097

The next day I woke up with Hild breast in my mouth and naked Lagertha next to me. For the first time in a couple of months, I slept so well ... there's nothing better than your own bed... Of course, I not only slept, I took full advantage of my wife's presence, unfortunately Hild was only a few days away from giving birth and she could only serve me as a nightly snack ... if I was hungry.

I tried not to wake them up and quietly got out of bed ... downstairs, the slaves were already preparing food and taking care of the children, Mira was sitting at the table, you could see that she had not slept all night.

- You look like you've been hanging around all night in inns. (Ulf)

- 😡👌👈👂🥱 (Mira)

- I haven't seen my wife and Hild for a long time, I had to catch up. It's not my fault you heard everything. (Ulf)

- ☝️😃🤤 (Mira)

- I wasn't drooling at the sight of Hild's breasts, I just appreciate how Gods made women ... maybe not all of them. Looking back at you ... you could be mistaken for a boy. (Ulf)

- 😡👈🤛🤛👎 (Mira)

- Stop it boy ... girl, you haven't won even once with me. Come to me when you grow up. (Ulf)

I teased Mira for a few more minutes until Erik came and informed me that all the loot had been counted ... Time to get to work.

As I had sent my slaves to Norway earlier, I was not going to participate in the division of those we caught later. Several dozen people do not make a big difference for me.

We got a total of 1,200 pounds of gold and 6,500 pounds of silver ... I ordered Erik to bring a supply of gold and silver coins, I was going to get as much gold and silver as possible in ornaments and jewelry to convert them into more coins... As many people took part in the raid, I also expected minor conflicts ... and I was going to nip them in the bud.

- Rules of division. Who of you will want, can receive the equivalent of your spoils in gold and silver coins. As you can see there is a lot of loot, but the person or persons who will initiate conflicts will be excluded from the next raids ...

At that moment there was a pile of gold and silver in front of them so they were charmed by the sight and no one objected.

This time I gave up the usual split of a third of the loot for myself and decided to keep only a fifth ... My share was 240 pounds of gold (98 kg), 1,300 pounds of silver (530 kg).

The rest were split up between the crews of the ships, the relatives of the people who stayed in Jorvik, and the relatives of those killed ... Of course, I wasn't interested in how chiefs, jarls and kings settle accounts with their crews. If they are greedy, they will lose the support of their people.

I gave priority to people outside of Kattegat when distributing things like fabrics, tools, clothes, dishes, alcohol, raw materials and other metal decorations.

Kattegat was now a small industrial center for the production of most of these things and we even exported them all over Scandinavia and Eastern Europe ... it would also help me to strengthen my image of someone who is not greedy and treats people fairly.

- I'm going home, finish all the loot and come to me when you're done. I would like to know what has changed in Kattegat during these few months. (Ulf)

- Deliver your share of the loot and valuables to be converted into coins? (Erik)

- Yes, the sooner the better ... when you're done, come see me. (Ulf)

I didn't have anything urgent to do, but dealing with gold and silver was just boring ... and it wasn't very valuable in itself. I decided to spend some time in my workshop ... For these few months I have missed wood carving.

Three hours later Erik showed up.

- I thought you were at home, but Lagertha said you were in the workshop ... Are you going to go back to making furniture? (Erik)

- No, but in a few days Hild will give birth and I would like to make a cradle for my baby ... Tell me what you managed to do in my absence. (Ulf)

- As you wanted, we have prepared a small island for you, there are several buildings there, but no inhabitants. We managed to build thirty new houses according to the designs. They are smaller, but they are two and three floors each, which gives them more space, they also have a new fireplace ... (Erik)

- Stoves like I have at home? (Ulf)

- Yes, besides, we also enlarged the farmland, built more buildings for animals and new quarters for slaves, because the old ones got too crowded. We've gathered materials for a new wall, but we haven't started building it yet ... there are also more toilets and more roads around the settlement. (Erik)

- How is copper mining? There should already be some progress. (Ulf)

- ... depending on the month. One's had 300 pounds of copper, another month it was 500 pounds, then dropped back to 300 pounds ... mining is not always easy. (Erik)

- It is important that there is progress and we can meet our local needs ... now you can go back to your activities. I need to focus now on carving the ornaments. (Ulf)

When Erik left, I started finishing the cradle ...

Everything went according to plan, of course not everything Erik managed to do, but I was surprised how much he achieved. I will miss him, but Kattegat alone is not enough. I need more such settlements ... It took me a few more hours to make the cradle ... the following days were calm, I ordered wood, metal and other raw materials to be transported to the island prepared by Erik.

Unfortunately, my quiet days are over ... Hild started giving birth at the beginning of November.