Chapter 206: Dinner With the Strategos of Ionia (1/2)

Since the signing of the treaty a few weeks had passed and Berengar had returned to Tyrol, Eckhard and the others were notified of the treaty and halted their advance into Upper Austria; In contrast, Berengar returned home, Eckhard would remain within the region with a small army of 5,000 men to ensure the peaceful withdrawal of the Bavarians. As for the rest of the soldiers, they too returned with Berengar back to their homes.

Though Vienna had been secured, Berengar had no plans to move into the city and oversee Conrad. Thus he had made a decree temporarily shifting the capital of Austria from Vienna to Kufstein; his justification for doing so was that Vienna had been extensively damaged during the war and would need time to repair itself before it could function as the capital of Austria.

For the time being, Conrad stayed in Kufstein, under the constant control of Berengar; with each passing day, the boy Duke became more of a puppet. He had no backers, while Berengar was considered the man who liberated Austria from Bavarian occupation and thus had gained many supporters among the nobility of the Duchy.

Everyone knew that Berengar was the proper authority in the region, yet few dared to oppose him despite that. They had grown to fear his military might and the extent to which his spy network had infiltrated every corner of the Duchy. Nobody was safe from Berengar's reach within the confines of Austria.

Berengar had begun his transition of power from Count to Duke. However, it would still take several years to accomplish this fully; thus, at the moment, he was preoccupied with other concerns, such as entertaining his guests from the Byzantine Empire.

Strategos Arethas Maniakes had opted to visit Kufstein once more now that Austria was safe to travel to and thus was sitting at Berengar's dinner table, where Berengar, Linde, Conrad, and Henrietta were eating alongside the nobleman from the East.

Arethas had important business to discuss with Berengar, especially considering the Emperor had tasked him to inquire about the procurement of firearms.  As such, he attempted to broach the subject over a fine meal after Berengar had consumed a few chalices worth of beer.

Berengar was interested in small talk at the start of the conversation and thus casually asked about the Emperor and his current condition.

”So Arethas, my friend, how is the Emperor doing?”

Arethas thoroughly enjoyed the food on his plate, as he thought about the answer, eventually after washing down the pichelsteiner that he had as a side to his pork schnitzel, and spaetzle with a strong lager, the man opened up about some details revolving around the Emperor.

”The Emperor is a little bit stressed currently, but aside from that, he is good.”

Hearing that the Emperor was stressed piqued Berengar's natural curiosity, and thus he continued on this line of dialogue.

”Why is the Emperor stressed? Is it anything serious?”

Hearing the concern in Berengar's voice, Arethas quickly dashed any thoughts of turmoil that Berengar might be having about the Emperor's life and promptly revealed the well-known secret.

”Oh, it is nothing substantial; his daughter Princess Honoria is just being a hassle again. Her father had engaged her to the Crown Prince of France, and she has no interest in marrying the man. In her own words, she refers to him as an effeminate homosexual who is completely lacking in ambition. Thus, she feels like Aubry de Valois is among the worst available out of all the matches that could be made. However, she truly has herself to blame, her father has tried setting her up with over a dozen matches before this, and she has refused them all.”

Hearing this, Berengar began to chuckle to himself; he made a snarky comment about the French Prince as he did so.

”Why am I not surprised?”

hearing this, Arethas was confused and thus questioned Berengar's comment.

”Why are you not surprised about what?”

Feeling that he had caused a misunderstanding, Berengar decided to clarify himself after drinking from his skull chalice.

”I just find it fitting that the Crown Prince of France is an effeminate homosexual, is all...”

Hearing Berengar's words, Linde immediately broke out into laughter. Even in this era, or should one say especially in this era, the intense grudge bore between Germans and Frenchmen was no laughing matter. Thus Berengar took the opportunity to make fun of Crown Prince when the opportunity was presented to him.

Conrad, on the other hand, was scowling. Not once had the important nobleman from the East bothered to talk to him or even acknowledge him despite being the Duke. The young boy struggled to contain his inner fury as Berengar and Arethas chatted as if they were men of equal standing.

Henrietta was confused, as she was too innocent to know what an effeminate homosexual was, and thus did not understand Berengar's snide remarks. Therefore she merely focused on eating her meal, like the adorable little loli she was.

When Arethas heard Berengar's remarks, he also found it quite funny, as he was well aware of the stereotype that the Germans thought of when it came to the French. Thus he made a joke of his own.