Viking: Master of the Icy Sea

Chapter 248: The Valley

At sunset, Hrogeir was taken to a valley. A small stream flowed through the lower part of the valley, and large fields of wheat were planted along its banks. Judging by the growth of the crops, their agricultural skills were quite poor; their only advantage was the abundant sunlight.

Soon, Hrogeir's appearance caused a commotion among the valley's residents. They left the caves on the valley walls in droves and crowded around him, observing him as if he were a rare animal in a circus.

"Don't touch me! Stop pulling my hair!"

"Hey, don't grab my shoes!"

From Hrogeir's perspective, these people were of average build with light brown skin. Their appearance was similar to the inhabitants of southern Iberia and North Africa.

As for their clothing, they wrapped themselves in goatskins. The men wore numerous bone pendants, while the women draped themselves in cloaks woven from plant fibers.

After a brief struggle, Hrogeir was shoved toward a domed stone house in the center of the valley. According to his observations, the commoners lived in the caves on either side of the valley, while the domed stone houses on the flat ground belonged to the upper and middle-class residents.

Entering the largest stone house, Hrogeir saw a middle-aged man sitting on a chair, with five family members standing behind him. Six warriors armed with spears stood on each side of the hall. The spearheads were pitch-black, seemingly crafted from solid pieces of obsidian.

"%¥#"

The chieftain demanded sternly, his face cold, uttering some incomprehensible threats. Then, a Viking commoner stepped out from a corner to translate his words."The chieftain is asking about your identity and purpose."

Hrogeir exclaimed, "You are a runaway worker from the plantation?"

The Viking commoner replied, "Yes. I couldn't stand planting cane sugar all day, so I took the opportunity to flee into the jungle. Fortunately, the chieftain accepted me as a member of the tribe."

Hrogeir grew even more puzzled. "Since you are a Viking, you should know our strength. Why did you incite these natives to attack the plantation?"

The man revealed a mocking smile. "Our tribe did not attack the plantation; it was another tribe that made the move. You should consider yourself lucky. If you had been caught by the other tribe, your fate would have been miserable."

Suddenly, the Viking commoner recognized the captive's face, realizing that this man was a shareholder of the Sugarcane Company and the Queen's own younger brother. He turned pale with fright and instinctively took a step back. He then introduced the captive's identity to the chieftain, advising him to accommodate the man properly.

The chieftain, having lived on Sun Island for generations, was unfamiliar with the outside world. "Adrien, even if this man is the brother of the British chieftain's wife, so what? I am not afraid of him. Tell me, how many tribesmen does this chieftain of Britain have, and which is larger—his land or Tenerife?"

As an exiled commoner, Adrien had no access to such information, so he could only toss the question back to Hrogeir.

Half a minute later, he relayed Hrogeir's answer to Chieftain Chawatu. "Britain has a population of two million and three hundred thousand, which is equivalent to a thousand of your tribes. If one were to travel on foot, it would take more than a month to walk from south to north."

Fearing that Hrogeir's death would invite retaliation, Adrien also added many exaggerated details, drawing continuous gasps of amazement from the chieftain's sons and daughters. The chieftain was deeply shaken inwardly, secretly rejoicing that he had not attacked the outsiders.

Currently, there were over ten thousand Guanches on Tenerife. Chieftain Chawatu's tribe was the strongest, boasting more than two thousand members.

In recent years, the second-ranked tribe had been developing rapidly, which caused Chawatu some concern. Therefore, he had deliberately leaked rumors to incite his rivals into attacking the outsiders, planning to watch both sides suffer.

To his astonishment, the combat prowess of the Vikings far exceeded his wildest imagination. A single charge was all it took to completely crush over four hundred male Guanches.

'It seems my approach was right,' Chawatu thought. 'The cavalry of these outsiders is far too formidable. The Guanches must never leave the safety of the woods and mountains.'

As the sky darkened, Chawatu had the captive locked in a cave, intending to interrogate him again the next day. Due to his special status, Hrogeir's meals were fairly good; he was given wheat porridge and a mutton chop. Having starved for most of the day, he grabbed the meat without the slightest hesitation and devoured it, before calling out to stop Adrien, who was about to leave.

"Help me escape. Money, women, manors—none of it will be a problem."

"Your Excellency, you think too highly of me." Adrien rolled up his sleeves. "As you can see, I am just a scrawny Viking with terrible combat skills. I can't possibly help you fight your way out."

Hrogeir still did not give up. "If that is the case, then stay and chat with me to relieve my boredom. Start by telling me the origins of these Guanches."

"As you wish, Your Excellency."

As the conflict between the Vikings and the Guanches intensified day by day, Adrien had begun to worry about his future fate. He intentionally sought to curry favor with this prominent merchant to prepare a way out for himself.

Having lived there for over a year, Adrien had roughly guessed the origins of the Guanches through the local tribal legends, their appearance and skin color, as well as the murals inside the caves.

They were inhabitants who had migrated from North Africa or southern Iberia.

Listening to his explanation, Hrogeir asked in return, "Since they migrated across the sea, why don't they know how to build ships?"

Adrien replied, "I don't know. Perhaps it is because of the lack of iron ore in this region. Without iron nails, saws, and axes, they cannot build proper ocean-going sailing ships. Furthermore, they lack a written language, so much of their knowledge and technology has been lost over the long passage of time."

Over the next few days, Helgi failed to find any trace of Hrogeir. He picked a captive to go back and deliver a message, proposing a truce with the hostile Guanche tribe and a mutual exchange of prisoners.

To demonstrate his sincerity, he even promised to provide grain, alcohol, and iron tools. As long as they could get their captive back, everything was open to negotiation.

However, the tribe that had attacked the plantation had left no survivors. Although their chieftain tried every means to delay for time, Helgi still saw through the flaws in his deception.

He gathered his vassals and the employees of the Sugarcane Company, totaling one thousand and thirty men. "Gentlemen, I suspect Hrogeir is not coming back. To mitigate the Queen's wrath, we must take action."

Leaving three hundred men to guard the plantation and the port, Helgi led the remaining seven hundred in a massive, sweeping assault against the hostile tribe. Thanks to their overwhelming superiority in equipment and tactics, he ended the battle in just half an hour, occupying the camp where the enemy had lived for generations.

After conducting careful searches and interrogations, Helgi still could not find Hrogeir. Most likely, the man was indeed dead.

As the news of this battle spread, the Guanche tribes across all of Sun Island plunged into panic. The chieftains and shamans all headed to Mount Teide, the highest peak on the island, to beg the gods for their blessing.

When the assembly ended, Chawatu returned to the valley in a daze. After hearing the detailed account of the battle from the survivors, he completely abandoned the thought of driving the Vikings away.

"Bring the captive and Adrien here."

Chawatu's idea was to hand over Hrogeir and reach a peace agreement with the Viking chieftain. Both sides would cease all hostilities, and he would concede the eastern coast to them for planting cane sugar.

After conversing for a while, Chawatu suddenly had a much better idea.