Dungeon of Niflheim

109 Chapter 109: Searching the vault

The information was at the very least difficult to hear for all present parties, more so because they could believe that Douglas would act as such.

There was silence in the room, Frost’s hand with the vial remained outstretched.

“Haaaaaa” eventually while sighing Leo took the vial and case from Frost his eyes still weren’t very trusting, but Frost was right, there was no downsides, at least this gave him a chance to keep his father around.

“We’re not done here quite yet, uncle Bastion you and I will return to the surface to let our adventurer friends know that the battle is over as well as deal with any traitors in the local guard. Uncle Ryuu, Luna and Frost-senpai please scout the vault and document anything of note, my uncle was known to deal in slaves I would make sure that they are cared for.” Placing the silver vial into his storage ring Leo once again gave off the air of an authoritative noble as he handed down his orders.

Ryuu, Luna and Frost were all capable of using magic so should be able to deal with any enchantments and or protective spells placed around the area. Knowing his uncle some merchandise was sure to have special seals on them.

This was just a quick check however, once they return to the manor and make everything official, he’d arrange a large team to swath through all the items and document their history as well as value. The ledger documents of all Adam’s trades will also be important evidence.

‘I’ll grab that on the way out just in case.’ With everyone gotten their tasks, Leo walked over to his uncle’s corpse and stored his severed head within a special storage ring he prepared for this occasion. Adam’s face would serve as perfect proof for his death plus it was customary to spear the heads of traitorous nobles on a pike in view of the public and Leo for one was more than happy to follow this tradition.

He and Bastion then drank a health potion before making their way topside, they’d pick up Taka and Bruno along the way.

Frost reluctantly did the same since the chances of him getting another high level health potion was slim to none.

.....

‘Yuck I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this.’

Once Leo and Bastion left. “Alright then let’s split up, Frost you go that way and Luna, and I will go this way.” Ryuu announced with seriousness as he started ushering his daughter alongside him in one direction, clearing not going to stand for any other result.

“Fair enough” Frost wasn’t one to complain, it’d probably be for the best given Luna’s strength. That didn’t stop Luna complaining however and sending him looks basically saying ‘do something’. He simply waved them off with a smile, this vault was quite vast so splitting up was the fastest method.

‘Oh well let’s see how the rich people live then.’ Frost smiled as his eyes filled with curiosity.

‘I could probably swipe a few items without them knowing about it, in fact I should get a piece of it given my contributions.’ With his reasoning given Frost moved to loot/search the vault.

“Vases, jewellery, cutlery, crockery and paintings nothing useful.” Frost moaned around 15 minutes later, his side seemed to be lacking in anything remotely useful, just expensive, and even then, some of it was of questionable taste. It didn’t stop him pilfering a couple pieces of jewellery with large gems.

‘Blue and white gems are nice looking they match my element and style so yoink.’ He stored a few sapphires and aquamarines into his storage ring, not too much to be noticed given the amount stored here but also not a small amount, running a dungeon was going to cost money in the long run after all.

Frost continued to occasionally misplace a few interesting items along the way but nothing really useable like a magic device, weapons, armour, skill books etc...

‘Ryuu must have gotten the good side, lucky bastard.’ Knowing him however any skill books or magic items he found would be funnelled to Luna so may it should be lucky B****.

Frost didn’t however forget to do his job he kept a note of the items within the rooms he searched and was yet to come across anything magically sealed away or protected but it wasn’t as if anything here was worth it. Jewels and decorations may appear nice and be symbols for a lavish lifestyle but when there’s items with magical properties it really hits a glass ceiling price wise.

“....Ugmmmm” suddenly after accidently knocking over an item to the floor Frost heard a quiet whimper.

“Huh? Where’d that come from?” He strained his ears to hear it more clearly. He was in the last room on his side, there were no others so he couldn’t have missed someone.

“Ugmmmmmm!”

“Again” the sound was made a second time, this time however he could narrow down the location slightly.

“Over here” Frost arrived in front of what appeared to be a simple stack of furniture, but something wasn’t quite right.

“Ugmmmmm!” He heard the whimper again and it clearly came from this stack.

Frost frowned before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he channelled his mana and tried to sense any disturbance in the area that could point to an enchantment.

‘There,’ using mana he was able to tell that this stack of furniture in front of him was the result of a magic enchantment an array of sorts. Frost knew a little bit about arrays as it was included in Maya’s magic lessons.

Arrays were similar to magic devices without a portable vessel. The magic crest would be drawn with special materials onto the location allowing for a magic spell to be in effect as long as it was fed mana. A prime example of an array would those used for long-range teleportation. Since space magic was so difficult to use and transporting over vast distances was far too costly mana wise for a regular magician, teleportation arrays were created. The spell is created between two fixed points through a complicated magic crest and can function with magic crystals, thus allowing even those who are non-magic users to travel.

The one in front of Frost however was a simple illusion array distorting the area, it wasn’t even that powerful just very discrete. If Frost didn’t hear the whimpering, then he could have easily walked by, the residual mana leakage and use of the array was so minimal that it didn’t register unless someone was actively looking for it.

He smiled, since it was weak there was a very satisfactory way to dissolve it....brute force.

Frost tensed up his arm and punched the stack of furniture in front of him.

Booom! The image distorted under the impact revealing what appeared to be a door before quickly restoring the illusion.

“Hoh that wasn’t strong enough.” Pleased with the challenge Frost pulled back his arm even further and this time covered his fist in ice chakra before.

Booooooooom! With his second punch the illusion burst, the residual mana particles dissipating in the air, it was broken.

Frost could see the magic crest on the ground that powered the illusion it was filled with cracks, and he felt satisfied.

Now displayed in full view was an ornate door that led to a secret room, the whimpering after his punches became even loudly as though calling to him.

Creak

The door creaked as Frost pulled it open curious to find out who or what was calling him.

The room was a jail, and two young children, a boy and a girl were imprisoned here, they were garbed in tattered slops, and had thick metal chockers locked around their necks, revealing their station as slaves but even so.

‘Even by slave standards this is a bit much.’ Multiple chains bound the two children and they looked as though they hadn’t eaten in days, yet their eyes were full of fighting spirit.

‘Interesting’ Frost liked the look in their eyes. He kneeled down bringing his face in front of the girl.

The two children were humanoid in appearance and stature, yet they had a few differences. Around their eyes their skin was ice blue in colour akin to heavy eye shadow. Their eyelashes were long, also ice blue in colour. The girl had black hair whereas the boy had blonde yet they each had blue highlights steaking throughout. In amongst their long unkempt hair small, curved horns could be seen growing, soft, and slightly glowing. The hair around their ears was different from the rest, looking more like feather plumes.

‘Hmmm I wonder what race these two are?’ Frost struggled to identify them from the features they sported.

“Were you the one calling out?” The girl was clearly the more confident of the two, sheltering the boy behind her as best she could all while staring Frost in the eyes.

“Ummmm” she responded with another moan, but the message was clear.

“You can’t talk?” They looked old enough to be able to speak and the slave chokers weren’t tight enough to stop them.

“Ummmmm” she pointed to the choker but more importantly to a magic crest underneath that was tattooed to her skin.

‘What is that?’ Frost didn’t know much about slaves and well magic crests, but something felt off by that tattoo, it felt malevolent.

“So, because of that magic crest you can’t speak at all?”

“Umm umm” The girl nodded with a pained look.

Hearing her confirm, Frost moved in close to examine the collar and magic crest but the moment he did it glowed, and the girl started convulsing in pain, clawing at her neck. Her veins throbbed and she felt as though her body was tearing apart. Tears pulled at the side of her eyes and the boy behind her panicked, all colour draining from his face.

“Ummmmm!” The boy grunted as loud as he could while attempting to push Frost away thinking that he was hurting her.

Shocked with the result Frost pulled back his hand rapidly, afraid of what would happen if he continued his fiddling.

‘I only touched it for half a second. I didn’t even send any mana into the device or tattoo yet. This thing’s way to sensitive.’ Frost frowned, incredibly curious about the device yet not to the extent of causing suffering to a young girl.

The young boy was suddenly filled with pain much like the girl was the moment he tried to forcibly push Frost away. A powerful surge of mana fired through his system originating from the tattoo on his neck before the chocker joined in, making the children suffer twice as much.

Frost froze in place afraid to do anything more, he simply had to stand there unable to help while waiting for their pain to subside. Thankfully he didn’t have to wait long, 2 minutes later the children stopped their convulsing, able to breathe freely and no longer consumed by pain.

The boy looked at Frost with anger and hatred but softened when the girl grabbed his hand and shook her head, basically saying that it wasn’t Frost’s fault.

“Why did you call out to me?” Keeping his distance so as to not cause any more problems Frost asked. If they couldn’t talk and he couldn’t investigate or touch their chokers or magic tattoos, how could he help.

“...” The girl heard movement that wasn’t Adam and instinctively called out for help. She didn’t think any more about it but knew that if her brother and her didn’t receive aid their lives would be nothing but pain and misery.

Already while until the control of Adam they suffered from poor shelter conditions, bare minimum feeding, jailed within this small, dank room away from natural air and sunlight. Unable to talk without permission or even control their own bodies. Every day they lost bits of freedom and were racked with pain whenever they tried to disobey, soon they’d be nothing but empty shells without minds of their own.

Even if the person rummaging around in the vault was worse than Adam, she felt it’d still be better, at least there’d be a chance at death which was a much more enjoyable prospect.

She hugged her younger brother in her arms and looked up at Frost, her eyes revealing her desires.

‘This girl is asking me to kill her and her brother?’ Frost’s eyes opened up wide in shock. He looked around the room and around their bodies.

‘They must have suffered greatly; death would likely be a step up in their minds.’ Frost was reminded of the malevolent feeling he got from the tattoo on their necks.

He tightened his grip on his glaive, he’d be able to end it quickly with a single swing, he could do that much at least. He raised his glaive up high above his head and peered into the eyes of the two children.

The boy started tearing up and buried his head into his sister’s chest afraid to look, whereas the girl stared up directly into Frost’s eyes, full of gratitude. She revealed a depressed yet thankful smile before closing her eyes and pulling her brother in close, she was ready. finally, their pain would be over.

“Haaaaaa” Frost sighed before shaking his head, he tensed his arm and without an ounce of hesitation swiftly swung downward with incredible force.