“Even donkeys refuse to fall twice into the same hole. That there exist people out there who would repeat the same mistake over and over again is honestly the best proof that some of us are less capable of recognizing patterns than a donkey.” - Liovar Rhodes, Philosopher from the Clangeddin Empire, circa 419 VA.

“Beg yer’ pardon for the interruption, Captain,” said Rhiannon as she gave a salute to Reinhardt and the gathered councilors.

“You’re already here anyway, so go ahead and speak. We just finished anyway,” replied Reinhardt with a nod. He had asked not to be disturbed unless there was something important during his meetings with the councilors, and he knew his daughter’s friends well enough to know that they’d abide by that, so chances were that there was something going on. “I thought your platoon had off time today?”

It was common practice for the company to allow some of their people time off when they were stationed for long-term contracts that placed them within easy reach to a city or town. Those who had time off would usually use their free time to enjoy the amenities that said city or town had to offer, and like most mercenaries on leave, tend to be generous in their spending, which made them quite liked amongst the locals to say the least.

“We did, and Mister Adenauer happened to meet us when we were having lunch and offered to show us around town,” replied Rhiannon with a nod. “Things were going just fine until we ran into some… umm…”

“Just speak frankly, don’t mind the councilors,” said Reinhardt. “If someone is trying to find trouble with us, who are here under their employ, that means they’re also indirectly looking for trouble with them anyway, so they should hear about it. Makes no difference where that’s from you or from an official report I have Loren draft up for me later.”

“All right, so… There were this bunch of… umm… nobly looking types, you know what I mean, the haughty, look-down-their-nose sort who we ran into around an hour ago. They got pretty disparaging and Mister Adenauer was saying things in our defense when one of the young ones walked up and threw a gauntlet at Ery,” narrated the girl somewhat nervously. “Lil’ Boss caught it, of course.”

“Throwing a gauntlet you say?” interjected councilor Estelle with a surprised look that soon turned to annoyance and a bit of anger. “Did some idiot just try to pull an honor duel on one of your officers!? We just passed a resolution to forbid that bullshit to preserve our forces not two weeks ago, by Vitalis’s hanging tits!”

“I’m… pretty sure that’s what that nobly bunch said, yeah, um… Madam Councilor,” said Rhiannon with a bit of nervousness.

“Knowing Ery, I bet she didn’t say no, so where and when?” asked Reinhardt as he changed the topic slightly. He knew Erycea was unlikely to back away from that sort of challenge, so instead it was better for him to get a better grasp of the situation.Like knowing the time and place, since such “official” duels wouldn’t be started in the middle of the streets. “Also, got any idea why that particular brat challenged her specifically?”

“Central square at sunset,” replied Rhiannon, which elicited a groan as the gathered Councilors covered their faces or foreheads with their hands. Whoever made the challenge clearly wanted to make a public spectacle of it, as there were more discreet yet appropriate places for such duels. It made it clear to them that the other side clearly had an agenda. “As for why… the noble brat did go something like, ‘My name is blablabla, you killed my brother, prepare to die’ and all before he threw that gauntlet, so I’m guessing that’d be the reason, Captain.”

“Huh, brother of someone she killed? Can’t have been too many of that in Levain… I think Ery only killed those two back in the duel that guy proposed back when we arrived…” pondered Reinhardt as he tried to recall any potential people who could have made that claim. “Did either of those have any relations that might have done something like this, Madam Councilor?”

“One of them, the leader of the other team back then, is a nephew of de Kars, and his father and brother were known to be skilled knights. His brother was even studying in Caroma because of his talent, last I heard,” replied Estelle with a frown on her face. “Considering how poorly he had made off of that incident, I wouldn’t put something like this past him. I swear we need to make more ways to kick out councilors from the council when they get stupid like this…”

“Well, that at least lifted a worry off my mind, thank you, Madam Councilor,” replied Reinhardt with a nod. “Anyone foolish enough to associate with someone that incompetent can’t be that good, one way or another.”

“Normally I’d agree with you, Captain, but I shouldn’t badmouth my fellow Councilor, as much as I dislike the man,” replied Estelle with a shake of her head. “That said, if it is indeed his brother and nephew that came to look for trouble, you might want to intervene if it goes further. Vincenzo de Kars was a relatively famed swordmaster during his younger days, and his elder son also seemed to have inherited his talent. He’s also known to be a petty bastard.”

“Well, it’s still an hour or so until sundown, so we should be able to get there in time and see whether we need to intervene or not,” noted Reinhardt. “Just to be certain, Madam Councilor, these people are making this a personal dispute with us and thus would not fall under the category of citizens of the Free City that we are contractually obligated to help protect, yes?”

“Most certainly so, Captain,” affirmed the councilwoman with a decisive nod. “Your rights to defend yourself in whatever way you deem fitting is in play, so they’re all yours. I don’t think any of us would miss them.”

Behind Estelle, many of the other councilors supported her words by nodding their heads in unison.