1 days later...
Jacob, Grace, Helena and the rest of the heroes returned to the city of Paris quietly. Jacob didn't touch on any subjects and didn't want to prolong the conversations he had with grace.
In the meantime, Ryan revealed his ability that left even Jacob surprised.
Ryan's ability is "duplication". This ability allows him to duplicate any item, material and resource that is not a living being. He was probably used by the human realm for the purpose of bringing infinite resources, but fortunately jacob stole it for him.
The archer ellie, also revealed her ability. In short her skill is "Guaranteed Hit". This skill allows her to hit any attack, be it physical or magical. Jacob was not very pleased, but ellie would do a good service in the illegal activities of his empire.
The rest of the heroes didn't reveal their ability, they probably don't trust jacob 100% to the point of revealing their ability, but jacob really doesn't care about them or their ability. Jacob was already satisfied with Ryan and his duplication ability.
When they arrived at the city gate, they were met by guards, but helena helped them and they were able to enter the city safely.
From the main gate, they went to the guild where they were staying, because Jacob asked them to go there. Helena, the sole survivor of the adventurers, went back to her home, which would be the Shelley mansion, to give the report about their expedition.
When they arrived at the guild, Jacob dismissed the heroes and Grace, because he wanted to have some time alone. So the heroes chose a room and grace went to her old room, so she could take a shower and change her clothes.
Jacob watched everyone leave and sat down at the counter and ordered a drink from the clerk.
The clerk who was a man by the way, obeyed and took a bottle of whiskey and poured it into a glass, but as he was doing so, Jacob said:
"Soldiers and heroes sent by the human kingdom, came to where I was to kill me.... Isn't that strange? They have found out my location, being that no one knows my face, let alone my name."
The clerk, was the man who was serving Jacob and John as they talked moments before they left for the expedition. He had overheard the conversation of the two, but jacob had threatened him earlier, but it didn't seem to do much good.
"Haha, it's really strange..." the clerk replied with a few weak laughs. Noticing the clerk's rapid heartbeat, Jacob realized that they were afraid, and this was a clear sign that he was the culprit.
Without wasting any time, Jacob stood up and quickly, with his two hands, he put them around the clerk's neck and broke his neck. The sound of breaking bones echoed through the room, but since the two of them were alone at that moment, no one could hear anything.
The man fell hard to the ground already dead and Jacob sat up again and began to scratch his irritated hair. After a few moments he sighed to clear his mind and then took the glass of whiskey and the whole bottle and stood up.
With the two objects in each hand, Jacob walked over to a secluded table near a window and sat down. Soon after he placed the bottle on the table and began to drink the contents into the glass.
He drank all the alcohol and then immediately filled the glass again and drank. This was repeated for a few minutes until he heard someone coming down the stairs, but relaxed when he realized that it was Grace who was coming down.
As she came down the stairs, Grace looked from one side to the other trying to look for Jacob, but she quickly found him at a secluded table and walked towards him.
She noticed that jacob was drinking and as she walked, Grace said:
"It's not dark yet, you had promised me you wouldn't drink until dark."
"Sigh, I'm already in the darkness, grace." Jacob would give a simple answer and drink without even caring about the angry glances directed at him.
"Sigh, You are so stubborn..." Grace sighed and sat down in front of him and asked:
"Are you okay?"
"I'm okay."
"Hm, right... Are you going to talk to the duke tonight?"
Suddenly, Jacob stopped drinking as he remembered that he had to negotiate with that man. He sighed tiredly for having forgotten that and noticing that, grace spoke:
"If you want, I can negotiate with him instead, so you can get some rest."
"No, that man is very clever and treacherous. He is the type to close the deal or kill and by judging our positions, he can denounce us to the royal court and I need his help, so the deal can't fail."
"I see... by the way, where is the clerk? I thought they worked on this schedule."
Jacob sighed heavily and looking into her eyes, he answered naturally:
"I killed him."
Hearing that statement, Grace was surprised and asked right away:
"Why?"
"Because he talks too much and I hate people who talk too much, especially when they talk about us to other people."
"I see, so he was the one who revealed our location to the royal court of the human kingdom..."
"Yes, but it's my fault, I should have cut his tongue out earlier."
"No, you did the right thing, because you gave him a chance to choose the right decision, but unfortunately greed spoke louder than logic."
"Yes, I think you are right..."
Grace smiled upon hearing that and asked, in trying to change the focus of the subject:
"Do you want me to go with you to help you negotiate with kant?"
"No, I need you to do something for me."
"Oh? What is it?"
"I will leave freki with you, because I want you to take only Ryan and ellie to the Village. Once you get there, help Angela and put Ryan to work, I want the armaments and resources to be doubled."
"Okay, but why are you wasting the other heroes? They can help us."
"Getting to the top is easy, grace, but the hard part is staying at it."
Hearing those words that seemed like a riddle, grace was thoughtful for a few moments, but soon came to the answer and asked:
"Do you think the other heroes will betray us or cause our downfall?"
"Yes, that's why I don't trust them, so let them go their own way. Now I'm going to go meet with the duke, I want to finish everything as quickly as possible." Jacob spoke as he stood up and at the same time, without needing any orders, freki stepped out of grace's shadow and jumped inside grace's shadow.
"Wait, how are you going to get to us? Don't tell me you're going to come walking." Grace asked worriedly and to put an end to those worries, Jacob replied:
"If the negotiation goes well, I will arrive with an army there, so don't worry."
"Oh? Okay... But don't take too long."
Giving only a slight smile in response, jacob walked towards the door of the establishment and left.
"He looks different..." Grace whispered those words After jacob left. She had been noticing strange behavior since the moment they left the forest, but she decided to let those bad thoughts go and said:
"He's probably just tired, so when he gets back to the Village, I'll make sure to put him to sleep for a week! Maybe a little vacation will help him."
Decided, grace got up and began to carry out the orders given to her by jacob...