Chapter 468 - First Contact Part III (1/2)
Adrian Lemm was a young man in his early twenties, born and raised as an Austrian living in the province of Krain who came from a long line of anglers and hunters. He was too young to take part in Berengar's early conquests; however, when the Austrian Navy was founded, this young man was more than eager to sign up.
If you were to tell Adrian that in a few years, he would be among the hundred or so marines dispatched to the mysterious land of Vinland on a top-secret mission alongside his King, he would scoff at you and insult your intelligence. Yet this was the reality he now faced.
Adrian was the squad leader of the Marine Reconnaissance Unit that had been dispatched as a part of the company of soldiers who accompanied King Berengar to the new world. Currently, he was in the field away from the outpost established for Austrian occupation.
Among the snowy landscape, this man and the soldiers beneath his command gazed upon an Algonquin village in the distance. To the Austrian soldiers, there was no distinction between them and the Mohawk who had visited the outpost in an act of friendship.
Despite this line of thinking, they carefully jotted down all intelligence on the nearby tribe; while the Mohawk had decided to act peacefully with the Austrian host; the Algonquin were instead preparing for war. The warriors painted their bodies in strange patterns and began to engage in their pre-combat rituals.
Adrian gazed upon the warriors' actions as they gathered their warclubs and primitive flatbows. What the Marines witnessed was enough to confirm their suspicions, the natives of this land were not as peaceful as they were initially led to believe.
Those who had gathered at their fortress merely pretended to be friendly while their warriors prepared to invade. With this information in hand, Adrian ordered his soldiers to fall back to the fortress and notify the garrison of the upcoming conflict.
”We have seen enough to know of these Natives' intentions. Swiftly, we must return to the outpost and warn our soldiers of what is about to transpire!”
With that said, the Marine Reconnaissance force doubled back to the fortress to prepare their brothers for the combat that they would soon be facing.
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While Adrian and his soldiers were returning to the outpost, Berengar sat in the main cabin; a wood-burning stove had been set up to provide warmth to the structure; on top of it, Berengar cooked the contents of one of his rations. The canned was filled with diced chicken, that Berengar had marinated in a buffalo-style sauce. As the chicken grilled an intense aroma filled the cabin's interior, causing the Mohawk delegation to salivate in anticipation.
Kahwihta gazed upon the tin cans that contained the food with a curious expression. Metallurgy was rare among the tribes of the Eastern Seaboard. Thus, she was interested in how these jars functioned and what the material was that they were comprised of. She had seen a lot of shining metallic substances in use by the pale-skin foreigners.
This led her to believe that perhaps these pale skins were far more advanced than her people could even fathom. After all, they had rapidly constructed this timber fortress that was more defensible than any village she had come across in her travels. The beautiful teenage girl pouted as she reflected on her inability to communicate with these strangers.
She had attempted to speak to the handsome one-eyed man, who appeared to be the leader of these people in all fifteen languages that she was fluent in, and yet, the man did not comprehend any of it. Because of this, Kahwihta was almost entirely sure that these golden-haired men had come from across the great sea. However, the very idea of their civilization being capable of doing such a thing brought an intense sense of fear to the chieftain's daughter.
She had a firm resolve in her heart to avoid conflict with these men no matter what the cost may be. As such, she played the role of a perfectly humble delegate as she sat in the cabin waiting for Berengar and Honoria to finish cooking and serving the canned rations. After a while, the food was finished, and Berengar served it to his guests.
Ultimately, the buffalo chicken was combined with cheese, onions, rice, and ranch to create a delicious casserole. Such a food had become a staple of the Austrian Military as it was easy to preserve, quick to cook, and quite delicious. Not only was it a common dish served to the soldiers of Austria, but to due to its inexpensive nature, it could be found within the lower and middle-class households across the Kingdoms of Austria, and Bohemia.
The Mohawk Delegation nearly passed out as they tasted the exceptional flavor of the dish, the Chieftain's daughter, in particular, was deeply entranced with the meal as she dipped engorged herself on the substance. She began to speak in her language; from her tone of voice, Berengar could guess what she was asking, so he pointed to the resources that had been used to create the casserole and answered her in his native tongue.
”Tyrol Sauce!”