“Woe be to those who refused to move on with the times.” - Old folk saying.

“So how did the kids do?” asked Lars as he ran across Reinhardt on his way back to his own tent. It had been a decade since the former Holy Kingdom tactician defected and cast his lot with the Company, and by now, he was pretty much an integral part of them for a while. Despite his origins and how he started as their enemy, even those who had personal hatred for him had pretty much accepted his presence these days, even if they still generally avoided dealing with him if they could.

At the present day, Lars was not only in command of one of the strongest platoons in the company, but also had the respect and near-worship of another, since the mercenaries had gained a steady number of recruits from the former Holy Kingdom over the past decade. He was also recognized as their chief tactician and strategist by the other leaders.

Most importantly though, it was largely with Lars’ help that the Company had adapted to their current form. Where the Company was mostly a rather motley group of light infantry - by dwarven measures - organized into two five-hundred strong companies, at the present date even with their numbers approaching what they had in their heyday, their organization had become a completely different beast.

The current Free Lances was organized into over a dozen platoons each with their own leaders, who were not only trained for independent action and small unit tactics, but also collaborative maneuvers that involved multiple platoons. It made them somewhat weaker when placed on the line of battle compared to before, but greatly enhanced their flexibility and capacity for irregular operations, which the Company had leaned heavily towards already after the first reorganization.

In fact Reinhardt had negotiated their recent contracts with an additional clause that allowed them to refuse if their employer wished to use them just as another part of the battle line, as that would be a waste of what they could do. Fortunately their latest employers understood that and placed them where their skills could be put to good use instead.

“Better than expected,” replied Reinhardt with a nod and a smile. He himself had struck up a good working relationship with Lars, if not a true friendship given their past. That the former Holy Kingdom territory still gave the Company a regular trickle of recruits was partly due to what Lars suggested, which was to leave a small representative office there for just such a purpose, something that Elfriede had helped arrange with Varsha’s aid and had paid dividends so far. “Ery and the other kids did pretty much as expected, as for the rookies, they did better than most. Just over one in five quitters.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Best batch we got over the past few years indeed,” replied Lars with a nod. The once-young and clean shaven man had taken to growing a neat mustache and beard in the style favored by the northerners of Posuin, and stroked his beard as he spoke. “Last year was horrible, almost half of the rookies had dropped out and we barely got usable recruits out of those… Any plans with this batch?”

“I know that we usually split them up to let them gain experience in different fields, but this time I’m thinking of combining their two groups into one oversized platoon instead and let them grow that way,” said Reinhardt. Most platoons in the Lances were around forty to sixty individuals, so the combined platoon of seventy would indeed be one of the largest ones. “Ery might well be taking over for me in the future, so might as well get her used to command from early on.”

“Normally I’d be decrying that as nepotism, but I do agree with you in this case,” said Lars with a nod. None of the older mercenaries had missed out that Erycea and a good number of other children near her age had joined the Company en masse at the same time. “Besides those kids are used to her anyway by now, so might as well let their relations grow stronger rather than mess things up.”

“You know, Lars… speaking of kids… you got any plans on having any yourself?” Reinhardt asked half in jest. Most everyone in the Company knew that Lars was infamous for being almost literally married to his job, to the point that he rarely socialized outside of work with the others. Reinhardt himself had heard of some rumors from Elfriede that some of Lars’ long time followers were so exasperated at how dense he was to their approach that they were considering knocking him out and dragging him to bed instead. “Given how popular you are with your folks I doubt many of those ladies would refrain from jumping straight to your bed.”

“I don’t have time to even consider things like those, Captain,” said Lars with a long-suffering sigh. “There’s always more work to be done out there.”

“You could take it a bit easier, you know? We’re already pretty well off now, and chances are the next couple of years would be pretty light duty as well, unless the Centrals or the Bosts regathered enough troops ahead of forecast,” said Reinhardt with a bit of a teasing smirk as he tapped the tactician’s shoulder. “Seriously, Lars. Nobody doubted your commitment to the Company after the work you’ve done in the past decade. Take a break, get some rest and a bit of time for yourself for a change. And remember that you’ll be one of us for good or ill as always.”

With the bandit-hunting done and dealt with, the Lances would likely help the Hellraisers with reinforcing the defenses of Jonkver next. That job would be rather hard labor, but it’s paid well, and the Company had a lot of people with too much energy to spare anyway. The honest work would be a good way for them to vent that excess energy less destructively. A lull in the fighting also gave them more time to train and incorporate their newer members with the rest, which was something they needed as well.

“I… Thank you, Captain,” said Lars after a short while in which he was lost for words just before Reinhardt walked away from his earshot. “I’ll take your advice into consideration.”

Reinhardt just smiled and waved at the man as he left.