Tyranny of Steel

Berengar returned home as quickly as he had left. His journey was one of mixed results. While he had learned of Odin's location, and when to meet with him. He had also somehow managed to severely piss off the goddess Freyja, who might have just become an eternal enemy of his.

Perhaps she would get over his rather brutal rejection of her offer in time, but in his experience, women, especially the most beautiful among them, tended to hold on to their petty grudges until death.

When Berengar finally entered his Palace, Linde was there waiting for him. She was not smiling. In fact, she appeared to be in a rather foul mood. Perhaps she did not trust Berengar to restrain himself around a literal goddess of beauty. However, before the man could defend himself, Linde merely asked him a single word.

"Well?"

Though it was just one word, it was enough for Berengar to feel the killing intent behind it. As if she were threatening to seriously harm him if he had broken his promise to her. Berengar merely chuckled at the petty jealousy which was exuding from Linde's heavenly figure, and instead approached her with a smile on her face, before wrapping his arms around the woman and kissing her passionately.

This startled Linde, who was not expecting such an intimate response, and while she was being kissed, she tried to work out in her head just what this meant. Was this the act of a guilty man, or a loyal husband who had returned from the trap of a temptress unharmed? Ultimately, Berengar's whisper into her ears confirmed this to be the latter.

"You should trust your master more..."

Linde merely blushed in embarassment and looked away in shame. She had nothing to say, but the thought of her man getting it on with an actual goddess filled her with rage, especially one who was shameful enough to take her appearance. Knowing that her man had resisted such an immense temptation filled the redheaded beauty's heart with pride.

As the director of Intelligence, Linde's mind quickly came back to important matters regarding his meeting with the goddess, and thus all of her shame, envy, and embarassment flooded away, and was instead replaced with strict professionalism. Albeit still with a hint of spite in her words.

"So tell me, what did the harlot want?"

Berengar scoffed when he heard this. He knew the answer would outrage Linde even more, but he decided to be honest with her. He had never hid things from the woman in the entire time they had been together, and he would be damned if he started to do so now.

"She had two things to tell me. One is that Odin is waiting for me in Iceland, and two, apparently the Gods, or at least her pantheon, have decided they want me to sire a demigod. It would seem that Freyja was the one chosen to do so.

However, before you get all pissed off, just know that I rejected her. It nearly costed me my life, but I remain unsullied. Still, I've got to admit, I was quite tempted. Though I may have gone too far in my rejection and earned Freyja's ire by mistake...."

Linde's heart was immediately filled with a variety of complex emotions, enraged that Freyja wanted her man's precious seed, concerned for Berengar's safety, and curious about just what he had said to piss off the Goddess to the point where she nearly killed him. Ultimately, she could not help but ask this last question.

"What exactly did you say to her?"

Berengar smiled as he dragged Linde through the hallways, and to a more secluded spot in his office, all while explaining what he had said.

"I told her she was inferior to you in every way, and that if the gods insisted on me breeding with one of their goddesses, it would have to be someone like Nerthus. Apparently, she did not take either of those two things well. If not for Odin's interference, I would certainly be a dead man right now...."

Linde was deeply shocked that Berengar had gone so far in his rejection. A simple no would have sufficed. Either the man had a death wish, or he was a goddamned fool. On the one hand, she was filled with joy, knowing that her man thought so highly of her. However, she was consumed with envy at the mention of Nerthus. Which was what her next question was about.

"You're not actually going to go through with it, are you?"

Berengar smiled when he heard this and brought Linde into his lap as he sat down at his desk. He stroked the woman's silky strawberry blonde hair, before confirming that if the gods did present such a gift to him, he would not reject it.

"Who am I, a mortal man, to reject the will of the Gods? I'm sure the birth of a demigod into their pantheon must be some way for them to ensure their continued survival. It's the least I can do to pay back all the goodwill they have shown me. After all, without the aid of Odin, I would not have ever entered into this world, where I was able to meet the love of my life.

The only reason I rejected Freyja was because she had made the foolish decision of taking your appearance. And also because I had promised you that I wouldn't have sex with her."

Linde merely pouted when she heard these words. After all these years, she could still behave so childishly. However, Berengar enjoyed that aspect of her character. It took some time, but in the end, Linde sighed heavily before revealing her thoughts on the matter.

"Very well, since you owe the gods a debt, you must repay it. However, I don't want her in your harem. This has to be a onetime thing!"

Berengar chuckled when he heard this, before petting Linde's hair softly. He kissed her on the lips once more before whispering something in her ear that made her blush again.

"Are you so worried that a little divine pussy is all it will take to sway my favor away from you? You should know by now that you're my soulmate, so why are you acting so jealous all of a sudden?"

Linde had no response to this remark and merely rested her head on her husband's shoulder. She deeply enjoyed being called the word 'soulmate' by her man. It was a term he had never uttered to any of his women before, and she knew that out of all of them, it was a title only she could have.

Though Berengar loved all of his women with all his heart, there was only one woman who his soul belonged to, and that was Linde. The redheaded beauty had known this for some time, but had never heard it from her man's lips before. Thus, at this moment, she genuinely no longer cared if Berengar hooked up with a goddess or not.

After calming down his wife's wrath, Berengar was quick to ask about more important matters, things he desperately wanted to know about during his brief journey to the black forest.

"So how goes the war in India?"

It was only after hearing these words that Linde snapped out of her daze and regained her professionalism.

"Better than we had anticipated. Within less than thirty minutes, the Bengal Army crumbled beneath the might of our forces. Emperor Asha fled the scene, abandoning his army to their fate. He was later captured by our Jagdkommandos and is currently being transported back to Anangpur to await his trial.

As you had expected, the use of methamphetamines in the field greatly increased the performance of the Anangpur soldiers. Now all that's left is to study their addiction rates, and come up with a comprehensive treatment for our own soldiers.

I estimate the war will end within a month. All we need to do is allow Dharya's forces to occupy the rest of India, and make one final assault on the Bengal Empire. Though their Emperor is captured, there are still troops in their home territory which need to be eliminated.

As far as the Japanese are concerned, they have yet to realize that their advisors were assassinated, or the crimes that Asha's troops committed in Devagiri. We might even be able to take over the entire subcontinent before that albino bitch realizes that her proxy has been utterly defeated."

Berengar was not entirely surprised that the war was already over, or at least in any meaningful capacity. He had invented a combat doctrine that even a true peer would find difficult to overcome. By combining the advantages of German Blitzkreig at a tactical level with the Soviet Deep Battle doctrine at a strategic level and organizing his troops in a manner similar to the late WW2 US armored warfare doctrine he doubted anyone in this world would be able to defeat his military. Let alone a second-rate power whose army was operating at a technological level on par with the Victorian era.

Thus, all the man could do was smile and nod as he made a simple statement about the grand scheme of this world's affairs.

"Good... Everything is going according to the plan..."