Steel Empire
Increase Troops

The sun rose in the clear blue sky above and shone through Berengar's open bedroom window. Illuminate the scene of Berengar hugging affectionately with Linde. It won't be long before the rest of the Castle wakes up and starts climbing. Because of this, Berengar spent time playing with his new toy and asked him a lot of questions. Some of him already knew the answer and were just testing his loyalty. When he honestly answered all his questions, he was satisfied with the results of his training.

Now that he had begun to trust his loyalty, Berengar had a strange interest in the rumors he had heard recently. As the daughter of Prince Tyrol, which was a territory dominated by the Habsburg family and bordered on the territory of the Duchy of Bavaria, Linde was in a much better position to gather intelligence than Berengar. He wanted to know if he knew the inner workings of the German royal court.

Although the title of King of Germany and its sovereign territory still exist today, it is far from what you might call a united Kingdom. Today, the Duke of Luxembourg holds the title of King of Germany, although, over the centuries, that title has passed through many families. Berengar had heard rumors about the Kingdom facing a succession crisis; when the current King died, there was a high possibility of internal conflict. However, he did not have details on what happened at his country's highest court. However, Linde probably knows the details. So Berengar decided to see what he knew about it.

"Is the Kingdom really on the brink of civil war?"

Linda looked at him with a concerned expression and thought to herself—

'Are the Baron and his family unaware of the current calamity that looms over the kingdom?'

After fully accepting Berengar as his master, he would not hide anything from the young master; whatever he wanted to know as long as he knew the answer, he would without a doubt give it to him.

"of course! Why do you think my father was so interested in Kufstein's iron reserves? He wants to build an army like no other for the war to come."

Berengar narrowed his eyes at the attractive girl who was currently pressing her bare chest into his own chest as she clung onto him.

"For what exactly does he need such a powerful army?"

A beautiful smile appeared on the face of peerless beauty as she rubbed the bangs of strawberry blonde hair from her eyes. He looked at Berengar with his sky blue pupils expecting a reward for his answer.

"He wanted to be Duke of Austria; when the main family pressed for his claim to the throne, he would fight them and seize Vienna as his own."

Berengar patted the girl's head gently as if he was a pet and praised her.

"Good girl! What else can you tell me about the current succession crisis?"

Linde couldn't stop smiling as Berengar stroked her golden red hair with his firm yet loving hands; she didn't know that being praised by a master was so satisfying. He begins to question why he wasted his time as a dominatrix when being a slave feels so much more rewarding.

"Right now, the King of Germany was a frail old man with no legitimate heir. He has no son and only one daughter in his life. The current claimant to the throne is his nephew, the legitimate illegitimate son of the King's younger brother, who has just passed. The problem was, even if he was a legitimate bastard, he was still a bastard, and few people supported his claim to the throne."

Berengar nodded at that information; this was valuable intel. He decided to reward the girl by playing with his rich chest. That surprised Linde at first, but her face quickly became flushed as she closed her eyes, enjoying her treatment. However, after Berengar stopped, he realized that he was waiting for him to complete his analysis.

"The second claimant to the throne was the Duke of Bavaria; his claim essentially hinged on the fact that before House von Luxembourg took over, his House of von Wittelsbachs was Monarchs."

The divine draughtsman stopped his sentence after explaining the second claimant to the German throne; he obviously wanted to be rewarded for every piece of information. Feeling the intel he gave was worth it, and in good faith, Berengar decided to indulge him as he glued his b*beer to his own b*beer and twisted their tongues for a few seconds before releasing it. If he wanted to go any further, he would have to finish his report.

Taking the lead, Linde quickly reveals the last bit of information she knows about the ongoing fight for the throne.

"Lastly, there was the Duke of Austria; he married the only daughter of the current King and wanted to raise his teenage son as King of Germany; as you know, he married the only daughter of the current King, my family is just the Cadet Branch of von Habsburg that rules Austria. So my father planned to betray them when they marched on Munich and seized the Duchy for himself."

Linde immediately blushed after revealing her final knowledge of the current political situation the kingdom was facing. Clearly expecting Berengar to finish what he started with her. However, the subsequent statement coming out of Berengar's mouth instantly triggered the discipline he had brutally imposed on the young woman over the past week.

An evil smile appeared on Berengar's face as he saw the girl staring at him, waiting for him to conquer her. He wanted to see how far he had conditioned at this moment. Therefore, he gave the order with the most authoritative voice he could muster.

"Hmmm..."

"Please... reward me, sir!"

Berengar could not hold his nafs* anymore and spent the rest of the morning enjoying his new toy to the fullest. One can say that the activities they do over the next hour and a half can be considered as their morning exercises for the day. It was only after their bodies were filled up that Berengar finally emerged from his room. Linde was instructed to wait until it was quiet before she rushed back to her room in the hallway from her room. As soon as Berengar verified the other person's absence, Linde subtly slipped back into her room as if the two of them had spent the night together never happened.

Before long, Linde had closed the door behind her, and Berengar's expression sank to one of deep concern as he thought to himself.

'It looks like I should continue my recruitment efforts ...'

The next choice of action is to go into the bath and clean the sweat that accumulates all over his body throughout the night and early morning. After she finished bathing and getting dressed, she came out of the private bath her family had built and entered the dining room, where her entire family was waiting for her.

Including Linde and Adela, who are sitting opposite each other across the table. Adela is not happy with the plump beauty in front of her; over the past week, this strawberry blonde bimbo has been interfering with all her dates with Berengar and deliberately trying to provoke him. What could be the reason Linde was in conflict with Berengar? Unless, of course, he's acting on Lambert's behalf.

Are the two brothers so completely estranged that Lambert must send his fiancee to spark a dispute? Adela begins to realize something the other Berengar family is unaware of just by basic conjecture. There is a war of intrigue between two siblings over inheritance. The more he thought of it as a possibility, the more it made sense to him. He decided that he should ask Berengar about it later when he had the chance.

As Berengar sat at the table next to Adela, he could feel Linde's intense envious gaze and began to question whether this slave had any sense of restraint. He instantly gave the incomparable bomb a glare sign for him to act normally; if the rest of his family knew of their current relationship, it would not end well for the two of them.

Again, Berengar hosted breakfast with his family; nothing important happened. Lambert fully believed that his fiancee still intended to kill her older brother and tried to seduce him. He had not the slightest hint that the girl of his dreams had been completely stolen from him right under his nose by his older brother.

After enjoying a pleasant meal without dispute, Berengar departed from the castle and entered the field where his militia was trained to use firearms and cannons. Their number has grown to about 250 over the past week, and although there are not enough rifles and 12 pounds to use, there has been a lot of progress in their training. Berengar desperately needed to sell the steel heap as soon as possible to run the mine at full capacity. It will be important to survive the coming war.

Several veteran soldiers belonging to Sieghard's permanent army sneered at the miserable farmer's training with their hand cannons. They foolishly thought an advanced rifle capable of penetrating the entire knight plate easily as a primitive firearm currently used in some feudal armies. If they knew that the invention of the rifle ushered in the end of the Knight era and armed men like them, they would be filled with despair.

Each musket emits its own bayonet socket, a technology that eliminates the need for pikeman and swordsman. The era of spears and gunfire never had a chance to come to fruition when Julian was reincarnated as Berengar. It was only after the 12-pound cannon was put on display that the veteran soldiers began to worry about the weapons used by the farmers.

The 12-pound cannon designed by Berengar was based on the 12th-century smoothbore canon, or more commonly known in English-speaking circles as the 1857 12-pound Napoleon, it was named after Napoleon III who commissioned it in the 19th century. The cannon was light enough to be pulled by horses and used as a field weapon but fired bullets heavy enough to be used effectively in sieges during the era designed for it. It is capable of firing bullets, shots, or solid balls. Judging from the lack of chemical industry, currently only utilize ball and tube shots.

The main difference between this artillery and those used extensively during the American civil war was that it was made of pure steel, so that makes it stronger than its perimeter counterpart and does not use more sophisticated friction primers to activate it. As pointed out earlier, Berengar does not have a current chemical manufacturing process, and thus the complex chemical sequences needed to make friction primers are not available. Instead, the cannon uses an older ventilation primer and linstock to fire the cannon. It was a slower and less reliable process, but it was still in use for centuries before friction primers were invented, and it was the best choice Berengar had today.

As the cannons simultaneously roared and fired canister shells at the straw targets, which were placed about 400 yards from the cannons, the Men-at-Arms who had previously mocked the peasant militia almost lost their minds. Hundreds of straw puppets were torn apart by the canister fire provided by the three cannons. As veterans of many wars, they had never witnessed such a destructive weapon before and could hardly believe their eyes.

Berengar watched as his militia ranks formed ranks and fired their rifles effectively. He could not wait until his militia could qualify as a true soldier. Although unarmed, the 250-man militia will soon be able to provide a line of defense for the remote mountain of Barony against its potential enemy. Berengar wanted to arm them with half-grade ammo plates but could not get approval. His father would never waste the production of armor for what he considered a mere peasant retribution. If the peasant militia found themselves facing a rifle, the armor was practically useless. However, against soldiers equipped with bows, bows, and hand cannons, the armor Berengar had in mind was more than capable of surviving such a threat.

Ammo level plates were an invention that was usually discovered in the following century; unlike the current plate shield design; it was not fitting for individuals. Instead, it was mass-produced with the aim of equipping ordinary soldiers. Berengar would never supply his father's forces with the technology he created, they did not answer him, and he felt as if his father would carelessly hand over the weapons for reverse engineering to his subordinates. Therefore, he had to downplay how effective the weapon was when discussing with his father.

After helping with her militia training, she returns to the Castle where she sees Adela waiting for her outside her bedroom with a letter in her hand. Naturally, his interest was triggered, and because of that, he opened his door and let the young girl in.

"Do you have anything you want to tell me?"

Adela nodded with a pure smile on her face as she handed the letter to Berengar; it was from her father and worried about the purchase of steel bars lying in her warehouse. Berengar was very happy when he saw the price offered and had no reason to negotiate; it was far above what he considered a reasonable price. Evidently, the Count of Steiermark was also preparing for war. Berengar was so overjoyed by the news that he lifted the young prima donna in midair and kissed her cheek, which instantly made her blush. However, before she could protest, Berengar lowered her and patted her on the head.

"You just made me a happy young man! I haven't even found a potential buyer yet, and you've done the job for me!"

Linde may have the appearance of a goddess and is the perfect girl, but she is far from being a material wife. On the other hand, Adela played that role perfectly, and Berengar was confident that she too would be as beautiful as Linde one day. Berengar was completely satisfied with the romantic side of his life, all he needed was two girls by his side, again, and it would be troublesome. He has no desire to become another annoying harem protagonist.

Berengar spent the rest of the night strolling around the courtyard with Adela; lately, he was too busy with Linde's training, and he couldn't ignore the relationship with his future wife. After a long night of walking and enjoying the sunset, the two finally parted ways when the sun set. He's too young to be involved in the life of the mall*m Berengar. Fortunately she had a pretty old beauty who would do whatever she asked waiting for her in her bedroom when she returned. The master and his toys spent another night enjoying each other's lives, and the rest of the family was none the wiser.