“While distribution of spoils was often the most contentious part of a mercenary contract, due to cases of employers attempting to short the mercenaries of their share, or the mercenaries demanding more than what the agreement stipulated, the dwarves were renowned to have never fallen into this particular issue.

Part of the reason was because some articles of dwarven law were directly relevant to such a proceeding, and the dwarves simply applied it. What was once the dwarven ritual of the sharing of winnings was adopted as a foolproof method to settle distribution of spoils. Movements had been abound in other nations to adopt such a similar system, but to little success to this day.” - from a lecture by Garth Wainwrought, Dean of the Levain Institute of Higher Learning, circa 681 FP.

City of Norouz

Former Holy Kingdom of Theodinaz territory, now the northernmost reaches of Knallzog territory

Western Alcidea

7th day, 1st week, 10th month of the year 2 FP.

“A toast! To Victory and to generous employers!” Reinhardt shouted over the din of the tavern. His words were welcomed by raucous cheers by the customers, most of them either his own people or Barnaby's. Flagons, tankards, and horns bumped into each other, with none of them caring much about the cheap ale within, as they reveled in their victory.

After the short battle where the God-King’s attempted escape was repulsed, the armies returned to Norouz, where they had made their report to the Crown Prince, who was quite delighted by the results, to say the least.

The four detachments that fought the God-King’s retinue was rewarded as promised, with extra rewards given to the survivors of the detachment that first encountered the God-King’s convoy - of which only barely a hundred fifty survived - and Reinhardt’s Free Lances, who were crucial in fighting off the escape attempt.

On top of that, the bounty for the God-King’s head was not the only thing they received, but also the bounty for the archpriest - the very mist archmage Salicia took down - and the Commander of the Holy Guards, one of the previous God-King’s many lovers and godmother to the current God-King, the middle-aged woman who fought to the last.

An extra four hundred gold’s worth of bounty was most definitely welcome even if the coffers of the company currently overflowed, as they had plenty of salvage to be further converted into hard currency as well, on top of the payment for the campaign.

The Crown Prince himself had handed Reinhardt the payment slip signed by his own hand - cashable in any official holding of Knallzog proper, which at the moment had not counted Norouz and Zefirous yet as they still scrambled to import the necessary officials and infrastructure - which was a good bit over twice what they had originally signed for, with all the bonuses and bounties.

It was a good thing, for they would need the money to reimburse the families of the slain amongst other things, but with such a bounty in hand, Reinhardt could comfortably distribute the hazard pay and a bit extra as condolences to the bereaved, and still come off with a healthy sum in hand to rebuild the company.

Where there were a little over three hundred of them after Fort Ascher, they currently numbered less, since they had lost around forty-five to the battles in Norouz, Fort Fendorf, and that last fight where they caught the God-King. On top of that, around a dozen of the more senior mercenaries also chose to retire as they felt they had seen and risked enough. Some of them would remain with the Lances in a non-combat capacity like Dacia, but others would split off and go their own ways.

Fortunately, when he asked permission from the Crown Prince to do a recruitment drive in Norouz and Zefirous before they left, the Crown Prince granted it without asking any questions. For the past three days the city had been in a celebratory mood, as the dwarves had not skimped and brought out the good food and drinks to celebrate the campaign’s end.

The citizens of Norouz had not expected that they would be included in such festivities, so they were quite surprised when the dwarves beckoned them over with all smiles and shoved platters full of rich roasted meats and tankards of good dwarven ale to them. It had not taken long before the whole city got pulled into the jubilation that way.

Similar celebrations likely took place in Zefirous, and Reinhardt had allowed his company to rest for the week in Norouz, while he tasked Lars and several of his people who had learned common best to begin a recruitment drive around town.

Just as insurance, he asked Elfriede and a few others to keep an eye on Lars as he performed the task, a precaution that turned out to be unneeded as the defector simply did what he was ordered to do as best he could. He did the job well enough to impress Elfriede, which was enough for Reinhardt.

By fifthday of the next week, six days after their return to Norouz, Lars had brought a good fifty-two people who showed interest and proved capable enough that they would not be mere cannon fodder. He and his group had carefully sorted out the incapable and the questionable from those who applied. Elfriede and those supervising the recruitment drive helped out from time to time as well with checking the qualifications of the applicants, so Reinhardt was quite satisfied with the sorting.

To his surprise some of the faces in the crowd turned out to be familiar. Amongst them were Alva - the male prostitute that they had rescued and served as their guide during the battle of Norouz - and his younger sister Kari. The effeminate man proved to be a good shot with a bow and skulking around, something he attributed to how he often used to poach game illegally just so he and his sister would not have to starve. His sister also proved to be a deft hand with a knife.

After everything that happened in the past month, they had decided to roll the dice, and to attempt a different way of living than how they had lived all this while, a sentiment Reinhardt had naturally agreed to, knowing what they had suffered back then.