Steel Empire
Fair Wages For Workers

After a hard day at work, Berengar sat down next to a poor farmer known as Gunther and shared a wine bag with the man while wiping the sweat from his eyebrows with his fancy nightgown sleeves. As the two were hydrated, Berengar suddenly recalled his most important reason for entering the fields. As important as advancing agricultural technology on his family's land, there's one thing that really keeps him awake at night.

"Hey Gunther, do you have about a pound of lard I can buy from you?"

That's right, Lard! No matter how important it is to advance the agricultural system on his family's land, it is a process that will take years, perhaps even decades, to truly materialize. Right now, she desperately needed the lard to make the pomade so that she could get her appearance the way she wanted. I mean, of course, his family might have lard in his kitchen, but his cooks were very stingy about the resources he could casually take. If he keeps hoarding lard sooner or later, he has to explain to his father that he used it to make a primitive hair gel.

Only once did he use the oily residue from his natural feces to fix his hair, and he immediately regretted it; all day, all day long, he felt disgusted to know that the sweat and dirt produced by his body were used to styling his hair; it was simply unhealthy! After the first day of her transmigration, she chose to never again engage in such dirty habits. So she had been splitting her hair ever since and felt it did not match the handsome face she had.

Gunther had a hard time believing this young master's behavior; even now, after helping a lowly peasant like himself plough and sow his fields all day long, it was impossible to, baron's son asked to buy lard from him instead of directly confiscating it.

"My lord, all this land belongs to your family; all that I produce belongs ..."

Before Gunther could finish his thoughts, Berengar raised his hand and cut him off. With a dignified expression, Berengar smiled at Gunther and preached his ideology.

"I firmly believe in the adage of a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. Tell me what you think the lard you've been working on for production is worth, and I'll pay for it."

Gunther looked at Berengar with an astonished look; he had never met such an enlightened noble before, yet what Berengar said next was like a dream come true for a lowly peasant like himself.

"One day, when I rule over this land, I will pay everyone the value of their labor, regardless of the class they were born into."

Little tears formed in Gunther's eyes as he heard the pleasant words from Berengar; if this was an ordinary noble, he would never believe such an outrageous statement. However, Berengar, a man with obvious physical weakness and the birth of nobility, had stood side by side with him, helping him plow and sow his fields so that together they could introduce a new crop rotation system. The descendants of the nobility did so without demanding anything in return."

After considering Berengar's offer for quite a while, he raised his three fingers.

"Three pfennig"

Berengar thought it was a reasonable price, he reached into his double and took out a small bag containing a small white coin pouch; he clamped three small coins with his finger and took them out of the bag, handed it to Gunther with a smile on his face.

Gunther, on the other hand, stared furiously at the three white coins. When he called the "three pfennigs", he was referring to the copper pfennig, not the white pfennig, which contained at least 50% silver in the metal mixture. It's worth more than he asked.

After gaping at Berengar like an idiot for a while, he finally recovered from his daze and handed it back to the young master.

"My master, when I say three pfennigs, I am referring to the copper one, not the white one."

Berengar looked at Gunther with a confused expression on his face; in all his memories, the young noble had only ever met a white pfennig. He was completely unaware that a separate currency with the same name existed and its value was much lower.

Upon hearing such a thing exist, Berengar could not help but feel dissatisfied. He did not believe the currency used in this primitive society. He would investigate this at once and develop a plan to repeat the currency used in this feudal society. He swore even if he had to create his own currency, he would fix the underdeveloped system that Kufstein currently uses.

Luckily for him, this will be his strength as Baron Kufstein when he succeeds his father. Just as in the timeline of his previous life, around the 12th century, the German King was no longer able to enforce the marks of coin minting. Thus the printing process fell to the authority of every city and local ruler. The value of a coin from one barony can be worth more or less than the value of another.

It's really an annoying system. However, if you think the Kingdom of Germany is in disarray, then the Holy Roman Empire as a whole is much worse; there is no uniform currency in its entire territory. While the Kingdom of Germany and its domain used pfennigs, or cents as it would be translated into modern English as the most common currency, pfennig, the same could not be said about the other Kingdoms that comprised the Empire.

Although he might be a baron, at the very least, he could simplify the coins minted in his territory when he came to power. However, for now, he had to endure the stupidity of such a foolish system. After thinking about it, Berengar folded the hands of Gunther, who was currently holding all three pfennigs, and smiled.

"Three pfennigs are three pfennigs as far as I'm concerned. When I come to power, I will print a new currency; made of pure gold and silver so its value is absolute."

It didn't take long for Berengar to create a new system; after all, he had memories of his past life, and eventually, the Germans acted together and scored pfennigs and marks. The mark is made of gold, while the pfennig is made of various materials and eventually loses its value almost entirely.

However, he would not be foolish enough to compromise the integrity of his currency; therefore, he vowed to make all pfennigs made of silver and all marks made of gold. In times like these, with such a small population, such a currency system would work well within the country and in trade with other regions.

"You'll know when you'll see me again."

With that, Berengar placed the jar in one of his horse saddle bags and jumped on it while waving to Gunther.

"I'll see you soon, my friend, but for now, I have to rest tonight."

After which, Berengar swung his fist at the beautiful body of the destrier and sped towards the gate of the Castle. By the time he arrived at the gate, the beautiful orange sunset that filled the sky had already begun to fade, along with the light of day. His first business order was to shower as quickly as possible. However, upon entering, she was immediately greeted by her younger sister Henrietta who leaped into her arms and rubbed her face against her sweaty body. Stains of dirt and dust appeared on the young girl's face as she looked towards her brother in her arms, pouting as she did so.

"You're late and dirty,"

he said coldly while staring at the dagger towards Berengar. Unlike him who came home so late; not only did he rarely leave the Castel wall, but he had never returned in such a miserable condition before. He could only imagine what kind of trouble he was having.

Berengar laughed as he stroked the young girl's head

"I appreciate your attitude worrying about me, but I'm fine. I just have business to take care of.

Henrietta looked at what Berengar was holding, and her eyes were filled with curiosity.

"What is it,"

he shouted while pointing at the ceramic jar in his hand. Berengar happily answered his curious sister

"Looks of pigs"

The young girl touched her lips with her finger with a questioning gaze; she had never heard the word before and was curious as to what it meant.

"Looks pigs?"

Berengar smirked with an evil grin; he decided to tease the little loli

"Lice Pig"

Soon Henrietta's cute face shriveled as she retreated from her brother with a disgusting expression.

"Wwwwwww!"

he cried as he ran away from his precious elder brother; as he fled, Berengar laughed until he almost fell to his knees. The little girl's expression was too sweet. Suddenly she remembered her face had a dirt stain on it, and she yelled at her sister from across the hall.

"Henrietta, shower. Your face is dirty!"

So Berengar had to wait a little longer for his night shower. After all, he was fine with letting his beloved little sister take a bath first. As he walked back to his room, he could not help but feel a wary gaze fixed on him. He was sure he was being spied on but refused to reveal it because it would only cause more trouble. Because of this, Berengar walked back to his room in an inconspicuous manner, never telling the spy that he was aware of his presence.

After reaching the shelter in his room, Berengar heaved a sigh of relief; he had to be more careful going forward. It seems that Lambert has been spying on him to keep an eye on his actions. It won't be long before the little bastard tries to kill him again. Berengar refused to die so quickly after reincarnating. If Lambert wanted to spy on him, it didn't matter; two could play that game. Slowly but surely, Berengar won the hearts of the commoners, and they were the greatest potential spy force in the world. After all, not a single noble would expect the peasantry to report their activities to others.

Shortly after the event, Berengar took his night bath and once again put on Henrietta, who was now as clean as a whistle. After telling a story about the heroes from the history of his previous life, he returns to his own room, where he locks the door behind him and locks the window. However, he decided to leave the curtain open, which allowed the full moonlight to shine on his sleeping body like a protective angel watching him.