Tyranny of Steel

Since Berengar's birthday, a total of three months had passed, and it was now the early months of 1421; throughout these past few months, Honoria had worked on assembling a crew from the wayward women of not only Austria but the nearby regions as well. Germans, Italians, Moors, and Serbs had gathered among the ranks of her privateer crew and trained efficiently in the art of sailing.

At the moment, Berengar was standing before Honoria, who was dressed in her privateer Captain's attire. He was the only free man allowed onboard the 20 gun sloop of war which Honoria had named the "Honoria's Revenge" after herself. Though few knew her actual identity, and as such, it was presumed to be named after the missing Byzantine Princess.

Berengar had brought a few weapons crates with him on board, where he then opened them to reveal the contents hidden within. When the woman around him gazed at the weapons, they were not surprised. Honoria had promised that Berengar would provide them with firearms; however, when he explained the function of the guns, they were shocked to hear it.

"These are the 1421 Repeating Rifled Muskets. They are capable of firing 30-60 rounds a minute and are appropriately rifled. They utilize the .58 caliber minie ball projectile, and I assure you are lethal out to three hundred yards, even if your opponent is armored in full plate."

Berengar had to look out for Honoria, and since her entire crew was comprised of women, he ensured she was adequately equipped to defeat men in battle. As such, he created a series of firearms based upon the Jennings rifle from his previous life.

The Jennings rifle was a percussion cap rifle that used superposed loads to rapidly fire multiple shots from a single barrel in a short amount of time. Due to the lack of mercury fulminate, Berengar had altered the design to a flintlock action.

The Jennings rifle that the 1421 Repeating Rifled Musket was based on consists of a single barrel and lock, which could fire twenty charges in two seconds per charge. The rifle utilized a sliding lock and multiple touchholes similar to earlier designs.

The firearm also utilized a mechanism for automatically priming the pan of the lock. In simpler terms, this was a flintlock repeating rifle, whereby simply cocking the gun and pulling the trigger up to twenty rounds could be fired off down rage rapidly. 

Berengar also designed pistols based upon this principle as sidearms for the women to wield; essentially, they would be able to effectively engage any man in combat without the need to draw blades. The reason for this was because they could simply fire over twenty rounds without ever needing to reload their weapons. 

With this in mind, Berengar decided to demonstrate the weapons as he handed Honoria the first repeating flintlock; she had long since been trained in their use. As such, the princess began to teach her privateers how to load the weapons before she tested them on a series of targets set up on the shore. 

The moment Honoria cocked the flintlock action and fired at a distance of a hundred yards, the minie ball projectile struck through the steel breastplate that was adorned atop the straw target and blasted through the other side with ease. 

Before anyone had time to react, she cocked the action again and fired another precise shot towards the next target. She repeated this a total of twenty times, hitting most of the dummies in the process. One could say under Berengar's supervision; she had become an excellent marksman; after all, there were few things hotter than a woman who knew how to handle a gun. 

After smoking her targets, Honoria turned around with a broad smile and asked Berengar the question on her mind.

"Did I do good, daddy?"

At this point, she was so used to calling Berengar by that term that it did not even cross her mind that all of her crew members were present to witness it. Berengar, on the other hand, was still not entirely on board with the whole thing and, as such, cleared his throat before responding.

"You did well..."

After hearing this, Honoria smiled before jumping off the bow and into Berengar's arms before kissing his cheek. All of her crewmembers were stunned by Honoria's actions, they had no idea that Honoria had such a relationship with the Duke of Austria, but they suddenly understood why they were permitted to engage in such a deadly profession. 

The only member among the crew who knew what kind of relationship Honoria had with Berengar was Melissa. The latter had given up the life of a peaceful employee of a textile factory to join Honoria's privateering crew. If the princess was going to go out on adventures and get herself in trouble, Melissa wanted to be by her side to help. 

After this embarrassing display of affection, Berengar began handing out the weapons and training the women in their use; this would be their next goal now that they were semi-experienced sailors. As such, the operation of the repeating muskets and cannons was the next step in the training of this wayward crew of wenches.

While Honoria was training the women, Elfrun, in particular, was messing with something far more sinister. She had been educated in Berengar's public education system and had always been interested in chemistry. Thus she had begun experimenting with explosives ever since she joined Honoria's crew. 

Despite being in her early teens, one could say the young girl had become quite obsessed with the explosives such as grenades. As such, she was playing with one of those same explosives when Berengar walked over to her. 

After doing so, she looked up at him with a murderous glint in her eyes, which Berengar found to be quite odd. However, the girl's following words explained her reasoning perfectly.

"Go away... womanizer."

In Elfrun's eyes, there was little difference between Berengar and the lower nobleman who tried to purchase her. They were both the same, lecherous men who abused their wealth and power to get what they wanted; as such, she had no interest in talking to Berengar. 

Upon hearing this, Berengar chuckled and nodded his head before walking away; the only thing he said to the girl before departing were the words.

"You're not wrong..."

Afterward, he left the girl who was playing with grenades to her own devices. Hopefully, she wouldn't do something stupid and irresponsible with those explosives. As such, Berengar returned to Honoria and began to flirt with her; while he did this, Elfrun's gaze did not escape his trail, and she immediately bit her lip upon seeing the way Honoria acted around the young Duke. 

Berengar spent the day getting to know Honoria's various crew members that she had rallied together, and by the end of it, he was quite pleased with the results. At the very least, he could trust these women around his lover.

Though they did not appear like much, this crew would soon become notorious on the Mediterannean sea, and their actions would inspire many young men to take up arms in privateering on behalf of the Crown of Austria. 

Honoria would be the first to usher in a new era of Naval Warfare, one that Berengar greatly anticipated. As Honoria and her crew of salty wenches began to transition into the life of privateering, other events were transpiring across the world, but those are tales for another time.

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