The alliance was struck, and it truly was a colossal weight off of my shoulders, I thought to myself as my ship sailed back into Norland's harbor. My departure and arrival were disguised as my visiting one of the outposts on Sicily, ensuring that my meeting with the Caliph would be known by only those that were there. There was some part of me that worried that the information would somehow reach Irene's ears all the same, but… it was simply a risk I had to take.

With the alliance made, the budding island kingdom I would leave in my wake had the potential to endure. To entrench itself. What I gained from completing an additional objective for the Lord of Tides Quest was almost secondary, despite it being something I had long sought after.

The third riddle that led to the final piece of what the gods deemed a legendary item.

As the ship drifted towards the docks, I looked down at the blade that lay across my lap. The rudimentary repairs stood in stark contrast to the dark gray steel as I tried to force the two broken pieces of the blade together. I had used the blade in battle a number of times, but it was a rare thing - the repairs couldn't survive my strongest blows, especially now that I had grown into myself. I wasn't a strong boy any longer. I was a powerful man now, and the difference in strength was notable.

All attempts to further reforge the blade had failed. No matter how hot the flame, the metal would merely glow, but resist any sharpening done to it. The blade had a strange magic to it, and it was as if it was waiting for that final piece to become whole once more.

Given the nature of the Quest, a Grand Quest as I had taken to calling it, I received the additional reward despite the main objective not being completed yet.

Legendary Item Clue #3: An eternally blooming rose once gifted to a princess, grown from the corpse of a mighty dragon. The lesser most treasure in a sea of treasures, both overlooked and repurposed.

The hint was a strange one. So far, all of the hints had been strange, but they at least gave me a direction to go in, even if it wasn't clear at the time. This was pointing me to a specific treasure in a 'sea of treasures', but there were several places that sea of treasures could refer to. Did it mean the treasury of Constantinople? The Umayyads? The Abbasids? Or was the 'sea of treasures' something more metaphorical, as I would consider the Imperial Library to be filled with treasures and it certainly contained enough texts to be described as a sea of them.

To that end, the phrases 'rose grown from the corpse of a dragon' and 'given to a princess' felt like a more viable direction to focus my search. It sounded like quite the tale, though I had not heard of it. Both overlooked and repurposed… I didn't think that the treasure was hiding, per se. The wording made it sound as if those that possessed it had simply forgotten it's value and history, even as they used it.

I doubted they were using a rose as a weapon. A symbol, perhaps? A banner? Or it could be part of a statue. There were a number of possibilities, almost too many, which made me worried about actually finding this 'rose'. Not to mention I had no idea how a rose could repair my sword.

The thump of the longship hitting the dock roused me from my thoughts, and looking up I saw Jasmine watching, seated across from me. When our eyes met, she spoke, "So far, all of your marriages have been rather… unconventional. The only normal betrothal you've had is to Astrid, and you made her a princess in exchange. With Jill, you frollicked across Francia and Saxony after her father tried to kill you before marrying her. Morrigan… are you even married to Morrigan?"

I couldn't stop the snort that escaped me, "She'd tear out my throat with her teeth before I could finish bringing it up."

"That wouldn't surprise me. I can't imagine her accepting the role of a formal concubine either," Jasmine replied. "And now there is myself - an Abbasid princess that you captured, held hostage, and then married for an alliance that will only take effect after you leave the Mediterranean Sea." That made it sound worse than it really was… mostly.

"Your point?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow as Jasmine's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, telling me that she now wore a slight smile behind her veil.

"You have a very complicated love life, Siegfried. I expect that it'll feature quite heavily in any story told about you - a pagan king and champion married to three princesses, one of which is the daughter of his most hated enemy, and a witch." Jasmine narrated, sounding more amused than anything. To that, I didn't really have a rebuttal. Not when I already knew some such stories were already being sung. I had heard them myself.

Instead, I swallowed a sigh, "If it is any consolation, I suspect you will be the last wife that I shall take."

"What if you should need to make further alliances in your homeland?" Jasmine questioned, not revealing what she thought of the statement.

"Our children can be the bridge between our peoples, then. I would prefer it if they could marry for love, but they shall be Princes and Princesses of Denmark first and foremost." I would take what burden I could off their shoulders, but to take more wives would just be foolhardy on my part. In truth, even my official betrothal to Jasmine was questionable, but Harun wanted a direct tie to me rather than to my brother-in-law.

Jasmine held my gaze for a moment before she nodded, her eyes showing her hidden smile growing a fraction. I took that as a sign that she approved before I stood up and helped her get off the ship. Men and women gave way as Rajah stalked down the dock, and she chuckled, "I suppose Rajah shall act as my attendant, then. To ensure you don't try anything… improper."

With that, she walked away with Rajah giving me one last lingering look, as if the tiger was deciding which part would taste the best. I just shook my head, watching them go. She was teasing me, but her concerns were valid. Irene hadn't been kind to her reputation in a deliberate attempt to provoke the Abbasids. Something that worked against her now that she had switched paths, focusing on securing the northernmost border and tying the far reaching islands back to the throne.

In any case, I had no plans to act on any perceived freedoms with Jasmine. I was far too busy, even if I did have the desire.

Walking the streets of Norland, I was welcomed to familiar sights, and a few new ones. The rushed construction that had happened prior to the Great Debate had tapered off and settled in the months afterwards as the various projects were completed. In the aftermath, with the outposts that we were commanded to make, my company of engineers had proven their worth by beginning construction outside of their masters' watchful eye.

The feel of the budding city had changed since then. The Abbasid architects had left their mark on the city, and they possessed a style that I and my engineers found appealing. The result was Norland's architecture bearing an odd blending of Norse, Roman, and Arabic styles. I think it also helped soothe some of the people as well - it made the foreigners to Crete, my people included, feel more at home.

That wasn't to say the issues were settled between the Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Norse, but it would seem that they had all learned to… honestly, even using the word tolerate felt like something of an exaggeration, but it was the closest to what they were doing that I could think of. The simmering anger had cooled as there wasn't any obvious reason for agitation. I didn't think for a moment that it would last, but for now, it was nice.

I was going to miss Norland, I mused, deciding on taking the long route to the Longhouse. It has served well as a test bed for many projects I had planned in the future - for how I was going to remake Denmark after I assumed the throne. There had been plenty of mistakes made along the way of course. Some out of ignorance, others because the construction of the city has been rushed. Roads and houses that were made when the city possessed no more than five thousand people and were more than adequate to serve the needs of those people became bottlenecks when the population swelled to four times that number.

It wasn't the perfect city by any means. Nor was it perfectly governed. But, even in that, Norland was serving its purpose quite well.

"One more year," I mused quietly to myself. It wasn't as long as I had originally planned to stay in the Mediterranean. I had hoped for four or five years. But, at the rate things were going… Three years was enough to accomplish my goals. The money from the Umayyads would be enough to push the wealth threshold past the goal for the Found A City Quest. Completing the military power aspect would be accomplished as a by-product of Lord of the Tides.

The only real issue was the notable buildings. I had one in mind, but I was still uncertain how I would go about completing it, and that still left me with another notable building that I would have to begin and complete construction on in a year's time.

Perhaps it was that thought that led me to my prized possession. The Library that I had constructed - it was up and running, the spire standing tall with a path leading to the debate hall that had seen more usage than I'd expected after the Great Debate. The large double doors swung open for me thanks to a thrall assigned to them, allowing me inside where I was immediately greeted with the scent of parchment and ink.

The scribes were working nonstop, some translating texts while others made copies. I had gotten a few remarks from Jill and Jasmine when they saw how much I spent on parchment, ink, and in paying the small army of scribes, but it was well worth it. I possessed a copy of nearly every text in the Imperial library twice over, and over the next year, I would possess copies of all the texts Harun had paid to me in a danegeld.

"Master Wolf-Kissed," a head scribe greeted me, bowing his head. "What topic can we interest you with today?" He asked as I walked past him, looking at the many shelves that were filled with books and scrolls.

"Fetch me anything that deals with the topic of dragons. The source doesn't matter," I answered, making him bow his head once more before the fleet of servants that maintained my library rushed to fulfill the order. Meanwhile, I climbed the stairs leading up to my favored reading room, which granted me a good view of the city and harbor.

There were other things I could be doing, but I wanted to deal with this hint first and foremost. Though, that was much easier said than done as dragons…

Dragons ruled supreme over whatever chosen territory they chose. The result made them the greatest foe to be found in many stories, to the point that it was impossible to tell apart the true dragonslayers, such as my namesake Siegfried who slew Fafnir, and those like myself, who had never seen a dragon but I'm sure I would hear a story about my slaying one nonetheless if I waited long enough at a tavern. It was a feat worthy of legend, and as such, many used that feat to legitimize themselves or boost their renown.

As such, there were many supposed dragonslayers in the pile of scrolls that steadily grew on a table before me. Most of the texts dealt with Romans throughout their empire's history who had either personally claimed to have slain a dragon, or were credited to have. Dozens. Hundreds, even. It was simply messy. Some… I could see a legendary figure such as Julius Caesar slaying a dragon, but I very much doubted that the Gaelic tribes in Gaul would have been able to tame one, like the scroll I read was implying.

Likewise, I also doubted that Darius the Third would have fled from Alexander the Great if he too had a dragon he could command.

Many were fanciful tales. Others felt like they could be true, but could just as likely not be. Then there were the very few that I could readily believe to have happened. The hours started to stretch on as I read, the sun shifting from the early morning to the late afternoon before I found something of interest.

"A Roman warrior of little renown slew a dragon, and from its corpse grew a single red rose. Gifting it to a noble woman, they fell in love and… hm," I muttered, looking at the rather short tale. It was less of a legend, and more of a snippet of a report. There were other texts that had supported the alleged dragonslaying, but more interestingly, the report was attached to a Christian tale of the Roman legionary slaying the dragon due to a blessing of God.

To me, it reeked of the Christian recontextualism that they were so fond of - such as when they claimed that statues depicting Hera or Aphrodite were instead of the Virgin Mary. This felt much the same. They took a little known tale of a Roman legionary felling a dragon that had been terrorizing a village before gifting a rose to a woman he held dear in his heart, and made the whole story about God.

"I'm lucky," I realized, feeling like I had a more solid direction now. "If I hadn't decided to make a library…" If I hadn't made the decision to just copy everything, relevance or importance be damned, then I likely wouldn't have been able to get my hands on an ancient half-forgotten Roman report that could show me the way. My decisions had paid off with this alone.

"What makes you so lucky?" I heard Jill announce herself, climbing up the stairs. My mood immediately brightened when I saw her. As well as the baby that she carried in her arms. "Your son and I have both missed you."

Much like Ragnar, my second son possessed my fiery red hair, though he possessed her mother's striking bright blue eyes. He was swaddled in a cloth, having entered the world six months ago. With a slight smile, Jill handed me my son as she took a seat at the table.

"Hello, Magnus," I muttered quietly to the baby, cradling him to my chest. Magnus made a small noise at being handed around, his eyes cracking open for just a moment before going right back to sleep. "To answer your question, I found what I was looking for precisely because I hoarded these texts."

That got a small laugh from Jill, "I see! Well, if it was useful once, then I'm sure that justifies you spending more than a small kingdom's worth on this library."

"I'm going to ignore your tone, and just accept the words," I warned her, softly stroking Magnus' back. Ragnar grew too swiftly, I decided. I missed the days when I could just cradle him against me - now, he was a boundless fount of energy who treated idleness as if it would kill him in any prolonged amount of time. And, for a child, an hour might as well be an eternity.

Jill just gave me a patient smile, "I'm sure. I've already spoken to Jasmine. The details of the alliance still need to be settled, but the hard part is over." She noted, watching us with a fond expression. More so when Magnus decided he wanted to get more comfortable and crawled up my shoulder before babbling in the direction of the window.

"All there is left is to focus on is the war with the Umayyads. After that…" I trailed off, patting my son's back and making sure he didn't make it over my shoulder. "Then we return home."

Jill's reaction was telling. There was an immediate relief as a tension bled out of her posture. "I'm glad to hear it," she admitted quietly. "Our stay here has been… trying. So many doors are closed to us because of our beliefs. It will be nice to be amongst our own people once again."

"Even with what comes with our return?" I asked her, giving her a gentle look.

"I have made my peace with it," Jill replied. "I thought I had before, back when we were in Saxony, but… in the time since, it's settled in. We are married. We have a beautiful son together. My father and brothers… I will weep for them once they pass, but I understand that this conflict is inevitable, and… entirely because of their choices." She said, and I reached out to give one of her hands a reassuring squeeze.

In the end, I had to prepare myself as well. The discussion I had with Otto still lingered in the back of my mind, and even a year later, I was no closer to a solid answer. But I knew I would be no closer to finding one even if I held off on my return for a decade. I would only find my answers when I was before them.

Jill seemed thankful for the reassurance, squeezing my hand in return. "As nice as it is to have a moment to ourselves, the rest of your family has been waiting for your return." She noted, and that fit a small smile out of me. "We held them off with a promise that you would be back for supper, but if you aren't there, I suspect Ragnar will go looking."

"He has an adventurer's spirit," I agreed with a grin.

"The cooks have prepared a picnic. He wants to eat down by the beach," Jill noted as we both got up, though I made no move to hand Magnus back. Our time apart had been short, but it was still too long by my account.

"Then let us indulge the future prince," I said, heading down the stairs after grabbing the promising scroll. I was determined to make the most of these early years. For as I had said to Jasmine, as prince and princess of a kingdom, they would one day have duties that they couldn't shirk. They would have to marry for alliances and to secure the future of the family. Just as I did, just as my brothers did, just as my sisters did.

So, let them experience as much carefree joy as they could before they had to undertake such burdens.

…

Jasmine wasn't wrong. I did have a rather unusual love life, and family. That much was proven as I sat under the shade of a tree, one of the few that could be found, as I gazed out into the ocean with a princess of Norway, a princess of the Abbasids, the daughter of my enemy and a princess in her own right, and a witch of the wilds. Together, with all of our children… and a tiger.

In my lap was the youngest of my daughters, Aífe, though only by minutes. Like all of her siblings she had inherited my red hair, but she had inherited her mother's golden eyes. Much like her twin, Scáthach, who was currently fearlessly crawling to Rajah, treating the tiger as an overgrown house cat. The twins were named for legendary figures from Morrigan's homeland.

Aífe was the sister of a legendary warrior woman known as Scáthach, who had been bestowed peerless talent, beauty, and a great destiny. Aífe, however, had been born to be a beautiful wife but threw away such a destiny. Through grit and determination, she matched her sister's talent and became a warrior that could only be compared to her sister. Yet, she was most famously remembered for being tricked by another legendary figure known as Cú Chulainn, the most famous student of her sister, and siring him a son that he later killed.

That had been a rather sour point for me, but as Morrigan had made clear - we were not married, thus I had a say in my child's name, but not the final one.

Scáthach, the elder sister, was chosen by destiny by all accounts. A peerlessly talented warrior from the very moment that she first picked up the spear. A warrior queen that never once tasted defeat. Endlessly bold, supremely confident, and accepting of all challenges. Something she seemed to be getting a head start on as she grabbed a handful of fur, making Rajah look at her with Scáthach merely laughing in the face of the tiger's fangs.

"Foolish child - you risk your own death," Morrigan chided. It spoke volumes at how we had all lost the fear of Rajah, knowing he wouldn't dare attack. I was uncertain what exactly Jasmine did, but she had truly turned the tiger into a domesticated house cat.

"Oh, Rajah wouldn't. He's well used to this by now," Jasmine said, scratching between the ears of her tiger while Scáthach roughly petted his flank. Rajah let out what suspiciously sounded like a groan before resting his head in her lap. "Between me and all the children in Norland, I'd say this is as much of a day for relaxation for him as it is for us."

"Is that what this is?" Astrid wondered, watching Ragnar play in the water with Alim. "It feels like it's been a long while since we had one of those. There's always something going on."

"Such is the nature of power," Morrigan remarked with a huff. I think she was a little annoyed at being brought out here, but hadn't been able to refuse Jill's invitation. "Once you have it, others shall seek it. Should you fail to use it, you'll find that it dissipates like fog in the morning."

"Yeah, yeah - but it's still been a lot, you know?" Astrid groused, leaning against the tree. "Reforming the army and training recruits is a huge pain in the arse. You've been busy with the whole spy thing. Jill's been doing nothing but going to meetings day in and day out and…" She trailed off, glancing at Jasmine.

She smiled, "I have been busy being a captive."

Astrid snorted, "Sounds exhausting." She replied dryly. "Point is… this is nice."

I understood what she meant. We had been making preparations for the great raid for a year now. That meant smoothing out the command structure and the kinks that we had found with the signal system. It meant training new recruits to replenish not only our numbers, but for future recruitment as well. To that end, the untrained boys that had come to us were better than experienced warriors. Lastly was training our tactics and discipline, overseen by Olek personally.

Morrigan had built up an information network during this time, piggybacking off of the network that Michalis had revealed to us. All of it feeding us information through a web of merchants.

As for myself - I planned an invasion, built up Norland, and learned what I could from the teachers of the past. None of us had been idle.

I hummed in agreement, watching as Ragnar found something of interest and carried it back to us with all haste. "Father! Father! Look what I found!" He said, holding up another seashell.

"A fine treasure, Ragnar. It shall go into the pile," I declared, taking the seashell from him. There was a sizable pile building up next to me as it was the tenth he had found that met his inconsistent but particular standards. His face lit up in a boyish grin before he scampered off, rushing back to the shore to find more treasures.

Astrid dropped her head onto my shoulder, and I didn't need my expanded vision to know that she was smiling at the sight. I brushed a thumb over the groves of the seashell as I watched my first born son, the waves threatening to topple him every time but he remained standing with sheer determination.

I-

I paused, freezing in thought for just a moment. The waves moved in a constant ceaseless motion, advancing and retreating. The grooves on the seashell…

All the pieces were already there, I realized as a small crooked grin tugged at my lips. It didn't go unnoticed by the others as Jill cast me a glance, "I know that look, Siegfried. What is it?"

Steam was too costly and inefficient. So, why not use water instead? An aqueduct to carry the water, some kind of lever… or wheel to catch the water, using its weight to turn a room that was on a number of balls that were within a set groove. The water wheel would turn, it would be connected to the axel that would turn the dining room. It was simple. And, with it, I would have my fourth notable building.

I just chuckled, dropping the seashell into the pile.

"Something to do tomorrow."

…

At long last, we have hit chapter 100 and this chapter feels like the perfect chapter to hit this milestone with. Sieg's family has grown a little larger, and he gets to kick his feet up to relax a little. It also feels like the perfect time to make the announcement that we're almost done with the Byzantine arc - it went on longer than I expected, but we have around 5-10 chapters left before we head back to Scandinavia.

I've gotten a couple of questions about the length of the story and how much we have left - and to that, I say we still have a ways to go. I didn't know how long of a story Legends Never Die was going to be when I first started it, but I knew it was going to be a long one. So, to that end, know that LND won't end when we go back to Denmark. I have plans beyond it. As by the time Sieg returns, the Viking Age shall begin.

The next chapter is currently available on my Pat re on and Subscribe Star, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!