In early November, inspectors from Londinium County arrived to evaluate militia training across the towns.
To everyone's surprise, Luton actually met the required standard.
When the training period finally ended, cheers erupted from the crowd.
By tradition, commoners owed forty days of unpaid labor each year—but most would rather perform any other task than endure the exhausting monotony of military drills.
With the militia dismissed, Frode took out a small pouch of silver pennies and paid the instructors their wages, sending them on their way.
The entire training program was finally over, and his life returned to normal.
That evening, Ostara made a suggestion to her husband.
"The Queen sent many household supplies and asked us to return to the palace for a few days when we have time."
"We've survived the militia training," Frode replied.
"The rest of the schedule is free."
Weary of rural life, he decided to take his wife back to the city for a change of pace.
In the palace garden, Frode saw his two younger brothers flying kites and walked over to chat.
Freyr immediately began complaining:
"The Army Academy has taken in a lot of new students lately. The short-term training classes have doubled too. The dining hall is always packed—I can't even get my favorite fried cod anymore. Brother, give me some money. There's a food stall outside the school that makes great cod. I'm planning to eat lunch there from now on."
Frode pulled a handful of silver pennies from his pocket, prompting loud cheers from Freyr.
Their younger brother Greg demanded money as well, forcing Frode to hand over two more pennies just to send him away.
Ignoring the boys, Frode's thoughts began racing:
The Army Academy is expanding… militia training is underway in all twelve counties… Is Father planning to enlarge the army again?
He went to Vig's office.
The king was reading a report, then picked up a quill and marked a location on the large wall map.
Sensing his son's confusion, Vig explained first:
"Saxony has been in turmoil recently—because of the silver mines in the Harz Mountains.
As early as the third century, small mining sites appeared there, producing copper and lead. After Charlemagne conquered Saxony, mining expanded somewhat, though copper remained the main output.
Then last year, a major silver deposit was discovered. Now neighboring lords are eyeing it greedily."
Frode replied:
"That's good news. Hopefully the Franks will fall into civil war because of it."
Vig shook his head.
"In recent years, Charles the Bald and his nephews have shown restraint. When disputes arise, they no longer raise armies immediately. They negotiate instead.
The reason is simple:
In their eyes, I have become a threat they cannot ignore—greater than the Moors in Iberia or the tribes in Eastern Europe."
He paused before continuing:
"Britain has only 2.6 million people, yet faces hostility from the entire Frankish world. Fortunately, the Royal Navy controls the seas. Otherwise, a Frankish coalition army would have landed long ago."
At that moment, Frode's gaze shifted toward Northern Europe on the map.
Vig understood instantly and sighed again.
"After years of war—and large-scale migration into Britain—Northern Europe has been severely weakened.
Norway, Sweden, and Denmark combined now have barely 800,000 people.
In the last war, Halfdan's Nordic coalition fought the brothers of Carloman. Before that, I had defeated those same brothers. Even so, the Nordic coalition still lost to the remnants of Carloman's forces.
Don't place too much hope in them."
After dismissing the Crown Prince, Vig continued reviewing documents.
A report from the Ministry of the Army summarized militia performance:
Across 12 directly governed counties and 90 towns, only 40% had passed the evaluation.
The ministry's standards were:
Short-distance march in four columns
No more than 5% of soldiers allowed to fall out of formation
Cavalry approach test
When cavalry charged to within 20 paces, the militia must hold position without breaking
Spear assault drill
Form a battle line and charge wooden targets
At least 70% of targets must be struck within the time limit
Separate tests were conducted for:
reconnaissance riders
longbowmen
Their performance was slightly better, with a 50% pass rate.
At the end of the report, the ministry added an assessment:
Even units that passed still required six more weeks of advanced training before they could be organized into infantry regiments capable of real combat.
Vig leaned back in thought.
"The training system has been successfully implemented. The shortage of reserve manpower is easing.
Now the real bottleneck is officers."
He reviewed the Army Academy curriculum—one he had personally designed years earlier. He could find nothing to simplify and no way to shorten training time.
At noon, Vig had lunch with his family, then returned to his office to continue working.
Recent affairs were so busy that he no longer had time for an afternoon nap.
At three in the afternoon, he finished the last document and began receiving visitors, patiently listening to the requests of nobles and merchants.
Two hours later, a sea captain from the New World entered the office.
Vig recognized him.
"Captain Toril, how is Bjorn doing lately?"
The captain accepted a cup of cane liquor from the king and began reporting.
Through continuous migration, Bjorn had established a settlement at the mouth of a river in the New World. It now had more than a thousand residents.
Following local native custom, the settlement was named:
Quebec
Quebec's core industry was trade.
Vikings traveled upstream into the Great Lakes region, selling:
iron tools
textiles
glass beads
They purchased furs from local tribes and shipped them back to Britain, earning profits exceeding tenfold.
Vig asked:
"Can three-masted ships reach the Great Lakes?"
The captain shook his head.
"They can't. There are shallows and rapids along the way. Large sailing ships can't pass.
We have to use traditional rowing longships. In some sections, navigation isn't possible at all—we have to drag the boats over land.
Oh, and there was this madman who ate too many wild mushrooms and suggested digging canals and dredging rivers so large ships could reach the Great Lakes. Ha! Pure fantasy."
The captain's cup was empty.
Vig simply handed him an entire bottle of cane liquor and continued questioning:
"Besides the Great Lakes, have you explored any other regions?"
Toril nodded and went on.
Quebec had sent two two-masted ships south.
The first ran aground and was lost.
The second sailed along the coast and stopped at a river mouth to rest and trade with locals.
The natives called the place:
Massachusetts
That night, the Vikings were ambushed by the inhabitants.
Most of the crew were killed or wounded.
Only about twenty survivors managed to sail back to Quebec.
After that experience, Bjorn temporarily lost interest in further southern exploration.
Instead, he began accumulating warhorses.
Against poorly trained native warriors, cavalry held overwhelming superiority. Bjorn planned to assemble a cavalry force of fifty riders before considering expansion again.
After listening, Vig spoke with a hint of regret:
"A pity. If your ships had continued south, they might have encountered our navy's exploration fleet."
Toril looked puzzled.
"Why aren't your exploration ships using the original route anymore?"
—------------------------------
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