Satisfied that Olaf was dead, Vig helped Ragnar up off the ground. "Please. Just think of it as payment for the meal."
Vig didn't really know why he did it. It was as if fate had forced him to save the man.
Vig swallowed his nausea and chopped off the lord's head. He threw it into the open space outside the door and roared to the group of shield bearers. "Olaf is dead, there's no point in fighting any more."
they learned that the lord was dead. The remaining twenty shield-bearers laid down their arms. Seeing this, one of Ragnar's companions suddenly suggested: "Olaf has broken tradition and killed the guests. His family is not worthy of ruling Gothenburg. Ragnar is the best candidate for the position of Earl."
(Earl is the name of a lord in the Scandinavian region, and his status is second only to the king.)
Led by this fair-haired strong man, the remaining nine companions shouted Ragnar's name in chorus. The cold wind howled, and the light of the fire outlined their figures, stretching their shadows for a very long time...
Half an hour later, at the insistence of the horn, seven hundred residents gathered in the open space in front of the lord's longhouse with admiration, fear, suspicion, hatred and various expressions on their faces.
Looking at his subjects, Ragnar cleared his throat and said, "Well, Olaf is greedy by nature, and we have no choice but to launch a counterattack. As the new lord, I vow to treat the people of Gothenburg well and cut taxes in half for the next two years!"
With this news dropped, the atmosphere on the stage lightened considerably. He smiled and nodded, then looked at the group of remaining shield bearers, "If anyone disagrees, I am prepared to fight them under the watchful eye of the gods and let the gods decide."
The crowd fell silent, silently accepting the legendary pirate's reign over Gothenburg.
The most dangerous moment finally passed, and Ragnar's gaze moved to his followers, first to the blond, burly man, "Gunnar, my closest friend, thank you for your help over the past decade. Without you, my body would rot in the mud of East Frankia." ...
"
Ivar, my eldest son, your enemies fear you and call you "Boneless." I am deeply honored by this. Your existence is the most precious gift Odin has given me."
"Bjorn, my second son, although you have only just come of age, you have shown enough courage before the gods and the world. Apart from you, no one else deserves the title "Iron Bones." "Nils
, my nephew, your archery skills are superb, and you were born with Ullr's blessing. I wish you never to stray from your goal in the future."
...
Finally, he looked at the young man he had just met and forced out a pleasant word: "Vig Haakenson, although we have only just met, I still treasure our precious friendship."
To be honest, Ragnar had only given him a piece of lamb chop because he felt sorry for him. He was used to doing such things and did not expect anything in return.
"This man looks good, especially with his special temperament, but unfortunately he has no combat experience. Forget about it, I will take him as a shield bearer first. I hope he will learn the martial arts well this winter."
After praising these trusted men, Ragnar pointed to the lord's longhouse behind him: "Go, my beloved brothers, take what you want!"
Amidst an explosion of excited strange cries, Vig followed the group into the lord's longhouse.
The longhouse is a single-story building made of strong and durable oak, about 40 meters long and 12 meters wide, with a high roof like an upturned Viking longship.
After entering the door is the lord's hall, with a rectangular stone hearth in the center and the lord's exclusive seat in the front. To the left and right of the hearth are two long tables for entertaining guests.
At the end of the hall hang thick furs. The bedroom of the lord and his wife is at the back, and the rooms on either side of the hall are for the shield bearers. The room at the end has the coldest temperature. It is used as a storehouse. Since Olaf is fond of mead, a large wine cellar has been dug under the storehouse.
The lord's bedroom.
"This longsword is mine!" Ivar took down the longsword hanging on the wall, unable to let go of the red agate inlaid on the hilt.
"This mail shirt is fine, but the cut is a little odd," said Bjorn, neatly dressed, feeling that it suited him inexplicably.
Gunnar searched for a long time in the cabinet and found a bull's horn with gold on the end. "Ha-ha, I heard that Olaf likes to drink with a golden bull's horn. This thing belongs to me."
Nils took the bow and arrows, and the remaining few grabbed a handful of silver coins at random and then ran to other places to look for treasure. Only Vig did not take any loot and continued his tireless search.
Ivar was very surprised by the strange behavior of his new companions. "Hey, what are you looking for? Gold, women or jewelry?"
"Five parchment scrolls with the location of Gothenburg's farmland drawn on them. Taxes are collected from them every autumn. Hiss, where are they?"
This thing looks like a fish scale atlas from the Ming dynasty. This is the key to Ragnar's command over Gothenburg, and it is more valuable than all the treasures in this house.
The coastal region of Northern Europe is full of fjords, rugged terrain, and harsh living conditions. In the area around Gothenburg, most farms are scattered, and there are very few village settlements.
Take Vig, for example. His closest neighbor, Jorn, lives 200 meters away from his house. Sometimes they do not speak to each other for days, which is the same as living alone.
To force the scattered farmers to pay taxes, the earliest lords of Gothenburg drew parchment scrolls. If the owner of a piece of land did not want to pay taxes, shield bearers were sent out to collect the taxes immediately, which greatly increased the income of the territory. This was passed down through the generations, and finally passed to Olaf.
"Tax collection is the top priority for the ruling group. If this thing cannot be found, I fear it will be a joy to watch."
After searching for some time, Vig sat helplessly on the ground. Ivar also realized the seriousness of the matter and hastily called his comrades to ask them to search for the parchment scrolls separately.
...
The search continued until the next morning, and Ragnar was forced to gather people and offer them a reward for the location of the scrolls.
"Each scroll is worth two pounds of silver, and there is also a reward for information!"
The next moment, one man raised his hand: "I saw Olaf's wife and two children run away in the middle of the night, with a bunch of things under their arms, probably the parchment atlas you are looking for."
The crowd immediately broke into whispers at the bad news, and Ragnar's already precarious position was further undermined.
As the crowd dispersed, he became acutely aware that the matter was far from over, and called all his confidants into the lord's hall:
"Gunnar, Nils, go and inform these old friends and tell them that Ragnar needs their help."
"Bjorn, go home and take Lagertha and Halfdan, don't interfere too long."
"Ivar, you will take the remaining men to guard the area and teach Vig to fight."