Coming out of the dense towering forests of the "Ruins of the Three Towers", along the rushing Ivey River, not far to the west, is an open and fertile plain, and a prosperous city sits on both sides of the riverbank, which is the capital of the "Iveling" and the southern capital of the Empire, Iveheim.

Riding horses provided by the Dark Elves and guided by professional guides, Brienne and her party emerged from the woods in just four days and galloped all the way to the majestic city.

In order to save time, it is inevitable to sleep in the open and camp in the wilderness on the road, during which I also encounter a handful of robbers and a forest goblin dressed in tatters, but it is easy to solve it with almost no effort, and it is quite smooth.

Despite the vast territory of the empire, it was the largest human country in the old world, but for various reasons, there were dangers within its territory all the time, and even in many cases, internal troubles far outweighed external troubles.

This is because after the first thousand years of peaceful development, the next thousand years were the most chaotic thousand years, the empire has been in a situation of division of princes, at most three electors at the same time, each emperor, each province, and even each town, the war has not stopped, resulting in the overall strength of the empire has been greatly weakened.

Sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you will retreat.

With the lords of all regions preoccupied with fighting for territory and expanding their own interests, they simply had no spare energy to take care of the enemies hiding in the dark, and as a result, they had a chance to breathe.

The green skins that had been swept away have resurfaced and are once again everywhere.

The beastmen, who had been driven into the woods, resumed their activities, wandering around and sacking human towns.

The Skaven Ratmen turned back underground to sow discord through assassination and intrigue to further the chaos.

There are also the undead of Sylvania, who even invaded the empire twice in a big way, almost successfully, under the leadership of vampires.

In the same way, the eyes of the Chaos Evil God never left this land, and in the countryside, in the towns, in the fortresses, and even in the capitals of various provinces and empires, more and more believers have thrown themselves into the arms of the evil gods, including a large number of corrupted officials and nobles.

The rapid expansion of the empire in the early days of the empire gradually turned into a strategic defense, and the previous plans to open up the wilderness and forests were all frustrated, and large tracts of farmland and estates close to the forests were forced to be abandoned.

In the end, the Empire was left to keep the towns and the roads between them safe, and the rest of the land had to be ceded to the rampaging Greenskins and Beastmen as a place for them to gather and revel.

Fortunately, heroes emerge from troubled times, and before everything becomes irreparable, the "Great Holy War" breaks out, and a new emperor stands up, Magnus the "Pious", who reunites the country that is about to fall apart, and leads a large army north to support Kislev, which is besieged by the Chaos army, and finally defeats the invasion of evil forces with the help of the High Elves.

Now that it has been more than a hundred years since that magnificent history, the strength of the empire in all aspects has begun to recover, although not long ago it encountered the aaagh of the green-skinned warlord Gollum! But this time there was no repeat of the mistakes of the past, precisely because the cowardly Emperor Dieter IV was directly ousted from power and replaced by another Elector who had shown valor in the fight against the Greenskins.

The new emperor did bring a new look and a bright future to the empire, but the dark diseases accumulated over thousands of years were not so easy to get rid of, it was a very difficult and long process, but at least in some large and medium-sized cities, the local residents did not have to worry about it, and there were enough well-trained and well-equipped troops to ensure their safety.

As the capital of the "Iveling Territory", Iveheim is like this, and there is a scene of peace and prosperity everywhere.

When Brienne arrived, it was noon, and the bright and soft sun, the ancient brick and stone walls, the endless flow of people, and the bustling sound all reminded them that they had returned to civilization from the mysterious and gloomy underground world.

The two ladies were finally able to take off the masks that concealed their identities and restore their original glamorous appearances, and the newly accepted silver swordsmen, Tim and Rostov, had already taken off their original robes and changed into the outfits of ordinary mercenaries, the latter even wore a silver badge symbolizing a D-class mercenary, which was one level higher than Fitandila, and as for a guy who still wore a G-class log badge, it was incomparable.

They used to wear the robes of the "Broken Wheel" in the black market to prevent some members of the Thieves' Guild from coveting and prying eyes, and now they continue to wear them, which is a blatant provocation to the Empire, and the witch hunters and clergy of the major sects who received the news must be happy to exchange these two heads for gold coins or sacrifices to their gods.

The only exception was Elizabeth, who put on her heavy cloak and hood again to hide her unusual appearance as much as possible to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Along the way, she and Fitandila rode together, not much easier than the others, but they did not shout tired, thanks to the "Hourglass of Death" of Mrs. Vampire, there were no accidents in the past few days, and everyone finally arrived at "Aviheim" as fast as possible.

When entering the city, it was Elizabeth's turn, and her appearance still caused a lot of commotion, but after Rostov gave double the city entry tax, this kind of minutiae that did not violate any city guard code was ignored in a grand manner, and the city guard soldiers who had extra income in their accounts did not embarrass them, and they were good at observing words and feelings, and they also vaguely saw that these mercenaries were not easy to mess with, so they simply put on a smiling face and let a few of them into the city.

Compared with the "border town" that is on the frontier and has been war-torn, the "Aviheim" as the provincial capital is much more lax, which is also very understandable, first, the long-term peaceful days have long worn out the vigilance of the defenders, and second, as one of the largest cities in the south of the empire, there are at least thousands of floating people who come in and out every day, and it is impossible for these guards to carefully check each of them, as long as there is no problem with it, a little girl, just a little white, can't make a fuss.

After entering the city smoothly, I walked west along the wide road, and the picture that caught the eyes of several people was obviously much more developed than the town I had passed before.

The road under your feet is paved with cobblestones, and from time to time there are vehicles pulled by various livestock, and rows of houses on both sides of the road, mostly mixed brick and stone structures, many of them two or three stories high, look like they have just been built.

The faces of ordinary pedestrians passing by are not like other places, because of malnutrition and vegetables, most of them are ruddy, and their bodies are strong, at least they can hold up the coats made of linen or cotton on their bodies, although the colors of these clothes are only red-brown, yellow-brown, blue-gray - these dyes are the cheapest, but there will be some decorative patterns on them, and with well-groomed hairstyles and beards, whether from the outside or from the mental outlook, The inhabitants of this place are far better off than humans in other places.

Food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and personal safety, in the Warhammer world, where these most basic needs can be met, it is almost like the kingdom of the gods.