Tyranny of Steel

The two men entered the Dining Hall of Berengar's Castle, where they quickly sat down for breakfast. Berengar fully intended to display his Counties culinary arts and thus had ordered a variety of dishes, both breakfast, and dinner to be brought to the table.

Since Evio was an Italian, Bernegar knew he most likely wanted wine, so he brought forth a fortified wine that he had developed. It used the local wine production as a basis and added distilled liquor to it. The man instantly tasted the alcohol and nearly jumped with delight; it was intense but had excellent flavor and was unlike any wine he had encountered before.

Evio immediately asked about the wine.

"What is this? I have never had such a wine before?"

Berengar chuckled lightly before briefly explaining the origin of the wine.

"I don't have a name for it yet, but it is a specialty we make in Southern Tyrol. I enjoy the taste."

The man instantly frowned; as a wine connoisseur, he wanted more details about its production, but Berengar was unwilling to share such secrets. Instead, he used it as further enticement to draw the man over to his side.

"If you work for me, you can drink as much of this as your heart desires!"

Evio's amber eyes flashed when he heard this, and he began to stroke his brown beard. The man was in his early thirties and had spent his life building ships, like his forefathers. He was exceptionally talented at it. However, it would take more than just good wine to convince him to work for Berengar, and thus he immediately put on a slick demeanor.

"Bah, it will take more than good wine to convince me to work for you!"

Hearing this, Berengar merely smiled especially when he saw the first round of dishes being brought out, as he replied to the man with a smug expression on his face.

"I think you will soon enough realize the benefits of working for me; for now, let us enjoy the meal in front of us."

On the table were a group of appetizers, different kinds of bread, cheeses, and sausage platters were laid out for the man to partake of and which each bite Berengar could see the light of excitement glimmer in his eyes. Despite his initial reservations, he quickly began to compliment Berengar for his hospitality.

"For a bunch of Germans, your people know how to cook very well..."

Berengar chuckled upon hearing this and accepted the man's compliment.

"Well, thank you, my chefs work hard every day to provide the best meals for me, my family, and my guests to dine upon. Such cuisine is slowly starting to spread across the rest of Austria."

Hearing this news, Evio started to desire to work for Berengar more and more, but he quickly pressed the concern to the back of his mind; it would take more than good wine and food to convince him to work for a man. Thus he quickly brought up the matter of compensation as the next round of food was brought out.

"Though I admit the food and wine you have presented is of excellent quality, I am more concerned with two things that will determine whether or not I settle in Austria and work for you. Compensation, but more importantly, these so-called ships of the line you spoke about with such passion in your letters!"

Seeing that the man was rather impatient in discussing business, Berengar decided he might as well get it over with and began to negotiate with the man. Berengar was bold, and he needed a competent shipbuilder who could construct his Navy for many years to come; as such, he let out an offer that nearly made the man's eyes jump out of his sockets.

"I will double what the Venetians are paying you and give you a noble title. With a sizeable estate in any region of Austria that you desire. As for my ship design, once we are finished with the meal, I will gladly show you what I have been working on..."

The Venetians were paying the man a large sum, and Berengar knew it; his spies had infiltrated the Venetian republic to find out about this information. However, with all of his current enterprises, and the new one he had recently established, he could afford such an expense.

After all the cost of building his Navy itself was going to be an astronomical figure, he might as well pay a hefty price for a competent underling. Of course, when Ezio heard this, he nearly choked on the piece of schnitzel he was eating from.

Not only would he be presented with a large sum of money, but also a noble title, and an Estate, this was too good of an offer to pass up. Yet, even this did not fully sway the man; most importantly, he would have to look at the ship designs that Berengar had prepared. Thus he quickly finished his meal, to the point where Berengar still had half a plate left.

Nevertheless, seeing how impatient they were to see his ship designs, Berengar sighed before standing up and wiping his mouth with his napkin. After doing so, he began to convey his thoughts to Evio.

"If you would follow me, I would be more than happy to show you the design I have come up with for the first and largest class of ships I intend to build. Hearing the term largest got the man's hopes up. If it were anything bigger than the Carracks he had been building, he would greatly enjoy his new work."

With that, the two men left the Dining Room and entered Berengar's Study, where he showed the blueprint to Evio. The moment the man saw such a monumental ship, he scoffed, however before he could express his thoughts that Berengar was out of his mind, he once more looked it over and noticed that shockingly such a ship could feasibly be built! It would need a massive and dedicated shipyard and take years to construct, but it could be done.

The ship was titled, SMS Linde. The SMS stood for the German Spelling of "His Majesty's Ship." The man could not believe his eyes and stood still and in awe for several moments, going over every detail of the complex set of schematics. It was only after an hour of the intense study had passed that the man put down the blueprints and snapped his attention over to Berengar, who was staring at him with a smug grin the entire time.

"When do we get started?"

Berengar's smile increased when he heard this, and he began to inform the man of the process.

"It will take roughly a year to construct the shipyard I have in mind; the first of these shipyards will be built in Trieste, others will follow in Pola and Fiume. During the time it takes to build these shipyards, I will be mass-producing pre-manufactured parts so that once the shipyards are completed, we can immediately use an assembly line to construct the ships in a rapid process."

Hearing this, Evio was excited; he could see that Berengar's shipyards would soon be able to produce many of these ships in quick succession if he planned to come to fruition. Despite only looking at one ship's design and overhearing Berengar's plans for the future, the man was wise enough to know that Austria would quickly become the premier maritime power in the world within a decade.

The idea that he would be the one to usher in such a sudden change to the world's power structure brought tingles to the man's spine. He was excited just thinking about it. He quickly reached out his hand and said to Berengar with a joyful expression on his face.

"I look forward to it! I will move to Trieste as soon as I am able and help oversee the construction of the shipyards. Rest assured, your vision for a Grand Austrian Navy will become a reality in just a few years!"

Hearing this, Berengar was filled with excitement; he had taken the first step into establishing himself as a major Naval Power. He could already envision the vast fleets of his future German Empire dominating the world's major trade routes and destroying any enemy foolish enough to try to block his path to world hegemony.

As such, he quickly latched onto the man's hand and shook it fervently with an equally joyous smile on his face. He could tell this would be a lucrative partnership and was glad to have another capable subordinate under his area of influence.

Despite making such a monumental decision on behalf of the Duchy of Austria, Conrad was left utterly unaware that Berengar intended to build a massive fleet and challenge the Venetians, Genoans, and other Mediterranean powers for maritime dominance.

If the boy had known, he would have thrown a tantrum, believing Berengar to be foolish, for how could they possibly construct a powerful enough Navy in such a short period to counter the principal naval powers of the world?

Luckily for Berengar, he was smart enough to keep the young Duke out of the loop. As Regent of Austria, he had full authority to enact these laws while Conrad remained a child. Luckily for Austria, Conrad had no authority, or else the boy would undoubtedly lead them to ruin.