Steel Empire
Back To Kufstein

Night came and went, and Berengar finally returned to the room reserved for him where he rested for the night. After a good night's sleep, he woke up early and began making preparations for the trip to Kufstein.

Not long after that he stood outside the Castle in his courtyard, waiting for Adela and Otto to arrive. Finally, Adela and Otto appeared, where they greeted Berengar. They had already said goodbye to their families, as it would take a long time before they returned. Otto was the first to voice his concerns over the trip.

"Listen, are you sure that we'll safely travel through Salzburg and into Kufstein?"

Hearing Otto voice his worries, Berengar almost chuckled; he had quite a number of Cuirassier and Riding Infantry whom he explicitly raised to guard his caravan. He had spent a huge amount of money lately to buy as many war horses as possible from different parts of Europe.

While his cavalry mainly consisted of Cuirassier and Lancer, he was still trying to raise the Riding Infantry for a quick trip or protect it during his journey. So right now, his forces are enough to penetrate Salzburg County with little effort. 

Therefore, Berengar informed Count Otto of his certainty.

"Don't worry, uncle, Cuirassier and my cavalry infantry are more than enough to defeat any force foolish enough to attack us on our route to Kufstein. We'll be completely safe."

Hearing Berengar's confidence about the matter greatly eased his worries, and therefore he nodded in agreement.

"I hope you're right..."

With that said, Count Otto was the first to enter the Train that Berengar had provided. After her father did so, Adela approached Berengar and wrapped her arms around his neck before peeping her cheeks.

It had been so long since he had been in Kufstein, and he was filled with anticipation, he had dreamed of revisiting, ever since he read the letters of Berengar's development efforts. After kissing Berengar's cheek, the teenage girl blushed before grabbing his hand.

"Can we go?"

Berengar smiled and nodded before dragging his future wife to the carriage, where he then gave the order to leave. So the caravan of armed guards and the host Berengar effectively marched as they began to leave Graz City. With an average speed of fifteen miles per hour, it takes roughly fourteen hours of caravans to reach their destination. During this time, Adela and Berengar were mostly seductive, which made Count Otto very uncomfortable.

...

After more than fourteen hours had passed, Berengar and his caravan arrived at the border of Kufstein city. Their journey was smooth, as the Bavarians who occupied Salzburg had learned their lesson from the last time they targeted the Berengar caravan and thus kept their distance for fear of once again taking a heavy toll.

Seeing the great wall of Kufstein in the distance, Adela peered out the window in amazement. Such an extraordinary structure did not exist during his last visit to the region. He had read in great detail about the Berengar infrastructure project from his letters. However, after witnessing it with his own eyes, he felt as if even the legendary Theodosian walls in Constantinople could not compare. 

Even Count Otto stared in amazement at the magnificent building; he was especially interested in the gray bricks used in its construction and asked about its composition.

"Listen, what exactly is this wall made of?"

Berengar had an arrogant smile on his face as he described the materials used to build the wall while emitting an aura of overwhelming pride.

“Well, for starters, we take cinder block, which is a half-perforated brick made of concrete. From there, we fill the gaps with structural steel rods or rebars for short. Then after the cinder block is properly reinforced, we pour more cement inside the gap to seal it, and secure the reinforcement inside. The steel-reinforced bricks are then stacked together until the proper wall thickness is reached. This is just a summary of how we built such a structure. In reality, it's much more complex. However, as you can see, the walls are shorter and much thicker than regular castle walls. This is to maintain structural integrity if my enemies bring cannon fire to my city. Something that has been proven by traditional walls.become weak against during my campaign."

Count Otto tried to record everything Berengar said while gazing in awe at the fortresses surrounding Kufstein. He quickly realized anyone who decided to launch an attack on such a well-defended city was simply asking for their death.

Shortly after, the caravan entered the city gate, which opened at the sight of the banner of House von Kufstein fluttering over the approaching caravan. With that, Berengar and his guests entered a city they had never seen before.

While the outer area closest to the wall was currently empty, the closer they got to the center, the more they saw the tenement houses and stately houses built in a half-timbered style. There was no sign of dirt on the streets as each building had an internal waterway, which flowed into a sewage treatment plant outside the city, then pumped into a nearby river.

However, what caught Adela's attention were the large projects that were under construction or already completed. Such as the Grand Cathedral, the Grand Palace, and the parliament building. All these buildings are made in a unique architectural style that has never entered this world. They were beautiful compared to other structures of the era and easily attracted Adela's interest.

It has been more than half a year since he was last in Kufstein, yet that has changed a lot. It was unexpected how quickly Berengar built his city. However, he relied on a large workforce and advanced technology from structural steel and concrete to build the city so quickly.

Even beautiful half-timbered tenement houses and houses are built using concrete instead of more traditional materials, especially for their foundations. Of course, the concrete is coated with stucco to make it more aesthetic. As such, the buildings hardly look different from traditional buildings built in such style throughout Germany. 

Only after entering the town square did Adela see a monument dedicated to Berengar that overlooks the city from the hill above it. He could not hold his breath as he looked at the huge bronze statue of his fiancee on horseback, wearing full armor and raising his sword into the air. Berengar saw the adorable expression on his face and immediately asked the question in his mind.

Adela was so shocked by her skill level that she was speechless and just nodded with her mouth agape. Seeing Adela's reaction, she was more pleased with the cost she incurred for such a thing. 

On the other hand, Count Otto was extremely envious of the city that Berengar had created; it seemed to be a suitable place for the Imperial Capital, he had no words, no words, because he really wanted Graz rebuilt in that way. In the end, he could only sigh in defeat; berengar's wealth and knowledge were too much for an older man like him to match. 

After crossing the city, they finally crossed the river and ended up in the castle grounds where Linde and Henrietta were waiting for his arrival. Henrietta held Hans in her hand, which Berengar immediately realized the reason for when he saw her.

Therefore, he stepped out of the carriage intending to tell Linde to behave in the presence of Adela and her father, but she was too slow; before she could even get off the stairs, she said, Linde had jumped into her arms and kissed her passionately, forcing her tongue through her lips, while hanging her arms around her neck. He used his natural assets to press against Berengar's chest and tried to suck air from his lungs.

It was only when Adela and Count Otto followed Berengar out of the train that Linde realized he had made a mistake. The way Adela glared at him instantly gave her spine goosebumps, and thus she quickly let go of her grip on Berengar before turning around in embarrassment.

On the other hand, Otto observed his daughter's reaction to Berengar openly showing his affection for other women; despite the fact that Adela had said that she was fine with it; he had never personally witnessed his fiance having sex with another woman. Surprisingly he handled it quite well.

Only after Linde recovered did she greet Berengar properly.

"I miss you so much, baby!

Adela's eyebrows immediately lifted when she heard the name of the pet that Linde used when referring to Berengar. Of course, if Linde is personally with Berengar, she will use the term "master" when talking to her lover, but she usually calls him affectionate or affectionate in public. Hearing the two being so familiar, Adela started to frown. 

Linde notices this and quickly turns her attention to Adela, who greets her kindly. 

"It has been a long time, little Adela; I look forward to your arrival; we have much to talk about."

Although they had corresponded with each other's letters, the two did not have a proper discussion of how to divide Berengar's attention face-to-face, and thus they needed to negotiate appropriately as such; Adela smiled and nodded at Linde's statement.

"We're sure..."

Berengar knew that the situation was tense and, thus, tried to dilute the atmosphere.

"We can talk about these things further when we are inside."

Before his daughter could get into a fight with Linde over Berengar's affections, Count Otto agreed to his nephew's advice and rushed to bring his daughter along. Such conversations are better done behind closed doors.

"I agree, come on Adela, let's clear our inn."

Although Adela does not want to leave Berengar's company too soon, she realizes Linde deserves some alone time with the man, and therefore he nodded before following his father to the Castle while the servants carried their luggage. 

As for Henrietta, she follows Adela in and starts chatting with her; she is still holding baby Hans, who happily spends time with Adela. After all, this was Berengar's son, and as such, he felt some sort of connection with the boy, even if he wasn't his son. 

Seeing the two alone, Linde hugged Berengar before tracing her finger around her toned chest.

"Now that we have time for ourselves, what should we do?"

Berengar chuckled and stroked his head before whispering in his ear

"I know some things we can do..."

With that, the couple fled to the bedroom to be reacquainted while Adela and her father settled in the inn reserved for them while in Kufstein. Before long, Berengar would march to war once more, and he wanted to spend as much time as possible with his two women. 

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