Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 162 Severing the Past
After resolving the dispute among the three, another person entered the lord's hall. He was wearing a short-sleeved, belted long robe and claimed to be an envoy from a tribe in Pomerania, requesting the demarcation of the border between the two areas.

"Please wait in the next room."

After dismissing the messenger, Nils told Princess Eve some bad news: "Little Eric heard you were here and wrote to ask me to send you back."

In the letter, Eric Jr. gave the reason that the old king missed his daughter, but Nils did not believe this nonsense.

More likely, Eric Jr. was worried that his sister Eve's marriage to Nils would result in their offspring also having the right to inherit the Norwegian crown. Moreover, Eve was keen on pursuing fame, fortune, and power, and might one day incite Nils to attack Oslo, jeopardizing his own rule.

In an attempt to persuade Nils to return Eve, Eric Jr. made a veiled statement in his letter, claiming that once his sister returned home safely, he would withdraw the troops stationed on Zealand Island and hand over control of the island.

"New Zealand".

According to the previous agreement, Zealand Island was ceded to the surrendered nobleman Fawel. This man has been pestering Nils lately, demanding his fiefdom almost every day, causing unrest among the remaining local nobles, who are beginning to doubt whether Nils has truly accepted the surrender.

We can't delay any longer; we need to get rid of this chattering raven as soon as possible!

Having made up his mind, Nils summoned a bodyguard and ordered, "Choose a sturdy and durable longship to escort the princess back to Oslo."

Turning his head, he looked at Eve, who was panicking. "Don't worry, patricide is condemned by the gods. Little Eric won't kill you. Instead, he'll send you to the temple to become a shaman. Phew, you'll never have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of your life, far away from fighting and heavy labor. This is the kind of life that the common people long for but can't have."

"No, I don't want those weird designs painted on my face, and I don't want to eat hallucinogenic mushrooms!" Eve threw herself in front of Nils, clutching his clothes and sobbing uncontrollably. "Do you remember what you said back then?"

"Of course, I did have feelings for you, but that was just a poor farmer's wishful thinking, which has faded away with the passage of time."

With that, Niels pulled the woman's arm away and gestured for his guards to take her home. "We are both nobles now. Calm down and don't make a scene in public. It'll only make us a laughingstock."

The situation was beyond repair, and Eve's spirits collapsed. She took two steps back in a daze, tears streaming down her face. "That's right, it's my own fault. I misjudged him."

"No, it's not a matter of misjudging the person, but rather the timing. Back then, the young raider Nils would have been willing to give everything for you, but more than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye. Now, the Danish lord Nils has long since started a family, and he has more important things to do."

After taking one last look at the princess, Nils felt no more affection for her. Instead, he felt a pang of regret, wondering how foolish he had been to waste so much energy on such a trivial matter.

"Being obsessed with emotions is why I'm not as good as Ivar, Vig, and Gunnar. Those three were ruthless enough to focus on expanding their power and becoming powerful dukes. Compared to them, I was stupider than a pig back then. I really want to slap myself twice."

By severing ties with the past, Nils received a satisfactory reward—the island of Zealand was immediately urged to send Fawel to the capital to prevent him from causing unrest in Schleswig.

In August, the situation in Denmark remained unsettled, and Niels was overwhelmed with dealing with numerous rebellions, large and small. In particular, some Viking peasants, upon discovering that their lord was Anglo-Saxon, experienced a surge of resentment. "Normally, it's the Vikings who raid the Anglo-Saxons of Britain, but now the Anglo-Saxons are ruling like tyrants! What does this mean? This is rebellion!"

Nils's attitude was one of resolute suppression. He had brought 1,500 Anglo militiamen from Nottingham, of whom more than 1,200 remained. A dozen or so leaders became earls and barons, while the rest became knights, mercenaries, and small landowners, forming Nils's core group.

In his view, these Anglo-Saxon militiamen, being in a foreign land, could only rely on themselves, and their loyalty far exceeded that of the raiders and sailors.

"These damned Viking barbarians, ostensibly opposing the Anglo-Saxon lords, are actually targeting me. We must strike hard and teach them a lesson they won't forget!"

As Niels was reviewing the ledgers and busy preparing supplies, a member of the Imperial Guard approached him. "General, it's great to see you! For the sake of our past friendship, please help us out. We're running low on food."

What?
I conquered Denmark with just over two thousand militiamen. You have fifteen hundred armored soldiers and hundreds of berserkers from the Sword of North, and you still lost?
Niels was utterly speechless and asked his old subordinates to explain their situation.

"With the fall of Gothenburg, we had nowhere to go. We forced our way through the walls of Kalmar, but unfortunately, the defenders took all the ships with them when they fled. We had to start building a ship from scratch. Once we finished one, we sent it to me for help."

Well, he was horrified by the incompetence of these idiots. If it were 1,500 wild boars clad in iron armor, they could probably push their way through the entire country of Sweden.

Leaning back in his chair, Nils pondered for a long time before deciding to help the Imperial Guard and symbolically give Ragnar an explanation.

With the last of their stored grain, Nils led five hundred men north by boat, skimming the coastline to their long-lost hometown—he, Ragnar, and Gunnar had once been rural farmers in the Kalmar region.

Upon meeting again, seeing the grain loaded on the longship, "White-haired" Oleg reverted to his original form of address, "General, you've finally arrived."

"What else can we do? Just sit by and watch the Imperial Guard be wiped out, and 1,500 sets of armor fall into the hands of the Allied Forces?"

Niels glanced at the mid-ranking officers, then walked first toward the towering lord's longhouse, with the others following closely behind, tacitly acknowledging that he had regained command.

After entering the house, he spent half an hour understanding the situation and calculating the relative strengths of the enemy and himself. He decided to give up on recapturing Gothenburg and instead led his army straight to Stockholm in the north.

Niels gave the following reasons:
"Food. Denmark is ravaged by war, and there isn't much food left in the warehouses. Gothenburg and Kalmar have become battlefields, and they also can't support this army. The only option now is to head north to attack Stockholm, collect food along the way, and if we can't take it, we can always bring the food back to Denmark. At least that should be enough to get through the year."

The proposal was unanimously approved by the Imperial Guard. Hafdan had recently been intentionally or unintentionally ostracized, his voice was practically nonexistent, and he silently obeyed orders.

The following day, 2,500 soldiers left Kalmar with all their stored food and headed north along the east coast of Sweden, scavenging for food and livestock along the way. They made their way through the country, stopping frequently, and finally arrived in Stockholm in late August.

(End of this chapter)