Late at night, the once prosperous and bustling capital of Thay—Eltab City—lay silent.
There were hardly any pedestrians on the marketplaces and streets that should have been brightly lit. Only the mansions inhabited by high-ranking Red Wizards, governors, and military commanders had activated brilliant magical lights, illuminating vast surrounding areas as if it were daytime.
Elite soldiers in full armor, Constructs, and summoned creatures patrolled back and forth without pause, ensuring that no threat could approach the residences of these important figures.
After all, assassination was a "traditional art" of internal struggle within the Red Wizard Organization.
Especially Szass Tam, who had successfully eliminated two Zulkirs before the civil war even broke out. Thus, no one in the entire Council Faction dared let their guard down.
The reason Eltab City had become like this was entirely because this major city, once home to more than a hundred thousand people and among the most prominent cities in all Faerun, now had fewer than thirty thousand residents left.
Moreover, because it had suffered more than one surprise attack from the Necromancy Faction's Undead army during the civil war, most citizens capable of fleeing had already done so.
After all, magical warfare was not an ordinary conventional war, where one needed to conquer cities one by one before slowly advancing toward the enemy's lair.
With absurd things like portals capable of directly crossing spatial distances and sending armies into the heart of enemy territory, there was no such thing as a secure rear area.
Eltab City, the capital in particular, had long been infiltrated by every faction within the Red Wizards until it resembled a sieve. Secret passages and bases were everywhere, and even the Zulkirs did not know how many hidden portals Szass Tam had established or how many terrifying Undead assassins