“The value of contracts entirely depended on who, or what, would enforce its terms. The importance of such things led directly to the rise of guilds, associations that were widespread throughout the world whose main purpose was to be the enforcer of such terms when it involved any of their members.

The rise of these international guilds was something that was rather poorly documented, but we do know for certain that the first guild to truly spread beyond national boundaries was the merchant’s guild, closely followed by the mercenary’s guild and the adventurer’s guild.

Their rise also signaled the end of the days when one could breach the terms of a contract and then simply flee away to avoid its repercussions, as said terms were enforceable in far broader scopes with the spread of these guilds.” - From a lecture by Garth Wainwrought, Professor of Socioeconomics for the Levain Institute of Higher Learning, circa 662 FP.

“What I have seen are… quite to my satisfaction, Captain Edelstein,” said Bernd Adenauer when they met once more later that evening, as Reinhardt had prepared to host the former nobleman for dinner while they talked business. Dacia had brought the nobleman around the camp to watch the training that both the active mercenaries and the trainees underwent throughout the day. “Should we speak of the contract now?”

“Certainly. We took the liberty to pen a preliminary contract for your perusal already,” said Reinhardt as he rolled a scroll over the surface of the table towards the nobleman. He and Lars had noted down the offer that the nobleman mentioned as well as added their own clauses, including additional clauses that involved extra pay for missions that involved messing with local politics and their right to withdraw from insurmountable odds. All of it was written in strict legal language with wordings that left no ambiguity that could be abused, of course.

“Well-prepared, I see,” noted the former nobleman – now councillor – as he picked up the roll of paper from the table. While the dwarves favored using paper, many other places still used parchment, either due to an unwillingness to import papermaking technology or the paper itself from the dwarves, or just out of tradition. The Empire fell to the latter camp. “Then again, I supposed that’s to be expected from an outfit of this caliber.”

“Let me see now…” said Councillor Bernd Adenauer as he opened the roll, which contained the points of his requests as he had mentioned to Reinhardt the day before, as well as various additional clauses from the mercenary side, primarily highlighting their own requests for things like accommodations and other such requirements, the vital clauses hidden amidst other, more mundane ones.

“We could re-negotiate things if you find any problems with the preliminary contract,” mentioned Reinhardt nonchalantly while the dinner continued on. It was a quiet, private setting in his tent, just him and the former nobleman. It was simultaneously a gesture of trust and a show of confidence on his part.

“For the most part, the requests are reasonable and expected. There will likely be some pushback from the noble faction about your request to commandeer a barrack complex for your personell’s use, but not one that we can’t handle,” replied the former nobleman openly. “I do like that you had latched on to the hint we laid out and added a clause specifically related to that. I do believe that the contract would prove satisfactory to most of the other councilmembers.”

“We still need to talk about the route and downpayment, of course,” said Reinhardt in return. “Your request mentioned a safe route to Levain that would not involve any fighting along the way barring emergencies, as well a downpayment of three months’ fees up front. How will either of these points be handled?”

“The downpayment is trivial. I am given authority to withdraw funds belonging to several businesses that had donated to the city council for this purpose, and as such we can take care of it as early as tomorrow,” answered the former nobleman with confidence. “As for the route, We do indeed have one that should be safe as long as there are no incursions into the territories that we will travel through.”

After Reinhardt brought out a map, Bernd traced a route with his index finger as he explained. “From here we shall travel north into Ezram. Ezram has declared themselves a neutral party to our civil strife, and so far that has been respected, so I foresee no issues in passing through there,” he noted. “From Ezram, we will head north and east to the eastern side of the United Baronies of Lavianey. They are also a neutral party, and we shouldn’t face any issues as long as we paid a toll to pass there.”

“From there, we would enter the territory of the Republic of Caroma, which is allied to us from the Free City of Levain. It’s a straight trek to the east from there until we reach Levain territory, and assuming military marching pace, we should be able to reach there within a month and a half,” he added. “We expected that you would request the city to take care of your Company’s living expenses once we’re there, and have also prepared funds for the trip to the city to handle the expenses incurred.”

“I see someone in your city who knows how we prefer to operate. That’s a good thing. Less misunderstandings that way,” mentioned Reinhardt with a nod. “In that case, with your agreement, I will have a proper contract with the points following the preliminary one in your hand drafted by tomorrow, in triplicate, so we could sign it once you have paid the down payment.”

Contracts in triplicate were the norm for the present era, with one copy going to the employer, one to the employee, and the last to the guild involved. That way, should either side breach the contract, the guild would be well-positioned to enforce its terms, one way or another.

“Understood, Captain Edelstein,” replied the former nobleman as he lifted his snifter of wine in a toast. “Here’s to a fruitful cooperation.”

“To a fruitful cooperation.”