Steel Empire
War Council

Berengar was currently standing in the middle of his Great Hall; he was posing for a painter who had displayed incredible talent over the past few months, in such a way that Berengar had commissioned this painter to paint a portrait of himself. The first of many to come. It was no secret that Berengar was a very arrogant person; he was very attentive to his appearance and those around him. There was a reason why he equipped his army with Landschnekts' striking clothes from his previous life. He secretly wonders if he inherited this from his father in this life or if he has developed it over time. 

After all, in his previous life, Berengar was a very average-looking man; his outstanding attractive feature was his body that had put great effort into developing into the body of a warrior. His face, however, was nothing special, and although it was not ugly, it was also unattractive. However, after reincarnating into this life, he found himself in the body of a very handsome young man. If someone goes from being average to 10/10, it makes sense that they become a little obsessed with their appearance. 

Right now, the young Count stood up wearing his armor. The three-quarter plate armor was made of blackened steel, with exquisite gold decoration. Pauldron perfectly tilted over the gap in the armor to the point where the rondel was not needed. His gloves allowed access to individual fingers, and he was currently holding the grip of his heavy cavalry sword, which was draped around his waist and sat inside his sheath.

Her free hand rested on her face-open burgonet with the same decoration, which was located on the end table nearby. The cold, and indifferent Berengar facial expression that matched his gilded black velvet eye patch, created an oppressive atmosphere. The portrait itself was from the waist up, and thus, the armor that protected his thighs and groin was nowhere to be seen. 

Among the audience who watched the painter's performance, Berengar's grand performance with exceptional skill was Linde, who greatly admired the process. Berengar had promised that if it turned out as good as he thought, then he would assign one of Linde as well. Therefore, he was quite excited as he watched the portrait slowly take shape. The painting was of much better quality than the average medieval period painting. Berengar was far from an artist, but he knew how to explain how to use the basic principles of his past life. After all, he had taken some painting classes in high school as an option. So he could help the artists at Kufstein develop their skills to make their paintings more lively. 

As the painting nears completion, it closely resembles other portraits from the renaissance period of Berengar's past life. It was a very wonderful job, though, and painters would never have acquired such a skill without Berengar's instructions and the funds young nobles gave to the artists at Kufstein to pursue their passion. After the work was completed, the young painter showed Berengar the final product; as Berengar watched the creation with his own eyes, the young painter showed Berengar the final product; as Berengar watched the creation with his own eyes, a wide smile emanated on his face as he handed the bag filled with gold coins to the man before praising the artist.

"As always, your painting never ceases to amaze me! Very good, son!"

It was awkward enough for Berengar to call the young man a boy; after all, he was only twenty-one years old, and the artist was the same age as him. Nevertheless, one does not question what your Count calls, and the man simply smiles at the praise given to him, and more importantly, the pouch he receives, which is filled with gold coins. 

Berengar then placed his arm in armour on the man's back and instructed him on the next task.

"Go and rest; you have got it! Whenever you feel the tingling of creativity in your mind once again, go back to my castle and paint a portrait of my beautiful lover."

The young man simply nodded at Berengar's request and left the room, where Linde waited behind for the two men to complete their transaction. She had a beautiful smile on her face as she looked at the portrait before expressing her opinion.

"It looks phenomenal; who would have thought art could be so beautiful!"

Berengar only chuckled as he began to remove his armor from himself, which Linde immediately noticed and helped in the process. As they were in the process of removing the equipment, Berengar voiced his opinion about the object.

"The artist was lucky because I was so handsome; if I were an ordinary man, the piece wouldn't be so inspiring!"

Linde simply rolled her eyes when she saw Berengar praising himself again; she was well aware of his arrogance, still, which honestly did not make her think less of him. After all, he was first attracted to her because of her appearance; he chuckled at the thought of how foolish she was for trying to sedate and enslave Berengar when they first met. Even though things didn't go the way he wanted that night, he was much happier with the actual result.

Thinking of their first night together made Linde very aroused, and after she finished stripping off Berengar's armor, she pressed********* a large one to her lover's chest in an attempt to seduce him. Looking at Linde's longing gaze, Berengar chuckled; he had no idea what he was thinking of bringing about this sudden change, but he was really too seductive; no wonder he fell in love with her charm when they first met. Nevertheless, he was too busy to satisfy her at the moment. The portrait is just one of his many responsibilities on his daily list. Before she could play around with her lover, she had to take care of the kingdom; therefore, she flicked the girl's nose as she tried to seduce him with her beautiful figure.

"Patience; I'm busy with work at the moment. However, I promise to satisfy you later tonight!"

Linde started to frown when Berengar rejected her, but she knew that he always kept his promise, and because of that, she smiled sultryly as she kissed him passionately; it was only after she let go of herself did she say a comment in her mind.

"I'll hold you to that promise!"

"I'll make him pay for it ..." 

Now that his portrait was completed, Berengar had many other things to watch out for. So did Linde; as ruler of Berengar's spy network, she quickly began gathering information about Berengar's enemies, expanding the network that included Southern Germany. Soon, Berengar's agents would be in every corner of the Holy Roman Empire, gathering information and waiting for an opportunity to attack. 

As for Berengar, he had to attend a meeting, where he would consult some officers in his army about the ongoing war in Austria. Although now was not the time to strike, preparations were underway for the critical moment when Vienna fell, and Conrad was transferred to Kufstein where he could establish an Austrian government in exile. If even one wheel in the machine that was his army failed to fulfill his duty, Berengar could lose everything in this upcoming tactic. 

With this in mind, Berengar changed into civilian clothes and visited the building built to act as the headquarters of his defense department. When he arrived at the war room, Berengar noticed that some officers were waiting for him inside, and they quickly jumped to salute as Berengar announced his presence. Berengar, of course, replied respectfully before giving the order.

"Quiet"

Where the officer slightly loosened his position. After that, Berengar and the officers in the war room sat down on the seats reserved for them, where Berengar began to begin the meeting.

"First and foremost, how are the 2,500 soldiers I sent to Vorarlberg doing?"

One of the General's officers quickly announced the status of an operation to defend Austria's Western borders.

"His Majesty, Prince Vorarlberg, is grateful for the troops we have sent, and under the command of the officer in charge, they have done an excellent job in repelling the Bavarians' advances. Now, the Bavarian army invading the region has been completely pushed out, mostly by our troops. However, Prince Vorarlberg and his troops should also be praised for their success."

Berengar nodded approvingly to this news before discussing the next matter.

"So that territory has been secured for our merchant caravan to pass?"

The general quickly responded by agreeing

"That's right, Your Majesty!"

Berengar smiled when he heard those words; now that the western front was safe, Berengar did not have to worry about fighting on both sides when he finally got involved in the war for Austria. Therefore, he began to overcome the border crisis.

"What about the border? How did they survive?"

Another colonel-ranked man quickly informed Berengar of the ongoing conflict at the border as he spread the map across the table and placed several mini figures representing the forces involved in the battle.

"The Northwest "garrison had completely stopped the Bavarians' advance; after trying to attack many fortresses, they had surrendered completely and only maintained their presence at the border. As for the Northeast Border, the Bavarians were still concentrating their efforts on breaking through the defenses. However, they did not make any progress due to the construction of the star fortress in the area and how good their defense was; enemy soldiers usually moved after several artillery strikes. We haven't suffered a single victim, well other than a few minor injuries."

Berengar smiled and nodded at this news, in the end. For the time being, Tyrol was safe; therefore, Berengar decided to inform his officers of his upcoming plans, as they could not adequately prepare themselves if they were not aware of it. Because of this, Berengar was very thoughtful of the words he would use next, as it was very important for his future plans. Thus the officers in the war room were left in silence as they waited for Liege and their Commander to give a passionate speech about the future of the War in Austria, which will one day be recorded in history as a symbol of Berengar's rise to power. .