The cold rain poured down on his downcast and roughened face.
Holding his daughter's hand as he bid his wife a final goodbye, Galleo lit the torch and set the thatch bed her body lay on, alit.
And there she lay, as beautiful as the first day they met but now he was finally sending her off to the next life, with the Gods.
"Father, you're tea" Iliria brought some tea to her father who was hard at work.
"Oh, thank you" After Venicia's annexation and his wife's death, as the only two people in the family left, Galleo and his daughter became very close.
"Put it over there... I reviewed the design you showed me by the way... It was an incredible design. Your mother would've been proud" Galleo said with a serious tone. After his wife died, his cheerful and pompous attitude turned stoic and serious. Galleo never did smile again after she died.
"Hehe, of course. I learned from the best" Iliria proudly stated. When Venicia was conquered by Brune, most Nobles including the very minor ones like Galleo's family were banned from entering Venicia's University. And so, Iliria became a blacksmith like her mother. She also assisted Galleo in his inventions.
"Father, I'm sure this would finally get recognized! Just think of all the applications this could be used for" Iliria tried to console her once optimistic but now downcast father.
"Maybe... I do hope you're right" Galleo murmured.
The day of the Entrance came, this was Galleo's 7th Entrance and almost everyone knew him already... Some of the Philosopher Candidates and Junior Scribes were even younger than him.
"Hey, old man Galleo, how've you been, sir. And miss Liria too" A Candidate who was chosen thanks to Galleo's past advice called out to him and his daughter who was setting up the exhibition booth.
"I've been fine, thank you" Iliria greeted.
"Oh, Junus you're here to watch the contestants?" Being called an old man wasn't really that much of a big deal to Galleo anymore. In fact, he preferred it to the other nicknames he was insulted with.
"What are you going to present this time?" Junus curiously asked.
"Hehehe, just watch. I'm sure, you'll all be blown away" Iliria confidently said while Galleo quietly worked on setting up.
"Pfft! I'm awed by the fact that these people think simple Party Tricks can interest the Philosophers" A condescending voice came from the booth next to them.
"What did you say, Bacchus?!" Iliria became infuriated when she heard the words "Party Tricks"
She knew her father was being mocked by the man.
"Iliria, it's ok" Galleo told Iliria with a stern voice. Galleo no longer had the energy to fight against people's insults.
"Yeah, that's right. Know your worth Party Tricks" The man, Bacchus laughed.
But his laugh didn't last long. The moment Galleo revealed his invention, it immediately caught the eyes of the Philosophers.
"You really did outdid yourself this time Galleo! A machine that automatically rotates a rod!" Junus praised the machine Galleo invented. It was very similar to eath's motors and steam engines.
"Yes, I call it a Steam Motor" Galleo informed.
"Yes. This will have many great applications in farming. Especially in grinding flour. Yes, good job on this" A Philosopher nodded as he left content with what he saw.
"Y-You did it, father!" Iliria happily jumped up and down when they received the news later that day.
"I did! I... I did!" Galleo too happily jumped up and down.
On his 7th Entrance, Galleo Diovanni Davinci had finally been selected as a Candidate for the Philosophers and was given the title: La Vinsilica. (of/from Vinsilica)
Galleo was very happy when he was chosen as a Candidate, but his happiness was shortlived when he started work as a Junior Scribe in the Philosopher's Tower, he realized he was much older than everyone else.
Even worse was the humiliation and mockery he received due to his field of science being considered lower than everyone else.
"Old man! Get this there and arrange them properly this time!" A senior scribe shouted to Galleo.
"What?! A wannabe scholar who only knows how to make party tricks thinks he can do better than me?!" Another scribe shouted to Galleo when Galleo noticed an error and tried to point it out.
Humiliated and belittled every day. This became the norm for Galleo inside the pretentious Lower Part of the Philosopher's Tower.
Galleo couldn't take it anymore. [If it was a true Philosopher, I'd be more than happy to take this humiliation! But these people are just like me!... Pretentious secondary scholars...] Galleo thought as he inwardly detested the lower part of the Philosopher's Tower, where Philosopher-Candidates or wannabes gathered.
But Galleo put up with it.
Why?
Because of his daughter...
She was starting to become an inventor Just like her father, Galleo.
He didn't want his daughter to experience the prejudice and belittlement he received thanks to their field of Engineering, not being acknowledged by anyone.
Galleo worked extremely hard despite the humiliation and belittlement he received every day inside the Tower, just so that his daughter would receive better treatment if she ever chose to be a Philosopher or even just a normal Scholar one day... I mean, as a woman she already had it hard if she truly wanted to become a scholar. Galleo didn't want her field to become another hindrance to her success.
And besides...
"Father! There he is, my genius Papa!" Iliria proudly called out to Galleo.
Galleo didn't want to disappoint his daughter that looked up to him as if he was some sort of genius.
Even if there was only one person who acknowledged him, Galleo was content...
Galleo could finally convince himself that he was happy. Despite the loss of his teacher, mother, and even his wife.
Galleo had finally found a glimmer of hope.
However, Galleo's life was inevitably a tragedy.
One day, as Galleo was walking home, he suddenly heard from a random neighbor that his precious daughter fell off the stairs
and died.
As Galleo watched his daughter get cremated in the same way his wife and mother was. He couldn't even shed a tear anymore.
It was all too unreal for him. His mind didn't, no, couldn't accept what had just happened.
And so, Galleo went back to the forge and into his research, secluding himself from society.
The now aged and grizzled Galleo could no longer feel.
Like he was watching another person's tragic life that slowly took away everything he cared for, one by one until all that's left was an empty shell of a man left with only broken dreams and sad failures.
Galleo continued to develop and invent in solitude, he just kept on working and inventing.
Working and inventing.
Working and inventing.
Working and inventing.
Working and inventing. He even stopped running the smithy altogether and even ignored his job as a scribe in the Philosopher's Tower.
He no longer found it worth the trouble.
Over the years that passed by Galleo's emotional mind slowly deteriorated. But maybe because of his continuous and non-stop hard work, it was during this time that Galleo had the greatest amounts of astronomic technological breakthroughs in history.
The Hot-Air Balloon, Electricity, the Magnet, the Steam Engine, the Light Bulb, Proto-Gunpowder, and even the first Computer Language was developed and discovered from scratch by one man! One man named Galeo, who sadly didn't even know his own worth.
And who could blame him? Galleo was simply too advanced for his time, and everyone surrounding him was just too dumb to realize the potential of his inventions.
Only the four Gods of learning: Edea, Hypothesese, Theirie, and Thot could watch and venerate Galleo's achievements. Each one giving the highest blessings they could give Mortal man.
Thanks to their blessings, Galleo was somewhat alleviated him from his degrading mental health, keeping Galleo from truly becoming crazy.
But even if Galleo knew he was being blessed by the Gods, it was all still pointless now to Galleo... The only thing left for him was the sad and impossible dream of one day getting acknowledged by the Scientific Community.
Because he didn't produce any money, his savings quickly dried up and he was approached by a group of merchants who wanted to buy his land.
Due to his deteriorated mind, Galleo was tricked by the merchants to sell the land he and his wife had worked hard on. Making Galleo's mind and mental health deteriorate even further.
Left with no choice, Galleo began to sell his designs to Nobles and even fellow researchers just to get by.
His priceless blueprints were stolen by lazy Scholars for cheap prices, while the Nobles were too arrogant and condescending to see the priceless value of his work and ignored Galleo every time he offered his services.
"We don't need cheap party tricks! What we need are real Magicians! Begone beggar!" The Nobles of Venicia shooed Galleo away.
Over time Galleo was eventually pushed towards the Southern territories of Brune in his search for anyone who would be kind enough to fund his inventions.
Sadly, the Nobles of Brune were even more ignorant compared to the scholarly Nobles of Venicia and he was just as unlucky in Brune as he was back home.
Galleo's mind and mental health was dulled to the point that he could no longer remember some parts of his tragic life. And his old and aged bones ached here and there.
But not all hope was lost for the greatest mind that had ever lived.
["You must be a really amazing inventor then! You're even wearing robes scholars use!"]
A small sliver of hope in the form of a fat Count suddenly visited Galleo one fateful day in the unassuming Markets of Milan.
It was the fateful meeting that greatly changed the course of history.