Tyranny of Steel

After Berengar and Linde were properly reacquainted, they redressed themselves and left their chambers, where they proceeded to greet Adela and Otto. Otto was chatting with Liutbert, who was Berengar's chancellor and had traveled to Kufstein, the seat of power in Tyrol, to conduct Berengar's affairs while he was away.

Adela was hanging out with Henrietta and Hans, playing with the infant child in his room. Seeing Adela look so affectionately at Hans as if he were her own child brought a smile to Linde's lips. She was frightened over the possibility that Adela would hate her child and try to get rid of him. Yet, instead, she was treating the boy as a member of her own family.

Berengar watched as Linde walked over to her little boy and picked him up, and clutched the boy to her mighty bosom. Seeing his two women and his little sister get along so well pleased Berengar; it was an endearing sight to behold. Thus Berengar merely watched the show for some time.

After a while, Hans was put to bed, and Berengar brought the girls away from the room so that he could adequately sleep. Adela had a giant smile on her face as she conversed with Linde about her child.

"Hans is so cute! He has Berengar's eyes and your hair; he is so perfect!"

Linde smiled at Adela's compliment and hugged Adela tightly as if they were sisters.

"I bet when you and Berengar have your own son, he will turn out just like his father!"

Berengar did not want to ruin the moment, but seeing Adela's cheeks flushed with embarrassment from the compliment while nearly suffocating in Linde's mighty cleavage was too funny of a scene. He struggled to prevent himself from laughing at the way the two girls were behaving. Nevertheless, through superior willpower, he maintained his composure and merely smiled endearingly at them.

At this moment, Linde noticed something peculiar and grabbed ahold of Adela's chest to confirm her suspicion, which caused the girl's face to flush to a new degree as she broke away from Linde's grasp and covered her growing bust with her arms. Linde had a wicked grin on her face as she openly proclaimed her findings.

"Adela, you have grown! We should take a bath together and compare sizes!"

Feeling embarrassed by such a discovery, Adela wanted to hide in a corner; however, with Berengar watching, she refused to back down and thus surprisingly made a bold statement of her own as she proudly displayed her chest to Linde.

"You just watch; one day, I will be bigger than you!"

Linde laughed lightly at the young girls' challenge and approached her closely before whispering in her ear.

"Maybe, but that will take years, and until you grow up, Berengar is all mine!"

Adela immediately began to pout as she heard Linde's words; she knew exactly what Linde meant and was greatly envious of her. However, she was underaged, and there was nothing she could do about that; all she could do was sulk in defeat.

Berengar had seen enough and awkwardly coughed before declaring his next move.

"You all enjoy yourselves; I'm going to go find Count Otto and see what he is up to."

With that, he quickly fled before the girls could keep him; if he had to witness their rowdy actions any longer, he might very well lose his mind. Thus Berengar wandered through the Castle until he found Liutbert and Otto in the dining hall sampling the beer Berengar's breweries had produced.

Berengar quickly sat down at the head of the table and ordered one of the nearby servants.

"Fetch me my chalice and a flagon of doppelbock beer!"

The servant did not dare disobey the mighty Count of Tyrol and quickly nodded before going off to do as instructed. Liutbert and Otto could tell Berengar was flustered and were instantly interested in what had happened; ultimately, otto was the first to ask.

"So, how are the girls?"

Berengar sighed deeply before being brutally honest in his reply.

"They are about to take a bath so that they can compare sizes..."

Count Otto and Liutbert were already sufficiently intoxicated at this point and gazed at each other before returning their sights to Berengar. Liutbert was the first to speak his mind.

"Tsk... Lucky bastard!"

Count Otto, on the other hand, immediately broke out into laughter before expressing his thoughts.

"That daughter of mine, she acts all high and mighty, but in reality, she is on quite good terms with your lover, isn't she? It seems that I have nothing to worry about! Don't worry, Berengar; if she is anything like her sisters, she will grow up to have a body that is equal to that redhaired lass of yours!"

Berengar was quite shocked that Count Otto was speaking in such a way about his daughter; then again, he had never witnessed the man drunk before. Clearly, He could not handle his liquor, and for a beer, the Doppelbock that they were drinking was quite strong, with eight percent alcohol content.

Eventually, the servant arrived with Berengar's skull chalice and a flagon of his favorite wine, which Berengar unhesitantly poured into his goblet before taking a swig. This was the first time Count Otto and Viscount Liutbert witnessed what Berengar had done to Lambert's skull and were quite shocked by the results.

Though the chalice was made from the skull of another human being, it was dipped in gold and encrusted in finely cut black garnet, the shaft of the chalice that one used to grip was perfectly embedded in the bottom of the skull, as if the entire piece was carved out of one solid block of gold. They hardly believed such barbarity could be so sophisticated.

As Berengar drank from the skull chalice, he noticed the looks he was given, and Count Otto was the first to voice his thoughts aloud.

"Is that... you know?"

Berengar nodded his head silently with an indifferent expression on his face. After he did so, Liutbert was the next one to speak.

"Does your family know?"

Berengar shook his head in response before gulping down the remainder of the contents in his beer, he quickly poured more into his chalice before responding.

"As far as they're aware that little bastard is still alive and fighting the Golden Horde, I have been meaning to fabricate a letter from the Teutonic Order informing them of his glorious death. I would rather spare my family the pain of knowing that cunt came back to Kufstein in an attempt to kill us all..."

Count Otto nodded his head in approval; if he were in a similar situation, he would probably lie to his family to spare their feelings as well. After all, the revelation of Lambert's initial actions sent Sieghard into a state of acute depression, so much so that he left Berengar in charge of the realm until the old Viscount finally surrendered his position. He could only imagine the pain his brother-in-law would go through, knowing that his son returned with an army for revenge.

After thinking it through, the older Count decided to change the subject to something less grim and instead asked about the upcoming plans.

"So when will Conrad arrive?"

Berengar pondered about it for a moment before giving a rough estimate he had received.

"It could be as early as tomorrow, but it could also be at the latest in three days. It honestly depends on how many stops the trade Caravan he is hiding in makes before they arrive in Kufstein."

Count Otto nodded and looked at the dark beer that filled his goblet before nodding in approval.

"Good, I would not mind a few more days of drinking such a hearty beer; how did you come up with this?"

Berengar chuckled; he too was fond of the beer they were currently drinking, and as such, he gave the Count some optimistic news.

"I can give you the recipe for it, but it can take up to a year before such a beer is ready to drink."

Count Otto's eyes instantly shined when he heard the news, and he nearly pounced at Berengar before calming himself down and reseating himself.

"Name your price!"

Unexpectedly Berengar merely shook his head in response and gave the man the best news he had heard in weeks.

"Consider it a gift; just make sure to treat me to some of the finished product the next time I find myself in your territory!"

Count Otto gave Berengar a thumbs up with a giant smile on his face.

"Deal!"

Liutbert, on the other hand, was already in the process of brewing his own batch of the tasty beer. After all, Berengar had already begun to export his cuisine and brewery recipes across the entirety of Tyrol. As such, he did not need the recipe; he merely smiled at Otto; luckily, this man was Berengar's relative and could thus acquire some benefits such as this for free.

Thus Berengar and the other two men spent the remainder of their night drinking and talking about important matters of the realm. Meanwhile, Adela and Linde were currently in the bath, negotiating how best to divide Berengar's attention. All the while, Conrad inched closed to Kufstein, and when he finally arrived, Berengar would quickly find himself forced into the throes of war once more; after all, peace was never eternal.