Chapter 51: Miscalculation

Inside Sweyn's hall, chieftains gather for the feast where spoils and territory will be handed out, murmuring about the attempt on Canute's life. Some suspect the aging king favors Harald as successor; others weigh their allegiances or note that gaining Thorkell offsets the loss of Ragnar. Outside, a still-bruised Thorfinn eats alone, having refused to enter, while Askeladd assures Canute no one would dare draw a blade in such company.

Sweyn thanks the Danish leaders for making his English crown possible, welcomes his son home with a theatrical embrace, and awards Canute the realm's richest and most fertile land, Mercia, asking Thorkell to support him. The watching lords read the gift in opposite ways, some as proof the rumors were baseless, others as exactly the concession a guilty king would be forced to make. Sweyn then declares that those who have twice rebuffed his heralds must be uprooted before rebellion spreads, and announces an invasion of Wales in the coming spring.

The word Wales jolts Askeladd upright, and Floki catches the reaction, warning the king that a weakness of Askeladd's may lie in that land. Askeladd tries to convince himself it is coincidence, since he never told Floki of his tie there, yet knows Wales will burn regardless. When Thorkell recalls that Askeladd fled to Wales while being hunted and asks why the Welsh sheltered a Dane, Askeladd quietly confides that his slave mother was Welsh, that her grave and his true home lie there, and asks him to keep the secret. Summoned forward and granted fifty pounds of silver for rescuing the prince, Askeladd hears Sweyn say he looks forward to his valor in the Welsh campaign, and takes it as proof the king knows. Still kneeling, he stuns both Sweyn and Canute by openly asking whether conquering Wales is truly the wisest course.

Sweyn, now king over England, distributes lands and grants Canute the wealthy region of Mercia, muddying the assassination rumors. He announces a spring invasion of Wales, which visibly rattles Askeladd. Floki warns the king that Wales may hold a weakness of Askeladd's. Askeladd reveals to Thorkell that his Welsh slave mother makes the land his true home. After accepting a reward of fifty pounds of silver, Askeladd boldly questions whether the conquest of Wales is wise.

Titled Gosan in Japanese, this fifty-first chapter continues Volume 8 and was adapted in Episode 23. It reveals Askeladd's deep attachment to Wales as the land of his mother and heritage, the personal stake that will drive his shocking gambit in the following chapter. The installment also cements Floki as the shrewd rival who first spots the crack in Askeladd's composure.