Erika

In the palace Hanna spoke to Erika's mother after being called inside.

When she entered first she saw that the duchess was worried about about something.

She seemed conflicted.

"Ah Hanna, come in and sit." She said after noticing her in the room.

Hanna sat down on a sofa in front of the duchess.

"Do you need something from me, lady duchess?" Hanna asked.

"You like Erika don't you?" duchess said.

Hanna blushed and averted her eyes. Her face was slightly pink.

"Y-yes, lady duchess. I like her." She answered hesitantly.

"Then can you do me a favor?" Erika's mother asked slightly smiling.

Her worries seemed to be gone and she was more lively.

"I want you to look after her." She said.

"It's more like lady Erika has been taking care of me whenever I was in trouble. So I don't know how much I can be helpful." Hanna said.

"Actually you are perfect for this job." duchess reassured her.

"Actually I am bit worried about her. Though she has an army of herself, she is still doing dangerous tasks." She sighed.

"It makes me worried and sad. She shouldn't have to handle these things now."

"Don't worry madam, my lady Erika is so much capable. I am sure nothing can harm her." Hanna comforted the duchess.

"I know that but still, its a mother's whim." She said.

"Wait a minute," she suddenly noticed something.

glaring at Hanna she said, "Did you just call her 'your' Erika?"

Hanna was flustered. She felt embarrassed and couldn't reply.

She spoke unconsciously and didn't think she'll be noticed.

"Fufu, it seems you really like her." Duchess smiled.

"Please take care of her and stop her from doing reckless things."

The duchess leaned on her chair and held Hanna's hands as she requested her.

"Sure, I'll do it." Hanna replied.

After taking leave from the duchess, Hanna returned to the yard in front of the palace where she left Erika and Hanna.

But to her surprise, no one was there. She was flustered and shaking.

"Where could that commoner take her?" She thought.

But she didn't know anything about the duchy nor the palace, so the only thing she could do was to go back and look for Bauer.

Not even able to find Bauer, Hanna felt sad and ashamed.

"I shouldn't have left my Erika alone." She thought.

There was nothing for her to do but to wait until Erika returned.

However, the duchess noticed her sitting in the previous sofa looking sad.

Hanna told her that Erika was not in the palace and not even Bauer.

"Oh, I see. You missed her." She said wondering.

"Don't worry, I'll assign you a maid who'll give you a tour of the city. You can look after her from tomorrow." She said.

The duchess called for a maid and asked her to take Hanna on a tour of the city.

"I hope you'll enjoy your visit." She said before leaving again.

Hanna and the maid went out to the city.

Meanwhile, the two carriages carrying the Landsturm couple returned to their city.

They were greeted by the captain of their knights George at the city gates.

He had maintained vigorous watch over all the city gates himself. Noticing the lord and lady inside the carriage he bowed.

"Milord and milady, I'm glad you're back safe and sound. We were really worried about you." He said, pleased to see them safe and sound.

 Behind he also noticed the other open top carriage that carried more of Erika's soldiers.

He frowned noticing it.

"Milord, is lady Erika sending more troops to us?" He asked curiously.

Although the soldiers of Erika didn't do anything suspicious and maintained a good relationship with the locals, George still couldn't rest.

To him, these soldiers looked highly weird and suspicious.

They didn't have any armour, only a metal pot at the head and none of them even had swords or spears.

It seemed they couldn't even properly wield one anyways.

However, something about them was unsettling to him.

They all remained neat and clean and highly disciplined, always maintaining daily schedules.

The weapons they carried were weird as well, just some wooden sticks with some metal parts.

Sometimes a small dagger would be attached to them but these could never harm a knight's armour.

They also got along very well with the civilians, especially the young girls.

Many girls were already in love with the soldiers and spend most of their times with them.

The local economy was booming as the soldiers went to the markets and bought many specialties or used the bars and inns.

The most important fact was that the lord was in the same duchy as these troops and George feared the worst.

As the carriages drove through the city gates, he followed them.

"No. only these three. They are escorting us." Lord Landsturm said from the carriage.

Their carriage went to the palace while the one with Jerry and his troops went to the regiment camp.

In an open park inside the city, The Brandenburg Regiment had set up their camp.

The atmosphere was pleasant and the soldiers liked the greenery inside the city.

As Jerry and his men made their way to the camp, they were greeted and cheered on by some local girls.

They felt proud of it, at least someone was noticing them.

When one of the soldiers from the regiment guided them to the camp, everything was already packed.

The tents were folded and the guns and equipments all mounted into carriages.

The soldiers were also ready to march. They were only waiting for Jerry and his man.

When, the commander of the regiment Oberst Vorges met them, they saluted.

"Welcome back to the Regiment. Did you bring the map?" He asked.

"Jawohl herr Oberst. Here it is." Jerry handed over the map, while the soldiers Klaus and Gunther fell into their old company.

Vorges one of the first recruits, and now old and experienced enough to command a regiment issued the orders immediately.

All the soldiers started marching while the carriages towed their extra equipments through the main street of the city.

At the same time the Grossdeutschland Regiment also started their march.

While this regiment was marching through an unused road, unknown to anyone, Brandenburg regiment marched as they were cheered by the girls.

Many asked when they'd return. But unless anything happened, they wouldn't be returning.

As they marched through the road, Vorges followed by all the troops started singing,

"Auf der Heide blüht ein kleines Blümelein

und das heißt Erika!

Heiß von hunderttausend kleinen Bienelein

wird umschwärmt Erika!"

The soldiers marched with this song merrily.

When, Lord and Lady Landsturm heard the name of Erika being mentioned, they came out of their palace and stood in front of the palace gates.

They saw Erika's troops marched through, all the civilians watched as the troops went away.

They were marching towards the Frundestein city.

All this time, in the capital, prince Theodore had taken things into his own hand.

When the king didn't wake up in the morning, everyone was worried about what happened.

The queen called for the royal family's healer as soon as she noticed the anomaly.

The healer reassured that the king was just sleeping, maybe due to poisoning from some herbs.

He also reassured that he might have the antidote for the king.

He went to his chambers to bring the medicine necessary to heal the king but was stopped by the prince outside the king's bedroom.

"Give him the antidote but only in small dose so that he may wake up at least after three weeks." He threatened the healer.

"But your highness...." He was cut short.

"Don't cross your boundaries. Just do as I say or there'll be consequences." Theodore warned the healer.

The healer obliged and worked as the prince wanted.

After threatening the healer, Theodore went to the throne room.

First he called a meeting for the ministers and informed them that the king was sick and he'd be taking charge of things temporarily.

The ministers were skeptical about this incident but they chose to obey the prince.

What happened with the royal family was not their matter. They only cared about their own ends.

Theodore issued orders for the feudal territories to send in more troops to the capital.

Moreover, he released many prisoners and recruited mercenaries from all over the kingdom to make up the ranks of the Royal Army as fast as possible.

Everyone could understand that the prince wanted revenge against the Raubenbraum duchy.

But since none them had any practical understanding of how things went, they believed prince Theodore.

He explained that the duchy broke the norms of war by attacking sleeping soldiers at night.

However, his remaining knight commanders advised him to slow down the recruitment.

They wanted to understand the situation better and take measures slowly.

Theodore however, couldn't wait. He had to regain his tarnished reputation and show his father that he can be a competent leader.

So he ignored the advices of his commanders and acted how he saw fit.

The conscripts, prisoners and mercenaries were hired very quickly, however, the extra troops from other lord's territories didn't arrive.

The Landsturm territory already declared that they would side with the Raubenbraum duchy.

While losing their knights and lords, the other territories were in a state of chaos.

So sending troops was impossible for them anyways.

Also the newly formed Royal Army lacked in experienced officers and the trainings were not complete.

Meanwhile, Erika's troops were marching on the capital.

Her Luftwaffe notified her that the kingdom was already reforming the Royal Army.