“Though a city might have lost part of its glory, nothing can take the ages worth of history engraved into its every corner unless one leveled it down to the ground completely.” - Markus Ionus Balius, Historian from the First Elmaiya Empire.

Once they approached the city proper the next morning – the convoy chose to spend the night outside rather than arrive way late in the night – Reinhardt hmmed and hawed as he observed the outermost wall of Levain with a critical eye. The walls themselves were at a height of only ten meters, which was rather short for a capital city, though perhaps that was so due to expediency, as there was a great area to encircle with the wall, after all.

Not many members of the Free Lances headed into the city. The majority of the company started to set up camp to the north-west of the city, where there was a clearing prepared for them to use. They were also upstream of the river compared to the city proper, which was a nice concession all considered. Reinhardt only took Lars, Elfriede, Erycea, Salicia, and Grünhildr with him, plus a few members from Elfriede’s platoon as “guards”. Salicia’s father and Ze’phane guided them through the gates.

The buildings between the outermost wall and the sixth wall of the city showed many signs of damage, as the outermost ring in general had been mostly abandoned after the city’s populace dropped by nearly half. The ruins of the buildings were left behind to serve as obstacles to make life more difficult for any invading party, with only select sections cleared out to serve as roadways between the walls.

As they approached the sixth wall, Reinhardt noticed that it was taller than the outermost wall at twelve meters in height. It was a clever setup, to have the inner wall be taller than the outer wall, so that invaders that managed to occupy the outer wall would still be at a height disadvantage to the defenders atop the inner wall further into the city.

While there were only token amounts of people atop the outermost walls – likely sentries who were there to give out early warnings of any approach – the sixth wall was more heavily populated. Reinhardt could see dozens of people patrolling the walkways at the top of the wall from below, with the gatehouse leading further inside also properly guarded.

The wagon they were on – with Councillor Adenauer sitting next to Erycea, who held the reins – were let through without much fuss, given how two high-ranking members of the city were vouching for them, and once through the gatehouse of the sixth wall, they began seeing the people that lived inside the city that used to be the Empire’s capital.

Most of the citizens that remained had hard looks on their faces, looks Reinhardt were all too familiar with, that of a people who had seen enough war to last a lifetime. The situation they were in meant that they were forced to participate in more wars, however, unless they were content to huddling like scared mice in their houses while the various warlords fight over sovereignty of their home.

He also noted the generally proud looks that the locals gave to the members of the militia that patrolled the roads, a clear sign of support from the locals to their fighting men and women, which was a good thing. That said, he also noticed how those same locals gave looks of disgust at a passing group of knights – easily noticeable due to their better armor and the heraldry on the tabards they wore – which hinted at some internal conflict which might be exploitable.

After all, the masters of those knights were likely part of the list of people that Reinhardt would be rewarded for if he could arrange to either discredit them or make them meet unfortunate “accidents” on the battlefield. Part of the local nobles who had grown unruly and wanted more authority than what the city council were willing to give them.

It was a situation he was no foreigner to. On the surface, the council and the nobles remained civil and cooperative with each other, but behind the scenes, they tried to plot against the other side where they could get away with it. Maintaining the facade of unity was mostly for the benefit of the citizens, as both sides knew that they needed popular support to rule.

Reinhardt himself could care less about that, though he was being paid to help the council, so if the opportunity presented itself, he would take any opening the nobles presented to drag them into the mud.

Much like before, the fifth layer of Levain’s walls was yet again taller than the sixth layer before it. The increase in height repeated itself every layer afterwards, with the second layer being easily twenty meters in height, resplendent with a multitude of ballistas and catapults at the top, arranged like the gemstones on a crown.

He estimated that from the second layer, those siege engines could likely rain death anywhere from the third layer onwards, and even reach to the outside of the city proper. The way they were angled hinted at long-range bombardment rather than closer ranged shots, which if he estimated with the range of good quality dwarven-made siege engines, would just about reach beyond the outermost walls.

Since the Empire was a mixed society, they lacked no dwarves to work in their forges, after all.

Bernd and Ze’phane led the wagon straight to the innermost layer of the city, enclosed behind a layer of walls twenty-five meters high. The area inside was where the Imperial Palace once stood, though nowadays, the ruins had been cleaned and the area rebuilt to accommodate the council chamber as well as residential areas for the councilors and their families instead.

It was that very council chamber where they were headed to. A large building built in a shape similar to a theater, though left roofless, with fabric awnings that could be drawn out to cover the space below as needed. When they arrived, the council happened to be in the midst of its morning session.