Tyranny of Steel

The evening came and went, and Berengar ultimately returned to the room provided for him where he retired for the night. After sleeping well, he awoke early in the morning and began making preparations for the journey to Kufstein.

It was not long before he was standing outside the Castle in its courtyard, waiting for Adela and Otto to arrive. Eventually, Adela and Otto presented themselves, where they greeted Berengar. They had already said their farewells to their family, as it would be a while before they returned. Otto was the first to voice his concerns over the journey.

"Berengar, are you certain that we will be safe traveling through Salzburg and into Kufstein?"

Hearing Otto voice his worries, Berengar nearly chuckled; he had with him a sufficient amount of Cuirassiers and Mounted Infantry who he had explicitly raised to guard his caravan.. He had been spending an enormous expense lately purchasing as many warhorses as possible from various parts of Europe.

While His cavalry was made up of primarily Cuirassiers and Lancers, he still made efforts to raise Mounted Infantry for rapid excursions or protecting him during his travels. Thus at present, his forces were sufficient to pierce through the County of Salzburg with little effort.

As such, Berengar informed Count Otto of his certainty.

"Do not worry, uncle, my Cuirassiers and Mounted infantry are more than enough to defeat any force that is foolish enough to attack us on our route to Kufstein. We will be perfectly safe."

Hearing Berengar's confidence on the issue greatly dissuaded his concerns, and such he nodded his head in agreement.

"I hope you are right..."

With that said, Count Otto was the first to step into the Carriage that Berengar had provided. After her father had done so, Adela approached Berengar and wrapped her arms around his neck before pecking him on the cheek.

It had been so long since she had been in Kufstein, and she was filled with anticipation, she had dreamed of revisiting, ever since she read the letters of Berengar's construction efforts. After kissing Berengar on the cheek, the teenage girl blushed before grabbing onto his hand.

"Shall we go?"

Berengar smiled and nodded before dragging his future wife into the carriage, where he then gave the order to depart. Thus the caravan of armed guards and Berengar's host were effectively on the march as they began to leave the City of Graz. At an average speed of fifteen miles per hour, it would take the caravan roughly fourteen hours to reach their destination. During this time, Adela and Berengar flirted for the most part, which made Count Otto deeply uncomfortable.

...

After a little over fourteen hours had passed, Berengar and his caravan arrived at the borders of the city of Kufstein. Their journey was uneventful, as the Bavarians occupying Salzburg had already learned their lesson from the last time they targeted Berengar's caravan and thus kept their distance in fear of once more sustaining massive casualties.

Seeing the great walls of the city of Kufstein in the distance, Adela peeked her head out the window with awe. Such marvelous structures did not exist during her last visit to the region. She had read in great detail about Berengar's infrastructure projects from his letters. Still, upon witnessing them with her own eyes, she felt as if even the legendary Theodosian walls of Constantinople could not compare.

Even Count Otto stared with amazement at the grand structures; he was specifically drawn to the grey bricks used in their construction and inquired about their composition.

"Berengar, just what exactly are these walls made out of?"

Berengar had an arrogant smile on his face as he described the materials the walls were constructed with while exuding an overwhelming aura of pride.

"Well, for starters, we take cinder blocks, which are semi-hollow bricks made out of concrete. From there, we fill the gaps with structural steel reinforcing bars or rebar for short. Then after the cinder blocks are properly reinforced, we pour more cement inside the gaps to seal them shut, and secure the rebar within. The steel-reinforced bricks are then stacked together until the proper thickness of the walls is achieved. This is just a summary of how we build such structures. In reality, it is far more complex. However, as you can see, the walls are shorter and far thicker than ordinary castle walls. This is to maintain structural integrity if my enemies were to bring cannon fire onto my city. Something that traditional walls have proven to be weak against during my campaigns."

Count Otto was trying to register everything that Berengar had said while gazing in awe at the fortifications surrounding Kufstein's city. He quickly realized anyone who decided to launch an attack on such a well-defended city was merely asking for their death.

Soon enough, the caravan entered the city gates, which opened upon seeing the banners of House von Kufstein flying above the approaching caravan. With it, Berengar and his guests entered into a city the likes they had never seen before.

While the outer areas closest to the walls were currently unoccupied, the closer they approached the center, the more they saw magnificent tenements and houses constructed in the half-timber style. There was no sign of filth in the streets as each building had its internal plumbing, which flowed to a sewage treatment plant outside of the city, then pumped into the nearby river Inn.

However, what captured Adela's sight were the massive projects that were either undergoing construction or already completed. Such as the Grand Cathedral, the Grand Palace, and the parliamentary buildings. These buildings were all made in a unique architectural style that had yet to enter this world. They were beautiful compared to the other structures of the era and easily caught Adela's interest.

It had been over half a year since she was last in Kufstein, and yet it had changed so much. It was genuinely unfathomable how quickly Berengar had built his city. Still, he relied on a large workforce and the advanced technologies of structural steel and concrete to build the city so rapidly.

Even the gorgeous half-timbered tenements and homes were built using concrete instead of more traditional materials, especially for their foundations. Of course, the concrete was covered in stucco to make it more aesthetically pleasing. Thus the buildings hardly looked any different from the more traditional buildings built in such a style across Germany.

It was only after entering the city square where Adela saw the monument dedicated to Berengar overlooking the city from the hill above it. She could not help but gasp as she saw the massive bronze statue of her fiance on horseback, fully dressed in armor and raising his sword in the air. Berengar saw the adorable expression on her face and immediately asked her the question on his mind.

"Magnificient, isn't it?"

Adela was so shocked at the level of craftsmanship that she had no words and merely nodded with her mouth agape. Seeing Adela's reaction, he was more than happy with the expense he had paid for such a thing.

On the other hand, Count Otto was deeply envious of the city Berengar had created; it appeared to be a fitting place for the Capital of an Empire, he had no words, for how much he desired Graz to be rebuilt in such a fashion. In the end, he could only sigh in defeat; Berengar's wealth and knowledge were too much for an older man like him to compete with.

After traversing through the city, they finally crossed the river and ended up in the castle courtyard where Linde and Henrietta were waiting for his arrival. Henrietta was holding Hans in her arms, which Berengar instantly realized the reason when he saw it.

As such, he stepped out of the carriage intending to inform Linde to behave herself in the presence of Adela and her father, but he was a moment too slow; before he could even get off the steps, Linde had jumped into his arms and kissed him passionately, forcing her tongue through his lips, while hanging her arms his neck. She used her natural assets to press into Berengar's chest and tried to suck the air out of his lungs.

Only when Adela and Count Otto followed Berengar out of the carriage did Linde realize she had made a mistake. The way Adela glared at her instantly sent shivers down her spine, and thus she quickly released her hold over Berengar before turning away in embarrassment.

On the other hand, Otto was observing his daughter's reaction to Berengar openly displaying his affection for another woman; Despite the fact that Adela had said she was okay with it; she had never personally witnessed her fiance be intimate with another woman. Surprisingly she handled it quite well.

It was only after Linde recovered her senses did she properly greet Berengar.

"I missed you so much, darling!

Adela's brow instantly raised as she heard the pet name that Linde used when referring to Berengar. Of course, if Linde were in private with Berengar, she would use the term "master" when addressing her lover, but she commonly referred to him as dear or darling in public. Hearing the two were so familiar, Adela began to pout.

Linde noticed this and quickly shifted her attention to Adela, who greeted her in a friendly manner.

"It has been a long time, little Adela; I look forward to your stay; we have much to talk about."

Though they had been corresponding with letters to one another, the two had not had a proper discussion on how to divide Berengar's attention face to face, and thus they would need to negotiate appropriately as such; Adela put on a smile and nodded at Linde's statement.

"We sure do..."

Berengar could tell the situation was tense and, as such tried to lighten the mood.

"We can talk about these things further when we are inside."

Before his daughter could break out into a fight with Linde over Berengar's affection, Count Otto agreed to his nephew's suggestion and hurried his daughter along. Such a conversation was better to be had behind closed doors.

"I agree, come, Adela, let us get settled into our lodgings."

Though Adela did not want to leave Berengar's company too soon, she realized Linde deserved some alone time with the man, and thus she nodded before following her father into the Castle while the servants brought in their luggage.

As for Henrietta, she followed Adela inside and began to chat with her; she still held onto the infant Hans, which Adela was more than happy to spend time with. After all, this was Berengar's son, and as such, she felt some form of connection to the boy, even if he was not her child.

Seeing that the two were alone, Linde embraced Berengar before tracing her finger around his well-toned chest.

"Now that we have some time to ourselves, what should we do?"

Berengar chuckled and petted her head before whispering in her ear

"I know a few things we can do..."

With that, the couple fled to the bedroom to get reacquainted while Adela and her father settled into the lodgings that they were provided for their duration in Kufstein. Soon enough, Berengar would be marching to war once more, and he wanted to spend as much time with his two women as possible.