Chapter 73: When You're Free

In September 1018, after three years of labor, Thorfinn and Einar fell the last tree on the land they have been clearing and rest to admire their work. They expect that the coming harvest will finally let them buy back their freedom with a little to spare, and they turn to what comes after. Einar is unsure whether to return to his homeland, where no family remains, and both worry about Arnheid, whom Ketil seems unwilling to ever release. Asked whether he will go back to Iceland, Thorfinn says he might visit once, then admits there is something he wants to do, and quietly asks Einar whether war and slavery could ever vanish from the world. Einar calls the idea a near-impossible dream.

Ketil rides up with a bored Olmar in tow, praises their finished clearing, and offers a reward: once the sowing is done he will grant them their freedom early, though they must wait for his return from a trip before it becomes official. The two are stunned, then dance and celebrate. Ketil mentions he is bound for Jelling to visit the ailing King Harald and asks them to pass word to his father Sverkel, whom they have not seen that day. Before leaving, he invites them to consider staying on as paid workers once freed, welcoming hands as good as theirs. Walking to Sverkel's house, Einar confesses he feels lost at the prospect of making his own choices again after so long enslaved, and reasons that remaining on the farm might give him a chance to find a way to free Arnheid; when Thorfinn teases him about his feelings, he flusters and insists he only pities her fate. At the house Snake storms out complaining of being left hungry and is surprised Sverkel is not with them, since the old man left for the fields that morning and never returned. Realizing something is wrong, Snake saddles his horse and leads them out, and they find Sverkel collapsed face down in the middle of his work, rushing to reach him.

Thorfinn and Einar complete three years of clearing the forest and look ahead to life after slavery. Thorfinn voices his emerging wish to see war and slavery disappear from the world. Ketil promises the two their freedom once the planting is finished, pending his return from a journey to Jelling to visit the dying King Harald, and invites them to stay on as free laborers. Einar reveals his hope of staying to find a way to free Arnheid. The chapter ends on Sverkel being discovered collapsed in his field.

Dated to September 1018, the chapter marks the imminent payoff of the Farmland arc's long labor and first articulates the ideal of a world without war or slavery that will drive Thorfinn's later journey. Ketil's errand ties the farm plot to the royal storyline of the previous chapter. The material was adapted across Episodes 34 and 37 of the anime.