Chapter 169 - 115 : Year 25 - 31 The Measure of a Lord (2)

Chapter 169: Chapter 115 : Year 25 - 31 The Measure of a Lord (2)

The commander had heard the stories told about House Veymont’s hospitality since he was young. Such a reputation could easily become a collection of tales repeated at other people’s tables, but he had never understood it merely as generosity shown to guests. The Veymonts had built their standing through the way they treated those who depended on them. During the war, Lucian had shared the dangers faced by his men, just as the former Count and the Viscount had.

The family had paid dearly for that commitment, and now, with the treasury under pressure and the household still recovering, the new Count was thinking about the soldiers whose service had left them with little to return to. The commander felt a quiet warmth beneath his respect. His lord had not forgotten them once their fighting days were over.

He also understood why Lucian wanted the arrangement to be sustainable. The matter would need to be discussed with Master Corren, and the treasury would have to be able to meet the costs over time. Promises made in a moment of goodwill would mean little if the house could not honour them later.

For the soldiers who could still work, dependable wages would offer more than temporary relief. They would give them a place within the household’s recovery, allowing them to contribute according to their abilities rather than leaving them to depend entirely on the generosity of others.

The recent robberies along the less-protected roads had also sharpened Lucian’s concern. He knew that most returning soldiers were trying to rebuild their lives, not looking for trouble. Yet a man who could no longer work his land or find employment might eventually accept an offer from those who promised quick money through robbery.

The house could not prevent every desperate man in the county from making a poor choice, but it could take greater care of the men who had fought under its banner, giving them a better chance to support themselves without resorting to crime. Lucian did not mistake care for a complete answer to the problem of banditry. There were causes beyond his reach, and not every man who turned to crime could be brought back through honest work.

But he could begin with the men whose service had placed them in his care, and he could make certain that injury alone did not leave them without a future.

"Once you have the assessments, bring them to me," Lucian instructed. "I want to know who can return to useful service, what duties they can manage, and what support the others will need. Do not assign posts until we know what each man is capable of. We will decide how best to arrange the work and what the treasury can sustain."

The commander acknowledged the order, but his thoughts remained with the men he would soon be asked to assess. He had spent years measuring soldiers by their readiness to march, their strength in a fight, and their ability to carry out an order.

Now he would have to consider what remained possible for those who had returned changed by the war. It was a task he welcomed, not because it would be easy, but because the men deserved more than to be counted among the losses of a war that had already ended.

He looked at Lucian again, and his response carried a little more warmth than before. "I will see it done, my lord. I know men who may yet be able to help us, if we give them the chance."

Lucian nodded, accepting the assurance without ceremony, already turning his attention to the next matter before him. For the commander, however, the exchange had left a lasting impression. He had long respected the Veymont name, but in that moment the family’s reputation felt less like a story inherited from earlier generations and more like a duty Lucian was choosing to uphold himself.

The Count was not simply asking how many men he could put back to work. He was asking how the house could continue to stand by those who had stood by it.

In the months that followed, the review began to produce practical changes. Soldiers whose wounds allowed them to take on lighter duties were assigned to help train recruits, oversee equipment, or serve at the fortified stations. They received wages for the work they could manage, while those too badly injured to take up regular duties continued receiving the support promised to them.

Their presence eased some of the pressure on healthier soldiers and allowed younger recruits to learn from men who had experienced real battles. It was a useful improvement, but it could not replace the soldiers killed during the war or those whose injuries had permanently ended their service.

Recruitment continued, though not at the pace Lucian would have preferred. A new soldier could be taught to hold a spear, maintain formation, and follow orders, but making him dependable in a dangerous situation required time and experience.

The same was true of the family’s martial ranks. House Veymont still had promising young people capable of developing their abilities, yet talent alone could not replace years of cultivation, training, and hard-earned judgment. With the house’s resources still limited, Lucian chose to support a measured number of promising candidates, favouring those who showed the discipline and determination to develop their potential.

The one remaining senior Force Tempering martial artist became particularly valuable in this effort. Age and years of fighting had taken their toll, but he could still guide the younger martial artists, correct their weaknesses, and help identify those with the patience to advance beyond their early promise.

The other martial artists in the household continued serving among the soldiers and guards, some holding positions as captains or commanders while developing their own abilities. Together, they helped preserve the martial knowledge House Veymont had lost so much to retain, even as the next generation remained years away from matching the strength of those who had come before them.

Lucian remained careful about whom he admitted into House Veymont’s martial ranks and how quickly he entrusted them with responsibility. The need to rebuild was pressing, but he knew that desperation could make a weakened house careless. A trained martial artist was like a weapon in one important respect: in loyal hands, his strength could protect the family and those under its care, but in the wrong hands, that same strength could be turned against the very people who had helped cultivate it.

A man might even use the trust and opportunities his lord had given him to strike at the household from within. Yet people were not weapons to be forged and directed at will. They had ambitions, loyalties, grievances, and judgment of their own, and none of these could be measured by martial strength alone.

House Veymont’s reputation for hospitality did not make it immune to envy, rivalry, or quiet resentment. Noble houses could exchange courtesies at banquets and maintain pleasant relations in public without abandoning their private interests. An enemy did not always need to approach with a drawn sword.

Someone admitted into service might begin in an insignificant position, earn the household’s confidence over the years, and gradually gain access to its people, plans, and secrets. If his true loyalties lay elsewhere, the danger might remain hidden until the moment his knowledge or position could do the greatest harm.

He was willing to give strangers a chance, but he knew that not everyone with bad intentions would show them openly, especially when House Veymont was still struggling to rebuild.

For that reason, he placed particular value on cultivating promising talent from within the territory and among those whose families and character were already known to the house. Training them from a young age gave the household time to observe their conduct, discipline, and loyalties as they grew, rather than judging them by a single display of ability.

Trusted recommendations also mattered, and capable strangers could earn a place in House Veymont’s service, but neither talent nor another person’s endorsement would grant them immediate access to positions of great responsibility.

Trust had to be built through service and strengthened over time. Lucian needed capable martial artists, but he would not risk giving an uncertain man the means to threaten his own family simply because the house could not afford to wait.

Even though the war had never reached House Veymont’s villages, but its effects could still be seen in the fields. For years, many able-bodied men had been called away to fight along the kingdom’s borders. Some never returned, while others came home too badly wounded to work their farms. A few had later joined the gangs now troubling the roads.

The villages were still inhabited, but many families had lost the hands they needed to work their land. Women, older relatives, and children did what they could, yet some fields remained partly unused. With less land being farmed, families had less food to sell after feeding themselves.

Lucian looked for ways to help them bring more land back into use. He instructed his stewards to offer neglected plots on manageable terms to families able to work them. Those who lacked seed or tools could receive help from the estate and repay the cost gradually, once their farms began producing enough to support them. He also allowed some payments owed to the house to be delayed, giving struggling families more time to recover.

This meant the estate would have to wait longer for some of its income, but demanding payment before people had the means to earn it would only make their difficulties worse.

Lucian also sent instructions to his five Viscounts to address the same problem on their own holdings. He left the details to their judgment, since their lands and finances differed, but he expected each Viscount to take action and see that the barons, landed knights, and lesser nobles under his authority did what they reasonably could as well. The recovery of the territory could not rest on House Veymont’s own estates alone.

Even with this help, many families remained uneasy about working fields far from their homes or carrying their crops to market. Robberies along the roads had made it difficult for them to feel safe, and Lucian could not place soldiers everywhere without leaving other parts of the territory exposed.

He strengthened patrols where attacks were most likely and made use of the fortified stations to keep watch over the main routes. When reports suggested that a gang was too dangerous for ordinary soldiers to handle, he could send a martial artist with a group of men to deal with the threat. It was not a perfect solution, but it gave the villagers more reason to believe that help would come if trouble reached them.

These efforts placed further pressure on the house’s finances and the soldiers already stretched across the territory. Lucian had to balance the need to protect the villages against the cost of keeping men on patrol, while the help given to farmers meant that some income would take longer to reach the treasury. He could not solve every problem at once, but he hoped that safer roads and better farming conditions would gradually help the villages recover.

The progress was modest, but it began to show. More fields were planted, and in places where the roads had become safer, farmers started taking their extra crops to market again. There were still families struggling to make ends meet, and another robbery could undo some of their confidence. Even so, the land was producing more than it had before, giving the villages a chance to recover little by little.