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It was difficult for me to determine her age ... actually, I wasn't even sure of her species ... Of course beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but I couldn't imagine that she would ever become a mother.

- What's your name? (Ulf)

- Nur, Lord. (Nur)

- I need to learn your language enough to be able to communicate. I'm not going to write poetry. You have two months to do this. (Ulf)

- I understand, Lord. What will happen to me after these two months? (Nur)

It was a very good question. Nur was not fit for my breeding program. I didn't have the heart to get any of my people to sleep with her ... maybe she could scare the birds in the fields.

- It's a waste of time to talk about it now, ask me again in two months. (Ulf)

I was rather sure that I would be able to learn the language, in my previous life I had learned Tatar and Turkish. I ordered Nur to take her things from the slave quarters and we went home.

I explained to Lagertha and Hild why I needed a new slave in the house, but as soon as they saw her that she was definitely not a new bed slave.

The next days and weeks passed. In order not to waste any time, the Nur lessons took place at the same time as my armor work. Mastering the language itself was rather easy, but I had big problems with writing and reading Arabic.

Every day, over a dozen Slavic slaves came to Kattegat, where they learned to build houses, walls with the use of mortar, blacksmithing, making weapons and armor, carpentry and agriculture. Then they had to pass the newly acquired skills to other people in their village. Learning the alphabet that I came up with was not so easy, it was the fastest for children and young people to learn it, but not for adults ... which was not a big surprise. Fortunately, I had several years to implement it.

It was late spring 788, and every day new ships arrived at Kattegat harbor from all over Norway. Though I only required two ships from a jarl or local chieftain, there were cases where some would send more. Erik sent four ships, Ragnar sent three, and Harald, the former King of Agder, seven ships.

- When are you going to leave? (Lagertha)

- If everything goes as planned, in two weeks at the latest. Most of the ships are ready now. We are still replenishing our supplies and we can set off. (Ulf)

- And when will you be back? (Lagertha)

I looked at Hild and her belly, which was getting bigger every day.

- My dear wife, I'm going to war. This may take many months or even longer, but i'll be back as soon as i can. (Ulf)

We had been married for many years, and Lagerth and even Hild were used to my long absences.

- I'll take care of everything until your return, father will help me. (Lagertha)

- Well. I don't have any special guidelines for you. If the merchants bring silver and gold, exchange them for coins. Try to build some houses and farmland. We must make sure that the slaves and their quarters are clean. Build a few toilets and a few tubs there. The rest is under control. (Ulf)

- If we're talking about slaves, what to do with Nur? (Lagertha)

- What you want, but I don't want to see her when I get back. The sight of her haunts me, I knew the Gods had a sense of humor, but I didn't know they were playing dots on her face. (Ulf)

- Dots? (Lagertha)

- It's a boring game from another country, it doesn't matter. Sell ​​her, kill her, free her, do what you want. (Ulf)

I spent the next two weeks doing mostly three things finishing my armor, learning Arabic and having sex with my women ... I always ended up in Hild just in case, she couldn't be more pregnant.

In mid-June, a total of 70 long ships, 20 merchant ships and over 4,500 warriors left Kattegat for England. It was a bit bigger expedition than I had assumed, but there were also several dozen settlers among the crews. Norway, especially to the north, had a harsh climate and the lands did not produce the best crops.

Of course I didn't mind, the more Norsmen in England and the fewer Anglo Saxons the better. I even had plans for the future, when I conquer the rest of Scandinavia, to relocate more of my subjects to the British Isles.

I was sitting leaning against the side, Ragnar and One-Eye sitting next to me. They both enjoyed smoked eel.

- What are your further plans? (Ragnar)

- When we reach Jorvik, I will take 10 ships with me and we will sail south to the Kingdom of the Franks. (Ulf)

- You want to attack one more country? Mercia and Wessex are not enough? (Ragnar)

- We will not attack them, but the Arabs. Our goal will be a few seaside settlements. That is why I had the weapons, shields and armor that we obtained in Spain loaded onto the ships. We will leave behind a few such items, we will also put armor on the corpses and blame the Arabs. (Ulf)

- Why do you want to do this? We will not gain much from this. (One-eyed)

- Charlemagne may not pay much attention to a city that is not under his control, but if the Arabs attack this far north ... so close to his country's heart. He'll have to do something. (Ulf)

- You worry too much about him by the time his message reaches him, England will be ours. (One-eyed)

- It's easy to conquer a country, but keeping it is another matter. That's why I want to give him a target and enemies ... the later he sees that our sword is hanging over his head, the better. (Ulf)