Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 158: Towards Rome

After the drama that unfolded during his stay at the York Guildhall, Ragnar found himself in an awkward position; Princess Elfwynn was back to reviewing blueprints with a professional distance, and Elfrida was likely plotting his demise.

As Ragnar was thinking over this personnel issue he had no way out of he heard a knock on his door.

As such, he cautiously opened the door and peered out from the crack in it. In the doorway was Elfwynn, who was still dressed in her leather apron and goggles, though she had wiped most of the grease from her cheek.

She had a contemplative look on her face, though it no longer contained the flustered embarrassment of the bathhouse incident. As such, Ragnar relaxed his guard a little while opening the door slowly.

As soon as the door opened, Elfwynn walked into the room and sat down on a chair, placing a stack of ledgers on the table.

After a long and efficient silence, Ragnar was the first to broach the subject; he decided to bite the bullet and clarify his management style.

"I am aware my methods with your sister were... aggressive. I should not have threatened to send her to the mines."

Ragnar stared at Elfwynn for a few moments with a calm look behind his monocle before the young woman finally spoke.

"Do you honestly think I am upset about the fact that you threatened Elfrida?"

Ragnar looked at Elfwynn with confusion; he had no idea why she would be here if not to defend her sister.

However, those were not the words that came out of his mouth. Instead, he merely questioned her logic.

"You aren’t?"

This immediately caused Elfwynn to adjust her glasses and sigh. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Don’t underestimate my patience, Director."

Seeing her mood was not hostile, Ragnar decided it would be best to listen and thus took his performance review from his Chief Engineer like a professional.

Elfwynn, of course, was more than happy to do so; as such, she started her feedback by asking Ragnar a simple question that he did not expect.

"Director, you don’t have the slightest clue why I am here, do you?"

Ragnar shook his head; at this point, it was better to be honest with his COO. Seeing his reaction, Elfwynn sighed before leaning back in her chair and expressing her analytical thought process.

"At first I was concerned because you threatened my family. But then I realized Elfrida has been trying to undermine my position since we arrived in York. She thinks because she married an Ealdorman, she outranks a ’mere engineer.’ So honestly... watching you put her in her place was statistically the most satisfying moment of the quarter."

Ragnar listened to Elfwynn’s analysis and realized that this was a variable he never even considered; however, before he could address her statement, she leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand where she proceeded to look at Ragnar with a gaze that was both critical and amused.

"Then I realized something else. You didn’t threaten her because she insulted you. You threatened her because she insulted me. You were defending your Chief Engineer against a hostile work environment. I’m right, aren’t I?"

A twenty-year-old engineer was analyzing Ragnar’s subconscious motivations; Elfwynn of course was right on the money; Ragnar had acted to protect his most valuable asset.

As such, he leaned on his cane, looking like a CEO caught padding the expense report.

After Ragnar’s silence filled the room, Elfwynn pressed him.

"Well, aren’t I?"

Ragnar quickly nodded his head in affirmation without saying a word, which Elfwynn found to be unbefitting of the infamous Iron Father, so much so that she smiled before making a observation.

"Why are you hesitant to admit it? It is not like I’m going to demand a raise... yet."

Ragnar, of course, took a few moments to collect his thoughts before he let out a defeated sigh.

"After the... incident in the bathhouse, I felt like I had compromised our professional boundaries. I worried that if I showed favoritism, you would think I was making decisions based on... non-efficiency factors. So I tried to overcorrect by being ruthless with your sister."

After hearing Ragnar tell her the truth about how he felt Elfwynn felt a surge of respect.

She had no idea that he was so concerned about maintaining the integrity of their partnership.

Elfwynn stood up and walked over to Ragnar, which alerted him; however, in the next moment, before he could react, the young woman reached out and adjusted the lapel of his tunic, smoothing a wrinkle.

"Director! I would never doubt your commitment to efficiency!"

Ragnar fought to prevent a smirk from appearing on his face, but it was a losing battle.

As a man who valued competence above all else, having his COO validate his methods was better than a dividend payout.

"Good," Ragnar said, regaining his composure.

"Because we have a lot of work to do. Speaking of which..."

Unfortunately, the synergistic moment came to an end when another knock appeared on the door. The familiar, shrill voice behind the door belonged to Elfrida, who had come to "make amends".

"Director Ragnar? Are you in there? I have come to... clarify our previous discussion."

Both Ragnar and Elfwynn were scowling the moment they realized who the knock belonged to.

This liability had caused so much trouble in such a short time, and here she was interrupting their strategy session.

However, Ragnar decided to get up and head for the door where he opened it, much to the annoyance of Elfwynn, who began organizing her papers aggressively.

After opening the door, he was scowling at Elfrida, which immediately frightened her, especially after the conversation she had with the Bishop about skull mugs.

However, Elfrida swallowed her pride and immediately curtsied before apologizing.

"I am truly sorry for the misunderstanding; I hope that you can forgive my husband and me for our... lack of vision!"

Ragnar merely scoffed at her reaction; she picked a horrible time to apologize, all she managed to do was interrupt a critical workflow!

At this moment, Elfrida noticed Elfwynn was in the room, and she recognized that she might have been interrupting something important. Especially when she considered the stack of blueprints on the table.

However, she was already here and had spoiled the mood, so she might as well get this over with; as such, Ragnar looked at her indifferently before sighing heavily.

"Fine. We are technically allies, so I will let it slide just this once. But you and your husband owe me. Consider your debt... restructured."

Hearing Ragnar’s command instantly sent shivers down Elfrida’s spine as she recollected herself before nodding in agreement.

"Of course! Whatever we can do to contribute to the... synergy, we will gladly repay this favor!"

After agreeing, Ragnar shooed the woman away; he no longer wanted to waste billable hours on her.

"If that is all, dismiss yourself!"

Seeing that Elfwynn was giving her a look that said ’I calculated this outcome weeks ago’, and Ragnar was no different, Elfrida quickly curtsied again before running off down the hall.

After doing so, Ragnar shut the door and returned to Elfwynn, where he had a smile on his face, before asking her the question on his mind.

"Now... where were we? Ah yes, the Steam Whistle."

Upon witnessing the grin on Ragnar’s face, Elfwynn’s eyes lit up behind her glasses.

"I have the sketches right here. If we route the excess pressure from the main boiler..."

Seeing that the girl had returned to business mode, Ragnar immediately sat down at the table, where they quickly lost track of time discussing acoustics and psychological warfare.

"Make it scream, Elfwynn," Ragnar said softly, looking at the drawing of the massive brass horn. "Make it sound like the future arriving to foreclose on the past."

"Loud and clear, Director," Elfwynn smirked.

...

Meanwhile, in the shadows of York

While Ragnar and Elfwynn planned their noisy assault on London, a figure watched the Guildhall from a dark alleyway.

He was dressed in the tattered robes of a monk, but his eyes were sharp and calculating.

He held a piece of parchment in his hand - a sketch of the Leviathan he had made from memory.

"Steam," the spy whispered to himself. "Iron. And a whistle."

He folded the parchment and tucked it into his robe.

"The Pope must know. They are building a machine."

He turned and vanished into the fog, heading south. Towards London. Towards Rome.