"Are you gonna answer that?.." Jacob kept his eyes locked on Kaxa, whom was slightly quivering, as he asked that.

"It looks suspicious but-" The knight starts and it took Jacob everything to not roll his eyes, of course it's fucking suspicious, but also not that strange. He's been to enough meetings to know that powerplays are decided before the meeting even starts. I.E, the status of everyone present there would be the deciding factor on whether or not they're gonna get respected.

And between a [Mage] and a... [Duke]? Is that a class- whatever, Jacob shook his head, point is, the Duke has enough authority to throw Jacob's own to the ground and between the Duke and the Kingdom behind him, if he feels like it, he can label Jacob a criminal and the best thing that he could follow his new status and start a massacre- and even then, with other, more powerful mages around, becoming a mass murderer wouldn't even be a guarantee.

"I know." Jacob deadpanned, "But it isn't, not for me at least." Jacob threw up a strained smile, "just accept it."

And so Kaxa did, Jacob didn't exactly know how the knight did it without moving, but he answered the call and the crystal ball on the table went from a bright red to a dull gray in the next moment, all the while Kaxa stood there stoically. And in place. "Hello." the voice that came out was echoey and Jacob can only assume that they probably would sound the same to the Duke at the other end of the line, "Kaxa, I've decided on what I wanted to do with the mage."

Kaxa looked at the mage in question fearfully but Jacob simply gestured for him to continue with what he's planning on replying with, his expression neutral and understanding, "Sir, Jacob is here with me right now." Kaxa said professionally, making Jacob nod at him in compliment, "I think it's best if you two discuss his state together?"

"Of course, good job, Kaxa. You can go." Was the Duke's reply, "And I suppose you can take the other knights with you,"

"As you wish," Kaxa gave a courtful bow and left, he nodded to an uncertain Gatian on his way to the entrance and the young knight followed after his leader.

Now alone, Jacob patiently waited for the man at the other end of the call to start speaking, he didn't really want to initiate things, not when the Duke already had stuff in mind. Basic etiquette- his father taught him that much.

Seconds passed in silence, the Duke seemingly thinking about what he wanted to say. Eventually, Jacob assumed that the man had put his thoughts in order because he started speaking again, "I think that introductions are in order, yes?"

"You're right sir," Jacob said respectfully, "I'm Jacob, the last name isn't important."

"I'm sorry?" Replies the Duke, his confusion conveyed through his tone, he cleared his throat, "What I meant to say is that, please introduce yourself properly, our world may be a little bit different from yours-" Ah, so The Duke knew that he isn't from around here, Kaxa told him and Jacob assumed that the man would do that much back in the Dungeon, "- and though you probably think that type of introduction is formal in yours, it is not in Fanna."

"Sorry," Jacob apologized, he took the silence on the other end as a cue to restart, "let me re-introduce myself, I'm Jacob, a [Mage]." Was that appropriate?

"... Good, I suppose-" The Duke went silent for a while, "- I'm Valian Cren Lezatian," was the Duke's apparent full name, "A [Duke] as well as a [Politician], and [Merchant]. I own the lands around the Lezatian Dukedom, which is handed to me by my family 20 years ago, during the early spring."

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So... not appropriate then. Jacob idly nodded, "Nice to meet you then, Duke Lezatian."

"Likewise," the man's tone remained neutral.

No one spoke after that and in the silence, Jacob thought about taking initiative and after putting a bit of thought into it, he assumed that asking what the Duke wanted from him and explaining why he couldn't do it wouldn't be such a bad start, "I've heard that you wanted something from me," he said cordially, "But just to start- I wanna say that I'm not interested in going to your city and staying there, I already bought a farm in this village and I have a lot of plans for it, I'm sorry."

"... I see," The Duke's voice was much more echoey, "Can I ask why you would prefer the life of a farmer rather than that of a magical scholar?"

"Honestly?" Jacob said without putting much thought into his words, he didn't really need to, his answer was fairly simple after all, "I feel tired doing all that," he answered, "all my life I've been what? Going from meeting to meeting, gaining fucking- connections with my peers and their parents, shit like that- you know?" Was he ranting? He was speaking quickly so yes, he was definitely ranting.

Still, despite knowing this, Jacob went on, "And everything is just so. fucking. tiring- It's people this, people that, money this, money that-" he sighed and combed his hair, "I'm tired. That's what I'm trying to say. I don't want to... do any of that anymore." He sighed again, "And this village? This place is as close as it can get to retirement. I want that."

"I understand," the Duke sounded like he was smiling and Jacob felt like the man understood what he was saying, "I completely understand what you are saying. It must be tiring, I get that. Being that powerful as such a young age must've not been easy," Jacob smiled, guess it was the Duke's turn to rant, "And I understand that completely- you want retirement? Peace? Very well, you will get it."

"Thank you," Jacob bowed, though he doubts that the Duke will actually see it.

"I'm only doing what's right," Lezatian replied, "Though, young man, I do believe I should recommend you going to my city, even if temporarily- making it so that your I.D says you're permanently under the rule of this Kingdom should help ease your life,"

"...I'll do just that, thank you." Trap or not, Jacob wanted to only see the good for the moment.

And that was how both he and the Duke started talking about the potential dangers, necessary preparations, as well as the people that'll be going alongside Jacob on his travel towards the city. It had taken a while and by the end of everything, the two of them talked about all there is needed to talk about, from paths to monster encounters to even foodstuff- actually, the last one had greatly surprised him, because apparently, there are a lot of things to consider about food when one is traveling on a slow, horse drawn carriage that'll take two weeks to reach its destination.

Easily prepared soup, apparently, being among them.

'What an odd fucking world.' Was Jacob's opinion when he heard the things he'll need to do in order to harden his soup so that it's "travel ready". Honestly, he should've just picked the cheese and bread soup, that one sounded delicious.

'Actually, why not both?' Jacob asked himself as he stepped out of the tent. When he did, the four knights that considered it their home stopped tending to their horses and started making their way towards him, Jacob waved at them as they approached, all except for Kaxa were armored, "Hey, the Duke wanted to talk to you."

Kaxa nodded, "I'll see to it in a little bit, so, did you..."

Agreeing, Jacob gave him a single nod, "Yeah, but I won't be staying for long. I'm gonna come back to this village after I've made my citizenship permanent."

"That's good," Kaxa said with a smile, "I'm glad that the Duke seemed to have been understanding of your wants and desires," Jacob didn't know why, but he felt that the Knight leader didn't expect him to go out of the tent without being under the Duke, that feeling persists even now, after he said that the Duke just wanted to help him and then let him go. "The... Duke can be a bit stingy at times, especially when it comes to people with power- we're in the front lines, see, and that means that..." Kaxa started gesturing.

"He needs soldiers, I completely understand."

Kaxa bowed, "Thank you," and then left with his fellow knights to go back inside the tent.

Jacob let them leave, content on going back to the town to do his own preparations- talking to Lezatian had been good, and now that he knows what kind of things he'll exactly need for traveling, he added food and necessities to his mental shopping list, alongside magic items and an expanded bag of storage. His trip to the city is gonna cost him even more money, it seems.