Tyranny of Steel

Weeks passed as Berengar, and his newest brides began to plan for their weddings. As this was going on, Honoria had personally sent an invitation to her father and the rest of her family to visit Kufstein in an attempt to get to know Berengar better. There was also another matter that Berengar wanted to discuss with the Byzantine Emperor, one revolving around the debt that he owed Berengar.

While Berengar had absolved the man of a sizeable chunk of his debt, there remained a large portion of it, at least 25%, and that was worth billions of US Dollars from the Modern World. While the War in North Africa continued in the Byzantine's favor, and new land was acquired every day, one place in particular greatly interested Berengar.

As such, he had asked Honoria to invite her family out early so that Berengar could get to know them better and negotiate for the acquirement of a particular strip of land that was crucial for Berengar's plans. With this in mind, Berengar dressed in his most extravagant uniform, with all of his military accolades emblazoned upon it for the meeting that was currently taking place between the King of Austria and the Byzantine Emperor.

Vetranis gazed at Berengar, who held his daughter's hand with a loving smile on his face. Despite he feeling sick to his stomach while relenting to Berengar's previous demands. The rise in Austria's prowess was something he could no longer ignore; in fact, he was grateful that he could successfully wed Honoria off to a man whose power rivaled his own.

After having spent a considerable amount of time to cool down, and listen to the advice of some of his most prominent counsel, Vetranis had come to realize that having Austria as an ally was a far better option than having France as one. Though Austria would face some difficulties in the coming days, Vetranis truly believed that together they could overcome the might of the Catholic Church. 

Berengar began the conversation by pulling out a map and placing it on the table; on this map was one specific strip of land highlighted; this land was nothing other than a useless desert. However, the part that interested Berengar was that this land was the Suez Canal in his past life. Something Berengar was greatly interested in building in this timeline.  After gazing at the map for several minutes, Vetranis was unsure what Berengar was requesting of him and asked for clarification.

"What is it? You've highlighted a barren, useless area. Am I missing something?"

Berengar kept a calm facade as he began his negotiating terms.

"Give me this land, and I will consider all of your debt absolved."

Though the deal sounded too good to be true, Vetranis had no intention of giving a single inch of land conquered with the blood of his people to a foreign country, and as such, he frowned before making his intentions clear.

"I do not care if you are marrying my daughter; I will never yield Byzantine soil to a foreign power."

However, Berengar immediately began to wag his finger and click his tongue upon hearing Berengar's response.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk... I am not asking for you to give this land to Austria; by all means, it should remain a part of your Empire and thus subject to your laws and taxes. I am asking you to give me this land personally; with it, I will build a canal from the Mediterranean to the red sea and open up a trade route to Asia. You will be able to set up a port and collect taxes on all goods that flow through, and I will have access to the eastern trade routes."

When Berengar said this, both Honoria and Vetranis gazed at him in shock; the idea dumbfounded them. The manpower needed to build such a thing was no small amount. Though Austria's workforce had increased vastly over the years, it was no easy means to ship tens of thousands of workers into the area. As such, Vetranis scoffed at Berengar's idealism before trying to inform him of the impossibility of fulfilling such a grand feat.

"Impossible, it would take decades, and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of workers to accomplish such a thing, you would be wasting your time. The expense for building such a thing would be worth more than the debt I still owe you."

However, Berengar was not dissuaded; in fact, he leaned back in his chair and cast an arm around Honoria's shoulder as he relaxed. After doing so, a smug smile appeared on his face as he presented yet another audacious claim.

"I will build it in 10 years or less. What isn't blasted to bits by dynamite will be dredged by machines. I will not need tens of thousands of men; I won't even need thousands of men. In ten years, this canal will be built, and with it, the trade will flow from the Iberian Peninsula to the East China Sea. You, as Emperor of the Byzantine Empire who rules over those lands, will be able to place a tax on any goods coming in or out of the canal, and people will still use it as the primary trade route."

Though Vetranis did not know what dynamite was or could even conceive of the machines, Berengar spoke of. The confidence in the Austrian King's tone and the glint in his eye thoroughly convinced the man. As such, he began to think upon this magnificent concept that Berengar proposed as if it were actually possible and what benefits it could provide to himself. Ultimately Vetranis sighed heavily before nodding his head in agreement.

"I must be crazy for even considering this, but very well I will accept your proposal; I will give you 15 years building this canal that you have so admirably boasted about, and if you cannot complete it within that timeframe, I will consider your objective unachievable and will reclaim those lands for the Byzantine Crown."

In response to this, Berengar chuckled before shaking the Emperor's hands; as he did so, he joked about the situation. 

"Ten years was my maximum estimate; I could likely do it in less given enough resources. However, I'll accept your terms of fifteen years. Within a year, I will begin construction on it; for now, let us relax and enjoy the upcoming wedding. Speaking of, I think your daughter has something she wants to tell you..."

Berengar immediately grabbed a chalice from the table and filled it with fortified wine as Honoria stared at him in disbelief; she had wanted to inform her family of her pregnancy after she was married. Still, Berengar just had to force her hand. She honestly could not believe she was getting married to such a scoundrel; however, at the next moment, she sighed heavily and calmed her nerves before revealing the thought on her mind.

"Father, I'm pregnant..."

The moment Vetranis heard this, he was dumbfounded. Despite knowing that Berengar had already taken the girl's chastity; he didn't expect her to be pregnant already; as such, he looked at Berengar, who had a shit-eating grin on his face, and back at Honoria, who had a worrisome expression multiple times before breaking out in tears.

"I'm going to be a grandfather!?!"

After saying this, he grabbed ahold of his only daughter and hugged her tightly, which greatly astonished Honoria, she had only been embraced by her father once in her entire life, and that was when she was a young child. The raw emotions on the man's face had even shocked Berengar; he never suspected the Byzantine Emperor to get so emotional about such a thing.

Honoria smiled and nodded her head as she broke away from her father's tight grip, where the man immediately wiped the tears from his eyes and recovered the grace of an Emperor as he did so; he looked back at Berengar with a sudden glimpse of understanding.

"So that's why you set the wedding so close to your original one?"

Berengar chuckled and nodded as he answered the Emperor's question

"Yeah... She's not the only one pregnant, they all are, so I figured what the hell? I might as well have the weddings before it becomes visible. After all, I wouldn't want people to question the legitimacy of our offspring."

Vetranis shook his head and smiled as he complimented Berengar for the first time since they had initially met.

"I truly envy your youth..."

In response to this, Berengar chuckled once more before cracking a snarky remark.

"Want to change places?"

The moment he said this, the Emperor broke out in laughter, and Honoria glared at Berengar with a murderous gaze; as such, Berengar wrapped his arm around her once more and kissed the young princess on the cheek before making a snarky comment.

"Come on, babe, don't stare at me like that; it was a joke!"

Despite his justification for the inappropriate comment, Honoria continued to pout, and as such, Vetranis sighed heavily before commenting on their relationship.

"I can tell that you two have a great relationship; I look forward to what comes of it!"

In response to this, Berengar raised his chalice in the air with a smirk on his face as a pseudo-toast before taking another sip of the fortified wine contained within. Thus he spent the remainder of the day with Honoria and her father, getting to know the man that would soon be his father-in-law. As for how the rest of Honoria's family interacted with Berengar, that is a tale for another time. 

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