"One lesson many tyrannical nobles, governors, or kings often failed to grasp until they stared you in the eyes was that oppression, which is somewhat effective to keep a population down, only goes so far.

At some point, the people you oppressed just can't take any more. When such people, who by then likely had nothing to lose, snapped, they tended to make such a big mess that they would usually at least take their oppressor down with them, one way or another.

I always found that a balanced usage of rewards and regulations to be more effective myself. I just hope my future successors learn from my example well." - Xaliburnus the Conqueror, First Emperor and Founder of the Elmaiya Empire.

"I used to work for the Count's family," admitted Lars openly, which elicited some raised eyebrows from the dwarven commanders present. "Even lived by the mansion for a few years before."

"Go on," said the Crown Prince, now with an intrigued look on his face as he paid attention to what Lars said.

"My late mistress once took me to a secret path she liked to use to go out into town incognito," said Lars with some pangs of regret in his voice. "It was a secret route out of the Count's mansion, and the exit was somewhere in the port outside the western gate."

"So you're saying…"

"I believe it is likely that the Count and his family would attempt to escape from there should the citadel fall, yes," nodded Lars in answer to the question. "It might be prudent to send a detachment to the port to keep a lookout in case they do take that route."

"Interesting," commented the Crown Prince as he absent-mindedly twirled his beard in his right hand. "Would you say this man is a trustworthy one, Captain Edelstein?"

"So far he has been, but I would say his usefulness and trustworthiness are still on trial, your Highness," admitted Reinhardt bluntly. "Just in case, may I take my troops to the western port?"

"Go ahead. We'll be done here in a few hours one way or another anyway," replied the Crown Prince with a nod. "If you do find the Count and his family escaping that way, try to get them alive if you can. Two hundred gold for the count if he's living, a hundred each for any of his family or that noble from Norouz. Half that for their heads."

"Certainly, your Highness. Consider it done," said Reinhardt with a bow before he brought his troops away, towards the west.

******************************

"You mentioned your late mistress earlier?" asked Reinhardt as they walked towards the west. He, Lars, and Elfriede were ahead of the rest as they led the way. Lars only had vague recollections of the secret path's exit, but with that information and Elfriede's senses, they ought to be able to locate the spot.

"She was the Count's daughter. Took me and some other orphans in to work for her. Compared to the other nobles we have… she's not that bad, if far too much on the zealous side," said Lars with a sigh. "Last I saw her was in Fort Ascher, when she took her guards to 'purge some infidels' against my advice. She never returned so I assume she's gone."

"Yeah… I think she's… quite definitely a goner all right," said Reinhardt as he repressed an urge to wince. There was exactly one such person that matched the description Lars gave. The very same one Elfriede dismembered and subsequently drowned in the latrine pits.

"I guess it says a lot that by our measures, she was one of the better ones," said Lars in a self-deprecating tone of voice. "Both the nobles and the church just lived lavishly while they stepped on our backs all the time. Their propaganda holds well in the boonies and villages, where the folks were uneducated and never knew a different life…"

"But here in the city, those of us who lived in the lower class couldn't help but to notice how those very same priests and nobles that preached for us to sacrifice for the lord never practiced what they preached," he added with venom dripping from his voice. "Where we eke out a living off moldy bread, stews of rats and cockroaches, and often-spoiled meat scraps, they lived lavishly in their mansions."

"Definitely explains why that church we passed on the way was getting looted then," replied Reinhardt with a toothy smirk. "What about that one, though?"

Lars looked towards where Reinhardt pointed his finger, and noticed an all too familiar church being sacked. Priests and nuns were dragged out by angry townspeople and lynched on the spot, while he saw many of the town's women carrying young children of various ages and tried to calm them as they took them away.

"That church… is one of the two sanctioned orphanages in town. That's also where I grew up," said Lars as he watched the mayhem impassionately. "I say 'orphanage', but to be honest, it's closer to a place where they indoctrinate young children into zealots and fanatics of the so-called god-king," he added as he spat to the ground and punctuated his words. "Most of my people also came from this background, ones I thought were not too deep into the propaganda."

"It's a pretty fucked up place you live in, man," said Reinhardt as he watched the chaos. He walked by without interfering though, as there were already some dwarven infantry who kept watch over the mess.

It was a smart call, he thought. To "give" the hated upper class of the city to its poor for them to vent. The dwarves were content to watch as the crowd looted and lynched, and they never interfered unless some got out of line.

Similar sights were plentiful throughout the noble district of Zefirous, and even many of the storefronts of the merchant's district were not spared. Often Reinhardt saw people who looked more like thugs and cutthroats amongst the crowd as they fanned the flames and led them in the looting.

None of the crowd proved stupid enough to accost the hundred-strong group of very obviously armed and dangerous men and women, though Reinhardt thought Mischka's group of massive warriors might have played a part in scaring the crowd off as well.

It took them a good while of walking from the center of the city to the western gate, which was already ajar, and from there they went to the lakeside port. By then the sun had begin to set already.