“When the world is in turmoil, that is when us money soldiers live our best lives.” - Fiora Guthenberg, veteran mercenary.

“Wanarua is gone!?” Reinhardt repeated out of surprise. The Free Lances had not come into contact much with forces from the Duchy of Wanarua as that duchy was the westernmost duchy of the Central Faction. Even in their decade of service in Posuin they only fought troops from there on a few occasions, and even then, never that many. As far as he was aware, Wanarua mostly devoted its military to fighting against Bostvan.

“The information we had wasn’t all too detailed due to the distance involved and the hostility between us and the Centrals, but we believe that to be the case indeed,” stated Miriam calmly to Reinhardt’s surprised outburst. “As I mentioned, when I left two weeks ago, we received reports that Gestis was under attack by the same invaders as well, so they clearly weren’t stopping so quickly.”

“I assume the Bostvan situation is confirmed too, then?” asked Reinhardt as he sat down and steepled his fingers before his face while he thought. A military force that could overwhelm one of the Central Duchies so quickly was formidable, even if each of the Central Duchies were weaker militarily compared to the Border Duchies his company worked with back then. Former Duke Emil Bostvan’s faction on the other hand had united practically the entire south-west of Posuin, which made the forces under him at least just as formidable.

“We actually received a request for truce from them, signed by the Regent himself, as well as a call to band together to repel the foreign invaders first before we struggle amongst ourselves for sovereignty,” admitted Miriam. “Our own spies and reports corroborated what the Regent informed us, and that one-third was a conservative estimate.”

“A really formidable foe, then. So that’s why you’re calling up as many mercenary companies as you can find?” queried Reinhardt again. The hiring of mercenaries was a common method to pad up one’s military forces, though stronger companies with better reputation – like his Free Lances – would have the privilege of higher pay and more freedom to choose their jobs.

“As well as requesting for aid from Knallzog, in case it comes down to that,” said Miriam with a straight face. “His Highness Aethelbald was quite receptive to the idea of working together to repel the foreign invaders, but his army would need time to prepare and mobilize, so I also recruited as many mercenary companies as I could along the way. Most of the ones I recruited already made their way to Posuin as we speak.”

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“You want us along then, I expect. What’s the offer?” asked Reinhardt as he went straight to the point of the matter at hand. Under normal circumstances he would haggle and discuss things more, but these were clearly not normal circumstances, and besides, he still had some trust in the rulers of the Border Duchies. “I did promise Nestor that we’d come over if we’re free and he had a need for us.”

“I am glad to hear that. Duke Nunez did mention to get you on board if your company was available. This is the base offer we gave everyone we hired so far, though I suspect that you can likely negotiate for more privileges with the Dukes and Duchesses directly given your company’s stellar reputation,” said Miriam as she brought out a roll of parchment and handed it over to Reinhardt.

“These are pretty generous terms, though you are right in that I will want to negotiate some things with them as well, especially with the best way to use my Company,” noted Reinhardt as he read through the parchment quickly yet in detail. “Can you give us a day? I will need to discuss this with the rest of my people and see what they think, though chances are good that we’ll march with you in battle once more.”

“Certainly, Captain Edelstein. I will await your good news, then.”

Miriam returned to the inn she stayed at after the brief discussion, while Reinhardt summoned all the platoon leaders under the company for an emergency meeting. The meeting itself had not taken that long. Other than Astrid, all the other platoon leaders had already been members of the Company – or were otherwise present – during the Posuin campaign, and they were familiar with the young Dukes and Duchesses now reigning over the Border faction. All of them had good impressions of the three Dukes and Duchesses and liked them quite a bit as employers.

As such, it had not taken long before the mercenaries agreed unanimously – Astrid went along with the flow since everybody else clearly already agreed to take the job – to head towards Posuin, and Reinhardt ordered them to start packing up that very night.

When Miriam visited them again in the afternoon the next day, she was surprised to see that the mercenaries were already busily packing their belongings into wagons and immediately knew that her mission was a success. Sure enough, Reinhardt informed her that the Free Lances would ride to Posuin within the next day or two, once they finished packing for deployment. He also offered to travel back with Miriam if she had nowhere else she needed to head to in the meantime.

Since Miriam was planning to return once she recruited the Free Lances or otherwise, she happily took the offer. Due to the haste in which she was sent out, she only had a dozen or so escorts with her, and almost ran afoul of a bandit ambush in the wastelands still being reclaimed by Knallzog. Many areas of said wasteland were still rather lawless and had no strong security presence, so she welcomed the escort back home.

A mere two days after Reinhardt met with Miriam Levan-Tovmund, the entirety of the Free Lances marched out from Zephirous and headed southwards, where they would cross Knallzog territory towards Posuin and enter there from Dvergarder. Their next job – and the battles it would undoubtedly involve – awaited them at their destination.