Steel Empire
The Unexpected Discovery

After dinner, Berengar took a bath with his lover before the two of them returned to their bedroom. As usual, after returning from the battlefield, they spent quite a lot of time making love every night for weeks. Eventually, the couple fell asleep in each other's arms. 

As the sun rises in the morning, Bernegar once again performs his standard morning routine. Lately, Linde has been joining her for part of the exercise, since she gave birth to Hans, she started trying to lose the baby weight, and once again, she is in pristine condition, although that didn't mean for a moment she would stop her daily routine. 

After they finished exercising, the couple took a bath together before breakfast; when they finished, they parted for the day. Berengar had to visit Ludwig and order the Arkebuse for immediate sale to the Byzantines.

As for Linde, she has to manage her spy network and gather intelligence on certain issues at hand. Now more than ever, he is filled with work, as his efforts are crucial to stabilizing Berengar's rise to power. But that's a story for another time.

Berengar quickly descended from the Castle and entered the burgeoning city below, flanked by his house guards. As he approached Ludwig's office, he gestured for them to stay before entering the facility and knocked on the old man's room. 

After knocking a few times, Ludwig opened the door; he looked even more haggard than usual as if he had spent three consecutive days working on some unknown project. When the man saw Berengar smiling while standing at his entrance, he rubbed his eyes a few times to see if he was witnessing reality. After realizing what he saw was indeed true, he exclaimed in shock.

"You Your Majesty!?! I'm just about to send word that I have something to show you, hurry in, come in!"

Seeing the excited expression on Ludwig's tired face, Berengar could not help but be amused, and therefore, he walked into the office only to realize that it was full of pieces of paper that looked like blueprint designs. Thus his curiosity was immediately triggered.

"Say, Ludwig, what's so important that you have to leave sleep?"

Ludwig was too eager to answer Berengar's question immediately, and so he rummaged through the various blueprints on his desk before finding the right one. After grabbing it, he threw the other papers off the table and spread the file to the surface so Berengar could witness his latest creation.

When Berengar stared at the blueprint, he was completely shocked. He knew exactly what this weapon was and was surprised that one could design such a thing in this era. Ludwig had taken Berengar's concept, and with further education, and experimentation had designed his own wrinkle pistol.

The wrinkle gun was a weapon from Berengar's previous life; only two were ever produced. However, for the time it was designed, it was practically a machine gun. It was a flintlock artillery piece that used a rotating cylinder that could carry six to eleven shots and shoot at a rate of nine rounds per minute. One might not think it was much, but in an era where it took 30 seconds or more to reload a standard cannon and 20 seconds or so to reload a single rifle, it was not, that's a huge advantage. 

Most importantly it could be filled with a solid ball, or a tube shot form that contains a total of 16 shotgun balls per round. Allowing Berengar's forces to launch a shotgun ball into the infantry formation at a decent distance, with a much higher rate of fire than the traditional canister fire used in his cannon. 

Berengar was astonished that Ludwig could devise the magic of weapon techniques and looked at the man with a newfound respect. Seeing how Berengar looked at him, Ludwig decided to explain his creation and how he could create it.

"Your Majesty, while you were at war, I was heavily drunk and suddenly got inspired. After coming to my senses the next day, I thought of my idea and realized that it was fully feasible. My thought process is, what if I can do it? design a cannon that works similar to your spinning flintlock! I call it Schmidt Gun after my family name! What say?"

Berengar was at a loss for words; this weapon was something that should not exist in this timeline, only someone like himself who had been reincarnated into a world with future knowledge could design such advanced weaponry, however, Ludwig had discovered it from scratch loosely based on the principles of the existing equipment Berengar had developed. That was really astounding. 

Berengar was very proud of the man he placed in charge of his industrial district and smiled sincerely at Ludwig before patting him on the shoulder.

"Ludwig, my friend, you just got the title of Knight!"

Hearing Berengar's words, Ludwig was shocked; he knew by Berengar's political and military reforms that the Knights were quickly becoming the ceremonial position of the lower nobility, but never in a million years did he think such a prestigious gift would fall into his hands. By this time, Ludwig was already very wealthy as the head of Kufstein's industrial district, but he could not afford the title of nobility. 

In particular, Berengar intended to introduce the rank of Baronet to ordinary members of society who were extraordinarily serving his country. So they were ranked higher than Knights but below a standard God. Until now, Berengar had not found an ordinary person worthy of such a title, but with Ludwig's invention of the game-changer, he was finally able to introduce him to his noble hierarchy. 

Hearing such praise from his subordinates, tears began to well up in the old man's eyes as he thanked Berengar for his gift.

"Your Majesty, thank you!"

Berngar simply shook his head and responded to Berengar's appreciation.

After taking a while to calm down, Ludwig finally realized that Berengar had come here for a different reason, and thus he began to ask for the details.

"Your Majesty, why are you here?"

Only now did Berengar remember his initial intention to arrive, and because of that, he carefully placed Ludwig's blueprint into the man's hands before putting it on the table.

"The design is much simpler than flintlock and not as effective. However, I hope that this Arkebuse can be produced so that I can sell it to the Byzantine Army!"

Looking at such a simple design on the table, Ludwig excitedly smirked before asking it in his mind.

"How much do you need and when?"

Berengar did not hesitate to state his demands.

"Better thirty, and as soon as possible. I need to demonstrate its effectiveness to the Byzantine representatives."

Ludwig scratched his beard for a moment while thinking about how long it would take. Finally, he answered Berengar's question with a wide smile.

"Give me a week; I need to prepare a new production line for this Arkebuse as you call it; back then, we should be able to produce it regularly."

Berengar smiled and nodded before returning to the blueprint Ludwig had made.

"Prepare the production line for Schmidt Weapons as well; I want as much as you can. This weapon will be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield!"

Seeing how excited Berengar was to apply this new weapon he developed made the old man smile, and he quickly gave a thumbs up to Berengar before proudly declaring.

"Give it to me! I will be happy to produce as much as I can; I hope they can bring glory to our kingdom!"

So Berengar gave one last piece of advice.

"Rest, Ludwig; you deserve it; everything else is secondary to your health."

Hearing that Berengar cared about his condition, Ludwig almost cried; however, he managed to strangle them back before replying with a wide grin.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty; I will sleep after I give the order to prepare the production line."

Berengar nodded before continuing out the door. He still had a few things to settle for the rest of the day. Namely, he had to visit Ludolf and check to see the progress of his reforms. He had been at war for too long and did not focus enough on the spread of his new religion. 

As he walked towards the local Chapel, Berengar began to wonder if his outstanding subordinates would surprise him with significant innovation; only time would tell. One thing for sure is that Ludwig was an outstanding engineer for the times he was in, and Bernegar fully intended to help that man on his path.

Unfortunately, Ludwig was old and most likely would not serve him for many more years. So the need for public education and the coaching of outstanding individuals is more important than ever in Berengar's mind.