“Such a thing as an expectant father who remained calm at their child’s birth does not exist in this world.” - Old folk saying.

Inside an Inn,

Logdstadt, Bærengant,

Northern Knallzog,

Approximately Nine years and seven months ago,

Reinhardt Edelstein - often jokingly called the “Little Boss” by his fellow mercenaries, as his aunt led the Company - paced with worry and nervousness, almost as if he was intent on carving a circular groove on the wooden floor of the inn’s lobby with his footsteps. It was an entirely foreign feeling, one he was entirely uncertain on how to handle at all, and definitely one where he’d rather charge headlong into a prepared enemy position than experience it.

In all his twenty-four years of life, the sort of predicament he was currently in was something he had never experienced, and even his adoptive father and aunt merely laughed out loud and told him that it was the sort of trial he’d have to deal with on his own when he told them about it. That, combined with the nervousness and worry that only redoubled everytime a vague scream of pain came from the room nearby, caught him flat-footed and all aflutter, uncertain on how to proceed.

The cause for his worry and nerves was the same as the source of those screams from the room within, Elfriede, a young woman who had joined the Company a year and a half ago during a time when his aunt took part of the Company to Eastern Knallzog for work. Apparently the girl had been part of a small group of three, and had often taken the less clean jobs on offer, which got them into trouble as a result.

One of the three was a great-grandkid of Aunt Ingrid’s old war buddy, and as the Company happened to be in town during the incident, they had approached them for shelter while their erstwhile employer tried to silence them. One thing led to another and Reinhardt’s aunt had given the three women shelter, while in exchange they would work under her for the duration of the job, where their talents could prove useful.

By the time the job was finished, the three women had apparently liked working under his Aunt Ingrid, and had followed the rest of the mercenaries back as part of them. Reinhardt had also gotten to know them - if only in a cursory way - back then, but had not thought much about them at the time. Things changed approximately three months after their return, however.

That fateful evening, Reinhardt happened to be drinking at one of the taverns in town, as the Company was on general leave after the conclusion of a job. He had just relaxed himself as the drink started to take hold when Elfriede - the blind woman of the trio - had approached him that night, and straightforwardly propositioned him for a night of fun in the bedroom.

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Mercenaries were rarely of the prudish sort, and of course, Reinhardt himself had many experiences mostly with the camp prostitutes that the Company employed. As such, since he was in the mood himself, he naturally agreed to the young woman’s proposition, and joined her in her room that night. He had not expected that the three women shared the same large room, nor that the other two had also sought out bed partners for the night as well, but didn’t exactly mind it either way.

The night of passion and pleasure that followed was very much to either party’s satisfaction, it turned out, and that momentary tryst turned into a more steady relationship as the two of them frequently met and bedded each other from then on. Unfortunately for both of them, things had not remained that simple, and soon enough something that complicated matters occurred.

Namely that Elfriede had gotten pregnant.

Reinhardt had naturally used contraceptives on the regular, but when confronted, he recalled one time when he thought that the tincture had tasted a little funny, but then had shrugged it off since it was the last of the batch he had anyway. Before long, he put two and two together, since he was pretty much the only man Elfriede had been seeing in the past few months, and thus the most likely culprit of her condition.

He had naturally accepted that if it was indeed his child she carried, then he would take responsibility. What he was not prepared for, however, was how pregnancy affected Elfriede particularly badly. Rein had heard stories, and seen quite a few cases himself, and knew that some women went through pregnancy easily and lightly, while others were severely affected by it. Elfriede seemed to be of the latter sort.

As a result, for the last eight months he had been stuck with a cranky, temperamental woman who quite rightfully blamed him for her condition. Both his adoptive father and aunt just laughed so hard until they nearly choked when he voiced his troubles to them, as apparently the issue was something he would have to handle by himself, as nobody would really be able to help him with it.

Now that the end of that period of stress came, however, Rein couldn’t help but find himself completely nervous and worried about the child that Elfriede was giving birth to. His mind was plagued by all sorts of worrisome thoughts, like complications during the birth - which had taken over half the day already as it was - amongst other noisome things like the thought of what it might be like if the child had turned out to not be his.

All those thoughts broke apart and were replaced by anxiety and surprisingly, joy, in his heart when after one final, prolonged grunt of pain, a second noise followed from within the room. Rather than a baby’s cry, the vague noise from within the room was more akin to the mewling of a newborn kitten, albeit louder and more piercing in tone.

Then Rein saw Old Ursula, one of the Company’s cooks who also doubled as a midwife, come out from the room and beckoned for him to come in. Just as he passed by the old woman, she spoke to him in somewhat amused tones. “Congrats, little boss! She’s a healthy little girl, definitely takes a lot after her dad too, I’d say!”

He first saw the newborn baby cradled in the scratched-up arms of the nurse who bathed and dried the child. The baby looked almost like a fluffy ball of fur, like an oversized kitten with silvery-white fur, fur that almost exactly resembled his own spotted fur. The scratches on the nurse’s arm was because the baby had not yet learned how to withdraw her claws, and those had scored many lines on the tough woman’s arm, who gave them no heed.

As the child was proferred to him and he took her small, fragile form into his arms, Reinhardt marveled at the little baby girl, his little baby girl, and couldn’t help but feel the affection that grew from his heart towards the little life he held in his hands. The baby girl cradled in his arms, he moved closer towards Elfriede, who still lay sweating on the bed after the birthing, and brought the child nearby.

Then Elfriede grabbed his shirt by the collar and drew him close before she gave him an ultimatum that he would never forget until the day he died.

“Next time you want to fuck, get some bloody proper tinctures first, or else I’ll be bloody chopping off your balls and have them for dinner, understood!?”

The little baby girl in his hand chose that time to mewl as if to underscore Elfriede’s words.