The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4710

Chapter 4710 Broken Promise

Ves and his little family spent more than an hour in his grandfather's company.

He could clearly sense that Benjamin Larkinson gained a lot of joy and contentment when he interacted with his youngest descendants.

Aurelia, Andraste and Marvaine were all excellent children. Gloriana had put a lot of effort into raising them into proper children, and it showed as they all behaved in a manner that pleased their great-grandfather the best.

Benjamin spent most of his life in the Bright Republic, so he was not accustomed to transhumanism as the other Larkinsons. This was why he constantly expressed amazement at the incredible comprehension of the three munchkins.

The intelligence of each of them clearly exceeded the standards of their age!

"Hahaha! I see now why your father feels confident about enrolling you into a first-class virtual school. I hope that by the time the three of you graduate from your studies, you won't forget about the family who supported you and loved you all of the way. Please make sure to help out your relatives when you can, okay?"

The kids dutifully nodded. "We know, great-grandpa. Family goes first!"

"You don't need to sound so serious." Benjamin corrected the three. "Our family tenets aren't meant to deprive you of what you deserve. Just look at your father. Ves has earned far more wealth than I could ever imagine. It is his right to keep most if not all of his earnings, but I can clearly see he loves his fellow Larkinsons so much that he has passed on much of what belongs to him to the clan. Do you know why he is being so generous?"

Andraste and Marvaine looked confused, but Aurelia already knew the answer to this question.

"No single human can do everything by themselves." She said in her know-it-all tone of voice that strongly reminded everyone of her mother "Papa can design really good mechs, but he can't pilot them or waste all of his time on handling the administration. He needs to delegate much of these responsibilities to other people, but not just anyone. This is why papa chose to entrust the clan with his money and resources. Compared to outsiders, he can almost always count on Larkinsons to do what is best for the family."

"That is an excellent answer, Aurelia!" Gloriana proudly stroked her oldest daughter's head. "It isn't just the Larkinsons that value the importance of family. The Wodin Dynasty that I am a part of also works the same way. Each and every female Wodin must learn how to stand on their own. It is only once they have built up a solid life and career for themselves that they begin to think about giving back to our dynasty and especially its weaker members."

"Not every family or family member is worth supporting." Ves warned as he was afraid that his children would become too trusting for their own good. "Even with long-standing traditions and additional safeguards in place, you need to be careful about offering help too freely. You need to learn how to use your judgment as subsidizing someone who is lazy or unwilling to work for themselves will only breed greater dependency. This is why the actual rules in the clan are a bit complicated. Well, you will learn about all of this when you grow older."

By the time that the visitation period was about to end, the children all said goodbye to the oldest relative they had met on their father's side.

They all leaned in and kissed Benjamin's cheek one by one. This truly gratified the old and infirm Larkinson.

"Hahaha!" Benjamin seemed to grow a little sprier! "This is one of the happiest moments of my life, and let me tell you that I have experienced a lot of happy times. I feel fortunate that I am still able to hang around long enough to meet and hug you three cuties at least once in person."

Ves smiled in a melancholic manner. The implicit meaning in his grandfather's statement was that he may not be around to spend much further time with his great-grandchildren.

"Children."

"Yes, papa?"

"You should visit your great-grandfather more often while we are still in Davute." He said. "Once our expeditionary fleet leaves for the deeper parts of the frontier, you won't have much of a chance to spend time with him anymore. Let's make sure you are able to spend enough time with one of your relatives while we are still living close to each other, okay?"

"Okay~"

After Gloriana gently led their children and the cats out of the bedroom, Ves stayed behind with his grandfather.

Although the two didn't enjoy true privacy due to the presence of numerous doctors and bodyguards, there was no reason to drive them out. Ves just didn't want his wife and children to learn too much messy information.

As soon as they were gone, his grandfather looked wearier and more tired than ever.

In truth, Benjamin was always tired. His physical state was much better than his non-physical state, which meant that his earlier exuberance was partially an act.

Now that the youngest had left the room, there was no need for the aging Larkinson to put up a kid-friendly act.

"Ves... I am proud of you. I wish that your father Ryncol was here as well. It would have been a great reunion..."

"Grandfather..." Ves hesitated for a moment. "If you really want to spend more time with your descendents, then I may be able to offer a solution... multiple solutions even..."

"Extending one's life is never simple. This is especially the case for a crippled former soldier like myself. I take it that those potential solutions of yours bear a terrible price?"

Benjamin twitched before directing a knowing look at his grandson. "As I have said before, I am already satisfied with the life I have been blessed with. I do not want to ruin the purity of my memories and destroy everything that I have stood for. I know little of what goes on above my head, but I have seen powerful men go bad due to succumbing to the naked pursuit of longevity. I have no desire to follow the same route. All I long for is peace. I have lived long enough. Let me enjoy an ending of my choosing."

As his grandfather spoke, Ves could feel the strong conviction and determination in those words. Benjamin had many decades to think about his own mortality, and he had long decided to accept his death with calm.

Benjamin smiled at his descendant. "Don't feel sad for me. As I have already said before, I got over it. This is nothing more than an event that shifted the course of my life. After my discharge, I spent a long time at the Larkinson Estate. Slowly but surely, I recovered. None of the family members over there scorned me or mocked me for being a failure. All they saw was a Larkinson who needed their help to get his life back together. They succeeded. Once I regained a semblance of normalcy, I will also be ready to assist any Larkinson that is experiencing similar sorts of problems." _{freewebnσvel.cѳm}

"I know, and I am happy to hear that, Ves. The point I am trying to make is that while I have managed to pick myself up again, I always knew that I was living on borrowed time."

"What do you mean by that, grandfather?"

Benjamin let out another weary sigh. "Do you think I am an expert pilot or a norm?"

"You're a norm now according to what I can sense."

"That is not entirely correct. I am technically an expert pilot, but a crippled one that has slowly been dying."

"What?"

"It has to do with the nature of expert pilots." Benjamin solemnly spoke. "We aren't called demigods without a reason. Part of what makes us stronger and more capable than normal humans is that we take on additional obligations that have become sacred to us. Now think about this. Expert pilots can always push themselves to get stronger in order to complete a goal or a dream. What if they still have the willingness to pursue their goals, but no longer possess the physical ability to do so anymore? What if they have become so injured that they can never exert their full strength by piloting a mech in their lives?"

"That... would mean that you can't go forward anymore."

Ves started to understand what his grandfather was trying to convey.

"It is deeper than that." Benjamin said. "When an expert pilot makes a vow that he wants to fulfill at all cost, he has made a life-changing choice that compels him to complete his ultimate goal. If there is any change that prevents him from doing so, he has effectively broken his promise. As you know, we expert pilots take that extremely seriously."

"That... that's not fair! While it is true that you can't abide by your vow anymore, the reason why that is the case is not your fault."

The dying Larkinson shook his head. "It doesn't matter what excuses you can apply to a situation. A broken promise is a broken promise. From the moment we step up to become a demigod, we do so with the awareness that we have entered a road we can never get back from. Our only choice is to fight our way forward, because if we do not, we will get punished and lose the power that we have previously earned."

"Is there no way to reverse this?" Ves frowned. "You have heard about Venerable Davia Stark before, right? She lost her power as well, but she managed to pick herself back up again."

"That is a different case than mine." Benjamin said. "She is still in good health, so she still had a chance of making a comeback as long as she adjusted her mentality. Also, she was still young enough to have plenty of time left to fight more battles. In my case, no amount of physical treatment or mental gymnastics will get me back into the cockpit again. My ending is already set in stone. Nothing in our reality can reverse my condition."

"..."