"Yuna why don’t you go next. How was your tenure as interim lord?" While Khuno handled the city’s security and commanded his special forces Yuna served as his secretary and during his absence, him.

"It was enlightening master; the amount of work involved had my mind spinning in circles, I severely underestimated the weight resting on your shoulders. But despite my inadequacy we managed to achieve each and every one of the deadlines you had set." Yuna entered professional mode, pulling out several documents from her assigned storage ring.

"First off our introduction of tameable monsters has sparked a fervour amongst the adventurers as well as our connected merchants. Even with the poor success rate hundreds have purchased taming scrolls and entered the Dungeon’s depths, hoping to either gain a battle mount themselves or make a handsome profit. The most common target has been the frost wolves thus I’ve had to purchase a few additional spawners as well as nearly another 30 outright just to keep up with the demand." Adventurers even ignored their regular delving and listed quests just to hunt frost wolves thus causing the Dungeon to quickly experience a shortage.

"I expected as much, you made the right decision Yuna." Although an unplanned purchase the profit would soon outweigh the cost.

"Has anyone successfully contracted one of the coeurls yet?" Frost wolves were common, found pretty much anywhere throughout the Yangmir continent but coeurls they were rare, found only in special locations and never in vast numbers.

"One, a B-rank adventurer with deep pockets. She was looking for a strong, compatible battle mount that would also serve as eye candy and upon hearing that young coeurls dwelled within the Dungeon she entered with the determination to not leave until she succeeded. Luck could be considered on her side given that she managed to walk away happy after just 3 days." Yuna’s face twitched as she remembered just how many contracting scrolls that woman went through just to get that one damn coeurl.

"It only takes one, rumour will spread through word of mouth and soon we’ll be raking in even more profit, profit we can put towards improving our defences." More people meant more DP which meant more monsters, more traps and more rooms for the Dungeon.

"Beyond the monster taming hype our regular adventurers have also increased, several parties determined to find the true depths of the Dungeon." Those who’d been here since the camp first started and those who bore impressive strength wanted to study the Dungeon, to discover all of the mysteries hidden within.

"Anything I need to be worried about?"

"Not immediately, there’s still at least 5 floors between the core and the furthest any of them have ever reached but a few of our hidden routes and mining rooms have come close to being discovered. You may want to change their locations or prepare them for public access." A few mines on the upper floors were already open to the public, creating mining jobs and providing materials for a few of the workshops established within the city.

"Got it, I’ll discuss the mine situation with Daki but keep our forces away from the exposed routes, I’ll think of a solution in the coming days, what else?"

"Business requests come in every day, nothing special bar the number. Our agriculture department has finally started to bloom...." Yuna’s lips curved up slightly at the pun before continuing. "We should see our first proper harvest in the next month or so."

"Oh Niflheim produce I can’t wait." To sustain a large population ensuring a source of food beyond hunted meat was integral.

"I’m also looking forward to it." Yuna had become quite a foody during her tenure as interim lord as part of her duties involved dining out with council members and or constituents to discuss plans for the city plus she often served as taste tester for Nanna’s new recipes.

"Construction of buildings both civil and military have been progressing smoothly; our barracks and smithing workshops are now fully functional allowing us to finally incorporate the locals into a guard force relieving much of our monsters from that duty while at the same time fostering a sense of patriotism within them." Yuna was quite proud of her work in instituting the local guard force.

"I noticed that they seem...capable." For quite a while Frost had been rather adverse to employing those not under the Dungeon’s influence, he found it difficult to trust those who could one day become his food and who were beyond his complete control, but he recognised that such fears would only hamper the territory’s growth thus he gave permission for Yuna to enlist guardsmen from the locals after a thorough interview as well as a probationary period.

"Again master I can’t apologise enough for the fiasco that happened to you at the gate."

"It’s fine Yuna, really they were just doing their jobs, carry on with your report please."

"Alright, next would be the update on the city’s outer wall." Yuna pulled out another document detailing the amount of materials in use, day by day objectives, difficulties the workers and architects had come across as well as addendums written up by either the Niflheim gnomes or Rana who headed up the labourers’ guild.

"Since your departure Master the overall height of the wall has increased by roughly five metres while it’s thickness has grown by one. Our war machines have doubled and with the addition of the local guard force our current military might now rivals that of a decent sized city."

"...." Reading the documents in his hand and listening to Yuna’s oral report that she relayed in a positive manner Frost’s expression was strangely stoic, a frown constantly threatening to appear.

"Master are you dissatisfied with something?" His reaction caught Yuna off guard, the development of the city’s outer wall and its defences was progressing even better than expected. During the entire time Frost was away they never failed to meet a single deadline, surpassing them in most cases. If anything should earn her praise from her master then it should be this.

"Yes and no. You’ve performed admirably Yuna, surpassing my initial expectations but unfortunately after touring the Glacial mountains and coming to terms with what it means to wield true power my expectations have inevitably grown. While the wall may appear intimidating when compared to that of Furano’s and practically any other town or low level city it pales in comparison to what I saw at Icethorne and the realm of Niflheim." How could a twenty something metre wall ever compare to something that surpassed a hundred.

"From now on I plan to invest a greater percentage of our profits into the war effort, civil schemes and improvements to the populace’s livelihood can be delayed. I want that wall to reach 40 metres within the next three months and plans for a secondary wall to be written up and accounted for material wise." This meant more mines in the Dungeon, trades with merchants from the Northrend empire and anywhere else that’d be willing to do business with their up and coming territory.

"B...By your command Master." Yuna quickly noted down his words, dreading the meeting with Rana. The old woman had already pulled out all the stops to get the wall to its current height, to go even further and with another tight budget she’d likely end up kicking and screaming.

"How’s our actual income looking both DP and tangible currency." With the territory becoming a fully functioning city state it meant copper, silver and gold was being traded in vast sums each and every day.

"Healthy, very healthy. We have close to 350,000 in DP which includes what you brought back from your adventures and roughly 140 gold coins to be spent at your leisure."

"Cough cough excuse me, how much gold coins did you say we have?"

"140 Master."

"Are you including the Lord’s management budget?"

"No sir, those 140 coins are entirely yours to spend however you see fit." The Lord’s management budget utilised the territory’s tax revenue, a portion of the citizens and businesses income would pulled into this budget to provide basic services, and it was the Lord’s job to direct and manage this money fairly and efficiently.

".....I have 140 GOLD coins....personally?" The most he’d ever had on hand at one time wasn’t even a tenth of that number.

"Yes, did I do well master?" A smirk full of pride and a little playfulness donned Yuna’s lips.

"Well? Well doesn’t even come close to describing it Yuna, we’re fucking rich." The lord’s management budget may often hold hundreds of gold coins at a time, but it was never his personal property thus he never felt rich because of it, a desire he wanted more and more upon seeing the delights that such wealth could offer.

He suddenly had the urge to kiss Yuna but held back, rewarding her with a tight hug and a spin instead.

"Hahahaha finally I’m no longer a pauper." He let loose a boisterous laugh as he spun her around, smiling from ear to ear.

"M...M...Master?"

"Just let him have this, you know how long he’s wanted be affluent." Said Findley while shaking his head. Being by their master’s side for so long he had come to learn much about his hidden wants and desires.