Chapter 99: Departure

Back at the docks, Thorfinn's face has swollen worse overnight, though he insists he can still see and speak. Snake brushes off his apologies and thanks him instead, and Thorfinn regrets not stepping in before the fighting claimed lives. Because he and Einar would rather never face Ketil again, they let the farmers believe Olmar was the one who swayed the king. Pater, his arm in a sling, promises to tend Arnheid's grave with care.

Olmar clasps Thorfinn's hand and confesses he hopes to become a man just like him, strong yet kind, a true man; the compliment leaves the battered Thorfinn flustered. Kneeling before Sverkel, Thorfinn thanks the old man for all he taught, and he waves off the chest of gifts Olmar offers, insisting the money belongs to the recovering farm. As the knarr slips away, Snake finally shares that he was born Roald, son of Grim, and the two travelers wish him well.

With the farm affair behind him, Canute abandons his wealth seizures and disbands most of his Danish soldiers, easing the tax load that had weighed on the English. Even with his island garrison shrunk to sixteen ships and their crews, his subjects stay loyal and slowly accept him as a rightful king. Ketil survives his wounds but loses all drive to work and retires, leaving Olmar as master. To repay the injured and the bereaved, Olmar sells off half the estate's land and much of the family's personal holdings, while Thorgil quietly departs without rejoining the king's service.

On the farm, the grumbling guests are set to the fields and told they will at last earn their meals, and Sverkel takes up teaching Snake the craft of farming from the very basics. Aboard Leif's ship, the sailor warns Thorfinn that founding a country in Vinland will be nearly impossible without his help, which he freely pledges. First, though, they will sail to Iceland, where Thorfinn's long-worried mother Helga and his sister Ylva wait to welcome him home.

Titled Funade in Japanese, the chapter ran in Volume 14 and reached print on November 25, 2013 across twenty pages, closing out the Slave Arc. Its events were adapted in the forty-seventh episode of the anime. A wide roster of farm and crew figures make their final farm-arc appearances here, including Mols, Fox, Wild Dog, Sparrow and Toad.