Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 67: Heart’s Dominion

A few days had passed since Ragnar visited the sulking King Horik, and he was currently sitting on the high seat of the Governor’s Palace in York, where Leif the Lesser rushed in and handed him a logistics report. The report contained the joint public denunciation of the Church’s trade blockade by Princess Judith of Wessex and the Merchant Guild of Mercia. The southerners were quite gutsy in their rebuking of the Bishop. They even went so far as to declare that the Church was interfering with the "Free Market" and the prosperity of the realm, as such this event caused quite a stir in the Saxon world, as a proclamation by a Princess condemning a Bishop turned into quite the scandal as there were plenty of minor lords, knights, and traders who agreed with the two factions and their joint declaration.

Surprisingly several Irish Kings from Dublin came out and condemned the Frankish interference, especially the High King of Dublin whose territory was currently relying on Ragnar’s cheap steel exports, which was a great point of contention between the insular trade networks and the continental powers at the moment.

Ragnar read the report with a wide grin; he did not know how Gyda had managed to pull off this diplomatic coup with nothing but a bolt of purple velvet, but he was thankful for her ruthless efficiency; he was completely oblivious to the specific bribes she had promised, but even if he did know he would not be angry as this only caused a further rift in the southern kingdoms, in which Brother Aethelstan would be able to exploit soon enough.

Speaking of Aethelstan, the man was currently working on a printed pamphlet written about the "Inefficiencies of the Modern Church" and thought it would take some time to compile the audit into a collection of cohesive bullet points; he had little doubt that soon enough, the Saxon peasants would turn on their greedy masters. He began to wonder how his actions would affect the religious landscape of England in this timeline.

As he was going over these details, Gyda walked in, saw the large smile on his face, and inquired about the reason for his pleasant mood.

"What has made the Director so happy?"

Ragnar chuckled lightly as he placed his ledger to the side and turned his attention to his beautiful Prime Minister, who by now was starting to show the physical signs of carrying the heir to the Industrial Empire.

"Nothing much; I just love seeing the market correct itself."

As his Prime Minister, he had given her a reduced workload as her condition had progressed, and she was mostly auditing accounts from the comfort of the solar. As such, she was unaware of the immediate fallout of her letter to Judith.

However, when he said such things, she could estimate that her velvet diplomacy had succeeded, and thus she smiled in return.

"That is profitable to hear."

Instantly a corporate idea began to form in Ragnar’s mind; considering that nobody was around, he motioned for his partner to come over and sit upon his lap; he took pleasure in teasing the woman who held the purse strings of his empire.

Though her cheeks began to flush in uncharacteristic embarrassment, she could not disobey the Director’s request; as such, she sat upon his lap in an awkward display in the middle of the Great Hall.

However, as he was whispering projections about the next fiscal quarter into Gyda’s ears, her father just so happened to be walking by and witnessed the affectionate display where he quickly began to scold Ragnar as he marched in his direction.

"Ragnar! Just what is it that you think you are doing on my throne?"

King Horik’s booming voice immediately caused Gyda to attempt to hop away from Ragnar’s grasp in embarrassment, but the young Director managed to capture his Prime Minister in his arms and keep her in place, which caused her to look down at the ledger and cover her face with the expense reports.

This was truly an unprofessional position to be in. Ragnar, on the other hand, had a smug expression on his face as he responded to his father-in-law’s chastisement.

"The Board has placed me in charge of the infrastructure during the expansion phase; as such, I see no reason why I can not relax on this chair while conducting a performance review with my Prime Minister. Even a Director needs a coffee break now and then..." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Horik’s gaze immediately narrowed in response to Ragnar’s claims, though it was true Ragnar was King in everything but name, that did not mean they should behave in this manner. Especially so boldly declaring in the open that he and Gyda were prioritizing romance over raiding, did he not care about his Viking reputation?

Seeing the King’s piercing gaze, Ragnar could not help but scoff internally as he held his arms tightly around Gyda, preventing her from escaping from his clutches. This public display of stability had really got him excited. Nevertheless, he could not do anything at the moment, so he listened to the King’s lecture with a smug expression on his face.

"Regardless as to whether or not you can behave in this way, it is simply unacceptable! Have you no dignity?"

Ragnar laughed lightly at the King’s words which infuriated the old man; if he acted this way as a mere Director, Horik could not imagine how he would behave when he was officially the Emperor of Industry. However, just when Horik was about to chastise him further, Ragnar let out a bold answer to his question.

"Evidently not..."

Ragnar truly was shameless, if he really wanted to, he would draft a contract forcing Gyda to sit there for the entire duration of the morning meeting, but he was not that tyrannical yet... Nevertheless, the King would not accept his inappropriate actions any further.

As such, Horik marched up to the high seat with the intent to smack him with his drinking horn. Seeing he had gone too far, Ragnar let Gyda go, where she quickly scurried off while filled with an overwhelming sense of administrative humiliation. Of course, he made sure to voice his thoughts aloud as the King stopped at the steps just below him.

"Damn, I love that Auditor..."

With that said, King Horik looked at him with disgust and stormed off; he could not believe his son-in-law had grown into such a soft-hearted modern man.

Ragnar, on the other hand, began to stretch, now that he was relaxed from the little fun he was able to achieve in this brief moment, he quickly got back to the task at hand. For a man with great ambitions like him, the assembly line never stopped.