Chapter 198 - 139 : 11 Years Like A Breeze (2)

Chapter 198: Chapter 139 : 11 Years Like A Breeze (2)

Her visits to nearby settlements had gradually turned into longer journeys, and the more Elisa learned from the family physician, the more she began to wonder what else lay beyond his knowledge.

Every time she mastered a new remedy, she found herself thinking about what more might be possible. Perhaps there were roots with properties she had never encountered, herbs that could be combined in ways she had never considered, or recipes for medicinal baths and decoctions that could help martial artists temper their bodies more effectively. A martial artist’s progress depended on more than training alone. The resources they consumed mattered too, and a physician who understood how to prepare and use those resources could make a real difference.

Elisa wanted to learn those methods, discover new treatments, and understand how other physicians put their knowledge to use. The closer she came to understanding medicine, the more she realised how much she still had to learn. It was almost as though knowledge had cursed her. Every answer only made her more aware of the questions that remained, and once she caught a glimpse of something new, she could not bring herself to stop searching.

She could have stayed in Veymont and lived the life expected of a noble daughter. In time, she might have married into another noble family, become a wife, and settled into the comfortable routine that would have been considered a good future for someone of her standing.

But Elisa wanted more than that. She wanted to become a physician who could do things she could not yet imagine, someone whose knowledge might one day allow her to treat conditions others could only accept, or prepare remedies that others had never thought possible. She knew she had much to learn, and that was precisely why she wanted to leave.

Lucian and Lucy had hoped she might eventually settle near home. Her knowledge would have been a great asset to House Veymont, especially when the family’s martial artists needed medicinal baths, carefully prepared remedies, and treatments to support their training and recovery.

They could have asked her to remain, perhaps even reminded her of the life expected of a daughter of their house. But Lucian and Lucy understood what truly drove Elisa. She had not chosen medicine simply because she enjoyed learning or wanted to discover things others did not know. She had chosen it because she wanted to help people, and the more she learned, the more she believed there was something more she could do.

Whenever she encountered an injury she could not fully treat or saw someone suffer when a better remedy might have helped, she could not simply accept that nothing more could be done. She wanted to learn, to find better ways, and to be prepared for the next person who needed her help.

Now that she had found a path through which she could make a difference, they knew she would never be content to turn away from it just to settle into the life expected of a noble daughter.

So they let her go.

Lucian arranged for two of the house’s trusted Blood Tempering martial artists to accompany her. A small escort, a carriage, and the resources he could spare were provided for the journey. It was not an extravagant expedition, but it was enough to give her a measure of safety while allowing her to pursue her own work.

The reports that returned over the following years were irregular. Sometimes months passed without a letter, only for several messages to arrive together. They spoke of towns she had visited, physicians she had studied under, difficult cases she had encountered, and people who had travelled considerable distances after hearing that she might be able to help them.

Among martial halls and travelling cultivators, a name gradually began to follow her: The Physician of a Thousand Remedies.

It was not a title bestowed by a court, nor one Elisa had sought for herself. It simply became a convenient way for people to refer to the young woman who continued travelling from place to place, treating those who needed help and learning from every physician willing to share their knowledge.

By the time Lucian received one of her later reports, she had begun speaking of crossing beyond Enwitra’s borders to visit physicians in a neighbouring kingdom. She still had more to learn, and the desire to learn seemed to grow stronger with every journey.

Lucy worried about her safety. Lucian worried about the distance between them. Neither tried to call her home merely to ease their own concerns.

They had raised their daughter well enough to know that keeping her close would mean little if doing so left her unhappy with the life she had been made to live.

Gabriel, by contrast, had never shown much interest in leaving the martial path.

The boy who had once thrown himself into training with more enthusiasm than restraint had grown into a young man whose talent was becoming increasingly difficult to overlook. His progress had not slowed as Lucian had expected it might. Year after year, Gabriel pushed farther, his understanding of martial combat deepening alongside his body.

By the later years of the period, he was approaching the peak of Blood Tempering and had begun taking on genuine military responsibilities. He was no longer merely a promising young martial artist allowed to join the training grounds. He had become one of the commanders entrusted with Veymont’s soldiers, learning the burdens of leadership while continuing to train with a determination that sometimes worried those around him.

There were moments when Lucian watched him and felt both pride and an unease he could not easily explain.

Gabriel’s talent was extraordinary. The boy had the sort of potential that made people speak of what he might become before he had reached the limits of what he could do. Yet Lucian knew how narrow the path could be for someone whose ambitions outgrew the limits of his world.

He remembered his uncle, an immensely talented martial artist who had remained unmarried and devoted his life to training. The man had once dismissed the idea of taking a wife with the claim that women would only slow his punches.

Gabriel seemed to have reached much the same conclusion without needing anyone to teach it to him. He showed no interest in romance, marriage, or the private lives that occupied so many of his peers. His attention remained fixed on martial arts.

Sometimes, looking at his son, Lucian wondered whether the world would prove large enough for him.

He had seen great talent before. He had also seen what happened when talent collided with a limit that could not be overcome by determination alone. The old Duke Vendettit had possessed extraordinary strength, yet even he had been unable to break beyond the boundary he had spent a lifetime approaching.

Lucian said nothing of these worries to Gabriel. There was no purpose in placing another man’s limits in front of a young martial artist who had yet to discover his own.