15 Chapter 15 (2/2)

”Your captain has died, the other two officers are also dead, you are a sergeant and you have been one for a a good amount of time. Not out of necessity, but choice. You don't know the inner workings of the system, or how to get your hands on the better contracts. You have no contacts in the nobility or merchants guild.” The mans face grew darker as Jer continued the men around him tensed. ”You are however, an extremely competent soldier and instructor. If I join this company and manage to become either the captain or an officer, I would have you and your men as a hardened core to build around. I could shape this company into something even greater than it was before.”

Jer could see that he had gained the interest of the men, not even close to their acceptance or respect, but interest was all he needed at the moment. ”Why would we give control to a young brat like yourself, we do not know you or your capabilities. Also dry yourself off, did you fall in a well or something. Its not even raining.”

Jer smiled and folded his hands. ”I'm afraid this fresh out of the well look is permanent. I should mention that I did not come empty handed, I have gained a contract in the name of the Black Iron Covenant, from the noble Mirsum. To root out a bandit hideout, even with your current numbers it should not prove to be too much of challenge. Moreover, I can prove myself even if I don't do a proper job you will still be able to complete the contract and make connections with a minor noble.”

”You took a contract in our name?” The sergeant whispered, his hands curling into fists.

”Yes I did, should you not wish to take said contract, me and my freind will do it ourselves. The payment would still be deposited in your account. You will profit from this conversation regardless.” Jer smiled calmly.

The sergeant shared a look with the men sitting around the table. ”Give us two hours to grab the rest and suit up. We will find that hideout, we could use the exercise anyhow. I thought about retiring but I'm not skilled at anything but swinging the old blade and screaming at the new recruits anyways.”

He stood up, the other men shrugged and followed his lead. ”Not like we have anything more to lose than our lives, such is the life of a mercenary after all.” The sergeant laughed. ”Lets go men, we will see you in the center of town in two hours, lets see what you got lad.”

”OH and sergeant.” Jer called after him. ”No need to look for information, I know were the hideout is.”

The sergeant glanced back and blinked, he then roared in laughter. ”Interesting, interesting! I am Rinor, Sergeant of the Black Iron Covenant and I shall witness your potential.” He stepped out of the inn still laughing, to the confused faces of the other patrons.

Jer smiled, ”I'm glad he is as peculiar as the rumors stated, I doubted this would work.”

Valana simply shrugged, uninterested. She sniffed at the ale they had left behind and frowned, flinching away from the brew.

Jer shook his head and chuckled.

A few hours later he found himself standing in the middle of the town center, with about a dozen of grizzly and heavily armed mercenaries. The sergeant stepped forward, ”Well boy you have command, show me what you can do. It's not like we would get ourselves killed against mere bandits even if we did have a shitty commander!” He chuckled, the other mercenaries grinned, a few of them laughing. Jer shook his head. This was how the Black Iron Covenant found themselves in the clutches of Jer Summalfren.

Jer looked around the field at the gathered mercenaries. Most of them armed in semi-heavy armour, either chainmail or scalemail. Every single one of them had a shield, most used either sword or mace, with one of them using a warpick. The grizzled mercenaries gaze at him, waiting.

Jer stepped forward and swept his gaze over them, ”Did you have designations or squad assignments previously?”

”We had a rough outline of sergeants and the cap would assign people to be an officer or sub officer.” The sergeant told him.

”Well with the dozen and a half of us I would like to separate the groups in three squads of four and two squads of three.”

He assigned people to the squads, he put Rinor in charge of a four person squad, he took command of another, a huge individual called Hark was put in charge of the third. He put Valana in one of the three person squads under the command of a grizzled, one eyed mercenary called Red, the last squad was commanded by Leila, the only other female present.

He taught them a few hand signs, so they could communicate silently, Valana frowned when he taught the others the sign language but kept quiet. He taught them a few simple commands, On me, Move up, Spread out, Circle around, Hit the floor and Rush.

The mercenaries were professional and payed rapt attention, they copied the signs before nodding in affirmation. He wanted to teach them more so he had shortcuts to call for attack patterns, but that would have to wait until they were firmly under his command.

He checked provisions and told them it would be a two day journey to the bandit hideout, he was surprised to see that each of the mercenaries had packed food for a week. Most of them had compressed pills they called food packets, it cost a little more than a normal meal but it was about the size of a marble, and had the nutritional value of an entire meal. These were extremely convenient, he would have to look into them later. They started traveling to the hideout, on the way Jer made an effort to learn all their names, ways of fighting and habits. He made sure to teach them more of the sign-language that might be viable for use on the road.

The mercenaries made a game of it, they started holding as much of their normal conversations as they could in the sign-language, asking either Valana or Jer for the sign that accompanied a word if they were unfamiliar it. One of the mercenaries told him that they saw the value of having a silent language that others couldn't understand.

Eventually they reached the mountain and came across the bandit lair, they stopped a few hours travel away. Tomorrow they would attack, Tomorrow blood would spill.