Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 30 Canonization
According to Pascal's evaluation criteria, Yorktown, Mancourney, Leeds, and Sheffield are considered first-class territories, Lancaster and Humber Mouth are second-class, and Tyneburg, Derwent, and Teas are last-class territories.

After a long argument and a series of threats and inducements, the seven nobles finally reached a conclusion, with Leonard successfully acquiring Manchuni, the second largest territory after York, making him the biggest winner.

His old neighbor, Ulf, was the weakest and couldn't compete with the others, so he eventually chose the mouth of the Mersey River as his fief. The largest settlement in the area had only three hundred people, and the locals called it Liverpool.

Looking at the map, the Mersey River flows from east to west into the ocean. Manchuni occupies the upper reaches, while Liverpool occupies the lower reaches. The two men traveled from Sweden to Britain, and in the end, they were still neighbors.

Leonard, whose old nemesis had been thwarted, laughed heartily. "I've heard the Mersey River is teeming with eels, Ulf, you're in for a treat! Haha, why don't you just stop farming and let your people focus on fishing? I'll take as many as they come."

Ulf was already in a bad mood after being assigned the worst piece of territory, and when he caught a glimpse of Leonard's hateful smile, he could no longer suppress his resentment.

"Fuck you!" He suddenly punched the man, knocking him to the ground, and then pounced on him, wrestling with him like a drunken brawl that could be seen anywhere in the city.

Amidst the laughter in the hall, this far-reaching banquet came to an end.

Over the next two days, Ragnar had the surrendered scribes inventory the supplies and also ordered the craftsmen to forge eleven gold rings. Once everything was in place, he gathered the crowd in the square in front of the palace, personally sacrificed a bull to the gods, and then held the investiture ceremony.

Under the watchful eyes of two thousand Vikings, he picked up the enormous King's Ring from the tray and solemnly put it on the ring finger of his right hand. The ring face was a traditional lightning rune.

“Ivar,” he called his eldest son from the crowd, “you captured the royal banner at the Battle of Manchuni, twice led the charge onto the city walls, and personally beheaded King Elaud, your exploits surpassing all others in the army. In Odin’s name, you are hereby granted the title of Count Derwent (Yar). Do you swear to Odin that you will never betray your king and will dedicate your life to the kingdom?”

“I do,” Ivar knelt on one knee, took Ragnar’s right hand, and gently kissed the ring face.

Immediately afterwards, Ragnar presented the other with a ring, the face of which was a simply drawn wolf head, a design personally chosen by Ivar, who seemed to have an inexplicable fondness for wolves.

When it was Vig's turn, he knelt on one knee as usual, swore allegiance in the name of Odin, and was made Earl of Tynburg.

Vig chose a ring with a dragon motif, but unfortunately, the Norse barbarians, lacking knowledge, insisted on calling this wingless, five-clawed dragon a snake. After being corrected several times, he reluctantly accepted this interpretation.

The third nobleman to be ennobled was Pascal, followed by Leonard, Ulf, and seven other noblemen.

Clearly, Ragnar was using the order of investiture to demonstrate the closeness of their relationships. Ever since the seven nobles jointly rejected Bjorn and others' qualifications two days ago, he had kept this in mind and vowed to find an opportunity to retaliate against their offense.

With the investiture complete and the titles of king and subject settled, Ragnar became the King of Northumbria as he had wished. After receiving cheers from the crowd, he ordered his men to bring out chests of wealth and distribute them according to the amount of labor contributed.

To cultivate a relationship, Ragnar gave King Eric the largest share of money, a full five hundred pounds of silver. Next were "shareholders" like Leonard and Ulf, each receiving anywhere from thirty to one hundred pounds. When it came to Vig, since he had invested all of his twenty pounds of savings before setting out, Ragnar honored his promise and gave him a share of the profits equal to his investment. Combined with his military achievements, Vig now possessed a total of sixty pounds of silver.

A count's title, sixty pounds of silver, a suit of chainmail, and a Damascus steel sword.

This is the wealth that Vig has accumulated over three years of hard work. His next task is to recruit soldiers and head north to take over his territory.

After dividing the spoils, the Viking army indulged in three days of revelry. Vig took the opportunity to cultivate relationships with the lower-ranking warriors, attempting to persuade them to work for him. Thanks to his accumulated reputation, many agreed to follow him, but these were merely empty promises; many forgot about it once they sobered up.

"What a bunch of lazy bums."

Having shaken off the drunkards, Vig strolled alone along the city walls. It was autumn, and across the river, a few farmers were sowing seeds for winter wheat. As the new king, Ragnar, on Pascal's advice, declared protection for the lower-class peasants, since they didn't have much to plunder anyway.

Upon reaching the north wall, he saw the bodies of the fallen soldiers being burned outside the city. Thick smoke mixed with the stench of burning flesh, and he quickly walked past, covering his mouth and nose. Passing a tower, he discovered two kings enjoying the view from the top floor.

“Vigg? Come here, I have something to ask you.”

Ragnar called the man to his side and asked for his opinion on the future situation. "Ellaud and his queen have been killed, and only the prince has escaped. Do you think he can raise an army to launch a counterattack?"

Gazing at the lush oak forest in the distance, Vig pondered for a moment and concluded that a large-scale war was unlikely to occur in the near future.

"Lacking money and equipment, Prince Ella won't be able to stay in the south for long. He might be killed or he might flee to Mercia for asylum. As for Mercia, the influx of refugees will strengthen their nation in the long run, provided that they allocate their food reserves to feed these people and help them cultivate new farmland. It will take at least two years for the refugees to become self-sufficient."

"Hmm, two years should be enough."

Ragnar was quite satisfied with his subordinate's answer. "A good idea. The refugees are consuming a lot of Mercia's food reserves, making it impossible for Mercia to support an offensive by an army of several thousand men. In the meantime, I will attract Vikings from Northern Europe to settle here. There is plenty of arable land here, and the natural environment is far better than the cold and barren Northern Europe. There is no need to worry about not being able to recruit people."

Eric nodded in agreement, “Britain is indeed suitable for farming, but in the long run, the Vikings’ fighting spirit will be worn away, which I think is a loss.”

Vig shook his head. “If I had to choose between raiding and settling overseas, I would choose the latter. For decades, the Vikings have been keen on raiding at sea, bringing back large amounts of gold and silver while neglecting agricultural production. As a result, food prices have soared, famines have become frequent, and the number of raiders has increased, further reducing agricultural output and creating an irreversible vicious cycle.”

As he stroked the mottled wall with his right hand, he couldn't help but reminisce about the past. "Back when I was farming in the countryside of Gothenburg, I encountered two robberies in a single month. Most of the robbers were ordinary people who couldn't afford to eat. From that perspective, it was better to start over in a different environment than to stay in Northern Europe and suffer."

(End of this chapter)