"Yes...We need to do that. We would urgently start recruiting people..." Baldur spoke seriously. "But this needs to be done quietly; we can't make a fuss of it yet. We wouldn't survive a confrontation with the earl yet if it comes to that."
Gunic paused and nodded. "Wise words, my lord."
"We would need to find another location to establish a camp to host and recruit those people. It needs to be far away from here, but at the same time, it needs to be close enough to come in record time if something happens here."
"And the earl shouldn't be able to find or know about it."
"Also! We can't continue expanding this business as we have been doing so far. We will stop here with what we have until we recruit a small army to defend these lands and his people."
"Besides, we need to find new people to trade with and suppliers and partners of iron ore from Sweden to continue making the good iron."
"Which place have you said the ore came from?" He thought for a moment and asked.
"From Svealand," Gunic replied.
"Where is that?"
"My lord, let me explain to you as I understand it a bit better, as I come from Sweden," Gunic said as he grabbed a blank wooden table and started carving on it before Baldur's eyes, while explaining.
"Sweden is divided into three regions, Svealand at its core, Norrland in the north, and Götaland to the south. Deep forests separate Svealand from Götaland."
"Inside the core region of Svealand, it is further divided into different subregions like Värmland and Uppland, where Uppsala is."
"We're currently in the region of Kattegat, which lies under Earl Haraldson's control. Upplǫnd also falls within his jurisdiction. His lands border the western part of Svealand—Värmland—to the east, ruled by the aging Earl Olof Trätälja. To the southeast lies Alfheim, where Hedeby sits: a bustling hub of trade. We should sell our goods there. Finally, to the southwest, the county of Vestfold is held by Earl Harald Halfdansson. Rumor has it he shares distant kin with Olof's family, though there's no solid proof of it."
"Mhm...Interesting..." Baldur replied as he caressed his chin pensively while looking at the sort of crude regional map.
Gunic waited for his lord to talk on his own as he left him to his thoughts while he instead did his own thing, ordering the things around the desk.
'So, Hedeby was beside Kattegat, as Lagertha said in the TV show. It should be easy to get hold of that place with a good force of men. The problem lies that he would be limited after he rules there with Earl Borg of Götaland.'
'Maybe we could raise the force we need in the lands of Alfheim, very close to our land. And if things spiral out of way, that Earl Sigvard, I think it was, causes any kind of trouble, I can kill him ahead of time because of his distaste for him since he saw him on the TV show.'
'We'll see...'
"Well, let's start quickly recruiting 30 more able men who could fight, and we would leave them to be trained with Jokul," Baldur said.
"That berserker seems entertained fighting and teaching all day how to fight, my lord. It surely was a blessing getting hold of that man."
"Yeah, it was a lucky encounter indeed." Baldur thought. "When I encountered him, that man was eating the companions of the men he is sparring and training now, you know?"
"They were all part of a warband, the fuckers just had bad luck of stumbling upon Jokul while being drugged the shit out of himself."
"I fought him in combat to stop him."
Gunic quickly asked with interest, engrossed in it. "And what happened?"
"I fought with him for a hundred exchanges before he couldn't hold the sword anymore, even if he wanted." Baldur grinned, showing his white teeth. "That's how I subdued him. He soon became willing to follow me after that."
"And the rest? The other twenty we have?"
"They followed pretty quickly after I proposed a good life for them after knowing they were a warband in critical need of coin."
"I took their need as a chance and made them my guards of this place." Baldur laughed. "They served me well since then..."
Suddenly, there was a disturbance in the reception room.
"Good day, Chief and ladies!" Baug saluted loudly.
-A.N: I will be using lady and miss as I got bored looking for the proper term of the time and their way of addressing each other, and I don't want to overcomplicate myself for these things...Maybe I will even start using 'sir and lord' and other words too.-
Baldur and Gunic looked at each other before looking at the arched door in the wall. From there, Ragnar soon appeared, and surprisingly, all the family too.
Gunic quickly put on a fawning look of pleasing his masters as he welcomed everyone. "Welcome, Welcome! my lord and ladies! Good day for everyone."
"Good day, Gunic." Ragnar greeted him with a forearm shake. Soon after him, Bjorn, who also came, greeted him. "Hello, Gunic."
Lagertha and Gyda also nodded to him in a polite greeting.
Gyda moved and sat in the lap of Baldur, who with gusto embraced her waist. "What are you doing here, brother?" she asked cutely. "It's been a long time since you left already."
"Really?" Baldur asked with doubt, not feeling the quick passing of time as he chatted with Gunic.
"Mhm-mh." She nodded as she kissed his lips. "It's almost time for eating."
Bjorn took the jar of mead and served himself a drink in the cup of his brother, as he was thirsty after training for so long.
"Sorry for my poor reception, my lords. I wasn't notified that you would come to my humble place." Gunic quickly apologized. "Had I known, I would have prepared a fine reception for everyone."
"Don't you worry, Gunic, we just came to bother my son," Ragnar said with a smile as he sat in a chair.
"It seems nobody wanted to do bothersome things around the house today, huh?" Baldur looked at everyone.
"And they shouldn't, for that are the servants linked to your family." Gunic quickly said.
"We came to see what was happening around here. It's been a while since I came, and things change fast and become lively." Lagertha added.
"Well...Tell my family what is 'happening' around here, Gunic." Baldur pushed his loyal overseer to the front. "You are the overseer after this place, after all."