Steel Empire
Dinners

Since the signing of the treaty several weeks had passed and Berengar had returned to Tyrol, Eckhard and the others were informed of the treaty and stopped their advance into Upper Austria; instead, Berengar returned home, Eckhard would remain in the region with a small force of 5,000 men to ensure a peaceful withdrawal of Bavarian troops. As for the rest of the soldiers, they also returned with Berengar returning to their homes. 

Although Vienna had been secured, Berengar had no plans to move into the city and keep an eye on Conrad. Therefore, he made a decree to temporarily move the Austrian capital from Vienna to Kufstein; his justification for doing so was that Vienna had been badly damaged during the war and it would take time to repair itself before it could serve as the capital of Austria. 

For a while, Conrad stayed in Kufstein, under Berengar's control; with the passage of days, the Duke's boy became more like a puppet. He had no supporters, while Berengar was considered the one who freed Austria from the occupation of Bavaria and thus had gained many supporters among the Duchy's nobility. 

Everyone knew that Berengar was the right authority in the region, yet few dared to oppose him even so. They were increasingly fearful of his military might and the extent to which his spy network had infiltrated every corner of the Duchy. No one is safe from the reach of Berengar within the confines of Austria. 

Berengar had begun his transition of power from Count to Duke. However, it would still take several years to achieve this completely; so, at this time, he was preoccupied with other affairs, such as hosting his guests from the Byzantine Empire.

Strategos Arethas Maniakes has chosen to visit Kufstein once again now that Austria is safe to travel to and thus sits at the Berengar dining table, where Berengar, Linde, Conrad, are located, and Henrietta was eating with the nobles of the East.

Arethas had important matters to discuss with Berengar, especially considering the Emperor had assigned him to inquire about the procurement of firearms. Therefore, he tried to talk about the topic about good food after Berengar had finished a few beers.

Berengar was interested in the small talk at the beginning of the conversation and thus casually asked about the Emperor and his current condition.

"So Arethas, my friend, how is the Emperor?"

Arethas thoroughly enjoyed the food on his plate, as he thought about the answer, finally after washing the pichelsteiner he had as a side to his babi schnitzel, and sauteing it with a strong beer, he said, the man opened up about some of the details revolving around the Emperor.

"The emperor's a little stressed at the moment, but other than that, he's good."

Hearing that the Emperor was under stress tickled Berengar's natural curiosity, and thus he continued this dialogue.

"Why is the Emperor stressed? Is this something serious?"

Hearing the worry in Berengar's voice, Arethas quickly dispelled the thought of the chaos Berengar might have experienced about the Emperor's life and immediately revealed the famous secret.

"Oh, it's no big deal; her daughter Princess Honoria just made a fuss again. His father had been engaged to him by the French Crown Prince, and he had no interest in marrying the man. In his own words, he refers to him as a sissy homosexual who has absolutely no ambition. As such, he felt like Aubry de Valois was one of the worst of all matches that could be made. However, he had completely blamed himself, his father had tried to frame him with over a dozen matches before this, and he had turned them all down."

Hearing this, Berengar began to laugh to himself; he made sharp comments about the Prince of France as he did so.

"Why am I not surprised?"

Hearing this, Arethas was confused and questioned Berengar's comments.

"Why aren't you surprised about what?"

Feeling that he had caused a misunderstanding, Berengar decided to clarify himself after drinking from his skull trophy.

"I just find it fitting that the French Crown Prince is a sissy homosexual, that's all..."

Hearing Berengar's words, Linde immediately burst into laughter. Even in this era, or it must be said especially in this era, a strong grudge between Germany and France was not a laughing stock. So Berengar took the opportunity to make fun of the Crown Prince when the opportunity was given to him.

Conrad, on the other hand, pouted. Not once did an important noble from the East bother to talk to him or even acknowledge him despite being the Duke. The boy struggled to contain his anger as Berengar and Arethas chatted as if they were men of equal standing. 

Henrietta was puzzled, as she was too innocent to know what a sissy homosexual was, and thus did not understand Berengar's cynical comments. Therefore he only focused on eating his food, like an adorable little loli. 

When Arethas heard Berengar's statement, he also found it quite amusing, as he was well aware of the stereotypes Germans thought about French people. So he made his own jokes.

Berengar, on the other hand, laughed at this comment and pointed to his eyes as proof of his achievements in battle.

"The last capable swordsman I dueled took my right eye. But I managed to take his life. I'm not afraid of the petty Prince of France. I would gladly tell him what I think of him. If he has a problem with that, he can feel the power of my flintlock gun!"

Hearing Berengar mention his firearm carried a sense of delight on Arethas' face; the conversation naturally headed in this direction, thus allowing him to inquire about the purchase of such a weapon. Therefore, he took advantage of this opportunity and asked the question in his mind.

"By the way, the Emperor has personally asked me to inquire about the possibility of buying such a weapon from you. I know this is too far, but is there any way you can sell some of these so-called flintlocks to me?"

Berengar immediately shook his head in denial, which instantly dropped the spirit of Arethas; however, the words that came next shocked the man, as he had not expected them.

"I can't sell flintlock to you; it's completely unacceptable. However, I have a prototype design that I can make for you. I call it Arkebuse; it may not be as great as my weapon, but I promise you that it is better than anything you will find in the world!"

For some time now, Berengar has been considering selling arquebus keys to primitive matches to his friends in the East in an attempt to curry favor further. The reason for this was twofold; first and foremost, such a weapon did not pose a significant threat to its troops. It was heavy, though portable, and had minimal range; it was also significantly less powerful than a rifle and could not penetrate the armor of its soldiers with a single shot.

Another reason is more important than this. With its rapid expansion of power, it could be said that its advanced weaponry was mainly responsible for this. Thus, soon interest in firearms became the norm, and other countries sought to replicate its success. It could be said Berengar had accelerated the interest and development of firearms from his natural path.

Other countries may have already experimented with hand cannon repair because of the power displayed by Berengar's army. He therefore wanted to take advantage of this to introduce the Arquebus as a standard weapon for his potential allies, it allowed him to amass great wealth with his trade and expand Byzantine power so that he would not have to worry about some form of Islamic attack on Europe. as the Ottomans had done after the fall of Constantinople in the timeline of his old life. 

Hearing that Berengar was willing to sell the Empire some sort of advanced firearm, even if it was not as advanced as the weapons of his own army, immediately attracted Arethas' interest, and thus he happily negotiated his purchase because he had been authorized to do so by the Emperor. However, when he was about to inquire about the procurement of such weapons, Conrad quickly interrupted by throwing a tantrum.

"Absolutely not! I will never allow you to sell such dangerous weapons to other regions! What if the Byzantines attacked us with our weapons."

Hearing the boy finally speak, Berengar and Linde both glared at him with murderous intent, which immediately made the boy silent, Conrad was furious. However, Berengar's next words further added insult to injury.

"Don't worry about the boy; he has no authority in this matter, I'll be happy to sell Arkebuse to you, and we can negotiate a further price at a later time. I'd rather make some weapons and show you. You're their ability before we agree."

Arethas smiled and nodded; this was a reasonable request, especially since he could negotiate a fairer price when he knew more about their abilities. Berengar was truly generous to allow such a display before negotiations began. 

As for Conrad, he began to throw tantrums and immediately questioned Berengar's claim.

"There is no authority? I am the Duke of Austria! How dare you claim I have no authority!"

Berengar, however, clicked his tongue before punishing Conrad on the matter.

"Your Majesty, with all due respect, I say that you have no authority in this matter, which you do not have. These weapons belonged to the County of Tyrol, not the Duchy of Austria. As the inventor of the weapon and the Count of Tyrol, I have the final say on whether or not I intend to sell such a weapon."

Hearing this, Conrad was stunned; he honestly had no response to such words. Once again, he was tricked by Berengar, to the point where he could no longer deny the man's logic. So he just started to frown like a spoiled child, no longer causing trouble. 

After Conrad's minor rampage, Berengar returned to the topic.

"I'm sorry for the interruption; as I said, You are welcome to stay in Kufstein for a while until I can make some test samples so that I can show you what a unit armed with such a weapon is capable of. . From there, we can negotiate a good price for the weapon and how much you want to buy."

Arethas quickly agreed to these terms and nodded his head before replying

"No problem; I will be happy to stay in Kufstein for a while; I'm sure when I return to the Empire with your weapons, the Emperor will be happy with the result."

With the suspension of the Arkebus trade negotiations, the group of nobles and women returned to eating and enjoying the rest of the night. Tomorrow Berengar will order thirty Arkebus. He would then have some of his soldiers test them on the mirror-pattern armor commonly issued to the Byzantines and their enemies.