I Became a Viking in the Game – Chapter 69

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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A land with no shortage of things to eat and live on, Aros. Except for a few Northmen who occasionally made blood donations to mosquitoes or, surprisingly, sniffled due to the existence of the cold virus, it was a land with no particular diseases.

This land, into which countless people from the North had already poured, embraced them without any issue. But as is always the case when things are in excess, various inconveniences naturally arose.

The food problem was solved? Then the sewage problem popped up.

Goods were plentiful due to surplus production? Then the inventory problem popped up again.

There was no labor problem because many people were born and raised here? Well, not all those many people could just farm and fish for a living.

In fact, perhaps at times like these, being an ancient tribal society has its conveniences. The people of this era accept reality with thoughts like, ‘Oh? There are quite a few people? Guess I’ll have to live on the outskirts if I can’t find a house?’ or ‘Oh? I have no land and not much to do? Maybe I’ll ask the Konungr for some tenant land?’

It might be a difficult thought to accept. But these things were the common sense of this era. Because, in an age without human rights, if you screamed your head off, your body and head could literally be separated…

There were surprisingly strict laws and strong regulations, but it was not a world overflowing with consideration.

A world where violence was closer than the law. This was no different even for the Roman Empire, which had built such a brilliant civilization.

So, after about a generation, discontent would eventually build up. Then, if they were unlucky and a natural disaster like an earthquake, drought, or a harsh winter struck, people would periodically rise up to rebalance the scales of power.

This was likely the way humans lived.

Until I arrived.

In truth, the people in Uppsala probably didn’t understand even half of my lecture, which took place in the amphitheater created by Leon, the engineer.

No matter how much I spoke to them of reason and rationality, it was in a situation where the vast majority of people didn’t even know what ‘reason’ or ‘rationality’ meant. Still, if just one of them, one in a thousand, one in ten thousand, felt something, then change begins there.

It’s only because I, who am called a demigod, showed them the miracle of splitting a rock that it went this well; if someone else had done it, they might have been immediately offered up as a living sacrifice.

Yes, in the end, in any society, the status and power of the speaker are important.

In that sense, I might even be hoping for a rebellion. If I could just make an example of someone, reaching my desired utopia would become much easier.

Unfortunately, such a thing has not yet happened. But I can wait, for as long as it takes. For a brave challenger to appear.

This redevelopment craze was also part of this context.

Because I, who could be considered the most popular idol among the Northmen, was doing it, everyone wanted to follow along.

The initial blueprints that the genius engineer, Leon, brought to me had many problems.

No matter how advanced the technology of the Eastern Roman Empire was, it couldn’t escape the limitations of the era.

First of all, the structure of the house, which my mind couldn’t comprehend at all, and especially the toilet being right next to the kitchen, was something I absolutely could not tolerate.

Of course, Leon, on the other hand, couldn’t understand my point.

“Konungr, if the toilet is placed outside or far from the house, wouldn’t it be a bother to throw out leftover food?”

I had to explain the existence of germs to him again. In the manner of, wouldn’t the bad energy touch the food if the toilet was right there.

At the look of suspicion in Leon’s eyes as he looked at me, I felt a wave of despair, thinking, if even a brilliant scholar is like this, what would others be like? But it was something I had decided to push forward with anyway. I resolved to be a bit more shameless and told him to proceed with the work as I wanted.

Given the nature of people who spend the winter with their cute livestock friends, their hygiene couldn’t possibly be good, even if they washed themselves once a week. Therefore, I separated the barn from the house and also moved the toilet outside.

Since we didn’t have the technology to make pottery yet, it was difficult to create a pure white, beautiful ceramic toilet, so we had to use a more traditional… outhouse for a while. For that, building a privy was the best choice.
Thus, the most important thing was to dig an underground channel so that the ground wouldn’t collapse.

We would dig a huge pit for the waste in a place a little away from where the new hill village would be, and draw water flowing there so that the village’s waste could flow down.

Of course, this pit had to be separate from the water source, that is, the groundwater from which the well draws. Otherwise, everyone could get sick from drinking contaminated well water.

On top of that, if you add various dry branches or leaves in the traditional way, it will also catch the smell, and it can be used as compost. It would be nice if I could get some lime.

Naturally, all this work was Leon’s responsibility.

Of course, I also had Hrolf, who was familiar with the local situation, join in. Given Hrolf’s characteristic of being the ‘grumbles but does the job well’ type of talent, I was soon able to obtain information about the water sources and waterways of Aros and its eastern region.
It seems he got help from the old farmers, who were experts in this area.

Of course, without proper surveying equipment, I couldn’t be 100% sure, but surprisingly, the farmers’ work was extremely rigorous, so it was likely about 99% accurate.

Next to the wide agricultural area situated between Aros and the northern mountain range, the hill to the east and the land beyond it were completely empty.

Olaf’s gifts (slaves) who had been put to work on the road construction to the west, and my warriors who were somehow transforming into an engineering corps, soon had to pick up shovels again.

Digging… and more digging… Then, if a well appeared, filling it back in… and digging another path…

Because I paid them well with food and wages, there were no unfortunate incidents of deserters or runaways, but we couldn’t go on like this forever.

As the size of the city grew and the number of tenant farmers under me increased, I wondered if I should establish a proper construction company, but I decided to leave it for now as it was still premature.

Isn’t there a saying? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The people were still happy, and the hard-working warriors and slaves also seemed happy. So I had no choice but to leave it be.

In a situation where proper capital had not even been formed yet, a company was going too far.

‘Still, I need to overhaul the military system one more time. It’s about time to differentiate the troop types.’

The horses brought from Northumbria with great difficulty, the ones left behind by Arpad of the Magyars, and the horses that Michael of the Eastern Roman Empire would send, all combined, meant I now had about 300 to 400 foreign-breed horses in my possession.
Of course, due to transportation issues, there were only 200 in Aros at the moment. But when combined with the native northern horses, it was a force that couldn’t be ignored.
The fact that there wasn’t a single cavalry instructor was shocking, but what was encouraging was that the riding skills of the warriors who went out on patrol on the western, southern, and eastern roads were improving at a strangely rapid pace.

For now, though they are few, I must make these cavalrymen my personal guards and group them together as one unit.

The next most urgent matter was the archers. The composite bows used by those nomads were already in use in the Eastern Roman Empire, but from what I had seen when I had the chance to examine one, it was a weapon that was difficult to use in the rainy and humid northern region.

You could use it if you had to… but there would be more days when it didn’t perform at its full potential than days when it did. So, unless it was for a war on a specific day, its strategic value was greatly diminished.

Instead, since there was plenty of good wood in Scandinavia, making longbows was not a difficult task. As always, if there’s a disadvantage, there’s an advantage.

Fortunately, thanks to the increase in the number of animals over the past 10 years, all the famous hunters had long since gathered near Aros, so recruiting skilled archers and archery masters was not a difficult task at all.

Therefore, although it felt a bit rushed, the new recruits were all practicing drawing and releasing their bows.

I didn’t force it on the existing warriors, whose bodies were already ingrained with the fighting style of heavy infantry. Although most of them now followed Hel, there were still many warriors who served Odin, Thor, and Tyr and dreamed of Valhalla.

Yes, this was the limit for now. No matter how I split rocks and declared the death of a god. For now, the old faith remained faintly, centered around Hel.

I had told the priests to now shift their roles and, as the books I brought from Rome were translated, to take on the role of conveying that knowledge to the people, along with what I had spoken of.

How much more trouble would arise in that process, no one knew.

There was truly not a single easy task.

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As these political, military, social, and religious changes were happening simultaneously, beyond the people who were diligently digging the ground at this very moment, in the deep courtyard of my newly foundation-laid, new honeymoon house(?).

I was enjoying a moment of leisure with Inga.

“Inga, I’m thinking of making an animal pen in that space over there. Will the reindeer grow well?”

“Hmm- they are creatures that surprisingly dislike cramped spaces… As long as you take them out often, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

The sight of her thinking deeply about my question was so lovely that I found myself asking all sorts of things just for the sake of it.

What would be a good size for the kitchen? It would be better for the sauna to be a little further away, right? Should the house have multiple floors? Or a single story? How large should the drawing room be? I saw how wonderful bathtubs were in Rome, should we make one too?

In truth, most of the household chores would be done by the servants under me.

As I said, the point of the questions was not the content, but to see her reaction.

Since our marriage had become a foregone conclusion decided by the elders of both families, Inga, whose desire for a sly independence matched mine, answered my questions with earnest seriousness.

She too must have known that, with the foundation already laid, this was close to just repeating the words we had already exchanged about the house’s design. But she seemed satisfied just to be next to me, chatting about this and that.

I wanted to be with her all day, but my position did not allow for such things. It had only been about three days since I had stepped away from all my duties due to my mother’s stern command.

Even if I passed the work on to my subordinates while the entire city and its people were changing rapidly according to my instructions, there were still things that the person in charge had to do.

And yet, Inga did not complain at all. Just a slender body that would nestle quietly into my arms whenever I came to visit.

Of course, she was about the same height as an average warrior, but compared to me, she was a very small and precious living thing.

But because she favored loose-fitting clothes, it wasn’t usually apparent, but when her figure, which was almost comparable to an hourglass, was revealed through her clothes or touched my body, I had to quickly recite the national anthem in my head.

From the first verse to the fourth. Sometimes with a repeat.

The problem was that Inga seemed to be gradually enjoying this reaction of mine.

Even now, she was subtly snuggling into my arms, and I was barely suppressing my mind from derailing due to a sort of fluffy sensation.

In the midst of that, her sweet scent was not helping at all.

But with superhuman mental strength, I was overcoming all these temptations and had not forgotten the reason I sought out Inga today.

Surprisingly, we were a flimsy couple who hadn’t even kissed yet. But since we were to be married soon… shouldn’t we do something?

I gently took the hand of her who was stretching out her pale arm, drawing in the air a wooden fence where two very cute but particularly sullen reindeer would be placed.

“…?”

Her two eyes, receiving the sun head-on, shone even more brightly.

I composed my trembling heart with two deep breaths and carefully took out the ring I had prepared from my pocket.

One of the treasures I had brought back from the Eastern Roman Empire. A silver ring that a skilled jeweler was said to have poured his heart and soul into making. In its center, a crimson jewel was set, showing off its classic form.

“Inga Eiriksdottir. I swear before the goddess Hel, and my father and mother, that I will love and care for you for all my life. Will you spend the rest of your life with me?”

As I slightly bent one knee, my head was near her neck.

When the trembling moment passed, and all the warriors who had been building the house around us stopped and held their breath.
Inga, who had been looking down at me quietly with shining eyes, smiled brightly and nodded her head.

“I don’t need vows before other names, Helgi Ragnarsson. Your vow alone is enough for me.”

Led by that soft voice, I placed the ring on her pale finger, and she bent her head and kissed me on the lips.

A soft sound and a soft feeling.

At the same time, the soft scent spreading through my nose to my brain violently made my mind feel at ease.

Amidst the intense shock and the cheers of those around us, she and I remained there for a while, frozen in place.

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