Steel Empire
Tea Drinking Time

Berengar held Adela's hand as he walked side by side with her to the dining room, where many guests visiting for their engagement ceremony were currently staying and enjoying the sumptuous meal. The nobles and women of various levels could not help but praise the chefs and the delicious cuisine they served to the guests. Of course, it was all Berengar's favorite and the culinary knowledge he brought from his previous life. Although certain foods were missing from the plate due to the inability to get them, the main staple of what would become German cuisine were all spread out at the party for the Masters and Madam to enjoy in their spare time.

When Berengar entered the room, he wore a fine black velvet doublet with gold embroidery. Worn on top of the doublet is a beautiful sleeveless black fur coat. His pants were in tune with black velvet and well designed, and he was currently wearing knee-high leather boots. Everything just made. Above his neck and over his shoulders was a golden chain adorned with black gemstones. Her fancy clothes were recently produced in her fledgling, Tudor-era-style textile industry, which is yet to be seen in this timeline. For the medieval nobles and women gathered in the room, her renaissance style clothes were new and luxurious. As the nobles stared at the young master and his unique fashion sense, they could not help but feel astonished and envious at the same time.

Although they had all heard rumors of Berengar's transformation recently, none of them had actually believed it until the moment they saw it. Adela, of course, stood beside her, holding her hand and wearing a Tudor-style dress with the same black and gold color scheme. Despite his age, he seemed quite voluptuous standing beside his fiancee; many qualified bachelors instantly became furious that a lowly Baron's son like Berengar had snatched a good young woman. They were unable to understand what Prince Steiermark was thinking, letting his youngest daughter marry the son of such a lowly noble family. Of course, Otto was not the only one to marry one of his daughters to Sieghard's son.

With the arrival of the Count of Steiermark and the Count of Tyrol came many of their people paying their respects to their subordinates and their presence on what was usually a local affair. There were far more nobles on that occasion than previously thought, and there were many more to come in the days that followed. From Steiermark and Tyrol, nobles of all positions can be found in present-day Kufstein. Many were not even aware of Berengar's whereabouts prior to his engagement to Adela. However, they did their best to appease him, as they knew from the presence of the two Princes at the celebration he had personally requested, that perhaps one day Berengar would become an important figure in the Duchy of Austria.

Linde stood among the crowd next to Lambert as she watched Berengar and Adela arrive with a new design with envy in her heart. Why didn't Berengar give her a nice dress? Clearly, she knew it was inappropriate for her to do so, and if she danced wearing such a nice dress, her father and fiance would immediately suspect where she got it from. However the young lady was unable to prevent such feelings of jealousy as she looked at Berengar and her bride-to-be standing in the middle of the dining hall enjoying the glory.

As Berengar had planned, the nobles saw the luxurious new clothes that Adela and herself were wearing and inevitably approached the two and asked where they were buying such fine clothes. Of course, Berengar revealed that it was designed and manufactured in his family's territory within a new textile factory that he personally owned. If nobles wanted to buy new fashion designs for themselves, they would have to negotiate with him personally. Thus, new and profitable trades are born on the spot.

Through much effort and expense, Berengar began planting hemp and had imported many materials alongside silk to produce this design. Though currently hemp is still growing and has not been harvested. The factory has been completed. However, it currently operates at a minimum capacity, as only one unit from each of the new inventions is installed in a large building. Those discoveries include a jenny spinner, a spinning donkey, a flying shuttle, and a water skeleton. Given that his industrial district was built near the Inn river, he had enough hydropower to use in both the steel and textile industries.

As of now, he could only produce a small amount of clothing, though, but it was more than enough to appease the nobles in front of him and their desire to buy a new fashion style that Berengar had introduced personally. Although now was not the time to talk business; instead, it was time to build alliances and conspire against his enemies. Berengar and Adela spent most of the day socializing with other nobles; in this feudal era, building alliances was important.

Berengar sat at the end of the table as he hung out with the other young nobles, drinking good chamomile tea while snacking on apple strudels and lebkuchen cakes. The other nobles of his age were delighted with the delicious food in front of them, which Berengar boasted as an invention of the local chef. He would not take credit for too many things, others no one would believe him.

A pretty attractive young lady inevitably exclaimed happily as she tasted pfeffernusse for the first time.

"Adela, you're so lucky; I'd be so happy if I could snack on such food every day."

Adela could only smile at the compliment; in fact she was quite used to snacking on these things. She even started exercising more to maintain her petite physique; she would never want to be fat and unattractive in Berengar's eyes. Berengar, on the other hand, pushed the girl and gave her a piece of cheesecake.

"Try this; I promise you'll love it!"

The young woman who had a passion for pfeffernusse tasted German cheesecake and instantly fell in love with him. Linde observes Berengar's behavior while snacking on her favorite food on the other side of the table. He dislikes sweets like Adela and prefers real food, like schnitzel. As long as he could get a good schnitzel jaeger with the addition of spaetzle and a good beer, he was satisfied. Incidentally it was also Berengar's favorite food; of course, an important component of the food was missing, but Linde knew nothing.

On the other hand, Lambert was surrounded by his allies, who all started chatting amongst themselves about the lack of a certain God that was a core part of the alliance. A young man known to Berengar as Ser Ingbert Heltzer; was talking to Lambert about Ulrich's absence.

"really? Was Ulrich killed by a stray projectile fired by a hand cannon at the hands of a farmer?"

Lambert could not help but furrow his brows and palms at such a comment. He had no way of knowing whether his brother's claim was true because no one could find Ulrich's body. Officially, Berengar was so fed up with Ulrich's behavior that he left his body to the wolves. Although the people under Berengar's command all confirmed that the story was true, there was no way of knowing exactly how Ulrich died in a disembodied battle. However, as far as his father was concerned, Berengar was telling the truth, and as such, Ulrich was cursed as a fool who had marched in the entrenched position of an enemy and had met his fate at the hands of lady luck.

The Wildschonau lordship was in a difficult state at the moment, most of their manpower had disappeared overnight, they had no professional army to call upon in case of war, they had no professional army to call upon, von Kufsteins seized their biggest source of income, and the little boy became the head of the household. The child lord was present for this ceremony, accompanied by his regent, appointed by von Kufstein; this says a lot about how the current feudal lord viewed the von Wildschonau family. To be honest they get away with it easily compared to others who have tried similar things in the past. The fact that the Ulrich family still owned most of the land and their lives is a testament to the good nature of Sieghard.

However, the result of Ulrich's efforts on Berengar's life made many of the other nobles and knights in Lambert's corner hesitant to provide more support than they already had. If not for the Count of Tyrol supporting Lambert, most of his support would have been lost after Ulrich's death. Despite supporting Lambert, the Count of Tyrol was completely incensed at the boy's repeated failure to get the job done. Looking at Berengar, how healthy he was, how graceful he was when talking to the other Lords and Madams, and how prosperous his industry was, the old Count felt like he had supported the wrong horse. Who was the idiot who told him that Berengar was a sickly fool!?! If she found out the truth about Berengar earlier, she would be engaged to her beloved daughter instead.

However, the more Count Lothar noticed Berengar, the more he realized that he desperately needed to put Lambert on the throne; even if it was possible for him to switch sides now, he would not do so. Every word Berengar spoke to the other nobles was carefully chosen to present himself in a better light. That young man was cunning, too cunning. It was clear to Lothar that even if he could marry his favorite daughter to Berengar, he could marry her, the young master would not be easily fooled into handing over Kufstein's much-needed iron reserves of Prince Lothar in order to achieve his greater ambition. All Lothar needs is a pawn, and Lambert fits that role perfectly. The boy was eager to give up his family's most precious resources so that he could be with the Prince's daughter. That's really, and very sad, it's,

As Count Lothar was examining Berengar with his sharp eyes, so was Berengar examining Count Lothar. Currently, the Count of Tyrol was the greatest threat to Berengar's existence. Although the Count's daughter had fallen under his control, and Berengar could hope to be one step ahead of the Count, and his elder brother, the young master, did not feel safe knowing that such a strong person was pursuing his life. Nevertheless, he did not show the slightest hint of his internal hostility towards the Count. While Lambert was discussing with his allies the disappearance of their partner in crime, one of the young women who licked Berengar brought up the story of his battle with Ulrich, now that the rumors had spread far and wide and had become greatly exaggerated, the rumors had now become so inflated that even his true achievements no longer seemed so impressive.

"Listen, I heard that you personally led an army of 100 people previously wounded by your life's efforts against an army led by the cowardly Ulrich who had over 2000 of his own troops! Surely that madman must have emptied his field to take your life!"

Berengar struggled to maintain his composure when he heard at length the absurd rumors; he was kind, but not that good! He had to correct this mistake while still making it seem like his outstanding achievement. So he decided to tell the truth, of course, to the many observers who knew the official figure of what Berengar was going to say would seem like he was giving up, to appear humble while still overestimating the battle.

"I'm afraid I'll let you down; the reality of the situation is that I'm facing 1600 people, with 600 of my own. However, with our hand cannons, we shot dead hundreds of their men before they finally broke ranks and fled like their cowards ..."

The girl did not seem disappointed in the least. Instead, he had a gleam in his eyes when he heard the exact battle details of the man himself. Indeed, he did not deny the part of him that was severely injured, despite only minor injuries and dehydration. On the other hand, Lambert almost spewed out his drink when he heard his brother's wild claims. The way Berengar supported such a hyperbolic story without the slightest bit of dishonesty on his face. Either Berengar was the biggest piece of crap Lambert had ever seen, or he was actually telling the truth. The young man struggled to wrap his head around what was real and what was dishonest.

In the end the meeting between the various nobles and Berengar was divided into two factions that sat across the table as if the battle lines had been drawn. Those who supported Berengar tended to be of the younger generation, some of whom had succeeded their father; most were heirs like Berengar or even second sons. Other factions supported Lambert, and most of them were the older generation, those who were currently in the seat of power and had been in power for quite some time. If one were not aware of the deadly war of intrigue going on under the shadow of these two brothers, then they would not understand the full context of the seating arrangements that had taken place. After all, the friendship Berengar had made at this table with the younger generation of nobles from all over Austria would one day become the backbone of his power base.