Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 150: Next Generation

At the moment, Magnus was currently in "class," silently listening to the instructor explain basic arithmetic.

In the classroom around him were a bunch of boys his own age... sons of Guildmasters, shift supervisors, and the occasional ambitious farmer.

Under Ragnar’s Educational Reform Act, he had separated the curriculum by vocation rather than just gender, in order to avoid any inefficiencies.

This way he was also able to design the syllabus in a way that catered to the specific needs of the future workforce.

As such, this was a "Management Track" school, with instructors poached from the best monasteries and counting houses in Europe.

The man in charge of teaching basic mathematics was a former Benedictine monk who had, at Ragnar’s request, left his order to teach "Applied Ledger Keeping."

After all, there was not much for a monk of his intellect to do in a monastery besides illuminate manuscripts, and it felt good to aid in the development of the next generation of capitalists.

Leif the Lesser was sitting next to Magnus and was struggling with the basic concepts.

He was by no means a prodigy when it came to math, but he had a fairly creative mind for structural integrity, unlike Magnus whose mind greatly resembled Ragnar’s in so far that it functioned well with profit margins and hostile takeovers.

After the basic instruction was concluded, the boys were split into "Project Teams" to work on the problems, where Magnus and Leif grouped up together with a third boy who was the son of a wealthy wool merchant.

The problem was a simple calculation of compound interest. However, the other boys were struggling with the concept.

As such, Magnus showed the Interest Rate Table Ragnar had designed and informed them as to his understanding of how it worked.

"If you loan 10 silver pieces at 5% interest per quarter," Magnus explained, tapping the slate with a piece of chalk, "you don’t just get 10.5 back. You get interest on the interest. By the end of the year, your money has made babies."

Leif, on the other hand, was incredibly frustrated. It was basic accounting, and yet he was already struggling. One could tell he was destined to be an architect or anything that utilized a great deal of geometry rather than finance.

Instead, he had drawn a schematic of a trebuchet, which for his age and lack of proper engineering degrees was quite acceptable.

He of course drew it on the back of his ledger sheet, which caused Magnus to lecture the boy.

"Of course you are not going to understand the profit margin if you keep drawing siege engines on the back of your spreadsheets instead of paying attention to the lecture!"

On the other hand, the merchant’s son in the group perfectly understood Magnus’s explanation and thanked him for the help.

"Thanks Magnus, you always know where the money goes!"

This caused Magnus to smirk. He never knew it would be so productive to interact with people of his same age.

If it was not for Ragnar insisting he go to school and "network" with the other boys, he probably would have been sheltered alone in the Governor’s Mansion his entire life. As such he responded to the boy’s compliment.

"It is efficient to share knowledge. A rising tide lifts all boats."

Seeing Magnus and the other boy get along so well, Leif began to pout. He was a sturdy boy with sawdust in his hair and hands already calloused from helping his father.

Though compared to Magnus his attire was severely lacking; after all, he was dressed in a simple tunic, compared to Magnus’s miniature black "Executive Suit".

By the expression on his face, he greatly desired to monopolize Magnus to himself.

Of course, the young boy quickly found a way out of work and began to ask Magnus questions about his famous father.

"Magnus, tell us another tale about the Director! I heard that he has a steam-powered ship now that eats smaller ships!"

The moment Leif brought up such a topic, all of the boys in the class began to listen in to Magnus and the tale he would tell this time.

They had completely forgotten about the lesson plan and were attracted by the stories of the terrifying Iron Father.

Remembering what his mother had told him about "Brand Management," Magnus decided to tell a story from Ragnar’s past that was... inspiring, if slightly embellished.

"Hmm... Where should I begin? I suppose you could say that the Director was always efficient, even when he was a mere raider.

For example, when he was first starting out, he didn’t just raid villages like a common barbarian. He... ’audited’ them."

The boys leaned in closer. "Audited?"

"Yes," Magnus nodded gravely.

"One time, he found a monastery that was hoarding gold but complaining about poverty. Most Vikings would have just taken the gold and burned the place. But my father? He sat down with the Abbot and went through their books.

He proved that they were spending too much on candles and wine. He took 80% of the gold as a ’Consulting Fee’ and left them with a budget plan to stay solvent. They thanked him as he left!"

Leif’s eyes began to glitter in excitement when he heard the calculated actions of Ragnar. He could not help but ask the question on his mind.

"What happened next?"

Magnus instantly realized the remainder of the story was not favorable to the Abbot’s health, but the entire class was staring at him with curiosity, and as such his resistance immediately collapsed and he revealed the grim details.

"Erm... The Abbot tried to hide a jeweled cross in his robes. So my father... liquidated his assets. Literally. He melted the cross down right there in the church fireplace."

The shocked and awed expression on the boys’ faces when Magnus revealed the ruthless efficiency of the Director made the class instantly break out in whispers.

Even the monk-teacher began to cross himself when he heard about this side of the man often referred to as "The Iron Demon" by the southerners.

To think the man who ruled over the region with supreme authority was so meticulous in his looting was truly a terrifying thought.

Magnus continued his story for a brief bit longer as he addressed the class.

"After that, I learned that I should not try to hide anything from the Director. He sees everything. Like the Allfather, but with a ledger."

The boys were curious about Ragnar’s other exploits, specifically the legendary duel with the French Grandmaster.

This sparked curiosity among Magnus’s classmates as they began to daydream about who would win in a fight: Ragnar or a dragon.

Surely if he was the stronger of the two, he would have turned the dragon into a blast furnace by now. Thus one of the boys quickly asked about the skull mug.

"Is it true he drinks from the skull of a giant?"

Magnus’s expression remained stoic. Though his parents did not explicitly tell him that the skull belonged to a human knight named Roland, he was not foolish enough to believe it was a prop.

He knew the skull must have belonged to someone who failed a performance review, he just did not know the specifics. Thus, a serious expression appeared on his face as he nodded.

"It was a competitor. A man who refused to innovate. Now... he serves a purpose as a coffee vessel. Nothing is wasted in the Directorate."

The teacher noticed the intense expression on the boys’ faces and immediately tried to redirect their attention so that they would focus on their work and give Magnus some reprieve from his unintentional propaganda campaign.

"Come on boys, pay attention! Interest rates won’t calculate themselves!"

The classroom full of young boys all began to groan in displeasure, but they eventually did what they were told and got back to work. Leif whispered to Magnus while they were going over their worksheets.

"That was really scary! Your dad is the best!"

To which Magnus adjusted his miniature collar in embarrassment. He knew full well that he should not be revealing such info to the boys in his class.

However, they all seemed so interested in the Brand, and as such he could not prevent himself from leaking the information.

As such, he felt slightly guilty for his lack of discretion, but not enough to prevent him from doing it again. Magnus quickly buried himself in his work, and it would not be until lunch period that he was vocal about Ragnar’s terrifying efficiency once more.

...

Meanwhile, in Ragnar’s office, the young Director felt a sudden itch in his nose, and before he knew it he had sneezed loudly, enough so that the ink on his quill splattered onto a perfectly good invoice.

After doing so he rubbed his nose and instantly said his thoughts aloud.

"Who is talking about my portfolio?"

Ragnar had no way of knowing that Magnus had revealed the "Monastery Audit" story from his past, for if he did he would surely grab ahold of the boy’s shoulders and give him a lecture on Non-Disclosure Agreements.

However, being unaware of Magnus’s revealing his trade secrets for social clout, he quickly got back to work on approving the new sewer schematics.

Just then, the door creaked open. Princess Elfwynn stuck her head in, looking pale.

"Director? We have a situation at the docks."

Ragnar wiped the ink from his invoice. "Is it the union again?"

"No," Elfwynn said, stepping fully into the room. She was holding a strange, charred piece of wood.

"The Leviathan is back from the Irish Sea. And it brought... guests."

Ragnar stood up, grabbing his cane. "Guests?"

"Refugees," Elfwynn corrected. "From Ireland. They say the Frankish mercenaries didn’t just desert Aethelwulf. They stole ships and went west. They’re raiding Dublin."