“Some of the best friends I’ve made in life used to be people I tried to kill at one point of time. Funny how that worked out, heh.” - Angrboda of Clan Silverclaw, orcish mercenary.

“Hah! I told him so many times that just having bodyguards wasn’t good enough if he himself can’t fight his way out of a wet sack!” said Marshal Anni-Al-Bagh Barca of Caroma with a loud guffaw as she toasted the mugs of some of the mercenaries she just fought against earlier with her own. The burly woman then drank the whole contents of the large mug in one go to loud cheers. “You said he didn’t even last one blow? Ahahaha! I must rub that in his face later!”

“I was honestly surprised by that, actually,” replied Elfriede who snapped her fingers to get one of her men to refill the burly Marshal’s mug with more strong dwarven ale. She herself nursed a similar mug in her hand, though she took smaller sips out of it instead of chugging its contents in one go. “I had expected a general to be more skilled in fighting than that.”

“Pubby’s one of them brainy types, no real good in a brawl, but does well when he gets to direct others around,” admitted the brawny woman with another loud guffaw, clearly not above making fun of her own husband. “He can’t really hold his own, unlike your man. Gotta say I was quite impressed by what I saw. Haven’t run into too many that trounced me so easily like that.”

“Would you believe it if I tell you that most of us under him consider Rein as one of those brainy types as well?” countered Elfriede with a smirk. “Granted, he got a lot of natural advantages in a fight, given what he is, but he too is one of those brainy sorts you mentioned. Both him and Lars always coop themselves up to think of all sorts of plans whenever we have a battle to fight, I tell you!”

The two women had quickly struck a sort of friendship between them after the mock battle had ended in victory for the Free Lances. In fact, many of the mercenaries had found themselves quickly warming up to the brawny Marshal’s personal troops, whose rough and tumble personalities made them much more similar to the mercenaries themselves.

Before long the two sides were sharing drinks, with some even carrying out the good drinks as well as some delicacies they had saved up, some smoked meats here, preserved sausages there. Within moments, the two groups had blended together into a raucous crowd that were clearly just having fun with themselves, with Elfriede and Anni at their center.

While the two women were enjoying themselves in the midst of their rowdy subordinates, another group of more serious looking people were gathered some distance away from them. There, the mercenaries and the Caroman soldiers also talked with each other as they drank together, but with nowhere near the boisterousness of the other group.

“Want some?” asked Reinhardt as he offered the pouch of dried herbs to Marshal Publius Cornelius of Caroma. He was standing by one of the pillars that supported the large tent they were under, his back leaning against the solid wooden pillar. His other hand was holding his smoking pipe, which he lightly inhaled from time to time, blowing the smoke out in rings as he exhaled. “It’s a mix of dreamleaf and dried nectaris cloves. A bit addictive, but should be fine if you just smoke them every once in a while. Helps clear your mind too.”

“Thank you, I guess I could use some of that myself,” replied the Marshal as he took a pinch of the dried herb mixture from the pouch and stuffed it into his own smoking pipe, lighting it with a practiced flick of his finger. The man was of the fire affinity, which meant that starting a fire was trivial for him, even if he was no mage. He took a couple puffs from the pipe and sighed loudly. “That’s some good stuff, thanks. I needed that.”

“Sorry if Friede didn’t hold back enough back there,” apologized Reinhardt to the rather short Caroman Marshal. The man still sported a bruise to the side of his neck where Elfriede’s practice blade had struck him in the mock battle earlier, one where she had not expected him to fail to dodge that badly and thus had hit him with a bit more force than she intended. “She sometimes does get a bit heated up when fighting.”

“No apologies needed, Captain,” replied the diminutive Marshal with a shake of his head as he took another puff of his pipe. “It’s normal for warriors to get heated up in the midst of a battle, even if it was just a mock battle,” added the man calmly. “If anything is to blame, it’s my own lack of fighting skills. My own wife had chastised me often about it, but I didn’t expect your wife to be the one to drive it home so poignantly.”

“Eh, don’t feel too bad about losing to Friede,” replied Reinhardt with a shake of his head. “Even amongst my people, there’s very few who could win a spar against her,” he continued as he let out a wistful sigh. “Hell, if I were to spar with her, nine out of ten times she’d trounce me within thirty seconds at the most.”

“And the one time?” asked the Caroman Marshal curiously.

“She’d hand me my ass on a platter within a minute,” stated Reinhardt openly. “Elfriede’s arguably the best duelist in my entire Company, and that’s including everyone, even Mischka and her folks,” he said, one hand gesturing towards where Mischka was chatting with one of the Caroman officers some distance away. “That said, Ery’s been giving her a run for her money of late. I’m very proud of that girl.”

“Once, I was iffy about allowing my children to go into battle,” admitted the Marshal. “I eventually gave in to them partly due to my wife being on their side. When I see your family fighting together, I guess I sort of understand why some people favor having their family fighting alongside them. Doubly so when they’re that good at fighting I guess.”

“Well, what can I say? It’s a family business for us.”