Dungeon of Niflheim

310 Chapter 310: The fifth floor (2)

Other than the adult district the first section of the fifth floor also contained the brewery whereas the final two sections were the quarries. Given that the adult district was the main purchaser of the locally crafted alcohol it made sense to have them nearby, makes transport more efficient.

The Kranor’s brewery mainly focused on beer since it was the fastest, easiest, and cheapest to make. They weren’t looking to become an alcohol speciality territory, just aiming to supply the majority of their own demand.

The moment one of the workers spotted Sam and Lola he reported immediately to his boss, there wasn’t an inspection on the books nor was there any tours but since the future mayor and her husband were here they needed to treat them well. This also meant they needed to be on their A-game while working, no faffing about or taking sneaky swigs of the good stuff otherwise they could kiss this dream job goodbye.

After waiting a minute or so the brewery’s head brew master arrived and of course adhering to stereotypes it was a dwarf.

“Lady Lola and Sir Sam how can I help you this fine morning?” The head brew master was a rough looking female dwarf easily in her 50s with bronzed skin and a stocky build. She looked tough.

“Mrs Belliana there’s no need for any formality we’re just here for a regular tour of the premises, showing our friend here the sights of Kranor.” Lola spoke with a smile, answering the old dwarf’s query.

“It’s not a surprise inspection?” Belliana asked with a scrutinising gaze.

“No”

“Phew that’s good, I really hate having to act all formal and by the book.” Belliana let out a relieved sigh as she relaxed her body, taking a much more chill posture and a rough tone returning to her voice. “You hear that you old louts it’s just a regular visit so get your asses back to work!” Belliana roared towards her many employees that had become distracted by Lola and Sam’s visit. On hearing Belliana’s roar they all shivered before quickly getting back to work. Belliana was not a boss you want to get on the bad side of.

.....

With a strong nod once she saw her workers return to work Belliana turned back towards her guests. “Since its not an inspection and just a regular visit I’ll have Kastro here lead you through the factory. I’m far too busy that right now.” Belliana pointed behind with her thumb towards Kastro one of her assistants.

He was large wolfman with a scar across his eye making him look quite menacing but in front of Belliana he was nothing but a puppy. “Understood boss,” The man then gestured for the group of three to follow him while Belliana returned to her office. Being the head brew master was hard work, their brewery was constantly at work to help supply the ever growing needs of the populace, she rarely got a moments rest and hated inspections and official visits. She’d be forced to keep her coarse tongue in check, maintain a friendly smile, not hit her employees when they make mistakes and most of all they always slowed down production. As did the tours but not to the same extent plus they’d attract future employees, so she could live with that. If it wasn’t official and or her presence wasn’t mandatory she’d leave such annoying work to one of her capable assistants like Kastro.

Once Belliana was out of earshot Kastro spoke up “please forgive the boss, she’s been under a lot of pressure recently and really hates the customer service part of the job.” Kastro also wasn’t too big a fan given that his appearance normally scared people, but he was at least far better than Belliana.

“No problem it’s not the first time we’ve met, Lead on Kastro, our friend here is quite keen to learn about how a brewery works and what is needed to run it at such high efficiency.”

“Of course,” Kastro replied with a short nod before leading the three people throughout the massive factory. Sam and Lola had seen the place more than a few times but for Frost it was entirely new, and he was quite blown away. The work was gruelling, he saw dozens upon dozens of burly men and women rolling large casks from one place to another while others stirred the alcohol in fermentation baths with long poles all while enduring high levels of heat. Frost never imagined that preparing beer and other spirits was so physically taxing and labour intensive. There wasn’t a single employee present that didn’t sport large, ripped muscles.

Kastro gave them the quick tour that lasted 30 minutes, explaining a few details such as the amount of beer produced by them daily or weekly, the amount of staff required to produce a single cask etc... the usual amount of data he’d use to impress the visitors. Frost heard these numbers and was shocked once again; such a factory was way behind his current means. He immediately scrubbed his idea of creating his own brewery to serve as trade materials. Besides after running a few numbers of his own, he found that for cheap alcohol such as beer it was far more efficient to simply purchase it with DP. The product wouldn’t be unique but to trade in mass it didn’t matter.

To end the tour and much to Sam’s pleasure they were invited to try some free samples which included a new flavour that they were trying. Beer with a tinge of winterberry and spiced shroom, Lola and Frost didn’t find it too appealing, but it went down well with Sam who selfishly asked for another free sample which was immediately rejected by Kastro. They were running a business after all.

After that was the quarries which didn’t really need a guide to explain, it was clear from the materials being carried out what type of quarry each was. Most were different types of stone whereas a few were metal, mainly ore of copper and iron, pretty basic stuff. The layout was similar to the iron mine Frost bought but on a much grander scale. Apparently they also had a glacier mine that provided quasi 2 star ice outside, which thanks to the near constant blizzards was renewable.

Next on the list was the residential floors that contained all the housing for the residents as well as their schools, markets as well as greenery. Though not as internally benefitting as the 6th and 7th floor the view on the 3rd and 4th floor was much better than the top two. Houses were divided by size and quality creating different areas or suburbs. Houses of all types and quality were required to be built since not everyone could afford or was willing to pay for a large house.

Kranor’s slum district was called plum blossom avenue and to be honest it really couldn’t be called a slum. Though the houses weren’t large and were made of low level pykrete they were more than liveable. And unlike many other slum districts within other territories this place was very well maintained. Yarrow and his predecessors worked hard to make sure that even the poorest people within the territory had a safe and clean place to sleep. Frost could see more than a few teams working to build more houses to cater for the ever growing population. The method didn’t seem to difficult nor as labour intensive as the brewery and unlike alcohol this was something he’d need to provide in order to attract people to his territory. Tents and basic igloos wouldn’t work in the long run, no he needed buildings made of pykrete, stone and or wood as well as a guarding wall otherwise safety would be a big concern for those in his territory.

Once that was over it was time to head back to the manor, Yarrow and Chia should have had enough time to put together a few choice books and documents to satiate Frost’s desire for knowledge. After which it would time to visit Druakai to perform the monster contract with Kiba.

“Oh, good you’re back, what did you think of the brewery and quarries?” Chia asked once they walked in the door and large pile of books and other documents stood behind her with Yarrow going through them and placing them in different piles according to genre. Yarrow had a vast surplus of books with many being duplicates or outdated versions. For those that weren’t needed he was more than happy to give to someone who’d appreciate them, better than gathering dust on a shelf somewhere. The knowledge in books was designed to be spread among people, not sequestered away in storage.

Frost saw the massive piles of books and his eyes lit up, wondering if all of them were for him. He’d been charging his way through the stockpile he bought in Furano and was in dire need of some new material.

“It was very interesting, I had no idea how much labour was involved in providing alcohol for Kranor, the numbers blew me away.” Along with the idea of him establishing his own brewery at least in the short to medium term. Perhaps when he has tens of thousands of residents it may crop up again as not only would it provide alcohol it would create jobs. Not all his monsters would be needed to fight all the time, working in such professions could help to pass the time.

“Yeah I too was quite surprised when I first saw it in action, it’s even more impressive on paper.” Chia had a nostalgic look as she remembered the first time she witnessed the factory in action. The strong smell, the heat and of course the dozens and dozens of half-naked, muscle bound workers. It was quite a feast for her eyes back then.