Children should not fight

The travel between Raubenbraum duchy and the capital Frundestein usually takes two days of travel.

However, for two regiments marching in full gears it took more than a week.

While the Wehrmacht troops marched through the road, the Luftwaffe reported what the kingdom was upto regularly.

One day, a pilot noticed that, in the camp some boys maybe the same age as Erika were practicing projectile attacks.

The pilot noticed them firing fireballs, streams of water or gush of airs in short to mid range.

Hearing this Erika was a bit worried. She couldn't help feel unease, though her general staff was still excited.

"Seems like this'll be the first time we get to engage in a real fight." Epps said.

Erika frowned at him. She didn't like this idea.

Erika at this time was at the OKW building in her camp.

She was somehow able to discard Hanna in the town and come to her camp to see how the mission was going.

She and her general staff stood around a table that had the map of the kingdom of Hohentaufia, with Erika, Bauer, Emil, Epps, Stiegler and some other officers serially.

Erika had plans to join the attack on the capital city of Frundestein herself.

But for the time being, she remained at the duchy, regularly receiving reports from the Luftwaffe.

Stiegler spoke, "Should we attack and get rid of them now?"

"No, not now. I think the prince is using students from the Royal academy as mages to fight against us." Erika spoke after thinking for a while.

"So?" Said Emil after listening to Erika.

"Isn't it better to get rid of them, before they can cause us any harm?" He said.

"But they are underage. You cannot kill underage people in war." Erika replied looking at Emil.

None of the general staff were able to understand Erika's reasoning, but they did trust her decision and decided to obey her.

"So how do we deal with them? They might become problems in the battlefield." Epps said.

"We can still just scare them off with aerial attacks from our gliders." Stiegler suggested.

"But kommandant just refused to allow that just know. Didn't you hear?" A Heer general said.

"I meant attacking the camp and firing on the ground and at the soldiers to scare them off." Stiegler said looking at that officer.

"I clearly remember kommandant said." He refuted.

"Enough. Don't fight amongst yourselves." Erika scolded them.

"Stiegler issue the orders. We will go with your plan." Erika approved.

There was a slight smile in stiegler's face. He was happy for the Luftwaffe having a major role in the operation.

This smile was reflected on the face of the other present Luftwaffe officers as well.

However, at the same time the Heer officers were gritting their teeth and cursing their Luftwaffe comrades in their minds.

"Alright, that's it. Everyone get to work. We will take over Frundestein once both regiments get into position." Erika said the final words.

"Jawohl Kommandant." everyone saluted in unison.

Stiegler went back to his Luftwaffe base and ordered two more gliders airborne.

Though there were two gliders already circling over the city, there was no way to contact them, so new gliders with fresh orders had to be sent.

Stiegler warned them not to attack the students of the royal academy as per Erika's orders, before they left.

The two gliders flew through the sky of the kingdom, reaching the capital within two hours.

The other two gliders noticing new ones, though their shifts were over and returned to base.

Meanwhile, the new gliders circled the Royal Army camp outside the city.

noticing the boys in similar dress they were told to avoid shooting at, they lined up on the tents.

Their first target was the bigger and more decorated tents that housed the officers and commanders of the army.

Soon the two gliders dove in over the tents and opened their machine guns on the unsuspecting men resting inside.

At the same time, Brandenburg regiment reported being within artillery range of the city.

The artillery range was set up at six thousand meters, a little less than the six thousand five hundred range of the 7.5cm guns.

However, the Grossdeutschland regiment was still not in place.

They required one more day to reach their destination.

In the Royal Army camp, there was once again panic.

More gliders had joined up with the initial two to attack the encampment.

This once again threw the untrained and half trained soldiers into disarray.

They rushed for the safety of the city walls while tent after tent was being gunned down.

There was total chaos as the knights and household guards also failed to control thousands of troops who were running for their lives.

Though they surrounded the camp and cut down any soldier that attempted to escape, they were overwhelmed by the large number of soldiers.

In a deliberate attempt to make the soldiers to return to the camp, the city guards closed down the gates of the city trapping the soldiers outside.

When they noticed the birds preying on them, some of the knights wanted the students of the royal academy to resist those.

They stormed the chaotic camp and looked for the students.

The students were easily recognisable as they wore the black uniform of the academy.

The knights found them all rounded up in a corner of the camp and on their knees as they held each other and covered their heads.

They ordered the students to use their offensive magic on the attacking birds.

However, the inexperienced students who were also nobles panicked too much.

Let alone casting magic spells towards the gliders, they were even afraid to move from their spots lest they become the next target of those birds.

They remained in their places like statues while the other soldiers run for their lives as one after another gets shot from above.

Soon many knights and household guards gathered around them.

They shook the young boys to kick some sense back into them.

"Hey, hey, don't stand here like fools. Fire at the enemy." The knights and guards shouted at them.

If this were any other time, the knights or even the household guards wouldn't have dared to treat the noble children like this.

Afterall, even the lowest ranking nobles in the academy were of higher status than the knights and guards.

But now wasn't such a time.

The kingdom was in disarray, many feudal lords were now gone and the prince had issued orders to conscript the students as well.

So the knights and guards dared to treat them in this fashion.

No matter how harsh a measure they take, the noble students seemed unfazed.

Most of them even after severe thrashing refused to take orders or act decisively.

In the skies, the shiny and silver armour of the knights and guards hardly went unnoticed.

Erika had issued new orders to Stiegler to target the knights as well.

SInce the armour of the knights made them look like clear bullseye to the pilots in the gliders, they smoked them up.

Soon the the knights who were unfazed until now were falling down one by one.

Just seconds before, they were cutting off panicking ordinary soldiers and claimed how fearless they were even after being attacked.

But now when they are really attacked, they ran away without second thoughts.

One glider even dived down on the group that was trying to get the students back into action.

He shot at a knight who was kicking a student who kneeling on the ground covering his head with his two hands.

Seeing him fall, the rest of the knights present there ran away.

They made their way to the city gate and cut down many of the soldiers who had flocked there to be let into the city.

All the knights and household guards gathered there dispersing the soldiers.

They shouted at the city guards to let them in.

Afraid of the knights and household guards who were higher in status than them, the city guards opened the door.

Now with the gates opened, the soldiers rushed in as well. There was no way for the city guards or the knights and household guards to control them.

Soon the camp was empty of men except for the noble students who remained there.

The gliders fired all around them making them even more traumatised before breaking off the attack.

The noble boys who never saw action were now severely traumatised seeing the scenery of the camp in front of them.

They had just completed their offensive magic training a day before, and were feeling invincible.

Both the prince and their teachers had offered them great rewards and fame. 

They were also enthusiastic about bringing their enemies down with their magic abilities.

But now the enemy has left them beaten and broken.

They couldn't resist the enemy that pounded them from skies suddenly and left them in a state of shock.

For a long while after the attack was over, they still remained in their position afraid they'd be the next to fall if they move an inch.

Even the knights didn't dare to return back to the camp for the rest of the day.

At night when they returned to see the students still in the same position, they could do nothing but return them back to the academy.

For the prince, this was a serious disaster.

For the second time within weeks he lost his entire army.

Now he had to take even more drastic steps.