Steel Empire
Getting Count's Support

Adela is currently in her room playing with the letter in her hand, debating whether she should read the contents or not. In this letter was the seal of von Habsburg-Innsbruck's house and he knew only one member of that family would ever write to him. Clearly, this letter contained Linde's words, even though what was inside the young girl did not have the heart to know. He feared it would contain the truth about Linde's son's origin as a way to mock him now that he was far from Berengar's company.

After some time, Adela decided to open the letter and, after doing so, read the contents with an anxious look. It was only after he reread the letter three times that he completely relaxed; he realized that he had really thought about many things and that he should have opened it sooner.

The letter contained Linde's plea to unite their families against Church tactics to disrupt the Berengar trade. It did not contain a single spiteful comment by Linde and actually encouraged them to get along. However, there was a certain sentence that made Adela somewhat annoyed. His sight caught him and read him back continuously for almost ten minutes, and his share was as follows.

"For the man we both love, I see no reason that we can't unite and do our best to help him in his time of need."

Although Linde has always hinted at her feelings for Berengar, and Adela does suspect there is a connection between the two, at this point, Linde directly acknowledges it in this letter. Adela could not help but sigh and frown as she placed her cheeks on her palm while expressing her thoughts out loud.

"Why should I help a woman like you?"

There was no one in the room to hear him, and as such, he simply sat quietly thinking about all the wonderful memories he had made with Berengar over the past few months. She desperately wants to see him again, but unfortunately, his birthday is not for another month. However, despite knowing about Berengar's actions, he did not get angry and instead decided to help Linde in helping Berengar; therefore, he quickly rushed over to his father, who was, who was in the middle of his study.

Count Otto was examining the ledger containing the steel reserves he had collected from the trade with Berengar; at this rate, he would soon be able to supply his troops with the best equipment. As Sieghard had imagined, his army would mostly be equipped with a mixture of brigandine and steel plates. Therefore, he was currently signing an order to manufacture such equipment when he heard a knock on his door. He quickly announced that the door was unlocked.

"It's open."

After hearing such words, Adela opened the door and approached her father with a serious expression. Adela was the youngest daughter of Otto and the one she cared about the most. If not for desperately needing iron, she would never have been engaged to her beloved daughter with her once sickly cousin; instead, she would have found him a prince. However, the engagement became the best as Berengar proved to be quite a capable youth and had turned a large amount of iron into steel, which was practically a miracle in this medieval world. The couple also seemed to really like each other, so it worked out for the best.

After Adela arrived at the room, she quickly expressed her thoughts to her father

"Sounds in trouble!"

"What do you mean?"

Adela did not hesitate as she quickly explained the situation to her father.

“Pope has issued a decree openly supporting the theft of its trade; Berengar does not have a reputation scary enough to deter his neighbors from carrying out such acts, let alone the territory between our land and his. If we don't issue a public statement supporting it, then I'm afraid we'll no longer be able to get the steel we need for the army."

Count Otto was furious when he heard this news; he immediately asked in his own mind why he had not been told in advance. After much thought, he let go of his inner thoughts about the papacy and their constant interference into the affairs of the secular world.

"Why the Pope should always interfere in the affairs of the nobility. It's outrageous. I will immediately denounce such a statement and stand by Berengar's side. I will also encourage my allies to do the same and make it clear what will happen if anyone dares to steal my shipment!"

Adela was overjoyed by the news and ran to her father and hugged him happily.

"Thank you, dad!"

after saying that, he left the man in his study alone with his own thoughts. After Adela disappeared behind his door, the Count took out a cup and a jar of wine and started drinking it before sighing loudly.

"Damn Berengar, I know the Church is full of nonsense, but you only have to execute two of their damn inquisitors. I won't be able to protect you from everything, but this is the most I can do to honor our alliance. "

Therefore, he quickly took out a piece of parchment and his quill pen. Where he began to draft public decrees on curses against the Church and their public support for theft, labeling it as a violation of the ten commandments is inappropriate for the Vatican and the Pope, who is the representative of God on Earth. After doing so, he spread it far and wide so that anyone with half a brain could realize that provoking Berengar and his alliance with the two Counts was a bad idea. Ultimately this decision will help lead to the German Schism with the Catholic Church, which is already in sight.