Tyranny of Steel

While Berengar's armies were maintaining the situation at the border, Berengar himself was able to thoroughly enjoy the peaceful nature brought about by the stability of his lands. Though several of the other Lords of Tyrol in which he had subjugated in his conquests were primarily upset by the many reforms he had forced upon them, due to his careful deployment of troops in every central region, they had little power to rebel against him. Most of them, of course, was wise enough not to take such an action while the Bavarians ravaged the rest of Austria. Berengar may be a Tyrant who stripped them of several of their feudal powers, but he provided a stable and economically efficient realm in a time of chaos and destruction. As such, the benefits they gained from Berengar's economic ventures outweighed the disadvantages they gained by surrendering their authority to raise their own troops.

In fact, with Berengar's military reforms, creating a centralized army under his command, the individual Lords of his realm were spared the expense of training and outfitting such troops. Though these soldiers who Garrisoned their cities were fanatically loyal to Berengar, they had not caused any problems for the authority of his vassals, aside from reminding them to follow the laws in which Berengar had enacted. The complex Imperial Style bureaucracy which Berengar had put into effect throughout Tyrol had greatly diminished the amount of time these Lords needed to work on governing their realms, allowing them to maintain a lavish lifestyle filled with far more leisure than before. The younger nobility greatly appreciated Berengar's political reforms, as they had far less work to do and could enjoy themselves with their vast fortunes.

The critical positions of nobility, such as Viscounts and Barons was filled mainly with Berengar's generation; after all, most of their parents had taken part in Lothar's rebellion and ended up with a similar fate to the late Count. At first, many of them greatly despised Berengar and blamed him for the result. However, Berengar was crafty, and he showed off the wealth generated from the industrial districts in the cities of Kufstein and Innsbruck to lure these young noblemen to his cause. If they proved their loyalty and put aside their foolish beliefs, they too could gain the approval for an industrial district in their region.. Ultimately whether or not Berengar was to blame for their parents' deaths quickly became an afterthought in the minds of many of these young noblemen when they realized the vast fortune that could be gained by following Berengar.

Peace reigned over Tyrol while most of the German-Speaking regions were bleeding in constant conflict; because of this, Berengar's trade flourished internally and with his trading partners in Italy and the Byzantine Empire. At the moment, Berengar was hosting a feast for Arethas, who brought him some great news from the Empire in the East. It had been several months since he last saw his most significant trading partner. As far as Berengar was aware, the man was in the process of convincing the Empire to outsource a portion of their equipment to Berengar's factories. Finally, the Strategos of Ionia had brought him the news in which Berengar wanted to hear.

"The Emperor has finally agreed to my request; we expect a third of our army's equipment to be manufactured here in Kufstein; I assume your facilities can handle such a large request?"

Berengar chuckled as he drank from his skull chalice before answering the man's question.

"Of course! It will not be a problem."

Arethas was happy to hear such a thing as he toasted his chalice of wine to Berengar and their upcoming business venture.

"To our collective fortune! May it be a long and fruitful relationship!"

Berengar lifted his goblet in the toast before drinking from it once more. The fact that Berengar was now drinking from an exquisite skull chalice and had an eyepatch did not go unnoticed by the Byzantine nobleman who awkwardly brought up the subject.

"So... I can't help but notice the skull chalice and the eyepatch. Is there something I should know about?"

Berengar quickly put down his knife and fork when he heard those words; his expression became stern as he closely observed the skull of his little brother, which had been turned into an extravagant drinking cup. Eventually, a sinister smile spread across his face as he told the man the truth of the matter.

"Someone close to me sought to do me harm; after they had made numerous attempts on my life and were exiled from my domain, they returned with an army to usurp my position. During the battle, that person took the sight from my right eye, for that I killed them and seized their skull as a trophy; I decided to turn it into a drinking cup so that I always remember that even the closest members of your friends and family can betray you, and the price that is paid for being merciful..."

Berengar's chilling words permeated the air and were quickly followed by silence; Linde was the only person aware of who Berengar was referring to; Henrietta was blissfully unaware that the skull chalice in which Berengar always drank from was that of her other brother. Naturally, she was not informed of Lambert's death nor his treasonous actions. As such, she assumed it was someone else. As for Arethas, he was greatly disturbed that the chalice was an actual human skull dipped in gold and not some monstrous work of art. Such barbarism was unacceptable in the Empire to the East, yet the Count of Tyrol looked upon the skull chalice with a sense of pride; such a thing was genuinely unthinkable for civilized people. Despite his inner protests, Arethas knew that his business relationship with Tyrol was worth more than his internal disgust; as such, he quietly calmed himself before responding to Berengar's tale.

"I see..."

With that said, Berengar shifted the conversation to that of business and began to inquire about the order's details.

"Tell me, what style of armor will I be creating for your Empire's forces?"

Seeing that the topic was shifted from its previous grim nature, Arethas quickly addressed Berengar's question.

"I believe you referred to it as mirror-pattern armor. As long as you can make those complex pieces, we can handle the rest of the production, such as the mail armor that goes underneath it."

This was a simple enough request, and Berengar would be happy to fulfill it; mail took longer to manufacture anyways and was hardly worth the efforts of his industry; as such, he was pleased with such news. Thus Berengar quickly addressed his next concern.

"Will you need us to manufacture Helmets or arms?"

Arethas shook his head before answering.

"Unfortunately, all I was able to get approval for was the production of the mirror-pattern breastplates and its pauldrons. As such, that is those are the only pieces of equipment we require you to manufacture."

Berengar nodded in approval; it was much simpler to divert a production line to a single piece of equipment, and as such, he was more than happy to manufacture it, after all, it was an expensive piece of armor to produce, and doing so in massive numbers would allow him substantial profit. As such, he replied to Arethas' request in the affirmative.

"Fine by me, the price is negotiable, but such complex pieces will require a significant production line to be laid down for it; as such, my initial offer is 15 Hyperpyrons per piece."

The Hyperpyron was a gold coin in use by the Byzantine Empire during its later days of Berengar's past life. In that timeline, it was gradually debased to the point of worthlessness; however, in this timeline, the Byzantine Empire was still powerful, wealthy, and largely stable. As such, the currency maintained its value of roughly 20.5 carats or 4.1 grams of gold. It was by no means a small sum, but then again, Berengar's armor would be of substantially better quality than the iron products the Byzantines currently used.

Arethas' face twitched as he heard such a large number, luckily Berengar prefaced his statement with the phrase "the price is negotiable" as such, he began to haggle with the young Count sitting before him as he dined on his schnitzel.

"ten Hyperpyrons!"

Berengar shook his head as he counter-offered

"fourteen"

the two noblemen haggled over minute details until finally, a price of 12 Hyperpyrons per armor set consisting of a breastplate and pauldrons. Berengar was satisfied with the result, but Arethas was clenching his teeth; this would cost the Empire a significant amount, but it would be well worth the price, and as such, he finally accepted the outcome. After the two men concluded their negotiations over the cost of the equipment, they shared a meal and continued to enjoy the peace that was afforded to the region of Tyrol. Now that Arethas acted as the importer to Berengar's equipment within the Byzantine Empire, he gained some degree of profit. The two noblemen from very different regions of the world were now intertwined in the arms, and textile trades, which acted as a huge source of income for both parties.

With the business negotiations concluded, the two parties enjoyed the remainder of the meal, engaging in casual conversation about what the two had been up to over the past few months since they last met. Obviously, Berengar made sure to stay away from the topic of his battle with the Teutonic Order, as his savagery in that event seemed to cause great discomfort to the Nobleman from the East, then again Berengar was a German, a descendent of the barbarians who sacked Rome and destroyed its Empire. The idea that a Roman from the East and an intensely nationalistic German who took pride in his ancestor's accomplishments could form such an amicable relationship was entertaining to Berengar. Despite this, Berengar was aware that such a relationship was vital to his plans. Thus he tried his best not to pour salt on the grave of the Western Roman Empire.