3 Machinations

Count Agist hefted his large executioner's axe on to his shoulder as if it weighed next to nothing and started to saunter over towards the crowd of commoners blocking the road.

Count Agist was not a typical noble, whilst his father did dote on him and teach him much, Count Agist was more interested in developing his martial talents than on how to lead a fiefdom. Count Agist also didn't initially believe in ruling the people with an iron fist as his father had instructed him.

Standing at over two meters tall, Count Agist was a large man. The massive executioner's axe, Last Stand, being slung on his shoulder made him appear even more domineering in his plate armor.

"Make way!" Count Agist bellowed as he got within a few meters of the crowd of commoners.

Many of the commoners exchanged looks with each other and became unsettled as Count Agist continued to approach them.

The local lord, Lord Hawthorne, tried to hide his excitement. He had brought all of his knights to act as his bodyguards for the collections and expected negotiating, but in reality he was waiting for either the commoners to strike first or for Count Agist and his bodyguards to strike first.

If the commoners struck first, he would instruct his knights to defend the Count and then use it as an excuse to have Count Agist further demoted so he would have a chance at becoming the Count in Agist's stead.

If Count Agist or his knights struck first, Lord Hawthorne would attack the Count and claim it was to defend his people from a tyrant, thus also allowing him to take over his position if he could take credit for putting down a tyrant.

"S-Stop! We re-refuse to pay taxes to... to any of you except our K-King!" the commoner in the front managed to stammer his thoughts out.

Count Agist didn't slow down or even bat an eye at this commoner. He stomped his feet hard with each step leaving deep foot prints in the ground as he started to build up his strength to collide with the large group of commoners.

The group of around 120 commoners felt like they were about to collide with an entire army as they all braced themselves to resist Count Agist stomping through their group. Neither side had raised a weapon while the knights of the local lord, Lord Hawthorne, were waiting for someone to strike first.

Instead of attacking, Count Agist strode into the crowd of commoners, knocking 3 of them back into the rest as if they were not even there. Count Agist continued to push through, knocking everyone down in his way, one man even fell flat on his back in front of Count Agist.

Count Agist was just about to step on this man, but instead he slammed his foot down between the man's thighs, just missing the man's crotch, then took another step and slammed it down next to the man's head.

The man's face turned white from almost getting his groin crushed and then almost getting his skull crushed, and the rest of the commoners lost their courage and parted to let Count Agist and his men through.

Lord Hawthorne was disappointed that neither side struck first, but he had a backup plan just in case.

__________

Count Agist and his troupe brought the large empty wagon into the village center, while normally the taxes or goods to be used as tax would have been collected already, Count Agist knew Lord Hawthorne, like all of the other lower nobles, would not have completed this task either.

Wanting to take a harder approach, Count Agist stormed up to Lord Hawthorne and demanded "Why haven't you collected your land's taxes?"

Lord Hawthorne replied unapologetically saying "I am sorry Agist but..."

"COUNT Agist!" Count Agist interrupted the man to correct him.

Lord Hawthorne didn't even react and started over and said "I am sorry COUNT Agist" while making sure to sound as sarcastic as possible. "The commoners refused to pay us taxes, the decrees you made gave them the right to refuse taxes as they considered them unfair since the nobles didn't pay taxes."

Count Agist indeed made several decrees, but the one he was talking about was meant to protect commoners from being punished by nobles for not submitting themselves to their sexual needs or public shaming.

Thinking that the commoners were able to infer that the decree meant they could get out of paying taxes, Count Agist thought that maybe they could be negotiated with this time if he kept the local lord out of it.

Count Agist then turned to the commoners and said "I understand you lot are using one of my decrees to get out of paying taxes. Why?"

"Our King is ordained by God so only the King has the right to tax us, we will only accept it if the King himself comes or with a royal tax collector that is ordained by the King."

Count Agist furrowed his brow in thought. This seemed way to petty and indirect to be thought up by the commoners alone, he had felt that other nobles were plotting against him as he had heard of no other fiefdoms having problems collecting taxes except for his.

Count Agist realized that this was the first time they actually listened to him so he decided to bring out the logical approach again "Ok, so while we wait months for the royal tax collector, how will we pay the knights to protect you and the lands I let you make your living on?"

The commoners whispered amongst themselves, unsure of how to answer this, suddenly a commoner that seemed rather well-dressed and clean compared to the others spoke up loudly. "We can protect ourselves just fine! We've been at peace for years and the great Lord Hawthorne has stopped the bandits with his knights alone!"

This seemed to rile up the commoners and they regained their courage. "That is fine, but these lands were still given to me by the King, you are giving him taxes by giving me taxes."

That same man as before seemed to wait for this as he yelled "Nay! Duke Agist was the one appointed by the King to rule us, not his half-witted son! We demand a fair leader, such as the great Lord Hawthorne!"

Count Agist swore to himself on the inside, he was officially the Count, but the official proclamation was still pending the investigation of his father's death. He really wanted to strangle this man that was clearly a lackey of Lord Hawthorne.

Dion came up from behind him and put his hand on Count Agist's shoulder and whispered "This is obviously a setup, we should just chalk this up as a loss and leave for now."

Count Agist felt helpless again, and just as he was about to resign and return home, his voice in his head said "Kill Hawthorne". Count Agist turned to look at Lord Hawthorne who's pudgy face was barely containing the joy from his plan to slander Count Agist working. Their eyes met and Lord Hawthorne revealed a smile that was said "I won this time" to Count Agist, in return Count Agist revealed a more sinister grin and added a touch of madness to it.

After seeing Count Agist's expression, Lord Hawthorne stopped smiling and instead averted his eyes from Count Agist now afraid to even meet his eyes.

__________

Out of view, Lillica and Lorraina had materialized on a hillside.

"So sister, which one of these humans is the one that interests you?" Lorraina said playfully.

"Can't you be serious for once? He's the one with that axe..." Lillica said as she pointed in the direction of Count Agist.

"I am serious! I seriously want to play with him!" Lorraina said as she looked at Count Agist, her eyes glowed brighter and Count Agist appeared as clear as if he was only a few meters from her despite being over 2 kilometers away.

"Hmmm... he is large and full of energy!" Lorraina said then licked her lips seductively.

"Yes, but that's not what I'm looking at... look at his heart."

"Uggg, you know I have a hard time doing that!" Lorraina complaied.

"I know sister, so I will help you..."

Lillica walked up behind Lorraina and put both her hands over Lorraina's eyes, closed her own, then removed her hands from Lorraina's eyes revealing her glowing yellow eyes to be brighter than before.

"Thanks sis!"

Lorraina focused on Count Agists heart, it looked like a pure white orb with signs of cracking and black lightning arcing near each crack.

"Oh! He's perfect! I bet he's never been in love before even!"

"I agree, and he's so close to breaking..."

"I can't wait! They taste the best right after they break!" Lorraina said excitedly

"Indeed, let's help him!" Lillica covered Lorraina's eyes again and then opened her own, causing Lorraina to lose her help and not be able to see Count Agist's heart anymore.

"Awww, but I wanted to look some more!"

"Don't worry, you can look all you want once we follow them back and make ourselves at home."

Lorraina and Lillica held hands again while laughing, then started to walk towards the village Count Agist was at turning invisible to the naked eye.