Dungeon of Niflheim

274 Chapter 274: Kranor’s problems

Lola and Ellen continued to chat about the monster lair as well as other business related topics and a few personal things before Sam entered 15 minutes later. He came straight to Ellen’s office after dropping off Frost. The first thing he did was smile lovingly at his wife before planting a peck on her cheek.

“Is Frost resting?” Lola asked with a loving smile, appreciating her husband’s greeting.

“Yes yes I took him to Darla’s place and got him cot, said we’ll pick him up in 3 hours or so.”

“Good, that boy needs a rest before we embrace the journey home, he can get a much better night’s sleep once we’re back.” Lola nodded her head while wrapping hands around her husband’s, looking very much like a young girl in love.

“Do the two of you have to act so lovey dovey everywhere you go, it’s painful for those who are currently single.” Ellen almost spat in disgust, as her nose soured at the scene of the married couple. She was almost tempted to tell them to get a room but knew they would probably respond with ‘great idea’ before Sam would pick his wife up and carry her to nearest bedroom.

“Yes we do” Lola replied with a straight face, not ashamed in the slightest before planting a kiss on her husband’s cheek.

“When you meet your soulmate little Ellen you’ll understand hahahahaah.” Sam pulled his wife in close, causing Ellen’s expression to warp even further.

“I’m not little anymore I’m 23 years old dammit!” She roared in protest but only got a patronising laugh from the couple.

Frost slept for the full 3 hours and only rose due to Sam’s shaking.

.....

“Frost time to get up lad, it’s been 3 hours.” Sam and Lola were standing next to his cot, all ready and waiting to leave.

Sam and Lola had talked with Ellen about a fair amount of things before enjoying some couple time. They had a drink at the pub, talked with a few other adventurers that they recognised, and Sam even cooked up a beautiful meal that they shared within the confines of a small igloo. Shortly after enjoying each other’s company in the igloo, it was time to wake up their sleepy student.

“Huh?” Frost woke up groggy, pain in his shoulders and back but far better than he felt before his rest. He sat up slowly and cracked his back and neck while yawning, his sand encrusted eyes eventually made out the figures of Sam and Lola.

“Come on sleepy head time to get up.” Lola shook her head, likening Frost to one of her young kids who refused to wake up on time. She snapped her fingers in front of his face to show her impatience.

“I’m up I’m up geez.” Annoyed by her actions Frost lightly swatted away her hand before getting out of bed. Thankfully he was already dressed so it wouldn’t take long. After putting on his boots and more obtrusive armour he was ready.....well mostly ready.

“Rumble” his stomach rumbled in response to his awakening, bringing a slight blush to his face. Sam and Lola giggled before Sam brought out a bowl of ramen from behind his back. He was prepared for such an occasion.

“Eat this then we’ll go. The journey to Kranor isn’t that difficult a trek but it’s never wise to travel on an empty stomach. Especially given the looming monster stampede.” Sam handed over the ramen while he and Lola walked over to Darla, trying to strike up a conversation.

Their efforts weren’t going well but it didn’t stop them from trying. Frost eyed the steaming bowl of soup, noodles, vegetables and what looked like some kind of beef with interest. The smell was inviting and since it was given by Sam it was sure to be something good. With the pair of chopsticks Sam handed him with the bowl, Frost dug in with relish.

A few minutes later, Frost let out a satisfied sigh, the ramen was very much to his liking, a perfect meal to wake up to. Sam and Lola arrived a moment later with rather downcast expressions, their efforts clearly not proving fruitful. Lola even had reddened eyes, showing that she released a few tears. Sam took the empty bowl of ramen and stored it back into his spatial ring. They could now go.

The group of three made their way quickly to the edge of the camp. Kranor lied towards the west, of their current location. On the border of the epsilon sector just like the monster lair though further along the x-axis. No major environmental obstructions lay along their path, but monsters were abundant. They may have to fight their way through but considering the strength of their party it wouldn’t prove to be an issue.

As the group walked through the mighty white expanse that was the Glacial mountains Lola began to regale to Frost about her home, their target destination.

“Kranor is a long standing enclave that goes back over 150 years and is considered one of the more established enclaves within the external regions. Though we can’t compare in size to the enclaves and native kingdoms within the inner regions we’re quite well known and have proven to be quite stable in terms of our economic growth. Like other enclaves we tend to keep things internal as you can tell from our current mission but we’re far more welcoming than others, thus we’ve been able to sustain ourselves for so long, even grow. Our residents number in the tens of thousands and continue to increase every year.” Lola started speaking with great pride, a wide smile adorning her face as she did. Who didn’t love praising their own home.

Frost listened with rapt attention. The books he bought in Furano had a decent amount of historical knowledge but in regards to the enclaves within the glacial mountains it was rather bare. Kranor was only mentioned briefly since it had a fairly long history, but it spoke nothing about the place itself, so Frost was keen to learn. Turns out he was a bit of a nerd, constantly seeking out knowledge, though not at the level of his younger brothers Chronos and Void, those magic fanatics.

As his mind wandered to his younger brother’s he remembered that his father suggested for him to discuss with them about Nanna and Loki’s slave tattoos.

“Enclaves don’t do much in terms of external trade, limiting their growth potential but even though we are aware of such a limitation most keep to such a tradition. It helps them remain free from political strain, and disagreements between other nations. Kranor follows suit but as I said is far more welcoming. We don’t turn away outside visitors and even invite them to trade and stay within our territory. This has allowed us to gain much in terms of materials, relationships, populace, reputation as well as skills but that’s where we draw the line, we don’t wish to develop into a full blown native kingdom. Our burgeoning populace has thus put a bit of a strain on our food reserves.” Lola’s voice grew stern as she spoke of Kranor’s current situation. Her father had been dealing with a very stressful situation thus allowing him to fall ill, her as his daughter had some big shoes to fill and a lot to clean up.

“Thanks to the dormant monster lair’s remnant mana levels we can grow a large amount of vegetables and raise animals for food but getting enough seeds to feed such a large growing populace is very difficult. It’s harder to convince young people to focus on agriculture than it is on becoming adventurers. Even though we have a large amount of money saved up, our own limited external trade makes it difficult to get the raw materials, regular merchants only hold so much. Hopefully once Sam opens up his restaurant it’ll inspire more and more people to get involved in the enclaves agriculture.” Lola remembered her own experience as a young girl and her rebellious attitude towards her father about taking over the territory in the future and her fervent desire to be an adventurer. Only now that she was older and wiser did she truly understand the problems within her territory. Thankfully she had an awesome husband who was greatly skilled in terms of not only cooking and looking oh so handsome he had a vast knowledge in regards to plants, many of which were edible.

“If we manage to solve the food issues we’ll actually be able to expand even further. The monster lair in which we established ourselves in all those years ago still has another two floors that are currently unused. More than enough for thousands more or even tens of thousands more residents.”

“In terms of our other areas we’re actually pretty set and if we wished to develop along the path of a native kingdom it wouldn’t be too hard. With Sam being a skilled cook as well as him and me being C-rank adventurers, we have many other skilled residents. We’ve got pretty good alchemists and tailors, plus our other tradesmen are pretty decent. Mine and Sam’s equipment was actually created within Kranor, apart from a few choice pieces found in monster lairs. Really our major issue is around food production haaaaaaaaa.” Lola let out a depressed sigh truly worried about this issue that was now clearly upon her shoulders.