Louis sighed heavily. "I will bring my musket."

"You will not bring a musket~" Ragnar instructed. "Magnus is only two years old, his eardrums are still developing. We will use traditional wooden bows. It will be a quiet, educational hunt."

Within thirty minutes, the hunting party left the stone house.

They walked out of the town of Wessex and entered the local forest.

Ragnar carried Magnus in a special leather carrier strapped securely to his chest.

This allowed Ragnar to keep both of his hands free while ensuring his son was safe.

Cedric walked beside Ragnar, holding a simple wooden bow.

"The Wessex forest covers exactly four hundred square miles," Cedric stated, "If a standard adult deer yields sixty pounds of edible meat, and a human requires two pounds of meat per day, this forest holds enough to feed a town of three thousand people for exactly twenty days."

"That is very good math~ Cedric." Ragnar praised him.

"I suggest we avoid the wild boars," Louis added, looking around the trees. "Since we do not have our cannons, a boar is a risk."

Hakon stopped walking. He raised his hand, signaling the group to freeze.

He pointed his finger at the brown dirt.

There were fresh animal tracks in the mud. The tracks were large and deeply pressed into the ground, indicating a very heavy animal.

"Boar." Hakon whispered.

"Of course it is a boar," Louis complained, taking a step backward. "The universe specifically ignores my advice."

Ragnar unhooked a heavy iron spear from his back. He held it firmly in his right hand. He placed his left hand over Magnus’s chest to keep the baby secure.

"Stay behind me, Cedric," Ragnar ordered. "Do not get yourself killed by a pig."

Cedric quickly hid behind a large tree. Hakon gripped his iron axe with both hands, ready to swing.

They walked slowly through the bushes. Suddenly, they heard a loud grunting sound.

Exactly thirty yards ahead of them, a massive wild boar stepped out from behind a tree.

Ragnar stepped forward. He stood in the open dirt, directly in the path of the angry animal.

The boar let out a loud squeal and charged. It accelerated rapidly, running straight at Ragnar.

Louis panicked. "Ragnar!"

Ragnar waited until the boar was five feet away. Then, he dropped to his right knee. He planted the blunt wooden end of the iron spear firmly into the hard dirt.

He tilted the sharp steel tip upward, pointing it directly at the boar’s chest.

The boar was moving too fast to change direction. It ran directly into the stationary spear.

The wooden shaft of the spear bent slightly under the incredible pressure, but the hard dirt kept it firmly in place. The boar squealed once, collapsed onto the ground, and died instantly.

Ragnar pulled the iron spear out of the dirt and wiped the blood off the steel tip using the grass.

Magnus clapped his tiny hands and laughed. He did not understand death; he only knew that his father had done something very impressive.

Cedric stepped out from behind the tree, his eyes wide. "You did not even use your own muscle power!"

"Whether it is using the earth to kill a boar, or using a tournament to recruit a smart logistics minister. Brute force is useless without brains." Ragnar smiled, patting his son’s blonde hair. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Let us start a fire, we will cook the meat here in the woods. And then, we will pack our bags and return to City Titan."

They gathered wooden sticks and used a flint striker to start a fire.

"Eat well, my friends~" Ragnar said, taking a bite of his food. "

The group smiled and continued eating.

An hour later, with the fire extinguished and their belongings packed, the small caravan began its journey.

Ragnar rode his brown horse along the dirt road.

Right now, Magnus was sleeping safely inside a wooden carriage located in the exact center of the traveling group. The carriage had four wooden wheels and a canvas roof.

Before Ragnar on the dirt road, there was a massive military column. Ragnar had gathered a large escort for this journey back to his capital.

There were three hundred newly recruited knights riding horses. These knights were the men who had participated in the tournament yesterday.

Behind the knights marched two hundred trained musketeers from the Iron Kingdom. They walked on foot, carrying their long iron muskets over their shoulders.

Suddenly, Hakon stopped walking. He raised his hand into the air.

Ragnar pulled the leather reins of his horse. The entire military column behind him stopped moving.

"What is it, Hakon?" Ragnar asked.

Hakon pointed his finger down the dirt road. "Smoke. One mile ahead. I hear screaming."

Ragnar looked forward. He saw a thin column of black smoke rising into the air above the green trees. He also heard the faint sound of metal hitting metal.

"Hakon, Louis, follow me," Ragnar commanded. He turned around to face the three hundred knights.

"Knights! Draw your swords and follow me! Musketeers, advance forward at a fast march!"

Ragnar kicked his horse. The brown horse sprinted forward. The three hundred knights spurred their horses and followed him.

They quickly crossed the distance. When Ragnar arrived at the source of the smoke, he pulled his horse to a sudden stop.

There were three wooden carts stopped in the middle of the dirt road.

Sacks of grain and wooden barrels of ale were spilled across the dirt. Standing around the carts were roughly sixty wild men.

These men were Viking raiders. They wore dirty animal furs, carried iron axes, and held round wooden shields.

They were currently terrorizing five unarmed Saxon merchants. One of the wooden carts had been set on fire.

The leader of the raiding party stepped forward.

"Well, well, well~" the red-bearded raider laughed loudly. He pointed his iron axe at Ragnar.

"Look at all these shiny knights! You boys look very pretty in your steel armor. But this is our road today. Turn around and ride away, or we will chop your horses’ legs off!"

The knights behind Ragnar grew angry. Sir Thomas, a young knight, rode his horse forward next to Ragnar.

"King Ragnar," Sir Thomas said. "Give us the order. We can charge forward and cut them to pieces with our swords in one minute!"

Ragnar held up his hand. "No, Sir Thomas. I want you to sit on your horse and watch. I want all the knights to learn how the Iron Kingdom fights."

Ragnar looked back down the dirt road. The two hundred musketeers were marching quickly toward them.

"Captain!" Ragnar shouted. "Form a firing line! Two ranks! Fifty yards from the target!"

One hundred men knelt on the dirt road. One hundred men stood behind them.

They rested their long iron muskets on their shoulders and pulled back the flint levers.

The Viking raiders stopped laughing. They looked at the iron tubes with extreme confusion.

"What are those sticks?" the red-bearded leader asked, squinting his eyes.

Ragnar rode his horse ten paces forward. He looked at the raider leader.

"My name is Ragnar Ulfsson, King of the Iron Kingdom,"

"I am giving you one warning. Drop your iron axes on the dirt. Surrender right now. If you do not surrender, you will die."

The red-bearded leader spat on the dirt. He raised his round wooden shield and screamed a battle cry. "We take what we want! Kill them all!"

The sixty raiders roared and charged forward, running directly at the line of musketeers.

Ragnar lowered his hand. "Fire!"

The front rank of one hundred musketeers pulled their triggers.

A huge cloud of white sulfur smoke covered the dirt road. One hundred small lead balls smashed directly into the charging raiders.

The lead balls punched straight through the wood and into the men’s chests. Exactly forty raiders dropped dead on the dirt road instantly.

The remaining twenty raiders stopped running. They fell to their knees.

The three hundred knights sitting on their horses were completely silent.

"Reload!" the musket captain shouted. The front rank stepped back, and the second rank stepped forward, aiming their loaded muskets at the surviving twenty raiders.

"Do not shoot!" the red-bearded leader screamed, holding his hands high in the air. "We surrender! Please do not use the magic thunder again!"

Ragnar nodded. "Hakon. Secure the prisoners."

Ragnar rode his horse over to the three burning merchant carts. The five Saxon merchants came out from hiding behind the wheels. They bowed deeply to Ragnar.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" the oldest merchant said, "They were going to kill us and steal our cargo! We owe you our lives!"

"You owe me nothing~" Ragnar said. "What were you transporting in these wooden carts?"

"We are transporting a highly valuable shipment from the southern coast," the merchant explained. He opened a wooden box sitting on the back of the cart.

Ragnar looked inside the wooden box. He expected to see silver coins or rare spices. Instead, he saw something very strange.

The box was filled with heavy, dark green metal bars. The metal had a very unusual shine to it.

Louis rode his horse forward and looked into the box. The chief engineer gasped loudly.

"Ragnar~" Louis said, "Do you know what this is? This is raw copper! And the box next to it is filled with tin!"

"Cedric," Ragnar ordered. "Calculate the payment for these merchants. We will buy their entire cargo right now for double the market price."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Cedric nodded.