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- Enough ... there are two of you and you have an advantage ... we will not make up for my departure in a month ... Hild stop ... Stop licking ... Lagertha, do something ... no... not that... whose side you're on? (Ulf)

As someone wise once said, be careful what you ask for, if you are unlucky you will get it... I hope neither Hild nor Lagertha will get pregnant again.

The first snow had fallen, the days had gotten shorter ... and I was dividing my time between responsibilities. If the problem was fixed in one place, two more appeared in another.

Erik and Ragnar were doing well with their assignments, though Erik was doing better. Ragnar wasn't Jarl material, he was coping, but only because the population wasn't large and he got a lot of support from Kattegat at first ... I was hoping that somehow my plan to getting him married Aslaug would work. In the show, during Ragnar's long absences or drug addiction, she ruled the Kattegat and did it quite well ... she was ambitious and intelligent.

Another topic that I had to deal seriously with was my Slavic village ... although a few villages would be a more appropriate form. The population, thanks to the purchase and exchange of slaves and placing the children of other slaves in it, grew to almost three thousand people.

I called the elders of this village and ordered them to delegate a dozen or so people who would be educated in Kattegat in various professions, and then they would pass this knowledge on to other people.

I also recommended them to train children in fighting from an early age ... boys and girls. In addition to training in combat, I ordered them to educate children in reading and writing, and for this purpose, I created a new type of alphabet, it was a mixture of Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.

I wondered if I was so inept or if the authors of novels I read in my first life are liars. The heroes of their novels, when they did something, obtained results almost immediately ... When I did something, I waited at best for several months, and I ran into the same problem in the 8th century as in the 17th. The day was only 24 hours ... it all took time.

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and I didn't even notice that the new year had come, and then the end of winter ... The armor I was working on, I assumed it would take me three months to make it, as it turned out after three months I was only halfway through the work ...

(King Ecbert / Ealdorman Eadric POV)

- Lord, winter is coming to an end. We are starting to stockpile and prepare for war. When are we going to go to Jorvik to notify King Ulf? (Ealdorman Eadric)

- How long will it take to prepare? (King Ecbert)

- During the winter we organized large hunts and mass fishing, meat and fish were salted and kept in barrels ... we have food for three months for 3,000 soldiers. Of course, we assume that we will also get some of the food in King Offa's lands. (Ealdorman Eadric)

- There is food, and other provisions? Spears, bows, arrows? People? (King Ecbert)

- As for the soldiers, we can count on 2,000 soldiers at the moment. At your command, we sent 400 troops to Wales first, and then an additional 600 troops. Attacks on our garrisons and outposts have weakened over the winter, but we assume they will intensify again with the coming of spring. Most of the weapons are almost ready. (Ealdorman Eadric)

Good, but a third of our soldiers are now in Wales, and that is worrying. What about King Ulf's son? (King Ecbert)

- No changes, he is training and leaves the city only in the company of our people and his guard. There was this story with the bishop, but he was persuaded not to make a scandal out of it. (Ealdorman Eadric)

- Idiot. What went wrong in his head? (King Ecbert)

- He's a man of God, he wanted to convert this boy. Nobody thought that this pagan guard would kill the priest and that the bishop would have to escape. (Ealdorman Eadric)

- A man of God? That idiot could have spoiled my plans because of pride. Do you really believe it was about God? (King Ecbert)

- What else could it be, Lord? (Ealdorman Eadric)

- Don't you remember how King Ulf humiliated the Bishop and forced him to his knees?... But we have more important things to discuss. You'll be leaving for Jorvik in a month, for King Ulf to gather his army, it'll take some time ... We'll attack the Kingdom of Mercia this summer. Until then, we must keep secrets. (King Ecbert)

- I understand, Lord. (Ealdorman Eadric)

(End POV)

"Here I stand all alone

Have my mind turned to stone

Have my heart filled up with ice

To avoid its breakin 'twice

Thanks to you, my dear old friend

But you can't help, this is the end

Of a tale that wasn't right

I won't have no sleep tonight

In my heart, in my soul

I really hate to pay this toll

Should be strong, young and bold

But the only thing I feel is pain

It's alright, we'll stay friends

Trustin 'in my confidence

And let's say it's just alright

You won't sleep alone tonight

In my heart, in my soul

I really hate to pay this toll

Should be strong, young and bold..."

- Finally all three fell asleep ... (Ulf)

- My Love, we are waiting for you in the bedroom and we have a surprise for you ... You will be a father. (Lagertha)