“For a smaller mercenary company to subjugate themselves to the service of a larger one was not too different from a nation becoming a vassal to another. More often than not, the smaller unit was allowed to operate semi-independently, but under the command of the larger one. Their members and command structure were usually kept as it was at first, until they slowly integrated to become a true part of the larger company. This sort of practice was very common during the Times of Turmoil, the hundred-year period in which various conflicts small and large happened all across Alcidea.” - From a lecture by Garth Wainwrought, Dean and former Professor of Socioeconomy at the Levain Institute of Higher Learning, circa 688 FP.

“Captain Edelstein! A pleasure to see you again, with another good harvest at that!” said Duke Sandoval Utghwes of Dvergarder just as the Free Lances and the thousand or so villagers they escorted - they had split up and struck four villages near the border at once - returned to Dvergarder.

The other three groups had not encountered resistance, though Lars’ group did run into a village that had practically no provisions whatsoever. Apparently the knights Reinhardt’s group had intercepted and killed were also making their rounds when they happened to run afoul of the Free Lances, and Reinhardt had discovered a large sum of supply in several large storage rings on those knights.

Because the village Lars went to was further into the Barony’s territory, the youths there had been drafted months ago, which left mostly the sick and injured, old and young. Many of them showed obvious worries for their loved ones drafted into the Baron’s army, but they also had no choice and obediently obeyed the mercenaries.

Fortunately, the Duke seized the opportunity and asked Reinhardt to have the villagers lined up. He then delivered a rousing speech to them, and ordered food supplies and other tools necessary to build a village to be distributed to them, as well as tents for temporary shelter. The speech and distribution of food helped buoy the morale of the villagers, and more than a few of them were moved to tears that the ruler of their new home had talked to them in person.

Reinhardt thought that the villagers, although most were forcefully brought to the duchy, would be unlikely to cause trouble after such a performance.

They parted ways with the villagers from there, as the Duke’s men took over and led the villagers towards the sites of their new homes. Reinhardt himself followed after the Duke with a few others in tow, as he dismissed the rest of the Company and gave them a day’s leave in town.

“What do you need us for, Your Grace?” asked Reinhardt as the Duke led them to his residence. Duke Utghwes was a tall, stocky middle-aged man, broad of frame and of a powerful build. The way he walked spoke of years dedicated to martial training. He had a deep olive brown skin tone, which was rather atypical for southerners in posuin, who usually had a darker brown to charcoal black skin, but Reinhardt attributed it to the man’s heritage as his family often intermarried with their northerner allies.

“It is more of a personal matter, Captain, one that involves your company,” replied the Duke with a smile. Duke Utghwes had been a model employer in the past half year the Free Lances had worked with him. As such, Reinhardt had not doubted his smile to be anything else than a genuine one.

The Duke had some of his servants bring them to a waiting room where they were served snacks and refreshments, and after a short while, rejoined them with a woman in tow. The woman was also tall for a human woman, of stocky, powerful build with a few visible scars on her olive skin. There was some resemblance between her and the Duke, but not enough to suspect familial relations between them.

“This is Soledad de Guzman, my third cousin,” said the Duke as he introduced the woman, who offered her hand for a shake to the mercenaries present. Her grip was powerful, and the calluses on her hands betrayed a history of holding and using weapons. “She leads a small mercenary band and had been looking for a larger company to join. Since I happen to employ several companies in recent years, I had asked her if she wanted to choose between them.”

With the introduction done, the Duke then left them with the woman. He had only been there to introduce them and to facilitate the meeting, and left the mercenaries to talk with each other afterwards. They quickly found that Soledad was far closer to themselves than to nobles like the Duke.

“So, Miss de Guzman, what brought you to decide the mercenary life is for you?” Reinhardt asked after they exchanged some small talk with the woman. “And what made you decide to choose the Free Lances to join? I know that Uncle Stefan runs a bigger and more reputable company than ours.”

“Uncle Stefan” was Stefan Horst, Commander of the Horst’s Hellraisers, one of the largest mercenary companies in Alcidea, numbering close to five thousand men and boasting an earth archmage - Stefan Horst himself - amongst their ranks. Like Graf Harscape, he had been quite close friends with the late Ingrid Edelstein and was almost like an Uncle to Reinhardt.

“Two reasons, Captain Edelstein,” replied the woman with a big, honest smile on her face. “One is that my band is composed exclusively of cavalry. We have a dozen heavies, plus two and a half dozen light cavalrymen under our banner. By nature, we are skirmishers harassers, while the Hellraisers mostly work by dwarven doctrine and specialized in sieges and defenses. I do not feel that we would be a good fit with them.”

“Fair point. And the second?”

“Your Free Lances had rebuilt from a disaster that would have caused many companies to disband just a few years ago, and I have done my investigations too,” said the woman with a confident smile. “Your track record in the past five years had been flawless, and despite the disaster, your company’s performance in the Theodinaz campaign received several commendations from your employer. That and your troops have a large number of irregulars with them, so I feel you would know how to make use of me and my boys properly, unlike more doctrinal types.”

“Gotta say, boss, she made a good argument,” said Ylisera from behind him. Over the past five years the elven woman had fought alongside the others, though she still slipped back to her old occupation from time to time when she felt like it, and her popularity had just skyrocketed amongst the mercenaries since.

“In case you worry about it, I’m just another mercenary. Sandoval called me his third cousin, but I’m from a distant branch family. We’re just wealthy farmers in the boonies, nothing noble about it,” said the woman with another smile. “Even used to clean the stables myself at ma and pa’s place when I was young, so I won’t be balking at some dirty work.”

The Lances themselves were not new to such an offer. They had integrated two other smaller companies over the past five years, and despite the attrition from battles and people leaving because they realized mercenary life was not for them, had slowly increased their roster to seven hundred over the years, despite only doing smaller jobs to recuperate rather than search for fame in larger battles.

To integrate another small company of forty would be of little issue to the current Free Lances, and an actual cavalry detachment - a small portion of the Lances could travel at speeds that matched cavalry for short periods, but they lacked actual cavalry - would be of use to them as well. As such, Reinhardt decided to accept the proposal after some thought.

“We will have to see how well we work together first, but otherwise, I will approve of your proposal for now, Miss de Guzman,” he said as he shook the woman’s hand once more. “We will muster outside the western gate at sunset tomorrow. Bring your band in and we will officially welcome you then.”

“Thank you, Captain,” replied Soledad. “And please, just call me Soledad.”