“Just because you’re getting paid to do nothing doesn’t mean you get to skip out on the training.” - Old mercenary saying.

“The sun had yet to rise over the horizon,” commented Bernd Adenauer while blearily rubbing his sleepy eyes, after he dressed himself and followed Reinhardt out from the inn. Salicia had warned him the previous night that he would be made to wake up early, but he had not expected it to be that early. “Your people’s training started this early, Captain?”

“They usually start around the crack of dawn, so they should be starting their daily workout just around the time we reach the camp,” explained Reinhardt. He had taken the trouble to arrange for a wagon – just a simple open-backed flatbed on wheels with a perch for the driver in front – to carry them back to the encampment, as the city’s carriage service had not yet started at the early hour. “Hope you aren’t too picky about your ride.”

“Eh, better than walking, I always say,” replied the nobleman with a shrug as he nimbly leapt into the wagon and seated himself snugly against the front-left corner of the open area, his back resting against the short walls on the sides of the wagon, with his legs crossed. Reinhardt followed suit and seated himself next to him on the front-right corner, while the three women lounged against the back and sides of the wagon.

The driver – one of the Company’s support staff, a son of one of the veterans if Reinhardt remembered right – tugged the reins and brought the horse to a calm trot, as the wagon headed towards the Company’s encampment. Using a wagon it was a shorter trip than on foot, helped further by the empty streets of the early hour, and they reached their destination in only fifteen minutes.

Even at that early hour, the mercenary encampment was already full of all sorts of activity. Fires were lit as people were preparing breakfast, while others worked on various miscellaneous tasks. What their prospective employer came to see, however, was how the mercenaries trained their people, and that wish was fulfilled shortly after they clambered down from the wagon.

As luck had it, Erycea happened to be leading her platoon as they jogged at speed around the camp. Even while they were idle, Reinhardt had insisted that every active member of the Company commit themselves to physical training at least three times a week, in order to keep their edge, so to speak. That day happened to be Erycea’s platoon’s turn, and the group made for a sight with how they maintained formation even while they ran, despite the disparity in sizes and shapes of the members.

More eye-catching however, was the group of younger children – most around their early teenage years or thereabouts – who ran behind Erycea’s platoon, with a pretty blonde girl leading them on the run. Those young kids similarly maintained formation even while they ran at speed, keeping up with their seniors ahead of them.

A couple other platoons who had their turn come up for the training followed behind, as they jogged at speed in a wide loop around the encampment itself, while at the tail end of the group were the young trainees that had survived the selection so far, led in their rounds by some of the Company’s training officers. Unlike the active members, the trainees were made to train on a daily basis until they were deemed adequate.

“Physical training first thing in the morning?” asked Bernd Adenauer as he nodded approvingly while watching the mercenaries run laps around their encampment.

“Yeah, got to maintain their stamina even on idle days,” replied Reinhardt as he explained the sort of training he had his people do, and their schedule for it. Bernd nodded with satisfaction when he heard that the trainees were doing the training daily until they reached the sort of fitness needed for the job. “I participate in the same training, but today’s not my schedule.”

“Ah, so no exceptions even for the officers?”

“Correct,” replied Reinhardt with a nod. “You can see my older daughter there with her subordinates. She’s a platoon leader in the Company as well,” he added while pointing to Erycea who just happened to pass by after another lap. “And that’s my younger daughter. She and her friends have been joining the training for years now because they wished to join the Company once they were of age.”

“Is that… a normal thing to do?” asked the nobleman with some curiosity.

“Most of our kids were born and raised amongst us, so a lot of them wanted to join the Company as they grew up. It’s nothing unusual for us. I was that way myself when I was young,” replied Reinhardt with a shrug of his shoulders. He himself was raised by his adoptive parents amongst the Company, and joining them as he grew up felt only natural to him. “My older daughter also did the same. She joined our training since she was five, and joined the Company in full once she was of age.”

“Quite… impressive,” said the nobleman after a moment of silence which was probably because he was not sure what he could say under the circumstances.

“Anyway, you are most interested in how we train our trainees, right?” asked Reinhardt, to which the nobleman nodded in the affirmative. “Let me get your someone in charge of it, real quick. Hey! Dacia! Come over for a bit!”

Dacia, who had been one of the training officers accompanying the trainees on their run, heard Reinhardt’s shout and quickly passed the trainees over to the other officers before she peeled off from the group and headed to where Reinhardt and the others were standing, a distance away. The middle-aged woman stood at attention and saluted before them as she arrived.

“You called for me, Captain?”

“Yeah, this here is Mister Bernd Adenauer, a messenger from a prospective employer,” said Reinhardt as he introduced the nobleman to her. “He’s interested in seeing how we train our newcomers. As such, I would like you and your crew to walk him through the process for the day. You can manage that, I assume?”

“Certainly, Captain,” replied Dacia with a firm nod. “Mister Adenauer, if you would follow me?”