Dungeon of Niflheim

Chapter 61: Chapter 61: Douglas Furano

The group couldn’t help but laugh out loud as the young butler left, the situation was hilarious. It served the head butler right, how dare he look perversely at Maya’s body.

Frost felt that his punishment wasn’t enough.

‘I’ll kill him next time.’ He spat in disgust to the side.

A heavy and soft feeling suddenly enveloped his back and a pair a smooth and dainty hands hugged his chest. Maya was pressing her voluptuous body up against his back, her massive orbs deforming from the pressure. She felt happy, having her young master defend her so openly filled her with joy and warmth. This hug was a reward.

Frost felt embarrassed and aroused at the same time but they were in public so he couldn’t act on his instincts. He looked to the side with a blush on his face and whispered.

“You’re welcome,” Maya squeezed harder in response before letting go and smiling at him. Luna and Leo giggled mischievously at the side whereas Bastion pretended that he didn’t see anything.

Avoiding the puddle of urine left by the head butler, Leo led the group up the grand staircase to the second floor. His father’s bedroom was on that floor, he hadn’t been able to leave that room in the past 10 months due to the illness filling his body with immense pain whenever he moved. His mother rarely left his side, keeping him company most days, encouraging him to continue fighting.

.....

As they walked towards the lord’s room, they received differing reactions from the servants on duty. Some were looking at Leo with pity whereas others were like the head butler were unable to hide their scorn. They’d already thrown their lot in with Adam, no longer respecting Douglas or Leo. Leo made sure to remember each and every one of their faces, he wouldn’t allow them to stay in Furano after he dealt with his uncle.

Knock knock

Leo knocked his fist against an intricate set of double doors.

“Father, Mother it’s Leo.” Frost could see the pain in the young man’s eyes as he spoke.

‘Seeing his once powerful and respected father being so weak must be difficult.’ Frost was reminded of his own father, the Dark God. He couldn’t imagine him ever being weak in any way but knew that his shock would be great.

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“L....L..Leo,” a weak and strained voice came from the other side of the door. It sounded as though ever word spoken required great effort.

Leo’s eyes visibly shook, and his hand trembled ever so slightly before he pushed open the doors.

The room smelled strongly of medicine, enough to irritate the nose.

Frost and Maya frowned as the smell assaulted their noses, they brought their hands up to block their nostrils, but it barely made a dent.

‘God damn how much medicine did they pump into this room.’ Frost felt irritated, quantity when it came to medicine usually had the opposite effect. None of the windows were open to keep the room warm and a fireplace in the corner looked as though it never went out. It certainly wasn’t a good environment for healing.

Frost looked towards the large bed in the centre of the room and his frown deepened.

There sitting up with the aid of pillows and his wife was Douglas Furano the current viscount of the Furano territory.

“Ugh” a confused gasp escaped his mouth as he saw the man before him. Douglas Furano looked as though he could keel over any second. There wasn’t a single drop of colour in his pale face and he appeared severely malnourished; his limbs didn’t have an ounce of fat on them, the bones clearly showing through the skin. His eyes struggled to focus as he looked towards his son and the group who just entered his bedroom.

Baaaaaang!

Bastion even though he’d seen his friend’s condition before, couldn’t help but slam his fist against the wall as tears threatened to pour from his eyes. Douglas looked over his long-time friend and smiled trying to show that he was alright, but his strained smile only made him look worse.

“Leo you’re back,” Leo’s mother spoke up as she moved to hug her son, her eyes were red and puffy, showing that she was recently crying. It crushed her to watch her husband fade away in agony while being helpless to cure him. She had called so many different doctors, priests, shamans whomever knew even the slightest knowledge in regards to medicine, she summoned. She tried all kinds of different herbs and medicinal plants, but Douglas was still fading away. The most they managed to do was prolong his life, well prolong his pain. She had grown tried, so tried recently, her hope, the last spark was dwindling. She hugged her son with extra force, she almost lost her precious boy to bandits

“Mother” Leo hugged his mother back, pulling her in close. Seeing his mothers distressed state only furthered his determination. Receiving her son’s strong hug filled her with love, she smiled before looking at her future daughter in law, Luna.

Luna broke into tears, her mother died in childbirth, it was Leo’s mother who helped raise her, treating her as her own. She ran towards her mother and hugged with all her heart, crying into her chest. It wasn’t as bountiful as Maya’s but was still substantial enough to muffle her sniffling.

Leo’s mother, lady Cassandra rubbed the back of Luna’s head gently. She turned to see two people that she didn’t recognise. A tall young man covering his face with a wolf mask and a beautiful young beast woman. She smiled their way before facing Leo.

“Shouldn’t you introduce us to your friends.” She continued to stroke the back of Luna’s head as she spoke.

“Ah yes, mother, father this is Frost the one who helped Luna and I against the bandits a few days ago and this is his companion, Maya they arrived in Furano yesterday.” He introduced Frost and Maya to his parents. His mother and Father wished to thank Frost for saving their son and daughter in law so when Leo introduced him their eyes lit up. Douglas even felt a surge of strength fill his body.

“Thank you for saving my son and future daughter in law, we owe you a great debt cough cough.” Douglas spoke and lightly bowed in gratitude before coughing violently, drops of blood covered his hand, it was dark almost black in colour. Lady Cassandra quickly rushed to his side and rubbed his back as she retrieved a wet cloth to clean up the blood, but Douglas waved her away, fighting through the pain and discomfort he looked towards to his guests.

“Please forgive my current appearance I’m a little under the weather cough cough.” He spat out some more blood and his back curled. He didn’t wave away his wife this time allowing her to clean him up.

‘Under the weather?’ Douglas looked far worse than Frost did when suffering from the wyvern poison, yet he played it off as under the weather.

Frost subconsciously laughed a little under his breath before speaking.

“That’s some pretty nasty weather you’re having.” His reply caused the room to become silent apart from the sound of coughing.

“Hahaha yes, it is pretty shit hahaha cough cough.” Douglas laughed in between coughing, he appreciated Frost’s candour, he was sick of constantly being treated like a dying patient, a shame laughing caused his coughing to become more intense, but he was smiling throughout. His wife Cassandra could see her husband laughing for the first time in months, it filled her with joy. She looked at Frost and silently mouthed ‘thank you’. Ryuu and Bastion were no longer able to give her husband this kind of solace, their pain and sadness always prevalent on their faces whenever they spoke to him.

Seeing his father with a smile and hints of happiness on his mother’s face Leo smiled as he wiped the remains of a few tears from the side of his face. It was a shame that he was about to ruin the happy atmosphere. He just needed his uncle Ryuu to arrive and then they could start.

Frost and Maya interacted with the couple chatting peacefully as they waited for Ryuu. Frost sat next to Douglas while Maya was next to Cassandra. Leo, Luna, and Bastion were chatting near the door.

Frost examined Douglas more closely now that he was within arm’s length.

‘How the hell is this man still alive?’ There was a strong scent of death coming from Douglas’s body that was covered up by the strong medicine. He appeared to have not eaten anything in days and his breaths sounded as if his lungs were full of water or blood. Frost placed his hand on Douglas’s wrist after receiving an approving nod.

‘What the hell?’ The man’s veins were pretty much torn to shreds no more like they were dissolved, in fact when he sent a gentle stream of mana into his body it kept running into blockages. The ice aspect of his mana however did provide some relief. Douglas was constantly presenting a fever, the cold stream of mana managed to reduce his body temperature by a few degrees.

Frost frowned unable to understand what kept this man going, he looked straight into Douglas’s eyes seeking an answer.

“Hehehe” Douglas laughed quietly.

“That face of yours, you’re wondering how I’m still alive no?” He leaned forward and whispered into Frost’s ear to avoid alerting his wife.

Frost flinched, even he was taken back by how blunt Douglas was. He nodded in response causing Douglas to smile.

Douglas released a depressing sigh as his gaze turned towards his wife, chatting away to Maya a short distance away, then to his son Leo and his soon to be daughter in law Luna, as well as his long-time friend Bastion. They were the reason he lasted so long, his family, his friends, they were his strength, his guiding beacon. His wife would sit by his bedside begging him to push on, his son Leo who was not ready to take control needed him to continue to run the viscounty and his friends Ryuu and Bastion they both had lost so much already, he couldn’t bear to see them in any more pain.

Frost followed his gaze as it jumped between the people in the room and he understood, he wasn’t alone, he had people to live for. He and Douglas faced each other once more with their questions answered.

“I wish you luck in your fight lord viscount.” Frost spoke sincerely, he respected the man before him, probably more than anyone he’d met so far excluding his own father. He stood up and walked over to Maya, pulling her away to the side.

‘It’d be a shame to let such a man die.’ If possible, Frost swore he’d do his best to aid him. Perhaps Maya may have a solution.

After pulling her away he discreetly asked her about Douglas’s condition.

“Well?”

“Sorry young master, as I said before my specialty doesn’t involve poisons and I know little about medicine otherwise I would have cured you of the wyvern poison the moment you contracted it.” Maya shook her head; she was helpless to assist him with this venture but even if she could, she may not do it. Her sole responsibility was to protect Frost whether or not some random human died was not her concern.

Frost sighed in disappointment but wasn’t too bothered, if it wasn’t possible to save Douglas then it was his fate, in the end his death wouldn’t affect him.

Lady Cassandra moved back next to her husband.

“What did you and his wife talk about?”

“Oh, what you worried that we talked about you hehe.” Maya covered her mouth with her hand and giggled, finding her young master rather cute.

Not playing into her antics Frost responded calmly

“Well, if you don’t want to tell that’s fine.” He looked away ignoring Maya.

“......” A little annoyed with the lack of reaction she was about to pout but remembered the current situation, Frost had just asked her to aid the dying Douglas, he was probably in no mood to joke around.

“Nothing much, mostly girl talk, she spoke like an experienced woman giving advice to her niece or daughter it was.... Nice.” Maya’s eyes were soft as she looked at Lady Cassandra, she reminded her of her own mother in a way.

“I’m glad we left the dungeon.” Frost smiled, if he never left the safety of the dungeon, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy such drama and experience the people of the world that his father helped create.