Steel Empire
The Rough Diamond

After observing and instructing the peasant militia, Berengar returned to the village, for the time being, their training was carried out for the day; and the young master had a business to attend elsewhere. The son of the Baron must say a temporary goodbye to his fiancee, who will return to his homeland with ten tons of steel. Five more than Berengar had originally expected. After all, as his plans became more ambitious, his family needed a larger treasury.

Although the noble princess would not leave for long, she would return with a transportation containing gold and silver bars which was the promised form of compensation for the pile of so many steel bars. A small portion of the money earned from the transaction would be used for the engagement ceremony that Berengar had planned; considering he was still far from preparing for it, he had yet to send out an invitation. Due to unforeseen circumstances, it mainly concerns Linde's arrival and the things that happened afterwards. Berengar was way behind schedule to prepare for the party he promised Adela. Currently, a lack of funds is hindering its progress in that regard.

Upon arriving at the Castle, the Young Master approached his fiancee, whose knightly entourage was loading steel bars into the convoy Berengar had prepared for him. He trusted her to keep her father's bargaining side intact. The sweet girl who was at the peak of her teenage years played with her twin pigtails as she waited patiently until Berengar arrived; when she finally saw him, she ran into his arms and held him firmly. He had grown quite fond of his fiancee since their initial meeting. After a while had passed, the young girl let go of her grip on her fiance and pouted.

"You sure you can't come with me?"

Berengar chuckled while patting his delicate golden hair; with such a reaction, he really wished he could travel with her to the girl's ancestral homeland, but unfortunately, he couldn't. The young master had a lot of preparation that needed to be done, and unfortunately, he did not have the free time to go on a short vacation with his future wife. She spoke from the bottom of her heart as she smiled sweetly at him.

"I wish I could, but unfortunately, there are a lot of things I have to deal with here. But don't worry; you'll be back here soon."

He tries to convince the young girl that they will not be separated for long, as she has also grown quite fond of her young cousin. However, the real ordeal was their long-term separation after the engagement ceremony was over, and she was forced to return home. It was not that he could stay on his family's land until their marriage. That's not exactly right. To be honest, he had already stayed longer than what was considered acceptable in the eyes of the public. It was supposed to be a short meeting in a matter of days, yet she had already been on her fiance's land for weeks.

The young girl finally stopped pouting after hearing Berengar's words and smiled at him gratefully as she said in a soft tone.

"close. I want to tell you something."

Berengar did not think about it and bowed so much that he equalled the height of the girl. He quickly pecked her on the cheek with his lips full and whispered in her ear.

"I'll miss you."

After which, Berengar looked at him in disbelief; he did not think he had the courage to do such a thing; as he stared at the young lady, he did not think he had the courage to do so, his face became increasingly reddened until he covered his face with his hands and rushed into his carriage. Berengar instinctively put his hand on the cheek where he kissed her as he thought to himself.

'This girl is too sweet.'

As his thoughts began to shift back to the fond memories he had made with the Count's daughter over the past few weeks; the convoy began to drive off into the distance, leaving Berengar standing alone in the courtyard as the sunset nearly ended. Only after he could no longer see the carriage containing his fiancee, did Berengar decide to walk back inside and take a bath.

Berengar sat in a large circular stone pool, the hot water calming his milky-white skin as he relieved the stress that had accumulated throughout the day. He was completely unaware of the creaking of the door and the sound of footsteps approaching. It was only after he felt the g*nnnnn l*grab and bouncy of his k*lover pressing b*gian b*lakang neck, that he realized someone had been interfering with his personal time. The girl covered her eyes with her hands from behind as she asked in a playful tone.

"Guess who?"

Berengar chuckled as he grabbed the tiny hand and pulled beauty m*ntok to d*lam b*k m*ndi with him. Linde did not expect such behavior and shouted as she splashed into the hot water, her marble skin instantly flushed red as the heat began to affect her skin. After ascending to the young lord's p*ngkuan and m*nekan d*danya to his d*danya, he looked at her with a frown.

"You're making my hair wet!"

Berengar m*me*uk the girl and m*nciumnya; only after a minute passed did he break away from his alluring b*beer.

"It'll be a shower, of course; your hair will get wet."

"Did anyone see you come in here?"

He shook his head as he buried it into Berengar's shoulder. After that, he kissed the cheek of Adela who had left his mark and revealed the worries he had in mind.

"Well, now there's no room for another girl to mark her claim!"

The young master almost burst into laughter when he heard the childish comment of the young lady who had only been a week before boldly trying to seduce and enslave her. Is he jealous of his relationship with Adela? This is not gonna work. Clearly, he had to discipline her further ...

Because of this, he spent an unusually long and energetic shower with the bomb lying next to him. It wasn't until an hour before the couple retreated from the confines of the bathhouse and entered Berengar's room where the real fun began. He spent the whole night further training his toys; after all, his jealousy was not appropriate as a worthy toy. It was not his place to question whether his master was spending time with another woman or not.

At sunrise, the couple was fine and completely exhausted. Berengar began to regret his decision in life because he knew there were still weight lifting problems to watch out for. Although the relationship was good for cardio, it was far from enough to increase her muscle mass further. After sending her lover back to her room, she spent the rest of the morning with her old exercise routine, which she had been lazing about lately. It didn't surprise her that she took longer than usual to finish her set after a night of lovemaking.

He needs to incorporate a power nap into his schedule if he continues to behave like this at night. Nevertheless, he had a lot of work to do, so after his training for the day was over, as well as the morning bath, he once again had dinner with his family. The meal was smooth and mostly contained small talk. Afterwards, Berengar returned to a new industrial area where he checked the progress of irrigation pipes. Everything was going well, and honestly all he had to do at the moment was wait for the production to finish.

His labor was already depleted in the production of weapons, ammunition, and irrigation pipes; at this point, there was no way for him to increase their workload to produce more designs. Only after the irrigation pipe was completed would he see more farmers enter the industrial sector. After all, with innovation fully implemented, there is no longer a need for so many farmers to water their crops by hand, and they will need new jobs. Most will be delegated to the mine, while others will work in the factory.

It's not a glamorous life, though, but they would be paid a fair wage under Berengar's management and given forty decent hours of work a week with paid vacation time and sick days. It's best not to get your employees to overwork; if you're stupid enough to do so, you'll see a drop in productivity. This was a lesson that could only be learned through experience; fortunately for Berengar, he had a 21st-century American history and lessons that could be taught in his mind thanks to Julian's memories.

It seems that for now, his days will be filled with overseeing the training of his volunteer militia. At least until Adela returned with the fortune she earned for her family through various efforts. If possible, he would ask a small portion of the profits for himself to buy a plot of land to grow hemp. With the inventions on his mind, he was able to produce a textile industry that evolved over time and introduced a fashion renaissance to its inhabitants, which he was more fond of than clothes currently in fashion. Anything left over can be sold at a reasonable price to neighboring areas.

These are all plans for the near future; for the time being, nothing important can be achieved without wealth to invest in them, which he is sorely lacking right now, he said, even though within a few weeks, it was no longer a problem. She should have enjoyed the free time available to her at the moment, but for some reason, if she had not filled her schedule with meaningful and productive activities, she felt like a useless person.

After examining the progress of his industrial sector, he returned to the peasant militia, which was currently handling the basic formation. Berengar had specifically selected some veterans of the peasant population who had served in previous wars as levies to act as officer classes. They have real experience in the horrors of war. Having been personally educated in the infantry tactics of the lines by Berengar himself, they began to form their own ranks.

Of course, Berengar oversaw the daily exercise of tactics as much as possible to correct errors; after all, these were revolutionary strategies and tactics that had never been seen before. Therefore, he needed to lead the growth of his unit personally. His second commandment was actually a knight-offender who had chosen to settle in Kufstein and laze around after years of war. If one were to compare the situation with feudal Japan, he was basically a ronin. A member of the military class whose master has been killed in battle, and with it prosperity and the right to his land.

A wayward knight named Eckhard von Hallstatt had lived in Kufstein for nearly five years and basically lived as a beggar and a drunkard for that long. It was only after he saw his unique militia and weaponry and tactics that he decided to clear his act and make something of his life. He had a keen eye for strategy and tactics, and unlike the other knights and warriors at Kufstein, he was smart enough to realize that the Berengar militia was the future of warfare.

As an old and grizzled veteran, Eckhard had many insights he could contribute. He had approached Berengar earlier this week and offered the young master himself his rusty sword faithfully. After hearing the old veteran's story, Berengar raised him as Major of the Battalion and his right hand. Berengar had spent hours throughout the night writing military treatises on his vision of the future of warfare and the strategies, tactics, and logistics needed to carry it out. Eckhard practically treated this text as scripture, and the more he read about Berengar's vision, the more he believed that the young master was a military genius. Although Berengar was by no means a military genius, as a long-time veteran of various strategy games in various eras and a graduate of the Westpoint academy, he was a longtime veteran,

Eckhard did not disappoint Berengar's expectations; the man in his mid-forties quickly understood everything he was taught and not only followed the book but effectively improvised when asked. If anything, Eckhard is a true military genius. It was a pity that his previous master did not recognize the talent of knights in strategy and instead sent him to fight on the front lines. As far as Berengar knew, it was likely to be a factor in the death of that foolish master. Eckhard is a rough diamond.

Although the militias are entirely voluntary based, they still receive a fee for their training and activities. Basically they would act in a similar way to the American National Guard in Berengar's previous life. The people who comprise his ranks will undergo basic and special training, and once they complete it, they will become ordinary civilians who will meet at the weekend to continue their training. The main difference is that Berengar wants his militia training every weekend, not just once a month. In times of need, they will be called upon to fulfill their duties and treated to the same standards as professional powers, with the same penalties for desertion or other crimes.

Berengar treated the people from his militia very well. He gave them a decent meal during their training, and soon he would give them a decent uniform. Once his textile industry was up and running, the men would wear the 16th-century Landsnchekts clothing from Berengar's previous life. The young master began to develop a flamboyant sense of fashion, just like his father. For now, volunteer militias are still wearing their daily ensembles, which, frankly, are not very professional.

After guiding battalion training for the day, Berengar returned to the castle where he intended to spend the rest of his time devising plans for the textile industry he would soon build. Time waits for no one, and soon he will obtain the funds to realize his dream. Therefore he must work hard and not be tempted by worldly desires. Of course, after several hours of putting together the blueprints, Berengar heard a knock on his door and could not resist the temptation to play with his favorite toy for the rest of the night.