Riding on Los, through the tall grass of Pruinan plain, Adam had an amazing view of the city lying in the distance.
Today marked seven days of travel, from the nameless town at the Pruino-Derdanian border, and finally, the envoys stumbled onto a centre of civilisation bigger than a hamlet, or a small town.
In the distance, high city walls surrounded by fields green from yet-to-mature vegetables and wheat looked over a vast plain.
The plain stretched far and wide around the city, with only a tree grove or a small hill disturbing the predominantly flat terrain.
Cities in the Pruinos Empire were quite similar to the ones in Derdania. Both had defensive walls encasing nearly all buildings of the settlement - with the exception of monster hunters' residences, slaughterhouses and other places where carcasses adorn the walls and floors are red from blood.
Yet, those few and far-in-between differences made the two easily recognisable from each other.
The first difference a traveller would see is the way Pruinaians built walls - it was far more complex and intricate than simple Derdanian palisades. Hundreds of years into a war, regardless of how much of them were spent actively fighting their enemy, made Pruinian architects adept in the art of war, be it sieging or being sieged.
One of the first 'tricks' learned by the meadow-dwelling war architects was an efficient way of taking advantage of hills and creating their own hills in places where they benefit them.
As such, the wall surrounding the city was located on a moderate hill, steep but not too high. On the said hill, wooden walls on stone fundaments towered over the meadows. In the hills, that supported the wall - lay an intricate structure made of wood and stone, which supported the hill against any form of change.
The last part, envoys got to know thanks to Gravis's curiosity over the Empire, which was unusual for the normally geographically unaware Derdanians.
As such, Pruinian walls were much different than Derdanian ones - one could say that they were impenetrable in comparison to the child-like defences of forest-dwelling northerners.
Second of the most easily recognisable features of the meadow cities, were their size.
While Derdanians strived to build high buildings that gave them the most space for the same plot of land, torn from the forest with blood and tears, inhabitants of the lowlands didn't have such consideration for space.
Instead of building high, they build wide - high demand on wood and stone made making fundaments unpopular and far more costly than buying enough land to accommodate a building twice the size, compensating for the lack of a second floor.
Consequently, Pruinian cities seemed far larger than their Derdanian counterparts, despite the same population. Also, it made finding the official buildings, often two storeys high, way easier without a random tavern stretching towards the clouds.
Another factor widening the span of the Pruinian cities was their massive drill squares - The ever-fighting empire cultivated a militaristic society, filled with fighting maniacs and warriors priding themselves on their prowess.
Cities far from the border were safer and calmer - but the closer you got the the hostile country, the less you would see young men in the cities. Early adulthood is the most fearsome time in the Pruinian boy's lifespan, not only do they have to acclimate themselves to adult life, but the constant threat of irrefutable recruitment into the iron ranks of the imperial army looms over each boy's head.
The massive drill squares were constantly reminding the citizens of the war battled far beyond the horizon, where their countrymen were slaughtered, and where their sons may be sent - only to die because of a fireball that lost its path.
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Los's hooves struck the paved road rhythmically, as he walked forward due to his master's whims. Walking slowly, he looked around in curiosity, flinging his brown hair around - and breaking his master out of grim thoughts, by whipping him in the face with his unruly, brown hair.
Looking around ended in no time though, a stray strand of hair reached Parcas, who didn't like his nap being interrupted, especially in such an aggressive way.
The not-exactly-tuxedo cat retaliated in no time, striking Los's head furiously with his paw while meowing reprimandingly.
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Yeah, Adam's thoughts wandered far from the peculiarities of Pruinian architecture in comparison to Derdanian, So we will stop talking about the repercussions of the neverending war on the Empire and its citizens in particular.
But we will also not return to talking about architecture, you see, the envoys got close to the city walls - it's high time we return to our heroes.
After nearing the gates, Algier went forward to talk with the guards standing at both sides of the metal-framed entrance.
While the senior mage talked with the locals, Adam took a good look at their group, which changed over the weeks of travel.
The most changed person was Algier himself. After arriving in their second Pruinian settlement, the evoys realised that the wind mage was too easily recognisable in his profession - even the townspeople who never saw a mage, had thought of him as such. To deal with the issue, Fenfallal had to steal Algier's clothes when the mage slept, which was quite easy considering that the envoy's leader slept naked.
To the wind mage's dread, he found his clothes torn and burnt below his tree of the night, with a note instructing him how to find the nearest clothing shop.
Now, Algier wore plain brown trousers a long white shirt and the fanciest part of his clothing - a fur coat, that he had to haggle fiercely for.
In retaliation, The Royal Sowrdmaster's garments mysteriously landed on the treetops with enigmatic holes of unknown origin in weird places.
Considering that their leader's clothes became covered with paths, the rest of the warriors had to follow suit - it would be weird if only one of them looked worn out by the road, while the rest wore new and shiny clothing. Of course, they didn't create holes, pathes over healthy material were enough.
At the moment, Adam was the only one remaining with his freshly made clothes, which was possible due to Algier fighting so fiercely for the fur coat - similar to the one accompanying Adam from Derdania.
So, the group consisted of two men in fur coats, with scarce weapons and little armour, and a group of heavily armoured warriors, true mountains of men hidden under a full armour worn out by their travels.
Of course, each person's attire differed from others - for example, Fenfallal was less armoured and his clothes were loose, flying around with each of his moves.
In short, the group lost their look of majesty in return becoming more savage-looking, and frightening.
After a short exchange of words and a few golden coins, the envoys managed to get into the city - which as they learned, was named "Northern Overseer".
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A wide road led the group deeper into the city, towards the centre where a multitude of tall buildings were easily seen - offices of officials and various other government structures - scattered around a castle nestling in the middle of the city.
The castle was big and eye-catching for a few reasons. One previously mentioned was its height, slim and elegant towers reached for the clouds among the one-storey buildings of the Northern Overseer's buildings. Another, which the castle shared with most of the higher buildings and some richer houses, was the red colour.
While mountains were far away, and procuring stones was a tough job performed only in absolute necessity, Pruinan plains - lowlands with a multitude of rivers flowing through, had their source of hard and stable material.
While not as pretty as stone (if done nicely), bricks give a unique look to buildings that are built out of them.
Also, bricks are apparently easier to use than huge stone blocks - but that's obviously only a side effect of those pretty little oblong cubes bathed in red.
Anyway, riding on the side of the road, between a multitude of one-storey houses - mainly made of wood and decorated with paint, and sometimes solitary brick buildings - envoys got to see the Pruinian way of city life, quite different than a mostly carefree society of recently destroyed, Derdanian capital.
The sidewalks treading near the building on both sides of the road were tidy and organised, it looked as if they were cleaned often, and stayed neat even without that.
Crown walked quietly, no one raised their voice or laughed, the striking of the hooves against the beaten path dominated the surroundings - instead of chatter and laughter of passersby.
Now, don't take me wrong - Pruinians were in no way a solemn, depressed society without the ability to be happy. Rather than that forces of the empire invoked fear, even among its population - ensuring no one wanted to stick out from the crowd. joy and happiness were as prevalent as in every other country, yet the laughter was muffled, quiet and personal.
Riding slowly through the orderly city, Los finally got a moment of rest when the envoys arrived before an inconspicuous tavern.
Hidden alley next to a relatively big drill square - which often took the form of a street market, the tavern wasn't the biggest building the the vicinity.
Its wooden walls, painted with oil and freshly made sign above the doors gave the building a nice look, yet didn't bring much attention. If you searched for a place to stay, you would find it, but otherwise, locals didn't focus too much on the tavern.
To the side, hugging the edge of the alley, an entrance to the backyard invited any traveller to the stables - from the street, among the cluttering of hooves and quiet conversations, animals already placed there were heard.
"Go inside and announce us to the owner - tell him to come to the stables and take us to the rooms. After that, order us some food, we will take your things to the room." Algier commanded his junior.
"Anything specific?" Adam asked concerning the meal.
The warriors shook their heads - they didn't have anything in mind, just like the wind mage. "Just make sure it is eatable, NO STEWS." Algier voiced their opinion, though most of them seemed to remember the disaster from a few days ago only after their leader mentioned it - which meant that trauma slowly vanished, fortunately.
Adam jumped off Los, giving the reins to the nearest rider, and with Parcas in tow, headed towards the main entrance of the tavern.
Before crossing the doorway, the cat disappeared in his special pocket, with only Parcas' head sticking out for the bystanders to see.
Across the doorway, a large room unveiled itself - filled with tables and benches, it was a classical tavern, where you could order some food, hear a song or tale, and get into a quality fight over minor details, otherwise uninteresting and unimportant.
Despite the early hour, the room was nearly half-filled.
Few men Laughed in the corner, drinking beer and eating buns - either celebrating something or drinking away their worries.
Near them, another group was eating an early supper - quietly, yet slowly. They probably didn't have much to do today anymore, they would leave early and sleep more today, or stay here until the nightly wave of customers arrive and either they are asked out or buy more at the counter.
Few other groups sat around, either near the counter or at the benches, around tables and conversed while eating or drinking, But Adam no longer looked around the dim, wooden room.
Nearing the counter, Adam was spotted by a bartender, who may have been an innkeeper as well.
"Hello, how can I help you?" The burly, short man with brown locks asked, leaving what he was doing before to focus on the new customer.
"Hi, I would like to rent rooms, and place in the stable for a night - 7 men and the same number of horses." He paused for a bit.
"Oh, and this buddy - but I don't think it will be a problem if he just sleeps with me, will it?" Adam asked while looking at the cat sticking out of his pocket.
"Nah, but if you want food for him, it will not be free - like your breakfast." The innkeeper responded dismissively.
"There is free breakfast? Nice... Oh - can show my companions where to leave our horses? they should be near the stables." Adam was positively surprised, which nearly made him forget about the warriors waiting outside.
"Of course - if you want to order something to eat or drink, call my daughter, she should be in the kitchen preparing for the evening surge, she will hear you if you just shout in there." The innkeeper explained and headed for a side entrance after pointing towards an ajar door behind the counter.
Adam looked at the leaving man, before turning towards the wooden door, from behind which part of the kitchen was seen.