War?(PD inc. 14)

"Bloody villagers...Fuck".

"..."

"Ehh..."

"..."

"I hope the same thing doesn't happen again....yet again." - wished Sir Derek Astranion, riding his faithful mare Tilly through the beaten dirt roads.

All the knight could hear was the sound of his horse's hooves breaking the bleak silence of the coniferous forests around him."

"Let's hope it doesn't end up like last time..."

"But they will never change, right?" - thought, the tall knight as he closely observed his surroundings, whether there was definitely something strange going on, near him.

"I wouldn't want to maim the peasants again for trying to cheat the Baron, though..." - he said.

"Whatever...It's not my subjects...and it's not my problem if they are gone..."

"..."

"Last village and taxes for this season are taken care of," he added.

"And then the same road back..." Thought the knight, wondering what to do next.

"Ehh..How much longer...." he sighed breathing in the cool forest air.

The rays of the rising sun shone through the treetops as he began to reminisce about the sad past.

...

"Derek, how did you do to get to a place like this?" He asked himself once again still regretting his earlier decisions.

"You proud son of the House of Astanion, named after the great and merciful Goddess of the Moon, ended up serving some baron, and on top of that you have to collect taxes from the commoners, without being able to practice and strive to be even better than before."

"Instead of advancing in the hierarchy, you have to spend several weeks on horseback traveling from village to village, sleeping in roadside inns and pestering the villagers, trying to take even the smallest copper coin from them."

"I understand that the baron is not respected...although everything has a limit...some other noble will incite them or what.... "

"Though I don't blame them."

"I would have behaved the same way myself"

"..."

"But Derek how did you do it? "

...

"Could it be that the Baron has fallen on his head by sending away his strongest knight because he doesn't seem sane looking at his previous decision ..."

"Certainly not in a body". - he thought frustrated at his powerlessness.

"Bloody fat man, probably even with that belly, his wife can't satisfy in bed, and his children are probably not even his"

"Stable boy must be having a good time with the baroness when he is not in the castle."

"His wife can't even take her eyes off that farmhand ,and is disgusted by her husband's fat appearance" - cursed Derek loudly, once again insulting the hated 'pig', unconcerned that someone might hear him in a place where there shouldn't be a living soul.

"Ehh..." he sighed once again as he calmed his grumbling emotions, knowing that anger would not lead him to anything good.

"And I should have listened to your mother when you told me to fight for the position of head of the house," He thought without stopping to regret the mistakes of his youth.

"At least my father ... was a decent man..., he allowed all three of us to run for the position of the prince, and even as the third son from a different mother I 'had' the chance to rule the family lands."

"..."

"But no... I had to be stubborn and practice sword fighting instead of learning politics, land management, ethics, and all the rest that my father wanted to force into my head."

"I didn't even care about gaining contacts with other nobles, what was on my mind at the time that made me reject supporters who wanted to support me on the path of succession?"

"..."

"I was stupid, but at least now I am no longer"

"..."

"And here I am, the 'proud' son of a former prince, one of the kingdom's best knights in makeshift knight's armor with an inferior wooden shield and a worn-out iron sword, serving some parochial baron."

"How far have I fallen?" he asked himself without expecting an answer to the obvious question.

"..."

"At least the fat man didn't skimp on the horse, a fucking miser".

"Right Tilly?" He asked his faithful steed, gently stroking her neck.

At his touch, the horse only roared happily and did not stop advancing through the woods.

"I was young and stupid, naive to think that I could achieve something by the strength of my own body alone, without the support of my family and friends, but...".

"I think that's why I survived the purge."

"..."

"Ehh..."

"Who would have expected such behavior from the calm and noble William, it only took the death of his father for the calm and composed William to turn into a ruthless murderer, poor Henry, it didn't have to end like this."

"Everyone could have gone their own way and led a good life, right?"

"..."

"Who am I trying to kid, of course, it had to end like this".

"Even I only survived because I posed no threat to the new prince, I had no contacts, no friends, nothing, and no one to back up my claim to the title."

"..."

"And Henry had everything I can only dream of now and much more, he was in a constant race with William over who would become the next prince and inherit father's inheritance in full".

"Unfortunately, Henry, as the second son, had a much harder time and, as expected in the end, lost the race by one small mistake," he thought frustrated once again regretting his earlier decisions.

"A woman..."

"..."

"Maybe if Henry had won, it wouldn't have ended up like this for me?"

"..."

"William became the new Prince of the North and Henry died in an 'accident' a few days after William was named the new prince.

"Of course, everyone knew it wasn't an accident, even Henry expected it and didn't even run away, he wanted to die with dignity as the son of a duke and not like some rat stabbed in bed.

"I...I don't know if I would have acted that way in his place".

".."

"No regrets, one death is better than the alternative of civil war". - he whispered, accepting the gravity of the former situation.

"Brother fights brother, vassals choose the side that will give them the most benefit, probably even I would have to choose a side."

"And if we fought like this, destroying our ancestral lands, which are not famous for their fertility, lands, palaces, villages, killing innocents in the process, other princes would only wait until we are the weakest, least ready, and then attack, further destroying the peace of the kingdom".

"At some point, even the royal family would have to step in to stop this madness, which could lead to a revolt by the nobles."

"An endless circle of hatred," he thought horrified by the specter of endless civil war before his eyes.

"Yes, one death sounds better than the senseless death of thousands of innocents".

"Yes, Henry had to die...for the greater good..."

"..."

"Just why did that bastard William have to direct his anger

on me as well?"

"I didn't do anything to him."

"All I wanted was to serve the kingdom peacefully as one of the knights in the order, find some pretty woman to give me an heir. Eventually, I would leave the service just watching my descendants grow."

"Oh what a wonderful life that would be."

"Did I want too much?"

"..."

"But no, that bastard must have taken everything from me, my mother, my future, my beloved...and he didn't even spare my favorite armor and sword" - shouted the knight, losing all composure by now, his massive amount of mana began to spill over, testifying to his immense anger.

Feeling the threat of death sitting on his back, the horse stood as if stunned into the ground, unwilling to interrupt its rider's thoughts, thus suffering his undisguised fury.

"I had to run like a dog with my tail tucked, as far away from his reach as possible," - hissed Derek, pouring out his undisguised hatred on his older brother.

"Maybe even Baron Isembert is doing his commands behind my back, making life difficult for me to please the new Prince of the North.

"Hrrrr..." Derek began to growl like an animal, breathing cold air between his teeth

"..."

"The only reason the fat man is still alive is, that thanks to him, I have a permanent roof over my head and don't have to look behind my back to see if someone is trying to murder me."

"Just three more seasons Derek.... just three more and you'll be free of all this agony, all this suffering you'll be able to showcase your skills in the best environment for it," Thought the knight calmly looking to the future.

"For not even a person as powerful as the Prince of the North can stop what is to come..."

"War"