Halfway through their lunch, Keagan ordered another serving of meat. The kids, however, were quickly stuffed, and Russ, despite Keagan's insistence, shyly declined to ask for more.

When he was nearly finished with their lunch, a waiter delivered a bottle of cief wine to their table. He found that the wine tasted good when chilled, and he ended up finishing the entire bottle of it.

"A gift, sir, from the Madam," the waiter said simply. His eyes darted towards a certain direction, and Keagan followed his gaze. There, at one of the tables, sat a single woman. Mature and elegant, she wore a dress that revealed her shoulders. Raising her cup, she offered him a small smile.

Keagan nodded, a silent thank you to both the waiter and the woman. After paying the bill for the food which costed him about 54 sekends, they left the restaurant. Keagan didn't approach the lady or inquire about her intentions nor was he curios about it. Anyways, it was not like it was he won't come back here again.

As they walked back to the castle, Ollie burst out, "Sir, can you teach me to fight now!?"

Livia, not wanting to be left out, chimed in, "I want to learn too!"

Keagan wasn't sure what truly made him come to a decision to accept them. Maybe it was his age, or perhaps.....guilt? Ultimately, considering it would take years for his plan to show progress, depending on his luck, he figured he might as well look after them until they could become self-sufficient.

Of course, he wouldn't directly raise them. That emotional toll would be too great for him. Therefore, he planned to hire more help when he left the city.

Keagan smiled at them. "When I'm free, of course," he assured them. "Otherwise, I'll find someone to teach you. There should be plenty of people in the castle who can help though, not that you needed to fight but its good to learn how to defend yourself."

He then turned to Russ. "The mission from before still applies, Russ. Gather as much information as you can, and don't neglect your training."

Russ gave a serious nod. "Yes sir."

"There should be an archery range in the castle," Keagan continued. "I'll have someone show you where it is so you can start practicing there." Keagan said as if he owned the place.

When the group reached the castle, a servant immediately led him to where the doctors were, to check on his arms.

After leaving a few more instructions for the two and having the wine delivered to his room, Keagan followed the servant.

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"Interesting..." a doctor murmured, examining Keagan's right arm.

Keagan sat half-naked on a bed in a room filled with a soothing herbal scent that wafted through the air. He watched as the doctors around him observed, touched, and even pricked his arm to draw blood.

The blood flowing from his right arm was darker than usual, again causing surprise to fill the faces in the room.

As the doctor pinched and manipulated his right arm, he asked again, "You should be in constant pain, yet you don't seem to be in any?"

Keagan didn't quite know how to answer. He didn't feel even an ounce of pain. In the end, he simply asked, "Is there any ointment or something that could help with this?"

The doctor's expression turned odd. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "Normally, in your case, your arm would have been amputated. But the fact that you can still move it and feel no pain..." He paused, his voice laced with curiosity. "What caused this?"

Keagan wondered about that too. Thanks to a certain map, however, he had a faint idea of what he dealt with. Thankfully, he didn't blatantly describe the creature's appearance. Having seen the full map of this land, he roughly figured out where he first swam ashore.

All he could say was that he was really unlucky.

"I haven't had a full view of it, and I passed out not long after, so I can't describe it," Keagan said.

The doctor nodded and spoke briefly to his colleague. Soon, Keagan was handed a bottle containing a gray liquid.

"Apply it to your arm every six hours, three times a day. Come back after three days and we'll see if there are any changes," the doctor instructed. Suddenly, a person entered the room.

"Lady Aria!" The doctors immediately stood up straight and bowed, bending their bodies in half.

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Keagan remained seated and simply stared at the lady. "Lady Aria," he said with a slight bow of his head. But Lady Aria's gaze was fixed on his thin and blackened right arm.

"Can it be healed?" she asked, her voice almost ethereal.

"We can't be sure yet," the doctor from before hurriedly said. "We'll need to observe him for a while. The fact that he can still move his arm is certainly a good sign, but I can't guarantee a full recovery."

Lady Aria nodded. "Are you done?" she asked, her eyes though briefly scanned Keagans upper body discreetly before returning back to the doctor.

"Yes, we've provided him with an ointment and instructed him on how to use it."

Keagan was helped to put on his shirt.

"Come, Sir Aizen," Lady Aria said, turning around. "I am to lead you to the castle's Reed Library." Keagan followed after her.

Visiting a library or someplace similar had always been a priority for him in these lands.

Unfortunately, however, Keagan has one concern and just as he was about to say it...

"Do you know how to read?" Lady Aria asked without looking back at him.

Keagan shook his head. "No, I recognize some characters, but I don't know how to read. I was planning on hiring someone to teach me."

"Someone will teach you," Lady Aria said reassuringly. "I'll see to that."

Keagan nodded his head gratefully. Soon, they came to a room, not overly large but filled with more books than he had ever seen before.

In Eberia, he had been to the library of a king's castle, but even that one only had about ten shelves full of books. Here, in Castle Reed's library alone, he could see more than twelve shelves overflowing with books. To the side, there were seats and tables.

A man in a gray robe could be seen sorting books. When he noticed them, he immediately set the books aside and approached them.

"Lady Aria, welcome back," the man said. "I've set aside what you've been reading and are interested in." He eyed Keagan briefly before turning his attention away.

Keagan couldn't help but notice a hint of disdain in the man's eyes, as if he were looking down on him.

"This is Aden, a scholar of history and master of the Castle Reed Library, This is Keagan Aizen" Lady Aria introduced them. "You will have someone teach him the letters, and and he will have access to this library whenever he need it," Lady Aria continued.

The robed man was startled and spoke immediately. "My Lady, Your Excellency, I'm afraid I don't understand. Why does he need access to the knowledge of our land?" he said indignantly.

"Because he will tell us of his," Lady Aria simply said.

Keagan could tell the man wanted to scoff but stopped himself due to the company. Without looking at him, the scholar said, "Pardon me, my Lady, I highly doubt this man's knowledge is worth learning, nor do his lands hold any, from what I hear..." This time, there was clear contempt in his tone.

Lady Aria raised her eyebrows at this, and the scholar immediately backed down. "Then...of course, my Lady," he said indignantly.

The high lady turned towards him. "You are free to do as you like here. Tomorrow, another discussion will take place. I'm curious about the knowledge of a different land, Sir Aizen," she said.

"As am I, Lady Aria. Thank you for this," Keagan thanked the lady sincerely. Soon after, the high lady left, leaving the two alone in an awkward situation.

"So, are you going to teach me the letters, or will you have someone else do it?" Keagan asked casually, crossing his arms. While he was eager to scour this library while he still had the chance, the best he could do was look at pictures because he unfortunately still couldn't read.

The scholar didn't even look at them, passing by him. Before he could completely leave the room, he said with contempt, "If anything happens to a book, I'll make sure you never come here again." He then left Keagan completely alone.

Keagan shook his head at the man's attitude and wandered around the shelves. Despite not knowing how to read, being here reminded him of the time he spent in libraries with scholars and masters arguing about something in the background.

Life in the castle was both familiar and unfamiliar. Keagan taught Russ, Ollie, and even Livia self-defense whenever he had free time, while he himself learned the letters from a middle-aged woman. He opted to include Russ and the two children in his lessons, much to the chagrin of the scholar, Aden.

Meanwhile, he also spent time discussing the history of his lands with other lords, or sometimes just Lady Aria. They both discussed the histories of their respective lands. The most significant thing he found, the thing that made his chest feel much lighter, was that he was now able to discreetly spy on the lords with his new ability. Oh, how great it would have been if he had this ability in the past. He could have avoided so much lying and trickery.

He learned castle gossip: arranged marriages between lords despite the caslte in mourning period, news of conflict in some blood mines, and even Lord Lesly's plans to plant a spy on him. The news that worried him most was the tension among the high lords on some high council, and the possibility of war.

Toward that end, Keagan cursed mentally. If war erupted, it would greatly impede his plans. He needed to find other ways.

Days passed uneventfully, except for Lord June and his retinue departing the castle earlier than expected. While Keagan's ability allowed him to spy through birds, he couldn't maintain a constant 24-hour watch over the entire castle. Therefore, he didn't know exactly what Lord Reede said. However, he did hear that the scouts sent to investigate Ollie and Livia's village returned, and the next day, Lord June and his retinue 'voluntarily' left the castle. Not before glaring at Keagan as they passed by each other, though.

Rumors swirled about the burned village, whispers pointing the blame at one of Lord June's men. However, since Lord Reede remained silent on the matter, no one dared to speak openly about it.

As Keagan expected, Lord June faced no serious repercussions for the lives he cost, simply because of his noble status. But that wouldn't last for long.

While lords avoided him because of his issue with Lord June, that didnt stop some from wanting to know him.

Early one morning in the 8th day since he stayed in the castle, in the training yard, he was sparring with one of the young lord of a noble family after teaching Russ a few lessons.

Lord June's defeat had piqued the curiosity of the people, and some of them wanted to test their skills against Keagan.

"Urgh!"

And so, Keagan spent the morning engaged in recreational violence.