The bells of the Northern War had struck, and after ransacking villages along the north coast, the Vikings boarded the ship again, and they traveled deep into the hinterland and into the wooded depths of the Jorvik Valley.

The Vikings led by Had Ada met their first resistance in Fulford, which took place on the Wednesday before the feast of St. Matthew, which brought back the deposed Earl, and the news that the Vikings were preparing to attack York spread south.

London – Harold's Castle.

After hearing the news from the messenger, Goss Gwenson, Count of Anglia, anxiously asked his brother who was sitting on the throne: "What should we do?"

"Fighting. The new king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, Harold, calmly replied to the question, "The Vikings have no choice but to ravage our land and people in our country. ”

Unlike the calm shown by the new king, Harold was so angry when he found out that his brother Tosti and Harald, a descendant of the blonde king Haralda the Norwegian Vikings, had been invading for several days, just as he had disbanded his elite army and most of the militia, and he had to do so quickly.

It was a blow to him, and to his surprise, the only thing he could do was to regroup and let his soldiers rush north and join up with the conscripts who came along the way, in the hope of taking the Vikings down - and could only optimistically convince himself that the bastard duke of Normandy would no longer attempt to cross the English Channel during the autumn harvest season.

On the coast, fast horses galloped at a gallop. The communications corpsmen who had traveled long distances were planted from their horses and were helped up by the militia who ushered in them.

The militiamen, who had been stationed on the seashore for a long time, finally received good news, which made the whole camp peaceful.

"The Normans will not come, they have been shipwrecked in a great storm!"

"The Holy See is on their side, but it looks like the Lord is with us!"

"In any case, the fighting season is coming to an end and the harvest season is coming. It's time for us, the militia, to disarm and return to the fields. ”

The news of a sudden storm in which the Normans ventured across the sea was brought back by spies on the other side of the sea, and the remnants of the militia on the Isle of Wight remarked with pleasure as they packed their things.

They gathered their shields and weapons together without being ordered—and the Overseers who remained here didn't take any action against that.

Leofrick gently kissed his palm, slapped the shield with it, and handed it to the militia in charge of collecting supplies with a relaxed expression.

Turning back into the tall and thin farmer, he said happily, "I can hide from the militia for another year." ”

"If it's fast enough, you can go home after dark. Odegar was relieved that he had followed them without a war, and that none of the villagers he had brought with him had died.

Leofrick strode forward, clasped his hands on the shoulders of his best friend Tofei, and teased: "He drilled his little daughter-in-law's bed, and I spent my honeymoon with myself." ”

Tofei, who was also resistant to war, fought with him and broke free from his confinement.

"Are the big oak trees still in the woods at the edge of Crocherst? Odegar asked briskly, as one of the captains of the guard of the two kings of England, who had almost only had the opportunity to return to his homeland briefly when he had taken advantage of the enlistment of the villagers.

"It's still there. Leofrick lowered his head and picked up a snow-white pebble, which, though not long on the Isle of Wight and not too far from the coastline, was still a homesickness for the recruiter.

"I really want to climb that tree again. Odega, who is nearly forty years old, said with some longing.

Just as the peasants had already packed their bags and began to assemble to return to their hometowns, the arrival of several horsemen from the north gave everyone a sense of foreboding.

One of the Overseers left behind by the king shouted Odegar's name in a terrible voice, causing the conscription officer to run in his direction.

Leocliffe looked at Odegar's hurried appearance, and shook his head disapprovingly at Tofi with a frightened face: "Don't worry, it's just a few hairy boys making a fuss." After saying that, he suddenly grabbed Tofei's shoulder: "Tell you, I really want to see Odegar climbing a tree with that big head." ”

A worried Tofi was amused by his description, and Leocliffe took Toffei's head in his arms and tapped it lightly twice.

"Stop!" came their familiar Odegar's somewhat grim command, and Leocliffe froze in place, his eyes rolling slightly, and he let out a long breath, and sure enough, what he feared had happened.

"Your wife has a harvest to wait a little longer. Hearing Odegar's tone change back to the cold recruiter, Tofei closed his eyes sadly, but the words continued to penetrate his ears.

"Take up arms again. At Odegar's command, Leoccliffe licked his teeth helplessly, and looked angrily at his best friend who had just opened his eyes to accept the fact.

In the night, Odegar and the other militiamen sat on the shore, looking out at the sea and thinking about their own thoughts, the atmosphere was dull and stagnant, and everyone was in a state of disappointment and sadness that they could not go home but to continue fighting, and the longing for their families permeated the camp.

From the news that came, Odegar probably guessed his lord's thoughts: this was a tricky choice for the king, if he gave up the defense of the south coast, what if the wind turned against the enemy?

Odegar had no choice, as a low-ranking officer who was not a knight, he could only do what he was told.

At this time, after absorbing the souls of the soldiers at sea, Alan returned to the White Cliff of Dover, and held his staff upside down on the cliff to look into the crystal ball, and countless Norman faces loomed in the soul energy scurrying everywhere inside.

Allen, who checked the absorption of souls, sighed, and then received the sight from the three-eyed shadow raven, he patted it lightly, the dust that did not exist on the magic robes, and prepared to go to the battlefield.

But Alan, who had just turned sideways to leave, suddenly stopped, and he narrowed his eyes to a small wooden boat that rose and fell with the raging waves in the gloomy sea.

Alan focused his eyes on the ship's sails, which were blowing in the sea breeze, a man with long hair braided and dancing in the still strong wind, a dirty red turban was a large, almost triangular captain's hat, and a beard braided into two small braids was firmly under the chin.

The reason why this disobedient guy stood in the bow of the ship in the wind, somewhat sissy with smoky eye makeup, caught Alan's attention because the clothes on his body were obviously not a product of this time and space, and the man in front of him was wearing a long coat that had been dirty brown and could not be seen in his original appearance, and a white linen shirt with a horse coat with a large collar open to reveal a bronzed chest, and an eighteenth-century short musket and a saber buckled to a wide belt around his waist.

The boat was dilapidated and cramped, but the technology used on the masts and sails was clearly not the same as that of the primitive wooden boats of the 11th century.