“It’s a pointless endeavor to cite things like mercy or decency to a mercenary. All they really care about is whether you’re worth more dead or alive.” - Noelle Serin Whitaker, famous bandit queen, days before a group of mercenaries razed her base and traded her head in for gold.

“So, what is planned for this cur, Sir Gorev?” asked Reinhardt to the dwarven earth mage after several guards led the captured assassin away, likely straight to the dungeons.

“The Crown Prince wished for all the assassins caught alive to be interviewed to make sure we have the whole picture from them first, Captain Edelstein,” replied the dwarf with a polite nod. “That said, he was aware of Madam Edelstein’s animosity with this one in particular, so he asked me to convey that unless this beardless stain was vital to his plans, he will relinquish custody of the man to the Free Lances for you to do as you see fit with.”

“That’s mighty generous on his part,” said Reinhardt with a toothy grin. He had thought he might have to forgo the bounty to request the man from the Crown Prince, but the way Gorev stated his words meant that the Crown Prince was going to give him the assassin along with the bounty once they were done with him. It would have been an expensive gift for Elfriede to forgo the bounty, but it was a hit the company’s coffers could handle with ease anyway, given how overflowing they were at the moment.

Other than expenditures spent on rebuilding and upgrading the company itself, the past decade had been fruitful years for the Free Lances, with contracts that allowed them plenty of time to recuperate, as well as generous employers as was the case with the Dukes of Dvergarder and Algenverr. Given the amount of recruits they managed to attract in their latest rounds around Knallzog, Reinhardt expected to be able to double the company’s size within a couple years, which was unprecedented in the company’s long and storied history.

His adoptive Grandfather who he had never met – Aunt Ingrid’s father – had started the company with a few like-minded friends, barely a band of a dozen at the time. By the time Aunt Ingrid took over the company had barely a hundred to their name, and she was the one who expanded the company to its thousand-strong state prior to the Theodinaz campaign.

Reinhardt had inherited a company barely a quarter as strong after the disaster in Theodinaz, so it was an achievement he was proud of to be able to return the company back to a thousand strong within a decade, as well as being well on their way to doubling their numbers in the near future, a true first for the company in its history.

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Part of the reason for the ease of his expansion was that Reinhardt was far less picky than his aunt when it came to recruiting people. Aunt Ingrid always insisted on only recruiting those who already had the skills to be a mercenary. Reinhardt believed otherwise and welcomed all comers, though they would be placed into a grueling training program first to ascertain whether they had the mental and physical capabilities suited to be a mercenary or not.

Where most companies would have happily sent the new recruits straight to the frontlines as cannon fodder whose life or death hinged partly on their own fortune or lack thereof, Reinhardt and Lars devised a regimen where most new recruits instead spent their times doing mind-numbing drills and all sorts of miscellaneous work for the company instead.

The first year of their training mostly consisted of that mind-numbing tedium and what some considered to be lowly work, and they weeded out quite a few of the recruits who lacked the willpower to endure hardship and tedium that way, while at the same time also drilling the basics into them until it was ingrained into their bones.

It was only during the second year of training that those recruits finally received more serious drills that involved plenty of sparring, both against each other and more experienced mercenaries who happened to have some time to burn. That second year involved training in small-unit tactics in the method Reinhardt and Lars had developed, while the prospective commanders were taken aside to receive extra lessons in the larger strategies the company used, as well as cues to watch for.

They often lost half or more of their recruits during the mind-numbing first year of training, but in return, those who made it into their second year rarely dropped out. Some did lose their nerve on their first real battle and either died or quit afterwards, but those were a small minority that was hard to detect. In exchange, those who successfully passed their training were more likely than not better trained than even many kingdoms’ professional soldiers.

Naturally, for recruits who already had previous training and combat experience – like the former Warforged for example – their training period was far shorter, mostly intended to integrate them into the way the Free Lances fought, as well as making sure they were loyal to the company.

In the end, the method Reinhardt and Lars chose to deal with their recruits greatly slowed the influx of new blood to the company, as well as weeded out half or more of those who applied in the process. In exchange, those who did make it into the company were highly motivated and had more of a loyalty to them, with finely honed skills that rivaled more experienced career soldiers.

It was a trade off both of them considered to be worthwhile. It helped minimize their losses in combat – something that was always bad for morale – and gave them a larger pool of people who they could trust their backs to. Combined with the way the more experienced mercenaries would often help look out for their newer comrades, it generally had not taken long for new recruits to bond with their more experienced compatriots and feel like they were one of the group.

Sometimes it did prove to be a bit troublesome when people joined as a recruit in one country and chose to quit after the company moved elsewhere, though. In such cases, Reinhardt would often help arrange for transport back to their homes, usually as part of a merchant caravan headed that way or the likes.