Chapter 64: I Need a Horse, Part II

To repay the elderly stranger who offered them a horse, Thorfinn and Einar clear stones from his field, chop firewood, and haul water. The old man corrects Einar's casual tone, giving his name as Sverkel and insisting he be addressed respectfully, and he brushes off every question about the promised animal until the chores are finished. While they work near his home, Einar quietly frets that they may be doing unpaid labor for a stranger who never intends to pay up, especially since they belong to Ketil, not this man. Overhearing the doubt through his window, Sverkel reminds them that a bargain is a bargain and his word stands.

The following day proves him honest. Using the borrowed horse, the pair rip stumps and trees from the ground with startling speed, and a delighted Einar imagines sowing seed by autumn. His excitement curdles into disbelief when Thorfinn casually admits he has never farmed in his life, having grown up somewhere with no tilled soil before spending his youth surrounded by war. Einar, stunned that such a place exists, promises to handle the planting himself. Trouble arrives when the regular farmhands accuse the two of horse theft. Einar names Sverkel as the lender, but the workers do not recognize the name until his description jogs their memory: the old man is the greater master, Ketil's own father and the single most important person on the estate.

Sverkel is named for the first time and sets the two slaves to a full day of manual chores as the price of the horse. He keeps his promise, and the borrowed animal lets Thorfinn and Einar uproot trees with ease. Einar learns that Thorfinn has never done any farming, a revelation that reshapes how he plans their work. The farmhands' accusation exposes Sverkel's true identity as the greater master, revealing that the humble old laborer is Ketil's father.

This installment closes out Volume 9 and continues directly from the previous chapter's search for a horse. It marks the proper introduction of Sverkel and establishes the farming partnership between Thorfinn and Einar that anchors the Farmland arc. The events were adapted in Episode 30 of the anime.