“Yesterday’s enemies being tomorrow’s allies is just part of life as a mercenary.” - Old mercenary saying.

“All right, here is how this will go,” said Reinhardt as he walked alongside Astrid to show her a bit around the mercenaries’ re-established camp outside the city walls. “Normally we wouldn’t pry too much about the past. Let bygones be bygones and all that. Everyone has their own story that they’d like to keep private, we understand that.”

“Unfortunately, since your group are deserters, I must insist on learning more about you and your past, your motivations and reasons and all that, I’m sure you can understand why,” he continued, talking just as nonchalantly along the way. “So what’s the story, Miss? What made you choose to desert like this? From what my people could tell, your people are a good cut above the typical soldier, and many of them seem to have personal loyalty to you, strong enough to join you in deserting, at that.”

“I guess there is no point in hiding it, though I wished I could have shelved it all away and just have a new start without worrying about them,” replied Astrid with a loud sigh. “My full name is Astrid du Ingesdatter La-Ramis ver Hevia. My father was the Earl of Hevia before this… civil war broke out. He was killed along with my older brothers when one of his trusted advisors turned traitor as Podovniy came for our land.”

“My mother, my older sisters, and I were kept alive even after our defeat and incorporation into the march. It was probably a bad look to kill off the ‘defenseless women’ or something, or maybe we were still popular enough with the people that completely killing off our family was ill-advised,” she continued, sounding quite wistful. “By now I’m the only one left. My mother passed away four years ago, and all of my older sisters had since been married off elsewhere… or to the scum that killed my father and my brothers.”

“You went the military route to avoid getting married off against your will I assume?” asked Reinhardt, all too familiar with the scenario. It was far from rare for a new ruler to cement their legitimacy after getting rid of the old dynasty by marrying an offspring of the previous one, often forcibly. “Yeah, that look on your face answered that, nothing with that, of course, just got to make sure of things in this sort of situation.”

“There have been fewer and fewer people who were still loyal to the old family in the former Earldom. I already consider one of my sisters as good as dead, and the other lost, though at least I could hope for her happiness elsewhere,” continued Astrid with a shake of her head. “Around half of those remaining loyalists died around Aldenstadt thanks to the idiot commander we got saddled with, and the remaining ones are the people with me. I can’t promise that they’d be the best soldiers this land has ever seen or anything like that, but if you would allow us to find our way in life together with you, we will fight alongside you.”

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“That’s as good a motivation as any. You’ll find that we pay quite well as long as you can do what you’re asked to do, and that we will try to avoid making you do things that’s beyond your capabilities,” said Reinhardt with a nod. His own people came from all sorts of backgrounds, so he was far from one to judge.

Some were career money soldiers who had been in the line of work for decades or even centuries. Others were former captives and prisoners that chose to join his company in search of a better future, while yet others might well have been wanted where they originated from, a few perhaps with bounties on their heads. It wouldn’t surprise him one bit if some of Elfriede’s people were of that type, given how she was the one to handle the worst of their recruits and turn the trash into something useful.

“Given the number of people who look up to you for leadership, I can offer you a position as a platoon leader in our company. That is the norm for people who join us while bringing their own group of people if there’s at least a certain number of them,” said Reinhardt openly. That policy of his company’s was no secret, as it had been invoked many times like with Egil, Fatimah, and Soledad in the past. “You will have relative autonomy and your unit will be your own to command, but we expect all of you to adhere to the company rules as a whole. You will answer directly to me, and to some extent, Lars. Is that understood?”

“As long as you promise not to send me and mine to our deaths for shits and giggles, that’ll be good enough for me, Captain,” replied Astrid with a resigned sigh in her voice. “I’ll be honest in that your Company still being around is probably the best case for me. There aren’t many mercenary companies of good repute left in this region after that fight. Those that worked for Podovniy were never an option, even if they were not so mangled after that war.”

“I know,” replied Reinhardt with an easy nod. “Oh, and another important thing. If you and yours are to become part of this company, that means leaving any old grudges you might have against us behind, which in this case likely includes people who killed a good part of your people back in Aldenstadt. Is that understood?”

“Crystal clear, Captain. I already warned my people before we decided to come here. We were on opposing sides at that time, and we were the aggressors to boot, so I believe they understand,” answered Astrid with a nod. “If some of them do misbehave, I will follow what disciplinary actions you decide to hand out.”

“Oh, knowing who your people might have grudges against, I don’t think it would ever come to my table. Grün and her people know how to handle things themselves.”