[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-reborn-king":3,"chapter-the-reborn-king-the-reborn-king-chapter-170":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Reborn King",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},1100927,1437,"Chapter 170: A Hard Choice","the-reborn-king-chapter-170",170,"\u003Cp>\"Finn.\" Ivar’s voice made Finn freeze for a second but he quickly composed himself and turned flashing a smile. \"I haven’t seen you since the declaration. Especially after you ran off.\" Ivar meant nothing with his words, but Finn felt slightly scared hearing them. His vision during his visit with the Ancient One had him on edge for a while. The Ivar in those visions, in that future, was someone who had completely abandoned himself and followed Helga.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had been allowed to delve into the depths of the brutality he showed during wars and express it on anyone who she had deemed fit. For Finn, it was a terrifying prospect and he could only wonder if it would be directed towards him in the future for not being enough of a believer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m sorry my friend. I had consulted an Ancient One after that night and have been deeply thinking about what I was shown.\" His voice was tired but his words caused Ivar to smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You Gods blessed you with vision. And from what it sees they were vivid ones. I envy you.\" For Finn, his envy sounded like mocking but he didn’t say anything, knowing it wasn’t meant to come out a such. \"What God visited you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You know we can’t divulge the visions we see.\" Ivar clicked his tongue but kept looking at him with expecting eyes. Finn looked back at him but sighed. \"The Bringer of the New Age. It’s all I can say.\" Ivar smiled upon hearing his words and wrapped his arm around him dragging him along.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I told you, brother. For her to show you visions is proof of divinity. It must be a sign.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Maybe.\" Finn was less enthusiastic. It wasn’t unnoticed by Ivar who looked at him confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I thought this would have been a sigh for you. Asmond revealed himself previously to you and you became a faithful follower of him.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t know. Maybe it was because of the contents of the vision.\" Finn looked at his friend. He was worried about him. Helga would definitely bring about a New Age. It had all started with her father after all. But he wondered if it was the one she promised.’An age of blood.’It was the only way he could describe what he saw. Those anguished screams of the people trapped under the lake of blood still echoed in his ears. Every time he closed his eyes he could see the forest of people impaled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was used to blood and war, but those sights were enough to deeply shake his soul. He didn’t want Ivar to be the one to enforce this vision, but he also knew to break his devotion to Helga something would have to cause it. \"You should see them.\" Finn took a gamble. If Ivar could see a future he didn’t want then maybe he could avoid the inevitable.’To fight fate is to fight the restraint of the Gods.’The words the Ancient One had spoken came to mind. He didn’t know if what he saw was fate, but Finn wanted to try anyway. He knew he was a mortal, his life was insignificant to the Gods.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he desperately wanted Ivar to avoid that fate, to avoid the day when Ivar may be forced to turn his sword on him for not being completely devoted. \"You have always had struggles with seeing visions, but perhaps you may now. As our Queen has said, she is the bridge between this world world and Uppsala. The strength of the divine has never been stronger.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was an interesting suggestion but Ivar shook his head. \"I may, but not now. I am too busy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh. What is it?\" Finn could guess it was about the inevitable war. Ivar had become a Jarl and although he was his right hand, it didn’t mean he was privy to the inner workings of running Helga’s Kingdom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It is one of the reasons I have called you. We are dealing with the Jarls in the West first. They are weak after all. But for this I want you to take my place. I have been entrusted with something here\" It was oddly vague, and Finn couldn’t help but get a bad feeling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Will your bannermen listen to me? I know you don’t have many being new.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They will. Or I will execute them.\" Ivar snorted at his own words. \"But I’m not worried about that. Those who I took from the man I killed were faithful to our Lord. It seemed there was a split in his lands as some had returned from the Great Raid with her. The rest are people from King Frode who didn’t pledge to anyone after his death. They were forced to join me and after a few talks we have a good understanding.\" Ivar stopped, holding Finn back. Turning him, he forced the man to look into his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I will warn you, Finn, these men are very faithful. I know of your mixed feelings and accept you because I trust you will see the way, but these men will not be so forgiving. Do not mess up in front of them.\" His warning only got a nod in reply, but Ivar was happy enough with it. \"Good. You should start heading West soon.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Jarl Sven. Under the mercy of the Living God, Helga, The Bringer of the New Age, you have been given the chance to bend the knee and acknowledge her divine status.’It was short but told Sven everything he needed to know.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His fists curled around the parchment but with a deep breath, he released his grip before throwing it to the ground. He knew of the issues going on in the new Kingdom that had from under Helga but he never expected her to threaten war so soon after her children had been born.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sighed once more with his finger tapping the table.’A stupid whore.’He couldn’t help but click his tongue, yet he didn’t act. He heard tales of the Great Raid. He had been tempted at one point to go himself. He was happy he didn’t go, seeing how his fellow Jarls and Kings had all died, but the threat posed now had gotten significantly worse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’She will slaughter my lands if I do this wrong. She even managed to kill that snake Halfdan after all.’It was enough to tell him how dangerous she was. Out of all the people he had ever felt a threat from, Halfdan was the greatest of them all. He was a man who resembled Floki the most and it made him wonder why he had never expanded his lands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Surrender or fight.’He was outnumbered and although Helga was a woman she was skilled at war.’I need to speak to those two.’At the thought of his fellow Jarls, he clicked his tongue again. He found them insufferable, and even the idea of working with them was hard, let alone if he actually did it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’No. There’s another way.’He had to be smart. Even if he did work with those two, survival wasn’t guaranteed. They were still outnumbered and the fighters who seriously fought for Helga were fanatics. They would happily die to see her vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’If I can work with her to destroy those two, I may be able to get enough power to oppose her. Not everyone in her land is happy.’He heard the tales of brutality and knew as much as those who truly believed her claim to godhood, there were those who submitted out of terror. They were split apart and had no central leader.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Frode’s men are off limits. They won’t work with me. The same with Eriks, she was his successor. Knut and Halfdan.’He sighed again thinking about those two. Knut’s people, much like him, were rational but they had too much pride.’Well after four villages burnt to the ground, they lost it quickly.’That being said, Sven knew they would relish the chance to get rid of Helga, especially those bannermen he left behind. While most were dead in Helga’s purge, some survived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Halfdan’s people were different. He never really cared to recruit people for any reason. Loyalty was a non-issue for him. Those under his banner did so, simply because Halfdan provided them the opportunity to use their abilities without tying themselves down. It was hard to know if they would help him. He would have to provide better than what Helga gave and she commanded immense wealth after the Great Raid. And for those more war-hungry ones she had just provided the opportunity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ahhh. Screw it.\" Sven gave up thinking too deeply. He wasn’t like like Halfdan. Being a simple man he knew that he was best at pouncing on readily available opportunities and one had just arrived. All he had to do was play his cards right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taking out some animal skin he wrote back.’It’s not a surrender. Just a tactical retreat. And I’ll be damned if I work with those two.’\u003C\u002Fp>",1507,"2026-06-03T11:17:48.775Z","2026-06-03T11:17:51.400Z",1,"novelbin.me","da325b171a7f7ce8d4b3a290f46d7b3a05639d6b2e2f8b20a860cbfa90094a35","the-reborn-king-chapter-171","the-reborn-king-chapter-169",487,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-reborn-king-cover.jpg"]