Asya had problems- Jacob assumed that much the first time he noticed her complaining about things that sounded way too personal, and he thought that maybe it had something to do with her home life and why she went to this village. He... was right, in both cases, but what he didn't know is just how bad her problems were, he thought she was just being rebellious, which is why she was so far from home but no, her problems were more than that because she wasn't rebelling, she was trying to find people who are willing to trade with her own territory on a month to month basis.

The first place that she went to was the Levatian Dukedom, which is the city that her town is under, and the Duke there did say he will help. But only in under one condition- that Asya would marry into his family.

Which of course, isn't something that Asya isn't willing to do. Not unless she had no other choice which obviously isn't the case given that she went away from the Dukedom and down to one of the many villages under it, Yarya village should have been the first thing that she came to, but since the mayor accepted her terms readily- and Asya did admit that it was mostly because she looked like she knew Jacob, - that meant that she now has what she came there for and thus went back to the Dukedom alongside him and the merchants.

"I can give you a gold or two if you want," Jacob said as Asya finished the history of "some village out there".

She stuttered, "W-what?" Jacob looked at her with a blank look, "Why?"

"Well-" he stopped, if she wanted to act that way then who was he to stop her? Actually, come to think of it, pushing it would definitely push her away from him. She probably didn't know about it, but Asya can be pretty stubborn, he gained that much from listening to her tell her "story", especially at the part where the "orphaned noble" refused her hand in marriage and went away from the Dukedom to find other sources of trade, "- it's so that you can splurge on stuff for yourself,"

Why was he doing this? He wanted to ask himself, helping some random girl he met in a library sounded like something he'd do to get inside their pants but that wasn't the case here, Asya was struggling and it's not like he can't spare any money for her at the moment. And besides, he likes her enough to do something like this for her with no strings attached.

"You're just giving me gold?" Asya asked, right eyebrow raised and eyes narrowed, "why?"

"I like you enough to do it," he said, shrugging, "isn't that what guys do for girls?"

"Yeah if they want to court them!" The wagon shook as she stood up and raised her hand in the air.

"Then I'm courting you," Jacob replied, tone dry. Though he did give her a smile.

"W-why?" She sat back down and purposefully lowered her face, if it was because the people around them are looking at her or the fact that she was embarrassed, Jacob didn't know because she quickly recovered and looked at him, "I- I'm not really that... you know, good for you?"

Jacob chuckled, "what?" He asked with mirth, "What does that even mean?"

"I-" she huffed and looked away, "I'm not gonna accept you." She said, "And I'm not giving my hand to you,"

"I'll keep waiting and giving you money if you don't," Jacob joked, wondering if her pride as a "lone scion" would be more powerful than her own pride of not accepting help.

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Sadly (not really), it was the former that won and Asya caved in, taking the two pieces of gold that Jacob was handing over to her, she shot him a glare as she took the money, "I just wanna let you know that I will never hand over my hand in marriage to you, no matter how much gold you give me."

Jacob nodded, smiling, "Then can you at least give me a chance at a date?"

Asya tilted her head, "Date?.." She asked and her eyes narrowed, "It's where it's only you and me for an entire day right?"

"I'm not gonna try to sleep with you," Jacob explained, hands raised in placation, "I wanna get to know you first."

"That's what dates are for," Asya said in a moment of realization.

"Pretty much," Jacob replied, "so, do you wanna go with me on that date or?.."

She glared at him, "... fine."

"Thanks," He replied, now, at least, he can stop Asya from actually spending the gold he gave her on herself and maybe put it into her food budget or something along those lines. "I hope you enjoy yourself."

Asya looked away and said nothing in reply.

And... that was pretty much the only interesting thing that happened during the day, by night, everyone settled down to camp and Jacob did the usual thing he did for the past two nights: Set up the tent while Asya started the fire and cleaned the pots, she watched him obviously, and Jacob's sure that if he asked her if she can hire a few servants to help him with the tent she would gladly pull money out of her pockets and spend it on them. That is not something that he wanted her to do because sure, the servants were nice, but you need to pay them 2 silver for an hour of their services, and as small as that is for a noble, Asya might need that extra 2 silver in the future.

'Keep spending a dollar an hour and let's see how much your wallet holds up for the rest of the year,' His Dad's words echoed inside his head, it sounded stupid in hindsight and even now, he can't see why someone like him can't just spend hundreds of dollars every year when his Dad can give him that much every month but looking at Asya...

He mused that he can see why his Dad would say that. Jacob sighed when he hammered the last peg, "Asya, how much money do you get every month?" He asked, not really sure why though, he's never been one for logistics and that's exactly why secretaries exist but with his own budget and everything that's happened so far, he can at least get a rough estimate on how much Asya needs to spend to keep her town running.

And, of course, as he expected, the girl became skeptical and she narrowed her eyes, "Why are you asking?" She asked, a bit of irritation audible from her voice. Jacob looked at her and her narrowed eyes turned into a sharp glare, "no really, why?"

He looked away to put the girl at ease, "I'm not really sure." He admitted, then an idea struck him. He stayed silent, then looked at Asya again and made a show of sighing, "I... just thought that I want to know how much you get every month so that I know what kind of things you'd prefer when we go on our date,"

Asya didn't look impressed and if anything, she looked like she wanted to strangle him but eventually, she sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Jacob, why are you-" another sigh escaped her lips, and she rubbed her temples again, "- I'm not that type of girl Jacob."

"I know." He replied, "But I don't want to give you a bad first impression you know?"

"... I know." She said, "But if you want to know about my monthly budget-" Jacob held back a grimace, does she really think that he, at this point, doesn't know about her current situation? He held back a sigh, well, if she wants to keep playing with that act then he's more than happy to let her, "- is around 4 Gold every month."

From a town? - Jacob managed to hold those words back, 4 Gold was a lot for something like that and he's sure that Asya probably also considered the tax that she had to pay to the Dukedom but he can never really tell with her. What he also doesn't know is how much of that 4 Gold is liquid coin or a weight in food, but since he already knows the rough outline of the money she gets from taxes, it's fine, he can at least understand the situation now.

And understanding is always the first step to getting a solution to a problem.

He flashed her a smile, "guess I have to impress you then."

"Please don't," she pleaded, "I'm fine if you only spend a single gold on me, you already gave me two gold earlier remember?"

"No." Jacob answered, grinning.