A day later, Ragnar and his troops appeared at the gates of Upland. Five thousand people, this number doesn’t sound like a lot, but it looks like it’s already a dark place.
Ragnar stood out among these five thousand people. He was much older than Heystein, and similar to Hunter Misterin. Time had turned his long beard white and left indelible marks on his face. Despite this, he still looked energetic.
He was sitting on a majestic white horse, covered in a set of extremely delicate but extremely heavy armor. But the armor was draped on his burly body, but it made people feel that it was just a piece of light paper, and his horse was also covered in heavy armor. It carried heavy armor on its back and carried Ragna running for a day, but now it was still eager to jump out of the military formation, as if there was nowhere to vent its energy.
Obviously Upland City is much higher than him, but when he stands under Upland City, it feels like a big mountain is pressing down from above.
The soldiers who followed Alfred saw Ragnar for the first time. But many of them have met Sigurd, Halfdan, and Ivar. Great Britain almost fell under the invasion of these lords of the Pirate Kingdom. Although Alfred turned the tide after taking office, the fear of those three lords still remained in everyone's hearts. Ragnar is the father of those three people, and he has always been a demigod in rumors in England.
Ragnar approached Upland step by step, and the troops ambush on Upland became more and more nervous. Fortunately, Ella had already taken precautions - she asked the soldiers to pile all the bows in one place in advance. Otherwise, many people must have been shooting arrows at Ragnar driven by fear.
However, Ella and Amy did not feel that kind of pressure - probably because Ragnar was already old, and they both felt that he was not as good as Hestein. Although it does look quite strong, it doesn't seem to be as scary as the legend says. Ella even wondered why Hestad lost to him with a huge advantage.
Bjorn came forward, followed closely by Rurik. Rurik's expression seemed a bit unnatural to Ella, while Bjorn also had a serious expression, probably because he was afraid of his father's relationship. This made the atmosphere even more depressing.
Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened. Ragnar and his troops walked in openly without noticing anything unusual in the city. Ragnar's soldiers were led into the square to revel, while Ragnar and a few of his cronies entered the Lord's Hall, where Bjorn had prepared a banquet for them.
Ella breathed a sigh of relief and asked: "Amy, how is the poison?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, it has been mixed into the wine. But because the quantity is not enough, there is no way for the soldiers in the square to drink it."
"Did Rurik get the antidote?"
"Of course, but -" Amy sneered, "I turned the tables, and the antidote was fake."
Ella was taken aback and was about to say something when Rurik had already walked over with several people. He winked at Ella. Ella immediately understood and asked everyone to wait for orders, and then took Amy and followed Rurik out.
"Something is not right." Rurik said to Ella while walking on the way to the secret passage. "I have been paying attention to the movements of the hundreds of people brought by Bjorn. But just now, they disappeared."
"disappeared?"
"Yes, they are missing! Bjorn must have noticed something unusual and asked these hundreds of people to protect Ragnar! But they are in the dark now, and we have no idea about their deployment!"
While they were talking, they had already arrived at the mouth of the dry well. Rurik stopped, stared at Ella and said:
"The situation has become a bit dangerous. I can let your people sneak away from Upland quietly, which will be beneficial to both you and me - even so, do you still insist on staying to assassinate Ragnar? "
"If there is a better opportunity in the future, I will definitely give up this plan." Ella also stared at Rurik and asked: "But, will it really happen? Rurik, do you want to back down again?"
"No, seeing how determined you are makes me a little more confident."
Rurik moved his gaze from Ella to the well.
"This secret passage has been dug for many years. If I don't use it anymore, I will be old. I won't say any more, just go in."
After passing through the secret passage, Climbing Ella quietly lifted up the floor in the shaft and observed the situation in the room: Ragna was sitting on the stone seat where Rurik sat, taking in a panoramic view of the entire hall. Bjorn sat on the lower right side of him, and there were about seven or eight other people sitting on both sides of the same long table.
From Ella's perspective, she could only see the feet of these people. But she could feel that the atmosphere in the room was extremely heavy - there was no noise that should have been caused by the banquet, and she could only hear people drinking heavily.
After a while, Bjorn's drunken voice sounded: "Father, why don't you drink at all?"
"Why don't you drink?" Ragnar's voice sounded a little irritable. "Your eldest brother, second brother, and third brother are all dead, but Hestein ran away. I would like to ask you why you can still drink. Drink?"
"Father, you know that third brother Sigurd has robbed my territory... Brother Ivar has been acting strange since he lost his legs due to illness and stopped paying attention to me..."
"Halfdan! Your second brother Halfdan is also dead! He was supposed to inherit the position of King of Heroes!"
Ragna's roar shook the tableware on the table.
"Ivar, Halfdan, and Sigurd are all dead! Only you, the most useless one, are left! Without me, you would still be locked in a cage by Hestein! A waste like you doesn't even have a piece of territory. You want it from me!”
Bjorn suddenly laughed.
"So in the eyes of my father, have I always been a waste? But father, you are wrong this time - the eldest brother, the second brother, and the third brother are all dead, and they have no sons. According to the ancient and sacred law France, I am now the joint lord of Frisia, Scotland and Ireland! Moreover, father, you sent troops to attack the vassals under your protection, which completely violated the ancient law, so..."
Bjorn's words stopped here. At the same time, a wine glass fell from Bjorn's hand, fell to the ground, and broke into pieces. Along with this sound, hundreds of people suddenly rushed in and surrounded Ragna and his men!
"...What are you going to do, son?"
"Heir to your throne, father."
