The topic of the federation of knowledge continued to be discussed between the two brothers or rather Frost filling Karrick in on the details Ladius told him.
"Their equipment can feel intrusive and uncomfortable but there's very little we can do to stop them at the moment. You've seen their team, 4 sapients each at the peak of B-rank with their leader being a half step into A-rank. Even if I summoned all my strongest monsters and took part in the battle personally there'd be nothing I could do to such a line-up.
So I strongly advise you to not make an enemy out of this world spanning group no matter how much you want to." Frost warned his brother with a warped expression. He remembered Ladius poking, prodding and analysing every inch of his dungeon, it gave him the creeps but her backing, and security detail prevented him from taking aggressive action.
He just thought it'd be right to warn Karrick of what may come to him in the future.
"Got it, I know I may be rash and rather full of myself at times but even I know that I shouldn't piss off someone like that." Karrick replied confidently failing to notice the smirk on Lapata's face in background. In his guardian's eyes the possibility was actually 50/50.
"Good, good." Frost nodded his head and let out a breath of relief, genuinely worried about his younger brother.
"Why were they involved in our war though?" He could understand the investigation into the dungeons but entering a war between siblings seemed a bit intrusive.
"Oh that's because of a bargain I struck. I wanted their help in setting some sort of precedent for future dungeon wars as well give you a little scare hehehehe." He couldn't forget that little detail, his little brother really did freak out upon seeing a bunch of B-rank sapients slaughtering his invasion force.
"You certainly succeeded in doing that." Karrick openly admitted to being frightened.
"Did you also notice the fact that sapient's can be used as more than just fodder for our DP reserves. In the future we'll likely have more wars between us and by that point our dungeons will be massive. The amount of adventurers delving within will be multiple times more than what we have currently.
Simply killing them all off every time there's a war seems a little wasteful in my opinion plus it'll set a dangerous precedent." Frost was worried about people refusing to enter his dungeon due to the fear of a dungeon war starting and their slaughter being all but guaranteed.
"You're suggesting we use them in our wars to fight alongside our own monster forces." To someone who had little interest in establishing and managing an overreaching territory in addition to his dungeon the idea seemed risky.
"In a manner of speaking yes. I plan to have people dwell within my dungeon on a permanent or perhaps semi-permanent basis so as to improve my passive DP income.
I don't really want to have to slaughter all these people every time there's a war or have to worry about their intentions during one therefore I want to help set up some sort of system to protect and possibly utilise them during our battles.
Frost continued his friendly family interactions never picking up on his younger brother's jealously, he was too interested his life in the southern continent. He especially grabbed onto the story about his entry into the blazing flash spear style. He now really wanted to find a school for the glaive but unfortunately Furano was lacking in that regard.
Karrick said that he was studying the style in a monster kingdom found within his local danger zone rather than a local sapient kingdom. Hearing this Frost was inspired to return to the Glacial mountains and reach one of the kingdoms there. Daki did mention a great dwarven kingdom that was a true monarch in the area, perhaps he should find an opportunity to visit.
"Dinner's ready." Maya's enchanting voice was suddenly heard from the kitchen.
"Sorry Karrick we've got to go, it was nice talking with you and I really enjoyed our war. Don't be a stranger little brother, you want to ask for advice or simply want to chat I'll be here. Wave goodbye to Karrick." Frost said his farewells and asked Nanna and Loki to do the same.
"Goodbye Mr Karrick."
"Bye uncle." Nanna was polite as usual whereas Loki jumped straight into calling him uncle, making the red scaled lizardman smile and feel a warmth rise in his heart, he liked the title.
The call ended and Karrick sat back in his seat with a gentle expression on his face. "Uncle huh," saying it out loud made his smile grow larger. Now he really wanted what Frost had.
"That Kameria was rather fond of me, perhaps I should pursue her after all." Since his elder brother had connected with someone outside their inner circle why couldn't he. He remembered the beautiful face of a young lizard woman who was a senior student of his in the blazing flash spear style.
Kameria was kind, gentle and had more than once caught his eye and he hers but it was only after seeing his brother's life that he started to truly think about her.
Lapata couldn't help but smirk silently in the background, pleased with his young master's train of thought. It be good for him to have someone once he left.
Back at the Niflheim dungeon Frost, Nanna, Loki and Kiba who appeared practically the instant Frost mentioned dinner were greeted with a substantial spread. Maya went all out to prepare a lavish feast in celebration for their victory over Karrick. High quality ingredients were used in abundance.
Thankfully the Dungeon's income both passive and from the war was so large that Frost no longer cared about the cost of one of Maya's lavish feasts.
Daki wasn't much of a cook, but she cut up most of the vegetables and helped plate up the food, arranging it in a rather elegant display. Her eyes however were always lingering back to a certain centre dish that was reserved just for the adults. Nanna, Loki and Kiba were forbidden from even sneaking single bite.
Frost's expectation grew greatly upon hearing that, he looked forward to the later evening's festivities.