Chapter 197

Thousand Year Voyage Part 6 (千年航路⑥, Sen nen Kōro (6)) is the 197th chapter of the Vinland Saga series.

Overview
Thorfinn rushes to help stop the bleeding of Miskwekepu'j’s arm after Ivar cut it off. Ivar objects and says it was his fault for attacking Thorfinn. The onlookers are left shocked.

Summary
Miskwekepu'j’s hand is left on the ground after Ivar cut it clean off with his sword. Thorfinn immediately takes off his belt in order to stop the bleeding, while Cordelia faints from seeing the blood and Einar asks for help from others with Thorfinn. The crowd is reluctant to help them, and Einar asks what’s wrong with them. Ivar counters Einar, and asks him what’s wrong with him, for trying to help the man who just attacked Thorfinn. Plmk picks up the detached hand from the ground, and wonders how the cut is so clean and what kind of weapon Ivar’s sword is.

Ivar says the Lnu are enemies and they need to capture them, but Niskawaji'j attempts to say that they aren’t enemies, with much difficulty trying speaking the Nords language. Thorfinn tells everyone to stay back and to let them leave, and looks at Miskwekepu'j’s face as he leaves. Hild angrily approaches Ivar and says that what he did was useless, asking why he moved when Thorfinn asked everyone not to do anything. Ivar believes he saved Thorfinn, but Hild tells him that Thorfinn is ten times stronger than him and didn’t need saving as he could’ve handily taken the axe off Miskwekepu'j without any injuries. Thorfinn tells Einar that when he saw Miskwekepu'j’s face as he was leaving, he was laughing. Thorfinn believes that his motivation in the first place was to be killed instead of killing him at all, stating his expectation was fulfilled. Someone from the crowd interjects that it was just self-defence from Thorfinn’s side and someone else agrees that they were picking a fight. Hild proposes the question of if they are the “Injured” or “Injurers” however, asking which side is left in pain. Hild says that today the Lnu were left in pain, feeling they’ve lost a battle. She states Miskwekepu'j wants to inflict on his people in order to fulfill his hidden objective.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Miskwekepu'j
 * Thorfinn
 * Ivar
 * Gitpi
 * Cordelia
 * Gudrid
 * Einar
 * Plmk
 * Niskawaji'j
 * Bug-Eyes
 * Hild