101

Vulnerant omnes, Ultima necat ... I had aged another year, the winter of 787 was slowly coming to an end, and with its end I faced new challenges.

I did not plan raids and conquests for this year, but only to strengthen Jorvik's position as a trading city ... Norway and all of Scandinavia needed new outlets for our goods ... I will also have to stay in Kattegat most of the time after Erik went to Bergen, it will be my duty to govern Kattegat ... and I will have a trip to Sweden.

Another day in a row I was awakened by Bjorn's crying ... the first days were tough, but I developed the perfect strategy to deal with it ... pretended to still be asleep and kind of accidentally woke Hild or Lagertha.

- Get up, your son is crying? (Lagertha)

- ... (yawn) but what should I do? feed him? Wake up Hild, I have no tits... (Ulf)

Before I could finish the sentence, Yrsa ran into our bedroom, jumped on the bed, trampled Hild and jumped on me ... Whoever said that children are a sweet burden has never been hit with a knee in the stomach by a four-year-old girl... Suddenly, my trip to Sweden did not seem so scary ...

- Daddy, will you play with me? (Yrsa)

- (gasping) ... Daddy can't play right now, Daddy play with Mum and Hild at night and now he needs to rest ... but after breakfast I'll take you for a walk. (Ulf)

- Will we see the horses? (Yrsa)

- Horses, sheep, goats what do you want ... Would you like to have another brother or sister? (Ulf)

- Yeah !!! (Yrsa)

- Then get your leg off Daddy ... before you make me cripple. (Ulf)

Of course I had to keep my word ... unfortunately this was followed by the formal part of my duties and I spent the rest of my day on them ... Settling neighbor disputes and criminal cases, receiving delegations from various parts of Norway or merchants who came to Kattegat... of course, as a king, I had no interest in these matters, but in the absence of adequate staff, everything fell on my head... for lack of time, so far I have not thought about some law code that would be effective, of course there are speakers of the law, but this is not the same as a clear and transparent list of rights, duties and privileges. Another problem is the introduction of such a unified law, it may even turn out to be impossible, in a small area it may work, but nationwide such laws will be dead.

The days and weeks went by, during this time, in addition to being ruler, judge, tax collector, minister of commerce ... I sent eight of my ships to Jorvik with goods and people, and a few merchant ships joined my convoy. I also ordered a large amount of Slavic slaves, mainly children, young men and women. I started expanding the port and instructed Floki to expand my fleet ... ships and weapons, that's what I'll need the most.

I also started to prepare for my trip ...

- You have been sitting at home too long, you need to move a bit, so you will go with me to Uppsala. (Ulf)

- I will take Athelstan with us ... (Ragnar)

- You want to sacrifice him? (Ulf)

- No, I want him to know our Gods. (Ragnar)

- The more the merrier, Rollo, One-Eyed Arne, Torstein, Kauko and a few others are with us. If you want, you can leave your sons in Lagertha's care ... Four or six children, it doesn't make a difference anymore. (Ulf)

Of course, it didn't make a difference to me, I won't be home.

(Ragnar / Athelstan POV)

- What did your king want? (Athelstan)

- We are going on a trip to Uppsala, make offerings to the Gods. (Ragnar)

- Human sacrifice? (Athelstan)

- Human and animal sacrifice ... we do this every 9 years. (Ragnar)

- I don't understand ... a man can rape a female slave at any time, but he cannot rape a free woman. You can kill me at any time and no one will say anything because I'm a slave ... (Athelstan)

- It is true that we distinguish between people taken into captivity and our own ... it has always been so. (Ragnar)

- Your King ... I saw him in Kattegat walking with his daughter ... and a few days later I saw him murdering five slaves in front of the temple without hesitating ... (Athelstan)

- Your Kings don't have children or they don't kill people? (Ragnar)

(End POV)

I returned home, but unfortunately I had no chance to rest.

- Skarde my friend ... What brings you to Kattegat now? (Ulf)

- I am always where there is something to earn, Lord. Over the past few years, Kattegat has become the perfect place to do so. (Skarde)

- I see, so what do you need? We have a lot of grain, meat, cheese, beer, honey, salt, animal skins and some wine. (Ulf)

- Weapons? (Skarde)

- Sorry, my friend, but weapons are not for sale. I am not selling you something that can then be used against me. (Ulf)

- Are you afraid of an attack or are you planning a war? (Skarde)

- There are always some wars and someone always attacks someone ... Weapons and slaves, I can't sell you ... but everything else has a price. (Ulf)

After several hours of negotiation, I agreed to sell him some of the iron and other metals that would be delivered to Kattegat from Jorvik. In addition, Skarde brought some information from Denmark, apparently King Horik had already regained some of the lands that belonged to his father, but the rest was under the control of his uncles.

Two weeks later everything was ready for our departure ... I chose the nine stupidest slaves we had ...