"Yes I am aware Lord Frost no....Master." Neve responded to Frost’s seriousness with her own, fully aware of the ramifications behind this so called conversation.

"Master huh....does that mean you’ve already made your choice?" To refer to him in the same manner as Findley, Khuno and Yuna do there had to be some level of intent behind her actions.

".....Honestly if it was just me I wouldn’t hesitate. You are our saviour and a man of very high standing but most of all you’re completely right." Neve’s hands balled into tight fists as she felt a confliction of anger and pain in her heart. "Our current situation is all because of these harmful traditions, traditions that when you look at it through clear eyes make absolutely no logical sense." It was akin to making a carnivore live as a vegan. "But....." The pain in her heart increased as she openly denied the teachings of her ancestors. "....regardless of the sense and reason I still find myself rejecting the premise on a very deep level.....I’m terrified to take that step, to take hold of the hand you’ve offered and given how I’m one of the more liberal and progressive amongst us I can’t help but worry about the others...." Throughout the journey to Niflheim she and her sisters had talked at length, queried and worried about their fates and she had come to learn of their fears, their doubts, the looks in the depths of their eyes whenever they forced themselves to put on a brace face.

"I can see that they admire you Master and that they want to believe in you, but our traditions are so deeply ingrained in us that I fear we’ll ultimately fail to meet your expectations, that when the time comes to take that step we’ll falter at best and at worst run." Thinking about engaging in such acts beyond the scope of procreation caused Neve’s stomach to twist in knots and a sense of revile and disgust to proliferate throughout her body. Hell even engaging in sex for the purpose of procreation was viewed with no small amount of contempt, a necessary but unwanted action to continue their race. To enjoy or even feel the slightest degree of pleasure from it was considered sinful and blasphemous.

Only another Lunar maiden could fully understand the depths of their traditions and know how difficult it was to even have the slightest rebellious thoughts let alone outright defy them.

"Hmmm so you lack confidence. You have the strength to perhaps give words to thoughts but not the proceeding step of turning those words into actions." They could understand and accept the flaws in their traditions but to actively deny them and even go against them was a tall ask, an ask Neve felt many of her kin and herself included would ultimately fail to answer.

"I think it’s a bit more complicated than just a lack of confidence but basically yeah, that’s about right." Frost’s summation felt like a marginalisation of the challenge Neve and her kin were facing but his words weren’t wrong.

"..." Frost rubbed the underside of his chin with his right hand as he thought in silence, ruminating on the problem.

"So are you here to choose complete binding or merely shelter?" Neve was a little all over the place making it hard for him to pin down her intentions.

"It depends." Neve answered back without hesitation, a fiery glint residing in her eyes. Despite sitting across from the man who saved her race, who boasted the backing of the Primordial Ice King and who himself held enough strength to kill her without much effort she held her nerve, fully believing that succumbing to such pressure would only doom her race. Before she made any decision she needed to weigh her options.

"It depends?.....hoh so you believe you actually have a choice." Frost’s aura leaked out from behind making him appear far more imposing in the eyes of the young Matriarch. Her body instinctively shivered as that aura pressed down on her body, wrapping around her neck like a tight nose and clamping down on her heart making every beat an ordeal.

"I...I do....if the terms aren’t agreeable then even if it means angering you and disappointing the Primordial Ice King I am prepared to reject your proposal." She forced herself to speak and keep her eyes opened and focused on Frost, refusing to cower in the face of his might.

"Even if that means the end of your race?" Frost had to stop himself from smiling, he liked people with grit.

"Better to end with our pride intact than be reduced to a life of degrading servitude." She would not allow her people to become slaves.

".....Do my monsters like Yuna or Findley here look like slaves in your eyes?" Given the situation with Nanna and Loki, Frost found the idea of enslavement at least certain forms of enslavement unsettling.

Neve glanced at Findley; he appeared to be a little offended by her remarks given the aggression in his gaze and the less than subtle leaking of his aura.

"No they don’t, but we’re not the same as them, are we?" Despite her being here for only a day and only seeing a few of his monsters up close and personal, slave was not a term she would use to describe such individuals. Alas she and her fellow Lunar Maidens were not the same as them, they were outsiders and thus could not expect the same level of treatment.

"You think I’d treat your people differently because they weren’t born from the Dungeon?" It wasn’t a farfetched fear; in fact it was quite a reasonable one considering Neve’s position, but Frost never considered such a dilemma, the moment they agreed to bind themselves to his Dungeon he fully intended to treat them with honours, giving them no less than what he provided for his highest ranking monsters. To do otherwise seemed petty in his view.

"No I don’t think you would but since this concerns the fate of my race I can’t just agree to capitulation because of a feeling or a shallow understanding of your character. I need to know EXACTLY what you intend to have us do and what remunerations we can expect from doing it." Neve couldn’t allow herself to be swayed by personal feelings as this decision didn’t just concern her but all of the surviving Lunar Maidens.

"...." Frost silently stared directly into Neve’s eyes, holding her gaze like a viper relishing in the fear of his soon to be killed prey. Her body was trembling, cold sweat dripping down her neck and forehead yet her eyes remained focused and determined.

"Heheheheh how very mercantile of you." Eventually however he laughed in a boisterous manner and recalled his aura.

"Considering the exchange in question it’d be foolish to be anything but." Neve let out a deep breath as a sense of relief washed over her, Frost didn’t seem angered by her actions in fact he seemed to respect her more because of it.

"Findley have someone bring us something to eat and drink; we might be here for a while."

"Yes master." Findley curtly nodded before leaving the room.

"I’ll start explaining the plans I have for your race both in the short term and the long term, raise your hand whenever you have a question and I’ll do my best to give you a satisfactory answer. Once we’re done with that I’ll explain the remuneration you’re curious about as well as the extent of provisions I’ll be offering if you ultimately refuse my offer."

"You’ll still help if we refuse?" Such an offer was more than generous and may even dissuade her from accepting his primary offer so why?

"Hmph trust me it will be the bare minimum, and nothing compared to what you’ll get if you completely submit." Frost was confident that whatever provisions he would provide if they refused his offer would appear mocking or even insulting when compared to what they’d get if they joined the Dungeon fully.

A yuki-onna appeared a few minutes after Findley left with a tray full of food and drinks but when she entered the room she saw her master sitting on the sofa rubbing his temples as if suffering from an extreme headache, Findley frowning and tilting his head slightly to the side as if not understanding something and a female guest clothed in heavily obscuring attire sweating profusely. Her eyes trembling, the face partially hidden beneath a layer of silk as red as a tomato and a strong air of shame and embarrassment lingering around her.

’What kind of conversation is this?’ She asked herself before putting down the tray and quickly leaving the room with a polite bow. Normally she’d do her best to increase the time she spent in her master’s presence, but her instincts warned her that leaving would be in her best interests, that if she didn’t she’d likely find herself roped into this awkward conversation.

’See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.’ She muttered this phrase internally, using its meaning loosely to avoid anything annoying. Behaviour that had worked in her favour several times in the past.

"Haaaa you know if you keep clamping up like this we’re never going to finish." Frost’s upper lip twitched upon noticing the smooth exit of the yuki-onna, she had good instincts that one.

"I..I...I know it’s just....hard."