Tyranny of Steel

Berengar and his family approached one of the several restaurants that existed within the Kufstein Zoo. The zoo had many exhibits, habitats, and sections. If it were to exist in Berengar's past life, one might compare it to the Disney World of Zoos. It was so large that it was technically created outside the city's limits in a special zone of its own. 

Because of this, there were not only multiple restaurants that existed throughout the entire zoo, but there were also food stalls, merchandise stores, and even animal themed roller coasters and water slides for families to enjoy when they weren't looking at animals. 

Naturally, Berengar found an appropriate place for his family to eat at. A local burger joint that was grossly overpriced, as was common in theme parks, and zoos in this world, and his previous one. Despite this, he had to admit that they made some excellent burgers. As a result, he and his family sat down in an outdoor dining area when he ordered for them. 

After a lengthy order that resulted in spending hundreds of marks, Berengar returned to his family with several trays of food and beverages in hand. Upon placing the trays upon the table and distributing the loot to his family, Berengar sat down in between Adela and Henrietta. 

Just as Berengar was about to take a bite of his burger, three of his daughters bolted towards his lap in a fierce competition to see who could get their father's attention first. In the end, Katherine emerged as the winner. She was a year or two older than Zara and Helena, giving her greater speed. After sitting on her father's lap, Katherine wore a smile and struck a victorious pose. As for Berengar, he stared in silence at his daughters, two of which were now pouting and expressing their discontent. 

"No fair!"

"Katherine, you're too old to sit in daddy's lap!"

In reality, Katherine was roughly nine years old, and she felt she was well within her rights to sit in her father's lap. As for Berengar, he merely shook his head and ignored the three girls and their petty competition. Though the next moment after, Katherine raised one of her steak fries and dipped it in range before shoving it in her father's face.

"Daddy! say ah!"

The girl was treating him like a child, which Berengar thought was rather amusing. As for her mother Adela, she had pulled out a camera and captured the moment of Berengar's uncomfortable expression for the sake of human history. 

Ultimately, Berengar would bite the proverbial bullet, so to speak, and snatched onto the girl's fry with his teeth before swallowing it. The moment he did so, the girl clapped in excitement before digging into her own food. 

Upon further inspection, Berengar realized it was not just Zara and Helena who were pouting in an act of envy. All of his women were gazing at him with jealous stares. When he realized this, he quickly defended his actions.

"What are you looking at? Can't a father show his affection for his daughter? Eat your damn food!"

The moment he said these words, Katherine looked up at her father with her deep blue eyes and scolded him for his language.

"Daddy has to put a gulden in the swear jar!"

That's right, Berengar's family was so wealthy that they tossed guldens into a swear jar. In fact, Berengar was so casual with his profanity around his family that he had practically filled the jar every month. Whose value, when filled, was on par with a standard single family home in the city of Kufstein. The man gritted his teeth as he heard this, before calmly expressing his acceptance of his fate.

"Fine... I will do it when we get home..."

As for what the swear jar was actually used for, Berengar would distribute its contents evenly among his children for their monthly allowance. Yes, that was how much of a problem Berengar had with vulgarity. It was, in fact, Adela's suggestion in the first place for such a device to exist within their household. 

In truth, Berengar did not really care about the value of the money he placed in the jar. It was a miniscule amount to him. What he despised was the fact that his wives punished him, the Kaiser of Germany, for speaking in the casual manner he was accustomed to around his own children.  However, as every man knew, there were some battles in marriage that you just had to accept defeat in. The swear jar was one of these struggles. 

After sharing a meal with his family, the group packed up their refuse and tossed it away in the recycling bin before heading out to see more animals. The immediate stop after the canine and feline section was the primate section. Where the children of the Kaiser gazed upon the great apes, monkeys, and other primates with excitement in their eyes. 

When it came to the habitat that contained the Bonobos, Berengar had to advance his family through it rather quickly, as the beasts were in the middle of mating, and he did not want his children to witness such a display. 

Having gone through the primate section, Berengar led his family through other areas, such as the so called "African Safari", and the "Congo Jungle" where they rode on trains and river boats through an area filled with wild animals of various species. In one area, they even spotted the legendary dodo bird, which had yet to go extinct in this age.

There were all kinds of sights to enjoy, and it was not just land based lifeforms. There was even a section for aquatic based life, such as manatees, sharks, dolphins, alligators, crocodiles, caymans, among other species. Ultimately, after nearly six hours of enjoying themselves at the zoo, Berengar and his family had not even explored half of the habitats.

However, as the sun began to set, a voice erupted over the PA system alerting all visitors that the Zoo would be closing in an hour. As a result, Berengar instructed his family that it was time to depart. 

"Well, let's make our way back to the parking lot where the car awaits us. The zoo will be closing soon, and we don't have enough time to look at another exhibit."

Voices of protest immediately erupted as several of Berengar's children refused to leave, even after six hours of walking about.

"I don't wanna!"

"But we haven't even looked at the elephants."

"I don't care about the elephants, I want to see the leopards again!"

Berengar could only gaze sternly and give his children a direct order. At a time like this, there was no point playing along with their delusions. They were on the other end of the park and had an hour to exit the facility. Thus, he had no patience for their childish resistance. 

"We're leaving, and that's final. If you all behave yourself, I'll bring you back here next month so that we can see the rest of the park..."

This time, none of Berengar's children complained, though they were regretful that they couldn't experience everything the Zoo had to offer. They were happy that they would get to have such a fun experience with their father again next month. Still, it seemed like too much time in between visits, but all the kids knew their father was a busy man, and couldn't take entire days off to spend at the zoo very often. 

With that said, Berengar and his family made their way out of the zoo, and entered a group of stretch limousines which carried their large party back to the palace where the Kaiser spent the rest of the evening with his family. After a long day, he retired to his bedroom, where all five of his women were awaiting him. For the first time in a long time, he would share his bed with all of his legal wives, and his younger sister.