Tyranny of Steel
Chapter 697: Taking ownership

While Wolfgang was awaiting trial for his crimes, Berengar was busy with more important tasks. He did not bother interfering with the trial. The judicial process existed for a reason, and he knew the man would be found guilty. What mattered to him was the fact that his Hydroelectric dam and power station had just been completed. Kufstein and the surrounding areas now had access to plenty of electricity. More than they could possibly use if Berengar was being honest.

This created the perfect opportunity for Berengar to introduce a technology he had been wanting to create for a very long time. Until now, it had been difficult for the German people to get any work done when the natural light of the sun faded at night. The people of Germany still relied on primitive devices like oil lamps to see in the dark. Well, that was about to change as Berengar was currently working on designing the first ever light bulbs.

Fundamentally, the concept of a lightbulb was simple. It consisted of a positive and negative terminal, embedded inside a glass casing with a tungsten filament that connected the terminals together. When electricity is supplied to the terminals, it heats up the thin filament to the point that it begins to glow. The air inside the glass is actually a small amount of inert gas that helps prevent the filament from becoming too hot and breaking.

As an engineering student, it was all too simple to design a lightbulb. He spent nearly half an hour designing the blueprints. This was not the most concerning thing. The biggest difficulty Berengar had would be digging up his streets and establishing power lines throughout it.

Without power lines, the streetlights Berengar intended to produce were nothing but the fever dream of a madman. In order to accomplish this, every building would have to be modified to be adapted to the power grid so that they could make use of the electricity that was generated by the new dam.

Thus, Berengar spent a large portion of his day designing layouts to reconstruct not only Kufstein as the first electrically powered city in this world, but every other city in the reich. It was no doubt that this would be a major expense, and undertaking, especially since many cities of the Reich were currently still in the process of industrialization.

However, Berengar was a diligent worker, and after drafting the designs that were needed to accomplish this, he quickly approached his sister, who was now the head of the treasury. Henrietta's bedroom had been converted to a home office to some extent, and she was diligently crunching the numbers of the Federal budget. When Berengar knocked on the door, she was quick to cease her actions and open it, much to her surprise her big brother had shown up during work hours with a stack of papers in her hands.

Henrietta immediately began to pout as she noticed the man was not here for a social call and was instead handing her more work. As far as the young Princess of Germany was concerned, she already had enough on her plate. Because of this, she quickly snapped at her precious big brother as she latched onto the documents and viewed them carefully.

"Why is it that these days you never visit me in my room for anything other than work?"

Berengar smiled as he hugged his little sister and stroked her golden hair. He kissed her on the forehead as he tried to placate the young woman, hoping she would do as he asked.

"If you want to take a break and have fun, I would be more than happy to oblige. After the hours I have spent working on these designs, I need some time to relax."

Henrietta blushed when she heard this, knowing full well that her brother intended to take advantage of her once more. She quickly defused the situation and focused on the task at hand.

"What are these documents for?"

Berengar sighed heavily in defeat upon seeing that Henrietta was not up to play their favorite game and instead shifted to the topic he had originally come to her room for.

"I plan on retrofitting our cities to accommodate this new energy source. I know it will be expensive, and I have calculated the estimate costs. All I need from you is to work your magic and make sure the funds are in place to handle it. As for the politicians and their money grubbing, you can leave that to me!"

Henrietta gazed at the documents in her hands, and the calculated expense report. She could barely believe her eyes.

"You want to spend this much wiring the city to make use of this so-called electricity? This is a huge sum. While we can afford it, I would think that the resources needed to completely rethink the way our cities work would be better off used elsewhere."

Berengar smiled as he shook his head, and educated Henrietta on just how important electricity was.

"Henrietta, my dear sister, I love you, and you know I value your opinion, especially on financial matters. However, you're not thinking about the big picture. Electricity is more than just a means to light the city at night. It is a power source that can propel transportation, refrigerate food, cool your house in the summer, warm it in the winter, and all kinds of other things your pretty little head will never imagine.

It is paramount that we introduce electricity throughout the city of Kufstein, and the rest of our Nation as quickly as possible. We have the means to produce the electricity in vast quantities thanks to the overwhelming number of rivers that flow through our lands, and the geothermal hotspots that exist in the alps. Now all we need is to make use of what nature has gifted us, to benefit the German people."

Henrietta was neither an engineer nor a scientist. She had not gone to one of the universities and was only gifted in intelligence, especially in mathematics. She could not comprehend everything her brother was telling her, but the enthusiasm on his face as he spoke about his dreams was enough to tell her that it was practically a miracle technology. Thus, she sighed and nodded her head before looking over the documents once more.

"I will make sure the necessary funds are in place to begin this next infrastructure project of yours. It will take me a while to make sure everything is accounted for, so you can expect a request for approval of funds on your desk sometime next week."

Berengar smiled and nodded his head when he heard this. Since business had been taken care of, he had another idea on his mind. He gazed down at the short skirt that his sister was wearing and instantly flipped it up, looking through the woman's pantyhose and onto her black satin thong.

Henrietta flinched when her brother did this, but did not scream, nor back away. Instead, she stood there like a docile rabbit as Berengar began to intimately play with her lower lips, which were concealed nicely beneath her thin panties.

The young woman was wearing a wool sweater, and instantly began to heat up as her elder brother played with her lower body. The man shamelessly slipped his spare hand beneath her top and groped her sizeable breasts, causing the girl to moan in pleasure as she gazed at the protruding bulge in her brother's pants. Berengar whispered something in her ears that made her bite her pretty pink lips in excitement.

"What did you seriously think that I only came to visit you because of work? When you're dressed in such a cute outfit, I can't help but want to taste you…"

With this said, Berengar began to passionately kiss his sister, as the two of them collapsed on her bed and joined one another in an intimate embrace. Nearly an hour passed after this, and Berengar emerged from his sister's quarters with an extra pep in his step. Only he and Henrietta knew what had transpired over that course of time. However, he felt he was closer to the girl because of it.

With these formalities out of the way, Berengar returned to his study, where he began to work on another task of importance. Since he had begun to introduce electricity, he would soon be advancing into a brave new world, and would need to design many new devices to be used by the common citizenry. Finally, public transportation throughout the city of Kufstein could become a reality.

There were many things that Berengar would need to establish this new era, and chief among them was a particular natural resource that was desperately lacking in Europe. He believed it was now the right time to contact his little ambassador from the Aztec Empire and make use of the natural resources in her homeland once more. Chocolate was one thing, but the southernmost tip of the Aztec Empire was home to a far more crucial resource, one that Berengar desperately needed.

It was with this in mind that he had written a letter to summon Tlexictli back to his palace. She had returned recently from her visit to her homeland, and despite this, he now needed to make use of her once more.