Keith played with Miya for a while and then sent her out since it was ti for her sword practice with one of the knights of Toretto estate.
Once she was gone, Keith turned to look at Clara, "We gotta talk… "
"About Miya right?" Clara asked and nodded as she got up from the floor and sat down on the soft bed.
"Yeah." Keith said and continued, "I'm not saying that it's bad to have standards, but the standards shouldn't be that high… especially when it cos to the appearance since people don't really have the ans to change the way they look."
Clara thought for a bit and then nodded, "Well… you're not wrong…" she said and then sighed, "Alright, my bad."
Seeing this, Alia joined in, "Hey if you're not looking for appearance, then what's your priority?"
"Just soone who can treat her right, that's all. Anyways, it's way too early for all that but I still wanted to you know… make sure that she doesn't go down the wrong path. After all, this is the age when they learn a lot of things." he said and paused for a second before adding.
"Let ask you a question." he said and pointed at himself as he looked at the two of them, "Almost one and a half years ago, when I joined you guys as a newbie detective. Imagine that back then, I had the appearance of Brandon but a skinnier version instead. I'd consider that an average appearance.
Now, tell …. Do you think things would have ended up the sa if that was the case?"
Alia and Clara both frowned at this question and seeing their reaction, Keith spoke more.
"Like, what part of made you guys make the decision of picking over millions of other guys out there?"
This ti, Clara nodded but Alia's frown deeper.
"You're dependable, smart, helpful and generous when it cos to your loved ones. Well, you're handso too but I don't think that counts in this scenario. Though I must add, you are quite despicable in certain scenarios but I've co to accept it as it is."
Keith let out a fake cough to hide his embarrassnt before looking at Alia, "What about you? Don't tell that it was just for my looks. While it is pretty flattering, I think I'll also feel kinda down if there's no substance to our relationship."
"I don't know bitch!" Alia cursed as she sent a kick flying towards his face, but Keith dodged it like it was so sort of daily occurrence.
"You made feel miserable… unwanted even. But sothing just fucking pushed towards you and I don't know why. It's annoying and well… frankly very frustrating to not know the reason but I've co to live with it. I hate you but I also love you okay? Now stop asking useless questions."
Keith raised his hands up in a surrender position and nodded, "As you wish, your highness. Should I wash your feet with enemies blood to appease your anger?"
"Oh stop playing…" she said, feeling annoyed with him but then she rembered sothing important and her expression turned serious, "By the way, dad said that he received a letter from the fourth princess. You should go and talk to him now."
Hearing this, Keith nodded and imdiately left the room before heading towards the training area since this was the place where Arthur liked to hang out a lot recently.
Your next journey awaits at My Virtual Library Empire
And just as he had expected, the old man was sitting on a chair as he sipped on so wine while casually spectating Miya's training.
"How's she doing?" Keith asked as he got closer.
Arthur looked up at Keith and saw him bring out a similar looking chair out of nowhere but he didn't question it since he had gotten used to Keith's bizarre and mystical ways of getting things done.
"Can't you tell? You're literally on par with when it cos to swordsmanship."
Keith nodded and asked, "Hmm.. What's the score between us? Twelve wins, eighty seven draws and thirty one losses?"
"Sounds about right…. I lost those twelve tis only due to my old age. I can't fight for more than an hour straight. Especially in my peak physical form…. Oh god, my old age is catching up to and it looks like this war might my last one. It would be nice to die on the battlefield."
Keith turned to look at Arthur, but didn't say anything. Instead, he waited for a few seconds and then pointed at Miya, "Now tell about your granddaughter will ya? I can't really gauge her progress. My body knows how to use the sword, but my mind… I really don't understand the intricacies behind the art at all."
Arthur nodded and sighed, "The curse of being a genius ay? Anyways, that child has no talent in swordsmanship. It's a pity really… since she's such a hardworking child."
Keith felt a little bumd out when he heard this, but he accepted the answer before switching his gaze back to Miya.
"I guess it's fine… she'll awaken soon anyways. Is there anything else she could try out?"
"Well…" Arthur muttered and thought for a bit before nodding, "I guess so. There's archery, spear arts and even maces but I don't think she'll be able to wield maces well. I an, even I find it hard to use those things."
Keith nodded, "Alright, I'll talk to her about it later but I heard that you got a letter."
"Oh yeah, the princess basically said that she's done with trying to make a deal with the other nobles and well, it didn't go perfectly. In total, she managed to get her hands on thirty three thousand n.
She also asked us to get to the capital since she has to pay you for your work… sothing about a contract or whatever." Arthur said and took a sip of his wine.
Once Keith got this information, he got up from his chair and sent it back to his spatial dinsion before stretching.
"Ugh, that feels good. Anyways, are you gonna join us?"
"I won't be coming unfortunately. Soone gotta stay here and keep this place safe. You go with Alia and do your thing." Arthur said and stood up from his chair before placing his hand on Keith's shoulder, "Also…"
He then paused and stared straight into Keith's eyes for five whole seconds before continuing, "When are you going to marry? I'm getting impatient you know? I want a grandchild that shares my blood. Before I die…"
"…. You should stop guilt tripping old man…" Keith said, feeling slightly awkward. Seeing that Arthur had no intention of letting go of his shoulder, Keith sighed.
"The three of us will marry soon. It's just that now's not the right ti you know? With the war looming extrely close and stuff."
Arthur shook his head, "We don't need a huge banquet, Keith. A small group of friends and family is more than enough. I don't want you to regret not going through with this later on too.
A war will change your life completely… and a war doesn't forgive anyone. Be it the strong or the weak, anyone might lose their lives. Just keep this in mind alright?"
Keith nodded absentmindedly as Arthur's words had a very strong impact on his thoughts.
Arthur left the place while Keith silently watched Miya train, with his mind completely occupied by the thoughts of marriage and war.
'Marriage huh… '
******
Two months of journey later, Keith and his family t up with their teammates, all of whom were currently residing in an inn that was pretty close to the palace.
"How did it go?" Alia asked as she walked into the room while Keith silently leaned against the wall.
He already knew how things went and most of it was just good news. With two bits that were very important too.
Laura excitedly hugged Alia like they were long lost friends and the first thing she did after that was place her hand on her belly, "Guess what? I'm pregnant!" she squealed.
Caleb on the side grinned proudly as he saw Keith give him a nod.
"Yeah, and I… I think I've found my love." Nathan said as he polished his sword, giving Alia another shock before she could recover from the bomb that Laura had just dropped on her.
"You… what? I an, who?"
Nathan grinned and rummaged with his inner pockets while Clara walked towards Keith and leaned against the wall beside him before whispering, "You already knew didn't you?"
"Yeah, I wanted you guys to experience this event properly so I decided not to tell you two. I guess it was worth keeping it a secret."
The girl nodded, "Yeah, totally worth it." she said as she turned to look at Nathan who had taken out a paper.
He unfolded it and showed it to Alia, who gave him a disgusted look instead.
"Did you personally draw this?"
"Um… yes… she said it was good!" he exclaid innocently, which got Clara curious. She looked at Keith who looked calm and shook her head since she knew that he was not going to tell her anything.
She headed over to take a look and Keith followed behind her. The drawing that greeted them was basically an ugly stick figure, but Keith silently stared at Nathan.
Once the guy got his fair share of fun with seeing their reactions, he took out a small painting that was frad and showed it to them.
"I hired an artist for this… she's the only daughter of a baronet and things just went really well. We t completely by accident-"
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