Chapter 4
Yay for me I am on chapter four lol. I really do have a lot to say other then I am happy so many people like this story so far. I mean a lot of my stories other than my first one has been hit and miss more then not but then I do it for fun anyways. But like anyone else it is nice to see people enjoy it, so I try and put my best forward each chapter. With that said let us move on the reviews.
Durkasmurf I am happy you like that. To be honest I am not a fan of the manga other then that one character. But I needed characters to feel the space so to speak and while the TV show is full of good characters no one stood out as someone I wanted to use for a good 2nd to the MC so I said why not.
yesboss21 not really a debate as you either do as you told or die and most people will chose to live then die for so call beliefs.
KingOfSummer 245 I really didn't. There were many types of longbows having been found dating back to the 3,000 BC if not longer. What I have done is take the MC and given him one to match such characters like Torstein and a small band of archers who have used years of training to become quite good at it. They will make a showing later on.
Pragma ya I got tried of the turning people Christian. So boring let the pagan win one lol. And thank you that means a lot to me.
Blood sausage I try not to drop anything, but I am also really slow at updating anything. Ask any of my fans. I think its an attention span problem.
Oddballzebra I do and we do our best but well you get what you get at the end of the day.
Graymar1 oh definitely. Can you say frenemy on both ends?
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-POV Frode-
Looking back on my history with Lagertha I had to say awkward moments were kind of our thing. I am not sure why that is, but it was just how we were ever since we were children. Perhaps it came from our different personalities. What with her being impulsive and rash and me more reserved conflict would be inevitable I suppose. Still, we fit together quite well if you ask me, as friends that is. While yes, she was an incredibly beautiful, strong, and intelligent women her brashness made me cautious around her. Unlike my brothers who both loved that fire of hers.
So, it really came as no surprise to me when I found myself sitting in front of her with my brother and Thorkell listening to what could be consider an outrageous demand.
"Alright do you want to say that one more time? I did not quite follow." I tell her as I feel a headache coming on.
"I don't know what there is for you to follow Frode. I spoke plainly unlike you do most times." Lagertha says a bit crossed at the men in front of her for a multitude of reasons.
I nod my head and say, "Yes, that you did but that really doesn't explain why you want to take in Thorfinn."
"There is nothing to explain. You two are idiots and I believe the boy would do better under Ragnar and my care." She answers in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Right." I say in a deadpan way as Thorkell just looks at her awkwardly. As for Ragnar I could tell he was just as lost as the rest of us.
After a few moments of silence, it is Thorkell who speaks but without his normally jolly tone, "Lagertha you know I think of you as a friend and more I respect you as a warrior. With that said you know I cannot just let you take Thorfinn. I made a promise to Thors to watch over the boy and raise him to be a man. So, stop speaking nonsense."
Looking at Thorkell right in the eye without fear Lagertha says, "And you have done a fine job as far as fighting goes Thorkell, but the boy lacks things I am sure his father would have like to him to learn. Things like being able to talk to people without insulting them."
Looking at each other Thorkell and me just shrug our shoulders. After all she was not wrong about that. While I like to say I did the best I could in helping raise the boy that would be a lie. I had no idea how to raise a child and honestly was as lost as Thorkell was in what to do. So, with that said outside teach some rudimentary mathematics and reading skills I mostly left the boy alone. Letting him find his own way much like I had to before I died the first time around. Looking at it objectively now, that was not perhaps the best idea. As for Thorkell well he did worse than me if you ask me. Most of his communication skills came from Thorkell and the jolly giant was never one to mix words. He came straight at you and held nothing back to the point that if he weren't such a fearsome warrior someone would have killed him long ago.
So yes, we did a piss poor job in raising the boy but even so I couldn't really understand why Lagertha had taken an interest in the boy. Sure, she had always had a fondness towards children and was quick to defend any who would abuse them, that did not really explain anything. It wasn't like we abused the boy. At least not by Viking standards, if this were the 21st century Thorkell and me would definitely have been arrested by now but then so would every other adult who raised kids.
Could it be this had something to do with her own inability to give birth? It was a possibility seeing as while she was a shieldmaiden the primary role of women was to take care of the home and give birth to children. A role she was failing in and if there was something Lagertha hated more then anything it was failure. Which was made even worse for her because she actually loved my brother and wished more than anything to give him more sons.
Why this was I had no real clue despite my past schooling in the medical field. Before I died, I was not aiming to be a medical doctor and had little knowledge in childbirth past what was consider the basics. Granted that knowledge was still far ahead of what people in this world knew, but without things like imaging technology I had no way of knowing why Lagertha had trouble carrying children to birth. It could have been anything from a misshaped uterus to a genetic condition. There was really no way to know.
Which was said because while they didn't go into detail about Lagertha's life before cannon, I had been there to see it all. The number of miscarriages she suffered where far more then what was ever showed in the show. In total she had seven of them with trouble getting pregnant in the first place. This led to a bitterness in her that thankfully was not aimed at me. Since thanks to me successful childbirths were up, and infant mortality was down. It would not have been outside her character to blame me like she did with her parent's deaths.
Was this why she wanted take Thorfinn in? A manifestation of her desire to have more children. If so, it wouldn't be a bad idea to placate her. That and she wasn't incorrect in calling Thorkell and me idiots when it came to raising Thorfinn. I knew he was ill suited to a life outside of the salt pools. What with his personality being little better than that of a cold fish and his blunt demeanor. The Norsemen may be a mostly honest people with a straightforward way of handling things, but the boy took that too far sometimes.
Looking over at Thorkell I could tell he was not happy with what Lagertha was saying but also thinking it over deeply. We had spoken on more than one occasion about his worry for the boy and how he was developing. It was the only thing Thorkell did worry about seeing as his brother-in-law most likely would have wanted his son to be more than a warrior. As for Ragnar, he was being oddly quiet about all this. Most likely due to this subject hitting a little too close to the only real bump in the road of his and Lagertha's marriage.
Giving out a tired sigh I ask, "Ragnar what do you say? This is your house after all and have final say in whether the boy is welcomed to stay or not."
While women in Viking society had more rights in this world then perhaps the one, I came from, the fact remained that Ragnar was still the head of his home. His word was final, but he was taking up his typical guarded pose when he was unsure of what to do. Not that I blamed him, seeing as this was a very strange moment and most likely not at all what he was expecting when he arrived home.
Scratching the back of his head Ragnar finally says, "I do not see why not. From what I have seen the boy is a good lad and Bjorn could use another boy around his age to help him train."
We hear him say with a little strain in his voice. Probably because he was still upset at giving up half the loot from our raid and the fact that he saw how Thorfinn kicked Bjorn around during a training spar we witnessed when we arrived.
"Very well then you have my permission to take the boy. What about you Thorkell?" I answer then look towards my less than happy friend.
"Hmmm very well." Is all he says then stands up and starts walking towards the door, "I will tell the boy."
When he leaves, I look back at Lagertha and say, "Take care of the boy Lagertha otherwise you have to deal with Thorkell at his worst. Something I think we both know will not end well for you or anyone who stands in his way."
It is a warning she just nods her head at. If it were anyone else, she would probably say something arrogant or just bush off the warning as nothing. But since this was Thorkell we were talking about she wasn't so foolish as to just bush it off.
"Shell, we talk about other matter now brother. After all I asked to join you on your trip home for a reason." I ask to Ragnar.
"Yes, let us. What is on your mind brother" Ragnar asks me in all seriousness.
"I worry for the safety of your family for when the Earl sends you west." I tell him in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Why would you worry about that Frode?" Lagertha asks.
Before I answer Ragnar does so for me. His sharp mind already putting two and two together, "You worry he may attack them while I am gone. Even after the gold you made me give him."
"Wait what gold?" Lagertha asks with narrowed eyes.
"The gold I suggested Ragnar give to the Earl when he demanded half our loot from the raid." I say with an uncaring attitude because I already knew I would be getting most of, if not all of it back.
Something I purposely forgot to tell Ragnar as I did not want it to seem like he knew when the others found out about it. I was playing an extremely dangerous game right now as more than a few of our friends would be crossed with me when the Earl paid me back with gold they had earned. Yet that was what I wanted. While I did not want them to hate me, I did not want them to support me either. At least not over my brother who I needed to be Earl if I wished to push our people forward.
Now I know most people would think that would be a position that I would desire for myself if I really wanted help my people. But they would be wrong in that for several reason. The primary reason being that my personally was ill suited to be a ruler. Perhaps someday that would change but as it stood my attention was needed towards the more technical part of raising up a society. I may have had the knowledge but the known how was all trail and error. Such as the making of sulfa drugs, penicillin, and disinfectant. All of which I knew now to make in theory but was proving to be far harder in practice. In fact, most of my considerable fortune had gone to that with little to show for it other than a primitive soap and a hard to make and an excessive disinfected.
"You did what? Why?" Lagertha all but demands now pissed off at hearing this.
"It was the better of the two choices we had available at the time." I say to her.
"Which I am starting to question brother if you think the Earl will attack us anyways." Ragnar says to me.
"When did I ever say I was worried about Haraldson attacking us?" I ask my brother.
"But you just said…." Ragnar is about to say before I cut him off.
"That I was worried about being attacked while we are gone. Haraldson is neither so short sited nor stupid enough to attack us right now." I say to my brother.
Leaning back and looking up Ragnar nods his head before saying, "Its Svein who you are worried about."
Just the name of the dwarfish coward was enough to put a frown on everyone's face, but it is Lagertha who speaks up first, "You really should have killed that bastard when you had the chance Frode."
"I never had the chance, Lagertha. The Holmgang I had with him was not to the death and besides a after the beating I gave him I would have thought he would have learned better then to cross our family again." I said to her but was not fully true.
I may not have been good with people, but I could read them well enough and watched the show and remember the little worm well enough to know Svein would not learn his lesson. If anything, it would make him even more belligerent towards me. It would also make him stupid and attempt to do stupid things to get revenge for the humiliation I bestowed on him. If there was anything or anyone who was undermining Haraldson more than his own past failures it was Svein. So why keep him around then, well a lapdog had its uses especially when you were running out of supporters and Haraldson knew that. It was also why I never killed him or let anyone associated with me kill him. Even though I would be in the right to do so by now.
Seeing as Svein was a key supporter of the Earl and everyone knew it, the more he crossed me the more I could lay the blame not so gently at Haraldson's feet. It was another reason why my family had so much power in Kattegat, but now Svein had outlived his usefulness. In fact, he outlived it a long time ago, but over the last year he had not given me enough reason to kill him without the law being on my side.
"Hmmm perhaps it would be best to move the children to the salt pools." I tell them.
"I thought you said you could not trust anyone at the pools. Isn't that why you left Thorfinn with me in the first place?" Lagertha asks.
"That was before we raided west. Now that we have shown it can be done, they will stay loyal for both profit and fear." Ragnar answers for his brother knowing here his mind was at.
While he had no idea that his wife would want to take Thorfinn in before today, he was well aware that his brother and Thorkell were leaving the boy with her. And for the same reason that Lagertha just said. While his brother was a good warrior his mind often turned to other matters that often-led people to forget how fearsome he could be when crossed. It was a weakness that people had attempted to use against him in the past with their family business. That was till Rollo took over the more face to face dealings and it stopped as their older brother was a short-tempered man at the best of time.
"Well, I guess that would be for the best then. Especially seeing as I will be there as well." Lagertha says knowing that it was perhaps the safest place in all of Norway. It was too valuable to not be protected and its high wooden walls and strong gates made it hard to attack with any real success.
"Oh, are you not coming with us then?" Ragnar asks with his typical smile.
A smile which is returned by Lagertha who wastes little to get up and jump him in excitement at the prospect of sailing west. Seeing that I have more or less been forgotten in their excitement, I make up my mind to take my leave.
Before I can leave however Ragnar speaks up, "Were you going brother?"
Looking down at them and seeing Lagertha basically dry humping my brother I say, "Well it doesn't seem like I am needed here anymore. So, I best get back. Lots of work to do before the next raid and all that."
"So, you don't want to join us?" Lagertha offers and Ragnar just smiles at. Which I am unable to tell if they are being genuine or not.
Not that I would take them up on it anyway. Lagertha was without doubt a beautiful woman but that did not change the fact that she was my brother's wife. And while I have gotten over a lot of my modern sensibilities that did not mean all of them. While sexuality in the Viking word was open for the most part, I was not about to risk crossing my brother for a moment of pleasure.
"No thank you, Lagertha. I would rather not ruin you for my brother." I say before walking out as I hear my brother telling me to go fuck a goat.
When I am out of the house I look and see Thorkell talking with Thorfinn. The boy just looks at his uncle with those cold calculating eyes. The eyes that I had no doubt I had a hand in putting on the boy. I had no worries that the boy would accept staying here for the time being. As when I arrived, I saw him paying particular attention to my niece. Why that was I couldn't really say seeing as he was at that age where he would be developing an interest in girls. Perhaps I was reading too much into that, but it didn't really matter. Not now at least as I had to think on other things. Like how to get the Norsemen people ready for the real fight that was to come.
-Rollo POV-
Back in Kattegat a few days late, Rollo was taking stock of the current situation of his family's businesses. Needless to say, what he was seeing was not very good, or as good as he wished it was. Nearly a decade ago he had taken over the family businesses in Kattegat from his brother Frode after he was asked to do so when Frode proved to just suck at it. And for nearly a decade Rollo had proven to be more then up to the task as he turned what was a barely profitable businesses into pure silver and gold. That was till these last couple of years that saw him struggling to bring in higher profits than in the past.
Not that his family was losing money or anything. No, they were doing very well in fact and had more coin than perhaps even Earl Harald did at his height. Yet if you looked under all that coin, you could see that the bottom was quickly falling out and for the very same reason that Rollo warned his brothers about years ago. That being there were not enough people with significant wealth to buy from them anymore. Raiding across all of Scandinavia for the other jarls had reached an all-time low in terms of profits being made and with the salt trade hurt by back-to-back yearly flooding, trade had come to a near halt.
It was a problem Rollo had hoped that this raid would help solve for several reasons. One being that the loot gained could have been put towards building new salt pools to help make up for the few they lost during each dry out. Ever since the beginning it was common to lose two out of the four salt pools due to rain and flooding. Both being just an unpleasant fact in their land it couldn't be helped. Yet that was not so bad as even if they lost two or even three, normally have one or two left to make up difference. At least that was till the Earl's fucking cousin destroyed perhaps the most import one of the four costing not just the Earl, but all of Kattegat a huge amount of its income. It was a good thing the Earl had killed the dumb fuck because when Rollo found out about it, he wanted to do it himself and slowly at that.
Yet even with the raid being successful, repairing that salt pool was more than likely not going to happen. With Ragnar giving up half their loot to the Earl, something that still pissed him off since he felt the Earl shouldn't have been given anything, that coin was more then likely going to go to his younger brother who the Earl needed to pay back badly. Which was the only reason why Rollo had not protested giving up the loot. But at the same time thought it was the worst thing that could have happen as his brother had a tendency to spend his coin on his curiosity.
Not that, that was in itself a terrible thing as it was his brother's curiosities that lead to Kattegat being so rich in the first place. Hell as children he remembered thinking of his brother as a fool for spending the coin he made from his carpentry on limestone. That was till he made his first salt pool, but even so not all of his brother's ideas worked out well and some had come back to bite them in the ass. Such as the spinning wheel that Floki had made, and his brother paid for. With the spinning wheel and an improved loom their people were able to make more cloth than anyone else. Which was fine but with no one was able to buy it was just sitting around taking up space and costing money. As Rollo still had deals with the local sheep and goat breeders to buy their wool in bulk for the next four years. And a deal struck was not a deal easily broken, lest he shit on his own name. Something Rollo was not willing to do.
However, the main reason for him wishing the raid had brought in more profits than it did was because he simply did not wish to fail at the task he took up. Ever since they were children it was Ragnar who was the sun in his parent's eyes. As strong as he was and as smart as Frode was, that never changed even after Frode built his salt pools. Not that Frode cared one way or the other but for Rollo as the oldest it always stung and only got worse as the years passed by. Especially after Ragnar married Lagertha which always angered him deeply. Jealousy and bitterness were often more than not what he felt towards Ragnar and was the main reason he was so close to Frode who always came to him for help.
As smart as Frode was he was always limited when it came to dealing with people. To be honest he was shit at it and worse knew it, but never tried to change. Always saying it was a waste of time as he had more important things to do. Which often left him to deal with those that didn't like his younger brother. It was nice in a way to know he had to watch out for Frode and not the other way around. So, when Frode asked him to take over the businesses he took the request very seriously despite having no clue on how to run anything. But he had learned fast and turned those businesses into the backbone of Kattegat wealth.
Where before I was deep in the shadow of Ragnar, I could honestly say I could see the sun now. Even with the raid being a success and Ragnar getting most of if not all the credit like he knew he would, I could still see the sun. That was how successful I was at trading and what not. Even being given the name Rollo the Merchant by those around him. A name that was said with respect by the people of Kattegat and one he did not wish to lose. Which he would if things did not turn things around soon. But they would as he had a feeling in his bones that things were indeed going to change soon.
There was land to the west and treasure to be found there. As well as new trading partners for their wares if they were smart enough to seek them out. All he needed to do was get ahead of the curve and approach the other merchants he was allied with and get them to agree to join him. Which should not be too hard as they had stagnated as well. Yes, the name Rollo the Merchant as well as Rollo the Bear would be known everywhere soon. And perhaps even to the point where his Ragnar's didn't overshadow him anymore.
-Elsewhere-
Rollo was not the only one deep in thought during this time. For after a few days of being here in this strange land Athelstan was in conflict with what he thought he knew. During his time in the court of Charlemagne he thought he knew about these Norsemen but was coming to find he knew nothing. They fare away from the barbaric people he had only heard about in passing and were far more advanced than he could have ever possibly imagined. To a point he was even somewhat scared of what he saw and strangely intrigued. There were so many strange things here that he did not understand and yet others he understood all too well
Such as the network of roads he could not help but compare to the ones the Roman's had built so long ago till many of them fell into disrepair. He didn't know much about road construction, but one look at that lead him to Ragnar's farm to him they were well built and made to last. From there he would go on to discover a type of building called a bran that housed the livestock during the winter. A unique design that he was unsure if anyone else was using it. As it was made to allow easy cleaning of the pens the animals were kept in as well as fed and warm.
But things only really got interesting for him when he came across Ragnar's wife Lagertha and daughter Gyda spinning wool into yarn at a pace that should not have been possible. Again, while not knowledgeable on the day to day working of spinning yarn, he was sure they were doing more in a single day than a dozen women or more in England could do in a week if not more. All thanks to a tool that was called according to Lagertha a spinning wheel. Such a simple name for such an amazing tool that was complemented by an improved loom that also allowed them to do the same thing with cloth and tapestry.
There were other things he found as well that lead him to feeling quite overwhelmed. But what really hammered things was something that he feared he would never see again when he was taken from the monastery. Ink and a type of parchment he had never seen before. True, it was clearly inferior to what the monastery had used but could be made in copious amounts unlike the monastery's parchment. That was if the books that lined Ragnar's home were anything to go by.
That was another thing: the books while poorly put together were written in a language he didn't know and also contained a numbering system of some type as well. When he asked what they were, during one of Ragnar and his conversations, he learned that the letters were their runes. A type of alphabet unique to these Norsemen and something that only recently started to be used in their everyday lives some 10 years ago or so. That came as a shock to him because unless he missed understood Ragnar, he was being told that everyone in Kattegat could read. Something that was not at all common, well anywhere. Yet when he asked just to be sure he was indeed told that near everyone in Kattegat could read and write to some extent or the other. It was a shocking revelation that saw him drink quite a bit more then normal that day. As he couldn't understand why some many people needed to read yet felt like it was a wonderful thing to have.
The following day after that was revealed to him Athelstan had of course inquired on why this was and was forwarder shocked to be told it was due to a war. According to Lagertha who he had asked while Ragnar was away for around 10 years ago a war called the Salt War took place that saw the use of reading and writing as a form of combat. A war fought over exactly its namesake, salt a precious commodity that was in short supply all around. But one the people of Kattegat seemed to have an abundance of but was not what he was interested in.
No, what interested Athelstan was how reading and writing were useful in war and lead to the book, the letters, numbers he saw. When he asked about that however Lagertha had just looked at him like he was stupid. Like the answer was obvious and it was in away but only after it was explained. In order to relay orders to their men and allies during the war the side Ragnar was on had used what few people they had to carry accurate information to each other. A simple use if there ever was one and something the other side didn't have or even know was going on. Giving them a small yet critical advantage in a war that last over a year.
After the war and seeing how useful reading and writing could be the allied Jarls had started to have their people learn it. Now it was so commonplace that everything was more or less written about. From simple things like recording of the spoils of the war, to the dividing up of said spoils. To the recording of how much stock of gain they had left each day, and the recording of taxes collected. And of course, the recording of their shared history. It was near impossible at this point for anyone to deny its uses and for a hard people like these Norsemen who struggled to cutout a living from this cold land anything that could help them was used. That is where their number system came in to play and the man who produced it.
Athelstan had only ever seen Ragnar's brother Frode pass so didn't know much about him. But from what he saw he was a pretty unassuming man. With no outside characteristics that made him stand out unlike his older brothers who both stood out. Looking back however it was like he was intentionally trying to go unnoticed. Which was clearly working as Athelstan could never had picked him to be the man who produced this numbering system that these people were using. It was so simple that it only took him a day to understand it and the only thing that really surprised him was how easy it was to learn. Well, that and a concept that was so different that it took Athelstan a few hours to understand it. That being the absolute value of nothing and less than nothing.
Looking at it now a few days after the fact Athelstan had to say it was perhaps the most unique and simple thing he had ever seen. As well as one of the most useful things he had ever seen. By simply adding what was called a zero they had opened up a who new way of keeping accurate records of well anything. For an example during their talks Ragnar had let him see his coin book as he called it. Inside it and with a little bit of help Athelstan was about to quickly see how Ragnar spent his coin. From how much feed he bought to, drink, food, clothing, and tools. Everything was recorded and from reading it he was able to see Ragnar was a very successful farmer. Owning one of the most profitable and largest farms in the surrounding land.
As for the less then nothing numbers or negative numbers as Ragnar called, they were a bit stranger for Athelstan but understood their uses. As they were used for simply recording a told lose of coin, the accumulation of debt and so on. For example, in Ragnar's own coin book he had been recording a told lose in coin on his farm for the last two years. Yet do too the use of zero and negative numbers he was able to plan things out for years in advance. Leaving him with more then enough money that the total loess he suffered the last two years had only led to a small over all lose of his total wealth.
It all so overwhelming to say the least but even though they were far more advanced then perhaps the whole of England that didn't change one fact. This land was poor, and dirt poor at that. Yes, Ragnar was well off as was his brothers from what he understood but that really only compared to those around them. Cutting out a living in this land was hard as the soil was poor. Was that why they raided the monastery? It could be if there was not enough food to go around the cost of buying would be high. Athelstan had a feeling he would have a lot more to learn before this was all over.
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Before anyone starts anything yes I have changed Rollo's character somewhat but that is mostly due to the influence of his younger brother. It goes without saying that in the TV show Rollo was extremely jealous of his brother. To the point of hatred so I often wondered what would happen if he had a young brother who needed him. Who counted on him to do what he just can't do? And I feel like I am going the right way with my thoughts.
As for the monk I have no clue what to with him right now. Open to thoughts however.