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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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The nights and days of bliss, unfortunately, did not last long.
After pulling an all-nighter, yet waking up early in the morning overflowing with even more energy to confirm our love for each other, it ended with the little ladies acting as Inga’s handmaidens knocking on the door with a load of food.
[Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock-!]
“The sun is up-! The sun is up!”
‘Oh, damn it…’
Of course, all they could manage to hold in those tiny hands were two glasses of water and a few pieces of bread, but the priestess of Hel who had led the children seemed incredibly proud.
“The children follow the Konungr very much. It is proof that the Konungr is a good person.”
“Um, thank you, priestess.”
The priestess who had worked under my mother for a long time.
Since she had also been my wet nurse at times, I couldn’t speak carelessly. I saw Constantinos among the girls, and he seemed to be doing well.
His face was flushed as he bowed to me, but his attention was completely stolen by the girls surrounding him.
He was surely Basileios’s son, but why did he remind me of Michael?
As I was resolving to instill in the boy a proper view on relationships (?), Inga, curious about the commotion outside, leaned against my arm and poked her head out.
“Drottning Inga.”
Giggle-
The children chattered again, seeing Inga bow her head along with the politely bowing priestess.
It seemed these kids just smiled whenever they saw a person.
I was relieved that the orphanage my mother ran seemed to be doing well, and at the same time, I wished these bothersome kids would leave. The priestess, who had read my expression, smiled softly and said.
“Konungr Helgi, Drottning Inga also needs her rest. And does the Konungr not have his duties? It will not do to keep the guests waiting for too long.”
I once again felt that the times I felt most troubled were not when facing a powerful enemy, but when someone who knew me so well gently chided me like this.
At the priestess’s words, which were not wrong in the slightest, Inga’s face turned red again, and the weight on my arm grew a little heavier.
Thanks to that, my hormones screamed again, but I, who had already granted their demands plenty, sided with reason this time and could only nod my head.
“Of course, priestess. Thank you for letting me know. Then I should get ready.”
“Please do so, Konungr Helgi. Please do not hurry and prepare. We will wait outside.”
“Yes, then…”
[Creeak- Thud!]
The wooden door, which in the morning light looked even more clearly like it had been hastily made, let out a pained scream and closed.
“Gak-!?”
I gently scooped up Inga, who was still leaning against me, headed for the bed, and after laying down her who had let out a squirrel-like scream, I stole a kiss.
Unlike in the movies, there was no stimulating sound effect, but that didn’t matter at all as the soft feeling that felt like it would burst tickled my lips and transmitted the sensation to my brain.
The hormone legion, which had finally staged a rebellion, manipulated the important parts of my body as they pleased, but I was a man of cold reason.
I gently stroked the face of Inga, who was smiling like a child with her eyes closed, and then soon began to gather my clothes, which were scattered all over, and put them on.
[Rustle- rustle-]
‘Why is this one inside out…?’
I must have been in quite a hurry yesterday.
Inga, who was sitting on the edge of the bed and watching me groan as I put on my clothes with a giggle, raised her pale hand, which possessed terrifying power, and gently stroked my back.
I followed that touch, rose up, and stole another kiss. I pressed my forehead against hers and said in a soft voice.
“Rest well.”
“… I have no choice. It’s hard to even move, you know?”
“…”
If she says such a provocative line with such a bewitching smile.
Suppressing the hormones that were staging another grand rebellion, I gave her a peck on the nose as if to say I couldn’t be helped, and then got up.
“Will you be long?”
Her voice came from behind me just as I was about to open the door and leave. Half mischief, half anticipation.
“I’ll be back as fast as I can.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Haha-!
Blowing a kiss at Inga’s shy, yet refreshing laugh, I slipped out the door.
I gave an awkward nod to the priestess, who was looking at me with a warm and proud smile, and the priestess soon entered the room I had just left to see to Inga’s comfort.
Though she was a priestess, she was someone who had helped my mother with most of Aros’s domestic affairs.
Following behind her, two handmaidens, whom I didn’t even know when they had arrived, were waiting.
Not these little imps who were smiling and spinning around me, but real handmaidens.
“Beware the bear~ a bear! a bear! O traveler, O maiden~ be wary of the bear~”
‘Where did they learn such a song…’
After punishing these little fairies by poking their puffed-out cheeks, I soon headed for the longhouse along the neatly maintained path.
Towards the place where the Konungr’s work was waiting.
“Haha! The new bridegroom has arrived! Congratulations! Konungr Helgi!”
“Indeed, the strongest one…! To think his complexion hasn’t changed at all…!”
“Was he the strongest both day and night…! This is unfair, Odin!”
“…Thank you, thank you.”
Annoyingly, Halfdan and Sigurd did not show up.
These insolent brother-vassals. How dare they skip the assembly? If this were Joseon, I would have immediately stripped them of their rank and title and put them to the torture rack.
Walking through the hall where cheers and congratulations resounded, I finally sat on the throne, and the lords all sat down in the chairs assigned to them.
As the cheers gradually subsided during the brief moment to catch my breath, a polite yet powerful tone opened this great assembly.
“It is an honor to meet you like this, Konungr Helgi.”
A voice with the power to make the listener’s spine straighten immediately.
This man’s name was said to be the Black King Halfdan.
Seeing his jet-black hair and beard, I immediately knew where that nickname came from.
In fact, in a society of mostly brown-haired Northmen, I even felt a sense of gladness at the jet-black hair, which was as rare to see as blonde hair.
As you know, I too was a renowned black-haired man.
Moreover, the number of people copying my style of growing my hair long and slicking it back has been increasing lately.
I hadn’t been growing a mustache separately, but because Inga liked beards, I had started growing one two weeks ago.
For the record, my hair and beard were trimmed by Inga herself.
“The rumors don’t even do you half justice, Konungr Helgi. Seeing you in person like this, you are even more full of dignity.”
The person who added to the Black King’s words from across him was named Bagsecg.
My brother Halfdan’s father-in-law, and a Konungr who had become a strong ally of our family through this marriage.
The west and south of Roskilde could be seen as this person’s domain.
Seeing these two kings speak first, it certainly seemed that this society of warriors had a more closed-off tendency.
Though they seemed free-spirited on the outside, in reality, everything had an order, and that order generally changed according to the degree of dignity and respect.
I glanced at the lögsögumaðrs (law-speakers) who were sitting in a corner of this space and, according to my instructions, were each recording the conversations taking place here on wooden boards or parchment, and then answered the two kings’ praise.
“The honor is all mine, Konungr Halfdan, Konungr Bagsecg. To be able to meet such high names I have heard of since I was young. I offer my infinite gratitude for celebrating my and my brothers’ wedding.”
As I gave them each a light nod, a satisfied smile was returned.
Things like this were important. Especially when all the Jarls were watching the situation carefully, it was important to save each other’s face.
Now all that was left was to kill some time with some appropriate flattery and then go back.
It would have been like that. It definitely should have been.
But the assembly of Northman lords began to flow in the complete opposite direction of what I had hoped.
And the one who started it was none other than Ivarr Ragnarsson.
As soon as the warm greetings between the two kings and me were over, Ivarr, as if the main game was just beginning, stood up boisterously and, with piercing eyes, scanned the hall and opened his mouth.
“Three Konungrs! And respected Jarls! I, Ivarr Ragnarsson, have stood in this place to celebrate the wedding of my brothers and to discuss our future.”
Because of the place, Ivarr was using much more refined language than usual, but that unique, raw feeling of his had not disappeared.
A strange silence fell over the hall because of this Northman warrior who didn’t know how to beat around the bush.
And as if enjoying the atmosphere, Ivarr slowly turned around in his spot, checking the expressions of the people.
‘What is he going to say now…’
As the wrinkles on my brow deepened, his uninhibited remarks continued.
“If there is anyone among the many Jarls present here who is sitting in this place solely to celebrate the wedding of Konungr Helgi, please raise your hand.”
At those words, the Jarls began to eye each other.
A few minor lords sitting in the back slyly started to raise their hands, but perhaps feeling the eyes of those around them, they used the hands they were raising to scratch the back of their heads or smooth their beards.
It was a very funny sight, but no one paid it any mind.
Rather, they were just getting more and more drawn into Ivarr’s words.
“Among you here, there must have been some who were half in doubt about Konungr Helgi’s great name and the great deeds that have already become the songs of bards. But now, you have all seen the split rock of Uppsala, and you have seen Helgi Ragnarsson with your own two eyes.”
Ivar, smiling as he pointed at me.
Following his gesture, the gazes of all the lords sitting in their seats focused on me, but I didn’t feel even a shred of pressure.
Rather, I was just curious as to what that second-eldest brother of mine was doing this for.
Among those many gazes, one particularly friendly gaze was urging me to stay still.
I could see that Ubba’s eyes, as he subtly shook his head from side to side, even contained a plea.
‘They were together in the west, so they must have cooked something up.’
If Ubba, who had a sly side, and Ivarr, who was just a sly person, had put their heads together, it probably wouldn’t be anything harmful to me.
I had no choice but to wait and see, but I had a strong feeling that something very troublesome was about to happen.
“In fact, you must have known even before that. The unbelievable growth of this Aros. The babies who do not die. It has been five, ten years since Helgi and the High Priestess Asta settled here. Now, where else in the world is there a land that surpasses this place?”
At this point, the expressions of the Black King Halfdan and Bagsecg darkened a little.
It was true that many people were migrating to Aros from the west and south.
But it wasn’t something I had to feel sorry to them about.
Who wouldn’t want to live a better life?
“So how about everyone makes up their minds now? Is it not time for our scattered people of the North to stand under one flag – that is what I am saying.”
Thump-!
No sound was heard, but as soon as Ivarr’s hearty words ended, a giant bell fell in everyone’s hearts.
The Jarls, their heads swiveling back and forth between Ivarr and me with intense gazes.
The sight of even those who were too drunk to come to their senses asking the person next to them what they had just heard.
As a flash of light sparked in the eyes of Bagsecg and the Black King Halfdan, Ivarr, who was at the center of that attention, was smiling broadly with his arms open, looking only at me.
‘Ah-‘
Ah.
This crazy person.
I thought things would go by peacefully since the troublemaker Sigurd was gone, but Ivarr had just set off an atomic bomb.
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‘Good grief.’
Originally, Bjorn had been skeptical about this morning’s meeting.
He had been through a honeymoon himself, but the reality was that the bride and groom usually couldn’t even get up the next day.
It was strange from the start that Ivarr, who couldn’t have been unaware of that, had been so insistent on holding a meeting, throwing a fit like he usually didn’t.
Thanks to that, the hangover from drinking until dawn last night had vanished in an instant.
Of course, in the midst of that, his Konungr, Helgi, who was no different from usual despite it being his wedding night, was amazing.
But seeing his face, which looked as if his mind had gone blank from Ivarr’s surprise attack, was both pitiful and funny.
‘It’s a damn good thing I retired.’
He was still being ordered around by his younger brother, but his mind was at ease.
Bjorn suddenly felt a hand poking his side.
“Hey, Bjorn. Did you know about this?”
“…What are you talking about, Hásteinn? Don’t you remember we drank together until dawn yesterday?”
“If it was a scheme to deceive me, I’d like to say you succeeded brilliantly.”
“…Stop talking nonsense.”
“Nonsense? Could it be more nonsensical than what I just heard?”
That was true.
He knew that Ubba and Ivarr were up to something.
People said that Ivarr resembled their father, Ragnar, the most, but that was only in terms of appearance and fighting style.
In fact, the minds of Ivarr and Ubba had more in common with their grandfather.
He could vaguely recall his image, full of ambition and vigor.
“…But the problem is that this crazy talk sounds plausible. Have I drunk too much? Bjorn? Or have I gone mad?”
“You were already mad, so if you’ve gone mad one more time, then you must have finally returned to normal.”
“Ha! That’s a relief.”
The funny thing was, just as Hásteinn said, this nonsensical and absurd talk was plausible.
Just look at the murmuring and expressions of the Jarls.
Not a single one of them was angry.
These people who were the very definition of rebels.
‘This is definitely a crazy business.’
Not to mention the Black King Halfdan and Bagsecg, Bjorn couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh when he saw the deep wrinkles etched on Helgi’s forehead.
‘It is a crazy business…’
They had hailed him as the Konungr of all Northmen and placed him on that seat, and now he was really trying to become one, wasn’t he?
He didn’t know if that would be a good thing or a bad thing for him, but Bjorn felt the strong winds of change blowing.
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