Chapter 76: Olmar's Finest Hour

Seated with Ketil and Olmar, Leif introduces his adopted son, who gives his real name as Thorfinn but insists everyone calls him Bug-Eyes. The name jolts Ketil, who mentions that a slave of his shares it. Leif presses for details, and each answer, a blond, brown-eyed Norseman of similar age covered in scars, matches the youth he has sought for so long. When Bug-Eyes cautions him against false hope, Leif admits the risk but explains that this Thorfinn is his late friend's son, sold into bondage years ago.

Back aboard his knarr, Leif tells Mols they will swing by Ketil's farm in southern Jutland. Mols bristles at the roughly ten-day delay to their schedule, warning that autumn is closing in and the Greenland sea will soon freeze, leaving them stranded if the winds turn foul. He dismisses the trip as another of Leif's fruitless chases, but Leif is certain this Thorfinn is finally the right one.

The following day, Ketil and his sons are granted a swift audience with King Canute, which Ketil credits to the quality of his tribute. Canute praises the gifts, recalls his father and brother's profitable dealings with the farm, and pledges to keep those ties, calling prosperous farms a treasure of Denmark. The mood shatters when Olmar leaps up, ignores Gunnar's warning, and loudly begs to enlist in the king's army beside his brother Thorgil.

Amused, Canute sets a pig on a table and orders Olmar to fell it in a single stroke as though it were an enemy. Olmar boasts, then hacks away repeatedly without cutting even halfway through the carcass, muttering that the bones are hard. Ketil buries his face in shame. Later, Wulf tells Canute that such a proud, unskilled man would make a useless soldier, likely first to die in battle. Canute agrees he can still be used, and, deeming him easy to manipulate, declares it time to move on their scheme, with Ketil as the opening target.

Leif realizes Ketil's slave Thorfinn matches the boy he has searched for and diverts his ship toward the farm over Mols's objections. Canute receives Ketil warmly and vows to maintain trade with his lands. Olmar demands a place in the army and disgraces himself by failing to cut through a dead pig. In private, Canute and Wulf conclude Olmar is worthless as a soldier but useful as a tool, and Canute names Ketil the first mark of his confiscation plan.

Released August 25, 2011, this chapter continues Volume 11 and adapts into Episode 35. Its ironic title frames Olmar's botched display, while the closing scene confirms that Canute's move against Ketil is now formally underway.