Chapter 90: The Price of the Food

A defender fires an arrow that splashes harmlessly short, and Badger scolds him to hold until the ships draw near, only for arrows from the vessels to cut down men around him. Floki secures the beach for Canute, who steps ashore, senses Ketil means to fight, and sends Wulf ahead with a messenger while the troops form up. Surveying the land, the king regrets that such good ground may be stained with blood. The messenger delivers the sentence: for rebellion, Ketil and his family face ten years of outlawry, a mercy in place of the usual death penalty, with a reply expected by morning.

Ketil rages at how easily the army landed but takes heart when Thorgil reports the enemy numbers only a hundred against their own force, more than triple that. The men laugh and Ketil promises a rich reward to whoever takes the king's head. Watching from the grass, Snake identifies the elite guards and the white-caped Jomsvikings and tells Fox plainly that the farm cannot win. Back at the lodgings he urges the guests to flee if they wish, since their farmer-warriors are no match for handpicked royal troops.

Fox asks why Snake will not simply bind Ketil's family and hand them over, and the talk turns to Iron Fist Ketil's fearsome reputation. Snake then reveals the truth: he trained under the real Iron Fist Ketil at fifteen or sixteen and thought of him as a brother, and when he came here on the run seeking shelter, he found not that legend but a lookalike of similar age who merely shares the name. He explains the farm's master is an impostor trading on borrowed fame. Declaring it time to repay years of free meals, Snake dons his helmet and tells the stunned guests they owe a fraud nothing. Yet as he walks off they follow him, deciding that abandoning even a fraud after mooching for years would shame them more than he ever could.

Canute's fleet and one hundred men land, and his messenger sentences Ketil's family to ten years of outlawry. Ketil, outnumbering the enemy threefold, resolves to fight and offers a reward for the king's head. Snake identifies the royal guards and Jomsvikings and judges the farm doomed. He reveals that the farm's Ketil is an impostor exploiting the real Iron Fist Ketil's name. Despite this, the guests choose to stay and fight alongside Snake.

The chapter runs in Volume 13 and adapts to Episode 43 of the anime. Its Japanese title, Meshi no Daikin, translates as the payment for the meals, referencing the guests' motive for standing their ground. The featured quote comes from Fox, arguing that fleeing after freeloading would make them more disgraceful than the fraud they served.