Tyranny of Steel

While Berengar was solidifying his hold over the Indian subcontinent, and Itami was preparing for an outright invasion of the northern Philippines, a great effort was being undertaken on the borders of the Aztec Empire.

In the territory once known as Panama during Berengar's past life, an army of slaves toiled away in an attempt to dig through the rough terrain. Why, you might ask? Because the German Empire had planned to build a massive canal through this area.

Well over a year had passed since Berengar first approved the monumental undertaking, and during this time, the combined efforts of the German Empire's finest engineers, along with the Aztec Empire's horde of slaves, had produced positive results. Soon enough, perhaps even today, the last vestige of land blocking the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific would be obliterated.

Under the watchful eye of German and Aztec soldiers, tens of thousands of slaves dug away, while the German construction crews blasted and cleared the earth with machines and explosives. Currently, the land just south of this canal was owned and colonized by the German Empire. The Germans had spread rapidly throughout Adelheim over the past decade, and in doing so laid claim to all the lands known previously as Gran Columbia in Berengar's past life.

At the moment, Governor Emmerich von Lötzing was overseeing the construction of the Panama Canal. After serving as the Austrian Navy's first Grand Admiral, he had retired to become the Governor of New Swabia. In doing so, he had led the expansion and development of the German colonies south of the Aztec Empire.

The current wealth and stability in the region was a direct result of the policies that Emmerich had put in place. Perhaps because he still had the Kaiser's trust, he had been granted the privilege of watching over this massive project.

Something he paid close attention to, but rarely took direct control over unless it was completely necessary. Standing by the man's side was a German engineer, who had a set of large blueprints in one hand. With a satisfied grin on the man's face, he reported his findings to the Governor.

"Governor von Lötzing, I have good news! The construction of the Canal is nearly finished. All we need to do is blast away one last bit of rock, and we will finally have achieved our goal. Now is the time to withdraw the equipment from the area, as well as any personnel, because once this wall comes down, the canal will be flooded!"

Emmerich gazed upon the progress that was made in nearly two years' time and nodded his head with a wide grin on his face. The results of his efforts, and that of every man involved, were clear as day. From this day forward, the Reich would have a much easier time establishing a foothold on the western coasts of the new world and the lands that lie beyond.

"Excellent. Inform the men to withdraw their equipment from the canal. Once everyone and every piece of machinery is accounted for, we will blow the dam, and in doing so, finish our job. I will arrange for a feast to be prepared back in New Swabia for all of our men once this is over."

Upon hearing this, the engineer was much happier than he was just moments before. Though they had used an extensive amount of slave labor in this canal's construction, it was still a significant effort on the part of the German construction crews to oversee and mange the project.

Thus, he was happy to be rewarded for his efforts, now that the canal was about to finish its construction. With a nod of his head, he departed from Emmerich's side and informed the men of their orders.

Within the hour, all equipment had been retrieved, and all men, both free and slave, had been accounted for. After which, Emmerich gave the command to detonate the barriers which kept the oceans at bay.

A loud blast erupted into the jungle as two fiery explosions occurred. In doing so, the walls crumbled into tiny bits before being washed away by the ocean's tide. Having witnessed this in its full glory, an excited smile appeared on the man's face as he hollered out in joy.

"Yes!"

For years, Emmerich had fought to establish a foothold on the other side of New Swabia, and though he had achieved some results, trade between the main colony and its satellite cities had become difficult to manage.

With the construction of this canal, that was no longer an issue, as goods could freely flow through the region via shipping. This was not just a monumental occasion for the Reich, and its military ambitions, but for the colony of New Swabia as well.

As the ocean's waves crashed through the canal, and built a proper path, Emmerich turned to his nearest radio operator and gave him a command.

"Send a message to the main colony, with the intent of being relayed back to the fatherland. The construction of the Neuschwaben canal is now complete. The Kaiser is free to send his ships through."

Overwhelming applause could be heard in the background as the radio operator relayed this message to the proper department. Soon enough, word would reach Berengar's ear about this news, and he could not be happier.

Berengar stood in the middle of his gym, while dressed in nothing but his Vale Tudo shorts. Standing across from him, in a basic wrestling stance, was the princess of the Golden Horde, who was dressed in a similar fashion. Since she had thoroughly defeated by her Aztec rival, Khorijin had been spending as much time as she could in the gym, learning the ways of grappling from the German Kaiser himself.

Though Berengar wanted nothing more than to roll on the ground naked with the woman, while slathered in oil, there was no way that was happening, at least not in the current stage of their relationship. Thus, he had opted to wear the bare minimum of clothing, and for the sake of practicality, he had forced Khorijin to do the same.

The two grapplers started on their feet, where they fought for position. The result was a quick hip toss to the ground, where Khorjin soon found her perfectly smooth tummy enduring the weight of her opponent's knee.

In the past few days, she had learned the basics of what grapplers referred to as 'shrimping' as well as the other basic escapes. In fact, Berengar had been drilling escapes into the woman's brain since they first began training. Escapes and takedowns were the only two things the duo had done for the past three hours. Now was the woman's first test to prove what she had learned under pressure.

With all of his years of training both in this life and the past, Berengar was practically a black belt by his previous world's standards of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, while also being the equivalent of an Olympic qualified wrestler.

When combined with his superior size and strength, Berengar was able to effectively manhandle this woman, who was an utter novice on the ground. Yet for the sake of learning, he restrained his intensity, so that the woman could process her game plan.

It was as the woman was shrimping out from her opponent's knee that lie directly on her belly, that a voice which Berengar was all too familiar with interrupted their fun. There was a look of disappointment on Linde's face when she entered the room, no doubt caused by that fact that the duo of grapplers were actually clothed. She was well accustomed to walking in on Berengar's intense training sessions with Tlexictli, where the two combatants were almost always naked and oiled.

To witness her man entangled with another woman, but fully clothed in the parts that mattered, it was effectively the same as blue balling the royal cuckquean. With a heavy sigh, Linde interrupted her husband's grappling session with some important news.

"Berengar, my love, we have something important to discuss."

Berengar could only sigh, and stop what he was doing, as he climbed off of the mongol beauty and stood at attention before addressing his wife's concerns.

"Yes, dear?"

He could very clearly see the disappointment on the redheaded vixen's flawless features that were undoubtedly for the same reasons that he himself felt such chagrin. When Linde saw this reflected expression, a bitter smile appeared on her face as she decided to focus on business rather than pleasure.

"The construction of the Neuschwaben canal is complete. I figured you would want to begin the colonization of the west coast of the New World, as well as the Pacific, as quickly as possible."

Upon hearing this, Berengar nodded his head, before wiping off his sweat with a towel. He shifted his attention to the mongol princess, who stood patiently by his side before dismissing her.

"Khorijin, I'm afraid we will have to cut our daily session short today. Go enjoy yourself. I have work to do."

Though Khorijin wanted to protest this decision, she knew better than to interfere with the Kaiser and his work. Although she had agreed contractually to carry his child, there was still no real romance in their relationship.

Even the skinship they shared as grappling partners was nothing more than platonic, at least for now. However, at this moment, she felt an intense desire to steal the man away from his wife, so that they could continue what they were doing.

Despite this urge, Khorijin lowered her head, and thanked the man for his lesson, before departing from the Palace's gym. Where Berengar proceeded to sit down on a bench, and have a lengthy discussion with his wife, about how the Reich was going to colonize vast swaths of territory which they suddenly had access to.