time especially for a growing population, thus the farms. There was even few secret farms run by his monsters on the lower floors that provided extra crops as well as the ingredients needed for the Sleeping Fenrir and Nanna's cooking experiments.

Frost failed to find a suitable long term teacher for Nanna in the past three months, but he had arranged for her to intern under some of the chefs working in the new inns and restaurants. His position as territory lord granted him enough influence to easily persuade these professionals despite Nanna's lack in experience.

Their fears however were unfounded, the young phoenix kin worked incredibly hard and quickly showed off her talents, winning over the stubborn head chefs who despised amateurs in the workplace.

While Nanna worked towards her goal in becoming a first rate spirit chef Loki studied under the highest ranked troll witchdoctors and ice dwarf priests, soaking up their medical knowledge. He was adamant in becoming the ultimate doctor that could heal any of his family's injuries and illnesses.

Daki frequently exchanged smithing knowledge with Borris thus making great strides in her craft while Frost continued to train with Maya and occasionally Findlay, slowly but surely improving his strength. His magic capabilities were set to break into the B-rank any day now. Yes, everything seemed to going swimmingly for Frost and his family.

The same however couldn't be said of the Furano household and the Northrend empire. Frost was currently sitting in his office and conversing with Douglas through a communication crystal.

"Things are getting pretty heated here Frost. You need to be wary of anyone suspicious entering your territory and by no means should you visit Furano or the Northrend empire." Douglas warned with an exhausted expression.

Ever since the 2nd prince of the empire allegedly tried to assassinate Frost and the crown prince's inadequacies brought to light multiple battles happened in the dark. The fight for the throne had begun and it was clear that no small amount of blood would be shed.

The Furanos' fervent attacks against the 2nd prince in retaliation to his actions towards Frost prompted the eldest prince to make moves of his own, hoping to finally put an end to his younger brother's ambitions before he had the chance to shake his position as crown prince.

The emperor was powerless to stop the events that were transpiring as fighting for throne was natural, he only hoped that the damage to the empire would be minimal but unfortunately that seemed impossible. He frequently chided Douglas for forcing these events to start prematurely but the stubborn Viscount refused to admit any fault, annoying him to no end.

Currently the empire was covered in spies thus making the entire place dangerous for an outsider like Frost. Both the crown prince and the 2nd prince would love to see him fall after all.

"Thanks for the warning my friend, I'll be sure to keep my eyes open. How are you doing by the way? You look exhausted."

"Haaaaa I've certainly been better. I wish this confrontation between the princes would have happened a few years down the line when Leo could have taken up the mantle." Douglas was tired and worried for his family; assassinations were commonplace but more annoying was the sanctions and embargos set up by rival nobles who were jealous of their position.

The war for the throne gave them the go ahead to act on their whims. The territory that was previously wrecked by Alex's despicable management and struggling to recover was now being assaulted by its neighbours. If it wasn't for the monster stampede the Viscounty would be really struggling right now, financially speaking.

"But it's no use complaining about what's already happened. Our house will survive this competition for the throne just like we always have. It'll just be hard for a while."

"If you need anything, anything at all please tell me."

"Much appreciated but we'll be fine, just concentrate on building up that territory of yours that'll be help enough." The stronger Frost's territory became the more the Furanos would benefit. The stronger the ally the stronger the deterrent it has on their enemies.

"Understood, what else?" Douglas wouldn't waste his valuable time just to give him a simple warning.

Douglas looked to his side before leaning in close to the screen to speak.

"You'll be getting a group of high profile visitors soon that you must not offend under any circumstances." Douglas spoke with such seriousness that it made Frost's spine tingle. It had to be understood that Douglas knew of Maya's strength therefore for there to be a group that he couldn't offend their background must be unimaginable.

"Explain." Frost's curiosity was peaked.

"The federation of knowledge has finally sent out an investigation team. They arrived in Furano a couple days ago and have already interviewed myself, Bastion and Leo about the dungeon that you've taken over. They'll likely be heading to your territory in the coming days, so you'll need to be prepared to accommodate them.

I know your strong and that you've likely got some serious backing but even then the federation of knowledge is not a group you should get on the bad side of. Their organisation spans the entire planet and is filled with both brilliant scientists and powerful combatants i.e. S-ranks. If that wasn't enough they have a strong relationship with the Dark God.

They serve as messengers, alerting the world of any new additions the God of creation adds to Nova. So please don't do anything to piss them off." Douglas practically begged Frost to be on his best behaviour. Something that irritated the young man.

'What do you think I am? Some mad dog that attacks anyone I find remotely interesting.'

"Relax Douglas I've got no beef with the federation; they'll be treated as my guests of honour." This statement was true, Frost truly had no issues with the federation in fact he held a great deal of respect for them. Their connection to the Dark God certainly helped validate their position.

"Alright I'll hold you to it. Answer any questions they have honestly, lying will get you nowhere and only serve to delay their investigation and piss them off."

"Ok I get it, nice and friendly." The call ended a few minutes later after Douglas reported a few more details to his young friend but nothing was as impactful as the arrival of the federation of knowledge.

"Hmm the federation of knowledge, I wonder what their investigation will entail." Though he wasn't too adverse to the group studying his dungeon in depth there was a limit. Opening up his most sensitive secrets and dungeon heart to these people even if they served as an arm of his father was not something he was that keen on.

"I'll let them study everything but the lowest floors…if they can make it that far." The final floor would remain off limits regardless of their status.

"Hopefully they're understanding."