Chapter 49: Karlsefni

Rushing to save the bleeding prince, Canute's men cut open his shirt and recoil at a woman's chest; the true Canute soon appears, having used a female slave as his double for want of a matching man. He clasps the dying woman's hand, apologizes for her ordeal, and orders her treated with full respect. On the docks, guards move to seize Thorfinn as the shooter, ignoring his protest that the corpse under his foot was the real assassin. When one taunts that his dead-eyed face marks him a wicked man, Thorfinn strikes him down.

Before the fight escalates, another guard studies the small youth and his two knives and asks whether he is Thorfinn Karlsefni. The others recall that Karlsefni, meaning the promising one, is the fighter who bested Thorkell armed with nothing but daggers, and realize he belongs to Canute's retinue. Leif steps forward, asks if this is Thorfinn of Iceland, son of Thors, and the young man slowly recognizes the aged face before him. Weeping, Leif embraces him and thanks God he lives.

Away from the docks, Askeladd loudly credits their body double for the prince's survival, needling Floki as he passes. Leif and Thorfinn talk apart, and Leif grieves at the ragged, hell-worn state of the boy he once knew, resolving to save him by ignoring the eleven lost years. Thorfinn presses only for news of Vinland, deflecting when Leif speaks instead of his ailing mother Helga and his sister Ylva, now a mother of three. Told he has done enough and should come home, Thorfinn snarls that nothing is enough while Askeladd draws breath, and walks away. Leif vows to remain in Jorvik until he changes his mind. As rumors of the assassination attempt spread through the town, Sweyn observes that Askeladd has outwitted Floki and brought a curse upon the city.

Canute's apparent death is revealed as a slave-woman decoy, and the true prince honors her sacrifice. Guards nearly arrest Thorfinn before recognizing him as Thorfinn Karlsefni, victor over Thorkell. Leif reunites with Thorfinn and embraces him after eleven years. Thorfinn refuses Leif's plea to return home, insisting he cannot rest while Askeladd lives, and Sweyn concedes that Askeladd has bested Floki.

Rendered Karurusevuni in Japanese, this forty-ninth chapter closes Volume 7 and was adapted in Episode 21. It grants Thorfinn the epithet Karlsefni, the promising one, and lays bare how his vendetta has stripped away the cheerful child Leif remembers. The volume's tail pages include a map of Thorfinn's travels, a supplemental design of Canute and his sword, and an afterword on the Viking cult of pride that Yukimura says he detests.