92. To the war: End of Vol.1

Thyra had vastly underestimated the stamina of starving milf. And the sad news is that she had to find it the hard way. It was almost afternoon before Thyra was able to walk out of her room, still fatigued from her last night's endeavour, which continued till the early morning.

Naturally, it was expected that Aira would steal glances at her with her sad eye while Nisa openly showed her disdain. Jullia joked it off while Hure completely ignored the topic. And if Thyra knew anything about Hure, she was sure Hure wasn't happy with it either.

"As expected from my partner, I have chosen to father my children," Rika said with a bright smile. Patting her shoulder, she added, "I will be expecting some strong children from you in the future."

Thyra could only shake her head. As Thyra had given days off to her soldiers, it was expected that Rika would be at the mansion. After all, she had a very good relationship with all the girls in the house. She was quite fond of Aria, too.

However, there was the presence of someone who had surprised her a lot. Unlike last night at the dinner table, where she almost didn't touch her food, she was eating her food quite happily while maintaining her manners.

"What are you doing here?" Thyra couldn't help asking.

"Who me?" Bella pointed at herself, asking as if she couldn't understand the question. "What about me? I am eating here. I need to replenish my stamina."

"I can see that. But my question is, Why are you eating here? Shouldn't you go back to your mansion? Aren't they waiting for me?"

"Ange can take care of matters regarding the mansion. You don't have to worry too much about it. It will function even without me." She took another bite before asking, "Are you worried about discussing some secret before me? You shouldn't be. With that inside me, I don't think I can if I want to live. And…"

Bella didn't complete her sentence. She just looked at Thyra and smiled shyly before concentrating on her food again.

"As expected from the partner I have chosen," At Rika's same comment, Thyra couldn't help but look at her with a frown, only to find she was standing right behind Bella, patting her shoulders, saying, "You have good taste, woman."

Thyra didn't know whether to laugh or cry. When she thought about it carefully, she realised something. Although Thyra didn't go all the way with Rika, she still understood her mating mentality. And after experiencing Bella's unrestrained assault, Thyra felt they would hit it off well in the bedroom.

'But I won't go anywhere near that bedroom.' Thyra made the vow to herself as she realised her nutsack was still empty and strained after being drained by Bella.

Thyra completely ignored them before turning to Hure and saying, "I have ordered Bella. You should cooperate with her to take care of the domain. The war will start soon. The more it progresses, the more gold will be drained out of the domain and invested in the war."

"And it will be time for nobles to invade their neighbouring territory. With Justin's death and Guntur joining the army, they will take the chance to invade. Remember, the thing we discussed wasn't too far away. We have to be prepared if we want to protect ourselves."

Then she turned to Jullia, adding, "Continue the training program. You don't need much, and about 50 will be enough. Not just train them; let them do mercenary jobs."

"But we are not allowed to train more soldiers. Because of the war, we are at full capacity. If you do that, it might irk his highness."

Hure looked at Bella and sighed, "Although I don't want to agree with that woman, what she said is correct. And if what you have predicted is coming in three years, I think it's better not to do something unnecessary. The path we might take to avoid it might bring us closer to what we are trying to avoid."

"What are you talking about?" Bella asked, but Thyra didn't answer. Even if she had signed a contract with others, Thyra didn't want to discuss the upcoming civil war with anyone other than Hure and Jullia.

Thyra thought for a moment, asking, "You have been a mercenary for long enough. Can't you make a mercenary academy?"

"Mercenary academy?" Neither Hure nor Jullia got what Thyra was thinking. Only Bella said, "That is still a very risky move."

"Yes," Thyra slapped the table with excitement, ignoring what Bella had said. She looked at Jullia, asking, "You can open one, right?"

"I have been a mercenary for over ten years, and registering one won't be a problem," Jullia said.

"No, it would be a problem." Hure said, "She was already on a warrant. So she might still be under observation. And everybody might have known for now that we are connected to you, so…"

"Even if we train some soldiers and disguise them as mercenaries, they still might get some hint of it."

Thyra knew what they were trying to say was true. She couldn't just ignore the networking ability of the monarch. Thyra frowned, mumbling, "There still might be a way."

"What about Ruth?" It was Nisa who had asked.

"Who?"

"Ruth, the knight instructor," Nisa added. "He is old and hurt, and it is normal for an old knight to start a school. Even though he swore allegiance to you, a false story can be spread that he did it because he was afraid for his life and then quit when you joined the war."

Where Nisa stopped, Hure started, "No, it will be more believable for the Viscountess, a sworn enemy of my lady, to have wrongfully fired Thyra's supporter from his position. And he could buy land on the outskirts of the territory and start to train mercenaries."

"Also, it is normal for the knights to train for a long time," Jullia added.

"Good." Thyra was now satisfied with the plan. "Make it believable. Let him recruit about 10-20 every month, and after three months of training, make it so that they give up and join as mercenaries. It would be better for them to spread out all over the kingdom. It would be easier to get news this way."

Thyra looked at Hure, adding, "Make everyone sign a stricter confidentiality and obedience contract. There should be no loophole so they can expose our plan."

It was Thyra's plan all along, that is, to create an information network. She already had enemies like Duke Dent and Count Thais. And the stronger she grows, the harder it will be for her to avoid the traps of these people with extensive networks.

And to counter that, she would need to create on her own. And there is no better time to do it than during the chaos of war. She knew she needed to be more thorough with that plan and consult with others, but for the time being, it was good enough.

In the end, she turned to Bella, adding, "Make sure to harass them without killing them from time to time. It won't be a problem if you put some of them in jail. And don't talk about what you have heard with anyone other than these people."