Gathering Storm?(PD inc. 15)

I don't know why but it always made me laugh when I saw a chapter title similar to this

*****

The knight, sitting on a mottled mare, stood in front of the wooden gate, armed with a long iron sword that was well past its prime. It bore the marks of repeated use in battle, war, or any other skirmish on the street, together with the constant trace of the dried blood of his victim, which somehow magically did not come off, no matter how Derek tried to wash it off.

The tax collector also had an old wooden oak shield on his back, with the coat of arms of the house of Isembert, which he served, painted on it. Even the wear and tear on the wood from old age and the chipping of paint from use could not hide the animal covering its entire surface. Nothing can stop a badger, not even time.

Derek was also dressed in decent black leather boots covering his ankles which were lined on the inside. The black leather trousers, made from the skin of some strange animal, seemed too expensive compared to the rest of his gear, but because of their workmanship, they were not of high quality.

The knight also wore a black leather jacket with metal plates sewn into it to protect his vital organs, which seemed to be the most expensive out of the whole set of clothes.

The jacket had green and white elements probably symbolizing the colors of the family to which the knight belonged. It was combined with a huge leather cloak made from the skin of a huge wolf, or something that was supposed to be a wolf.

If it were not for the noble symbols on the body and the shield, the knight, who now worked as a tax collector, could have pretended to be a hunter or a very experienced mercenary skilled in battle.

Although with the last option, it would be more difficult, because everyone knows that mercenaries always walk in the company of their sworn brothers.

However, the most distinguishing feature of the knight, apart from the magnificent musculature hidden under his clothes, was the only unprotected part of his body, his head.

A slightly trimmed thick black beard covered his square jaw, and a long straight nose and short straight black hair were only an addition to his rugged masculine northern beauty.

But the first feature that stood out when looking directly at Derek Astranion, the first and strongest knight of Baron Isembert, were his eyes.

The blue pupils of his eyeballs did not fully convey the coldness of his gaze. The eyes were devoid of warmth and anyone who came into contact with them once always felt that looking into them was like meeting death. They were soulless...

Years of fighting for his life had made Derek deadly and unpredictable, he was one of the strongest, if not the strongest person in the kingdom, so perhaps the claim that anyone looking into his eyes was meeting death, as the villagers said, made sense.

Derek had no more mercy in him and certainly not for the weak.

...

"Open the gate" shouted the knight to the guard who should be standing on the wall, waiting a moment in front of the gate blocking his peaceful entrance to the village.

Only silence answered him.

"Once again I repeat, Open the gate".

Again, he received no reply.

"..."

Derek was furious, his recollection of the past on the road had made his gloominess much worse.

Even before he was in front of the village the knight was having a bad day, a very bad day because the other villages weren't much better either, but now...not getting an answer from the simple guards made Derek howl with rage.

"Hrrr... "He growled through his teeth

"Calm down...Derek just doesn't destroy the village gates again, you don't want to pay for the rebuilding later" Thought the tax collector trying to soothe his 'calm' character.

"Guards, in the name of Baron Isembert I order you to open this gate...,

"...and if you don't do it now, it will end badly for you and your family," said the knight giving one last chance to change the guards' behavior.

"..."

"Good..."

"Good... "He said aloud when for the third time he did not get a simple answer, from the knight this time was pouring out with 'icy anger', which can only be washed away by the blood of the guilty, and along with the anger Derek was unconsciously releasing a huge concentration of mana which he kept under 'control' all the time.

"You don't want to work..."

"Ok...I'll do it myself." Said the knight as he dismounted from his horse. He walked up to the huge wooden doors of the gate and with the strength of his muscles, began to move them.

Derek tightened his back and shoulders and with one simple push, he easily opened the wooden door, destroying the support, blocking the passage on the other side of the gate.

The way stood open before him.

He returned to his beloved mare, who stood motionless in fear of her owner.

"Calm down...You know I won't do anything to you," he whispered calmly to the horse as he pulled her lightly by the reins.

At his words, the horse calmed down and went through the gate without the slightest resistance,

And when the knight had done his part, he closed the entrance behind him by breaking a section of the gate so that no one weaker than him could leave without his awareness.

"You've had it, you bastards, it's time to pay for your insult"

...

Once he had left the horse in a safe place where the mare could eat oats and drink water in peace before continuing on his way, Derek decided to deal with the disobedient and wayward guards.

Every step up the wooden staircase heralded his arrival at the top and the mana pouring out of him, which testified to his anger, because of this even a dead man would have easily spotted him.

"Stand up, you bloody drunks, the tax collector has arrived".

"If you show remorse, it will only end in a flogging" shouted Derek to the heavens as soon as he was on the wall, loud enough for all to hear.

"You hear me, get up".

"..."

"..."

"What...where is everyone?" he thought puzzled as he looked around left and right and saw no one.

"Where have all the guards gone?"

"Is it some special occasion, a priest leading a mass for the whole village, or maybe something else happened?" Thought the knight pondering the strange situation.

"If not, heads will be sprinkled for leaving the village unprotected".

"I'll have to check it out."

...

Derek walked quietly around the village walls looking for a living soul, but it wasn't until he entered the guard barracks that he confirmed one hundred percent that something was wrong here.

"Blood," he thought, looking at the red stains on the floor and beds in one of the barracks rooms.

"Old" He stated looking at the dried red stain.

"Bandits...or maybe something more, but if all the guards are dead then the rest of the village probably is too," He thought as he left the building and began searching the rest of the village for more clues.

"I need to find more evidence before I inform the Baron of this 'great' tragedy," he said without a shadow of sympathy.

...

Derek went from house to house undeterred by the fact that he was trespassing on other people's 'property'.

...

"Nothing"

...

"Empty here too".

...

"Further nothing"

...

"There is no one in this area" he stated the obvious when he once again found no one in the residential area.

"However, I need to be sure and check the two most important places in this fucking village before I can calmly return and report back."

...

"So no one's even here?" thought Derek aloud, checking all the hidden places and hiding places where any people in the 'village chief's house might be hiding.

"There were only blood stains left everywhere "

"I didn't see any valuables either, so someone must have taken them because knowing these corrupt pigs they must have had some possessions".

"But it's unlikely to be bandits"

"According to the strategy they would have to outnumber the villagers 2:1 before they could capture the place by force,....unless they attacked at night"

"No.. Baron would already know about such a large group of bandits"

"And even then the village would have traces of fighting and destruction, any decent bandit would not hesitate for a second to use flames to set it all on fire if it could make his life easier"

"No, there's more to it than that"

"But, I need to check the last place before I pass judgment"

"Time to go to church"

...

"Yes, it was definitely not bandits" He stated when he found the dead priest with a sword wound on his stomach in the clergy building.

"Bandits would not have left so many valuables inside the church".

"They don't have an ounce of honor and don't care about gods and their servants "

"Looking at the state of his body it must have been a long time since he died, I would say about two weeks but it could be sooner because he hasn't started rotting yet" - Derek said.

"Although I don't know what it's like with priests, I haven't had the opportunity to kill one myself yet so I don't know if they are somehow protected by their God"

"It's time to get going I have all the information I need, I don't think I'll find anything else of value, I can move on my way back," thought the knight as he left the building.

"Just where are the rest of the bodies of the villagers and why did they just leave the priest dead" Derek thought as he walked out of the church building.

"Strange..."

...

"Well, what do I know?" The knight began to think this time calmly as he stroked his beloved mare.

"The village was recently attacked let's assume about a week ago".

"There was no sign of any fighting or attempted arson."

"Knowing more or less its size and the number of villagers, it would have to be a large group of people to even attempt to attack such a well-defended position."

"Bandits...No, they did not take valuables".

"Deserters...No, there has been no war recently".

"Slave hunters... No, not this part of the continent"

"Monsters...No, they wouldn't leave the body of a priest"

"So what?"

"Some clever person along with a group, attacked a village located on the outskirts of the kingdom, probably at night,..."

"Damn it, nothing matches, where are the mages and their knowledge when you need them?"

"..."

"The conclusion is obvious..."

"The kingdom of Sturia attacked unless there's a group hunting humans there..."

"But that seems impossible..."

"And it's a year too soon before they should attack, has anything changed?"

"..."

"..."

"Hehe" laughed Derek ominously.

"Hehe..."

"I guess now it doesn't matter who did it whether beast or human, an opportunity like this doesn't happen twice in a lifetime. I'm going to have to thank the people who did it because they did it before I killed them because they gave me a very nice present for my birthday," Derek said dispassionately, and a cruel smile dawned on his face.

"I'm going to have my war even sooner than I wanted".

"No one but me and the guilty parties knows what happened here, and all it takes is to change a few little things to make it look like an attack by a neighboring kingdom"

"Hehe"

...

"Now, it's time to inform the Baron about the situation," he thought cheerfully as he rode his horse through the open gate.

But he still didn't look back.

*****

Another "ordinary" day passed in the village of Wheatcut until...