Their best fighter was her? He doesn't doubt she has the experience. Someone with that many scars doesn't lie their way through a dozen battles. But that means the rest of them couldn't match. That would be humiliating among mercenaries, unable to measure up to an old soldier that was nearly as wrinkled as a prune.

"Sounds like you shouldn't get picky if you're short on swords, even if the women are gonna complain."

A rather bratty way to offer to fight for them, but the sentiment is sincere. He was getting room and board, and didn't like being thought of as a pity case. So he'll offer the one trade he knows best.

Or they could keep him here unarmed, and he'll eventually pass out from exhaustion until he heals up. Either way would involve some form of misery, and he rather prefered to endure that with a sword in his hand.