Chapter 180 - 126 : Year 31 - 36 At His Side

Chapter 180: Chapter 126 : Year 31 - 36 At His Side

The arrangement would not relieve Lucian of his responsibility for the county, but it would give his commanders more eyes on the roads and more opportunities to respond before isolated incidents became regular threats.

Some Viscounts responded promptly. Others agreed to cooperate but committed fewer men than requested, explaining that their own guards were needed to protect their villages and estates. Lucian understood that the war and its aftermath had affected them as well.

Several had lost people, spent their reserves on repairs, and struggled to restore their income. Their circumstances were not entirely different from his own, but neither did their difficulties erase the obligations they owed House Veymont.

The family could no longer assume that every request for assistance would be met as readily as it had been before the war.

Merchants were drawn to profit, and at first glance, Veymont fiefdom should have offered opportunities worth pursuing. The dangers along its roads had driven some traders away, leaving fewer competitors to supply its markets. With grain prices rising and goods becoming harder to obtain, those willing to make the journey might sell at a higher margin than they could in safer, more crowded markets.

Yet a higher selling price did not necessarily mean a better return. Armed escorts, capable martial artist, delays, lost goods, and the possibility of being robbed could consume the additional profit before a merchant reached the market.

There was also the question of the return journey, when a caravan might have little to carry back yet still face the same dangers. For traders without established connections to Veymont, the potential gains were becoming harder to justify against the money they stood to lose.

What might have seemed like an opportunity in a market with fewer competitors was increasingly looking like a poor investment, and many found it wiser to direct their goods toward more dependable routes.

As attacks continued, some merchants began moving their goods through neighbouring territories where the roads were better protected or established trading partners could offer safer arrangements.

The routes through Veymont had not become entirely unusable, and merchants with strong ties to the family continued to travel through the county. Those without lasting connections, however, had fewer reasons to accept the uncertainty.

At first, the changes seemed small. A merchant who had once sent three carts through the city of Vermont sent two instead. Another delayed his journey until he could arrange an escort, while a third chose a different route for goods that could be sold elsewhere without much difficulty. None of these decisions threatened the county on its own, but their combined effect gradually became apparent in the markets.

Fewer larger trade caravans arrived at once, and some traders who had previously stayed in the city for several days began moving on more quickly. With fewer goods to sell, merchants bought less from local craftsmen. Farmers also had fewer buyers for the produce they brought to market, while inns and workshops along quieter routes lost some of their business.

These establishments did not all suffer equally, but the increase in trade Lucian had hoped would follow the road repairs failed to materialise at the pace he had expected.

He had believed that safer roads would encourage merchants to return, and in some places they had. Yet safety was only one part of their decision. A merchant who had established a more profitable route elsewhere had little reason to change it simply because a stretch of the Veymont road had improved. The family would have to offer greater reliability over time before it could expect trade to return in its former volume.

Lucian therefore continued investing in the most important routes, but he became more cautious about assuming that improvements in one part of the domain would automatically strengthen the rest. The roads could be repaired without restoring merchants’ confidence, just as the mines could remain open without returning to their earlier output.

The recovery depended on these different parts supporting one another, and several were now moving more slowly than he had anticipated.

The latest report on the gold mine brought little good news. The overseer confirmed that the sections they were already mining were producing less gold than before. Digging deeper might uncover richer deposits, but it would cost a great deal, and there was no guarantee the gold they found would cover the expense. With the silver mine still producing less than it once had, and the house spending money on grain and extra guards, Lucian found it difficult to justify such a large expense without knowing what it might bring in.

Lucian approved the necessary repairs and allowed some limited digging to see what gold might lie deeper down. He postponed any major excavation until the house could better afford the expense and he had enough information to make a sound decision.

He had no intention of abandoning a valuable mine simply because its gold had become harder to reach. At the same time, he could not justify spending heavily on the hope of finding more without knowing whether the investment would be worthwhile.

The mine still brought in money, but it produced less gold than before and did little to ease the strain on the house’s finances.

Master Corren revised his estimates to reflect the situation. He had expected further work on the mines to eventually increase their output, but he now had to plan for lower returns. Payments from the farms were arriving late or falling short, grain purchases had used up much of the house’s reserves, and the cost of keeping the roads secure continued to rise.

The house could still cover its immediate expenses, but there was little money left to deal with anything unexpected.

Lucian went over the accounts repeatedly, searching for expenses he could reduce without creating greater problems elsewhere. He found a few small savings, but they made little difference to the overall situation. Most of the larger expenses could not be avoided without setting back the recovery he had worked so hard to achieve. The house could manage its current needs, but there was little room to spare, and even a modest unexpected expense could force him to reconsider his plans.

There was no single mistake to blame, nor any one official whose dismissal would solve the problem. The house simply had more necessary expenses than its income could comfortably cover.

Lucy had begun to notice how often Lucian returned to his study after supper, remaining there long after the rest of the household had settled for the night. Reports arrived throughout the day, and a new figure could force him to reconsider a decision he had thought settled.

Even when his officials had gathered the information and offered their advice, the choice of what to do with it still fell to him. Each decision meant weighing one need against another, knowing that whatever he chose, something else might have to wait.

Lucy had tried to give Lucian the space he needed to work, knowing that some evenings he preferred to think through his problems without interruption. But that night, as she lay waiting in their bed, she noticed how high the moon had climbed and realized he still had not returned. Concerned, she rose and went to look for him. The corridors were quiet, and a faint light shone beneath the door of his study.

Inside, a candle burned beside his inkpot, casting its light over the reports, letters, and scrolls spread across his desk. Books lined the walls behind him, but Lucian seemed hardly aware of anything beyond the figures before him.

Lucy paused at the doorway, taking in his tired face and the grey strands at his temples. She remembered the young heir she had first known, and seeing how much the years had changed him stirred a quiet ache in her heart. She crossed the room and came around to his side of the desk, resting a hand gently on his shoulder.

Lucian looked up, and the tension in his face softened when he saw her. She brushed a loose strand of grey hair away from his forehead, letting her hand linger against his cheek for a moment. He covered her hand briefly with his own before she turned her attention to the papers before him. The report from the gold mine lay beside the latest estimates for grain purchases, with a stack of patrol reports at the other end of the desk.

"You’ve been staring at those figures for most of the evening," Lucy said, glancing over the papers. "Have they changed since you last looked?"

"Not a single one."

"Then perhaps they’re tired of being starred at."

A faint smile touched Lucian’s face. He reached for her hand and drew her closer, shifting back in his chair to make room for her. Lucy settled onto his lap, resting one arm against his shoulder as he slipped an arm around her waist. For a little while, she stayed close to him, looking over the reports spread across the desk.

"The gold mine needs more money before we can know whether digging deeper will be worth it," he said. "The silver mine still isn’t producing as it should, and every time I think we can spare something for another need, the accounts tell me otherwise."

Lucy ran her eyes over the figures. "And you’ve been trying to find a way around that all evening?"