“Those willing to share joys and pains with the people under them were the ones who end up being the most respected of leaders.” - Saying by Elmaiyan philosopher Vassily Erdzin, from the First Elmaiya Empire.

“Oh?”

After a week had passed, several members of the city council visited the plains outside Levain’s walls, to take a look at how the training that their militia was undergoing went. Most of the training took place to the west and the south of the city, areas that were more secure, chosen partly to reduce the risk of spies noticing the activity, and partly to lower the time the mercenaries needed to go to and from the training area every day.

Probably because she felt it was part of her duties as the de facto leader of the council, but councilor Estelle led the delegation that went to visit the training area herself. The delegation itself was mostly composed of representatives from the various factions of the council, most of which were united under her lead. None of them expected to see Reinhardt himself easily jogging alongside the militiamen being trained that day however, much less while lightly carrying a wooden log over one shoulder.

“Esteemed councilors,” greeted Reinhardt as he noticed the presence of the delegation, coming to a quick halt and lowering the log he carried. Even as he did so, he made some gestures towards some of the other trainers who nodded and kept the militiamen going in their rounds instead of allowing them to stop and gawk at the visitors.

“We… had not expected you to be part of the training yourself, Captain,” admitted Estelle with some surprise, which was accompanied by similar murmurs from the other councilors behind her. All of them looked just as surprised to see the captain of the company himself helping out with the training. “Much less to such an extent.”

“Oh, it’s just part of my normal training regime, councilor,” replied Reinhardt lightly. While he already ran quite a few laps by then, all while carrying a whole log of wood on one shoulder, he barely showed any sign of fatigue whatsoever. “Those of us in this line of work got to keep ourselves in good shape, after all. Just because I’m the Captain doesn’t mean I get to laze off my bum instead of doing the same. Since the timing happened to coincide, I figure it could serve as additional motivation for them as well.”

“It’s a pretty exemplary attitude towards work, regardless, Captain. I wish more people would do the same,” replied the councilwoman with a sigh that turned into a chuckle. “I see our people are getting trained hard as we requested.”

In contrast to Reinhardt’s easygoing jog, the militiamen who were training on the field were already showing obvious signs of fatigue and exhaustion. Many already trailed behind, people who were putting one step ahead of another purely by sheer willpower, driving their aching bodies beyond what it was normally capable of.

The reason for which was also quite easily visible. Reinhardt had not been jogging along that morning, as Alycea and her group also happened to be running alongside him. As the runners came around for the next lap, the delegation from the council naturally also noticed the group of young children who were not just keeping pace with the adults, but were easily leaving them behind.

“Those are?” asked councilor Estelle with curiosity as she noticed the group of children. Some of them were not humans, and a few who were of therian descent were even running on all fours while carrying even younger children no more than six or so years of age as passengers on their backs.

“Ah, that’s my younger daughter and her friends. They had been training themselves in order to join the company once they were of age,” explained Reinhardt with some pride. “What these militiamen are experiencing as part of their training now, has been part of daily life for these kids since they were much younger.”

“Having them around during the training always worked well to incense people to really bring out their full potential to boot,” he added with a smirk. “After all, nobody likes being shown up by kids younger than themselves. We do the same to our trainees.”

“Are children like them… common, Captain?” asked Estelle with some uncertainty in her voice. Some of the children who joined the run were no older than nine or ten, and while it was not uncommon for children that age to be helping out their families, seeing them go through grueling training that would make the average adult barely able to catch their breath was another matter altogether.

“Amongst companies like us? More common than you would think, Madam councilor,” replied Reinhardt with an easy nod. “Practically all those children have either one or both of their parents as part of the company, either as an active combatant or part of our support staff. Many of them have set it as their goal to join the company as they grew up. Both my daughters were no exception to this.”

“Your daughters as well? Wait… the girl who led your team during the first duel… was she your daughter?” asked Estelle as she put two and two together. Therians of Reinhardt’s specific kind were practically unheard of in the northern continent, as apparently they came from a small tribe in Elmaiya in the southern continent.

As such, just one glance at Erycea’s looks and most anyone would immediately realize that she must be connected to Reinhardt in a familial way, given how rare their kind were in Alcidea. Reinhardt had not mentioned that to the councilors other than Bernd who already knew, and was himself quite surprised to see Erycea represent the company in the duel.

“Yep. Little Ery joined the company along with her group of friends officially during our last year in Posuin. She has done nothing but make me proud of her ever since then.”