Tyranny of Steel

As Berengar had promised, he spent the next two weeks lazing about in his manor at Gibraltar with his loving new bride by his side. The couple seemed to get along exceptionally well and had spent much of the time in the bedroom. After all, Berengar had grown weary from months of conflict and needed something to lift his spirits.

During this time, men and resources swapped from the Iberian Peninsula to the Kingdom of Austria; for some time to come, there would be a massive transition in the state of the Emirate of Granada. However, eventually, Berengar got onto his royal clipper and returned home to the fatherland.

With such a swift ship, the journey was relatively smooth, and in a matter of days, he and his new bride arrived in Trieste. The moment Berengar stepped off the docks, he could barely recognize the port city. Nearly half a year had passed since he first stepped foot in Granada with the intent to put an end to the Iberian Union and the Catholic Church's ambitions.

In this time, the city of Trieste had rapidly industrialized; by now, the railroad stretched from Kufstein to Trieste and was fully operational with telegraph wires and stations embedded throughout the entire journey. Smoke filled the air as the fires of industry burned bright within the massive port city.

The streets were fully paved, and factories were operational. Men and women went to their jobs, while children stayed in their schools. No more excellent sight was available than the Shipyards, which were engaged in the lengthy process of laying down the first of Berengar's newest vessels. Of course, this light Cruiser was only in the initial stages of development and would still require years before it was sea-ready.

When Yasmin gazed upon the incredible sight of the Industrial Port city, she could hardly believe her eyes. Compared to the medieval state of Granada, Trieste was on another level. Upon seeing his newest bride's response, Berengar smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder before whispering in her ear.

"If you think Trieste is shocking, wait until you see the capital!"

It took the Granadan Princess some time to recover as she thought about her husband's words. Ultimately she smiled in anticipation, waiting to see just how marvelous the city of Kufstein was. Berengar walked in the streets, where the people gazed upon him with respect and immediately conversed among themselves.

"The King has returned!"

"Is the war over?"

"Who is that foreign woman by his side?"

The people of Trieste immediately began making up all sorts of ideas about Berengar and Yasmin as the couple walked to the train station. Upon arriving, Berengar pulled out his wallet and gave the appropriate amount of silver thalers to buy a ticket to Kufstein.

On the dashboard of the Train Station, there was a map of currently existing railways. Berengar was shocked to see how much progress had been made, as the railways now stretched from Kufstein to Salzburg, to Graz, and down to Triest.

Though he wasn't too shocked, after all, the transcontinental railway of the USA was built in a matter of six years, and the Kingdom of Austria was substantially smaller than the old USA from his past life. After seeing this, he nodded with a smile as he and Yasmin boarded the train, which shortly after that departed for Kufstein.

As they traveled, a telegraph was sent back to the Capital informing the Royal Family of Berengar's return, though it neglected to mention the foreign beauty by his side. Yasmin gazed in awe as the train rapidly moved along the tracks at a speed of over 60 mph; at their current rate, it would take them a matter of hours to arrive in the Capital City.

On the way, they had passed by several cargo trains transporting raw materials from the mines of the Alps to the other cities. Which caused a sense of delight to appear in Berengar's eyes; this meant that his country's industrialization would progress far more rapidly than it had in the past.

Eventually, the couple made their way into Kufstein's train station, where they stepped onto the sweet soil of the Austrian Capital and made their way from the heart of the city to the Palace. The mix of Medieval, and renaissance architecture, when combined with the might of industry, was a marvel to behold. The people were dressed in relatively modern fashion compared to the Granadan Princess, which immediately caught her eye.

The great walls of Kufstein had expanded once more to include the newest section of the city, creating yet another star barrier around the city, with the garrison doing their jobs of protecting each entrance to the next layer. The newest variant of cannons was mounted on the walls, manufactured in enough supply to replace the pre-existing muzzleloaders.

Those old siege guns would be refurbished and either sent to the Reserves or sold to allied nations for use in defense of their cities. However, none of that was any concern; as Berengar and Yasmin reached the gates of the Royal Palace, the princess stared in awe at the massive structure home to the Austrian King and his family.

Upon entering its gates, Berengar was immediately greeted by his wives, children, and sister. By now, his wives had already given birth to his offspring and had recovered quite well from experience.  Henrietta was the first to leap into Berengar's arms and hug him tightly before pecking him on the cheek with her luscious pink lips.

"Welcome home, big brother!"

She was so enamored with her precious big brother's return that she failed to notice the tanned beauty by his side. However, Berengar's wives immediately noticed the presence of another woman and frowned at him.  Linde gave her husband a murderous glare as she asked the question on all of the girl's minds.

"Who is she?"

Berengar felt a chill down his spine as he noticed his second wife's perturbed appearance. As for Adela, she was in an even fouler mood; she knew exactly who this woman was and immediately began to protest.

"Darling, while we were worried for your safety, giving birth to your children, you went off and married that Moorish whore?"

Yasmin's German was not the best, and thus she did not take notice of the insult. Instead, she gazed with an awkward expression as she struggled to find a way to introduce herself to her husband's other wives.

Berengar scratched the back of his neck awkwardly; Henrietta was still clinging onto him, giving a fierce glare at the newest woman to snatch her brother away from her. Meanwhile, A baby boy and girl were in the arms of Adela as she gave him a vicious stare. She had given birth to two perfectly normal fraternal twins.

Honoria held an infant boy in her arms while giving a curious gaze at Berengar, among all of his wives, she was the most open-minded in sharing the man she loved with other women. Thus she did not care that he brought home yet another woman so long as she aided Berengar in some significant way.

Linde had two baby girls in her arms, one was Helga, and the other was her newest child, as Hans and Veronika clung to the Second Queen's side. Hans had an excited expression on his face as he boldly asked his question.

"Did father bring a new mommy home? She's so beautiful!"

Berengar's girls immediately stared at the boy giving him a scowling glance. Despite this, he either did not take notice of it or didn't care as he instead gave his father a solid thumb's up, signaling his approval.  Berengar struggled to contain the tear that had formed in his eye as he thought to himself.

My boy will one day be a true man of culture!

However, instead of outright saying this, he nodded his head and introduced his newest acquisition.

"Everyone, this is Princess Yasmin Al-Fadl, my newest bride. Due to certain circumstances, we are now married, and our alliance with the Emirate of Granada is now stronger than ever! Treat her well; if you don't, I will know and will punish you accordingly."

Henrietta, Honoria, and Adela felt a slight tingle in their bottoms as they remembered the vicious spanking Berengar had given them quite some time ago and immediately tensed up. As for Linde, she had a look of excitement in her eyes as she reflected on the same experience.

Ultimately, Berengar walked forward and introduced himself to his newest children, he started with Adela and her two children where he reached out to grab ahold of the two twins with a fatherly expression on his face.

"So, what are the names of these two beautiful children?"

Adela pouted as she begrudgingly gave up the info that her husband had requested.

"Since you were away at war, I took the liberty to name them, the boy is the elder of the two twins, and he is named Kristoffer; as for his sister, she is named Katherin!"

Berengar nodded his head in approval towards these names before giving them back to their mother and moving on to the next child which was in Honoria's arms; she had a sly smile on her face as he handed the boy over to her father before making a snide remark.

"You already know this little tyke's name, Alexandros!"

Berengar smiled and nodded his head once more as he took a brief moment to hold on to his baby boy. After kissing the infant on the forehead, he gave Alexandros back to her mother before walking over to his baby girl with Linde and inquiring about her name.

"This is?"

Linde smiled and kissed her husband on the lips passionately as she marked her territory before the newest bride. After doing so she handed off the baby girl to her father and boldly declared her name.

"This is Ilse! Your beautiful daughter, don't you ever forget!"

Berengar smiled as he heard this; now that introductions were out of the way, he led his family back into the Royal Palace; after all, he and his wives had much catching up to do, even if they were in a fit of jealousy at the moment. Of course, his wives would not let him off easy for galavanting around in some foreign land; they would make sure to use up every ounce of his energy in the following night.

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