Tyranny of Steel

While Berengar was still in Iceland enjoying his time with the mature valkyrie, and Ghazi was in Granada with his family. Itami continued to set up her government in exile. By now she had a functional cabinet of educated officials who could help her manage what few tasks she had. 

And even though Itami was hard at work trying to fix the mess she had created, and making amends with her victims. There was one thing that continued to bother her. The albino beauty took Berengar's absence as a personal slight against her, having not been informed of his actual reason for departing from the Reich. 

As a result, she wanted to more than anything to make up with the man. Thus, Itami decided to look for Honoria hoping the Byzantine beauty might be able to smooth things over for her. Honoria was once again at the bar, snacking on hot wings, and jalapeno poppers while watching a kickboxing fight. It was no surprise to her that Linde was once more busy working at the headquarters of Imperial Intelligence, and thus could not meet up with her. 

When Itami saw this, she quickly sat down next to the woman and sighed heavily before ordering herself a stiff drink. Once the bartender had returned with the beverage, the Japanese Empress did not hesitate to gulp down its contents. 

Upon seeing the frustrated expression on Itami's face, Honoria simply chuckled, while tossing a bone into her tray that she had picked clean. After licking her fingers and wiping her mouth with a nearby napkin, the byzantine princess finally responded. 

"Rough day, huh?"

Itami responded to this rhetorical question with a simple glower, before snagging one of Honoria's jalapeno poppers, and dipping it into a small container of ranch dressing. She then proceeded to gobble it down like it was the tastiest treat on the planet. It was only after she had swallowed the entire thing did she speak up.

"You don't know the half of it. I have been doing my best to coordinate with your foreign intelligence agency about the ongoing efforts to dethrone Shiba, but I keep getting the runaround. I am starting to get the feeling that Linde doesn't like me..."

Honoria giggled as she took another swig from her beer before responding to Itami's exasperated comment with a bit of a snicker in her tone. 

"You are just figuring this out now? Linde is known for many things, and holding a grudge is definitely one of them. You are responsible for her man's conflicted heart, and she will not easily forgive you for that. If you want my advice, you should do something that shows your sincerity. Maybe then she will be able to take you more seriously..."

Itami groaned after hearing this, before resting her head on the table with a defeated expression on her face. It was only after several moments of awkward silence did she reveal her thoughts. 

"I have done everything I can think of, not only have I been helping out in Little Kyoto, I have also been doing charity work for the local veteran affairs office. I understand why she hates me, after all, a lot of those men are injured because of me, and if I could take back my mistakes, I would do so in a heartbeat. I just don't know what I can do to make Berengar and Linde see how sincere I am in making amends!"

Honoria was slightly surprised to see how far Itami had gone to make things right, and though she could never undo what she had done, the albino beauty had at least made a good start on putting things right. Still, the byzantine princess would not let this white fox get away with her crimes so easily, and thus did not give her any further recommendations.  After another awkward silence persisted between the two women for some time before Itami raised her pretty head from the bar, and posed a question that Honoria had not been expecting. 

"You said previously that if there were two people in this world that you didn't want to get on the bad side of, it would be Berengar and Linde. I understand why you wouldn't want to anger Berengar. After all, I have found out the hard way just how capable the man is. But why does Linde frighten you so?" 

Honoria remained silent as she ate another hot wing, seemingly ignoring the question, and just when Itami was about to give up on getting answers from the woman, she spoke up with a rather grim tone in her voice.

"Do you know what the second most stable civilization on this planet is?" 

Itami was rather surprised by the sudden shift in conversation, but decided she was going to play along and thus sighed heavily before responding. 

"I don't know what, Japan?"

A single scoff escaped Honoria's lips before she responded to Itami with a condescending look in her eyes.

"Obviously not..." 

The conceited look on Honoria's face immediately enraged Itami, causing her to demand an answer.

"Okay, fine then, what is it then?"

Honoria finished her beer and motioned for the bartender to get her another one before she finally answered the Empress of Japan's question. 

"That would be the Iberian Empire. Though it wasn't always this way. When Berengar was still a minor nobleman, he sailed to the Emirate of Granada. and met with their Sultan. He formed an alliance with an Islamic State, something that was unthinkable in the catholic world. This is actually how Berengar came to marry Yasmin. He did this because he needed allies who would fight against the church with him. 

Over the next decade, Berengar committed troops to the region, to end reconquista once and for all, but in the favor of the moors. Fourteen thousand German soldiers lost their lives in the conflict, and the only reason it was finally ended was because of Linde's actions. 

After defeating the Iberian Catholic Kingdoms, and uniting the peninsula beneath the Sultan's rule, the Catholic Church resorted to creating an insurgency. Brutal urban warfare popped up all over the country. This was actually the phase of the war where the most casualties occurred on the Reich's side. 

Now, if it was up to Linde, or Heimerich, they simply would have gassed the cities where the insurgents were located into extinction. But Berengar did not permit this. Instead, he tasked Linde with sending her agents to infiltrate and identify the terrorists, where the woman would then send elite death squads to extract, interrogate, and execute these individuals.

For every insurgent Linde's agents captured, they would be able to identify two more, and after years of this process, the Iberian Insurgency had been reduced to a shadow of its former self. In one last act of defiance, they bombed a Moorish General, killing him on the spot. In retaliation for this attack, Berengar ordered to gas the terrorists' last stronghold, which was the city of Madrid. 

Some say it was Linde's idea to conduct the chemical attack, but it is impossible to know who was the mastermind behind the attack, as both Berengar and Linde share a similar cruelty towards their enemies. Regardless as to who came up with the plan, the result was the deaths of roughly twenty-two thousand people. 

Oh sure, Berengar ordered his men to send fliers into Madrid, informing the innocent civilians to evacuate before the attack, but they were not able to do so, since the insurgents had the city on lockdown. A lot of innocent people died to prove a point that the Reich does not tolerate terrorism, especially towards national leaders.

The moral of the story is that it doesn't matter who ordered the chemical attack on Madrid. Because the very fact that the terrorists were driven to such a desperate state in the first place is the result of Linde's abilities in finding and eliminating people around the globe. As I said before, with the snap of her fingers, Linde can condemn just about anyone on this planet to death. And it will happen when they least expect it. I was not joking about that..."

Itami gazed at Honoria's stoic expression with a look of horror on her own face. Partially because she now understood just what kind of woman she was dealing with. But also because she could not believe that Berengar had gassed a civilian target. It took several moments for Itami to gather her thoughts before she eventually voiced her outrage. 

"That's horrible! How does he have the nerve to condemn me for my own crimes, when he has done just as bad, if not worse, in the past?"

It was at this moment that Honoria glared straight into Itami's blood-red eyes. She had taken offense to the albino beauty's statement, and was quick to counter with one of her own. 

"The attack on Madrid was a last resort. You have to understand, when I say there was brutal urban warfare going on across the entire region, I'm not just talking about adults taking up arms to fight for the Catholic Church.

The Papacy became so desperate to get a win over Berengar that they eventually resorted to encouraging young children to blow themselves up with grenades that were stolen from the corpses of German soldiers. There was simply no way of knowing who was innocent and who was in league with the insurgents. 

A lot of young German and Moorish men lost their lives, because they did not dare open fire on the myriad of child soldiers employed by the Iberian Catholic League. When nobody fled the city, which was a well-known stronghold of the insurgents, Berengar assumed its entire population supported the enemy, and thus wiped it out. That is not nearly in the same league as the atrocities that have been committed beneath your banner.

So, I would suggest that you don't make such a statement again... The wounds to our society caused by the Iberian War are still being treated to this day. If a veteran of that conflict were to hear you comparing their actions to those that your own troops have committed, you might find yourself in a precarious situation.  "

Itami remained silent as she thought about everything Honoria had told her, both about Berengar and Linde's character. One thing was certain, if Itami were to make up with Berengar, and move past her past mistakes, she would first need to earn Linde's approval. Thus, she decided to begin doing everything she could to get herself within the redheaded beauty's good graces.

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