Steel Empire
Calling

As Linde had predicted, within a week, Berengar received a letter from Prince Lothair telling him to gather his troops and begin the journey towards war. In the northern part of Germany, fighting had already taken place between House von Luxembourg with the support of their allies against House von Wittelsbach. Duke Wilmar of Austria had begun his journey to Bavaria with most of his army thus launching an attack on the Wittelsbach while their main army was away. However, he foolishly trusted Lothar with the border defenses where Tyrol shared with southern Bavaria.

After receiving the call, Berengar had sent the mercenaries he had prepared for the occasion to gather at Innsbruck, with a silver chest and a letter informing Lothar of Berengar's "temporary" absence. Right now, Lothar was standing in the Great Hall of Innsbruck surrounded by various nobles who had answered his call in which he read out Berengar's letter aloud for everyone to hear.

"Honored Count Lothar von Habsburg-Innsbruck,

It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that I cannot reach common ground in Innsbruck at this time. Due to some complications, mostly due to the weather, I was unable to gather my troops in time to meet with you and your other Bannerman. Therefore, I have sent this small army of mercenaries and silver treasures to act as compensation for my absence. I'll meet you at the target location when conditions permit.

Really, really,

Viscount Berengar von Kufstein"

The various nobles gathered could not help but scorn the contents of this letter. Clearly, the young Viscount was a coward, hiding behind his walls while the others gathered for a future conflict. Many of these people had done business with Berengar and felt very disgusted at the person who helped supply them with the equipment they needed to bring down their troops. The middle-aged viscount was the first to voice his objections to the matter.

"Did that brat really intend to sit down and wait for the battle to end before arriving? Apparently, my estimation of 'Mighty Berengar' was greatly exaggerated!"

The reason for the ludicrous weather conditions after all these people lived in Tyrol and suffered from the same conditions, yet they all managed to answer the gun call. Although some Nobles were pleased with Berengar's absence, he was known to be an excellent commander, and they did not want to compete with him when it came to rising through the ranks when Lothair was in power.

Part of the reason was because Lothair greatly underestimated the strength of Berengar's army. He was unaware of the massive military buildup Berengar had been carrying out during the previous months, or how well each of his soldiers was equipped. Firearms are still a rare and primitive design at this point in history and considering Berengar has done an excellent job of concealing the effectiveness of his rifles and cannons, Lothar only believed that he had some peasant retribution equipped with a not so impressive hand cannon.

In addition, Lothar had purchased all the high-quality equipment from Berengar's professional forces shortly after the war with Kitzbuhel, and because of how busy Berengar was selling weapons and armor to other troops, he said, he did not believe that the young Viscount had time to properly equip his own army. Lothair has little need for a less complete bunch of levies, this is a more sophisticated era of war where smaller forces of professional armed men are fighting against each other, the days of large hordes of farmer retribution equipped with hunting spears, and lacking armor were long gone. So he made a bold statement in front of all the gathered nobles

"Forget Berengar; if he wants to hide behind his castle walls like a coward, then I will allow him; we march to Vienna at first light!"

The gathered nobles all nodded with satisfied expressions; without Berengar and his troops, they felt much safer to get Lothair's help. Although they were completely unaware of the already strained relationship between the young Viscount and Count Lothar, so they were unable to predict the evil thoughts Lothar was secretly thinking behind his evil thoughts.

'When I am done with Vienna, I will come to expel you from your castle and cut off your head for this act of treason!'

Clearly, the target of his retaliation is Berengar; Lothar never forgives the boy for ruining his plan with lambert, nor does he forget the fact that he turned his daughter into an unmarried teenage mother. Who would marry his daughter now? He had tried to convince Berengar to take responsibility and marry Linde, but the boy was stubborn to marry the girl von Graz, and this in itself had made Count Lothar thirsty for her blood.

Therefore, Lothair spent the rest of his time thinking about his plans to deal with Berengar; after all, by the time the Teutonic Order arrived in Kufstein, Lothair was confident he would become a Duke. At that moment he could actually gather great power to crush the little ants that kept on unleashing his anger. Lothair is unlikely to find out that Adelheid had sniffed out his office while he slept that night, looking around for any semblance of plot against Berengar; on behalf of his sister, he willingly works with the young Viscount to overthrow his evil father.

On that night, Adelheid found letters from the Papacy telling Lothair that the Teutonic Order had sent 10,000 soldiers on the warpath to Kufstein and that they would arrive in a few months. The girl quickly copied the contents of the correspondence and sent it to Linde on the night cover. His father and his allies were completely unaware that his home in Innsbruck had been infiltrated by Berengar's vast spy network. These spies will have a role to play in the impending Siege of Innsbruck, which will forever be recorded in history as a major event of Berengar's rise to dominance.