Chapter 27: The Warriors and the Monk

While the band rests during its march, several raiders keep trying to make sense of what Willibald means by love. Atli describes the seamless teamwork he shares with his brother Torgrim, the two fighting back to back and covering each other's blind spots since childhood, and asks whether that bond counts. Willibald grants their tie is special but insists it is not the love he speaks of, then asks Atli whether he would guard a stranger's back the way he guards his brother's. Atli admits he would not, which proves the friar's point.

When another man teases Willibald about his taste for ale, the friar confesses he takes no real pleasure in the drink. Frustrated, Atli gives up, but Torgrim offers a story instead. The band's oldest hands still speak of a raid in the Faroe Islands where they swarmed a single fierce warrior who fought them off with his bare hands, never drawing the sword at his hip and leaving no one dead or seriously hurt. When a man recalls the fighter's saying, that a true warrior needs no sword, Willibald jolts upright and presses for his name.

No one can remember it. The friar sinks back down beside the fire, staring into the flames, quietly turning over the memory of Thors.

Atli's brotherly bond fails to match Willibald's notion of love. Torgrim recounts a mysterious warrior who beat back his attackers unarmed without killing them. Willibald recognizes the description and falls into thought over Thors and his philosophy.

At twelve pages, the twenty-seventh chapter is the shortest in this stretch of Volume 4, and it was adapted in Episode 14 of the anime. It was published on November 25, 2006. The featured quote, spoken by Willibald, asks whether a comrade would truly stand at his back and protect him in battle.