“Not the first time something like this happened. You bring most of the guards out, then you never return? Even odds all the ruffians and other cutthroats in your town might band together and suddenly declare like, Hey, this place ain’t got an owner no more. Ours now! Just like that.

I mean they rarely gave a fight worth telling about, but the mess to clean up after was always some of the worst around. Then again, what else would you have expected from a town where the lowlives got the run of the place, even if it was only a few days?” - Stefan Horst, Captain of the Horst’s Hellraisers, after pacifying a city in riot, circa 4 FP.

“Damn, and I thought your home was bad enough as it was,” said Reinhardt to Elfriede with a heartfelt tone when he received the latest reports from Norouz. It was the third day after the battle of Jahra Plains, which was located roughly two days away from the city. The army had taken two days' rest after the battle while they sorted out and buried the corpses, and had then traveled to Norouz.

Their scouts had naturally busied themselves as they tried to find information from the city. The reports relayed back to the army so far painted a bleak picture. That included the report Hannah had just delivered from her scouting mission.

At the moment, the army had camped for the night, and Reinhardt had gathered the same group of unit leaders they had used as an impromptu council of sorts, plus Lars and Hannah, in the large operations tent. Before them, spread on the table, was a map of Norouz, courtesy of Varsha.

“So, Hannah, please brief the rest of what you had reported to the Crown Prince earlier,” said Reinhardt to the avian girl. He, Elfriede, and Hannah had just returned from a leader’s meeting, and had shared and received the latest intel from the town.

“It’s pretty fucked up,” admitted the girl as she absentmindedly fiddled with some of her wing feathers. “Parts of the city are on fire. Many people were stringed up or impaled and shown from the city walls. Hard to tell the details from high up, but I’m pretty sure there were like, several roving gangs who went around looting and raping and burning things all over the place as well.”

“It does not surprise me,” replied Lars as he pondered with his chin resting on his hand. “Even in Zefirous, we heard of seriously bad stories about the underworld in Norouz. That the Count was heavy-handed on the populace only made things worse over there. Even the late Count Larsen often shook his head and lamented about the state of the city.”

“Any relations between your houses?” asked Salicia from her seat.

“The current Count of Norouz, Jan Brequod, is in-laws with the late Count Larsen. His wife is the late Count’s younger sister,” explained Lars. “They often communicated and openly talked about the state of Norouz in the Count’s household. It was mostly lamentations about Count Brequod’s inability to handle the… peasants despite his heavy handed methods though.”

“So we got a populace that’s likely been suffering for quite some time, who got fed up and raised up in revolt,” added Ylisera from the side. “And there’s elements in the city who went wild and just… looted and pillaged. The criminal elements let loose, I presume.”

“It’s likely that they organized the revolt in the first place, and then just called the place theirs,” replied Elfriede after some thought. “Varsha always said that the current boss of Norouz’s underworld was an ambitious asshole of a whoreson. From all I heard about him, this seems like something up his alley.”

“So to summarize, the city’s likely under criminal hands, who's having their way with the populace. I guess that’d at least paint the army as the better option after we take over the city,” nodded Reinhardt as he too took in the implications. “What about the defenses?”

“Shoddy. Makeshift things all over, and some parts of the city were even fighting amongst themselves. I saw some areas barricaded with those inside fighting against those outside,” replied Hannah honestly. “Can’t be more than five, ten thousand at most? If you count just the mobs.”

“Very doable numbers, especially with the army we got. We might not even have that much to do for this fight, but just have everyone be ready for action in case we’re called,” said Reinhardt, to the nods of the people around the table. “That would be all for now. Dismissed. Lars, Friede, you two stay please.”

After everyone else filed out of the tent and only the three of them were left behind, Reinhardt looked at the two next to him. They were the only locals around, other than Lars’ small group of followers. If anyone might have heard of any way in or out of Norouz that few know of, it would likely be them.

“Either of you perchance know a way into Norouz that’s not used much?” he asked hopefully.

“Afraid not,” replied Elfriede with a shake of her head. “I was never out of Zefirous until the day I left the Holy Kingdom altogether. Never been to Norouz.”

“I have no clue either,” said Lars when Reinhardt turned to him. “I could ask my troops, but I highly doubt any of them would have anything useful to share. Like the madam, we’re all natives of Zefirous as well. I’ve been to Norouz a couple times before, but that was through the front gates.”

“Hmm… oh well, guess it’s just wishful thinking on my part,” said Reinhardt with a sigh as he shook his head and laughed at himself. “Another thousand gold in the coffers would go a long way with the rebuilding we’d need after all this.”

Elfriede just wordlessly patted him in the back, right between the shoulders, before she scratched him there through his coarse fur, which elicited a thankful look from him as he pulled her closer. Lars was clever enough to read the mood and excused himself from the tent.