Tyranny of Steel

By the time Agnellus arrived at the Castle, Berengar and the others were long since finished with the meal and had been making small talk. At the moment, Berengar was sipping tea out of a porcelain teacup that his ceramics industry had created. It was painted with the depiction of the battle at Oberstdorf.

Berengar commonly sold porcelain tea sets that depicted his various deeds, inspired by the old greek vases that showed the legends and myths of their mythology. They were pretty popular among the nobility of Austria due to their high quality and visually appealing aesthetics.

Agnellus was out of breath when he walked in and saw Honoria with a broad smile on her face carelessly chatting away with the Duke of Austria. He had spent the last hour or so searching all over the place for her, only for the town guards to grab him and escort him to the Castle without explanation. As such, he quickly called out to her.

"Lady Valeria, you had me worried sick!"

The man had become accustomed to calling the Princess by her alter ego for some time now and had no trouble doing so. Berengar was not surprised by this in the slightest and merely had his servants open up a place at the table for Agnellus.

"Agnellus, I presume? You must be starving, sit, and I will have some food brought to you as we dine on dessert."

Seeing that the Princess was safe and sound while appearing to get along quite well with the target of her affections, the worry that had built up in Agnellus' heart began to subside. As such, he did as he was instructed and sat down at the table, where a chalice of wine was quickly poured for him.

Only after the man had taken a sip from the chalice did Berengar begin to address business concerns.

"I have heard from Lady Valeria that you are the one in charge of business matters; I am quite curious what is your relationship with the young Lady?"

Agnellus looked over at Honoria and slowly examined her for a moment; he was unaware of what she had said about him towards Berengar, so he decided to play it safe and answer vaguely.

"Your Grace, I am just a humble servant who has a mind for business. The Lady wanted to visit you personally as a show of good faith, and thus I brought her here."

Berengar nodded his head at the man, though behind his warm facade, he was slowly examining Honoria's reaction to his statement. As such, he decided to continue the conversation.

"So tell me, what exactly is your proposal to get involved with my jewelry business."

Hearing that Bernegar had shifted onto the topic of he had been waiting or, a broad smile appeared across Agnellus' face as he made his proposal.

"I can ferry your fine jewelry to a new market throughout the Empire; for this, I would like to split the profits gained from the trade fifty-fifty."

Hearing this, a sly smile formed across Berengar's lips as he began to make a counteroffer.

"If it is merely ferrying my goods to the East and selling them, I believe a fifty-fifty split is a bit unfair for me. After all, I have to incur the costs of acquiring the materials and paying for the labor of the jewelry's construction. Before long, I will have a trade fleet of my own that is capable of sailing across the Mediterranean; tell me why would I need you?"

To this, Agnellus was not discouraged. Instead, he presented his reasoning

"If you wish to trade in the Empire as a foreigner, you will have to pay tariffs. You will also have to go through weaving a trade network in the East from scratch. With me, you can bypass the tariffs and make use of my extensive trade routes that cover the entirety of the Empire!"

After hearing this, Berengar thought about it for a few moments. Tariffs would be a minor problem but trying to access the Empire's trade networks as a foreigner, especially as a German, was not the simplest of tasks.

After all, there was still some prejudice in the Empire towards his kind for destroying the Western Empire centuries ago and claiming to be the legitimate successors of Rome in the form of the Holy Roman Empire.

After careful consideration, Berengar decided to negotiate further

"I will agree that you make a persuasive argument, but fifty-fifty is out of the question, As the producer of the supplies, I will take a seventy-five percent cut, and you will take twenty-five."

Despite the massive profit this could yield for both parties, Agnellus was not content with such terms, and thus he counteroffered with a more balanced offer.

"sixty-forty, that is as low as I can go. I still have to grease the palms of imperial officials to avoid the importation tariff."

Berengar found this acceptable and nodded his head with a smile on his face before reaching out his hands to accept the terms.

"Very well, sixty-forty it is; I will have a contract drafted where we will both sign. Seeing as we both have a witness, you do not have a problem with such a thing, do you?"

Agnellus smiled amicably at the terms Berengar presented and responded to his question.

"Not at all; it sounds fair to me."

At this moment, another thought appeared in his mind, and it pertained to the girl sitting next to him. Thus he quickly hatched another scheme as he made one more request of Berengar.

"By the way, could you help me out with a situation I am in?"

Hearing this, Berengar frowned; he could tell exactly where this was heading, and as such, carefully eyed Honoria with his peripheral vision before responding to Agnellus.

"It would entirely depend on what is requested of me."

Seeing Berengar's expression and tone shift, Agnellus knew to pawn the girl off onto him would be an uphill battle, but he had to do so for Honoria's sake. Thus he mustered the courage to make his demands to the mighty Duke sitting in front of him.

"The Lady Valeria's home life is somewhat volatile at the moment, and for her safety, I would like her to stay here in Kufstein under your protection far from the troubles in the East. Do you think you can keep her here for the time being as a representative of my interests?"

Hearing this, Linde began to scowl, which did not go unnoticed by Honoria. Since her arrival, Linde had been feuding with the runaway Princess over her attempts to get close to Berengar, and Berengar had maintained his distance because of this. Thus Honoria was worried Berengar would send her away; if he did so, she did not have a backup plan.

Berengar was a wise man and immediately pointed out the flaw in Agnellus's request with a snide remark.

"But Agnellus, you stated earlier that you were a mere servant of the Lady Valeria, what gives you the right to appoint a noblewoman such as herself as your representative?"

Hearing Berengar's response Agnellus knew he had overplayed his hand and had to think of an excuse quickly. As such, he made up a lie on the spot hoping Berengar would buy it.

"The truth is that I hold a fairly prestigious position within the Zonara household, and I do have the authority to negotiate such a thing. What do you say? You would be doing me a solid, and in return, I can go sixty-five - thirty-five."

Agnellus lamented the loss he would be taking in profits, but at this point, he had grown too attached to Honoria to allow her to roam the streets of the world like a wayward vagabond. Thus he was willing to take a loss to ensure her safety.

After all, Berengar seemed like he was fully capable of protecting the Princess. Agnellus could see he was interested in Honoria despite the Duke's hesitation, which was a good sign. Thus he felt like she would be safe in Kufstein and was willing to take a minor cut to ensure the girl's security. Melissa would never forgive him if he put profits over the Princess's safety.

Berengar sighed heavily as he took a sip from his tea. After a long period of silence, he made his decision known.

"Fine... If it is just keeping her safe for a while, I don't see why not. Especially since you are kind enough to increase my share in return."

The moment Berengar said this, Honoria was delighted and filled with excitement, while Linde stared at Berengar with a scornful expression. There were two reasons for this, one she did not yet approve of Honoria as a candidate for one of Berengar's wives. After all, there was a high possibility the girl was lying about her identity and thus could not be trusted.

Secondly, if she was really who Linde and Berengar suspected her to be, Berengar was bringing trouble upon their doorstep if he accepted this girl into his care. This was what worried Linde the most. Berengar may be powerful, but to contend with the Byzantine Empire was not something he was fully capable of at this moment.

Could he defend their borders from a possible Byzantine incursion? Quite likely, but the Byzantine navy could make trade exceptionally difficult with Austria, and in doing so, stagnate their economy. Such an outcome would be disastrous for Berengar's restoration efforts.

Berengar could not deploy his troops to the Mediterranean, and thus what was most likely to occur was a complete blockade on Austrian ports in Istria. Of course, this was the worst-case scenario and entirely depended on if the Byzantines found out about Honoria's location and decided to blame Berengar for her disappearance.

To Berengar, on the other hand, he was much more worried about sending the girl away without protection. If she was truly princess Honoria and he dismissed her from his care, and some harm came to her. When the Byzantines found out about such an event, they could blame him for the incident. Thus he decided to keep her under his protection until he could verify her identity.

If she turned out to be the Princess of the Byzantine Empire, he would contact Arethas, informing him of the Princess's location, and tell him to bring a caravan to escort the Princess back home.

Thus, while Honoria was happy she found a place to stay, Berengar was already scheming to find out her real identity and how to defuse the timebomb that her arrival had potentially become.

After agreeing to Agnellus' terms, the man smiled and thanked Berengar from the bottom of his heart.

"You have my eternal gratitude, your Grace!"

Berengar put on a friendly smile and nodded. With this, business was concluded, and for the time being, Honoria was allowed to stay within the Castle of Kufstein.