Master O Britain (不列颠之主）

1. In the name of Odin (Part 1)

I can't remember anything from before the age of three.On my fifth birthday, my father told me that he had invited the most knowledgeable priest in the area to teach me,

Soon, I will learn Frankish, Latin, and theology...

The priest told me, 

"Praise the Lord, thy writing is as neat and beautiful as if t'were measured with a ruler. Thou art the smartest child I have ever taught. If thou were not the heir to the baron, thou shalt have become a scholar and perhaps an excellent priest in the future. "

Every time I was praised, my father would happily rub and kiss my face with his rough face full of hair and his mouth full of alcohol.

Being a Scholar or a priest were one of my childhood goals, but soon I abandoned this dream of a comfortable future.

When I was seven years old, I got a young colt. I would go on obtain countless warhorses in the future, some from Frank, some from the Rus, but none of those stallions gave me as much memory as this one.

His name was called "Gift", because he was a gift from my father. And my father said that he is descended from war horses of the eastern grasslands.

Gift was not friendly. Perhaps it was the noble blood of his father's generation, that flowed in his bone. It may also be that he saw humans once harming his mother. 

What-ever reason it was, no matter who fed him, he would not eat, one could only leave the food in his vicinity and wait for him to consume. When he does eat, one must be out of his sight, otherwise he would not take a single bite.

Father told me to tame Gift, I thought of many ways to so, including sleeping with him on the hays of his horse shed. But I could tell from his gaze that he did not accept me as his owner. 

I was a little annoyed by this, however, I was more determined to tame him. If my father was the God of him fiefdom, I would be the Jesus of it, no one can or should reject me.

And thus, at the 58th day of being his owner, I tried to ride him forcefully. 

Despite my servants and the horse breeder being around, no one thought that Gift shook me off of his back with force, and that's exactly what he did.

Broken bones sent tears into my eyes.

I was hurt by Gift, but the first thing that came into my mind was to prevent Gift from being punished. I begged the horse-breeder and my servants to not tell anyone about this matter, with a pleading tone and a respectful attitude that were never granted to these plebeians.

I didn't realize at the time that this became the fuse for the death of Gift.

Father somehow heard about the 'peaseant-rate-words' that sprouted from my mouth that day. 

It was the first time I saw my father so angry. 

Whether when I played with his beard or when I secretly released his gains during a hunt he had brought back, my father never beat and scolded me.

He would only smile and say, "Grow up well my son,  In the future, when I see your mother, I will tell her about everything you did."

But this time it was different, the two servants were called in, they shivered and knelt before me, or rather, my father who sat behind me in his throne.

"You are born to be the ruler of this land, do not allow authority to be challenged." My father told me.

He went on to hang my servants to the ceiling two days without a drop of water, and forced me to watch as Gift was slain in front of me. For the first time, when I cried, my father didn't comfort me, didn't listen to me, but only turned his head away.

"Stop crying, as my son even if the Viking's knife falls in front of thou, thous shalt not even blink."

I looked at my father's cold and indifferent back while he was walking away from me, then turned back to the lifeless body of Gift. 

That day realized one thing": If you don't have the ability to make others obey you, then you can only obey other people's orders."

I grew up.