“O, behold and despair, ye mighty!

For thou shall find naught but death and gloom,

The great seven walls won’t yield lightly,

And all that’s left for you is but doom!” – The Walls of Levain, epic poem by Garibald the Younger, poet from Clangeddin.

“Levain is the largest city in the former Empire’s territory, and probably the largest in Alcidea proper, at least above ground, as you already know,” said Councillor Bernd Adenauer as he began his explanation. “Before this whole mess started, it boasted a population of roughly a million souls, though we’re down to maybe half that after all the fighting that took place. Many had fled or died due to them, before they took up arms and took matters into their own hands.”

“So those that remained are the ones who refused to move from their homes, no matter what, and would fight tooth and nail for it, should it be needed, right?” asked Reinhardt in turn.

“A good description, yes. These citizens are the main source of how we managed to maintain such a large army at the ready. Also the main reason none of our neighbors dared to commit to a serious attack so far,” replied the former nobleman in approval. “They know that if we get pushed too hard, that might just incense the rest of the citizens to take up arms once more, and nobody wants to deal with an angry mob half a million strong.”

“And you want us to turn your militiamen into trained soldiers.”

“As best you can, yes. We do not ask that they be trained for attacking other regions, so you could skip on things like training for siege attacks, but we would like them to be well-prepared to defend our land whenever the need arises,” answered Bernd. “And if possible, we would like you to train people who can pass on the knowledge, within five years.”

“That can be arranged, we never took this as a longer-term posting anyway,” replied Reinhardt. The request was reasonable enough, especially since he would make sure it comes with a lump sum of additional payment. He was not looking for a retirement home after all, just a comfortable job for his Company to let the new members grow into the job for a few years. “Any information on what defenses we can expect to be able to use, should it come down to it?”

“Levain itself is very defensible. The outer three layers of walls had taken quite a bit of damage from the prior fighting, but we have fixed most of those as best we could in the years since. Between the amount of defenders we have and the seven layers of walls, I doubt anyone would challenge the city itself anytime soon,” said Bernd with a proud nod. “Other than that, most of the surrounding areas are mostly plains, with bits of forests here and there. Some hills to the east, but otherwise we’re looking at flatlands for the most part.”

“Better for maneuver warfare then, beneficial for your large army,” noted Reinhardt with a nod. “Also makes sense on why you’d train up a large cavalry contingent since you have terrain that’s beneficial to their deployment. Anything else you can add? What forces do… the troublesome elements you mentioned have?”

“The so-called troublesome elements are minor nobles who chose to join the city with their forces. On the surface, it looked like they joined voluntarily, but many of them were unsatisfied with being placed beneath the council,” explained the former nobleman. “They lacked the power to do anything about it, though, as the people in the city were unlikely to tolerate any sort of coup from them. Those nobles have like a hundred to five hundred or so under them, each, and there’s around a dozen in that faction.”

“Aren’t you a former noble yourself?”

“I am, though I did join the Free City on my own volition and approved of the way they did things,” replied Bernd with a smile. “At the time, my ancestral landhold was pretty much a minnow stuck between three sharks. One of them sent a letter full of implied threats, another directly threatened me to submit to them, while the third sent a polite invitation. I took the polite invitation.”

“And what of your own forces?”

“I have nearly a thousand, who primarily guard the land I was formerly in charge of. They’re familiar with the terrain so they’re best suited to do so. Unfortunately, none of my guards are that talented with teaching others, much less dealing with warfare on a larger scale, which is the main reason the council agreed to hire your Company, Captain,” he explained. “That is not to say that there was no opposition against your hiring, mind you. You can probably expect a vocal critic or challenge from one of the former nobles I mentioned once we’re in the city.”

“We can take care of that. You’re paying for it, anyway,” replied Reinhardt with a toothy smirk. To deal with people who were purposely trying to make things difficult to the council in order to advance their own interests had been a clause that was added to their contract, and it came with a bonus payment as well. Of course, he would need to find an above board and justifiable way to do so, but then again, that was what he was being paid for.

“Ah, we can see the City from here, Captain. If you would take a look?” said Bernd just as the head of the convoy crested the peak of a small hill – it was one with a shallow incline either way, which made it more practical to simply build the road over it rather than around it – that was on their way.

In the distance, towards the east where the former nobleman pointed his finger at, Reinhardt could see the faint shape of a walled city. He took his spyglass out from the storage artifact, and focused on it to see a massive city with seven layers of walls. The city itself sat on the flatlands, with a river running through it from north to south, but had no moat or ditch around it. Considering the seven layers of walls, it probably expanded too often in its past that those defensive features just ended up being filled up on the next expansion anyway.