The library was dark, there were no sounds except for the soft shuffling of the pages between the covers of books and Jacob, as strange as it may sound to anyone that knew him, felt like he was in his element. Peaceful, quiet, and a slew of thoughts that did nothing but permeate on his mind, they changed with each passing second and yet, despite that, Jacob felt as though everything was right.

This place, as it turns out, had a sort of fascinating air to it and between the clean stench of newly minted books, dust, and papyrus, is the feeling of... hominess that Jacob only really felt back when he was a child walking around within the attic of their family's house. The girl sitting right next to him, a beast-kin with a pretty face and a self assured smile as she flipped from one page to the next, looked to have felt the same way as he did about the place and Jacob couldn't help but notice her happy expression as she read through the book she was holding.

Xecania's demure was visage highlighted by the small flame from the candle sitting on the center of the table, it was placed atop a copper disc with a handle reminiscent to that of a teapot, or a mug, maybe. The orange light stopped at her front, creating a small halo of orange on one side of her body and on the other, a dark corner that perfectly contrasted the light of fire.

The blue, one piece dress that she wore for the night perfectly complimented her thin frame, a small bow of the same color ran over the top of her head, tying around the back of her head to form a small ponytail and down to her neck to create a collar with a golden bell hanging from her neck.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Xecania asked without looking away from her book, and Jacob- assuming that the Beast-kin had senses that are stronger than that of a human, - nodded with the assurance that the girl right next to him would be able to sense it, his thought was proven correct when Xecania softly smiled and faced him with an expression that conveyed she was glad, "then, shall we talk about the history of the Dukedom?"

"Sure," Jacob closed the book about the various monsters around the territory as well as the mountainous regions surrounding it and placed it back down on the table, "I'm honestly pretty curious about how this whole thing started," he said, more or less starting the conversation with that single sentence, "because, you know, it's a mountain, why would a village be put here?"

"That is a very good point," Xecania replied, and with a topic now picked, the direction the conversation will go to do has now been predetermined. Not that it was any different from what the two went here for in the first place, all it did was allow Xecania to know where she needed to start, "see, the Lezatian Dukedom didn't always start out as a city on a valley between hills,"

"I couldn't have guessed," Jacob snarked, prompting Xecania to smile.

"This place was once a town, well, more of a barracks with a lot of men and a slew of prostitutes but that isn't the point that I'm trying to get at," Xecania stared at the candle as she spoke, eyes reflecting orange fire, "The people at the Capital, see, wanted a place where they can strategically move their forces against the opposing lands on the South,"

And because of that, Jacob started to think, that the kingdom decided placing a small army on a mountain is a good idea. Which... it is. Admittedly.

"And so, the barracks on the mountain to our west was made, and through that, the Kingdom kept its defensive against any raiding parties that decided to attack it during turbulent times- which is to say, always. Especially back during the times when the Barracks was formed," chuckling at how bad the girl's attempt at humor was, Jacob nodded good naturedly at Xecania as he grabbed a book about the Dukedom's history and opened it, all the while Xecania continued telling her story with a smile, "and since these lands were a great wall against one of their enemies, the people at the capital thought that maybe, just maybe, they should invest a small percentage of their income into making this place prosper,"

"And that's when they discovered the Dungeons," Jacob predicted, making Xecania glare at him.

"Oh, so you know the story then?" She said with a playful huff, with closed eyes, the Beast-kin turned her head away exasperatedly, "Then maybe I shouldn't tell you."

"Don't be like that," Jacob replied as he held back a frown while starting to flick through the pages of the book, confirming a few of Xecania's words. Knowing the hows and whats of the city's history certainly had him skimming through the pages easier, "please?" he pleaded.

"Okay- I'll give, but only because I think you're cute," she said eventually.

"Thank you?" Jacob replied, his tone torn between flirty and conveying a call for help, which Xecania purposefully ignored as she read through a page of the history book she held.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Xecania cleared her throat, "anyhow," she said, "with money backing the place up, the barracks now had the financial ability to send out a few people to scout the surrounding areas, and two weeks after they sent them out, all of them came back with good news- they found Dungeons on the plains further north, so when the people at the capital heard of the existences of the Dungeons, they decided to send in one of their knights here to be a ruler, that Knight turned out to be grandpa Valian, and ever since he was stationed here, he started growing the town's economy until it turned into a city and well, things progressed to the way they are today from there."

"And after that," Xecania emphasized, "my father came in and took over the lands when Grandpa sadly passed away, which he hated at first because he was too busy fighting on the front lines at the war during that time, and being the head of a city sounded way more "boring,"-" Xecania giggled as she raised both her hands and air quoted, "- for his taste but he quickly learned that the War ended only 5 years after he left, with the territory of the Anektian Kingdom's territory receding a few kilometres of land from the constant attacks of its enemy,"

"Meanwhile, the Fratenian Kingdom up north was also waging a war against the Primitive Horde that's been slowly growing from raiding their cities and have been fighting a war on both fronts, when they realized that they were losing, they decided to send in an envoy to Anektian so that they can talk about a truce and thus, a neutral border was formed between the Kingdom of Anektian and the Kingdom of Fratenian,"

Xecania tapped the edge of the Lezatian territory with a single finger, her claw making a soft clicking noise with each tap. "And this is the border, making these-" she tapped the Lezatian territory as a whole, "a frontier,"

"So I'm guessing that's one of the few reasons why you're Dad is staying here?" Jacob asked in good humor and Xecania returned it with a mirthful smile.

"Yes." She replied, "It is one of the few reasons why. Living in the Frontier means that he has a high chance of fighting a bunch of invaders one day," From her expression, Jacob sensed a but coming, "but also because of me,"

"You?" He asked.

"Yes." Xecanina nodded once, "I am the reason why he wanted to have a peaceful life because, see, I'm not like him and my mother. And despite my Beastman heritage, I wasn't raised through constant fighting or in the case of my father, a life of perpetual training."

"So you're a pacifist?" Jacob leaned back to the spine of the wooden hair, sighing as his back popped against the soft foam placed there, "honestly, that's kind of amazing," he said, "are your brothers the same as you?"

Xecania gave him a knowing grin, "Brothers." She emphasized, giggling, "My father probably wouldn't want them to be weak, and being a nobleman means that it is mandatory for them to learn how to fight," she replied, "while I, being a girl, would mean that I had to study about various things, including knitting, cooking, and cleaning the house." Xecania followed after him and let her body relax as she pressed her back against the back of the chair, "I was following a maid around once upon a time, learning their trade and all that."

Seeing her nostalgic yet genuine smile, Jacob couldn't help but say, "You sound like the perfect wife."

"Maybe," Xecania replied, her tone suggesting that she felt otherwise. A frown grew on her face but she quickly schooled her expression as she faced Jacob, "But can I tell you the truth?"

"Sure," Jacob answered.

"Despite what my Dad said to me earlier about seducing you and making a powerful child," Jacob followed after Xecania's grimace and their expression turned painful for a split second before things calmed down and the heiress started speaking again, "I didn't want to do that," she said, "and that's why I'm probably telling you this," she added, "I think, that I want to be someone who I can be proud of first before settling down," she finished.

"I... feel the same," Jacob replied as the magical circle of [Sharp-Bolt] imprinted itself on his mind, the System felt like a cheat and though he didn't doubt that he wouldn't need to learn about magic to become a powerful mage, he still did so because magic is simply interesting to him and even if he has a quick way to access it, that did not mean that he will and should, "To be honest, I want to just sit back in a farm, let things be for a bit you know? I have a lot of time on my hands I think."

"I know." Xecania replied, "I understand what you are saying. A lot of it." She sighed, "Honestly, I just want peace, not... all of this stupid responsibility bullshit that I have to deal with on a daily basis."

"I feel the same," Jacob replied, grinning. "So we just want to be left alone right?"

"Yeah." Nodding, Xecania responded, "Here's to hoping that both of us get what we want."

"To a peaceful life," Jacob said, raising a non-existent drink.

"To a peaceful life," Xenacia repeated.

Jacob hummed, "With that being said, there's someone out there that I want to help," he stared out one of the windows that faced the city directly, it looked gloomy out there, "She's uh," he rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled, "pretty responsible already,"

"Good for her," Xecania replied, eyeing him curiously, "I assume she goes by the name of Asya?"

Jacob's smile turned sheepish, "yeah, wanna tell me about her?"

Shaking her head, Xecania replied, "No, as I don't really know Asya personally, but her father's territory? Yes." She tapped the table, "that's been a curious thing lately," she added, "in fact, I wanna learn more about that place as well and why the two people who are meant to take care of it suddenly died a year ago,"

Standing up, Xecania made her way towards the library's counter, she bent down and checked through the books before eventually standing up and holding something thick, "This, is the record of the happenings within that town every time father's scribe goes there alongside the taxman," Xecania said with a serious and concerned tone.

"Taxman?" Jacob replied humorously, attempting to lift the sudden shift in mood. "sounds scary,"

Nodding, Xecania said nothing and sat right next to him.