Steel Empire
New Day

The light of dawn shone through the windows of the residence of the Castle and onto Berengar's face. When the sunlight touched his face, he woke up from his sleep. Sitting while rubbing his shoulders, he yawned heavily, still tired from the training the previous day. In fact, most of his body was sick. However, that did not prevent him from what he had to do.

Berengar quickly put on simple loose clothing and began his daily practice, which lasted for more than an hour. He was covered in sweat as he returned to the castle, and his entire muscular structure was in pain. It was only after showering for half an hour that she felt comfortable enough to start work today.

His new attitude had shocked not only his family but also the servants of the Palace. Getting up early, exercising, eating meat, and being interested in royal affairs were things Berengar rarely followed. After her fever subsided, she became a completely new person in the eyes of those who knew her.

This perception may not be entirely wrong, given that there are two sets of memories contained in Berengar's mind. Although he was not sure if he was still the same person as before who was only enlightened by the memories and knowledge Julian had, or if he was really Julian who inhabited Berengar's body.

Nothing really mattered; after all, because he was worried, his identity was Berengar von Kufstein, after all, and he now has the potential to turn his family's land into an industrial empire with memories he gained from his near-death experiences. Although it would take a lot of time and effort to achieve it, he was now convinced that it was his destiny to lead the Barony of Kufstein into the industrial era.

To be honest as an heir, he held little authority in the domain and could not continue to lie to his father about where he found such a unique discovery; after all, he was unable to continue lying to his father about where he had found such a unique invention; after all, the stubborn old man did not believe his words and chose to look for an engineer who could verify the functionality of his design. The man he was looking for had not yet come. So all Berengar could do was educate himself further on the matters of the kingdom.

The young master had chosen to dine within the confines of the Castle library, where he discussed important information regarding the financial history of the Barony. He was quickly disappointed by his findings. Despite being a resource-rich region, the Barons of the von Kufstein family failed to take advantage of it. He silently shook his head as he closed the ledger and thought to himself.

'This is what happened when you left the warrior's house to act as the powerful owner of a plot of land that covered nearly 375 square miles and contained nearly 20,000 people.

He knew that they were limited to medieval technology, but despite being a region famous for its iron reserves, they hardly invested in mining such a valuable resource. Little mined has been sold as ore to major cities throughout the kingdom. There are far better uses for such materials.

The economy was largely dependent on subsistence agriculture; it was both and truly a backward feudal state. Even the nearest town was nothing more than an agricultural village with no substantial industry at all. He began to dizzy reading about how primitive the land belonged to his family.

Just as he was about to curse out loud, he saw his little sister Henrietta hiding behind one of the bookshelves while looking at him from afar. She almost chuckled as she saw the girl looking at her like a frightened rabbit. Apparently, the change in behavior of her older brother these past few days was frightening for the young girl. He began to think that he had been possessed.

Sipping from his water glass, Berengar never distracted him from the ledger he was reading. When the young girl thought she was safe from attention, she sighed

"Henrietta, I know you're there..."

The young girl gasped after hearing his words. He has been found by his older brother or a demon who could potentially take his place. So he panicked and rushed out of the library without saying a word. Berengar chuckled to himself when he saw the girl running away from the scene; he could only guess what prompted him to engage in this behavior. However, now is not the time to concern yourself with the trivial things of children.

He spent most of the day in the library studying everything from financial affairs, agricultural and mining produce, as well as regional power. As a member of the low-ranking nobility, there was a powerful ruler who ruled his father.von Kufstein was a direct ship to von Habsburg who was the ruler of the Duchy of Austria, and the County of Tyrol.

Evidently, his younger brother Lambert was engaged to one of the daughters of the Von Habsburg branch of the family, which was considered a great honor for the von Kufstein family. Interestingly enough, despite being an older brother and an adult man, Berengar remains unmarried and not yet engaged. Mostly because of concerns over his health and whether he will live long enough to be a father or not.

Although, he strongly doubted his family would agree to such a union. After all, this was still a feudal age, and nobles did not marry commoners. Berengar put aside such things for the time being. If she wants to choose her own partner, she first needs authority and physicality to back up her claim that she is now healthy. Both of them were far away from where he was currently standing.

After spending a better half day discussing the affairs of Nature, he noticed that the sun had set and thus decided now was a good time to inquire about his father's findings on his design. He must have asked an engineer. There should be at least one of them serving his father.

The young master put the books back where they should be and left the library, walking down the castle corridor until he reached the door of his father's study. Even before he could tap on it, he could hear an unpleasant conversation between three — men one of whom he recognized as his father.

"I don't care what fancy background Ser Ingbert has; I've been in engineering for over thirty years, and I think the design is brilliant! They will function exactly as your son described as my subordinate!"

A derision followed Old Man's statement, followed by what sounded like a much younger voice, "Baginda, don't listen to this chatty old man, he's a commoner. He had no education like I had received. I assure you, this design is nothing more than a scribble of a child who thinks he knows a thing or two about technique."

Berengar could already tell from that one statement that the person who said such a thing about the Bessemer converter was a fool who relied on a high background to get his position. Finally his father did not disappoint him; after hearing the two engineers discussing the design a long sigh before asserting his authority.

"Ser Ingbert, you can leave us now from this room. I had a lot to discuss with the Chief Engineer" Although Alex couldn't see it, he could guess the look on the fool's face now and smiled in satisfaction. Suddenly, the door opens, and he comes face to face with the man known as Ser Ingbert.

The man was in his late twenties and had light brown hair in the shape of a ponytail with green eyes. He wore a doublet that was too decorated signifying the wealth he had. He was exactly the pampered person Berengar had expected to see. After examining the ring on his finger, which showed the head of the boar engraved on it, Berengar could guess the identity of the man in front of him.

The man's name was Ingbert Heltzer, and he was the son of one of Sieghard's knights. As Berengar had guessed, the man had reached his position as one of his father's engineers solely because of his background. Even by the standards of this world, Inberbert's knowledge of techniques was just a joke. A pampered noble like him did not need to pay attention to his studies well enough to become competent in such a field.

Upon seeing the young man, he had just passively slandered, Ingbert's face turning sour. The last thing he wanted was to see the Baron's son standing outside the door, hearing his impolite remarks. Nevertheless, damage had occurred, and Berengar just stared at Ingbert like he was looking at a fool.

After Ingbert stormed angrily, Berengar heard his father's authoritative voice from behind the door.

"You can come in."

Clearly, the old Baron had been aware of his son's existence outside the door of the study hall the entire time. Now that Berengar had entered the study, he found himself being stared intensely by his father and an old man in his late fifties who he understood to be the chief engineer of Barony.

With these two authorities staring at him, Berengar could not help feeling nervous as if he was about to be scolded ...