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Standing in the forest, behind a few trees, hiding in the shadows but still able to have a view on the path that moves through this forest. In the bushes were the browns waiting for the order to attack. Even it took quite a few tries and killing some of the minions more than once, each of the browns understood their role.

And as assurance two of the blues were at the Overlords sides. The roles were clear: Once the order of attack comes, the Minions jump from the bushes and deal with whatever opponent they were facing. But not kill anybody… at least not in way that the uniforms were ruined. On the one leading the bunch is to be taken prisoners.

The reds were back at the tower to prevent a forest fire. And the blues job… stay back and revives afterwards any Minion that died and could be still revived. Pretty much the most oblivious role. The waiting part of the plan was the hardest part for the Overlord. In the past week he did this plan at least half a dozen times and each time it was more or less successful. More due the fact ALL strikes brought rewards, less because due the stupidity of the minions… not all set goals were archived. Namely getting enough uniforms.

The strikes were against the tax collectors and their escort of the Duchess Ancret. And AFTER they had been in a town or village. And after said strikes he visits the towns or villages and after being "Touched by their troubles" he gave them some gold. Enough to cover the costs of the near future and get economic running. And he secretly set up a small nethergate… the big ones can come once he manages to set up his reign over said places.

If the minions were careful enough with this attack, they will have enough uniforms for the second part of the plan: Getting into the duchess home. Pretty sure that the Duchess already knows that somebody was intercepting her tax collectors and have of course raised the protection so far. Thought regarding the second part he has still some doubts due the involvement of the minions… due of how "bright" they are and how much they differ from humans. But for now he trusts Gnarls opinion. In worst case here is a plan A.

Now some would ask "Why not going for Plan A in the first place?" and the answer was simple: Plan A NEVER works, so the overlord decided to go straight for Plan B, use Plan A to fall back on and no Plan C to fall back on. That should make sure the plan should go out without a snitch.

He turned his head as he heard the sounds of approaching people with a carriage… if the information didn't fail him, and they had been true so far, this must be the carriage of the last tax collector with his guards and of course taxes… how many it might ever be.

The place they came from was called Zaliad, a small fishing village which isn't very important. In fact, according to Gnarl this village was the most uninteresting place in the whole kingdom and even the old Overlord didn't bother to take a visit there. As the Overlord checked out the location in advance and asked a few questions around, he learns that they were barely affected by the reign of the fifth Overlord and only after his downfall their problems started: The taxes were robbing them from the very little they make for a living and the fisher were forced to go even at the most dangerous times out to fish. So the Dark Overlord could care less about this place and if it weren't for the uniforms, he wouldn't even have bothered to attack this tax collector. Well… at least the fish can be used to make a few more Minions.

And indeed it was the carriage with its escort. Raising his arm the Overlord signaled the Minions to get ready, which they gleefully did, which caused the Overlord to kick one of them as warning… dumb as they be, they got the drill so far that certain gestures during certain situations brought the desirable reaction… And made the Overlord once more curious if they could be at least trained to do certain acts that normally require some intelligence. Well… he simply added this thought to the list of "Researching facts about Minions".

The guards and the carriage moved without even showing that they might run into an ambush. What surprised the Overlord is that here were much less guards than usual, despite past attack and that each time he strikes, the amount of guards were raised. Well… perhaps since this tax collector only got fish from this village, the duchess assumed that, whoever attacked the other tax collectors wouldn't bother to steal fish.

If the Duchess had any clue what the real deal was... she would have thought different. Anyway the Overlord saw the opportunity and only grinned as he gave the signal. On this clue the Minions rushed out of the bushes towards the guards, which were all shocked and even the now usual hidden guards were not able to do much of damage as the Dark Overlord had brought far more. An outsider would dare to say that this attack was overkill even for Zerg Rush Attack strategy standards.

Once the minions did their duty and taken down all guards and stripped them from their uniforms, the Overlord left his forces to do whatever they want. He doesn't care if they are taken prisoners or simply be killed… all he wants no evidence it was him.

Walking over to the Carriage, the Overlord ripped open the door and saw the tax collector sitting at a corner, shaking at the given situation.

And as the skinny man saw the armored man ripping the door away, he scream and the lower part of the clothes got conveniently wet… a very clear message that this guy was frightened. Unlike the other tax collectors who had been laughing or played arrogant towards the one taking out their guards.

"P-Please! Don't kill me!" begged the Tax Collector "I will do everything you want!"

What a kill joy… was the Overlords personal opinion. The others at least had struggled and he could refine his arts of scaring the shit out of people. But this one didn't even give the Overlord time to test out his skills. So he simply went out and sends a few minions in to deal with this one. A short scream and his pool of life force were raised a little. The goods of this transport, namely fish in larger amounts were transported to the tower, to be contributed towards the villages and towns the overlord "saved" to increase their thankfulness a little. As for the fisher village… he decides once he took over the territory, he will give short visit to set up his flag but due the fact that even the old Overlord didn't bother with this place, he doubts that he would even send any minion guards here.

Once everything that was worth taking was collected by the minions, they were going their way back to the tower. The Overlord should have now enough intact uniforms and he would have made them fit on the browns to go for the next step: Getting into the Duchess mansion.

Upon returning, Gnarl was already expecting the Overlord and told him "Greeting My Liege! The fish is contributed like you ordered and most of the uniforms are right now resized for the minions, except of course one set, which is right now prepared for you to use. With a fitting helmet so you can still protect your treasured evil mind and spread fear among those not being foiled by your disguise.

"Good! How long until we can depart?" asks the Overlord and Gnarl states "Within a day the uniforms shall be ready and deployed to the most experienced and trusted minions of your army."

The overlord nods as he set down on the throne and smirks "Soon we have a big expansion of our territory… and after that we can start for real business."

"I agree my lord! And while you have taken a slower start than most Overlords, you made quite a remarkable process. Most have taken two months for getting two towns. You manage to do this feat with a whole territory of a duchess!"

"Let's not count the spoils before the end" warns the Overlord "While it is unlikely by this point, here is still a chance that the move will fail and we have to approach the whole thing different. And with higher risks and dangers."

"Of course your evilness" told Gnarl and he respectfully bows. Thought the Dark Overlord was wondering if the old Minion Master isn't planning for his own agenda… well at least as long they have to go for the same direction for their separate agendas, he will leave Gnarl being Gnarl… but once it was clear that this minion might be getting in his way, he will act.

"Get me the prisoners! Their information have been very valuable so I intend to keep my word and let them go"

"Of course sire!" told Gnarl and went to call orders towards the minions, who were more than eager to pull the five former soldiers out of the dungeons and lead them in front of the throne.

The overlord eyed the five for a last time before telling "Your information had been truthful! So I keep my part of the bargain and let you go!"

The guards smiled by the fact of their release, thought the Overlord wouldn’t think they were just go and never appear again. He was sure they would go out and warn the people so he waved a hand and a minion pulled a lever.

The guards felt a suddenly the pulling forces of gravity and they shouted and tried to rudder in the air to get to a different place… but only to fail and fall into the opening trapdoor beneath their feet. As they fall to their doom, the Overlord mused "I never stated in which direction I let you go…"

On the next day, the Overlord was at the way to the Duchess Mansion, clothed like a Tax Collector and accompanied by his minions, dressed as guards. They got the mansion in sight and a whistle came from him. It was a three story building with properly a fourth smaller one at the roof sections and alone in the front he counts forty two windows while he doesn't know the length of the mansion, he was sure this one had a lot of rooms, thus making this duchess being a rich and influence one.

"This raid will be really a good one" smirks the Overlord to himself while they reach the gate that blocks their way towards the mansion. The two guards blocked his way and one told "Stop! Who's there and what are your wishes?"

"I am a new tax collector, delivering what I gathered for the Duchess" told the Overlord and snap his fingers while the Minions showed a few chests with gold he brought along. These raids on the other tax collectors really paid off in terms of income. A lot of gold and a lot of different materials and goods.

The guards looks at the gold, then at the minions before turning to the overlord "New huh? Like all the guards around you?"

"Yes" was the overlords reply; ready to just call to attack if they didn't let themselves be foiled.

"Given the attacks in the last time and the need of getting new forces, I am not surprised I haven't seen any of you yet. You can pass!" told the guard and the way was cleared. As they moved towards the mansion, the Overlord was almost about to laugh. These guards were really dumb enough for fall this simple trick.

They reach the mansion and were ordered to bring the chests of gold to the treasure room. Following this order, one of the minions gave the Overlord his gauntlet and after putting it on they reached the treasure room. As the chests were brought into the vault, the Overlord asks "Where is the Duchess?"

"At this time? Properly in her office, writing letters to the king" told the guard "Why do you ask?"

"Because I have a talk with her" told the Overlord and punches the guard so hard that the eyes rolled up and falls down on the ground. The other guards were shocked by this even and the minions took that as sign to attack the remaining guards and they were defeated in a matter of minutes. The surviving Minions got the Overlords armor out of the secret locks of the treasure chests and put it on their master. Then he grasp the sword he brought along and ordered the minions "Go to the barracks and wherever the minority of servants are running and cause as much chaos as you want! But I don't want that any of the riches of this place gets destroyed! For any destroyed furniture or other object of worth, one of you gets killed, revived and killed again!"

The minions understood. Bashing in general yes. Anything that looks good. No bashing. Or else, death revive, death, revive. Lot of pain. Pain of Overlord. No pleasing pain. Only pain of death.

With that they rushed out, only a few remaining by the overlord to be his guards. He doesn't expect that all of them survive. Especially since they are the youngest of his minions. Inexperienced. Most stupid. But he didn't want to risk his elites. Especially when they have better roles in this plan. If things get hairy, their role was to force their way into the mansion and destroy everything in their path to save their master.

The Overlord waits for a moment until he was sure the distance between the send off minions and himself were great enough and he made his way to find the duchess. While the mansion wasn't a maze or so, but a building with a clear structure, the main problem laid upon the fact he doesn't know where the office of the Duchess was located and such he had to check each room. And each room he wondered more how much of the taxes actually went towards the king and how much the woman kept for herself.

On their way, they found a few single guards which were on their way to intercept the rampaging minions. But to their bad luck, the minions and the overlord were too much of a match to stop this force.

And upon forcing one of the Guards to tell him where to find the office, he quickly got there. With two guards blocking his way. Ordering the minions to stay back, the guards were getting ready to fight the Overlord, while latter is going to fight as well. Until a voice called "Stop! Let our guests in?"

One of the guards opens the door and told "But milady…"

"No buts!" answered her voice "You let our lord in or I won't complain if he kills you, using your life force to increase his forces!"

The two guards looked at each other at this and made clear path. Puzzled the Overlord told the Minions to stay ready. And he moves towards the door, blade ready in case the Duchess was having a trap ready for him. He pushes the doors open, holding his blade in front of him, ready to strike at anything or anybody who would come too close now.

"By my lord… I know you have to be careful but are such an attitude really necessary for a loyal servant of yours?"

The Overlord looked at the Duchess and… he couldn't say a single word. Slowly he moves to a standing position, his blade clattering on the ground.

"What?" asks the Duchess "Is my beauty that catching?" In fact she was beautiful but it wasn't what caught the Overlord off guard. IT was something completely different that shocked him

"How…" he began "How…"

"How I could declare myself as your servant?" she wondered "My family was always serving the Overlord… way back to the first of my ancestors. Lady Juno"

"Ah Juno!" quipped Gnarl "A fine looking lady! And had her charms… oh and she was one of the Fourth Overlords Mistresses! I know that all three of the fourths woman had children before the Fourth was death. What I didn't expect… that one of the children survived. I was pretty sure most of them were hunted down and killed, like their dear mothers. Except for the fifth, who was an even bigger tyrant than his father before you came around and took over. But now it was mentioned… the Ancret family did indeed serve willingly the fifth Overlord."

"I assume you heard Gnarl just talking?" asks the Duchess "My Grandfather told me about him. And that the family duty was it to serve the Overlords when they raise and provide him a Mistress as far a good candidate was around. Well… I am the only living member of my family due the bad times that followed after the fifths defeat. And I am willing to fulfill my duty."

She moved to him but just as she was in reach of his arms, the grabs her and forces her on the knees and roared "HOW CAN YOU LOOK LIKE HER? HOW?"

"L-L-Look like who?" asks The Duchess in pain and fear

The overlord narrowed his eyes "YOU LOOK LIKE MY WIFE! HOW CAN YOU LOOK LIKE HER? IT SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE!"

Then he notices something on her and he let go "But… this is…"

She noticed where he was looking at and rose up "This Milord? My father gave it to me… he came from unknown lands and didn't know how to return… until he met my mother"

"Did… did… did he mention where he came from?" asks the Overlord, still not believing the situation.

She nods and names the place from her father’s origin. The Overlord stared at the woman and told "My wife… she came from this place as well… but it is gone now…"

"Is… your wife…" began the Duchess but didn't dare to ask.

"I… don't know…" admits the Overlord "She is gone for so long… hiding after my disappearance… I have not even a clue… where she might now…"

Ancret moved to the Overlord and lifts his helmet off, looking into his eyes "My poor, handsome Overlord… not knowing where his beloved one is. Please, let me fill the hole in your heart until you are sure about her fate. Let me comfort you. My lands… my riches… my body… they belong to you my lord."

Helping him on his feet the Duchess leans on him "Me Duchess Isota Mautilda Ancret pledge my loyalty to you, the sixth Overlord. And as first sign… I offer you the riches of my house, the control of my lands and the Red Minion Hive for you to claim. And my body"

The Overlord looked at the duchess and told "Gnarl… tell the minions to stop. We archived our goal...“

"Yes My liege!" told Gnarl.

The duchess played her part as well and ordered "Guards! Make sure the minions were no longer attacked and get everything they need. And show them where the minion hive is." Turning back to the Overlord she whispered "And now my liege… let me ease your pain" and guided the Dark Overlord to her bedroom. And he didn't resist as her appearance, reminded too much of his wife… that he fooled himself that she and her were one and the same.

While the minions party in the lower levels of the mansion, the Overlord made himself busy with the Duchess. The first of his new mistresses.