Conquering His Cold Heart

As time passed the external camp continued to develop, quickly filling up the large empty spaces within the 25km2 layout. The braver merchants who took a chance on Frost's new territory in the earlier stages had set up their stores in the prime locations. Easy access to customers, ample territory and fair and reasonable rates and taxes.

These rare few made real bank in the initial stages, far more than they expected. Word of mouth of course spread thus welcoming a 2nd and 3rd wave of merchants hounding at Frost's door for a piece of the pie. Of course their deals weren't quite as generous given that they were later to the game, but the profit margins were still immense. The Dungeon was just too prosperous.

The variety of monsters, their numbers as well as the treasures and materials found within drew so many adventurers that merchants could no longer afford to neglect such a venture regardless of the percentages Frost would accumulate just from being the landowner.

Frost's coffers were practically overflowing, so much so that he struggled to keep a straight face most the time in private. He was rich, super rich….well at least for a short time. To make money or rather to keep making money he needed to spend it.

He only got to relish in the pile of bronze and silver for a short while before parting with them in exchange for more fixed assets. More and more buildings were erected to accommodate the swiftly increasing population.

Goods were bought from Furano as well as Kranor to improve the market situation and dozens of staff were hired to man the shops, offices and other infrastructure under the purview of Frost and the dungeon. It was a complete waste of their abilities to rely on the ronsos to be secretaries and receptionists after all.

Frost was consistently swamped with work until he learned to delegate more tasks to the new hires as well as his own monster subordinates. Running a new territory especially a rapidly flourishing one like his couldn't be maintained by him alone, the workload was just too much. Thankfully he had friends such as Calder, Ryuu, Bastion and the Furanos to help him out in this regard.

They pulled some strings and supplied him with some experienced management staff, a gift he was most grateful for.

Borris also finally arrived in the third month since the camp officially opened. With his workshop and family legacy fully passed down to his most capable son and daughter -the ones who aided him in forging Frost's 4 star glaive [the wolf howling at the moon].

He was now a free man in his retirement, no strings binding him and restraining his artistry, he was free to do whatever he wanted and right now that was forging. He wanted to reignite the fires of passion he had as a youth. He may be old, but he certainly wasn't dead nor was his craft.

Frost promised him access to a large range of materials to do with however he wished, all he needed to do in return was exchange ideas with Daki and teach a few prospective smiths some basic skills, nothing in relation to his trade secrets.

After that Frost would help him enter the inner regions of the Glacial mountains so he could experience their diverse forging styles and improve his personal craft.

"It's good to see you again Borris, how's things?" Frost asked with a bright smile from behind his luxurious office desk.

"You too lad, I've been good but handing over full control was a lot harder than I first thought. Turns out I'm more of a control freak that I'd cared to admit." Borris let out a hollow laugh. "However my son Borin and daughter Alda will make fine successors.

I can rest easy knowing that the two of them will work together to continue our family's legacy." A clear weight was lifted from his old shoulders and a prideful smile grew on his lips whenever he thought of his family's future.

"With all that taken care of I can finally relish in my retirement and personal freedom…..so which way to the forge lad?"

"Hahahaha I should have expected as much, Leo was right you truly live and breathe fire and metal. You've been here all of what five minutes and already you want to work." Frost laughed before standing up. "Good thing I expected such a response, come with me I'll show you to the upper workshop." Frost had discussed multiple possibilities with Daki and Maya about Borris.

How much should they tell him and how much should they allow him to see of the dungeon were the main points of the debate. Unlike Daki he wasn't planning on spending his life with Borris so he couldn't be treated with such familiarity, but he didn't plan on treating him like the other merchant and tradesman that flocked to the camp.

He needed to first ascertain how trustworthy the old dwarf was and how well he could keep secrets.

"Upper?" Borris queried as Frost led him towards a heavily guarded area within the camp.

The upper workshop was a sealed off area within the camp where his ice dwarves and occasionally Daki produced items for the camp as well as the dungeon. It also served as a cloak for when Frost bought war machines from the dungeon menu to place on the walls.

No inhabitants were allowed access to this area regardless of their status, only Frost and the ronsos were allowed anywhere near this place…until now.

"Yes the upper workshop, I have others but whether you can access them will be determined by how much I can trust you with territorial secrets." Frost smiled playfully before continuing. "However regardless of which workshop you'll be working in I'll still provide you with a plethora of materials for you to play with.

Just tell me what you need, and I'll see if I can get my hands on the stuff." The dungeon menu didn't just offer mines and quarries he could purchase individual units of any material he currently had access to -which was still unfortunately below the 4 star grade.

"I see." Borris couldn't help but grow interested in the other workshops as well as the so called secrets Frost held. The young man was just too mysterious.

After a short walk the two came across a highly guarded area that was surrounded by multiple ronso guards armed to the teeth. Though many were tempted to sneak in and discover what lay behind the curtain doing so was simply not worth the effort. Who in their right mind would try to bypass the closeknit guard of nearly a dozen C-rank monsters in a simple camp.

"I'm sure you can understand some of the reasons as to why I've sealed off this area from the public." After having their identities verified and being granted access to enclosed workshop Borris was greeted by an impressive sight.

"Ice dwarves, you're employing monsters and fashioning the camp's defences within this so called 'upper workshop'."

"Correct. This place serves as our military factory as well as workstation for my ice dwarves that may or may not be so easily accepted by our current clientele, we are after all closer to the Northrend empire than one of the kingdoms in the Glacial mountains." The stigmatism surrounding intelligent monsters was hard to overcome especially in the early stages.

The Ronsos were one thing but if ice dwarves, trolls, yuki-onnas and revenants started populating the camp then people would struggle to ascertain where the dungeon begins. In future however he envisioned a far less restrictive divide between races at least within his territory.

"Are these the guys you want me to teach the basics of blacksmithing to?"

"Yes.

Currently they're only capable of forging simple items with low grade materials but I believe as long as they receive sufficient mentoring they'll be no less capable that their sapient counterparts….do you have any issues with this arrangement?" If Borris was one of those people who twisted up at the thought of working with monsters then this relationship would be off to a rocky start, but Frost believed Borris wasn't that kind of man.

"Hmph do I look like some naive brat that doesn't know how the world works, monster, sapient or demon I don't give a rat's ass as long as they're willing to learn and have passion for smithing I'll teach anyone regardless of their origin." Borris scoffed at Frost's worries. If he had an issue with monsters then he wouldn't be willing to head deep into the Glacial mountains.

"That's good to hear as they've all been looking forward to your arrival." Some of the ice dwarves couldn't help but look at Borris with fascination and awe once Frost introduced him. Their master promised to bring in a 4 star dwarven smith to teach them how to properly forge and now he was here, their elation could easily be imagined.

"This workshop can be temporarily considered as your domain Borris. If you wish to change the layout or alter its design and or appliances you're free to do so. Just tell me or have one of your new students inform of what you need, and I'll do my best to supply it to you."

"Sounds good lad, there is a couple changes it'd like to make but nothing too drastic. The person who designed this workshop certainly knows what they're doing." Borris praised the designer as he examined the facilities and some of the rough work left out.

"Oh I'm sure she'll be over the moon to receive your praise. I'll ask her to come over and visit next time she gets an opportunity." The ice dwarves weren't the only ones eagerly anticipating Borris' arrival.

"Can't wait to meet your blacksmith girlfriend, I wonder what kind of tastes you have in women kid." The sudden thought of marrying off one of his grandkids to Frost came to the forefront of his mind.

"Hahahaha I'm sure you'll be pleasantly blown away." Frost laughed and waved goodbye to Borris and his eager new students. Another milestone done and dusted; the territory was truly starting to come together.

"Master we've got a code black." Suddenly as he exited the workshop Frost received a warning message from Khuno.

"Code black huh."