“Much like how birds flew from one place to another with the seasons, a mercenary moves as their commissions and employer’s demands dictated.” - Old mercenary saying.

“Your Grace, good to see you in good health,” said Reinhardt as a greeting when he met Werner Tovmund in the town of Salver once again. The former heir to the Duchy - now the Duke as his father had passed away in his bed two months ago - looked positively haggard, likely because he was not prepared or trained for dealing with the sort of cruelty war could bring.

The man was an economist, which made some sense since Jonkver had relied the most on trade out of the three border duchies. Reinhardt thought that Werner might well have made for a great Duke, one who could make the land prosper, had there been peace, but fate said otherwise. Instead, the economist scholar had to take the reins during a civil war unlike any the former Kingdom had ever experienced.

Reinhardt could sympathize a bit with the man who was thrown into a situation he never truly prepared for.

Fortunately, the young Duke was smart and humble enough to know when he was way out of his depth and delegated the military matters to his cousin who was groomed for exactly that purpose rather than interfere with them. It was something Reinhardt had been glad about, as he had heard of horror stories of militaries who were practically sabotaged from within by the whims of a ruler who had no idea how to run a military.

“Captain Edelstein… The mission is completed I assume?” asked the young Duke with a sigh. The bags under his eyes indicated that he probably had not had a good night’s sleep in a while.

“It has been done, Your Grace,” said Reinhardt with a nod. “Have you considered the proposal from Algenverr and Dvergarder yet?”

The young Duke sighed deeply, took a deep drink from the chalice set on his desk - one full of wine, Reinhardt could tell - before he looked back towards the mercenary captain and nodded. “I have consulted with Miriam, Oswin, and Lepantiru. We agree to the proposed maneuvers and will cooperate as best we could,” said the man with another sigh as he named his cousin and military commander, another cousin who commanded the forces at Fort Kuzi, and the acting commander Reinhardt fought alongside back at Fort Kazka years ago, now the commander of the fort. “These… raids had shown me how foolish I was for hoping that the peace would last. That was my mistake and I will not repeat it.”

What the young Duke referred to as the maneuver was a plan hatched out by Nestor and Andrea, with the blessings of their parents. It was a bold plan, one where the border duchies would take the offensive to their foes, to show them that just because they had been content with their present territories and had no expansionist desires does not mean they were pushovers.

The plan itself depended on a strong defense line - something the Hellraisers had spent the past five years working on for the duchies - which would allow the majority of Dvergarder and Algenverr’s forces to sally out, while Jonkver’s forces remained in defense, ready to aid either of the other two duchies should they come under attack while their main forces were away.

Dvergarder even lent the militaries they contracted - the Duchy had the best economic conditions out of the three border duchies due to their continued trade with Knallzog - to the others. The Hellraisers would join Dvergarder’s own forces, since there were several fortifications in the southern path they planned to take, where their knowledge and specialization in sieges and defenses would be of great use.

On the contrary, the northern path which the forces of Algenverr would take were mostly plains and forested lands, as such the Silver Eagles, the Janissaries, and the Free Lances had their contracts temporarily transferred over to the Duchy of Algenverr, as the mercenary companies would participate in the northern prong of the assault together with them.

It would be the first time the border duchies took on the offensive, the sort of plan more hot-blooded youths would think of, compared to their parents who favored a steady defense. Even so, Nestor and Andrea’s arguments had convinced their respective parents on the merits of their plans, and given the full support that the Duchies poured into the plan, Reinhardt felt they likely knew what they were doing.

He had never worked with Nestor Ambroglio da Nunez yet, though he had a passing acquaintance with the man’s fiancee Lady Griselda and his younger brother Damien, but he was familiar with the young Heir to Dvergarder and had considered Andrea Utghwes to be a competent enough commander. Nestor seemed to garner high praises from all of them, so he hoped that those praises would be well deserved, for after all he would be tying his Company’s fate to the man’s competence soon.

“In that case, we shall prepare for our departure then, Your Grace,” he said to the young Duke of Jonkver with a nod. Since all three Duchies had agreed to the plan, that meant his Company would need to travel north to Algenverr to do their part in it. Apparently the raider attacks to the villages under his jurisdiction was the last straw that made the young Duke make up his mind to commit. “Do you have any messages you wish for me to pass to Sir Nunez?”

“No, Captain. I wish you good hunting up north,” said the young Duke politely with a nod. “I have no message I wish to pass to Nestor, other than one. Please come back with victory and not more headaches for me.”

“I shall pass it on, Your Grace,” said Reinhardt with a polite bow as he departed from the office the young Duke had commanded for himself during his stay in the town. He had the journey north to plan, and battles to fight soon after, ones fought in enemy lands this time, where they were on the offense rather than the defense.

Just what his Company was paid to do.