Tyranny of Steel

For the last three days, and nights Berengar had been locked away in his study. So much so that the only thing he had to consume was tea. Considering he could not easily get his hands on coffee, he was left with tea to stimulate his mind and keep him from falling asleep.

Yet, now after all his hard work, it had finally paid off. Sitting before him on his desk was a comprehensive schematic for a large first-rate ship of the line. It was a massive beast, that had a total of three decks, and could house a total of 130 cannons on it. Each cannon would be a new class of naval artillery, and that would be the 32 lb Cannon.

The ship itself was basically a carbon copy of the USS Pennsylvania with some small changes to it. Due to a lack of the material known as sisal that only grew in the new world. Berengar had to improvise and replace the sails and ropes with hemp.

As for the shell of the ship itself, it was covered in a thin sheet of Zinc. Not as an armored layer, but to protect the ship from wood-eating parasites that dwelled within the ocean. The reason for this was simple, it would save on maintenance costs, and ensure the longevity of the vessels that were built.

How Berengar knew of these designs? Well, that could be explained by his brief visit to the US Naval academy in his previous life. He was visiting a friend during vacation, well more like an acquaintance.

Berengar did not have many friends in his previous life, but he had plenty of acquaintances. This acquaintance had grown up on the same street as Berengar or Julian as he was known then. Eventually, they both joined the military, Julian had joined the Army, and this acquaintance whose name was Derek had joined the Navy.

During one summer break, Julian was invited out to the Naval Academy by Derek to spend some time with him, his stay only lasted a week, but during this time he spent it almost exclusively in the library studying the history of shipbuilding in the vast archives.

What started out as a friendly invitation, quickly turned into a week of extensive study, as Derek decided to go partying during this time period, and Julian was not exactly the most skilled wing-man, thus like most times, he hung out with other people he was quickly abandoned to his own devices. Not desiring to endure the humiliation of being alone at a party, he opted to stay in the library and study for his stay at the Naval Academy.

Apparently, that experience that Berengar frowned upon became a blessing in disguise because it provided him with the knowledge on how to build ships from a variety of eras. Berengar planned to draft two classes of ships for his future navy, the first of which was the monumental 130 guns first-rate ship of the line that he referred to as the Linde-Class.

The reason for him naming it this was simply because Berengar was a man of culture. He decided to name his ship classes after his two women, and of course the first of each class would be named after them as well. The reason for making the bigger ship named after Linde instead of Adela who was his future wife ultimately came down to the disparity in bust size between the two girls.

Even if Adela's family were fairly busty, he somehow had a nagging suspicion that Adela would have a B-cup-sized chest at best that when compared to Linde's D-Cup-sized breasts, the answer was obvious as to which ship should be named after which girl.

Eventually, Berengar heard a knock on the door after admiring his blueprints, and he quickly answered with a casual phrase.

"It is open."

With that said Linde walked into the room, and noticed that Berengar's usual charming appearance looked exhausted, he had deep bags under his eyes that showed he had been awake for some time. Though she knew he was working on something important and was currently undergoing about of inspiration and thus she did not intervene in his 72-hour marathon of drafting blueprints.

The young beauty quickly approached the desk where Berengar was seated gazing passionately at the schematics with a large smile on his face. Thus she quickly asked about the designs as she tried to sneak a peak.

"What is this? Linde-Class Ship of the Line? Oh, darling! You are naming a ship after me?"

Linde was so happy she quickly grabbed ahold of Berengar and stuffed his face into her perfectly shaped D-cup breasts. The softness of the feeling made Berengar want to sleep, yet he still had to add the finishing touches to his project, as such he forced himself to stay awake.

He was too tired to voice his thoughts properly thus he just nodded his head slowly and released the sound

"mhmm"

Seeing that her man was so tired Linde instantly began to pout before dragging him from his seat, he had been up far too long and was in no state to continue working, though Berengar attempted to resist he was much too weary to do so and thus found himself quickly being dragged out of his study and towards his bedroom where Linde chastised him.

"Though I am happy you named such a magnificent ship after me, I am more furious that you put your health at risk! You seriously needed to get some rest. You can finish the project later!"

She knew Berengar well enough to know what he was thinking at this moment, and thus she forced him to get some sleep. As such Linde stripped herself, and Berengar and climbed into bed with him, before resting his head on her naked lap while she sat up in the bed, against the fluffy feather pillows. Berengar fell asleep to the sensation of Linde's soft thighs, and the sigh of two mountains hovering over his head. The last thought on his mind before drifting into unconsciousness was as follows.

"Life is good!"

Berengar slept for a total of twenty-one hours, and when he awoke he was in the same position he had fallen asleep, and Linde was staring down at him with a warm smile. He did not know how long he had slept for and thus casually asked after yawning heavily and wiping his eyes.

"How long was I out for?"

Linde pondered about it for a few moments while placing one of her dainty fingers on her luscious lips before smile and responding to him.

"About twenty-one hours?"

Berengar was shocked by this figure, it had been a while since he pulled such a long streak of staying awake, but he was more shocked that he woke up in the same position. As such he asked the second question on his mind

"You stayed here the whole time?"

Hearing this Linde giggled lightly before stroking Berengar's golden hair.

"No silly, Unlike a certain someone I don't have the luxury to sleep for twenty-one hours straight. I got back into bed about an hour ago..."

Hearing this Berengar smiled before nuzzling his head against Linde's thighs, the soft, sensation was far better than Adela's slender legs, though he would never say that to Adela's face. Seeing that Berengar was about to fall back to sleep Linde decided to reveal some important news to garner his attention.

"By the way... Did you request a shipbuilder from Venice? He arrived something like twelve hours ago, saying that the Count of Tyrol requested his presence. I told him you were sleeping and to wait, but he is growing rather impatient."

Hearing this Berengar's eyes immediately snapped open and he began to groan.

"Ugghh! Fine I will get up!"

With that said he slowly rose from Linde's lap and got out of bed where Linde helped him get dressed, after doing so she put on her own attire. Now that the two were fully upright for the day Berengar walked into his great hall where the shipbuilder known as Evio Azzopardi was waiting rather impatiently for his arrival.

The man was striding around the room with a scowl on his face, and when he noticed Berengar's arrival he instantly began to shout at him.

"Do you have any idea how long I have been waiting? Who do you think you are to make me the great Evio Azzopardi wait for so long?"

Evio was not only a shipbuilder, but he was one of the best in Venice, however, he was not loyal to the City or its republic, he simply desired to build the greatest ships, and get paid a great sum to do so.

Berengar had enticed the man by claiming he had designed a new vessel, one that was greater than anything the Venetian Republic had at its disposal and offered a great deal of gold for the man to come work for him, and build his fleet in the Adriatic sea.

Seeing the man so visibly upset Berengar put on a graceful facade and apologized profusely to the man.

"My sincerest apologies for delaying our visit for so long. I had spent a total of three days and three nights ensuring that the schematics to the ship were perfect, and as such when I finally got some rest, I slept for a long time. You must be weary from your travels, come join me at my dining table and we will discuss the details of our cooperation."

Hearing that he was going to get a free meal out of this debacle greatly lessened Evio's wrath, and thus he accepted Berengar's invitation. It would be nice to see what kind of cuisine the man from a backward region like Tyrol could offer him. Thus the two left the great hall and headed towards the dining room. Where they would have a long discussion about the possibility of building a Grand Navy for Berengar in the coming years.