“My lady, do we need to waste that many soldiers to scout?” Hure was the first to ask. She added, “The main army has their scouting unit. They will do the work and report it to the camp before deployment.”

“That is not the problem.” Thyra shook her head, adding, “We don’t know, other than the ducal family, which other noble has joined the empire. As the army contains the soldiers of the different noble factions, so would the scout unit. One wrong movement would spill the blood of my soldiers.”

“I think what she's saying is true.” Nisa added, “On top of it, the number of enemies she made during the last few months isn’t low. And when it comes to revenge, I don’t think these Nobels are much worried about the kingdoms. They wouldn’t care if a few hundred soldiers were wiped out during the war.”

The words sounded more like an attack on Thyra than an endorsement of her reasoning. Thyra was not overly concerned. Thyra has never before engaged in a conflict of this magnitude. But if she could be said to excel at anything besides combat, it would be intelligence gathering. For her scout squads, she had a strategy ready to go.

“Don’t worry about it. I will be in direct charge of the scout squad.” Thyra turned towards Fanger, adding, “You will be in charge of the scout unit.”

“Leader…” Fanger was surprised. He had arrived at the meeting with no idea of its purpose. He wasn’t an outstanding soldier, to begin with. He was only good with a slingshot and dagger out of all the weapons they were trained with.

More importantly, out of all the criteria Thyra had pointed out, he was only good with foraging and traps. That was because he was the son of the village hunter. Instead of his feet, he was more adapted to using his mouth. 

Even though he was part of the first batch of recruits, he didn’t get to touch a bow. He could ride a horse, but half the other soldiers were better than him.

However, Thyra didn’t choose him without reason. Unknown to the recruits, Thyra had provided the progress chart to all the instructors to keep track of all the recruits. 

The only two instructors who praised him were the hunter, who also taught them how to use the slingshots and the butcher. Surprisingly, the butcher praised him for his knife skill; the instructor didn’t.

When Thyra checked, she noticed something odd. He has made only moderate progress with his shield and sword. Bow and equestrian skills were below par. However, he did not show any development in the use of a knife or marching.

There was no concept of a stopwatch in this world, so the marching instructor only tabulated the result based on the position where they had finished. 

Surprisingly, his lowest finish was 52, and his quickest was 49. Even Selda couldn’t maintain his position while carrying 40 kg of weight daily. Some days he was first; some days, he was in the last half. It happened to every one of them, everyone except Fanger. 

This guy was also good at writing and games, and most importantly, he had a golden tongue. Thyra needed someone who was good at making people comfortable through words. It was a skill you were born with, like Fanger.

“We will talk about it later,” Thyra added, “For now, if you want anyone to join your scouting team, report their name to Selda.”

“Yes, leader.” 

“Eisen, what about food? Have you prepared to distribute it to the soldiers?”

“The soldiers had been provided with two sets of grains. It would be about five kilograms, enough for ten days. Also, dry fruits and dry meats are provided as weekly rations. Soldiers will carry this on their own.”

“The logistic division would provide fresh food and fresh hunting between the soldiers when available.”

“What are the numbers?”

“My master would be travelling, along with ten full-time blacksmith apprentices. They are the only non-combatant. Other than them, there would be 70 trained servants who would help with different types of work. 

“Their main work will be helping the soldiers in their miscellaneous work, hunting, and foraging. They would also tend to horses and mules, totalling 100 animals and also 20 carriages.”

Thyra couldn’t help but be worried. Even if these were just numbers, Thyra had to worry about their food and everything. Then there is water. They will travel more than 30 kilometres every day. So they have to find fresh water sources every day.

Now that Thyra was thinking about it, she was more worried about keeping his army fed and healthy than actual fighting.

“My lady, don’t be so worried about it. The main army camp will also issue food to the soldiers.”

Thyra nodded and said to Hure, “Give them two months' worth of salary for each and every soldier. And let them rest for the next two days. And if anyone wanted to send money back to their village, arrange it for them.”

“Yes, my lady,” Although Hure responded, the others were confused. None of them knew about the letter. To be precise, other than Hure and Jullia, none of them knew she had commissioned such a mission for mercenaries.

Thyra didn’t explain the reason, only added, “That is my order. They are free to do whatever they want. They must report their presence at the barracks on the night of the day after tomorrow.”

Such an order confused them even more. But before they could inquire about it, someone knocked at the door.

There was an order that nobody was allowed to come in while the meeting was going on. Still, someone knocked at the door, which means something important has happened.

“Come in.”

It was a soldier from her army, followed by a knight. The knight bowed, saying, “Your Highness, a delegation had come to meet you.”

“Deligation?”

“The delegation is sent by his majesty. He is carrying a letter for you with the royal seal. He is waiting for you at the main building.”

Thyra looked at Hure and smiled, “Didn’t I tell you about it?”

Hure had no problem understanding what she meant by that. Thyra looked at everybody, saying, “Do as I say.”

Thyra didn’t wait for others to respond and left the room with the knight.

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