In an age of blood, steel, and freezing spray, a Viking’s worth is measured by the swing of his axe. They are raiders. They are conquerors. They are the terror of the North.

Ragnar, the eighteen-year-old bastard son of a starving chieftain, is none of these things. Just a month ago, he was a Senior Naval Architect in Seattle, designing high-efficiency cargo vessels. Now, he stands on a frozen fjord in 865 AD, facing a suicide mission to England that threatens to wipe out his village.

Mocked for his refusal to raid and his obsession with "wizard words" like logistics and drag coefficients, Ragnar is dismissed as a coward. But they are all wrong. 

Where they see a longship, he sees a displacement curve waiting to be optimized. Where they see a storm, he sees wind energy waiting to be harnessed.

They say his methods are madness. Soon, they will realize that while they are playing at war, he is engineering an empire.

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Disclaimer:

*Kingdom Building & Tech-Uplift: MC uses modern engineering to revolutionize the Viking Age.
*Weak-to-Strong: Starts as a despised bastard, progresses to a wealthy tycoon/warlord.
*High Detail: Detailed descriptions of ship-building and primitive industrialization.

"What do I want?" Rudolf asked. He crossed his arms over his chest, a spark lighting up his dark eyes. "If you want Burgundy to shut its borders to Emperor Louis... I want four things from you, Hakon."


"Huh?!" Hakon blinked, his arrogant smirk vanishing. 


He tilted his head, genuinely taken aback. "Four things? I just offered you enough tools to save your kingdom from starvation, and you are making demands?"


"I am the King of this land, Viking," Rudolf stated firmly, "And you are asking me to put my people in the path of a million Frankish soldiers armed with explosive muskets. So yes. I am making demands."


Chapter 389 - Four Demands