Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 156: Pride Before the Fall
On the other hand, Eadric verbally struck back at Ragnar, especially over his claims of superiority; if anything, in Eadric’s eyes, he was superior because he was born into the position of Ealdorman, instead of being a Viking upstart taking advantage of the market crash.
"Superior? Don’t make me laugh! You are nothing but a lowly Raider who has risen through the ranks by profiting from the war which ravages our lands!"
Ragnar’s tongue was as sharp as always; if anything, the words he spoke next hurt the man who was struggling under his cane far more than the pressure on his spine.
"And yet, I am capable of defending my assets, where you hide in your wife’s family home, allowing your brother Osric to fight your battles for you.
Oh wait... Osric lost Cumbria to the Scots, didn’t he? Now, why don’t you tell me the reason that would cause a man in your position to attack me the moment you saw my charming face?"
Eadric felt no desire to explain his rage to Ragnar, a man he deemed to be a soulless, capitalist tyrant. Thus he responded with vulgarity.
"Go rot in Hel!"
After hearing this stereotypical response, Ragnar sighed before pressing the heavy silver gear-head of his cane into Eadric’s shoulder blade, causing a sharp yelp of pain.
Ragnar had learned his lesson about showing compassion to those who sought to disrupt his workflow; as such, he was ruthless with how he decided to handle the situation.
"I shall remember your attempt to file a grievance on this day. When I finally liberate your lands from the Scots, I will make sure it is your wife Elfrida and not you who is named Manager of Cumbria. If you come at me again, you will find yourself transferred to the Deep Shaft Mines in Nottingham! Do not test my patience..."
With that brief exchange, Ragnar walked away from the man who lay on the floor while clutching his bruised shoulder.
Ragnar thought nothing of his cruelty; after all, a man like Eadric was neither clever nor powerful enough to pose any harm to the Directorate.
If anything, he had been lenient with his response to the man’s violent actions. A bruised ego was by no means a severe injury and would heal itself in time.. or not.
While Ragnar exited the scene with confidence, the Guildhall guards quickly responded to the sounds of Eadric’s wailing and dragged him off to the infirmary.
Meanwhile, Ragnar continued on his journey to locate Elfwynn, and when he finally found the girl, he noticed she was wearing a heavy leather apron and safety goggles, tinkering with a small brass engine on a workbench.
Dressed in such practical attire, with a smudge of grease on her cheek as she adjusted a pressure valve, almost made Ragnar believe that she was, in fact, the goddess of industry, not a human. Nevertheless, he knew such a thing could not be the case and merely stood by and waited for the young woman to finish her calibration of the machine she was currently building.
Elfwynn was utterly unaware that Ragnar had arrived and was leaning on a pillar watching her work, and as such continued for a while before halting.
She released a short sigh of breath before wiping her forehead and seeing her Director gazing at her with a smile filled with admiration and respect.
The young, capable beauty with ink-stained fingers quickly began to flush in embarrassment as she realized her boss had been watching her the entire time; however, what came next shocked her.
Ragnar slowly started to clap before escalating into full applause.
The words that followed continued to add to her embarrassment.
"I must confess I am rather impressed as your Director. To think that you had such talent in the art of micro-engineering, and I was unaware for all this time.
I must say I doubt even a master clockmaker in Switzerland could perform in such a manner!"
Elfwynn could barely look at Ragnar while in such a flustered state; her cheeks were as red as the indicator light on a boiler as she heard his praise.
It had been so long since she had last seen Ragnar relax before he arrived in York that she was greatly concerned about him.
Now seeing him with his cane, she realized that he had suffered in her absence while she stayed locked up in the Guildhall crunching numbers.
Thus Elfwynn rose from her workbench before slowly approaching Ragnar; when she arrived before him, she reached up and adjusted his collar while staring into his eyes behind his monocle with a worried expression on her face.
"You have been overworking yourself during my absence, haven’t you?"
Ragnar wanted to bluff his way through her statement, but in truth, managing a hostile takeover had become rather difficult since he lost the full use of his leg.
As the young woman gazed at him with empathy and analytical compassion, he finally lost control of his tough facade and smiled bitterly as a weary expression took hold of his rugged visage.
Doing so, he nodded, which confirmed to Elfwynn her suspicions.
Thus she patted Ragnar’s arm in an attempt to cheer him up before gazing up at him with an adorable yet inquisitive gaze.
"Can I see the leg?"
Ragnar instantly knew what she was referring to, and as such, he quickly sat down on a nearby bench and pulled up his trouser leg.
Though his left leg was braced with steel supports, the skin beneath was scarred from the surgery.
Elfwynn had held her breath throughout the slow reveal, but now that she was looking at Ragnar’s injury she realized it was not as debilitating as she had thought it would be. As such, she released her breath before attempting to cheer Ragnar up by complimenting the engineering.
"It is not clumsy like I expected it to be; I think the hydraulic piston gives your gait a certain... rhythmic authority!"
Ragnar chuckled bitterly in response to her words before revealing his innermost thoughts.
"It is not the appearance that bothers me; it is how difficult it has become to function normally. I still can’t lead the charge on the factory floor like I used to. Instead, I must allow General Bjorn to lead my contractors into battle while I sit back in the office like a coward.
Tell me, Elfwynn, how can I be a great Director who inspires men to innovate if I am incapable of doing the heavy lifting myself?"
Elfwynn finally understood what had been eating at her Director this entire time; Ragnar was the type of man to lead by example.
At the moment, a trade war was raging at his borders, but instead of leading the charge, he was sitting back in York eating luxurious food while drinking the best coffee.
To Ragnar, there was nothing worse in this era, where respect was earned through physical labor, than hiding far from the production line allowing your employees to work in your stead.
To him, it was the act of a lazy executive, and as such, he had felt that he was inefficient in his actions.
After overhearing Ragnar’s concerns about his current position, Elfwynn put on a bright smile as she informed Ragnar of what she genuinely thought about him.
"What makes you great is not only tied to your strength or how you lift a hammer. Rather it is in large part due to the Vision you have provided to ensure that your people benefit from your technology and the wealth you generate."
Elfwynn took a brief pause to compile her thoughts and then continued her rant about Ragnar and how she and many of his employees viewed him.
"What you have done to City Titan, what you are doing to the Directorate, and potentially one day even all of England is something no other man in this era can achieve. So you have suffered a minor depreciation... did you not tell me that Steve Jobs was fired from his own company, and yet he always recovered to lead his team to further innovation?"
Eventually, she finished her speech with words of encouragement to Ragnar, ones that he would forever remember inside the depths of his heart.
"You will optimize this, and when you do, all of your competitors shall remember the brilliance and fortitude that you use to rally your market share to victory!"
Having heard Elfwynn speak of him in such a valuable light, Ragnar instantly felt like the weight that had been secretly hanging from his heart had finally released its hold over him.
As such, he thanked Elfwynn by clasping her shoulder tight in his grip before complimenting her.
