"See you!!!" Jacob waved to the trio of kids as they walked away before dispersing his [Shield] spell. The fire died out, and the orange light it emitted soon followed. Night finally came down on the village's plaza as the darkness seeped into the surroundings, "That took so long..." Jacob said listlessly as he did his best to do a stretch with half the effort, "Can't believe we managed to do it."

The vendor right next to him smiled, "I guess... we did start at noon." he stared at the single silver coin in his hand and tossed it at the box, "Honestly, if you asked me yesterday if I was gonna meet a mage who's gonna buy all of my stuff the next morning? Wouldn't believe you. I'd call you a dumbass."

"Happens to the best of us." Jacob grinned, "Glad I could help."

The farmer nodded, weakly.

"So I guess I gotta go back to that Tavern huh?.." Jacob mused to himself as he made his way back to where he roughly thinks said Tavern is, he wondered if he can still go back there and ask for a room which... seriously, he paid them an entire gold coin, he'd be surprised if they didn't. Regardless, not that it really mattered to him in the long run, he's heard of a few people talking about inns somewhere around here. 'I would still like to earn the actual weight of that gold though.'

The people at the Tavern did seem to be kind and hospitable enough to let him back in so it's not really a risk- With his mind set on the next course of action, Jacob took a step forward and immediately met the iron helmet of one of the four knights that led them back in the Dungeon. He waved, the gauntlets making clicking sounds all the while, "Hi."

"Hello?" Jacob greeted back, his tone failing to hide the curiosity that he felt towards the sudden appearance of the man, "Can I help you?"

"Would you like to come back with us to the Duke's lands?" He asked stiffly.

Jacob stared. Blinked. Then went back to staring. His eyes moved away from the knight's helmet and down to his chest plate, there, the insignia of the Duke he doesn't even know the name of rests, the boar head with two swords for tusks looked angry, with its eyebrows fixed into diagonal lines and its swords fuming with nigh-invisible smoke, Jacob paused at his assessment of the insignia and blankly stared- is that a deliberate design choice?

"Didn't I tell you that I didn't want to join anything back in the Dungeon?" Jacob asked back, his tone didn't hold any malice to it, mostly because he thinks that the request is harmless. The knight wasn't forcing him to do anything, if anything, he was putting out a formal request, and that got Jacob curious enough to ask for a reason why would they ask again when he made it clear he didn't want to go to the main city.

"Why do you want me to go?" He asked the armor clad man, idly noting that the vendor is slowly scuttling away.

The knight shifted and fixed his posture, "We don't- are not planning on taking you away from this village, the Duke said as much to the leader when he told him of your existence." Jacob can understand why their leader will tell the Duke who he is, fighting the boss on his own and holding against it pretty much guarantees that it would happen.

With that in mind, doing what he did would also mean that he's gonna be in for a recruitment pitch, even if the Duke "promised not to".

Jacob hummed, "Did your leader also tell him that I bought a land and house in this village?"

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Now it was the knight's turn to stare, "What?"

"I bought a piece of land and a farmhouse in this village." He explained.

"A- Oh!" The knight genuinely sounded happy as he nodded at Jacob in understanding, "I think I know what you're talking about- is it the farmhouse with the windmill?" When Jacob nodded, the knight started speaking with confidence, "It's safe to say that you've been scammed by the one who sold you that plot, which I assume is the mayor correct?" Jacob nodded again, "The Duke has the authority to make it so that he sells it back to you."

'It's also safe to say that you actually want to recruit me.' Jacob thought casually as he did a 'so-so' gesture, "Why would I want to sell it back?" He knew what the answer is, but he thought that it's better if the knight explained it to him, the guy looked like he needed to get it out of his system.

"Because the house is haunted!" The Knight explained loudly.

"You mean the ghost, right?" He asked and the armored man nodded.

"Yes." He replied, more calmly this time.

"I killed it." He felt guilty when he saw the knight deflate and if he had any other choice, he wouldn't have done what he did. He really, really didn't want to do it but... 'politics.' He thought, holding back a shudder.

It was the knight's turn to stare, "What?" He asked with a tone that portrayed his disbelief.

"Yeah. There was a ghost in that farmhouse but I kind of killed it? Wasn't really that hard. I went in, checked, saw the ghost, killed it, then went ahead and ran to the nearest place that'll get my house repaired." Jacob replied with a casual shrug.

"Y-you killed the ghost?" Jacob nodded, "A-and what? What? Y-" The knight shook his head, "If that's the case, then I think the leader would be willing to talk to you, if you do not want to go to the city, then at least go to our temporary camp? We will stay for only one more night and then leave for the city come morning."

Jacob grunted, his father had talked to him about this: because of the "social obligations" of someone of his "stature" he can't deny the knight even when he knows full well that the set up he's about to willingly walk to is gonna force him to talk to the Duke. The knight in front of him already said that his leader talked to the Duke while still in this village. He did his best to throw out the best smile he could, "Sure, I'd love to go to your camp."

"Follow me then, sir." The knight bowed politely and then started making his way to a path to their right.

From the bits of conversations that he's heard from passing villagers, Jacob knew that the narrow street he and the armored man is walking into leads to the north-eastern part of town, to a large group of farm plots that grow the various stuff the villagers here eat on a daily basis, the few barns that have been built on that place are also the only source of meat, leather, and wool for miles on end.

And speaking of wool, Jacob gave himself a mental reminder to buy clothes and other related stuff when he finishes with the temporary camp.

The camp didn't look all that much, with it being nothing more than a bunch of Indian-esque tents (Jacob personally didn't know what the large, house-like things are called.) placed in large clusters around each other with pathways and firepits in front of them. Their placement didn't have any sort of clear organization or real efficiency and as he followed the knight, Jacob saw that the pathways in some parts are wider and in other parts, so narrow that there wasn't any path at all, instead, to go through it, Jacob and the knight had to circle around the three pairs of tents.

A while after that and Jacob emerged from the maze of tents.

"So this is where your leader stays?" Jacob asks as he stared at the towering tent in front of him. This one was twice as large compared to the ones that they've been passing up until now- which can only fit two-three people by Jacob's estimate, - and from the looks of things, the material that it's made out of is tougher.

The only thing that the tent has in relation to the other, smaller tents in the camp is the general shape, and even then, there are four extra poles on each side of the massive thing.

"All of us stay here, not just him." The knight kindly provided, "Including all our stuff, the wagon, and now that the Dungeon's been cleared, the loot. Personally? I don't even think that it's big enough for what it's currently being used for."

Jacob can only offer a nod in response, though he can definitely see why something as big as this wouldn't be enough to outfit four knights.

Choosing that he should just get this entire thing over with, Jacob walked ahead of the knight, who didn't seem to mind that he did so.