While Berengar was off in the New World on another one of his escapades, he had left his chancellor, uncle, and father-in-law Otto von Graz in charge of his Empire. If there was one thing Berengar admired about the man is he had a work ethic on par with himself. Thus, it was no surprise that the man spent a significant amount of effort maintaining control over the Empire's various realms, and signing bills into law.

At the moment, he was looking at an expense report regarding the expansion of the train network. It had been over a year since Berengar united the Empire, and among his largest and most expensive projects was the existence of the National Railway. It had made significant progress over the past year and now connected much of the Southern German cities together. Currently, the department of transportation was requesting a certain amount of funds to expand the railway into Prussia's borders.

Otto carefully looked over the expenses before signing his name on the paper. After doing this, he stacked it into his pile of outbound paperwork, which would be later collected by a clerk and administered to the appropriate departments. After doing this, he grabbed hold of another piece of legislation and noticed it was an expense report regarding the Kingdom of Prussia.

King Eckhard von Marienburg was requesting an increase in funding for the construction of his shipyards. The plan was to establish a Baltic Fleet to maintain control over the Northern seas. After carefully examining the requested amount, he signed away his signature once more before looking at the next piece of legislation.

This next piece of legislation was a request by the Reichstag to approve the funding for a series of canals that would connect the Danube to the Rhine, and the North Sea to the Baltic Sea. Such a thing would increase trade via rivers throughout the borders of the empire and free up a large section of railway traffic. Thus, Otto did not hesitate to sign his approval for such a thing.

After signing this document, he realized it was his last piece of paperwork for the day and quickly pulled out a flask from his drawer, taking a hearty gulp of the fiery alcoholic liquid before stashing it away once more. A heavy sigh escaped the chancellor's lips as he complained about his lot in life.

"Berengar, how the hell do you get so much paperwork done each day? I swear to God, every time you leave on one of your adventures, I'm left drowning in a mountain of this shit!"

After saying this, the sound of his grandfather clock struck the newest hour, and the man gazed over towards its display in shock.

...