Between Duke Lezatian himself, the man had 6 other family members: His new wife, a woman in her late twenties with the typical features that Jacob saw in this world, brown hair and brown eyes, his children, four little guys of the ages that ranged from 5 years old to their mid teens, the oldest of them, as Jacob had been told, is only 3 years younger than him and is also, surprisingly, quite vocal about marrying Asya and settling down to her lands- a goal that the Duke himself supports - and then finally, the oldest of the Duke's children is Xecania, a daughter born from his late and first wife.

Everyone sitting at the table seemed nice, and that includes the oldest son of the Duke who was respectful to Jacob even as he boasted about how Asya was "falling for him" and that it will only take "a few more weeks" of courtship before he has the young heiress in his hands. As for why the guy wanted to marry Asya and take over her lands when he can just inherit his father's Dukedom, Duke Lezatian made it clear that in the Kingdom, it didn't really matter if the ruler or heir is a son or not right as long as they're competent and educated.

And Xecania, the Duke's eldest child, is very competent and well-educated enough that throughout the entire dinner, she managed to let Jacob catch up about the situation and history of their territory, and the rest of the family didn't seem to mind as the two of them discussed what has happened ever since the Duke owned these lands over 45 years ago.

Yeah, the Duke is that old. Honestly, if he didn't know the guy's actual age, Jacob would peg him for his middle thirties at best.

And Jacob assumed that Xecania, the Duke's daughter as well as the girl currently sitting right next to him on one of the many lounges in the Duke's dining hall, had been born years after the Duke took the lands from his own father, which is confusing because, in so many ways, Xecania is... rather young compared to what he assumed her actual age would be.

Jacob couldn't help but wonder what the Duke did during the first two decades when the Duke (and he assumed as well as his wife,) hadn't settled down yet.

Though, staring at the form of the furred girl right next to him, he assumed that whatever it is the Duke did with his wife, it probably involved a lot of violence.

He looked away from Xecania and turned back to the map in front of him, the chandeliers on the ceiling above gave more than enough light for him and Xecania to see it clearly.

"Why aren't there any other farming villages out there?" Jacob asked as she and Xecania, now both done eating, poured over the map of the lands within the border of the Dukedom, the layout of the villages in the land was exactly as he guessed from reading the few books that he got from Yarya's library as well as the tidbits of information he got from Asya and Kaxa's stories: Three, or rather, two villages were placed in front of the Dukedom, growing out into the wider areas in a fan-shaped placement that made the frontier look both formidable and hard to pass through.

The roads between the villages- and town, - were just small enough that each one could communicate with each other through avian carriers in a quick and timely manner, preventing any dangerous raids from the enemy Kingdoms and settlements rather hard.

"That's simple," Xecania said as she leaned over and spread her hand across the map, soft fingers with 2 inch claws went over the marked villages on the map, which by themselves looked to be quite large with sizable populations. She smiled as she explained that- "The Lezatian Dukedom as a whole isn't really a territory meant for farming, see, we're not only located on mountainous terrain that's hard to farm, but also on the borders of two opposing Kingdoms,"

Jacob nodded and eyed the map before him, indeed, it did look like that was the case when it came to both points that Xecania had pointed out, the region was full of mountains and from the edge of the map, Jacob saw a few towns labeled as "enemy" in the map, as he started thinking, the young heir beside him continued to explain, "and not only that, but this territory is also solely meant and used as a means to acquire Dungeon Resources,"

"So the three villages here-" Jacob pointed at the Villages (and town) that was on the territory of the Dukedom, "- have Dungeons on them?"

"Yes!" Xecania clapped, "That's right! See-" she started explaining happily but was suddenly cut off by the cough that came from the dining table. Both she and Jacob turned to the Duke and his family and the Beastkin smiled sheepishly in response, "sorry about that," she said, facing Jacob, "but it seems that Dad wants to talk to you,"

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Jacob nodded, "right. Guess I better go," he said, standing up, "nice talk," he said to the heiress to which she nodded.

"I feel the same," she replied.

As Duke Lezatian stood up, so did Jacob, and when the man walked away from the dining table, so did the mage. Jacob personally didn't know where the Duke was taking him nor did he feel safe being led along by a man that he assumed (rightly) to be quite violent in the past. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure if he can beat the man in front of him in a straight up fight, he's sure that the Duke, for all he is good at managing his territory, is probably in possession of a powerful class that can break through his [Shield].

Stalling wouldn't work here, so Jacob has no choice but to bend down to demands if the Duke has them.

He was led to the Duke's study, a spacious room full of cleaned skulls from various animals, with some, having heads larger than Jacob's torso. The place was made out of dark-brown wood that absorbed all of the light, barely reflecting anything, there wasn't even a single white glimmer to be seen on the surface of the wood even when the orange glow of the lamp washed over the wood.

Trinkets of unknown origin and use were placed around the room, some were clearly magical in nature, such as a pendant that glowed a calming blue hanging on the neck of a mannequin wearing a light blue gown whose skirt only reached the knees, beneath the skirt, oddly enough, is a pair of pants that went down the ankles and on the torso, over the mannequin's dress was a jacket made of... something leathery that made Jacob uneasy just from staring at it.

Jacob pried his eyes away from the mannequin and turned to look at the Duke, who he caught was smiling at him as he turned back to face forward.

A bookshelf twice Jacob's height stood at the far end of the wall, facing the Duke's desk directly, papers were stacked on top of the Desk that made Jacob queasy just from looking at just how much there is. And Duke Lezatian, currently sitting on the chair behind the desk chuckled at him as he shuffled through the papers, "I've heard about your aversion when it comes to the bureaucratic side of things," he started, tone understanding and... oddly warm?

"And I agree with your stand in something so- so annoying and unnecessary," he added as he grabbed the paper by hand and placed it on the edge of his desk, where they sat there, unmoving until Duke Lezatian decides to read them, "I was just like you when I was young, talented in the arts of fighting and completely engrossed in it," the Duke's tone turned nostalgic and his eyes moved to stare at the mannequin on the corner of the room, "it was there that I met my wife, she was kind, nice, and completely on my... league." He sighed, "We- we just fit so well together you know? We both liked to fight, reveled in it."

Jacob smiled something genuine, surprised at what he just did, he decided to go along with the Duke's story, "Like I said, I wished I could have met her,"

"I do too," he said, "I'm sure that she would have loved to fight someone like you when you grow more powerful,"

"Indeed," he agreed, wordwise only- he actually didn't want to fight the mother of... a Beast-kin, as Xecania called herself, actual Beastmen sounded scary and from the stories that Xecania told him about her mother, Jacob hoped to stay away from the Bear type of Beastmen if he could help it. Doing his best to hide his fear, Jacob turned away from the Duke and looked at the mannequin, the jacket that it was wearing now looked so- so simple and harmless compared to the woman he is thinking about.

Which ironically enough, is the one who owned the jacket. Jacob pried his eyes away from the brown thing and met the eyes of the Duke, who then spoke, "But enough about the dead, Jacob, I completely understand it if you deny my wishes for you to take over Yarya village as its mayor," Jacob blinked and noticing that, the Duke laughed, "I know that you mages like to have your peace to do your "research" that somehow makes you powerful and I must say, picking a village that is both peaceful yet perfect for testing out dangerous spells because of its frontier position is pretty wise of you,"

Jacob nodded, smiling, "I see you caught on to my plan," he replied casually, "I actually do plan on creating more spells," he said, "and the one that I am currently working on should have the potential to take out entire armies,"

"Really?" The Duke leaned in, sounding interested, his eyes glowed when Jacob nodded, "Then, I must support you!"

"Aren't you worried that I'll stab you in the back or something?" Jacob said out loud and when he realized what he just said, he decided to backpedal, "Sorry, it's just-"

"Jacob, my boy, I've fought mages that make the current you look like a child and survived," the Duke said, voice calm, "I'm not worried about you betraying me!" He finished with a laugh.

"Ha-ha-ha," Jacob decided to join in on the- to him, - ominous laughter.

"Now, how about you tell me about this spell of yours?" The Duke asked as he rang the bell on top of his desk, no doubt calling a servant for... something. Though Jacob doubted that it was because Sir Lezatian needed someone to protect him.