Dungeon of Niflheim

273 Chapter 273: Ellen and the order of the ice shield

Lola was allowed instant access to Ellen’s office after showing her identity. Not only was she a powerful C-rank adventurer with many accolades she was also next in line for governing Kranor, a nearby enclave with over 20,000 residents, a veritable big shot for a manager in training such as Ellen.

As Lola walked into the room with a noble and commanding air, fit for her station as soon to be mayor of Kranor. Ellen was sitting behind her oversized and over piled up desk. She was in her early twenties, average looking with a thin figure. And was currently surrounded by paperwork, that almost eclipsed her entire frame. Ellen was a satyr and had two adorable antlers sticking out of her head, she had long green hair that reached all the way down to her knees if not tied up like it was currently. Her legs from her upper thighs down were like that of a goat’s and her feet were hooves. The poor girl didn’t even notice Lola come up she was so swept up in her work.

“Cough cough” Lola coughed audibly to get the young girl’s attention, feeling a little sympathetic to her plight. She knew what it was like to be bogged down in paperwork especially when it was supposed to be the prime time of her life. But she had to give Ellen kudos to her work ethic, the poor girl’s eyes were bloodshot, yet she still carried on.

“Eh?..... Oh, Lola sorry I didn’t notice you come in, please, please take a seat.” Ellen popped up her head in surprise not expecting someone to be in front of her let alone Lola. She frantically got up from her chair, knocking a few papers to the ground before trying to clean up an area for Lola to sit down. Lola chuckled at her actions finding it rather cute but worked hard to keep her serious demeanour, she was her on official business after all.

About 30 seconds later, Ellen had tided up an area for Lola and sat back behind her desk, her hair rather frazzled from bed hair and her frantic movements, making her look quite adorable.

“Ellen you really work too hard.” Lola could help but let out her motherly instincts, looking at the overworked Ellen with pity.

“I’m fine Lola really....thanks for the concern.” Ellen smiled gently so as to prove her point. “Anyway, the fact that your back means that....”

“Yes the C-rank ice revenant has been dealt with.” Lola spoke with confidence causing Ellen to sigh with relief.

“Thank goodness, at least one issue has been dealt with haaaaaaaaaa.” Ellen thanked her stars that at least one of her work problems had been cleared, thus reducing her workload slightly. Having a C-rank monster running about in a D-rank dungeon was dangerous business and meant a lot of paperwork for her. Sam and Lola had met with her before entering the monster lair and said that they’d deal with it. Lola being before her now and with a bright expression and in what looked to be in tip top health meant that Sam was likely fine as well. Knowing that Sam and Lola were after the ice revenant was another worry for her, she was quite close with the two of them and even knew why they took up the mission.

.....

“Is Sam ok?” Though Ellen knew that if he wasn’t Lola would likely be distraught right now instead of calm and collected.

“Yes he’s fine, he’s just taking our new friend to the rest area and will join us shortly.” Lola smiled brightly, appreciating Ellen concern.

“That’s good, as long as you’re safe that’s all that matters.” Ellen actually hoped that the two of them wouldn’t face the ice revenant or at least would flee if their chances were too dire. She spend a lot of her time trying to request other C-rank parties that were larger to come and take care of the ice revenant problem. Taking on an ice revenant with just the two of them would be suicide.

“I didn’t know that we had someone else at C-rank within the lair currently.” Ellen suspected that the reason Sam and Lola could take out the ice revenant was because of the help from their new friend.

“Not surprised, he’s very young and his potential is off the charts, though he’s a little lacking when it comes to adventurer knowledge. Sam and I decided to take him in as a student in exchange for helping us deal with the ice revenant and by god I’m glad we did. Frost played a massive part in the battle, and made for great company, he’ll go far in this world I’m sure of it.” Lola spoke with a tone full of praise for Frost, she admired him greatly.

“Hmmm Frost, where have I heard that name before.......Ah wait a minute there was something that came in a couple days ago.” Ellen felt that the name was familiar before suddenly remembering something. She pilfered through dozens of pieces of paperwork looking for a certain missive.

“Found it, yes I got a missive from headquarters to keep an eye on a young male elf named Frost, apparently he caught the eye of a couple higher ups when he passed through Beta camp. Let’s see identifying characteristics, young, very handsome, tall wears scholar like robes and uses a glaive for his weapon. Is this the same guy?” Ellen asked with an excited expression however Lola frowned in response.

‘So, the order of the ice shield have already started making their moves, tch they certainly are quick.’ She had no questions in regards to her Frost and the one described being the same person but it irked her that the order was already aware of his potential. Her being the next in line to rule over Kranor meant she was in the know about some things in regards to the politics in the glacial mountains. The order of the ice shield had been seeking more and more potential people even going to the extent of fighting for them against the native kingdoms and the Northrend empire. This revealed a strong desire for the order of the ice shield to become a separate entity entirely. Frost being eyed by such an ambitious group may not be a good thing right now.

“He’s probably the same person.” Lola responded with an annoyed tone which Ellen caught onto. She was a smart person and instantly understood Lola’s meaning. She’d already stated that she and Sam had taken Frost as a student, meaning he was under their protection. This was a warning, Ellen gulped as a shiver ran down her back, but she held her ground.

“That’s good, seems that the higher ups have good eyes.” Ellen spoke in neither a gentle or aggressive tone. She was weaker than Lola, but her backing wasn’t. Though she may capitulate to Lola in some regards when it came to the will of her superiors she was powerless and couldn’t show weakness.

Lola glared at the young satyr for a few seconds before releasing a sigh, there was nothing she could do but make her stance known, she was in fact powerless before the entity that was the order of the ice shield.

‘I’ll have to give Frost a little warning but in the end it’ll be his decision.’ Lola could smell the scent of war brewing amongst the order of the ice shield and didn’t wish for Frost to be dragged in but alas he was grown man and could make his own choices. She’d just make sure he was aware of all the facts.

After this little standoff where Ellen came out the winner the atmosphere returned to being business professional.

“The monster lair showed no sign of surging or expansion, just the usual traits of a lair affected by heightened mana activity. The C-rank boss being a rare anomaly, I don’t believe another one will be generated any time soon but there’s always a chance.” Lola gave a full report of her findings within the monster lair.

A surge was a situation when the monsters summoned overflowed and began to spill out from within the monster lair, wreaking havoc upon the camps set up nearby as well as natural fauna. Situations like surges weren’t actually too rare during periods of high mana activity, many of the monster within the monster stampedes were actually from monster lairs that surged over, its why the hordes are so large. To prevent a surge, it was best to cull the population before it reached surging levels. The [beginner’s ice magic] monster lair showed higher levels of monster activity but not nearly enough for a surge and even if it was, the amount of adventurers stationed here and within would be enough to keep the levels in check.

Expansion was something else that occasionally followed a surge but could also be completely independent. Expansion as the word suggests was an expansion, the monster lair would grow, creating more floors and rooms. This however was a very rare event that was dependent on a great many factors which the federation of knowledge was still set to uncover. However, a few points had been discovered, a key one being the state of the monster lair’s core. The larger and denser the energy the more likely it could expand. The quality of the [beginner’s ice magic] core was in the possible expansion pile so there was occasional checks.

With Lola’s statement a great weight was lifted off Ellen’s chest, her workload would greatly decrease now. No need for massive reports or arranging checks and contacting the federation of knowledge. Lola’s case as a C-rank adventurer was an accepted testimony. Dealing with the normal activities caused by the monster stampede was a lot simpler than the abnormal. Ellen couldn’t help but smile as tears dripped down her cheek.

‘I’m free’ Ellen could finally get some much needed rest and say goodbye to a great bunch of the paper forms littering her desk.