Tyranny of Steel

Nearly two months had passed since Berengar concluded his business with the Byzantines, and since then, another shipment of silk had entered Kufstein as promised. During this time period, the other merchants eager to get their hands on some of Berengar's steel had made their round trip with enough silver to make Berengar an even more wealthy man. However, the most important part of what had happened during this time was the Teutonic Order's progress by crossing through Bavaria. They would soon reach the Bavarian alps, where they would enter into Tyrol, and Berengar intended to lay a trap for them within the narrow passages of the mighty mountain range.

Berengar was once more tasked with the responsibility to go to war; however, this time, it would be a far shorter campaign. At the moment, he was dressed in his exquisite armor, which had once more changed to fit battle conditions. He wore a three quarter's blackened steel plate harness; however, under the armor was a backend steel mail hauberk with brass rings on the bottom layers of the sleeves; over his hands were an exquisite pair of 16th-century style plate gauntlets whose fingers were segmented and were blackened while sharing the elegant gold pattern that was on his armor. Over his cuirass, he wore a matching gold sash and a black sword belt with gold fittings that contained his majestic heavy cavalry saber.

He no longer wore the signature waffenrock in the past, and his armored codpiece was on full display over his black and gold Landschneckt style trousers. The armored codpiece matched the pattern on the rest of his armor. For footwear, he wore a pair of cavalry boots that folded at his knees; as for his helmet, he had switched from the skullcap and the feathered cap to a more traditional German-style burgonet, which had three rims atop its skull instead of the usual one. Of course, it was embellished with the same intricate gold pattern on the rest of his armor.

Seeing her lover geared up for war again, Linde could not help but frown; her strawberry blonde hair was now much longer and overflowed past her shoulders, her bangs were straight, and a strand of her hair was tied over the back of her long red-gold curtain. If anything, with this new hairstyle, she was even more beautiful than before. She held the baby Hans in her hands as she pouted at Berengar, who was leaving her so quickly after returning from the war in Tyrol.

Berengar closed the distance between her and himself and brought her into his metallic embrace before kissing her passionately; after releasing his grasp, Linde spoke the words in her heart.

"Show him no mercy!"

Berengar nodded with a serious expression on his face; he had already made the mistake of allowing Lambert to live, which had brought serious consequences. An army of over 30,000 men was at his doorstep, with his scoundrel of a little brother at its head. Though he had roughly half the amount of men, he would be riding into battle to meet Lambert and end this sibling rivalry once and for all.

After bidding farewell to his lover and child, Berengar walked out into his Castle's courtyard, where he mounted his mighty steed Erwin and prepared to meet up with his army, which was already assembled within the city gates of Kufstein. After meeting up with his army at the rallying point, Berengar noticed the magnificence of his army. Many of the veterans had been recalled from their positions as garrisons and replaced with the recruits. After all, having veterans in his army to maintain order and discipline was crucial to victory, especially against an army as large as Lambert's.

Standing before Berengar were roughly 15,000 men, 10,000 of which were infantry, all clad in the brilliant display of black, gold, and white attire, with blackened steel half-plate armor and burgonets. As for the NCOs, their armor was lined with a simple brass trimming, and the Officers had a more embellished brass trimming on their armor which allowed his ranks to identify the men in charge and follow their orders quickly. Roughly half of the infantry were equipped with the 1417/18 Rifled Musket; the others still used the standard 1417 Land Pattern Musket, smoothbore. As for the remaining 5,000 men, it was a mix of Cuirassiers and Artillery.

When compared to the army of Lambert's, which, aside from 10,000 men, was filled with mere peasant levies, Berengar's forces were far more impressive. With this sight, Berengar began to get the feeling that his vision for a grand army that would put Napoleon's elite forces to shame was beginning to take shape.

After arriving at the head of the formation, Berengar gave the order to his men, who were waiting patiently.

"Forward March!"

with that declared, Berengar's army was once more on the march to war. The citizens of Kufstein gathered on both sides of the marching army to show their support, fully realizing that many of these young men would not be returning. As such, flowers were laid at the army's feet that began to march towards the Bavarian Alps.

Riding alongside Berengar was his Field Marshal Eckhard von Hallstatt; he was the one who devised the plan to meet the Teutonic Army in the mountains and ambush them. With the superior range and the treacherous terrain, Berengar and his forces would be able to take full advantage of the situation and inflict mass casualties on the enemy before they were able to clash with his forces in melee combat. The more enemies that could be killed at the range, the better. Berengar, of course, was still apprehensive about the plan considering how vastly outnumbered they were; as such, he voiced his concerns to Eckhard.

"Are you sure about this? If they enter through a different region, we will be leaving our flanks open."

Eckhard put on a solemn expression as he assured Berengar of his plan's success.

"Munich has fallen into the hands of Duke Otto; unless he wants to clash with the Austrian armies, Lambert will have to circumvent them; they will go through Swabia, specifically through Oberstdorf, to reach Tyrol. Rest assured, our scouts have already reported seeing them in the area. When they enter the mountains, we will be lying in wait for them; there will be no escape."

Hearing how confident Eckhard was, Berengar let out a sigh of relief. Despite being a decent strategist and tactician himself, Eckhard was the true prodigy in the art of war, and if the Field Marshal was so certain of this battle's outcome, then Berengar had nothing to fear. As such, the young Count continued on his journey. With this, Berengar and his army would soon meet the Teutonic Army in brutal conflict; ever since Berengar opted to spare Lambert's life, he knew the decision would come back to bite him in the rear, and the chickens have finally come home to roost. Only blood could resolve this sibling conflict that had been brewing for so long.