Steel Empire
Blessed With An Extraordinary Child

While Bernegar's agricultural reforms were slowly but surely implemented across the region, the man was faced with a great sense of difficulty. Soon it will be Adela's fourteenth birthday, and she doesn't know what to give to the girl.

Although the fiancee's partner doesn't live together, that doesn't mean Berengar doesn't shower his little fiance with gifts. She would send dresses, shoes, jewelry, and fashionable accessories suitable for the empress whenever there was a chance. 

Of course, Adela's birthday wasn't the only one Berengar had to prepare for, Linde's birthday wasn't long after, and just like Adela, she showered her with lavish gifts whenever she got the chance. He had actually spoiled both of his women to a level that normal dukes could not.

Adela's birthday is on September 9, while Linde's is on October 15; they are a little over a month apart. As for Berengar, his birthday is December 21. However, he frankly did not care about his birthday; it just became another day of the year after a certain point. 

Until he was able to obtain the precious substance known as chocolate, Berengar was quite disappointed with his birthday because he could not continue his annual tradition of eating three-layer German Chocolate Cakes, which to him was a disaster. 

However, it is not important at the moment; the important thing is to give Adela the gift she deserves for her birthday. She could easily shop for Linde; she would just have her tailor make her a fancy set of lingerie, and more importantly, sexy; however, for someone like Adela, it was not something he could do without feeling like a freak. 

Therefore, he argued seriously with his thoughts while sitting in his chair while drinking from his skull cup which contained beer. She was quite troubled over this matter; she could not simply give her meaningless jewelry or clothes. It must have been something extraordinary, something that the girl usually did not receive from him.

It was at this moment that he thought of something interesting, something he had not considered before. What if he buys her a new horse? Something exotic that costs a lot to import. What if he bought her a white Arab? 

For her, this idea was perfect, she never bought any of her female horses, and she knew that Adela liked the creature. Linde loves cats, but Adela loves horses. After thinking of such a brilliant thing, he immediately got the task of writing a letter to his old friend Arethas of the Byzantine Empire. If there was anyone known to Berengar who could give him a white Arab just in time for Adela's birthday, it was the Ionian Strategos.

After compiling the letter, he quickly sent it out with a proper messenger party. It was these times that Berengar longed for the modern world and its sophisticated methods of communication. After submitting his request, Berengar returned to his office where he sighed heavily before taking out the distilled alcohol. 

When talking about liquor, Berengar had chosen to make whiskey, and although this batch was not too old, it was enough to help calm his nerves. Berengar began to ponder the last year and a half of his life. So much had happened this time that he rarely had a moment like this to relax. He was lucky to be alive, let alone succeed as far as he had.

He still doesn't know how he reincarnated into this world, but he begins to consider that maybe it is some form of Diety's work, but if it is, what is their motive for doing so? These were the ideas Berengar emphasized in his spare time. 

He was so busy thinking all day that he did not know how to turn it off, so to calm himself down, he thought of things that could not be proven and just speculated about them as mental exercises. At least, it keeps his mind healthy.

Berengar had spent so much time in his study lately that it had become a habit to come into this room and sit down, even if he had nothing to do. Linde started joking about how she spent more time with her study leather chair than she did with it. 

Talk about the devil, and he will appear; when Berengar thinks of his lover, he hears a knock on his door, to which he quickly answers.

"Come in"

after doing so, Linde appeared wearing another sky blue dress. When she is not wearing the color of her house, she tends to enjoy dressing sky blue and white, as it accentuates her beautiful eyes. Seeing his handsome lover standing in front of him with a happy smile on his face, Berengar was confused; thus he asked about it.

"What makes you so happy!"

Linde approached Berengar and grabbed his hand, and began dragging him away without explanation. Wanting to know what made the woman so excited, she let him do it before long. He is quickly dragged into Hans' room by the woman he loves, where he opens the door to reveal a small child standing on both feet and walking up to Henrietta, who is in love with her, who was nearby and smiled. Berengar was not too surprised when he saw this; after all, it was time for the boy to walk.

"Damn it!"

Linde immediately glared at Berengar as she used profanity in front of their baby boy, and she instantly closed her trap. Hans is almost nine months old at the moment; after all, he was born at the end of last year, and it is not yet September. Despite this, he walked quite easily and had already spoken to a certain degree.

Berengar could not help but believe that the child was some kind of genius, and he quickly looked at Linde in bewilderment. The way she looked at Linde made her uncomfortable, and she awkwardly asked about her gaze. 

"What's? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Berengar did not hide what he was thinking and quickly expressed his thoughts.

"What kind of super gene does your family have?"

Linde, of course, had no idea what genetics was and was therefore very confused by Berengar's question. Therefore, he revealed his confusion.

"Gen?"

Berengar simply shook his head and rejected the idea

"That's it, it doesn't matter..."

While his family is above average in intelligence, with some only breaking the barrier to entering Mensa, there are no legitimate geniuses in his family, at least in the classical sense.

Of course, as he thought about it, he realized that this body did not have the same genetic composition as the original body. While pondering over such matters, Berengar had to admit that he did not know much about von Kufstein's bloodline aside from the fact that they were Soldier Families. 

The child may get his intelligence from the Berengar gene, to be honest he doesn't know the answer, but if the child turns out to be as smart as Berengar thinks he will be based on the signs available to him at the moment, so that's a good indicator that Hans can be a role model candidate to succeed in the future. 

The boy eventually runs into Berengar, where the young Duke takes the boy and ruffles his strobery blonde hair. Berengar looked lovingly at his son before looking into his eyes and saying something profound.

"My son, one day you'll be a better man than me!"

the way Hans looked at Berengar it seemed like he understood what Berengar meant. However, Berengar only hugged his son before returning him to his mother. It still took a long time before Hans could show his true potential, but Berengar believed in the boy. 

Glad to know that if nurtured properly, the Berengar Empire believed that he would forge would someday be in good hands after his death. Even if one of his other children turned out to be more suited to the King's position, Hans could still play an important role in the progress and development of the Empire.

This was something that Bernegar sincerely believed in, and he was happy that he had been blessed with such an amazing child. Whether it was his genes or Linde who produced such a child did not matter. After all, the two of them would definitely have a few more children in the coming years. If it was indeed hers, then perhaps her children with Adela would inherit such a trait as well. Only time will answer...