"The best warriors are forged in the crucible of the battlefield, not on training fields." - Old saying amongst soldiers.

"Let that be a lesson for you girls to keep in mind," chastised Cal sternly when they had returned to the guild, finished their reports, and left to have some dinner. "Do not underestimate your enemies. You girls got too comfortable with the previous camps that you had let your guard down when that archmage appeared. Some of you might have died in other circumstances."

"Yes, aunt," replied her nieces with some embarrassment. They were well aware of the mistakes they had made, as well as how they simply got used to having Ying Xiao as a vanguard, which ingrained some bad habits in how they had fought.

"I think all of you need some more tempering in what real battles would be like," mused Cal for a moment as she looked upon her chastised nieces. Ying Xiao she had spared the chastisement as the girl had not made the same error as her nieces, for after all she needed to often dive in headlong to fight properly. "Fortunately, we have a convenient place to do so nearby."

"Emm ma'am, do you mean to go straight through Cerilan?" Dan asked with some trepidation. This time he had more reason behind his trepidation, for the neighboring province, the Cerilan Emirate, generally known as a trade hub, has been embroiled in a rebellion that had practically split the province in half over the past few years.

The west of Cerilan were in rebel hands, while the newly instated young Emir's loyalists held the eastern half still. The young ruler was instated only last year when his father was killed by an assassin's hand. The war situation itself was a stalemate, with both sides hiring mercenaries for manpower and setting bounties on the heads of important figures supporting the other side.

"Eh, we already pissed one side off anyway," said Cal nonchalantly with a shrug before she picked up some meat and flatbread from her plate and munched on them. "It's not like they'd ignore us cutting off one of their money sources along with their head mage's little brother."

"We did?" Elaina asked somewhat innocently. She hadn't been involved in searching for the precious belongings in the camps, as he more detail-oriented sister was better for that task, and had mostly helped watch over the captives instead.

"The first camp you girls hit reports directly to the last one," explained Cal with some mischief in her voice. "That third one on the other hand, was one of the means the rebels in Cerilan secured funding, and that archmage there was present here to oversee the situation. From his letters, he also seems to be the younger half sibling to the rebel side's head court mage."

"So you girls tell me if those rebels would remain quiet after what you did? Much less if they eventually win?" Cal asked her nieces and student in the end. "When dealing with people you already have enmity with, either reconcile properly, or better yet, you cut the weeds from its very roots."

"Instead of waiting for them to find trouble with us, we are going to finish them off, shīfù?" Ying Xiao asked from her seat, looking as nonchalant as Cal was at the prospect of making enemies with an entire rebel force strong enough to take over half a province.

"Eh, none of you girls even live on this continent. We'll just take care of that brother of the fire guy and whoever else comes our way, but I see no need to go out of our way and do the work of others for them when we're just passing by," replied Cal with a shrug. She had looked over what information she could find about the situation next door, and found herself in understanding on why the Caliph had just ignored it. The rebel side had already declared that they remained loyal to the Caliph and paid taxes and tribute, so the matter was considered an internal matter for the province to settle on their own.

Similar cases has happened in the City-states and the Union of Free Nations before, and such small, localized warfare was how mercenaries who specialized for that purpose - a field of occupation that has been slowly dwindling due to the relative peace in the past century - make their living.

With the next step of their journey in mind, everyone had a good meal and a proper rest that night, before they continued on their trip the next day. The bounty from the three camps of illegal loggers had been processed and awarded to the girls by the morning, with some bonus on top for finding the link between them and the neighboring province's rebel faction.

Cal brought the girls towards the north, headed slightly westwards, which would make them enter the neighboring Cerilan Emirate on the rebel occupied side. Naturally she had previously had the girls collect the information on the bounties the other side offered as well, since they'd already decided to go there anyway. While their purpose was more for their own needs, having someone pay them while they were at it was never a bad thing, as Kino aptly put it.

Three days after departing from Golmos, they spotted the Cerilan border, where she saw minimal guard presence, since most were concentrated at the border shared by the rebels and the loyalists. The guards just allowed them entry without much questioning when they said that they were there for mercenary work, with such cases apparently commonplace.

Even as Cal's group was waved through another group of mercenaries, a larger one of over fifty people had arrived and shortly after was allowed in as well. Cal ignored the few lewd whistling her ears caught as those mercenaries passed by, and just took a less used road towards the north instead with the girls behind her, Kino following with obvious amusement on her face while Dan looked around with some trepidation.

Those guards had no idea that they had just invited a wolf right into their own flock of sheep.