Tyranny of Steel-Chapter 28: Cave In

By the time dawn arrived, Berengar was already awake and hard at work overseeing the mines' construction. He acted like a true overseer as he issued orders left and right. If one way within the vicinity, he could feel the ground shaking and the sounds of explosions as he commanded the workforce he brought with him to blast their way through the solid portions of rock with gunpowder caskets. The debris was rapidly cleared, and support beams were put in place to prevent a collapse. This was how Berengar spent the entirety of his time during the initial week after his arrival. He would personally go into the mining shafts to inspect the progress several times a day at regular intervals.

Berengar had personally led these men through the current overhaul of the mines and had championed their cause for better working conditions. As such, he felt as if he was safe among these hard-working men, for in their eyes was a level of genuine respect rarely afforded to someone of Berengar's status by the common people. It was the same gaze the people of Kufstein gave Berengar every time they laid eyes upon him. Berengar felt happy knowing that he had made a positive impact in the people's lives under his family's dominion. He did not think for one second that the people whose lives he had improved would turn on him. After all, who would harm their benefactor?

Ulrich had visited the mines several times throughout the week and was amazed by Berengar's progress. If things continued as planned, Berengar would be able to complete the project in a total of three weeks, which was slightly over his initial projection. Nevertheless, it gave Berengar ample time to prepare for his upcoming engagement ceremony, in which he had personally handed Ulrich his invitation. Everything seemed to be going as planned, that is, until three days after the second week of the project had begun. One afternoon while Berengar was going through one of his regular inspections, he was led rather deeply into the mine by the foreman he had placed in charge. Despite this, he initially did not feel any sense of danger; after all, this man was one of many who had directly benefited from Berengar's labor reformations.

By the time Berengar had reached the end of the mine shaft, he had begun to feel a bit suspicious. He had not encountered any miners for the last three hundred yards aside from the foreman he traveled with. After coming to a volatile section of the mine shaft, the supervisor turned around while holding onto his safety lamp; the bright flame illuminated the eery smile that spread across the man's lips as he mouthed the words.

"Your brother Lambert sends his regards."

As soon as the man said those words, Berengar instantly realized he had been led into a trap. He had been surrounded by allies for far too long and had forgotten a valuable life lesson from his previous life. Greed and avarice will always prevail over good and virtue; as long as the price was right, even the most honorable of men would do the most despicable things. He had no way of knowing it at the time, but this man who under Berengar's guidance had seen his life, and that of his family's vastly improved had been paid an extensive sum by Lambert to lead Berengar to his death. Before Berengar could react, the man sprinted behind him towards the exit; a second after passing him by, a blast went off, collapsing the tunnel upon the young lord, then everything went dark.

Hours passed before Berengar regained consciousness; he was pinned under a giant stone and had difficulty breathing. His body was aching, and he could feel blood dripping from his forehead. There was no light nor sound, only the feeling of pain reverberating throughout his body. Debris filled the air causing the young lord to choke as he cursed himself for being foolish enough to follow the man alone into the mine shaft.

"God fucking dammit! This is what I get for trusting people so easily..."

After venting out his frustration, Berengar attempted to lift the stone that was lying across his chest. The large stone must have weighed 150 pounds, and under the circumstances, he had a hard time lifting it off of his chest. Luckily for him, he had been using his bench press extensively over the past few months and had made significant gains in that time. Through much effort, he could lift the rock off his chest and slide it to the side. Allowing him ample space to breathe.

As the young lord looked around to get his bearings straight, he could see very little; however, a few yards away, he could see the light shining through the cavern, which gave him hope. At least there was fresh air circulating through the cut-off region. Hopefully, the others would notice he was missing and send a rescue party. The biggest problem he currently faced was that he had nothing to drink, which meant if the search party could not find him within three days, then he was destined to die again, and so shortly after, he had reincarnated in this world. That, of course, was assuming that a search party would be sent after him; after all, if the foreman betrayed him, who's to say the others weren't in on it as well. Things were not looking good for Berengar at the moment; as such, he spent the next thirty minutes looking for an escape route. When he found out that he was well and truly trapped, he could only rely on the grace of God for his salvation.

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...

The night after Berengar was trapped in the mineshaft, Lambert opened a letter in his chambers addressed to him by Lord Ulrich von Wildschönau. The contents of the letter were as followed.

"Dear Lambert son of Sieghard von Kufstein and the rightful heir to the Barony of Kufstein. With great pleasure, I inform you that your brother has been trapped within a mineshaft and currently has no means of escape. It will only be a matter of days until you are officially recognized as the heir to your family's lands. I congratulate you early on succeeding your father and gaining the title Baron of Kufstein. I will make sure to be at your wedding in the coming months. I trust you know what to do with this letter after you have finished reading it.

Sincerly, Ulrich von Wildschönau"

After reading the letter, Lambert lit a candle and was about to set it ablaze when Linde walked through the door to his bed-chamber; seeing what the young boy was about to do; she felt as if something had gone terribly wrong and immediately inquired about the details of his latest scheme.

"Is that a letter from my father?"

Lambert pulled the letter away from the flame and handed it over to Linde with a deeply satisfied smile spread across his lips.

"Better, it is a letter from the Lord of Wildschönau informing me that has taken care of our little problem."

Linde hardly listened to Lambert's little narration as she studied the contents of the letter. When she read about Berengar's precarious situation, she could not prevent herself from breaking into tears, which Lambert immediately noticed. Confused, and suspicious Lambert got up and grabbed approached his fiancee with a concerned facade.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?"

Finally noticing that she was choking back tears with her free hand over her mouth, Lind began to wipe the tears from her eyes and did her best to reclaim her calmness, despite the wavering of her heart.

"Yes... Of course, these are tears of joy. We are one step closer to our goal!"

Lambert though initially suspicious, ended up believing the heavenly beauties act. However, before he could further advance their relationship, she tossed the letter and pushed Lambert aside.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to write to my father about our success."

With that said, Linde rushed out the door; it was only after she was out of sight that she began to break out into tears, which crashed down around her as she ran to the only person she knew who could save Berengar, if he was still alive that was.

...

Ludwig stood in his shop, operating the trip hammer as he pounded an ingot of high carbon steel into the form of a sword. Though it had been many years since he last built a sword, it was something he would never forget how to do. The masterpiece's design he was working on was referred to in Berengar's many records as a side sword. A design that would usually not be made for the next hundred years, yet due to the many projects Berengar had spent time designing existed solely in the form of blueprints until now. Initially, when Berengar was started learning swordplay, he wanted a proper sword designed for himself. Though he later scratched the idea, the designs still existed within the confines of the old engineer's shop.

Ludwig and his team of smiths, engineers, and metalworkers had all banded together to create a wedding present for Berengar; though it was years away, they rarely had downtime, so after hours, they would spend a little bit of time each day working on their masterpiece to present the young Lord as a token of their appreciation for everything he had done in their lives. Here in Kufstein, Lambert had no allies among the common population, and the level of respect they had for Berengar was beyond the means of simple bribery.

Everything was calm and quiet on this evening, and only Ludwig was currently still in the shop working on the design of the production of the exquisite sword. Just for Berengar, he had made the weapon out of crucible steel; due to Berengar's innovations, he created a small crucible furnace solely for the production of fine crucible steel to be used in presentation grade swords. Crucible steel was not common in European countries in either timeline but was largely used by eastern civilizations. The variations of which had different names, such as Damascus or wootz steel. Berengar had always mentioned how beautiful crucible steel swords were and had much desired one for himself, even though he felt the sword would soon become largely ceremonial.

While Ludwig was in the process of creating the sword blade, he heard the doors to his shop swing open and immediately looked up at the disturbance. Linde, the heavenly beauty, Lambert's fiancee, was standing in the doorway with tears streaming down her face and a nervous expression as she shouted at Ludwig in a pleading tone.

"You have to help him! You have to save Berengar!"

This perplexed Ludwig, as the man had heard on several occasions when drinking with Berengar that there was a cabal of nobles conspiring against him to remove him from his inheritance, and it was all lead by Lambert. He could not understand why Lambert's fiancee would say such a thing and was immediately suspicious. He instantly stopped what he was doing and back away from the girl who had a crazy expression in her eyes.

"Help him how? Save him from what?"

Linde struggled to find the words to say and tried to calm herself down. After several seconds she was able to articulate her thoughts properly.

"Lambert, he got the Lord of Wildschönau to collapse the mines on top of him; he might be dead already..."

Ludwig could see the genuine look of concern on the beautiful girl's face and was deeply confused by this. He accidentally let his thoughts slip through his tongue.

"You're Lambert's fiancee; why do you want to save Berengar?"

Linde instantly became aware that Ludwig knew about her fiancee's intent to assassinate Berengar and could not come up with an excuse for her actions. As she stared at the old man who was waiting patiently for her answer, she had no choice but to tell the truth; after all, Ludwig was Berengar's dear friend and could be trusted, right?

"Because... because I love him!"

Ludwig heard this and could not help but mumble beneath his breath

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"Fucking Nobles..."

However, he could tell from the look on her doll-like face that she was telling the truth, and as such, he sighed heavily.

"Alright, I'll go gather the boys. If he's still alive, we'll save him; if not... well, let's not think about that."

With that said, Ludwig rushed off to gather the men and supplies he needed to mount a rescue expedition. If the Lord of Wildschönau was on Lambert's side, then there was no way his own men, the miners, would help in the search for the young lord. He had no hope but to gather as many people as he could as quietly as he could. His first stop was to Eckhard Berengar's second in command of the militia. They needed to be rallied and quickly. If Ulrich were really on Lambert's side, he would not allow excavation to occur, and the rescue force needed an army loyal to Berengar to protect them in case things turned bloody. If he reported this matter to Sieghard, he would need proof to obtain his help; even if he could convince the Baron, it would become a political battle between a Baron and his vassal, by the time help arrived, the young lord would be dead.

When Eckhard heard the news from Ludwig, he did not hesitate to muster the militia; by midnight, an army of 600 men and 6 cannons were on the march to the Lordship of Wildschönau, alongside the hundreds of volunteers whose aim was to rescue Berengar. Just as the young lord was about to lose faith in the bonds he had sewn with the commoners, they would reward him in a greater capacity than he could ever ask of them.