Conquering His Cold Heart

Thankfully the Convoy Bulwark's clients were more than happy to take shelter within Frost's territory, they too had had enough of camping outside and having to defend their merchandise from all angles.

"Lord Frost, pleasure to make your acquaintance." A rather rotund dwarf that was garbed in luxurious clothes and outfitted with lots of jewellery greeted Frost in a respectful manner. "My name is Artun and I'm the leader of this large merchant convoy."

"It's nice to meet you Mr Artun, I hope my humble establishment here can allow you some much needed rest." Frost shook the dwarf's hand with an almost twitching smile. Artun was the stereotypical rich, pompous merchant who always enjoyed showing off his wealth while at the same time behaving in respectful manner, launching hidden jabs that couldn't be called out.

"I'm sure your accommodations will suffice; it can't be worse than camping outside after all."

"….Allow me to show you to the inns and mass lodging quarters."

Artun and Talion's group numbered around a 100 men and women, a sizeable entourage but nothing compared to his own. Talion and his guards quickly found themselves outmatched when they witnessed dozens of ronso patrolling the area with their halberds, glaives and spears, each of them being at the C-rank level.

"To the left we have the inns which provide individual and small sharing rooms whereas to the right we have the lodges that contain simple bunks and cots." Frost made sure to cater to both categories as it wouldn't just be adventurers and or those with sparse pockets visiting the camp.

"The lodge costs 50 coppers a night whereas the inn depends on your choice of room. A ronso will be stationed at the reception to answer any questions you might have about our deals and facilities. We can also provide you with rudimentary meals if you'd like or supply you with ingredients gathered from the dungeon that you can cook yourselves.

I'm sure your chefs are probably better than what we currently have available after all." Right now all he had were a couple of ronsos, dwarves and even a yuki-onna on the cooking detail, rudimentary would even be a stretch.

"However since you're our first customers I'm willing to open up a premium service wherein my partner will cook for a select few of you if you'd prefer a higher class of meal." By partner he actually referred to the dungeon menu rather than Maya or Daki.

"Hoh that sounds interesting." Artun couldn't help but perk up at the sound of a premium meal while Talion looked forward to possibly purchasing some of the offered ingredients. The dungeon was sure to have some choice meat.

"In terms of wares we've got a few things available but not a lot, feel free to browse the economic district in your spare time if you're interested." Frost pointed towards the scant few shops that were prepared and manned by ronsos before looking at Talion.

"We do have a smith on hand so if you or your men are in need of some minor repair work I'm sure you can work something out."

"Truly! What rank?"

"She's currently 3 star and fairly experienced, I'll introduce you to her later."

Once he finished giving the basic tour Frost left the group to their own devices.

"If you need me for any reason you can likely find me in the Lord's office over there, otherwise the ronsos will be more than happy to answer your questions."

Artun and Talion both thanked him as he left, both feeling good about their accommodations.

"Captain I'm sure you know what to do."

"Yeah, despite being surrounded by walls my men will keep just as keen a watch."

"Good, I'll retire to the inn Lord Frost mentioned before joining him later for that premium meal…would you like to join us, my treat of course." Artun didn't feel quite right attending dinner with a stranger without some sort of backup. Though he was frequently viewed as a miser he was anything but when it came to his own life.

"Thank you sir, I'll look forward to it." Talion knew exactly why Artun extended an invitation, but he didn't care, he'd be getting to eat premium food, that's all that mattered.

The merchant leader thus accompanied his trade staff to the more luxurious inns while Talion and his lieutenants led their security team to the mass lodging quarters. Shift teams were quickly assigned for guard work and rest.

Talion also assigned a couple of his trusted scouts to peruse the entirety of the camp, to get the lay of the land and grasp as much information about the place and its owner as possible.

Meanwhile Frost teleported back to the private space the moment he entered the lord's office.

"Now to let the DP flow in." After taking a seat on the sofa he pulled up the dungeon menu to inspect the dungeon's current DP income.

Excluding the mana vein as well as the DP brought in by Daki and the kids the merchant convoy was bringing a little over 3000DP, roughly 30Dp per person.

Most of the merchants gave little more than Nanna or Loki, clearly non-combatants but the guards were all at least upper F-rank with Talion, Grandon and Felicia all being solid D-ranks, a decent strength force that bandits would easily falter against.

Of course if Frost ever changed his mind and wanted a sudden influx of 30,000DP and to fill his coffers with gold and gems they'd barely last more than a few minutes against his mighty forces. A fact that caused his to smirk and feel giddy. Their lives were practically dependent on his whims.

"Master's looking evil again."

"He must be raking in the DP, that's the only time he shows such an expression." Nanna and Loki discussed their master's current expression quietly as they worked on their books.

"It really does make him look evil doesn't it."

"Oh you should have seen the look he had the first time he feasted…Suuuuper evil." Maya and Daki also chimed in on the topic.

"You know I can hear you right."

"Your point?"

"Urgh." He visibly winced at their retort, their giggling worsening the impact.

'Just wait until tonight, I'll make sure the both of you are begging for mercy.'

The merchant convoy quickly settled in as the skies grew dark, they were more than happy to pay the reasonable prices Frost established. He didn't exactly low ball the rates, but they certainly got what they paid for.

The mass lodging quarters provided ample berths for the security team, large lockers for storage and rather comfortable bunks that were a hell of a lot better than camping. The warmth of the place was a nice bonus. Frost designed his infrastructure to very high specifications, thick insulation composed of monster fur was standard issue.

At 50 coppers per person for a single night he netted close to 40 silvers, add on the more expensive inns rooms that ranged from 2 silvers a night to a mighty 12 silvers, he made north of a whole gold coin, pretty good for just providing a place to sleep.

Daki even made some money from her repair work, but Frost was loathe to take from her small earnings. Unfortunately he was unable to entice the group into purchasing any of his shop's wares. Other than a few looky-loos and some private interest there was no sign of any large transactions with the convey, their cargo was already spoken for.

The group even resisted purchasing any of the monster meat Frost offered just in case it was tampered with in any way. The possible regret they'd feel at succumbing to an ambush so close to the end goal was enough for them to take no chances regardless of how tantalising the smell was.

More than a few glares were thus sent Artun and Talion's way when they made their way towards the Lord's office to partake in the so called premium meal.

Frost was joined by both Daki and Maya for the dinner, a flower on each arm. Talion and Artun begrudged Frost's luck but understood his charm. Not only was he incredibly handsome, he wielded territory, personal power and a great deal of wealth, who wouldn't want to be attached to his hip.

The premium meal consisted of a light soup that contained recuperating herbs followed by a frost drake steak for the main and strawberry ice cream for desert. Accompanying the grand meal was of course a lavish bottle or two of high quality wine. By the end Artun was completely blown away, he seriously underestimated Frost's prowess.

Even he with his established wealth was only able to partake in such luxury rarely. His esteem for Frost skyrocketed, he needed to learn more about this young elf and his territory. He smelled a profit.

"The meal was most agreeable Lord Frost, far more than I expected from a recently established camp, most impressive."

"Thank you Mr Artun I'm glad it pleased someone of your status." Artun smiled and puffed up his chest at the clear flattery.

"I'm sure your camp will become a flourishing hub of commerce once word of mouth spreads."

"A satisfied customer will always remember good service and recommend it to those they know. What about you Mr Talion have we provided you a good service?"

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