Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 153: Steam & Steel

After dining with his strategic partners, Ragnar took a bath before entering the guest room he was provided in the Guildhall of York.

It was down the hall from Princess Elfwynn and Elfrida’s. However, he had no intention to visit either of them in the night. Elfwynn was his COO, and fraternization was against company policy.

As for Elfrida... well, she was a liability he intended to restructure, not acquire.

As such, he made sure to latch the doors and windows to his room thoroughly. One could never be too careful.

If Ragnar were in the modern era, he would probably sweep his room for bugs before resting, but this was the medieval world; such sophisticated espionage did not exist at this time.

As such, he was able to sleep the night away without concern... aside from the occasional nightmare about declining profit margins.

By the time the smog-choked dawn rose, Ragnar had naturally awakened; after all, his body was used to waking up at such an hour to check the early market reports.

Despite this, he was left with nothing to do as he had no major audits while he was in York, and most of his workout equipment was back in City Titan.

As such, he decided to do a small workout, where he did his usual routine of pushups, sit-ups, and cane-assisted squats.

As for his pullups, he would not be able to do such a thing as he lacked a proper bar. As such, he skipped it for the day and went on a limp around the city walls, though he dressed in a simple grey cloak to avoid any assassination attempts that might occur on his journey.

After his journey was over, he returned to the Guildhall where he intended to take a bath. However, the moment he opened the door to the bathhouse, he noticed that there was a figure already inside the wooden tub.

Her back was to him, steam rising from her shoulders as she scrubbed herself with a rough sponge. Ragnar immediately recognized the severe bun of hair to be Elfwynn’s.

He stared at the back of his Chief Engineer for several seconds, calculating the probability of this being a trap, before coming to his senses.

By the time he came back to reality, Elfwynn turned around, her glasses fogged up, and her mouth agape. She looked like she was about to scream. As such, Ragnar quickly shut the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily.

"That... was not in the schedule," Ragnar muttered to himself.

Elfwynn immediately sunk into her tub with embarrassment after Ragnar shut the door; she had utterly forgotten to lock it, usually relying on her "Do Not Disturb" sign which had fallen off.

As such, she was struggling to cope with what had just happened.

Ragnar, on the other hand, briskly walked away as if nothing had happened, his cane clicking rhythmically on the stone floor. As he was doing so, he thought to himself:

That stays in the confidential files.

Afterward, he arrived in his room and waited until a time where he felt as if Elfwynn would have left the tub, which was a safe thirty minutes.

After waiting, he returned to the bath where he knocked on the door with the head of his cane. When there was no sound, he entered, stripped, and began his bath.

It was an exceptionally long soak as he tried to purge the image of his COO from his mind; in times like this, he wished he didn’t have a photographic memory for details.

After getting out of the tub and dressing in his black tunic, Ragnar returned to the main hall, where Elfwynn was waiting for him, sitting at a table with a stack of blueprints, fully clothed and looking mortified.

Ragnar had no desire to address the incident directly, and as such, he merely sat down across from her and poured himself a cup of coffee.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Elfwynn adjusted her spectacles and asked the question on her mind, her voice trembling slightly.

"Director... did you see the quarterly projections?"

Ragnar played the part of a professional and dodged the awkward situation that presented itself.

"The steam... obscured the data. I suppose that’s a good thing for confidentiality."

Ragnar’s words relieved Elfwynn immensely. The way he communicated his sentence made it sound as if he was not the least bit interested in her as anything other than an asset.

As such, she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

"Good. Efficiency is victory, after all."

Ragnar nodded, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Indeed. Now, about those coal shipments..."

Elfwynn relaxed visibly. If they were talking about coal, everything was normal.

She quickly launched into a detailed report about the tonnage arriving from Scotland, grateful that her boss was a man who valued spreadsheets over scandal.

The last thing he needed was a workplace romance lawsuit in the middle of a hostile takeover.

As such, after finishing his coffee, the two executives left the hall and headed to the dining room, where they joined up with the others for breakfast.

Sitting at the breakfast table was Bishop Aethelwold, Elfrida, and her husband Eadric.

Elfrida was glaring at Elfwynn with a mix of jealousy and confusion, noticing her sister’s flustered state.

Ragnar took his seat at the head of the table, placing his skull mug down with a heavy thud.

"Good morning, team," Ragnar announced. "How are the synergy levels today?"

Eadric looked like he wanted to crawl under the table. "O-optimal, Director. The sewers are... flowing."

"Excellent," Ragnar nodded. "

A clean city is a productive city."

It was only after he had said his greetings that he noticed Elfrida staring at him with a sense of overwhelming fury.

However, he chalked it up to her being upset about her husband’s demotion; after all, she was pretty well known for being ambitious.

Hell hath no fury like a noblewoman demoted to the wife of a sanitation manager.

Elfrida was furious with Ragnar; she could not understand why he would choose a "nerd" like Elfwynn to be his right hand instead of a sophisticated lady like herself.

As such, the atmosphere at the table was quite tense as Elfrida continued to stare at Ragnar as if she wanted to liquidate his assets with her mind.

Ragnar, on the other hand, was quite entertained by this, but he genuinely had no interest in Elfrida; she was inefficient and high-maintenance. As such, he spent his time at the dinner table pandering to Elfwynn’s ideas about steam pressure, which only further increased the wrath in Elfrida’s heart.

"You look... efficient today, Elfwynn," Ragnar noted, pointing to her new tool belt.

"Directorate issue?"

"Yes, Director," Elfwynn beamed. "Custom fit for the new calipers."

Though he was complimenting her equipment, there was also a genuine appreciation for her competence. However, Elfrida merely pouted.

Though she had been able to get her hands on some of the Directorate’s new silk scarves, they were never as high-quality as the engineering tools Elfwynn was issued.

The reason for this was simple. Ragnar reserved the best equipment for his productive employees; everyone else had to get their hands on consumer-grade goods.

As such, Elfrida continued to behave like a jaded shareholder, and Ragnar ignored her.

Eventually, Bishop Aethelwold caught on to the looks Elfrida was giving Ragnar and began to chastise the woman in a low enough voice that it could not be overheard by the others present at the table. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"My child, envy is a sin. And eyeing the Director is... unwise."

The Bishop knew that such a thing as a romance between Ragnar and Elfwynn had never occurred, but it was still infuriating to see Elfrida gaze at another man with such passion, even if it was mostly fury at being overlooked.

The breakfast continued with a great deal of drama at the table, which Ragnar would only be able to relieve himself from when it was finally finished.

As for the meeting with the Scottish Coal Barons that would come later in the day... that was where the real fun would begin.

"Director," Elfwynn said suddenly, breaking the tension.

"I have an idea for the London operation."

Ragnar raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"The Leviathan," Elfwynn said, pushing her glasses up her nose. "What if we mount a Steam Whistle on it? One loud enough to shatter windows."

Ragnar’s grin was terrifying.