The audience erupted in a mix of jeers and cheers as Keagan's opponent hit the ground face-first, eliciting a groan from the crowd. Keagan slammed his sword onto the ground, placing his left hand on his hip.

"Want to continue?" Keagan asked. His opponent shakily rose to his feet, his face smeared with dirt. He spat on the ground, a flicker of anger mingling with embarrassment in his eyes. He was young, likely around Russ's age.

"Did you really have to throw me like that?" The young man asked, grumbling.

"You left no choice," Keagan said with a smile, a hint of sarcasm in his tone. This earned another jeer and cheer from the audience.

"Lord Dean, how will your fiancée feel about your first kiss being stolen?"

"Lord Dean, how does your first kiss taste?"

"What do you call the move Lord Dean? Kiss of dirt?"

The audience were also mainly composed of young lords from minor houses. Some he had met through his discussions about his land's history, most were unfamiliar, but Keagan could see they shared one thing in common. Youth and passion.

"I'll take you on, Sir Keagan!" Another youth, even younger than Russ, stepped into the arena, brandishing his glaive.

Seeing his slightly chubby face and short black hair, Keagan shook his head with a smile. He grabbed the sword stabbed into the ground.

"Come" Keagan said simply.

The young man, clearly trained but lacking in finesse, lunged at him with a clumsy stab. Keagan reacted instantly, tripping the attacker's feet, sending him tumbling to the ground. The crowd erupted in another round of jeers.

----------------------------------------

Keagan sat on a bench in the training yard. Nearby, the young lords could be seen sparring, though "wrestling" might be a more accurate description, as they grappled on the ground.

"You have very impressive skills, Sir Keagan," someone approached him. Keagan turned and recognized him as the one who had gotten his face kissed by the dirt.

The young man drank from a waterskin while a servant wiped sweat from his brow.

"Lord Dean, you displayed impressive techniques as well, despite your age," Keagan said. Time spent in court had taught him the importance of exchanging pleasantries with other nobles and lords.

Lord Dean nodded with satisfaction. His smile widened further. "I will soon strive to become awakened, Sir Keagan. Will you be joining the tournament at the Jade Capital for Dawning Winter's Day?"

Keagan raised an eyebrow at this. "Dawning Winter's Day?"

"Ah, you likely don't know about it," Lord Dean said with a nod. "A tournament is held annually in the Jade Capital during the last week of the Dawn Sun to celebrate the end of autumn and welcome winter. Powerful awakened gather from all over the region to participate. There are competitions in melee combat, archery, strength, running, and more. The prize for the melee winner can reach a thousands of primal! Of course, I personally believe the glory that comes with winning is even more valuable." Lord Dean continued to ramble excitedly.

The Dawn Sun was the eleventh month of the year. Currently, it was the Month of the Last Harvest, which meant there were about four months before Dawning Winter's Day.

Keagan listened intently. 'Thousands of primals?' he thought. If so, that would solve his money problems for the time being. At the very least, it should be enough to fund his operation for quite a while.

A satisfied smile etched itself onto his face as he already considered the prize money his. "Are only awakened allowed to join?"

Lord Dean paused at Keagan's question. "In the past, there were separate competitions for ordinary people and awakened. However, there were several instances where awakened individuals pretended to be ordinary and joined the lower tournament. Since it's easy to hide one's awakened abilities, the competition was ultimately merged. While ordinary people can still participate, there's no doubt that only awakened warriors will prevail."

Keagan nodded. As Lord Dean continued, he declared excitedly, "I'll make sure to pass the trial of my house and become awakened, Sir Keagan! I hope to see you there and fight you again!"

"Trial?" Keagan repeated, intrigued.

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Lord Dean nodded. "Yes. Do you have them in your homeland? In any case, passing the trial of my house is how I can become awakened!"

Lord Dean didn't explain about the specifics of the trial, but Keagan could make a guess. There were typically two reasons why people became awakened: pain and stress.

Keagan had encountered tribes and lords in his land who forced their young teens to undergo painful, even torturous practices. All this was done to break the limits of their bodies. Those who succeeded gained physical capabilities no ordinary human could hope to achieve.

That's what awakened are.

Of course, the strength of awakened individuals could vary. Some were more specialized. For instance, the large man with a warhammer, the leader of the bandit camp Keagan headbutted, clearly had an awakening focused on physical strength. In contrast, the dual-wielding man Keagan fought on the wall of the bandit camp and Lord June have more balanced stats.

But even a specialized awakened focused on speed could likely lift a weight of 500kg with relative ease. That’s how powerful awakened are.

No one knows why humans can awaken, nor has anyone even asked why. It's simply always been this way. But Keagan, with his memories of his previous life, hazy as they are now, knew it wasn't normal. At the very least the humans from his previous life wasn't able to break their limits.

Unfortunately, even how much he knew of history, he didn't know why exactly why is it so, he did have conjecture but that was it. All he knew and understood was that, in the long past, more fantastical wonders existed, but they gradually declined. Awakening is just one of the few wonders still persisting today.

"I'm looking forward to it then," Keagan said with a grin. "Can't deny the allure of that kind of money."

"All the great warriors of the region will be there, you know," Lord Dean said with narrowed eyes then continued with excitement. "The previous champion, the Bold Cain, is supposedly participating again. He's a fierce warrior known for his..."

Lord Dean rambled on about the region's warriors, and Keagan listened, storing the information in his mind. Suddenly, Lord Dean stopped and fixed Keagan with a serious look. "Sir Keagan," he said, "warriors like you are rare."

Keagan raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the sudden shift in tone. He waited for what he was about to say..

"Our House Hue could use a warrior with your skills," Lord Dean finally declared. Perhaps due to his youth, he was refreshingly direct in his offer.

Keagan, maintaining his smile, shook his head. "Thank you for the offer, Lord Dean, but I apologize, I have my own plans."

Lord Dean seemed to understand and wasn't disappointed by Keagan's decision. It wasn't long before the beckoning of sparring from the other young lords proved too tempting, and Lord Dean joined them.

Despite their calls, Keagan declined to participate. He might have looked young, but compared to them, he might as well be their grandfather. He didn't linger any longer and headed towards the archery range nearby, where he could see Russ pulling arrows from the target.

Not far away, Ollie brandished a wooden sword, while Livia tinkered with a small crossbow Keagan had bought for her. Other personal guards practiced as well, but they mostly kept to themselves. More than a week in the castle had made Keagan realize that the castle's personal servants and guards were actually raised within its walls.

The servants either formed families among themselves or found spouses from outside. Their children would then be born and raised to become servants of the castle. This instilled a high degree of devotion towards their lord in them, making them likely to readily sacrifice their lives for thier lord.

Such practices weren't uncommon, even in Eberia. However, this system created a situation where the servants essentially lacked the ability to think for themselves.

Russ approached Keagan after noticing him. "Should I gather more 'intel' for today?" he asked, the word "intel" still feeling strange on his tongue since Keagan had introduced it.

Keagan pondered for a moment. "Well, as much as I'd like to hear about the most expensive prostitute..." he said with a smirk, causing Russ's cheeks to flush. There was once an incident where Russ had gathered more information about a certain prostitute than any other rumors or news, causing Keagan tease him about it.

Keagan chuckled, then shook his head. "No, that's enough for today," he said. "We don't know when a rumor or piece of news will be useful, so it's better to be informed than not."

Livia approached them, excited to show off her skills. "Look, look! I can shoot now! My accuracy has improved a lot!" she declared, pointing at the archery target. Pulling the trigger, the arrow only brushed the edge of the target, Livia still looked proud though.

Keagan ruffled her hair playfully. "How about your lessons? Did you improve in those as well?" His words caused the little girl to freeze, which made Keagan chuckle.

Ollie, who was about to approach them, stopped in his tracks at Keagan's question. He immediately turned back to practicing his sword swings.

Keagan laughed at that, and spent the rest of the morning teaching and playing with them.

In the afternoon, Keagan found himself in the private garden with Lady Aria. They sat at the same table, time spent with her, he discovered she was an excellent companion with a wealth of knowledge about this land. At another table sat the scholar, Aden. Their relationship hadn't improved in the least. In fact, the woman the scholar assigned to teach him the letters wasn't very skilled herself. This led Keagan to hire outside help, which caused a minor commotion. If Lady Aria hadn't been present, Aden would likely have glared at Keagan outright.

"Your knowledge of the gods has exceeded anyone I know," Lady Aria said, narrowing her eyes as she looked at the book in front of her.

"I have a fondness for history," Keagan replied, taking a sip of his tea. "While the stories of the gods may sound like mere myths, I've found ruins in my own lands that suggest they might be real."

"Truly? You must have explored them, then," she asked, her gaze finally leaving the book. Her long hair swayed gently in the breeze.

Keagan nodded. "I did explore them," he admitted. "I was curious if the gods truly exist, as I'm sure most people are."

Lady Aria studied him for a moment before asking, "How about now? Do you now believe they truly exist?"

Keagan set down his teacup, meeting her gaze for a moment before an odd smile spread across his face.

"I do"