Tyranny of Steel

The meal between Itami and Asha continued. However, there was a brief intermittence where Itami took a quick restroom break. After taking care of business, she took the opportunity to meet with one of her guards and gave him orders to investigate the claims that the Bengal Emperor had made about Berengar von Kufstein. Though she was frightened by the news she had heard, she would not wholly believe it until her own intelligence network could confirm the information she had received. 

While the Bengal Emperor had spoken ill of Berengar, and greatly exaggerated the man's more sinister characteristics, most of what he spoke had some truth to it. Especially from the perspective of Germany's neighbors. Of course, Itami did not know that by dispatching her men to gain information from the locals about their trade with the strange Empire to the West that she would catch the eye of Linde's agents who were embedded in the region.

In the marketplace of the Port City. A German Merchant operating a stall was selling his wares to the locals. He immediately noticed the strange appearance of the Japanese soldiers who wore semi-modern style uniforms and carried what appeared to be bolt action rifles. These men were going about asking the locals about information regarding the German Empire. Which also caught his attention. 

Whoever these foreigners were, they were interested in the Reich for One reason or another. Because of this, the Merchant felt it was his duty to warn the fatherland, and quickly typed away on the telegraph key which sat beneath his table.

Within the stall was a hidden telegraph. All he needed to do was reach under the tablecloth and type on the key to send a message to a nearby Dominion Class merchant ship anchored in the Bay of Bengal, which was, in reality, a German Reconnaissance ship. 

From there, the far more powerful telegraph stationed on board the vessel would relay the message back to the fatherland. It took only a few moments for words from agents in the field to reach the headquarters of Imperial Intelligence located in Kufstein. 

After the agent's report of strange men from the far east, wielding modern weapons and disembarking from steam-powered vessels was relayed back to headquarters. It quickly ended up in the hands of the Deputy Director, who was currently smoking a cigarette in her office.

When her aide rushed into the room and handed her the information, she stared at it blankly, dropping the cigarette from her fingers as she did so. This information was like a bombshell, and she did not instantly believe it. Once Hemma regained her composure, she stared sternly at the aide before questioning the legitimacy of this message.

"Is this some sort of joke? Is one of our agents playing a prank on me? What the hell is this nonsense?"

The aide could tell the woman was frustrated and quickly shook her head as she asserted that what had been relayed was reality.

"It's a priority message from Rudolf. He is one of our agents in the Bengal Empire, conducting reconnaissance as we speak. I went through all the procedures to confirm the information, and the other agents in the region corroborate Rudolf's message. There is a powerful nation from the Far East who is trading with the Bengal Empire and looking for information regarding the Reich."

Upon hearing this, Hemma picked up her cigarette from the table it had fallen upon and took a long drag. There was utter silence for a few moments before she finished the entire stick in one go. After putting the cigarette out in her ashtray, the deputy director stood up from her seat and said one sentence before walking out the door.

"Clear my schedule for the day!"

It would take an idiot to fail to realize where Hemma was going. There was only one person to report this information to, especially since Berengar was currently in the field. Because of that, the aide swallowed the words she was about to speak and quickly did as she was instructed. 

Hemma walked over to the Palace, where Linde was currently looking after her many children. The woman did not work as often in intelligence as she used to, and spent most of her time with her family. She was playing with her youngest son Josef, who was still an infant, when Hemma walked through the door unannounced.  By the look on the young woman's face, Linde could tell something serious had happened, and she quickly picked up her youngest son and spoke to him before placing him in the crib.

"Sorry Josef, but mommy has work to do. I will be back in a bit to feed you. Just be a good boy and wait patiently for my return."

The child was too young to speak, and merely smiled as it made an unintelligible sound. Which Linde then kissed him on the forehead before laying him down in the crib. The moment she turned around and faced Hemma, her warm appearance faded, and was instead replaced with an icy demeanor. Hemma wanted to speak up, but the redheaded beauty raised her finger to silence her before walking out the door. 

Linde did not want her youngest child influenced by matters of state when he was so young and quickly walked to Berengar's office, where she sat down in his seat. She did not say a word until Hemma had closed the door behind them. When Linde finally spoke, she was in a foul mood.

"This better be important!"

Hemma could tell Linde was furious, and merely bowed her head before handing over the message she had received from her agents in the Bengal Empire. 

"I'm sorry for the intrusion, ma'am, but this is urgent."

Linde looked over the message and was immediately stunned in silence. She knew better than anybody what this message meant. After all, she was familiar with Berengar's background, and how he came up with all the designs he had implemented across the reich.

For a steam-powered vessel to appear on the other side of the world, as well as soldiers armed with weapons similar to the Reich's capabilities, meant only one thing. There was another reincarnator in this world. This would explain why they were looking for information on the Reich.

The power behind the throne of this foreign nation must have heard rumors about Berengar and the power of his empire. It took the woman a few moments to react to this news, but in the end, she swiftly came up with a plan of action to respond to this event. 

"This is troublesome... As of this moment, the Indian subcontinent has become an area of priority. I want you to immediately dispatch more agents to the region, and for our men and women already there to gather information about the strange power who built this ship, while conducting counter-intelligence operations towards this foreign power's agents.

Under no circumstances can these foreigners learn about the current capabilities of the Reich! While you're at it, I want you to find out why they are in the Bengal Empire. If they seek to expand their influence into the region, it will become an enormous problem for us!"

Hemma silently nodded her head. She had no further suggestions, so she knew it was better to remain silent. Linde could only sigh heavily in defeat. She had desired to use the Pax Germania that Berengar established after this war with the Catholic World, to force the man to take more time off so that he could spend it with his family.

However, at this moment, Linde realized that the Reich was just about to enter a massive arms race with whoever the foreign power behind this steam-powered vessel was. For that, Berengar would need to spend as much time as possible advancing the capabilities of the Reich and its global Empire. After a few moments of pouting, she realized Hemma was still there, waiting to be dismissed, and thus she glared at the woman before yelling at her.

"What are you waiting for? Dismissed!"

Hemma felt shivers down her spine before she scampered off back to the headquarters of Imperial Intelligence. Luckily, they had just entered a new era of trade with the Indian Subcontinent and because of that, it would not be suspicious at all if the flow of Germans into the region increased suddenly. Thus, Germany could embed many, many more agents into the area with no one batting an eye. 

As for Linde, she would wait until after this war with the Catholic world was over before informing Berengar of what she had just learned. She needed him to be fully committed to annihilating the Papacy and installing puppets on the thrones of the European Kingdoms. If he knew about this foreign reincarnator who threatened his power, he might become paranoid and do something reckless to end the war even quicker. 

All of this had occurred while Itami was eating lunch with the Bengal Emperor, without her even being aware of it happening. Had she known her brief visit to the Bengal Empire would expose her identity and location to Berengar, she would never have made the journey.