Dungeon of Niflheim

122 Chapter 122: Sebastian’s genius

Frost frowned, truly unable to understand the situation, this was like burning through money without any reward, very unlike a merchant, especially a good one such a Sebastian.

Noticing Frost’s frown and questioning look, Calder went on to further explain the situation.

“Of course, there’s a little more to it than the books simply being free.”

Frost gave Calder a look basic translating as ‘I guessed that much’ but kept silent allowing him to continue.

“To purchase the books, it costs money, but they are free to read within the store, effectively a library which also has few strings. First to read for free you need to be a citizen of Furano, second you need to be under 24 years of age otherwise you require either a library card which has a small fee every month/annually or a referral from a partnered business i.e., if you’re a jewel smith and you work for or are one of our business partners you can read here for free if you have a referral. This allows employees to gleam knew skills and improve their work thus generating more business for their referrer and in turn us. We also get support in the form of grants from large business as well as the Furano house since we improve the lives of the citizens and or help to give them desired skills as employees. My grandfather has run this system for the past couple decades or so and due to it so many parts of Furano have improved. Of course, not anyone could supply such a resource. Starting up and maintain such a service costs a lot a money as well as connections, luckily my grandfather has both. And now due to the indirectly gotten gains we are no longer haemorrhaging money because of it.” Calder took a deep breath after his long explanation and because of it Frost now understood. This whole knowledge thing wasn’t profitable in the beginning and required a lot to start up effectively but now although not obvious with its gains it has increased the entire merchant companies’ profits all while vastly improving the life of the local citizens.

“....Is your grandfather some kind of genius?” Frost couldn’t help but be blown away by the knowledge he just learned, this system was revolutionary.

“Yes, yes he is,” Calder replied back with a prideful tone, yet a slight amount of envy and anxiety flowed through his eyes. He was jealous of his grandfather’s talent but more than that he was worried that he’d not be able to live up to such a legacy.

“I’m guessing you brought me here to purchase some of these books?” Frost was eager to start browsing, since he wasn’t a citizen, he’d have to purchase the books, but he didn’t have an issue with that given the amount of money he was currently carrying. Luckily the books were arranged in neat sections isolating their subjects.

“Yes, grandfather thought it’d be useful to you. I’ll leave you to it then, I’ve still got a lot of work to do.” Calder waved goodbye as he returned to his office, he needed to draw up some plans for a children’s fashion show. Frost waved back before diving right in, he was going to need a lot of books to filled out the gaps in his knowledge.

.....

The first thing that popped into his head however was Loki and Nanna, they were both young kids who could speak but not necessarily read. He moved over to a sections for young children and found a couple books that helped teach reading, arithmetic etc.... stuff you’d usually be taught in a school. Then there was some minor history books about Furano and the Northrend empire as well as some on the Glacial mountains.

Frost spent over 2 hours combing through all the shelves completely losing track of time, and he still wasn’t even close to finishing. Sebastian’s knowledge fountain was incredibly abundant, he found books on magic basics and theory, books on many professions such as blacksmithing, artificing even cooking and farming all of which he added to his purchase pile. Then there was the books on weapons and skills which he took a range of since he didn’t know what Nanna and Loki would be proficient in. Plus, he could use these books for any future monsters he summons with intelligence or use to simply know the weaknesses of said weapons. He also found a few books about world history and interesting areas on the other continents but nothing on the Church of Light or the Holy White empire, information on that must be restricted. Frost had organised each of his books into different piles, but the most iconic pile was the one containing books about adventuring. One book in particular was far larger than the rest and much more decorative, clearly it was special and would cost a fair chunk more.

“Monster encyclopaedia” Frost read out the name of the massive book with a smile on his face. This book was worth its weight in gold, he only perused a few pages yet was already impressed. It contained information about most monsters encountered in the Northrend empire as well as some other countries plus a few remarks about monsters found on the other four continents. It classed them, showed where they could be found, their weaknesses and strengths as well as detailing the useful and profitable body parts. It was just what Frost needed to be a proper adventurer.

All together he had picked out about 50 books, and he still wanted more but he wasn’t shopping alone. His search was interrupted by a loud stomping.

Frost looked up towards the causer of the interruption with a frown on his face about to give them a tongue lashing but when he saw who it was, he blanched and held his tongue.

Maya along with a much more visually stunning Nanna and Loki were standing before him. Nanna and Loki with smiles on their faces, admiring their new attire and Maya with a seriously disgruntled look as well as several clerks behind her eclipsed by dozens and dozens of shopping bags. Frost was supposed to come and help with the clothes shopping as he was the one with the storage ring well the one with space left. Plus, she would have really appreciated his input in choosing a few outfits. Luckily thanks to the discount given to them by the very kind store owner she had just enough money to afford their purchases, now they just needed a trusty pack mule aka Frost.

Her anger however didn’t last long, her young master was clearly enjoying himself, so she toned down her expression to a simple glare awaiting his response. Frost realised his error fairly quickly, he jumped to his feet and dashed towards the clerks, shifting the many bags into his storage ring before bashfully smiling Maya’s way.

“Haaaaaa well then what’s got you so invested that you forgot to help us out?” Maya sighed before asking for his reasons. She smiled and waved off the clerks in thanks which caused a bunch of them to blush.

“Technically I did show up once, but you were still busy with that fashion show....” Maya’s glare suddenly intensified.

“Ok ok, Calder, Sebastian’s grandson found me and led me here, his grandfather’s pride and joy, their fountain of knowledge.” Frost performed many hand gestures to accentuate his words.

Nanna and Loki looked around innocently but didn’t get it, but Maya did, and her anger reduced once again. Her young master was actually doing something very practical. She nodded telling him go own, which he did.

“They have knowledge from all areas like professions, weapon techniques, history and even a monster encyclopaedia.” Frost quickly picked up a few books to show off, joy and pride returning to his tone.

“So what ones are you purchasing?”

“All of them.... is what I’d like to say but I’ve managed to narrow it down to these 50 or so.” Frost rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. Although these books would be cheaper than magic skill books this store had hundreds of books, there’s no way he could afford it. Even purchasing 50 might be a stretch but thankfully Shadow was pretty loaded.

“Do you know how much it’s going to cost?” Maya asked gently, she’d already managed to spend everything Frost gave her on Nanna and Loki’s clothes, she didn’t even have enough left to do some shopping of her own.

“No idea but I should have enough.” Frost responded innocently unaware of the trap Maya had placed before him.

“Oh, did you manage to sell those jewels and other items for a handsome profit?” Maya let loose a slight smirk as she continued to bait her young master.

“Haaaaaa please don’t mention the jewels, I got absolutely sucker punched by the clerk. I managed to get 2 and half gold coins but from the irritating smile she had plastered on her face when I left, I’m sure I could have gotten double that.” Frost sighed before letting loose his complaints, 2 hours and it still felt very raw.

Maya absorbed this information and had a quick look over the 50 books, some of them would probably cost at least 10 silvers a pop with the monster encyclopaedia costing much more. Frost clearly didn’t have enough.

“I see, I’m sorry to inform you young master, but 2.5 gold coins probably wouldn’t be enough to buy all 50.” She replied with her last dish of bait.

“Yeah I know that but thanks Shadow there’s no need to wo....” Frost started speaking smoothly as though nothing was wrong but towards the end of his sentence a chill went down his spine and his words were caught in his throat.

‘Dammit this damn money succubus.’ He turned and glared at Maya who was now no longer hiding her smirk. He’d been baited, hook, line, and sinker. Maya now knew about his extra cash, and she’d surely take a substantial chunk. Frost felt pained, he wanted to cry but couldn’t.

‘Oh god that is priceless.’ Maya really enjoyed bullying her young master, a satisfied chuckle left her lips as she relished in her victory.

Nanna and Loki were at the side completely in the dark but seeing Maya laughing it couldn’t be that bad.

This situation lasted a few seconds before Maya asked the big question.

“How much?” Her smirk grew as Frost shrunk under her interrogation, looking away from her eyes.

“....Not much?”

“How much?” Maya released a bit of her aura to pressure Frost.

“....12 gold coins give or take.” Frost could only withstand her overbearing pressure for a short while before cracking. His plans for converting the gold into a new dungeon floor went out the window, with the cost of the books as well as the large chunk Maya would rob him of. He’d be lucky to be left with half the required amount.

Maya blinked in surprise, not expecting such a large amount, images of the amount of clothes she could purchase with that as well as alcohol, that’s enough for a couple high rank B-grade bottles. She subconsciously licked her lips at the thought but calmed herself down. She’d already purchased a fair amount of new clothes and she still had a sufficient stock of alcohol back at the Dungeon plus her young master looked to be on the brink of tears.

‘Guess I’ll be a little lenient this time haaaaaa.’ She sighed internally, applauding her generosity before holding out her fair hand.

“Give me one gold coin.”

“Eh? Just one?” Not expecting such a lenient request Frost was bewildered and looked at Maya with question.

“What you want to give me more, how generous young master.” Maya smirked, a little annoyed with Frost’s expression.

‘I’m not that much of a money stealer, am I?’ Memories of all the times she took/requested money from Frost came to the forefront of her mind. The answer wasn’t what she wanted so she shook her head erasing those thoughts.

“No, no one gold coin is enough!” Frost replied with panic quickly retrieving a single cold coin from his storage ring, placing it in Maya’s hand before backing away and organising his books.