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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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“What on earth are you trying to do, Konungr Bagsecg.”
Those were not the words of Konungr Halfdan. They were mine.
I already knew that Ivarr and Ubba were up to something. In truth, not just the retired Bjorn, but all my brothers were men overflowing with ambition and ability.
Having folded their own grand dreams and gathered under my banner, I had long since expected that they would surely do something.
Be it expansion, or internal reform, or whatever else.
But Bagsecg’s… surprise was something I had not honestly expected.
So I had no choice but to ask.
“Bagsecg, why on earth did you do that?”
At my question, Konungr Bagsecg straightened his posture in the large chair that was more than enough to handle his massive frame and spoke to me clearly.
“I would rather like to ask you, Konungr Helgi. If not this? Then what on earth are we to do?”
“… What do you mean by that?”
“Do not feign ignorance, Konungr Helgi. I have heard from my son-in-law that you are a humble person, but this is not a matter that can be solved by you saving your own skin.”
At an answer different from my expectation, I sent a look for help to Konungr Halfdan, but the ruler of the Fjord was engrossed in thought, his eyes heavily sunken.
Thus, with no obstacle to hinder Bagsecg, his following words were like a waterfall.
“Just look at what you have accomplished. There are no more who starve to death, and the number of those who die from terrible diseases has decreased. Is that all? The conquest of the Isle of Britain, which no one had been able to achieve. Securing a direct trade route with the Roman Empire. Securing the loyalty of the lords beyond the Eastern Sea.
Besides that, even the things like splitting a rock and declaring Ragnarok (the fall of the gods).”
Bagsecg, who knew my deeds in more detail than I had thought, shook his head, saying he had only mentioned the big things.
“I must say something I am sorry for to our ancestors. But in fact, looking at myself, Konungr Helgi’s father Ragnar, or even Konungr Halfdan here and any of our preceding Konungrs… I can say with certainty that there is not a single person who has achieved the same great deeds as you, Konungr Helgi.
What is even more shocking is that you, who have accomplished all of this, are only twenty years old, and it has not even been two years since you were crowned Konungr.”
Hwooo-
At this point, as if he himself had a lot pent up inside, Bagsecg let out a light sigh. In that appearance, one could no longer find the spirited warrior, and only the face of an old king, tired from long political maneuvering and war, remained.
“…Even if the jarls do not wish for it, opinions are now circulating in the Things of each region to accept you as Konungr. Do you really think all those many jarls gathered here have come purely to attend your wedding? Those suspicious and heavy-bottomed ones?”
He ended his long speech with a question, but his words had been pushing reality onto me from the very beginning. Not one person’s groundless conviction, but simply the facts as they were.
“You should also say something. Konungr Halfdan.”
“…Even if all those words are correct, tradition and law must be upheld. That is what I believe. Konungr Bagsecg, Konungr Helgi.”
The voice of Konungr Halfdan, who had finally regained his distant mind, echoed softly.
His heart had been shaken by the unexpected departure of his vassals and the appearance of Olaf, but he had not lost his center.
However, seeing a somewhat sinister light in his eyes, it seemed a great conflict would erupt if I did not mediate.
“So did I not say? If that is the law, then we can just make a new law, a new position, can we not?”
“How long do you think a position created like that will last?”
“Does that not depend on how those below act?”
The voices of the two Konungrs, who were now slowly about to bring up their old grudges against each other, were pressed down by my own.
“That is enough. The situation has flowed quite seriously, but is it not, after all, my wedding? Let us stop right here. It would be wrong to argue any further.”
At that, the two men calmed the veins popping on their necks.
Gently rubbing my throbbing temples, I decided to dismiss the gathering for now.
“Now, as for that Fylkir… that Konungr Bagsecg mentioned, I will not discuss it right now.”
“But-”
“Even if all the realistic things you have said are correct, as Konungr Halfdan said, it is not something that can be achieved rashly without any procedure. So let us delay it. Let us postpone it, and give people more time to think.”
“… Mmm. Since you have put it that way, I understand.”
Bagsecg, who agreed with difficulty, did not take his eyes off Halfdan until the very end. Of course, Konungr Halfdan also did not avoid Bagsecg’s gaze.
‘Hoo- not a single easy thing.’
“Now let us go out to the hall again. We must calm the jarls and tell them the conclusion, must we not.”
And so, the meeting of the three Konungrs ended without any conclusion, and the first day of the great assembly in Aros, where a nuclear bomb had been dropped, was wrapped up in a disorderly atmosphere.
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“So, what…? You’re saying you kicked away that Fylkir or whatever it is?”
For the first time in a while, the Ragnarsson brothers were gathered in one place.
After the jarls with their dozens of expressions had scattered, the four brothers who remained in the hall, and the two newlywed brothers who had entered with staggering steps.
With a total of six green-eyed men sitting in one place, a rather affectionate feeling arose, but a more complicated feeling came first.
Halfdan, whose dark circles had come down to his cheekbones, confirmed the words that had come out of my mouth once more with a half-asleep voice, and Ivarr and Ubba immediately squirmed in their seats.
“How about just pushing it through? Why didn’t you just grit your teeth and accept it?”
I shot down the words of Halfdan, who seemed to be in a state of diminished mental capacity, by lightly shaking my head, and my gaze fell on Ivarr and Ubba.
“What on earth are you thinking? A Fylkir…”
It was truly absurd.
“That word was made by Bagsecg, but the thought is somewhat similar. What does this mean, Helgi? It means that not only our brothers, but many people no longer consider you a simple Konungr.”
Ivarr, who had wet his lips with his tongue, said, pulling up a chair as if he had been waiting.
“This is an opportunity, brother. Something that none of us have ever seen is about to appear on this land through you…!”
A desperate voice, almost as if he were pleading. For a moment, it contained a sincerity that made me think, ‘Oh? Is that so?’ but. In my view, it was premature.
As if reading my expression, this time Ubba, who was sitting across from Ivar, rushed in.
“Fylkir or Konungr, in fact, they are already meaningless titles. As you saw the jarls in the assembly hall today, you must know, but the name Helgi Ragnarsson has long since surpassed the limits of a Konungr. Now, all that is needed is your will, that one thing alone. Helgi.”
The flame even spread to the eyes of Halfdan, who had been listening while rubbing his head. And in the midst of my brothers’ yearning gazes, I thought.
‘If I unite all of the North, what will I do next?’
No matter how much I was possessed in a strategy game, was there a reason to play a coloring game in reality as well? This was not a game, but reality. A reality where you bleed when you’re stabbed and break when you’re hit…
But, recalling the gazes of my brothers, Bagsecg’s eyes, and Hásteinn and Thorgnýr, Rurik, Oleg, Djur, Hastein… the gazes of countless jarls, another thought raised its head in a corner of my mind.
‘… Looking at it the other way, what is the reason not to unite?’
Why was I showing such a negative reaction?
Was it simply because it was troublesome? Because my precious time with Inga had been taken away? If so, had I not been avoiding this reality myself?
‘The rice has ripened and has already become cooked rice.’
If it had been instigated by just one Konungr and a few brothers, I would have refused firmly. But I still couldn’t forget the expressions on the jarls’ faces when Jarl Hásteinn and Konungr Bagsecg were giving their speeches.
As if they had been waiting for such an opportunity. As if a much-needed catalyst had appeared before their eyes.
The lords beyond the Eastern Sea were even smiling.
However, since there would still be those like Konungr Halfdan for whom my full rise was not appropriate, it seemed better to let it simmer a little longer.
“If there is a burden I must bear, I will not avoid it. Because that was my vow. If the people need me, I will never back down.”
At my words, declared as if a proclamation, my brothers’ faces brightened.
“But, this is too rushed. If such a momentous matter is handled carelessly, problems are bound to arise. After sending the jarls back to their respective fiefdoms, I will have them discuss this matter in the Things of their respective fiefdoms and then send their opinions back to Aros.”
“…What if there are those who refuse, like Konungr Halfdan?”
The words that Sigurd, who had been uncharacteristically silent, brought up were as sinister as if they had been coated in poison.
Is this man already under wedding stress?
“Then that region will remain as an independent state. I will not push away those who wish to come under my banner, but I do not want to force those who do not.”
“Hmm-.”
“For now, that much is enough.”
Grin-
The words of Ivarr, whose eyes lit up and one corner of his mouth was pulled up high, were meaningful.
Ubba’s expression was also similarly calm, which was very concerning.
Just as I was about to tell the two of them to please just stay still, or at least to let me know a part of their plan in advance, Bjorn, who had been sitting silently, suddenly cut in.
He had been sitting with his head bowed without a word, so I thought he was dozing off, but there was no trace of sleepiness in the eldest brother’s eyes.
“There is a story that is separate from and yet not separate from your stories.”
At those words, all eyes were drawn, and amidst the brothers’ questioning gazes, Bjorn continued to speak.
“It’s about Hásteinn. As Ivarr said, he did not come simply to congratulate you on your wedding.”
Of course.
“The Dux of the western land of Francia, Breizh, asked after your well-being with a gift.”
Breizh. If it was Breizh, it was the land commonly known as Brittany. A land at the tip of France where the descendants of the Celts, or Romano-Britons, lived. The last time I had checked, it was under the influence of West Francia.
“I seem to be hearing a lot of unexpected news today… should I just tell him thank you?”
“Do you really think the lord of Breizh would have sent Hásteinn simply to offer congratulations? On the surface, yes, but the message he wanted to convey through Hásteinn is a check against the king of West Francia, Charles ‘the Bald’.”
The Bald?
For a moment, all of our brothers’ gazes turned to Ivarr.
“What… you guys, why are you looking at me with those eyes…!”
At Ivarr’s thunderous rage, we all turned our heads back at once and took out the combs from our shirts and swept them through our hair.
[Swoosh-]
[Swoosh- swish swish-]
“You… you… you sons of bitches…!”
Ivarr, his face gradually turning red, trembled.
At that sight, I quickly put the white comb Inga had gifted me back into my pocket and asked Bjorn, who was similarly putting away his comb.
“Wasn’t Breizh under the king of West Francia? What on earth is happening there?”
In the first place, even the name ‘West’ Francia was ridiculous, but I decided to ask the urgent things first.
“The kings of the Franks are no different from our Konungr. The power of their Things is just a little weaker. Powerful lords always dislike interference. It would be good for you to remember this well, Helgi.”
“Thank you. In the end, it’s an internal power struggle, but if it’s something like that, isn’t it something that happens every day? Isn’t Hásteinn’s power alone enough for that…?”
Internal strife and civil war were practically another name for the Empire.
Moreover, for the pan-Germanic kingdoms and empires that had the Salic law, a fantastic inheritance system of partible inheritance, to put it very simply, were they not things like an unavoidable fate?
This was why I thought that simply expanding territory was not the answer…
Anyway, at my question, Bjorn let out a small laugh.
“Yes, I thought so too. But it seems the lord of Breizh is serious this time. I heard Hásteinn praised your name, who has taken control of Northumbria, at every opportunity, and it seems he fell for it-”
Hásteinn, not only was he good at fighting, but his gaslighting skills were also not to be underestimated.
Bjorn, who had been leaning back on the backrest of the special Aros-made single-person leather chair, famous for its comfort, pulled himself closer to the table and looked at each of his brothers’ faces.
“-It seems Salomon of Breizh now wants to become a king.”
Aha.
Is it an ambition problem again?
All of Ragnar’s ambitious sons nodded their heads, and the face of Ivarr, who had belatedly taken out his comb and was carefully combing his hair, looked gloomy.
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