Steel Empire
Verbal Punch

As the light of dawn shone on Berengar's majestic face, he woke up peacefully. Although his entire body was aching from the activities of the previous day, he was still able to pull himself out of bed. If he continued to exert himself like this, his body would probably give up before he could cure himself of his natural weakness. Therefore, he decided to take a leave of absence from excessive exercise. Instead, he spent the morning turning the jar of lard he received from Gunther into the pomade he so desperately wanted.

Using a homemade recipe, which he used extensively in his previous life, Berengar finally succeeded in his efforts. The next step is to take a morning shower a little earlier than usual. After which, he stuffed his fingers into a wax-like substance and combed his hair back with it. After carefully styling her hair, she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. Other than her thin and fragile body, she looked extremely graceful with a new hairstyle.

Previous attempts at using oil residue from the bathtub to style her hair ended in doom; it smelled bad, kept falling out of place, and did not meet Berengar's excessive condition in the slightest. However, after successfully creating a pomade, her already beautiful appearance improved even more. He was amazed at how much more handsome his body was right now than in his previous life. Golden Blonde hair, which was now glittering in the light of dawn, deep sapphire eyes, which looked as if it had been hewn from a gemstone, was, and the milky white that every girl dreams of perfectly combining into a suit of princely appearance.

The only advantage that his previous appearance had over the current one was having a strong and fit body. However, these things could naturally be improved over time, and he was in no hurry to impress the women of this era. She had a lot of things to accomplish even before thinking of getting married, other than the only members of the opposite sex close to her were her little sister and her mother, at the very least, she had to be introduced to a decent woman before she could even try seducing her.

After styling his appearance and looking at himself in the mirror, Berengar took the time to put on a luxurious black doublet, with a gold-plated lining, as well as a set of equally luxurious hoses, and a pair of black leather shoes. He let out a heavy sigh as he looked at himself in the mirror for the last time; his family actually spent too much money to keep up appearances.

After putting on her clothes, she left the bathroom and instinctively headed to the dining room. He was quite early by the standards of his recent routine; therefore, he let his family off guard when he arrived at the dining hall, where they were all sitting, chatting politely while waiting for him to arrive.

Upon entering the dining room, his family glanced at him with shocked expressions; they did not expect him to have such a refined appearance. Even Lambert looked at Berengar with envy. Sometimes it takes a change in hairstyle to reveal the full potential of a person's appearance. Henrietta blushed at her sister's striking demeanor and threw away her face; even her mother, Gisela's mouth, gaped, which she quickly closed with her hands. Sieghard looked at his son and his heirs with a gaze of fatherly approval. Finally, the boy she grew up with appreciates her taste for the finer things in life. However, he wondered how the little troublemaker managed to style his hair in such a way.

Seeing his family's strange expression, Berengar touched his face with his right hand.

"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

Simultaneously, his family members shook their heads in silence, with various emotions in their awkward gazes. After making sure his appearance was neat, Berengar sat down at the table opposite Lambert and raised his hand as he prepared for the morning grace. However, his family was too busy checking for changes in appearance to notice his posture.

After a moment of silence, Berengar looked at his father

"Dad? Don't you want to say grace this morning?"

Having a memory of Julian, Berengar is now an atheist. Nevertheless, he still appears as a devout Catholic because he knows the consequences that a scientist in this primitive era will bear. It would take decades, but perhaps he could usher in a scientific revolution a little earlier than in his own timeline if he worked hard for it.

Upon awakening from their trance, his father began to recite his prayers while the family listened. After that, the family began to eat their food. While cutting the pork sausage with his equipment, Berengar heard Lambert report the previous day's activities to their father.

"Dad, did you know that Berengar spent all day plowing fields with a farmer yesterday?"

Their father, who was just about to bite his sausage, looked at Berengar with a puzzled expression on his face.

"You plowed the fields?"

Berengar would not underestimate the friend he made the previous day to save face among the nobles; therefore, he had no shame in his voice as he acknowledged his efforts today.

"Yes, dad, I guess that's why I take time off from my morning workout; over-exerting myself will have a negative effect on the body."

This further confused his father; why did he take time out of his training schedule to plow the fields? He couldn't help but ask for the details.

"Is there a special reason?"

Lambert sneered at Berengar as if he had made Berengar lose his affection with their father. However, the words that came next shocked him.

Lambert scoffed at this response; how could Berengar develop new innovations for agriculture alone? Clearly, this was the facade that his elder brother had installed to turn the situation to his advantage. Therefore, Lambert immediately questioned Berengar about his so-called innovation. He would catch his older brother in his lies and reveal to everyone that Berengar was a fraud. An evil grin curled at Lambert's lips as he thought to himself.

'Sister, you're still too naive to play this game with me.'

After that he voiced his concerns loudly

"You're saying that you invented the crop rotation innovation, and what is it?"

Berengar looked at Lambert coldly once more, which instinctively caused the teenage boy to shiver. After looking at him, Berengar scoffed at his sister's brazen statement.

"Even if I explain it to you in great detail, you won't be able to understand it. You don't have a mind for agriculture, little brother."

Lambert was furious at this response; he had not expected his elder brother to attack his weak point. It was true that Lambert did not know anything about agriculture, nor did he understand techniques. He had only heard the expression crop rotation before; he had absolutely no idea how it worked. It was not the responsibility of a noble descendant like him.

Before he could respond to Berengar's accusations, Berengar had already taken the initiative and spoke to their father in a respectful tone.

"Dad, if you want to know the details, I won't hide anything from you, but I'm afraid it'll be a waste of our time together as a family, because I'm sure I'll only give birth to children with complicated problems. crop rotation details."

Lambert was furious at this moment. Did Berengar seriously place her in the same category as Henrietta? As if he was a child? He is only a few months away from his 16th birthday, which will make him a man in the eyes of God and man. Despite his internal protests, the boy still did not manage to get a word out, as their father, Sieghard, agreed to Berengar's terms.

"You're right, Berengar; there are more important things to discuss as a family now; for example, How can you make your hair look like that?"

Lambert, who at that moment had filled his mouth with a piece of sausage, almost choked after hearing his father's words. Berengar was also surprised by his father's words. The old baron really had an interest in fashion. Although quickly, light flashed in Berengar's eyes as he thought of this as an opportunity to force his father into proper hygiene.

"I'm afraid it won't work for you, dad ..."

Sieghard could practically feel heartbreak when he heard such words. He could not explain why, but after staring at the dignified appearance of his son who was more suited to nobility, he needed to know how to make himself look so majestic. Of course, he unwittingly fell into Berengar's trap.

"Why not?"

a panicked voice entered Sieghard's voice as he nearly stood up from the head of the table after hearing such terrifying news. Berengar, on the other hand, had to refrain from smiling; sometimes, it was too easy to manipulate his father to do his bidding.

"Because you don't shower often enough."

After hearing Berengar's words, hope appeared in the old Baron's heart. If that was the only problem, then he would shower as much as his son if he had to. He didn't care if people made fun of him for doing that as long as he could have his son's shiny golden hair. Realizing that his father had actually caught the bait, Berengar decided to put up the hook and roll up the catch.

"The product I created to style my hair in this way only works on clean hair, though I promise even if you sweat, with this solution, it works only on clean hair, your hair will remain intact like mine. Though, you just need to clean it up again at night."

This is totally nonsense, but if it means he can improve the hygiene of his other family members, so be it. A little lie like this never hurt anyone. By the time breakfast was over, his entire family, except Lambert, were convinced of the values of proper hygiene. The baron had already begun to devise a plan for the entire butler staff to wash their hands throughout the day on a regular basis. Berengar left the dining room with a big smile on his face; he was one step closer to introducing a modern sense of cleanliness to his family's land.

Hopefully, this clean lifestyle will soon develop; inevitably he is afraid of disease outbreaks because people are not educated about diseases and impurities. For now, this was enough; after all, the people he contacted regularly would be forced to practice basic hygiene to some degree. The next stop was to visit Gunther; as a member of the peasant class, the man was instrumental in Berengar's plan to implement a four-field system in all farms within the Barony of Kufstein.