Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 161: Name your price!

After the "successful negotiation" with King Aethelwulf, Ragnar and Princess Elfwynn returned to the Leviathan, where they proceeded to greet the rest of the management team.

General Bjorn was chatting with Bishop Aethelwold.

Elfrida was hanging out with Magnus playing with the toddler in his cabin. Seeing Elfrida look so affectionately at Magnus as if he were a valuable asset brought a smirk to Ragnar’s lips.

He had half-expected Elfrida to try and leverage the boy for a better position. Yet, instead, she was treating the boy as a member of her own family.

Ragnar watched as Elfrida walked over to the little boy and picked him up, bouncing him on her hip.

Seeing his liability of a sister-in-law actually being useful pleased Ragnar; it was an efficient sight to behold.

Thus Ragnar merely watched the show for some time through the open door.

After a while, Magnus was put to bed, and Ragnar brought the women away from the room so that the future CEO could adequately recharge.

Elfrida had a genuine smile on her face as she conversed with Elfwynn about the child.

"Magnus is so... robust! He has Ragnar’s terrifying stare and Gyda’s hair; he is quite the little merger!"

Elfwynn smiled at Elfrida’s compliment and hugged her sister tightly, glad that the hostility had subsided.

"I bet when you and Eadric have your own children, they will be just as... capable!"

Ragnar did not want to ruin the moment, but seeing Elfrida’s cheeks flush with embarrassment from the compliment was too funny of a scene. He struggled to prevent himself from chuckling at the way the two sisters were behaving.

Nevertheless, through superior willpower, he maintained his composure and merely smirked endearingly at them.

At this moment, Elfrida noticed something peculiar and grabbed ahold of Elfwynn’s tool belt to confirm her suspicion, which caused the engineer’s face to flush to a new degree as she broke away from Elfrida’s grasp and covered her new calipers with her arms. Elfrida had a wicked grin on her face as she openly proclaimed her findings.

"Elfwynn, you have new tools! We should compare inventory later!"

Feeling embarrassed by such a discovery, Elfwynn wanted to hide in the engine room; however, with Ragnar watching, she refused to back down and thus surprisingly made a bold statement of her own as she proudly displayed her wrench.

"You just watch; one day, my toolbox will be bigger than yours!"

Elfrida laughed lightly at the young girl’s challenge and approached her closely before whispering in her ear.

"Maybe, but until you learn to delegate, Ragnar is going to work you to the bone!"

Elfwynn immediately began to pout as she heard Elfrida’s words; she knew exactly what Elfrida meant and was greatly envious of her leisure time.

However, she was the Chief Engineer, and there was nothing she could do about that; all she could do was sulk in defeat.

Ragnar had seen enough and awkwardly coughed before declaring his next move.

"You all enjoy your synergy; I’m going to go find General Bjorn and see what he is up to."

With that, he quickly fled before the sisters could involve him in their domestic audit; if he had to witness their rowdy actions any longer, he might very well lose his mind.

Thus Ragnar wandered through the ship until he found Bjorn and the Bishop in the mess hall sampling the coffee Ragnar’s galley had brewed.

Ragnar quickly sat down at the head of the table and ordered one of the nearby stewards.

"Fetch me my skull mug and a pot of the dark roast!"

The steward did not dare disobey the mighty Director and quickly nodded before going off to do as instructed.

Bjorn and the Bishop could tell Ragnar was flustered and were instantly interested in what had happened; ultimately, the Bishop was the first to ask.

"So, how are the sisters?"

Ragnar sighed deeply before being brutally honest in his reply.

"They are about to compare inventory..."

General Bjorn and the Bishop were already sufficiently caffeinated at this point and gazed at each other before returning their sights to Ragnar.

Bjorn was the first to speak his mind.

"Tsk... High-maintenance assets!"

Bishop Aethelwold, on the other hand, immediately broke out into a chuckle before expressing his thoughts.

"That Elfrida... she acts all high and mighty, but in reality, she is quite fond of your son, isn’t she? It seems that I have nothing to worry about!

Don’t worry, Ragnar; if she is anything like her sister, she will eventually learn that hard work is a virtue!"

Ragnar was quite shocked that the Bishop was speaking in such a pragmatic way about the nobility; then again, he had never witnessed the man caffeinated before.

Clearly, he could not handle his bean juice, and for a coffee, the "Titan Blend" that they were drinking was quite strong.

Eventually, the steward arrived with Ragnar’s gold-plated skull mug and a pot of his favorite brew, which Ragnar unhesitantly poured into his goblet before taking a swig.

This was the first time the Bishop witnessed what Ragnar had done to Grandmaster Roland’s skull up close and was quite shocked by the results.

Though the chalice was made from the skull of another human being, it was dipped in gold and encrusted in finely cut rivets.

The shaft of the chalice that one used to grip was perfectly embedded in the bottom of the skull, as if the entire piece was forged out of one solid block of metal.

He hardly believed such barbarity could be so sophisticated.

As Ragnar drank from the skull chalice, he noticed the looks he was given, and the Bishop was the first to voice his thoughts aloud.

"Is that... Roland?"

Ragnar nodded his head silently with an indifferent expression on his face. After he did so, Bjorn was the next one to speak.

"Does the Pope know?"

Ragnar shook his head in response before gulping down the remainder of the contents in his coffee; he quickly poured more into his chalice before responding.

"As far as they’re aware, that Luddite is still alive and preaching in some monastery. I have been meaning to fabricate a letter from the Templars informing them of his ’retirement’. I would rather spare the Church the pain of knowing their champion failed a performance review..."

The Bishop nodded his head in approval; if he were in a similar situation, he would probably lie to the Vatican to spare their feelings as well.

After all, the revelation of Roland’s defeat sent the Archbishop of Canterbury into a state of acute depression.

He could only imagine the pain the Pope would go through, knowing that his Grandmaster ended up as drinkware.

After thinking it through, the older man decided to change the subject to something less grim and instead asked about the upcoming plans.

"So when will we start construction on the Trading Post?"

Ragnar pondered about it for a moment before giving a rough estimate he had calculated.

"It could be as early as tomorrow, but it could also be at the latest in three days. It honestly depends on how fast the mud dries and how quickly we can import the concrete."

The Bishop nodded and looked at the dark liquid that filled his cup before nodding in approval.

"Good, I would not mind a few more days of drinking such a hearty brew; how did you come up with this?"

Ragnar chuckled; he too was fond of the coffee they were currently drinking, and as such, he gave the Bishop some optimistic news.

"I can give you the supplier for it, but it can take up to a month before the beans arrive from the Caliphate."

The Bishop’s eyes instantly shined when he heard the news, and he nearly pounced at Ragnar before calming himself down and reseating himself.

"Name your price!"

Unexpectedly Ragnar merely shook his head in response and gave the man the best news he had heard in weeks.

"Consider it a charitable donation; just make sure to mention the Directorate in your next sermon!"

The Bishop gave Ragnar a thumbs up with a giant smile on his face.

"Deal!"

Bjorn, on the other hand, was already in the process of roasting his own batch of the tasty beans. After all, Ragnar had already begun to export his caffeine addiction across the entirety of the North.

As such, he did not need the supplier; he merely smiled at the Bishop; luckily, this man was Ragnar’s PR agent and could thus acquire some benefits such as this for free.

Thus Ragnar and the other two men spent the remainder of their night drinking and talking about important matters of the expansion.

Meanwhile, Elfwynn and Elfrida were currently in the cargo hold, negotiating how best to organize the tool inventory.

All the while, the sun set over the muddy banks of the Thames, casting long shadows over the future site of the London Branch Office.

Ragnar looked out the porthole at the city he had just forced into a partnership.

Peace was good for business.