Make the prince pay

The prince was furious at the rapid collapse of his newly reformed armies, and became more paranoid.

He had to salvage the situation somehow. He couldn't face the king with the acts he had done upto now.

Moreover, He felt that Erika would soon be coming for him.

He had immediately issued orders to his knights to get find out the remaining soldiers and conscript them again.

He also asked for Paul and Weilding who he is very close to since childhood for advise.

"Your highness, I think that the duchy will attack us sooner or later. So we maybe we should reform our armies and wait for them to come." Paul advised.

"They have already attacked us. If they really are blessed by the fairies, I think we should just stick to our city wall." This was the advice of Weilding.

"ALso, those medicine the teachers came up with, since it can turn people stronger and fearless, we can distribute them to people who we didn't consider fit before." He continued.

"But what happened there? Didn't the teachers came up with magic to enhance the power of the siege weapons?" Paul asked.

His question contained some discontent at the teachers of the academy.

"I have investigated. It seemed the soldiers panicked and forgot to use the weapons. It came as a result of lack of training and practice." Weilding said looking at him.

"Then what about the knights? Why didn't they use those weapons?" Paul asked not satisfied with the answer.

 "Because they were busy with controlling the crowd. They still did their best, but the academy students who were supposed to use various offensive magic to beat the flying enemy panicked even more." Weilding explained.

"They just kneeled in their position without slightest movement." He continued.

"Enough, no need to dwell further in it." Theodore said.

He was getting bored of the talks between these two. He wanted solutions as fast as possible.

"I think Weilding is right. They'll attack us sooner or later but we can't. We should rather prepare." The prince said standing up from his father's throne.

"Mount those enchanted weapons on the city walls and supply the medicine to every man in the city." Theodore ordered.

"They must fight to save their city." He said straightening his right arm.

"As you wish your highness." Weilding and Paul bowed and left the room.

The siege weapons were mounted on the city walls and more crossbows were handed over to the city guards.

These crossbows were enchanted with magic from the academy teachers so that they became more powerful.

Most of the knights were positioned inside the city with some mercenaries and returnee conscripts placed at the wall.

All of them were given the medicine provided by the academy.

As the mages were no longer usable, Weilding along with his father and other knights and the remaining army commanders came up with this idea.

They all believed that since the enemy has advantage at air, the only way to counter this would be to hide inside the city.

In her home Erika was ambushed by Hanna as she entered the palace gate.

"Where have you been all this time? Why did you ditch me in the town?" She asked

Hanna hugged Erika in the same manner as she always does.

"Ah, sorry for that. I had some works to do." Erika replied.

She patted Hanna's head to console her.

Ever since Hanna was requested to keep a watch on Erika, Hanna had become more sticky with Erika.

Erika had to sometimes wake up very early or try and ditch Hanna with a maid in the city.

As Erika's Wehrmacht moved in closer to the capital city, Erika was becoming more busier.

This was the first time her army had to fight in a city. Though the city guards would eventually be no match for her Wehrmacht.

Erika still was worried about some scenarios. But for now she had to deal with this clingy Hanna.

Maruschka also stuck to her whenever she was in the camp. And more importantly, she had also started to copy Hanna in how she would cling to Erika.

However, Eugen and many of the medical staff had been sent along with the advancing regiments.

As a result Maruschka had become busier and had less time to stick to Erika.

Hanna at home was also happy that Maruschka was not here to bother her.

As Hanna remained stuck to Erika for quite a while, Bauer and Emil cracked jokes silently amongst each other.

"Fufu, it seems like they have learned to share the kommandant amongst themselves." Bauer whispered to Emil.

She was covering her mouth with one arm to make extra sure that the sound doesn't reach the hugging duo.

Emil laughed quietly as well.

"Haha, it seems you're right. One at the camp other at home." He said.

Emil also covered his mouth to hide his laugh and prevent his voice from reaching Erika.

"Umm, will you let me go, please." Erika asked awkwardly to Hanna.

To which Hanna replied by hugging Erika tighter and hiding her face into Erika's chest.

"No, I don't want to." She said.

To Erika, she looked like a child clinging to her mother. Her face blushed pink.

Behind her Emil and Bauer bit their lips to control their laughter.

"Umm, milady if you excuse us," Emil said.

He didn't want to stay there any longer otherwise he'll burst. The same was the condition of Bauer.

"Alright you two may rest." Erika said slightly turning her head as far as physically possible trying to look at them.

 Bauer and Emil both bowed and returned to their quarters where they burst into laughing.

"Alright now that's enough Hanna, I have some works to do." Erika said as she pushed Hanna as gently as possible.

This time Hanna didn't protest and let Erika go. 

Though she was a bit unhappy to do so.

In the palace she followed Erika like a tail only except for nature's calls.

 Hanna even took bath with Erika regularly. Though Erika protested at first, she had become accustomed to it.

That day the Grossdeutschland reached their positions near the capital city and a runner established telephone lines between the two regiments.

Though the two didn't meet each other after leaving the barracks little more than a week before, they kept communications.

The Luftwaffe provided intel on their positions and the OKW with which, both regiments had telephone communications provided the informations.

The time was afternoon and Erika and her family had just finished their lunch.

At this time Erika's parents were both resting and Erika was reading a war novel in her room lying in her bed.

As a military otaku from her previous life, she had grown an interest for war stories, though she also liked romance novels.

Hanna as always was clinging to her. She was bored and fell asleep because she didn't find much interest in war novels.

But she was still holding Erika with both her arms around her neck.

At that time, Bauer entered her room.

"Milady, Epps is waiting for you at the gates." She said as she entered.

She was, well... a little embarrassed to see the sight before her.

"Well, don't talk." Erika said looking awkwardly at Bauer.

Erika slowly and gently removed Hanna's arms from around her neck.

But as Hanna's hand was removed, she moved and made some sounds of discontempt in her sleep.

Her hands were moving, maybe looking for Erika again.

Afraid that she might wake up, Erika pushed a pillow between Hanna's hands. Hanna felt ease at the softness and slept again.

Erika moved outside with Bauer where Epps waited for her.

"Kommandant both regiments are in place and are ready for action." Epps said after saluting Erika.

"Alright, let's go. I'll join their attack as well." Erika said surprising both Epps and Bauer.

She rushed to her room and secretly changed into her uniform as silently as possible so as not to wake Hanna up.

She went together with them to the camp where now she was hugged by Maruschka.

She was free for now and was very happy to have this unexpected opportunity. She immediately buried her face into Erika's uniform.

"Now is not the time for this Maruschka." She said as she brushed her off.

Maruschka was sad and tried to protest, but she controlled herself as she saw everyone else present there was looking at them.

Erika went to the airfield where Bauer and Maruschka followed her.

She asked for Stiegler to prepare a glider for her. The glider was promptly made airworthy.

Everyone knew Erika was more than capable of flying the thing. So they didn't protest.

However, Maruschka was the first to see something like this. So she protested Erika flying in the thing.

However, Erika reminded her that she was also wearing a field grey uniform under her white overcoat.

This means that she was now a full member of Wehrmacht and had to act properly with a senior officer.

Bauer however, followed Erika. She also got on a second glider and decided to go along with Erika.

Maruschka pouted. 

"You let Bauer go with you but not me." She said poking the index finger of both hands together.

However, Erika didn't say anything and flew off at the same time with Bauer.

She had many reasons to join the attack. But most important of all, she wanted to make the prince pay for insulting her family and friends.

"I don't care whether you are the crown prince or the capture target, I will not leave you alone for insulting my father and sullying our family name." She said as her glider flew past the country towards the capital.