Dungeon of Niflheim

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Kathy’s inn (2)

Around 15 minutes later, the waitress brought out the two dishes. The roast pig was surrounded by lettuce and had an apple in its mouth. Its skin was a golden brown covered in oil that glistened in the light. Maya couldn’t help but salivate as the dish was placed in front of her. Tens of pounds of perfectly cooked pork sitting in front a tiny woman drew some onlookers. Some even took bets on whether or not she would finish.

Frost’s dish although not as eye catching or massive still looked delicious. The burger came in a soft white bun, and the meat was sandwiched between leaves of lettuce all smothered in a red sauce. He too couldn’t help but lick his lips. The mammoth steak that Maya had cooked before was delicious, but it lacked garnish and sauce, it was purely meat. The two of them turned to one another and smiled. They felt good about leaving home, there was a limit on the amount of stuff they could experience while cooped up in the dungeon after all.

Without further ado they dived right into their meals, and boy was it tasty. The two of them devoured their meals without pause, cleaning their plates entirely. Unfortunately, Maya didn’t finish the entire pig herself thanks to Frost finishing first and still being hungry, so she gave him around a quarter of the pig but that didn’t mean she wasn’t able.

“That was delicious.”

“I know right, staying here was definitely a good idea.” Maya used a napkin to clean the leftover pig oil from around her mouth, looking very elegant. It created quite an interesting picture with the large plate before her holding nothing but bare bones. She did the same for Frost causing him to blush under his mask.

Not only did they enjoy a great meal he felt refreshed like he did when in the dungeon. While walking through Northrend forest they only ate a few snacks and didn’t sleep so his energy levels were fairly low.

After finishing the dregs of his winterberry juice Frost called over the waitress for the bill.

.....

“Could we get the bill please and could you let miss Kathy know we’d like to check into our rooms.” It was time to see where they’d be calling home for the next few days.

“Of course, sir, the bill comes to 1 silver and 56 coppers.” It was the same waitress, so she remembered what was ordered. Frost pulled out the coin purse from his sleeve and paid the bill and gave an extra 20 coppers as a tip. Maya mentioned that it was customary to give a little extra money for good service, usually around 10%.

The waitress bowed and thanked Frost for his generosity before leaving to find Kathy.

They didn’t need to wait long before she came over to escort them.

“Frost, Maya how was your meal?” Kathy asked full of confidence, she held great pride in her food. Even the local lord praised her cooking when he visited before.

“It was delicious, thank you.”

“Yeah the roast pig was so juicy and tender, I loved it.” Maya responded in a bubbly tone.

“That’s good. Let’s get you two settled into your rooms then.” Kathy smiled; she was always happy to hear praises about her inn’s food. She was originally the only chef but after business took off, she was able to train and hire some chefs to take her place. Allowing her to take a more managerial role. Most of the recipes however were still hers so the taste didn’t change much.

Kathy then led Frost and Maya to another area connected to the restaurant. It was a small and cosy reception desk with two sets of stairs leading up behind it.

Kathy’s inn had three floors and a basement. The first floor was the restaurant and reception areas. The second was for the regular rooms and third was for the higher priced room as well as Kathy’s room for when she stays over.

She and her husband had a house of their own in the residential district, so it was rarely used for anything other than naps. The basement was the workers’ quarters, some of the waitresses and chefs received reduced salaries since they were provided with living quarters.

Kathy went and greeted the receptionist at the desk before receiving a key from her.

“Your room is number 14, if you take the right-hand staircase behind me, it’s the last room in the hallway.” Kathy passed the iron key with a wooden tag attached showing the number 14 to Frost before giving him directions.

“We lock the doors at midnight so be back before then or you’ll be locked out. Breakfast is brought up to you at 7.30am unless you’d rather eat in the restaurant. And dinner is served anytime between 5 and 9pm. We’d appreciate it if you kept noise to a minimum and if you can, use clean up magic on your bedding after use. Bathrooms are shared with two for each side. Any questions?” Kathy started listing all the inn’s rules.

“What if you don’t know clean up magic?”

“That’s fine, regular washing fades the colour over time so clean up magic is always preferred, it’s cleaner too so we always ask. ” The inn only had one or two employees that could use magic, and even if it’s just simple lifestyle magic with the amount of laundry to clean it’d be a great expense to their mana every day. High end inns and hotels have staff were their sole job is to use cleaning magic.

“We know clean up magic so that’s not a problem.” Frost learned quite a number of lifestyle magics from Maya as they passed the days in the private space. Unlike the regular citizens it only took him a few minutes to learn and utilise each one. Regular people would require a few days to weeks plus a book or teacher. Even though lifestyle magic could be used by almost everyone due to their low mana cost, regular people such as those working in Kathy’s inn never had the time or money to learn.

“Thank you, anything else?”

“No, I think we’re good.” Frost turned to Maya who nodded in agreement.

“Alright, I’ve got to get back to work but make yourselves at home.” Kathy smiled warmly to the two before walking back into the restaurant.

Frost and Maya walked up the stairs with eagerness, hopeful to see where they’d be sleeping for the next few days. On the right side of the second floor there were 14 rooms and theirs was the last one. The room had a simple wooden door with the number 14 painted on it in white.

“Guess this is it.” Frost took the key and opened the door, revealing its contents.

“Hoh, not bad.” Maya commented after seeing the room. It was clean and simple but looked to be of decent quality. Carpeted floors, two large single beds each with their own bedside cabinet. A thick window that overlooked the nearby street and two large wardrobes to store clothes. There was even a small coffee table with a vase of flowers on it. The room was a lot nicer than Frost was expecting, of course it paled in comparison to the private space in his dungeon but for an adventurers inn it was pretty good.

Frost moved over to the bed to feel the mattress.

‘It’ll do.’ The mattress was quite firm but thick, the duvet and blankets on top felt warm to the touch.

‘Probably made with monster fur.’ Since there wasn’t a fireplace or wood burner in the room the blankets needed to be thick and insulating. So far Frost felt that he was undercharged even if he didn’t receive the discount.

‘No wonder people like it so much.’ He looked over at Maya who at some point sat herself on her bed, wiggling her large butt on the mattress trying to get a comfortable feel.

“This beds too hard for me.” She pouted slightly; she had long gotten used to the high-class furniture in the dungeon.

“Use the blankets to soften it, it’s not like you’ll feel the cold anyway, so you don’t need to be wrapped in them.” Frost already had a solution since he found the mattress to firm as well. He was the embodiment of ice, no amount of cold would affect him, and Maya was a legendary fenrir, a little cold should be nothing to her.

“Good idea young master.” Maya tapped her fist against her palm in realisation of the great idea. She covered the mattress in the blankets and duvet leaving only one for her to sleep under.

“Ah that’s much better.” She squirmed around a little, enjoying the comfort.

“Don’t get comfortable we’ll be leaving shortly.” Frost only planned for them to stay here for a short period, enough to let their meals go down. After that they would visit the adventurer’s guild. Frost wished to register himself-and possibly Maya if she was willing-as adventurers. This would allow him to learn more about the profession as well as generate some income.

The dungeon core allowed him to create money as in copper, silver, and gold coins however the efficiency of it was less than desirable. Dark most likely made it so that money wouldn’t be abused, destroying the balance of their surrounding countries. It costed 100DP for a silver coin, but it only gave 10DP if one was donated to the core (treasures could be donated to the core to be broken down and turned into DP as well).

Gold coins cost a whopping 10,000DP and would produce 1,000DP when donated. Coppers could be bought for 2DP but would give nothing back in donation. Just their lodging alone cost 1200DP for four nights, Frost didn’t want to waste his DP on purchasing coins and reclaiming coins from dead adventurers was sporadic and limited.

Becoming an adventurer and completing quests for renumeration seemed the most logical response. He was also due to receive a substantial reward from Leo and Luna which was in part performing the duties that a strong adventurer may do plus by being an adventurer it’d make it easier to go travelling across Nova since he’d have an ID.

“Okaaaaayy.” Maya responded sleepily, she’d already gotten comfy. Frost sighed at her appearance.

‘You’re meant to be the older one here not me.’ Sometimes Frost questioned exactly who was the more mature one out of the two.

Around thirty minutes later the two of them left the inn and headed towards the adventurer’s guild. The guild building would have been easy to find even without Kato’s help given its size and imposing architecture.

There was quite a lot of traffic coming in and out of the guild at this time, yet it wasn’t crowded, the grand entrance could easily fit 8 people walking in side by side.

Maya’s appearance caused more of an issue this time; the majority of the adventurers were young men so they couldn’t help but stare at her as she walked into the guild hall alongside Frost. A few of the braver ones even wolf whistled and stared at her backside as she walked. Frost couldn’t help but feel irritated, under his mask he was frowning. Maya feeling his irritation giggled adorably before she wrapped her arm around his showing that she was taken.

Frost walked up the reception desk where a young dwarven woman was sitting.

“Hello, we’d like to register as adventurers please.” Frost spoke bluntly, as he was still rather annoyed.

The dwarven receptionist looked up at Frost’s mask and then the stunning Maya.

‘Tsk must be some rich noble in disguise.’ She wasn’t impressed and responded curtly.

“Take these forms and fill it in, the registration is 1 silver per person. If you can’t write, we can do it for you for an additional 20 coppers.” She handed Frost two registration forms and a pencil. Frost started filling the details right away along with Maya before handing them back. The questions weren’t hard. It just asked for your name (which could be an alias, the guild didn’t judge). Weapon type and or magic abilities. And finally, any known skills.

The receptionist looked over the form and squinted slightly.

‘Huh?’

Frost said he was glaive and ice magic user and Maya had written hammer user and magic user. She was shocked, it was rare for people to use magic and weapons, but the most shocking thing was Maya using hammers. The receptionist gave her a look over, wanting to see if she was some sort of dwarf in disguise.

‘Ack never mind it’s none of my business what they want to write.’ She just ignored it, people who overestimated themselves end up dead in the end.

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