“Payment for reparations and ransom is rarely done entirely upfront, unless one side desires to show off their wealth and affluence to the other. Instead it is typically done in installments, with hostages kept to ensure that the payment goes on.” - From a lecture by Garth Wainwrought, Professor of Socioeconomy from the Levain Institute for Higher Learning.

“I believe you are well aware that there is no way for the March of Podovniy to repay this entire amount immediately, correct?” asked the Marquis of Podovniy, more as a formality than anything, because while everyone involved knew it to be the case, it would not do to not voice it as well. Or to complain about, for that matter. “We could probably offer a quarter of the reparations and ransom up front, and the rest would have to be paid in installments over the next two decades.”

“Half up front, and the remainder paid within the next five years,” came Estelle’s much more vicious counter-offer to the request of the Marquis. “We will naturally keep all captives you plan to ransom out in good health until you pay for them. The rest would be put to work elsewhere, as we have discussed beforehand.”

By the side – since he was not part of the current negotiations and had already done his part of it – Reinhardt had to fight hard against the urge to smirk and laugh, as that would have been most rude and inappropriate in such proceedings.

Some part of him would never get over the fact of how negotiations between nobles from warring nations at the end of a conflict were in essence, little different to how typical villagers would bargain with each other in the market. With less vehemence and more politeness, sure, but it was all still the same thing, both sides trying to get the most benefits from one another.

It was haggling, just on a far grander and nobler scale than usual, with far more than mere coins at stake. It still amused him to no end to imagine the Marquis of Podovniy as some streetside vendor trying to sell his wares to Estelle who haggled him down to no end, however. Fortunately, the meeting room was well supplied with some finger foods and beverages to keep his mouth too busy to laugh at the thought.

Reinhardt chewed on some nicely flavored dried meat slices as he mentally calculated the profits the Company would gain from this whole mess. The bonus from Levain was unquestioned, as they had participated in and – he would daresay – proved rather pivotal to the defense efforts. If anything, Estelle already promised him extra pay on top of the original bonus, though the amount would still have to be discussed first.

Salvage was overall decent. While they had no time to strip the enemy soldiers they killed during the harassment attacks they did against the enemy armies on the approach back then, those that blundered into ambushes had been stripped down to their underwears, as were the enemy soldiers that were slain in the southern fort back then.

There was no salvage to be done in the final battle, sadly, as it would have been rather uncouth to be stripping the enemy dead naked while the announcement to cease hostilities were being sounded. That said, the group had made more than their fair share in ransom, with Estelle promising that the ransom for the Marquis and his general – both of which were caught by the Free Lances – would mostly go to them as a reward.

It was also why Reinhardt had kept Salicia in the back, helping Alvaro hold the rear by taking out any commanders who seemed to threaten the lines with her arrows. Salicia was very accurate with her arrows, sure, but when shooting at speed in the heat of battle, she tended to default to going for the kill, which was rather unfortunate when a live capture was desired.

As for their losses, the company lost around a fifth of their number in total, though that number was more retirements and young recruits giving up on the dangerous life than deaths, all considered. It was not an unexpected number, given that they had expanded rapidly and this war was the first true conflict the young recruits they took in over the past few years had experienced.

Those that remained, on the other hand, would make for good additions to his forces going forward. They had proved their mettle and shown that they had what it took to be a mercenary, and survived their first real battle as well. Estelle also gave the mercenaries the right to recruit locally from Levain’s populace for the remaining duration of their contract instead of only taking in free mercenaries like Rubor, so that was another source of bodies to add to their numbers.

It helps that after this negotiation finished, the Levainian and Caroman forces would likely head south once more to take care of the business they left unfinished there. They had pretty much mangled most of the Southern Coalition’s best military forces before they were forced to withdraw due to the Podovnian and Anduillean attack, so their return would likely herald the end of the Southern Coalition, he thought.

That meant more land for both Levain and Caroma, as well as people who would likely migrate from the south in search of greener pastures. Not everyone would be able to settle down and work a farm peacefully. There would always be those migrants who could not feel satisfied with that sort of life, some that caused troubles, and the like. Those would be likely recruits for the Free Lances as well.

Other than that, Reinhardt liked to imagine that his company’s recent work had made the locals see them in even higher regards, so there would likely be quite a few local youths who flocked to join them as well. Maybe even some members of the militia, for that matter. While Reinhardt had forbidden actively trying to poach from the militia, there were always some who wished to find greater glory or were just addicted to the thrill of battles.

The negotiations eventually concluded with the Marquis and Estelle agreeing to a third of the total ransoms – not including the Marquis’s own, which would be paid first – paid up front within a month, while the rest would be paid in annual installments over the next decade. A boon to Levain and Caroma, and a painful burden to Podovniy, to be sure.