Tyranny of Steel

Out of all the empires in history, the Romans were one of Berengar's favorite. What they accomplished inspired numerous men to achieve a level of greatness similar to their own, yet few had ever succeeded in matching the glory of the Roman Empire.

The Byzantines were technically the surviving Eastern half of the Roman Empire after being split in two by Diocletian during the formation of his tetrarchy. In reality, by this point in history, the Byzantines were far more Greek than Roman.

Despite this, they still referred to themselves as Romans and touted the ancient lineage of Rome as their own. Much of its nobility spoke Latin as a secondary language, which was the primary reason why Berengar was able to communicate with Honoria during their first meeting so effectively.

In fact, by now, Berengar was fluent in three languages, German, Arabic, and Latin; if one included the modern English from his past life, then four, but that was a language only he could speak within this world.

The difference between late medieval English and the language Berengar spoke was so vast that if he dared to converse in the modern tongue to any Englishman of the era, neither of the two would remotely understand each other.

With this knowledge of the three languages, Berengar was able to communicate effectively with his allies. At the moment, Berengar was on board a Clipper, not just any clipper; this was the Royal Clipper, Berengar had designed the ship based on some pictures he had seen on the internet of a cruise ship in his previous life.

This clipper was different than any other ship currently employed by Berengar's maritime forces. Its hull was entirely made of steel; it had five masts and 42 sails in total, with a fully rigged sail plan. Though Berengar had wanted to retrofit it with a triple expansion steam engine, as well four scotch boilers, the reality of the situation was that he did not have the means to manufacture such large and powerful maritime equipment; at least for the time being.

As such, this giant steel monster of a ship acted as the personal vessel of King Berengar von Kufstein. It had taken months at the Shipyard in Pula to create this vessel and was being worked on during the entirety of Austria's war for independence until relatively recently.

The ship had a length of 442 feet, which was two feet longer than the largest of the Ming Treasure Ships, officially making it the largest ship in the history of the world up until this point. While it was not armed, it was virtually impervious to any potential enemy attack because of its all-steel construction and the marines stationed onboard.

To make sure it was not attacked, an escort of five frigates flanked the sides of the ship; the sight of such monstrous vessels, when compared with the ships of the time, was a testament to Austrian maritime supremacy.

Berengar currently sat within the dining hall of the massive vessel; it was outfitted in the most luxurious furniture that his industry could devise. He sat next to his two wives, his fiancee, and his little sister as they shared drinks and dined upon the finest seafood.

Berengar had been eating his favorite seafood dish from his previous life; ironically, in this world, a German King introduced the modern Italian food known as alfredo, and with it, he had his chefs mix crab into the dish creating a delectable, creamy, seafood noodle dish.

It was so vastly different from any of the other cooking that the girls had tasted until this point that they initially had reservations about eating it. However, when they tasted the creamy noodle dish, they instantly fell in love with it. Especially Honoria, who already loved the taste of crab. She had a broad smile on her face as she ate the crab-filled alfredo.

A noodle ended up sticking to the side of her cheek; it was so tempting that Berengar could not hold himself back. Instead, he instantly dove in and licked the noodle from her cheek before devouring it.

This inevitably caused Honoria to chastise him for his inherent greed.

"Hey! That was mine!"

However, in the next moment, before Berengar could properly tease the girl, Linde had plunged her fork into Honoria's bowl and stole a huge chunk of the delicacy, further causing the young princess to pout.

Because they were journeying to the Byzantine Empire for the young Princesses' marriage, the other two girls in Berengar's harem had begun to gang up on her and tease her in every possible way they could.

Luckily for Berengar, this was the most cordial the girls had been in nearly a week. He was happy to see they were getting along once more. Honoria appeared to be in a better mood as the day of her wedding drew ever closer.

Berengar swore that if he was stuck on this ship with the three girls, and they were still bickering over the slightest details, then he would hurl himself into the sea and pray for the mercy of the ancient god Poseidon.

Of course, this would inevitably result in him cursing Poseidon for his complete and utter lack of mercy as he drowned in the depths of the Mediterranean. Still, it was a better fate than being stuck on a ship with three moody pregnant women.

Of course, Henrietta noticed the relatively gleeful expression Berengar had on his fate as his girls playfully fought over food. Obviously, She could not let this stand; after all, there was no way she could reasonably allow her brother to be happy with the small harem he had created.

Considering Henrietta had entered her teenage years, she had been quite mischievous lately, using any chance she could to make Berengar's life a living hell, usually by instigating a fight between his three wives.

As such, the young Princess of Austria, who grew more beautiful by the day, put on an innocent expression as she looked at her brother with hopeful eyes while asking a question that was sure to stir the pot.

"Big brother?"

Berengar, who could never find fault with his darling little sister, remained completely unaware that she was responsible for a significant degree of the agony he had been suffering through over the past week; as such, he quickly played into her hands as he asked the young teenage girl what was on her mind.

"Yes, Henrietta?"

Seeing how her brother had taken the bait, Henrietta quickly asked the question she knew would cause his girls to briefly unite against him.

"Who do you think is prettier? Me or your wives?"

Berengar did not even sense the questionable gazes upon him as he took a bite from his alfredo before responding with the answer Henrietta knew he would say.

"You, of course, everyone knows that my darling little sister is the prettiest girl in the world!"

The moment he said this, his three women stared at him in disbelief; they could hardly believe that he had just uttered such words in front of them. Henrietta, of course, put on a joyful smile as she clapped her hands. Completely satisfied with the looks her brother was getting. After doing so, she walked over to Berengar's seat and hugged him tightly.

"Big brother is the best!"

After doing so, she returned to her seat, waiting for Berengar to notice the ferocious glares he was receiving from his three women. It took him a second to see, but when he did, he finally realized that Henrietta had set him up.

Before he could chastise her for pulling the prank, Honoria stood up from her seat with a furious appearance. She began to curse out Berengar for his comments as she did so.

"If you find your sister to be so pretty, why don't you marry her instead!"

After saying this, she ran off; however, before Berengar could chase after her to settle this foolish dispute, Linde and Adela had latched on to his shoulders with an increasingly tight grip. Berengar could feel as if his bones were shattering beneath their grasp as they began to condemn him for his words.

"Master... I'd like to have a word with you..."

"Darling, I know we may be somewhat related, but lusting after your sister is a grave sin..."

Obviously, Berengar was not attracted to his sister in such a way; he was merely entertaining Henrietta's whims like he usually did, and deep down, his women knew it. Still, to see him dismiss them without hesitation and side with the younger girl had greatly invoked their ire.

As such, Berengar gazed at his little sister with a pleading gaze, in return for this, she merely smirked at him before drinking the contents from his wine glass, after doing so, she placed the chalice on the table before walking by, as she did so she whispered something in his ear that the others did not catch.

"You reap what you sow, big brother..."

Thus Berengar spent the rest of his journey to Constantinople atoning for his sins.

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