Chapter 368: Pistols and Pianos

Now that Berengar had successfully created metallic cartridges, his first order of business was to produce a sidearm for the cavalry, officers, and rear-echelon personnel to use. For starters, the flintlock pistols that they were currently issued were beyond obsolete compared to the other weapons being given to the Austrian Royal Army.

Frankly, Berengar did not trust his current issue flintlock pistol to protect his life anymore; even if he was going to be taking less of a frontline role from now on, he still wanted a multi-shot weapon to defend himself should the need arise.

As such, Berengar quickly got to work designing the weapon. Considering he had already designed the .38 Special cartridge and had even begun production of it, now was the perfect time to introduce a proper Service Revolver.

In truth, the revolver Berengar had in mind was one that he had purchased in his previous life. He did not come from a wealthy family during that time, nor was he particularly affluent in his adulthood. As such, he mostly relied on purchasing obscure, surplus weapons. One of these weapons was a revolver that he was quite intimate with.

The revolver design that he had in mind was based upon the Swiss 1929 Ordnance Revolver from his past life, which itself was an improvement on the original 1882 Design. The primary difference between this and the ones used by the Swiss during Berengar's previous life was that this version was scaled up to use the .38 Spc cartridge. Berengar used this impressive double-action revolver design as the basis for what he would refer to as the 1422 Service Revolver.

After designing this Service Revolver, Berengar realized it would not be suited to concealed carry. Thus, he developed a snub nose J-Frame Revolver based on the Smith and Wesson Model 36 for covert operatives such as his field agents. He designated this small revolver as the 1422 Agency Revolver.

After designing two different revolvers, Berengar sent the blueprints off to Ludwig to manufacture a few weapons for military and police trials. He wanted these revolvers fielded as quickly as possible so that if he ever found himself cornered on the battlefield, he would have an efficient means to defend himself other than his sword, that is.

After sending these blueprints off to the necessary departments, Berengar decided to rest from his work. As such, he began drifting through the royal palace, searching for someone to entertain himself with.

After a while, he found Adela playing a new instrument he had already invented in this timeline. Berengar was far from a musician, and as such, it took some severe trial and error to recreate the string instruments from his past life.

Among these musical instruments were the piano, violin, cello, guitar, etc. Though he had no idea how to play such instruments, Adela, ever being the musical prodigy, quickly adapted to the new devices and fell in love with them.

At the moment, Adela was playing a grand piano, and as usual, she was heavily invested in her work, failing to notice Berengar's approach. Berengar sat back and listened to his little angel perform a song that was deeply touching to the soul.

While he was hard at work establishing the industrial age within Kufstein and all of Austria. He had delegated a significant responsibility of cultural works to Adela, who seemed to have a knack for such things.

He made sure that she never worked too hard and enjoyed her personal hobbies. One of those activities was her work as a musician. Currently, Adela was dressed in a pastel blue dress with white frills around the chest, sleeves, and hem. This dress was modeled after fashion trends common in the Edwardian era of his past life.

Berengar listened to the sound in awe; he had always loved the piano but could never afford one himself, and as such, he deeply lamented the fact that he had never learned how to play such a beautiful and elegant instrument. After Adela had finished her song, she heard slight applause, which greatly shocked her.

She was truly touched when she looked over to see her husband smiling at her, with a small tear growing in his one good eye. Of course, Berengar did not simply clap and quickly walked up to the girl, where he expressed his genuine opinion.

"Wonderful, whenever I hear you play an instrument, it truly makes me appreciate the fact that I am still alive and not dead rotting within some desert in some god-forsaken corner of the world."

Adela chuckled in response to Berengar's praise; she had no idea he was referring to his unfortunate demise within his past life. As such, she motioned for Berengar to sit down next to her, where he happily obliged. After doing so, she commented on Berengar's inability to play the instruments he had created.

"How is it that you can make such a wonderful instrument but not have the faintest clue as to how to play it?"

Berengar chuckled in response to this before responding to Adela's question.

"I suppose I have a mind for engineering, but not for art. Besides, I was never lucky enough to be given the privilege of owning an instrument..."

Adela was surprised when she heard this and immediately asked for clarification.

"Your family never had instruments in your household?"

Berengar immediately realized he had slipped up and was once more referring to his past life, and as such, immediately corrected his statement.

"What I meant to say was I never had a teacher who could get through to me..."

Adela giggled when she heard this; after doing so, she began to instruct Berengar to follow her lead.

"Hold out your hands like this!"

As such, she slowly began to introduce Berengar to all of the piano's keys and the positions he needed to place his fingers to play the instrument properly. After several hours of learning, Berengar finally let out a sigh of exhaustion; he had no idea that learning how to play the piano was so tricky.

However, Adela had a pretty smile on her face; it was not every day that her friends and family took an interest in her hobbies; Berengar had spent an ungodly amount of money fostering the arts and even used his magnificent brain to conjure up new instruments for her to play. Now he took time out of his busy schedule to sit with her and learn how to play the piano.

The very thought made her heartbeat rapidly; as such, she latched onto Berengar and rested her head on his shoulder as he continued to push through the lesson. Berengar noticed this but refused to ruin the moment with some snarky remark, and thus he continued to misplay the piano until his hands grew too tired to continue.

After doing so, Adela raised her head from his shoulder and kissed him on the lips, twirling her tongue around his own as she did so. It was not until they were interrupted by Henrietta at the doorway that they stopped their display of affection.

Henrietta stared at them with a stoic expression as she announced her presence by knocking on the open door. By now, walking in on her brother making out with one of his lovers was something she had grown accustomed to. Of course, the moment she knocked and interrupted their little session, Adela grew flushed with embarrassment.

Berengar gazed up at Henrietta and asked the question on his mind in the calmest facade he could muster; after all, he was not exactly pleased that he and Adela were interrupted when things were going so smoothly.

"Henrietta, my dear sister, what is the matter?"

Henrietta immediately pointed at the old grandfather clock in the corner of the room and muttered a single word.

"Dinner"

After doing so, she left Berengar and Adela alone, where they picked themselves up and acted as nothing had happened between the two of them. Berengar quickly presented his hand to Adela with a handsome smile as he asked the question on his mind.

"Well, shall we go?"

Adela returned his smile with one of her own and a silent nod before grasping ahold of his hand and following his lead to the Dining Area. By the time they arrived, the others were present and waiting for the head of the household to arrive.

They would enjoy a fine meal together as a family during the peaceful days that the Kingdom of Austria was facing. Before long, war would erupt once more, and Berengar intended to enjoy every moment of serenity that he could get his hands on.