December 27, 869 AD
Ragnar sat on a chair inside his private room, staring at a thick piece of animal parchment resting on his wide table.
Ragnar began to read the old rules of the kingdom he made three years ago.
Three years ago, the kingdom was small. The first rule stated that every farmer must give one tenth of his wheat and one pig to the king's storage buildings before winter.
The second rule stated that every man over the age of fifteen must own a spear and a shield to defend the walls.
The third rule stated that any man who stole iron from the blacksmiths would lose his right hand.
These rules were very effective when Ragnar only ruled a small city, but Ragnar recognized that the world had changed entirely.
Therefore, Ragnar picked up his feather pen, dipped it into a small clay cup filled with black ink, and decided to rewrite the rules again on the paper. He deliberately overloaded his own mind with the new complexities of his empire.
