Chapter 114: A Down Payment of Trust
Margarita tilted her head, her smile remaining in place. "And what is that, Viscount?"
Konrad narrowed his eyes. "...how many silver florins do you have inside those wagons?"
Margarita de Austria didn’t flinch at the blunt question.
"100,000 pure silver florins, Konrad." Margarita stated smoothly, her voice calm, as if she were simply asking for a cup of water instead of dropping a financial anvil on the entire Swabian valley.
One hundred thousand florins?
It was a number that entirely broke the standard economic ledgers of 1526 AD.
To put that massive sum into perspective, the fourteen thousand silver florins Konrad had just stolen from the Savoyard border fortress was enough to feed, equip, and pay his army of three thousand veteran halberdiers for over six months.
One hundred thousand florins was the kind of wealth that could instantly buy a minor King’s crown.
It could fund an unstoppable mercenary crusade across the entire continent...
It was enough raw purchasing power to crash the local markets of three different Duchies overnight!
"That is a ridiculous amount of silver to drag through the mud in wooden carts," Konrad replied, refusing to let his shock show.
He kept his hand resting lightly on the iron of his wheellock pistol.
"If you actually have that much coin sitting in my courtyard, you are buying an entire country."
"I don’t need a country, Viscount." Margarita laughed softly, taking a slow step closer. "I already have the Netherlands. This silver is simply a down payment. It is a gesture of trust between us."
Konrad narrowed his eyes, entirely suspicious. "Trust for what?"
"...I want you to invent something new for me." Margarita whispered, her piercing blue eyes locking onto his. "I want the weapons you haven’t even drawn on your blueprints yet. Build what I ask, and I will not only fund your revolution, but I will personally gift you lands, titles, and impenetrable stone castles anywhere in the Empire. If you want a fortress in Burgundy, it is yours. If you want an entire trading port in Flanders, I will sign the royal decree myself."
Konrad frowned.
Lady Katarina, standing just a few feet away in her gown, subtly mirrored his exact expression of absolute confusion.
They didn’t understand...
What could this woman possibly want that a hundred thousand silver florins and the political backing of the Habsburg royal family couldn’t already buy?
She had the greatest engineers in Europe at her disposal.
She had the Fugger banking network.
Yet she had secretly smuggled herself into a rogue Swabian fortress to beg a disgraced Viscount for a custom invention?
Even so, before Konrad could demand what kind of machine she was talking about, a loud commotion shattered the private standoff in the center of the courtyard.
"Viscount von Frundsberg!"
Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria was pushing his way through the lingering crowd of Swabian peasants and soldiers.
The Duke’s heavy velvet robes swished loudly, his face flushed a deep shade of red.
Right behind him hurried Bishop Tomas, the fat papal envoy out of breath, clutching his golden cross and a damp copy of the Savoyard Treachery pamphlet.
They had finally descended from the high balcony of the guest wing.
Though they were terrified by the massive Swabian army and the sudden appearance of the exiled Württemberg wagons, their noble pride simply refused to let them cower in their rooms any longer.
They needed answers, and they needed to re-evaluate the board immediately.
"Lord Konrad!" Duke Wilhelm forced a grin onto his bearded face as he finally reached the center of the courtyard.
He ignored the masked woman’s elite guards, entirely focused on his future son-in-law.
"A victory! A stunning victory!
I must offer my most sincere congratulations on reclaiming your stolen Fugger silver!"
Konrad slowly turned his head, his eyes locking onto the sweating Duke.
He just stared, letting the crushing weight of his silent presence do the talking.
"Yes, truly a miracle of the saints." Bishop Tomas chimed in, his watery eyes darting nervously between the black-armored Reiters on the walls and the massive treasury wagons.
The Bishop wiped a layer of sweat from his forehead.
"To think the Savoyards would stoop to such horrific thievery!
The Mother Church condemns their actions, of course!
We... we had absolutely no idea they were holding a slave caravan!"
The Bishop had clearly read the freshly printed casus belli.
He knew that if he publicly condemned Konrad’s invasion right now, he would be standing against the Fugger banking family and defending slavers.
The math was simple: the Vatican could not afford to take that stance in public.
"Your congratulations are noted, Wilhelm," Konrad finally said. "As is your holy blessing, Bishop."
Duke Wilhelm shifted nervously on his feet. He clearly wanted to ask a dozen invasive questions.
He wanted to know exactly how Konrad had shattered a stone fortress in a single morning.
He wanted to know why Captain Ragnar was completely covered in blood.
And most importantly, he wanted to know exactly who the strange woman in the silver armor was.
The Duke opened his mouth, taking a deep breath to demand an explanation for the chaos.
However, before a single word could leave the Duke’s mouth, Lady Katarina stepped right in front of him.
"Father," Katarina whispered softly.
She reached out and grabbed the velvet sleeve of his robe.
Her eyes bored into his.
"Not now," Katarina hissed, her voice meant only for the Duke’s ears.
Duke Wilhelm blinked. "Katarina, what is the meaning of—"
"I said, not now, Father," Katarina repeated, her grip tightening on his sleeve.
If Konrad’s fabricated propaganda campaign held up, and if he had actually just slaughtered a massive Savoyard army with minimal casualties, then Swabia was no longer a weak territory.
Furthermore, if this strange woman was actually Margarita de Austria, and she was bringing hundred-thousand-florin contracts to the Swabian forges, then Konrad possessed a level of royal backing that entirely eclipsed the Duchy of Bavaria.
Her future husband was way stronger than anyone in the Holy Roman Empire currently realized.
If her father asked the wrong question right now and insulted Konrad, the Swabian warlord might just cancel the wedding and throw them all in the dungeon.
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