Volume 14 Chapter 36: 

Volume 14 Chapter 36: 

Later that night, Keith and Eri were in the same bed. The little child continued to snuggle into him as she asked, “Papa! I want to read a book!”  

“Hmm? What book do you want to read?” Keith didn’t mind that. This was not the first time he had read her a book. 

When the book was brought out, he had to blink a bit. That book she brought out made him double back.

"You want me to read that? Are you sure?" It was not a fairytale or anything like that; it was a geography book. That was not something anyone should read as a bedtime story. 

"Mmhmm." Eri nodded as she snuggled closer to him. 

“Sure.” Keith nodded as he started to read to her albeit the weird expression on his face as he did. 

The next day, Keith started to make breakfast for everyone, “Diana, have you been reading to Eri bedtime stories?” 

“Mmhmm, she was really excited about it. I was surprised that she also wanted to read something like this.” The dorm mother was taken aback when she saw how she chose a textbook instead of a regular book. But she also seemed to understand why she did so, 

“She wanted to be like Carolyn and the others.”

"..."

“To be fair, their curiosity is peaked at that age.” Everyone didn't know Eri's age. Assuming her size, she seemed the same age as Leon and Laura. Children at that age are carefree and run around a lot. 

And they were especially copying mood. 

“Leon doesn’t like studying that much.” Laura was more of the studious, but when she was thrown with going out or reading, she would choose the first option. Unlike the two, Eri was quite interesting as she wanted to learn, which was rare. But he didn’t mind so much.

After finishing their breakfast, everyone headed to class. As Keith entered the classroom, he was tackled by someone. 

“Lihua, why are you attacking me?” 

“I missed you so much! Food!” 

“...” Keith sighed, “Here’s an apple.” Keith tossed an apple over to the girl as he thought about other things. What should I do for Eri? 

“What happened to him? Did he bump his head during the finals?” Long Lihua casually munched on the apple. 

“No,” Krystal said, “He has father troubles.”

“Ahh.” Long Lihua and the others nodded, “Being a parent is quite a difficult job.” Not even a year had passed since Keith was a father. Yeah, being thrown into something like that would be quite surprising. Keith thought long and hard while Aidiun gave the lecture. That was when Keith thought up an idea. 

But as class went on, that was when they headed to Tennol's class. That was when Keith tilted his head, "Are you guys alright?"

"Hmm?" 

"You guys are slower." That was something Keith had realized; the pace the students were going at was much slower than the others. 

"It's just a normal day." 

"..." Really?

Later in the day, he heads over to the blacksmith workshop, “Skar, I need some materials.” 

“Hmm? What for? Are you making something again?” This kid had been making things left and right from the get-go.

“Just some stuff. Do you have any soft and round plates? Something easy for a child to look at and soft to touch.”

“Huh?” Skar thought about it before he picked out something light, “Would this work?” Feeling it for a bit, Keith nodded, “Yep! This would be perfect. I’ll play for it.” As he handed the coins over, Skar also added, “By the way, you should check up on Arlo. He keeps thinking that he’s nothing.” 

Yeah.” Keith scratched his head, “Even I’m having a difficult time trying to get him to get that mindset out.” It was something Keith knew for quite some time.

Arlo was someone that had talent but it was so difficult to make him realize because there were so many talented people that were there. Even when Keith tried to tell him about it, it was still an issue with it all. Keith groaned, “This is one of the times I’m not sure how to go with this either.” He never got to the point where it was like that. 

“And it doesn’t help out that he’s a halfling.” There was also the discrimination for those who were mixed race. Each races already discriminated against another; imagine the hate that Arlo got as someone who had two races in him? That hyper charged his inferiority and made him seem lower than before. 

Keith scratched, “This is a difficult problem.” Keith was going at it slow since he needed Arlo to figure out his talent and work harder. 

“Hah, I will do whatever I can to help him. A talent like that shouldn’t go to waste.” Skar grinned. 

“Haha, you really want him to work here?”

“Of course! A skilled person like that has to be here!” 

“I will see you later then.” Keith laughed as he waved his hand as he headed over to second place. It was none other than hazel’s workplace. 

“Hazel.”

“Ahh, Little brother! What do you need from me?” Hazel smiled at Keith.