84. Preparation of war.

The next morning.

Hilda was in the barracks office. Hure was also present there. Right beside Hure, there was Nisa. On the opposite side of the table were Rika and Selda. Other than them, Three new faces were also here. Fanger, Eisen, Ondor, and Ami were also present.

It was Eisen who was reading from the list. "One chainmail armour, one gambison, one helmet, Two spears, one short sword, one shield, one dagger, one pair of metal stud shoes, a pair of leather arm guards, two slingshots, and ammo. All this weight combined is about 25 kg."

"It won't be a problem." Sleda said, "During training, they had marched with almost 35-40 kg of weights. This much won't be a problem."

The weight wasn't the thing Thyra was worried about. Forget about the slaves and other things. The number of gold coins she had spent to train, feed, and fully equip the army was more than 6,000. If she had taken the money and fled, it would have been more than enough for her to live in luxury.

Thinking about it, Thyra could only sigh in silence. And what was more agonising was the fact that not all of her soldiers were so well equipped.

It wasn't that she didn't want to spend more. Instead, the upcoming war had increased the price of iron to the point that Hilda was faced with the choice of whether to feed the army well or give them better weapons.

Ultimately, she decided to feed the army well-balanced meals throughout the entire winter, improving their bodies significantly. As a result, she had to compromise with the other part.

Eisen was thinking about the same point. He said, "We were able to equip about 120-130 people in this setup fully. For the rest, we had to change the weapons to axes instead of short swords. We won't be able to provide chain mail to 40-45 soldiers."

"That won't be a problem." Thyra had already planned how to deploy the army. The under-equipped soldiers would be tasked with the duties of the rear guard.

The soldiers, with the exception of the knights, are not particularly well-supplied. Furthermore, common soldiers do not have access to armour like that of a knight. A helmet, some cloth armour, a spear, and a weapon of their choosing would be all they would get.

Swords, axes, shields, and bows are all viable options. Along with a sword or axe, the soldier would also need to equip themselves with armour and a dagger or shield. But they had to pay on their own.

However, Thyra couldn't just compare themselves with the armies of the kingdom. After all, the enemies are the soldiers of the empire.

With the reports she had gotten from the mercenaries she had commissioned to get the general situation of the empire, she had learned that there had been a drought in many parts of the empire during the last couple of seasons.

That is what pushed for serious expansion on the other side of the ocean. Thyra wasn't sure what the situation was there. However, noticing the increased number of barbarian slaves on this continent made her believe that they are doing very well.

Also, she had to consider the fact that the orcs and kobolds are imported from the other side of the ocean.

Thyra didn't remember what prompted their defeat in three years, according to the novel, but she remembered that they would be at an advantage during the first year of the war.

Thyra could think of a couple of reasons for that. The increased number of good fighting slaves in their troops is one such reason. However, what Thyra was most concerned about was the capability of the empire's soldiers.

Unlike the kingdom's soldiers, who are recently trained, the empire's soldiers must be quite adopted in combat after fighting the barbarians and the beast god's offspring for a long time.

Thyra sighed, asking, "What about the gambison?"

"We can equip every one of them. Even the trained servants can be equipped in gambison, shoes, armguards, and a dagger. We won't have that many helmets and other weapons."

Eisen said even before Thyra asked, "We also have 50 bows, 300 iron-tipped arrows, and 500 flint-tipped arrows. We have also prepared 70 horse saddles."

Thyra could only sigh. She really felt it was hard to maintain an army. Even if she wanted to buy at least 100 horses, the most she could found is about 68.

Thyra's constant sighing made the atmosphere in the room quite heavy. It was Hure who spoke first, "I know the resources are important, but they don't win you the war. My lady, how you use them is the most important factor."

Thyra looked at her, nodding. She knew that she had prepared the best she could, and now how she used them was important too.

Thyra thought momentarily before asking, "Selda, how is the formation training coming up?"

"As you have asked, we have already broken down the soldiers into groups. Although they could use them all, every ten men group contains four dominant shield bearers and six dominant swordsmen. They have trained against each other. Also, they trained in a five-man formation to engage against those orcs and goblins."

"The leaders had also chosen for each group between those who had mastered at least two weapons well, rode horses well, had a good essence skill, and could read and write."

"Essence skill?" Thyra nodded. Thyra wanted every one of them to have a skill, but it wasn't possible. There was no way she could buy 200 essences, even if they were just slime essences.

In the end, Thyra asked Ruth to teach them how to awaken the knight's aura. Only 17 of them were able to awaken the Arua. And surprisingly, Ami was one of them.

"Rika," Thyra called, "you will lead five squads. Fifty soldiers to make a platoon. The squads were made up of barbarians and slaves. You have trained them, so you shouldn't have any problem controlling them."

Receiving Rika's nod, Thyra added, "Nisa will be the vice commander of the platoon."

Nisa looked at Thyra in surprise. She didn't expect Thyra to give her such an important position. Thyra could see her confusion, so she added, "You have barbarian ancestry. And you and your skill are important factors too."

"Selda will lead the second platoon. And Ondor will lead the third platoon. Choose two vice commanders from the squad leaders." Both of them nodded with their military salute.

"All the 16 soldiers who awakened the knight's aura and Ami will be directly under me. In my absence, Rika will be first-in-command, with Selda as second-in-command. Any question?"

Nobody asked anything until Nisa said, "What about the other?"

"The rest of Thirty will act as scouts. There will be two groups. The first group will be ten horse riders, while the other group will consist of the rest of them."

"Ten horseriders will be divided into five groups. They will scout the area before the army. They will find camping sites, food to forge, water spots and rivers, hunt animals, and also act as the connection between those scouting further ahead and the main army."

"Although they will also look for army activities, the group further ahead will mainly do the work. They will form a group of three and travel one or two days ahead of the main army."

"They will go into the village, gather news from the locals, look for enemy armies, prepare the map of the road ahead, and deliver it to the horse scouts. They will always travel at least 50 kilometres ahead of the main army."

"Selda, find the people who are good at hunting and forging, good with feet, and know how to use a bow and prepare the scout group by the end of the day. I will personally brief them on what to do."

"Yes, leader." Selda saluted.