“Have you ever heard of the gall of those feather-pushers? Those wimps who live their whole lives behind the safe walls of their cities? They want us to coddle our little ones? Calling training them to use arms so soon is unnecessary cruelty? Do they want our kids to roll over and present themselves as snacks when the next raider or wild beast comes over then?

Those cocksuckers who’s probably never been inconvenienced by things bigger than a fly have no idea how we live here, do they? Where a wolf would just as happily munch on one of your kids if you left them unattended, or savages would raid and hunt us down for fun. Maybe those shitheads ought to take up the spear and join them border guard boys for a while and have a taste of living here themselves first!” - Maria Stravos, village elder from an unnamed frontier village in Northern Clangeddin, later known as Maria the Goblin-Killer for her feats during the defense of her village from raiders.

“Good afternoon, Soledad,” said Reinhardt when he spotted the leader of the newest additions to the Free Lances approach him the next day. He was seated on an empty box while munching on a large leg of turkey, while his other hand gently held Alycea, who was laughing happily as he bounced her on his powerful thighs. “What brought you here?”

The culture amongst the Lances was for most members to do away with titles except when speaking to him, where many of the members called him “Captain”, or for closer friends, a playful “Boss”, and just to refer to each other by their first names. It was a symbolic gesture amongst themselves, to signify that they were all just simple mercenaries, regardless of whatever background they hailed from previously.

Soledad was far from the first member of the Company with some noble lineage in her. After the Theodinaz conflict Reinhardt had learned that his wife turned out to be a bastard daughter of a Count from the now-gone Holy Kingdom. Others within the mercenaries had also admitted of previously hailing from a noble lineage, though they had not elaborated further, Salicia amongst others, and everybody else refrained from asking about it.

“Afternoon, Captain,” replied the noblewoman-turned-mercenary politely as she approached. Reinhardt could see that she seemed a bit unsure of how to say what she came to say, so he just waited as he played with Alycea on his lap some more. “I was… wondering what you meant when you said not to worry about the kids yesterday. I guess I got my answer when Valeria came home with so many bruises I lost count.”

“Not the first one to have similar ideas around here,” said Reinhardt with a slight chuckle as he curled his biceps repeatedly while Alycea hung on to his hand with both of hers, laughing all the way. “Let’s just say that with people from so many cultures around here, we quickly learned that the kids would get into brawls all the time unless they got themselves sorted out, so we had them do just that.”

“Val also told me about some sort of Junior Division,” asked Soledad as she stood in a parade rest position, feet splayed with her hands behind her back. “Did you set those up too? Sounds a bit… extreme to have the kids look forward to this sort of life from so young.”

“Oh no, that’s something they themselves set up,” replied Reinhardt with a shake of his head before he took one last bite from the meat and discarded the bone. “Started out with some of the kids who knew they wanted to join the Company as they grew up, ended up as pretty much an informal club for them in a way, though every one of the kids there basically wanted to be one of us when they’re older.”

“I see,” said Soledad with a nod. Reinhardt noticed how her eyes trailed away as her attention was caught by the sparring practice that happened not too far away from where he sat. Many members of the Company loved to spar with one another in their free time, though one particular pair seemed to have caught Soledad’s eyes.

Elfriede was sparring with Erycea on the field, the nine-year-old girl already as tall as her mother’s chest, as the training weapons they used struck one another’s with high speed. It was obvious that Elfriede was still taking it easy on her daughter, since she only used one hand to fend off the pair of sticks Erycea used.

“Again,” said Elfriede nonchalantly after she rapped Erycea’s side with the training stick she held in her hand. The sticks they used were made from a sturdy, but light and flexible wood native to the region, weighted with some metal near the handle to simulate the weight of a proper weapon. A hit from them still hurt quite a bit, however, as canes made from the same wood were used instead of whips for the flogging punishments in the Duchy.

Elfriede had definitely not held back much while she trained her own daughter, as her strikes, while not hard enough to break skin, would still leave behind painful bruises to better drive the lessons home. Erycea herself seemed used to it, as at most she’d only rub the struck area for a bit before she went straight back into the spar.

“Seeing that definitely answered how Val got beaten so badly yesterday,” said Soledad with a somewhat appreciative whistle as she watched the mother and daughter spar. “Probably what the girl needed too I guess. She’s too used to beating up city brats. That said, don’t you think that might be too much for one so young?”

“She wanted to join us herself,” said Reinhardt with a shake of his head. “If she had wanted a peaceful life, we would have done everything in our power to make it possible for her, but she wanted to join us instead. The best thing we could do for her is to make sure she got what it takes to survive this kind of life, even if it involved some harsh training. As a fellow parent, wouldn’t you have done the same?”

“Fair point, Captain…” said the former noblewoman after she contemplated his words for a few moments. “I guess some part of me still hoped that my little girl would find a more peaceful calling in her life, but after seeing how her eyes shined last night despite all the bruises, I guess I should come to terms with how she’ll likely live our sort of life as well.”

“Then you might want to train her from early on for it.”

“I will do just that, yeah.”