Albrecht would be lying if he said that the sound of these late bells did not fill him with a sense of unease. In his own home, back in Austria, they, too, had church bells to tell the time, and from the sequence of rings it was not hard for Albrecht to intuit that they were running all too short on time. Strange, perhaps, that he would fear the daylight more than travelling at night, but considering his circumstances, it was not so peculiar any more.<br/><br/>The stench was not so terrible to the knight as they finally drew near; in life, he preferred his life out on the country far more than the stench of cesspool cities, and the odor of fire and death in a siege was far more palettable than the smell of a city in peace. Yet, his reaction was not so intense, strangely hollow even as he tried to disregard the unpleasant assault on his nose. It seemed more to be a habit of feeling repulsed more than true disgust that shaped his feelings towards this filthy town.<br/><br/>Yet, as he thought how many people must be crowded in here like poultry, the idea of having all these folk in one place became strangely... enticing. How hard would it be to draw blood here, as he pleased, and from his choice of such a stock? Even as limited as his taste was, it would not be so difficult to satisfy it even so. Albrecht reminded himself not to take any risks on his visit here, not when so much was at stake, yet even so he wondered if he might safely satisfy himself while he remained in the confines of this town.<br/><br/>As he stood under inspection, the Ritter paid no heed to the men gazing down him from the length of their bows, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of thinking that he was at all menaced. Honestly, they were not that much of a threat; a bolt in the chest when he was alive might have put an end to him, but now it was little worse than having a splinter in his finger, what with his body having no more need for most of his organs. And, of course, he trusted that Wulf would get him through this delay as quickly as possible, to which he was pleasantly unsurprised that they were making their way in in due course.<br/><br/>But unfortunately for Wulf, his master's attention was directed elsewhere while they spoke, focused upon the otherworldly architecture that surrounded them. While the odor was unpleasant, he did have to note that the beautiful vista certainly did make up for it. And when he saw the onion domes of what Wulf had indicated were churches, a light went off in his head; clearly, the manorial peasants refused to go to his chapel because it was not as beautiful as the ones here! As soon as they were home, Albrecht promised himself, he would send them to work immediately to build a new roof for the chapel, so that he would not be outdone by any church here.<br/><br/>But, there was only a short time that he might survey the new focus of his life. They were up the stairs in a short time, and at last meeting the Swede himself. A bit surprising to see such a strong man- he was expecting some scrawny figure only able to lift bags of coin- but he certainly was not going to comment on it. "You are quite kind, sirrah," the ritter nods, going to take his seat. "While we wait, I would appreciate it if you would tell me more of our operations here, I want to hear first hand what has been going on since before I arrived." As good as Wulf was, there was no substitute for learning as much as he could as close to the source as possible.