- #1
After living the life of a child laborer for his family, he high-tails it to the northern mountains to live among the ice and snow seeking inndependence and freedom. Early on he manages to save the life of a local warlord and with his assistence, starts building his own little homestead. Surronded by various tribes of barbarians and vikings, he earnistly carves out a reputation for himself, first as a hunter, then as a healer, finally as a shaman and wise man.
[collapse]At first, the story appears to be a low magic setting, with wizardy and witchcraft only spoken of in hushed whispers by the local people, while at the same time the MC is slowly shaping up to be a kind of Odin-inspired figure. Spoilermagic is revealed to be defacto real by around chapter 140, magic factions are introduced as a concept in 237. The story introduces more supernatural elements as the MC advances his sphere of influence
[collapse]100 chapters in and the MC still is just working on his little home and garden. This is a really slow slow life story. The first 70 chapters are almost diary like in nature, going through the day to day work required to slowly modernize his tiny little piece of the world. I wouldnt go so far as to say you could just skip the first 70 chapters or so, but the MC doesn't really get involved in the politics and culture of his host world until a good chunk of busy work is out of the way which makes it a bit boring in some parts. He underestimates whats required to live on his own out in the wild, he has numberous setbacks, and he is treated with quite a bit of disdain in the begining for not matching the ideals of the locals. He's a fairly smart man... problem is, this is a world where mainly the strong are respected. But once he lays the foundation for his plans, things start moving along and become more interesting.Relationships: SpoilerHe has essentially two wives, one a woman his own age with inhuman strength (and possibly belonging to a fantasy race) and a s*ave girl slightly younger than himself (a fallen noble, bought originally so he wouldn't be lonely). It's important to point out that at no point does he treat her like a s*ave or coerce her into doing anything. She isn't ab*se or harmed in any way. As she is underaged, he doesn't have any designs towards her in the begining of the story, the MC just felt.... if he was going to go off and live in the wildlands, buying a s*ave was probably the only chance he would have at having a pretty wife in the future. She was the best looking one he could afford. Little did he know, he'd meet his 'real' wife early on. So far shes more like a little sister or a daughter, the real wife considers her to be her best friend, so its a harmonious relationship for hundreds of chapters but its highly likely when she matures she will marry the MC. Other 'witches' eventually join the group, and fill various familial roles.
[collapse] As this is a story essentially about living in viking times, expect human rights to be violated on a fairly regular basis. Villages get raided, people are captured and killed. While the MC isn't keen to do this, it is part of the setting and he often goes with the flow as he lacks the power to influence or change anything in the greater world around him. The start is slow but once the MC gets his kingdom building ball rolling, more exciting things start happening and the story becomes more interesting.