Chapter 197 - 139 : 11 Years Like A Breeze (1)

Chapter 197: Chapter 139 : 11 Years Like A Breeze (1)

As the years slipped by, the mines slowly began to recover. The silver workings remained far from their former output, and the deeper parts of the gold mine still demanded considerable effort, but the repairs and improved lifting frames gradually began to pay off. The progress was slow enough that it was difficult to notice from one year to the next, until Lucian realised that the mines were no longer draining the family finances as they once had.

House Veymont was finding its footing again, though it was becoming clear that recovery would not mean returning everything to the way it had been. Too much had changed, and some losses would have to remain part of the family’s history.

As the years passed, even the strongest men in House Veymont began to feel the effects of age. Some old retainers retired when their bodies could no longer keep up with the demands of their duties, while others passed away after illnesses they might have overcome in their younger days. Martial cultivation could strengthen the body far beyond the limits of an ordinary man, but it could not free them from the passage of time.

The greatest loss came when the family’s last and only Force Tempering retainer died. For decades, he had been one of House Veymont’s strongest pillars, and his presence had helped maintain the respect of the lesser noble families. They sent their children to train under him, strengthening their ties to the Count while giving their own martial heirs the chance to learn from a master they could not easily find elsewhere.

His death left the family without anyone of comparable strength, and Lucian would have to rely on the younger martial artists to shoulder more of the responsibilities he had once entrusted to the old man.

The funeral was quiet, just as he had asked Lucian on his deathbed. Having devoted his life to House Veymont, the old retainer had left no family of his own, and he wanted no grand ceremony in his final farewell. Those who gathered were the soldiers who had served alongside him, the castle retainers, and the students he had trained over the years.

Trevor and Gabriel were among them. To both brothers, the old man had been more than a martial instructor. There was an old saying that a teacher for a day was a father for a lifetime, and after years spent learning under him, neither boy needed to be told what those words meant.

The old retainer had spent his final years preparing the younger martial artists to carry on without him. He had taught them all he could, corrected their weaknesses, and gradually given them more room to manage their own training.

Yet none had reached Force Tempering before his death. It was a difficult stage to break through, requiring both exceptional talent and years of dedicated practice. He had done what he could to guide them, but even his years of experience could not guarantee that any of them would reach his level. Gabriel was the only one with a chance to do so, but unfortunately he too is still too young and Wasn’t able to reach that stage before the old retainer’s death.

Lucian felt the loss deeply. He was proud of how far the younger men had come, but he knew that replacing the old retainer would not be easy. The family still had capable martial artists, and he trusted the men he had trained, yet none could offer the same strength and experience the old man had brought to House Veymont.

Lucian had begun making similar adjustments himself. Age was catching up with him, and he could no longer oversee every matter as he once had. He increasingly relied on the officials and martial artists he had raised and trained, checking on their progress when his health allowed and offering guidance when it was needed.

Seeing them grow into their roles gave him a sense of pride, even as he grew accustomed to leaving more of the work he had once handled personally in their hands.

His children, meanwhile, had long since ceased to be the young figures who followed their parents through the castle.

Trevor was no longer content to follow his father around the estate and listen to the affairs of the county. He had begun taking part in them himself. Officials increasingly sought his opinion when Lucian was occupied elsewhere, and the more time he spent handling matters alongside his father, the better he became at weighing one need against another. Sometimes he returned from an inspection with questions Lucian had not expected him to ask, showing that he was beginning to see problems from more than one side.

Lucian had also noticed his son’s growing interest in starting a family of his own. Trevor paid closer attention to certain visits, letters, and invitations than he once had, though he had yet to speak openly about his plans. Lucian noticed the change but left him to it. There were things a father could offer advice on, but choosing a wife and building a household of his own were decisions Trevor would have to make for himself.

Sabian’s path had taken a different turn.

His apprenticeship with the travelling craftsman had ended years earlier, but he had continued learning through his own work and experiments.

Lucian had eventually given him a workshop within the castle, where he could pursue his craft without having to seek space elsewhere. The room was often cluttered with timber offcuts, iron fittings, tools, half-finished mechanisms, and sheets of parchment covered in drawings. Sabian could spend hours bent over a new design, then emerge with another idea he wanted to test.

Over time, he became a respected craftsman in his own right, known for his understanding of mechanisms, lifting structures, waterwheels, and the equipment used to move heavy loads. His ideas had also begun to influence larger projects across the territory.

Whether it was the construction of a bridge, the strengthening of a fortification, or the layout of a new workshop, Sabian often noticed ways to improve a design that others had accepted without question. His solutions were not always conventional, but they frequently proved useful once put to the test. Requests for his advice began arriving from other noble household, and craftsmen who had once regarded him as an unusually curious junior, now sought his opinion on their own work.

Yet not everything in his workshop was easy to understand.

Among the familiar drawings lay stranger designs that seemed to grow more complicated every time Sabian returned to them. Some showed enormous jointed pieces shaped vaguely like arms or legs, while others suggested a hollow frame large enough for a man to stand inside.

The pages were covered in measurements, smaller sketches, and lines connecting parts whose purpose was not immediately clear. Even when someone thought they had begun to understand one section, another drawing seemed to raise more questions.

Sabian rarely explained what he was trying to build. He simply kept sketching, making adjustments, and requesting materials whenever he needed them. Timber, metal fittings, sturdy joints, and other supplies found their way into his workshop, sometimes at a cost that made the estate officials wonder what he was planning.

The pieces he assembled gave few answers. One looked like an oversized limb; another resembled part of a hollow frame, but neither seemed useful on its own. Whatever he was working toward, the complete design remained beyond anyone else’s understanding.

Sabian, however, showed no sign of losing interest. He could move from an ordinary repair to one of his strange drawings without hesitation, absorbed in the work whether he was fixing a familiar mechanism or exploring an idea no one else could make sense of.

He had little desire for a formal office or a place among the territory’s officials. He preferred working with his hands, studying how things fitted together, and finding ways to make them work better. His knowledge had already proved useful to House Veymont, and some of his improvements were being used beyond the castle.

Whatever occupied so much of his time in the workshop, he kept it to himself for now.

The family had never expected all their sons to follow the same path, and Sabian’s achievements gave them another reason to be grateful for that.

Elisa, however, had chosen a path that would take her even farther from home.