Tyranny of Steel

While Bernegar's agricultural reforms were slowly but surely being implemented across the realm, the man was presented with a great sense of difficulty. Soon it would be Adela's fourteenth birthday, and he had no idea what to get the girl.

Though the betrothed couple did not live together, that did not mean that Berengar did not shower his little fiancee with presents. He would send her dresses, shoes, jewelry, and fashionable accessories that were fit for an empress every chance he got.

Of course, Adela's birthday was not the only one Berengar had to prepare for, Linde's birthday was shortly after hers, and just like Adela, he showered her with lavish gifts whenever he got the chance. He truly spoiled his two women to a degree that a normal Duke was incapable of.

Adela's birthday was on September 9th, while Linde's was on October 15th; they were a little over a month apart. As for Berengar, his birthday was December 21st. However, he frankly did not care about his birthday; it just became another day of the year after a certain point.

Until he could get his hands on the precious substance known as chocolate, Berengar was quite disappointed with his birthday as he could not continue his yearly tradition of eating triple-layer German Chocolate Cake, which to him was a disaster.

However, that was not important at the moment; what was important was getting Adela a proper gift for her birthday. He could easily shop for Linde; he would simply have his tailor make her a luxurious, and more importantly, sexy lingerie set; however, for someone like Adela, that was not exactly something he could do without feeling like a creep.

As such, he was in a serious debate with his mind while sitting in his chair drinking from his skull chalice that was filled with beer. He was pretty troubled over the issue; he could not just give her some more meaningless jewelry or clothing. It had to be something exceptional, something the girl did not usually receive from him.

It was at this moment he thought of something interesting, something he had not considered before. What if he bought her a new horse? Something exotic that cost a fortune to import. What if he bought her a white Arabian?

To him, this idea was perfect, he never bought either of his women horses, and he knew that Adela was fond of the creatures. Linde loved cats, but Adela loved horses. Upon thinking about such a brilliant, he immediately got to task writing a letter to his old friend Arethas from the Byzantine Empire. If there were anyone Berengar knew that could get him a white Arabian in time for Adela's birthday, it would be the Strategos of Ionia.

After drafting the letter, he quickly had it sent out with a proper messenger party. It was times like this that Berengar seriously missed the modern world and its advanced communication methods. After sending out his request Berengar returned to his office where he let out a heavy sigh before breaking out the distilled spirits.

When it came to hard liquor Berengar had opted for making whiskey, and though this batch was not aged to any serious extent, it was enough to help calm his nerves. Berengar began to reflect upon the past year and a half of his life. So much had happened in this time that he rarely had a moment like this to relax. He was fortunate to be alive, let alone making it as far as he had.

He still had no idea how he had reincarnated into this world, but he began to consider that perhaps it was some form of Diety's work, yet if that were so, what could be their motive in doing so? These were the ideas that Berengar stressed about within his spare time.

He was so busy thinking all day long that he did not know how to shut it off, so to calm down, he thought about things that could not be proven and merely speculated about them as a mental exercise. At the very least, it kept his mind healthy.

Berengar had spent so much time in his study lately that it had become second nature to come to this room and sit down, even if he had nothing to do. Linde had begun to joke around about how he spent more time with his study's leatherbound chair than he did with her.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear; the moment Berengar thought about his lover, he heard a knock on his door, where he quickly answered it.

"Come in"

after doing so, Linde appeared dressed in another sky blue dress. When she was not wearing the colors of his house, she tended to enjoy dressing in sky blue and white, as it brought out her beautiful eyes. Seeing his handsome lover standing in front of him with a happy smile on her face, Berengar was confused; thus he asked about it.

"What has got you so happy!"

Linde approached Berengar and grabbed ahold of his hands, and began to drag him away without explanation. Curious as to what had gotten the woman so excited, he allowed her to do so before long. He was swiftly dragged to Hans' room by the woman he loved, where she opened the door to reveal the small child standing on his two legs and walking over to Henrietta, who was nearby and smiling. Berengar was not too surprised when he saw this; after all, it was about time for the child to walk.

However, what came next greatly surprised him; the baby boy saw his father enter the room and ran over to him as fast as he could while saying, "Dadda! Mama!" This stunned Berengar; the child still had some ways to go before they should naturally be able to form words. Yet, he clearly stated the terms that were usually a child's first words at around twelve months old. Seeing such a strange occurrence Berengar could not contain his thoughts and let them slip from his tongue.

"Holy shit!"

Linde immediately glared at Berengar when he used profanity in front of their infant son, and he instantly shut his trap. Hans was close to nine months old at this point; after all, he had been born at the very end of the last year, and it was not yet September. Despite this, he was walking quite effortlessly and already talking to some degree.

Berengar could not help but believe the kid was some form of genius, and he quickly stared at Linde with confusion. The way he looked at Linde made her uncomfortable, and she awkwardly inquired about his gaze.

"What? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Berengar did not hide what he was thinking and quickly revealed his thoughts.

"What kind of super genes does your family have?"

Linde, of course, had no idea what genetics was and thus was deeply perplexed by Berengar's question. As such, she expressed her confusion.

"Genes?"

Berengar merely shook his head and dismissed the idea

"Never mind, it is not important..."

He knew the kid did not get the intelligence from his family. While his family was above average in intelligence, with some just breaking the barrier to enter Mensa, there were no legitimate geniuses in his family, at least in the classical sense.

Of course, the moment he thought about that, he realized this body did not have the same genetic composition as his original body. While pondering about such things Berengar had to admit that he did not know much about the von Kufstein lineage aside from the fact that they were a House of Warriors.

The kid might have got his intellect from Berengar's genes, truthfully he did not know the answer, but if the child turned out to be as intelligent as Berengar thought he would be based upon the signs available to him at present, then it was a good indicator that Hans might be an exemplary candidate for succeeding himself in the future.

The kid eventually ran over to Berengar, where the young Duke picked the boy up and tousled his strawberry-blonde hair. Berengar stared lovingly at his child before looking him into the eyes and saying something profound.

"My child, one day you will be a greater man than I!"

the way Hans looked at Berengar seemed like he understood what Berengar meant. However, Berengar merely hugged his son before giving him back to his mother. It would still be a long time before Hans was able to show off his true potential, but Berengar had great faith in the child.

It was nice to know that if nurtured properly, the Empire Berengar believed he would forge one day would be in good hands after his passing. Even if one of his other children turned out to be a better fit for the Monarch's position, Hans could still play a pivotal role in the advancement and development of the Empire.

This was something Bernegar sincerely believed, and he was glad that he had been blessed with such an exceptional child. Whether it was his genes or Linde's that produced such a child did not matter. After all, the two of them were bound to have several more children over the upcoming years. If it did turn out to be his own, then maybe his kids with Adela would inherit such traits as well. Only time would tell...