Steel Empire
Oath

After the Castle guards dragged Lambert, he was placed in a prison carriage and shortly thereafter dragged to the Teutonic Order, where he would spend the rest of his days redeeming himself in the eyes of God and man. The boy had committed a heinous deed and was not only forced to join the Teutonic Order but was also completely disowned. This result was compassion given the plan Berengar had for that traitorous bastard. But for Lambert, it was a cruel punishment he felt he did not deserve. As he sat behind the wagon looking through the iron bars that locked him up. He made solemn vows to himself and God.

"I swear to God that one day I will ascend through the ranks of the Teutonic Order and one day return to this land with an army behind me! I will not rest until those who have betrayed me pay the price with their blood! "

Those were the last words Lambert spoke within the confines of his family's lands, shortly after the Train disappeared into the distance and continued its journey to the Teutonic State in the East.

As for families, they handle the consequences in different ways. Henrietta mourns the loss of her brother and refuses to leave her room for weeks. She spent her time crying under her blanket and managed to survive by having her servant look after her. She could not accept that Lambert had committed such a crime and blamed Linde for her brother's fate.

Gisela spent most of this time in the church praying for God's forgiveness for her son's mistakes. To overcome her grief, she has turned to religion, as many people do in times of despair. A loving mother always loved her two sons and could not understand why things had become like this.

In his suffering, Sieghard has turned to drink bottles as a way to console himself for the mistakes he made as a father; with the advent of liquor derived from the Berengar distillery, it is much easier to spend the day drinking your grief. He blames himself for everything that happened. Therefore, he left the Barony government almost entirely in the hands of Berengar; after all, the boy was a much more capable leader than he ever was. Although he had yet to abdicate, at this point, the old man was merely a Baron.

On the other hand, Linde wrote about the news to her father, telling him that Berengar had won the war of intrigue and there was no point in conspiring against him anymore. He was forthright to his father about his illicit relationship with the man he had planned and demanded that he stay in Kufstein to act as his lover. After all, what kind of man wanted to marry her now that she was pregnant with someone else's child? The Count was furious, but there was nothing he could do at the moment; eventually, Linde convinced his father to agree to these terms by playing on his greed. If he maintains his affair with Berengar, then the favorable relationship between the two houses can continue as normal, and potentially escalate.

Although Berengar would never forgive his enemy for plotting against him, now was not the time for revenge. Therefore, he consolidated his troops and the new security he found. He spent the following days upgrading his militia, implementing agricultural technology, and always expanding his business, which started to become very profitable. With Count Lothar and his allies no longer conspiring against Berengar, he was able to open the trade of excess materials and products to those who had once been his enemies. Regardless of whether their troops were equipped with armor and fine steel weapons or not, it was no problem for Berengar since such equipment was useless against the power of a rifle.

Moreover, they lacked the means of production and the knowledge to mass-produce the steel plates; thus, at most, their enemy forces would be mass-equipped with brigandines and posts. Although it was effective against swords, arrows, bolts, and spears, it would be useless against shotgun balls at the right distance. Berengar's greatest advantage was his army's technological advances that increased by the day. He estimated that within a year, he would have the ability to re-drill all of his troops' rifles so they could be fired and so far more effectively. At that time, he would have the capacity to attack enemies at a distance of about 300 yards, he said, potentially more considering the barrel on his rifle was 6 inches longer than the Springfield 1861 Rifled Musket where he had obtained an effective range estimate.

Adela becomes suspicious of Berengar's possible relationship with Linde, but she does not investigate. Instead, she spends her remaining days peacefully with Berengar, believing that she is not the woman she thought she was. Soon he must return to his family's land. After all, she had no reason to stay here for so long after the engagement ceremony, and her father urged her to return. Unlike Linde, whose finger was wrapped around her father, Adela had no authority in that, and once she returned, it took a long time before she could see the man she loved again.

Right now, Berengar was sitting next to Adela in her father's study, which she claimed to be hers for the past few days, and where she spent most of her time preserved. The girl accompanied him once more while chatting about the future while snacking on cookies and milk.

"It's hard to believe it'll be 4 years before we get married ... Will you come visit me for my birthday?"

"Now that Lambert was gone, Linde had no father for her son. Are you willing to take on that role?"

Berengar continued to write and only answered as if he was on autopilot, completely unaware of what he had just asked him.

"Of course why not?"

At this point, Adela began to frown. Clearly, Berengar did not pay attention to what he was saying; either it or he was serious about his question, which only provoked him further. Therefore, the teenage girl flicked her ears, which managed to attract the young man's attention.

"Adela, what's wrong?"

When Berengar noticed his facial expression, he realized that he had been arrested and felt it was better to apologize for ignoring him than to continue acting as if he was listening.

"I'm sorry, really, but right now I'm inundated with documents. What did you say?"

Adela just snorted and walked out of the office while going berserk.

"Forget over! Obviously, you're too busy to listen to what I'm saying!"

Berengar was embarrassed when he came out of his room but had too much work to do. Therefore, he returned to his documents. Hopefully, he can finish it at dinner. At this point, his biggest concern was the arrival of the Inquisition, which would be in Kufstein in a matter of days. If he could not resolve the matter peacefully with the Church's emissaries, there was only one solution.... The war!