“Enjoy the good stuff while the going is good.” - Old mercenary saying.

Elfriede crossed her arm over her chest and hugged herself as she slightly shivered in the cold winter morning. It was one of those days where the people say that you could see one’s breath due to the cold, a saying that Elfriede never truly understood since she could never see them either way yet she felt the breath of everyone within her perception radius all the time.

Fortunately, the people in charge of cooking were well aware that sometimes the Boss and his Lady would wake up late on cold, wintry days, and whoever was in charge of breakfast was always told to keep their portions warm for them on such occasions. Sure enough, even though it was well past breakfast time, some hot food still awaited Reinhardt and Elfriede.

One could say that the food situation of the Free Lances – especially when one considered their status as a mercenary company – to be positively luxurious. The Free Lances stocked up around three times as much rations as a typical army would for their number of men, and with a far larger portion of foodstuff that would be considered luxuries like preserved meat and fish compared to staple foods like grains and flour.

Part of the reason was naturally due to their unusually large proportion of larger breed therian members, many of which were obligate carnivores by nature and thus needed their portion of meat to do their job at full capabilities. Another part of it was due to the very high standard of fitness the company expected of its members. People who exerted themselves more also needed more food to replenish the energy they used up in the exertion, and the Free Lances increased their rations accordingly.

It was a situation that most smaller or less successful mercenary companies would not even consider due to the expenses involved, but the Free Lances had plenty of leeway to afford that level of luxury, at least when it came to food, shelter, and equipment. All of those were things that were vital for their mercenary trade, and they felt that money spent there was most definitely not money wasted.

That morning, since Reinhardt and Elfriede happened to be on the off day of their workout schedule – something Elfriede was at least considerate enough to make sure of whenever she was being willful about waking up later than usual since she did not want to set a bad example – their breakfast was lighter than usual. They would have had a heavier breakfast if they were set to work out soon afterwards.

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Their breakfast was a bowl of thick soup, one that was almost like a stew though it was lighter in flavor and easier on the stomach. Reinhardt’s bowl was easily three times larger than Elfriede’s, and they both gave a nod of thanks to the staff who kept their food warm while they slept in before they sat down on a nearby log to have their breakfast.

As they sat down, Elfriede reflexively grabbed at Reinhardt’s tail and draped it over her shoulder and around her neck, almost like a scarf, before she started to sup on her still steaming bowl of soup. Reinhardt just let her be with a shake of his head while he enjoyed his own bowl. As was common, the soup itself was thickly flavored since the broth was made by boiling bones overnight, which made it quite filling even for obligate carnivores like him.

Elfriede leaned her shoulder against his side while they ate quietly, still using his tail as a sort of makeshift scarf, and he let her be since she clearly felt more comfortable – and warm – that way. He mostly ignored the mutterings of a few of the mercenaries that happened to see them and joked that the Captain and his Lady had as good a relationship as usual with a smile.

Some of the company’s newer recruits happened to run past where Reinhardt could see them, amongst whom was Astrid who had been receiving extra training from Elfriede every other day during the past few months. Reinhardt looked at the former Podovnian soldier who labored to catch up to Alycea running ahead of her.

The woman seemed a lot fitter than she was months ago, no doubt as a result of months of grueling training, and her people were also a lot better matched with the rest of the company in terms of physical capabilities these days. Perhaps they would have a chance to prove their mettle as soon as the company decided on their next contract, though that would depend on the circumstances as well.

“How’s the newbie doing?” asked Reinhardt quietly to Elfriede after he watched Astrid run past. “You’ve been giving her extra training for all these months so you ought to know her condition best.”

“She and her people are about ready for what the rest of the company are used to,” replied Elfriede openly. Her extra training to Astrid and her platoon was no secret, and in fact, was far from unusual. Any newcomer to the company would go through harsh training to get them capable of delivering the sort of performance the rest could, which was a given.

That many recruits quit over the harshness of said training was something left unsaid, but their logic was that if they couldn’t even handle training, they would be of little use in actual battle. The Free Lances operated on a doctrine of smaller elite forces, and had little need for chaff and dead weight that were just there to pad their numbers.

Under those considerations, Astrid’s people performed exemplarily. Not a single one of them resigned over the training, and even the ones who were worst off kept pushing themselves until they could keep up with the rest. It was a show of spirit and willingness to endure hardship that Reinhardt valued in new recruits in particular.