Burying Lord Alfreed

"Alright, where are those five ass holes that shot arrows at me?" Lady Sylvia shouted.

Five knights sheepishly made their way over to Lady Sylvia and started begging for her forgiveness over and over.

"Whatever, it's not entirely your fault, I should've announced myself... as punishment, dig a grave next to my mother for my father so I may bury him personally." Lady Sylvia said with a hint of sadness.

The five knights got up and thank Lady Sylvia for her forgiveness then ran over to a shed to retrieve some tools for digging.

"HEY! I never said you can use tools! Use your hands! If you have to cut through a tree root, use your teeth!" Lady Sylvia said indignantly.

Count Agist, Nicholas, and Thomas had walked over to Lady Sylvia and the knights behind her after one of the knights came to tell them that she was looking for them.

Thomas was still wearing the cook uniform, but it looked haggard and sweaty compared to when he left the manor in it before.

Nicholas looked at his brother, Thomas, and asked "What happened to you?"

"I uh, might have to visit the tavern here more often... but I never found Lady Sylvia in the only 2 walk-in cellars outside of the manor nor was she in the only stone building which was the church so I just hoped for the best from you guys."

"Oh good, so you at least finished your mission before fucking the bar maid I see..."

"Let's be clear, she fucked me! I was merely in the right place at the right time!"

"Fair enough, I shall have to visit that fine establishment with you next time then."

Normally Nicholas would be extremely mad at Thomas, but thanks to Lorraina's "inspiration" a few days ago, they learned it was better to work together especially since they were brothers and to embrace their differences.

Lady Sylvia approached Count Agist and said "Forgive me Count, I'll make it brief, I am a terrible leader, but I hope to keep Flint within my family for my father's sake. I'd even be willing to come to a sort of 'mutually beneficial' agreement." Lady Sylvia gave a small smile, reached out, and caressed Count Agist's hand.

Count Agist flinched slightly from the unexpected touch and said, "T-That won't be necessary! I never had any intention of conquering Flint. Officially, Flint will become a village in my territory within Feldland Kingdom, unofficially, you can keep ruling it if you so wish as long as you give me complete control of your knights."

"I have no idea how to run a village, my father tried to teach me but he spoiled me so much I would end up running off to go play with the other children, then instead of learning economics, leadership, administration, and diplomacy I opted to learn swordsmanship and tactics. I'm good with a sword, but terrible with ruling!" Lady Sylvia said, seemingly quite proud in her inability to govern even a tiny village.

"I... we'll talk later about this, allow me to help bury your father."

"Don't worry about that... just come to the ceremony..."

Count Agist smiled weakly and nodded at Lady Sylvia, he could tell she was putting on a strong front right now and he was even a little bit impressed by her mental fortitude.

__________

Lady Sylvia had a small burial ceremony for her father and buried him next to her late mother. Almost the entire village came to pay their respects for the late Lord Alfreed. Everyone seemed to understand Lady Sylvia's personality so they would offer her some of their lighter memories of him, like how he panicked and ran through the streets with her as a baby because he didn't know how to change a diaper when the maid was sick, or how he would whine about not getting enough attention from her when she would she became a teenager, or even how her father asked for volunteers to spy on her when she went out with a boy for the first time.

Lady Sylvia loved these kinds of stories the most, even though she's heard many of them before. She had to admit the spying one was new for her, but it sounded like something her doting father would do.

One thing that surprised Count Agist from watching her was that she didn't seem to have any friends her age so he thought he might ask her about that some time.

"Good night, and thank you for everything." Lady Sylvia said with a warm smile as the last group of villagers left to return home.

Thomas and Nicholas returned to their camp with the rest of Count Agist's knights leaving Count Agist at the burial ceremony since it wasn't their place to attend. Count Agist felt a little awkward attending anyways since he didn't know Count Alfreed at all.

"Lady Sylvia, I shall excuse myself for the night as well then..." Count Agist said as he bowed politely to Lady Sylvia.

Count Agist turned to leave but he felt a tug on the hem of his shirt and barely heard Lady Sylvia whisper "Don't leave me alone..."

Lady Sylvia's words were very endearing and so Count Agist turned around and gently embraced her, but she suddenly yelled out "I didn't say fucking hug me!"

Count Agist jumped back and was about to make a hasty retreat until she grabbed his wrist and then said "Actually, hug me, you're warm..."

Looking at Lady Sylvia in slight disbelief, Count Agist eventually hugged her again and she hugged him back, then she buried her face in his chest and started to cry and let out everything she had been bottling up all day.

Count Agist patted her head and held her tightly without saying a word, eventually she calmed down though and released him. "Sorry, second time you've seen me cry..." she said softly while wiping her tears and snot on Count Agist's shirt.

"That's not a problem milady, but why me?"

"I've never cried in front of anyone, ever... my mother died giving birth to me so it never really struck me as hard. You've already seen me cry when your news caught me unaware and if you tell anyone about it I will castrate you with 2 bricks."

Count Agist nodded and said "I shall leave you as the Lady of Flint then, but give you a position on my council so that you can assign someone else to manage Flint for you if you wish. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good! Can't wait to leave this place anyways!"

"Might I ask why?"

"All of my friends left! They got out of this tiny village as soon as they completed their apprenticeships or became knights!"

That seemed to answer Count Agist's earlier question about the lack of friends, and at the same time it also explained the lack of young adults in general. "I'm guessing Flint has a problem with keeping villagers then... we'll need to work on that."

Lady Sylvia nodded, "I'll send a messenger to your camp and say you're going to spend the night in the guest room here."

"No need, I can sleep back at our camp on a bedroll. We wouldn't want rumors to spread anyways."

"Maybe that's what I want to happen since with my father gone I am sure the other nobility will come to marry me away... and you're the first one that hasn't tried to pressure me into anything so I'm counting on you being nice."

Count Agist thought of the expression Lillica might make if a rumor spread around that he slept with Lady Sylvia and was going to keep her for himself and a big grin appeared on his face.

"Hey! That doesn't mean we're actually going to do it! Keep it in your pants! I've never actually..." Lady Sylvia trailed off the last part of what she said, but Count Agist got the gist of it.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, neither have I and I'm not ashamed at all!"

"You should be! You're a count and should have at least a small harem by now!" Lady Sylvia said with a grin.

"Well, it's complicated but I only have a tiny amount of territory under my control, and forming a harem has not been on my to do list. Feeding my knights and protecting the commoners has been a little more important."

"Wait, are you that count that I heard Georg talking to my father about once, the one Georg said is pure evil, lecherous, and was stripped of his title of Duke for abusing commoners and nobility below him?"

"So I supposed those rumors reached all the way out here? I mean, I am supposed to be a Duke since my father was and I would normally inherit his title. I've never done anything that those silly rumors said I did!"

"Yeah, I figured, you seem too nice for that and even admitted to being a virgin. Well, come on then, let's go back to my manor for the night, I'll make a lot of loud noises to add fuel to the rumors about us!" Lady Sylvia said without a care.

"Don't you care about your own image?"

"Of course I do, but like I said, the less of those wrinkly old perverts that try to pressure me in to marriage now the better!"

"Good point, ok, let's get back, want me to make noises too?" Count Agist said with a grin.

"Please don't..." Lady Sylvia said while rolling her eyes.