Rise of Rurik

When the weather gets cold enough and the night sky clears, the Northern Lights tend to shine throughout the night.

It didn't take long for the first snow to fall in winter, but the snow did not melt after it fell. With more snowfall awaiting the Rus in the fjords for the foreseeable future, winter has begun.

This winter is no longer monotonous, and everyone is full of hope for the future.

Now, people of the tribe are looking forward to the mass wedding expected in Frigger.

Before that day comes, the vast number of new people are already making preparations.

For Arik, the marriage to Peravina represented a fresh start!

Since his father died in battle, Arik moved to his uncle's house, but the old wooden house where he lived for many years is still maintained by Xiusan. The wooden house has been used as a warehouse for a long time, and now it will be full of popularity again.

In a sense, the Viking tribes, their houses have great similarities. A house is a place to sleep, as well as a kitchen, as well as a warehouse for storing messy daily necessities. Every family, especially the women, makes a lot of smoked fish and bacon, marinates all kinds of food, and all the food is piled up in their own house. Therefore, don't expect much fresh air in a house.

They are perfectly able to accept the smell of food, but they cannot bear the stench of feces.

They are a group of people who love cleanliness more than Western Europeans, so when the "big cities" developed by the Germanic people in this time and space such as London and Paris were active and developed, when the residents were still defecation everywhere, the Vikings were already growing. Build a separate toilet next to the house!

The Rus, who belonged to the same branch of the Viking branch, also followed this hygienic tradition.

They are better at maintaining hygiene, but they never realize that human and animal waste, and even rotting fish, can nourish crops and make fertilizer.

Not to mention the Danes who make farmyard manure and control the richest land in Northern Europe, they do not know how to use fertilizers and do not know how to use water conservancy irrigation technology.

But they still built family toilets, and the origin is still their warrior culture.

A warrior, if he is filthy and stinking, no matter how brave he is, he cannot be chosen by the cruising Valkyrie in winter.

Arik quickly took care of his hometown, returned to Roseburg for the first night, and spent the first night on his own with his wife.

Arik lit the oil lamp, made a floor with a lot of deerskin, and waved to his stunned wife: "Come on, we'll sleep here tonight."

Peravina did not resist, her hands were naturally drooping, watching all the actions of her husband

"Am I going to sleep on the ground like a beast? Can't I be like my hometown?" Peravina questioned very boldly.

"Sleep on those wooden boards?" Arik also asked strangely.

"Why not?"

Arik shrugged, then sat on the deerskin, smiling and patting the furry hides: "Sit down, like me. You'll get used to it! If you don't like it, after a while, we can like Make some planks like your hometown."

The people of the tribe are accustomed to sleeping on the ground. They have lived like this since ancient times. It was not until they met the people of Novgorod in a faraway place that they realized that there are still people sleeping on wooden boards.

Arik's current mentality has changed very drastically. He left his uncle to establish his own business, and he will need to work hard in the future. Fortunately, there is a new wife by his side. Faced with such a situation, a wise man will of course follow his wife's advice and meet his wife's reasonable demands.

According to the rules of the Ross tribe, there is no possibility of divorce here, and the punishment for betrayal of marriage is exile. People simply think that these situations are incredible, so it is part of the rule that women take care of their husbands' wealth.

But women also have a great obligation to take good care of the family's wealth, especially the family's food. The husband fished, hunted, and even sailed longboats to raid other tribes. All food obtained by women must be properly processed and stored so that the whole family does not go hungry.

It was cold, and the old house was still leaking air. In order to have more warmth, Arik lit some charcoal fires.

Charcoal fire may bring carbon monoxide poisoning, but people today do not have this concept, and few people in the Ross tribe die mysteriously in their sleep. Because there are really very few longhouses today that can be as airtight as possible. They are a pile of stakes, planks, and hides, with at most some dirt and grass bedding attached.

The warriors of the Rus are outstanding, but in terms of housing quality, they are not comparable to those of the Novgorods who paid tribute to them.

Even if there is a charcoal fire, it is still relatively cold in the room. Peravina wears her own cloth and puts on a fur coat made of animal skins, which keeps her warm enough.

Tonight's Peravina has made mental preparations, and she is very aware of her responsibilities after marriage.

However, all is quiet tonight!

Maybe the new husband is too tired? or other reasons.

She couldn't feel the cold at all, and because the animal skin was very thick, she felt very comfortable sleeping on the ground, which was an experience she had never had in her hometown of Novgorod.

The foundations of Novgorod city are small families of various family estates. Small families also live in a very cold wooden house, but there is only one piece of wooden bed in the wooden house, and the whole family sleeps. it's here.

The wood is hard, and at most some thatch is added to it. Some people with assets will buy a linen cloth specially for use as a mattress.

But they only have wealthy households like the villagers and patriarchs who have the money to use animal skins as mattresses.

"They're not savages! They're Varyags very good at living..."

For the first time, Peravina has a whole new understanding of "barbarians".

The whole of Rosberg fell into silence, and even the tribal boys who returned with the Swig girls from Novgorod, who had great urgency to become the father of the child, the tribal rules were made excellent here. constraints.

Because before the wedding ceremony, the female priest, Vilia, and her female assistants, check the purity of the bride. If it is verified that the bride's fiancé has done something in advance, it will be regarded as shameless and blasphemous by all the clan, and even exiled.

Arik felt an itch in his heart, knowing that what he wanted to do would only be legal after Frigid Day.

It was dawn, and to Arik's surprise, it was Peravina who questioned.

"Arik, why? I thought I was going to be a woman."

Her questioning, her expression did not change, on the contrary, Arik became quite embarrassed.

Eric held back for a while before asking, "Don't tell me, are you so eager to be a mother?"

"Shouldn't that be right?"

Arik choked for a moment. He really couldn't imagine that he was longing for marriage. Now, after completing the local wedding ceremony at his wife's family, he suddenly felt that marriage brought happiness and a huge test. A lot of pressure for the adults of the tribe to bear.

I never thought that my wife, who was far away from her hometown in Novgorod, had already accepted her new life for the first time.

Arik was hesitant, and tears actually appeared in the corners of his eyes.

"You... are you crying?"

When Peravina asked, Arik could no longer control his emotions. What made a young strong man cry? Impressed!

Arik wiped his tears with his sleeves, explained to his wife first, then stood up: "I'll cut some bacon to cook first, and then we'll go to my father's grave after we finish eating."

"Is it a sacrificial sweep?"

"It's a ritual that must be done." Then, he pulled his wife up and solemnly instructed: "You are already the same as us, and the next step is to follow the ritual of the Rus. When I get to my father's tomb, I will Dig a hole, put my sword in it, and cover it with soil. I'll do this, and you will dig the sword out yourself."

"Okay. I… may I ask why?"

"My father is your father. It symbolizes your father's blessing to you. At the wedding, you also know that I will hand over the sword you dug up to your hands, which means that only you give birth to His son will inherit the sword from his grandfather."

Hearing all this, Peravina took a deep breath: "You Varyag people really cherish your swords."

"Hey." Arik grabbed his wife's hand. "It's us! You are already a Varyag."