Sigrun had unwittingly clenched her fists when she watched Erik climb up his platform. Her mother Helles stood beside her and noticed the abnormality in her daughter. She may not be exceptionally talented like her daughter, but as a woman she still knew some things. But, as befits a proud Norscan mother, she refused to directly meddle in her daughter’s affairs.

Norscan women may lead tough lives, but this also cultivated fierce and straightforward personalities. Yes, they may be stolen from their home at any time if a raid on the settlement was successful, but otherwise a Norscan woman was free to think and act as she wished. This included accepting, denying or proactively chasing courtship.

Watching the handsome young man up on the platform and remembering what she had heard from her daughter before, Helles believed everything would work out just fine in the end. As long as Erik survived, at least.

As the sacrifices were finished and the drums started beating, Sigrun’s heart beat in tandem. She knew Erik was good with his weapon. After all, she had watched him improve at an unimaginable pace during these past three weeks. But she couldn’t help feeling anxious. Especially so since Erik had told her in private that he had never actually fought to the death like this before.

During the initial clash, ending with Krir’s battered shield and Erik’s hurt finger, she could feel her heart beating in her throat.

But when she watched Erik find his momentum and flawlessly seize victory, she almost screamed out loud. Luckily she didn’t, as that would have been a grave offense of hubris to the Gods.

When the Trial was fully over and Erik had stepped down from the stage however, she could not suppress a sigh of relief. Of course, this was noticed by both her mother standing next to her as well as her father who just happened to be looking back in their direction when talking to someone behind him.

Jarl Ingolf walked over to the mother-daughter pair and said a few short words.

“Go invite Erik over for dinner tonight, a successful Trial must be celebrated with a feast.”

Receiving the permission she didn’t quite realise she was waiting for, Sigrun nodded and went to find Erik.

Waiting for Sigrun to run out of earshot, Jarl Ingolf turned towards his favoured wife who still looked beautiful despite being well over 40. And although Ingolf may keep numerous concubines and lovers in his Hall and spread his seed far and wide resulting in over a dozen sons he was proud of, he could not hide the deep affection in his eyes.

“You must see too that little Sigrun is very appreciative of our rising Champion? I am not against this, but I also do not wish for her to give herself away before Erik passed the Trials.”

“Yes, I know from her own mouth and from the Trial just now that he is capable and develops rapidly, but this just means that the first 3 Trials shouldn’t pose a problem for him.

It’s the 4th and 5th challenges that will truly test him. There is a reason young men need to survive the Winter Hunt before wedding a wife. And facing off against one of my bondsmen, even if just as a test of skill rather than a fight to the death, can easily result death.”

While saying this, Ingolf looked at where Sigrun and Erik had now met up below the stage before continuing.

“Tonight, maybe you should have a talk with both of them. Separately. Maybe explaining some things to Erik will give him an extra drive to succeed. And it will allow Sigrun to fully resolve herself as well.”

Helles nodded, seeing the reason behind her husband’s words. Strong headedness and independence were good traits for a woman to have, but some things needed to be made clear while others needed to be explained.

Jarl Ingolf turned towards the Hall, but hesitated before leaving. Half turning back to his wife, face aimed at the ground, he left one final comment.

“After the feast, I’ll come to your chamber tonight.”

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When the sky began to darken, Erik made his way towards the Great Hall. Luckily his finger was just badly bruised and he had loosely tied it to the ring finger beside it to be safe. After passing the first Trial and killing Krir, he had spent the hours before the feast alone in his cabin.

What he noticed during that time was the complete lack of shock or revulsion at having knowingly and deliberately killed a man. Instead, similar to when he killed the thrall in a fit of rage, he had enjoyed it.

No, comparing the two, Erik was certain that killing the thrall now felt like swatting a fly while killing Krir had given him a sense of victory, conquest and ecstasy. Winning and killing in battle felt good. And he was starting to look forward to the next Trial in 3 weeks’ time.

However, he also introspected on his performance. He noticed several key points that needed improvement before the next Trial and he believed he had found another, better way to grind proficiency too.

Along with victory he now owned everything Krir had previously possessed. This included a good mount of livestock and thralls. And seeing his proficiency shoot up from 175 to 187 from fighting Krir and factoring in that proficiency gain would slow down significantly once he reached the 200 mark, Erik wanted to test something out.

If he was banned from sparring with the Frost Wolf’s warriors and slaughtering livestock provided negligible increases, would executing his newly acquired thralls be more profitable?

~Bleep! – Player Erik earned Favour! Khorne, God of Blood, approves your plan of carnage.
~Bleep! – Player Erik earned Favour! Tzeentch, God of Cunning, approves your cunning scheme.
~Bleep! – Player Erik earned Favour! Slaanesh, God of excess, approves your plan of excessive death.
~Bleep! – Player Erik earned Favour! Nurgle, God of Death, approves your plan to spread wanton death.

The sudden notification from gaining favour with all four Chaos Gods at once surprised Erik. But after realising that these Gods were unconcerned with human life and mostly only cared for what they found interesting, it seemed to make sense.

And as he was let through the Great Hall’s doors by the guarding bondsman, Erik decided to test out his theory tomorrow and go from there before fully committing to the mass murder.

Inside the Great Hall it was now a lot busier than 3 weeks ago. The Jarl sat in his throne, surrounded by his Thanes. Vikti Scaldar was in the centre of the hall staring into the flames of one of the large bonfires. The previously empty tables and benches were now filled with Marauders, freemen and women feasting on mountains of hunted meat, rye bread and ale.

And it seems a copious amount of ale had already been consumed, judging from the slurred chanting and the heap of empty barrels.

‘… I’m not late am I? Sigrun said to come when the sky darkened, but it looks like the party has been going on for a while already.’

His fears however were unfounded. This was deliberately planned so that he, the guest of honour for this feast, would arrive late and be forced to take a penalty. The Marauders especially, after seeing Erik swing his sword, had admitted he was skilled with arms. But to prove his manliness, Erik would need to pass more tests than martial prowess.

The one they would test now, of course, was drinking! They wouldn’t rest until either Erik went down on the floor or they did. As for the third “test of manliness”, huehue, these men were even more eager to see. But they would let the other demographic half of the feasters judge Erik on that front. Rumours would spread like wild fire from there and either allow the men to laugh or cry when they heard.

All in all, every tribesman gathered at the feast was well-disposed to and appreciative of Erik. None of the malcontents were invited.

Starting with a toast to Khorne for victory and a second to Slaanesh to witness their feast (of course accompanied by the ritual sacrifice of 2 lucky thralls) Erik joined in the merrymaking.

He also found out that while a lot of the drink was indeed ale, there was also a lot of mead and even southern wines mixed in among the barrels.

The feast continued until the prepared firewood for the fires ran out and the torches started fluttering. By that point Erik had consumed more alcohol than he bothered to remember and stuffed his belly with delicious meat. Safe to say, he was quite inebriated at this point and he had long let go of his inhibitions.

Ingolf’s plan to have a heart-to-heart had fallen through due to the unexpected scope of festivities and as he withdrew to his wife’s quarters, he resolved to have Erik brought into the Hall as early as possible. Partly to get important matters out of the way, but largely just to mess with Erik. Judging from the amount he drunk, tomorrow’s hangover would be a sight to behold.

Before he closed the door though, he spotted Sigrun walking towards Erik. Cheeks slightly flushed from drink, she was still better off than Erik. Trusting in his daughter’s judgement, the quite inebriated himself Jarl finally left the ending feast behind.