Austin left Jacob's house with a slightly regretful expression.
He looked at Jacob's stoic face and sincerely said, "Please consider it carefully. I'll be staying here for some days, if you have any questions, you can find me in the lord's manor anytime."
Jacob merely nodded before he closed the door.
Kai couldn't help but utter in an unhappy tone, "How rude! Teacher, why did you give him so much face while he doesn't put you in his eye?"
Austin walked toward the exit and said faintly, "He's worthy of this respect. If he can give up his pride this time, I think you two might meet soon in the examination."
Kai's expression changed as he questioned, "Don't tell me…"
"Yes, I invited him. But he's too sharp for his own good. Let's see what happened. I tried my best in the end." Austin sighed and didn't continue the topic anymore.
Kai also remained silent but deep within his eyes, a killing intent flashed!
Harland had no idea what they were talking about, but he knew he won't be able to present the gifts after he saw Jacob closing the door at Austin.
---
Jacob returned after making sure those three left the vicinity of his house.
He couldn't help but sneered, "That old goat wanted to trick me into taking this black knight academy's test, and then I would be forever tied by the Humane Kingdom if I can't achieve a B rank or pass the test in the rare region.
"I bet that Marshal fellow is at the bottom of this organization and probably exhausted his talent and send back to promote the organization. Who wouldn't want to be like him if they were normal?
"But that Marshal is just a pretty display here in the uncommon region, while he didn't mean shit in the rare region. Heh, trying to play with this old man? You're a life early, humph!"
Jacob was extremely displeased in the end, the slightly good feeling he had toward Austin completely vanished.
He wasn't a fool, and he knew these things very well. An organization that allowed others to take from it, will always take back and much more than the others took from it.
This was like a slave contract. Once you sign, no matter what you do in your life, you can never escape from it. The others will find a way to exploit it and you will fall deeper and deeper into that endless hole until you died.
Jacob was just too familiar with this process.
This Zodiac Worrier Alliance was doing just that. Although they gave the methods to become strong, they took away your freedom.
Furthermore, their way of doing it was quite meticulous because they won't directly enslave anyone to them but instead they let them serve in their homes, which no one felt uncomfortable with or thought of rebelling.
The nations would also be pleased with this setting because they were getting the trained soldiers by the Zodiac Worrier Alliance and they would even promote it with everything they had.
However, Jacob knew if this alliance ever felt threatened by a big enemy, these prideful discarded fools would be the first ones to summon back and become the cannon folds.
At that time, those nations won't have the guts to reject them nor those fools will dare to raise any objection since in their mind they were being rewarded by summoning back.
'Heh, they're using the way of creating longing and then giving back with more longing.' Jacob smiled disdainfully.
Even if he was desperate enough to join such an organization in the future, he would make sure to leave a way out.
Because he didn't want to have such a big enemy on his tail unless he didn't have reason to, and besides, he knew eventually he won't be afraid of these hegemonies.
But as long as he can remain neutral, he doesn't take the path of war and avoid it, if he could.
That was why he asked Austin to leave rudely, since it won't create much hope in the old man's mind, nor would he feel resentful toward Jacob because he knew the pros and cons himself.
Throwing the matter with Austin's back of his head, he started the last distillation process again.
It was already late at night when Jacob was done with brewing and injecting.
He didn't fatigue at all, but he felt the hunger that was increasing with each injection and he was planning to head to the wildness again as soon as he got the titan iron swords.
But the peace didn't last long, as he welcome another visitor the next morning.
This time, there were two, and Jacob was even slightly familiar with one of them.
It was none other than the vice leader of the rain town mercenary agency, Ralf.
With Ralf was another middle-aged man with short pepper salt hair, average height, and tone build.
The man introduces himself with a polite smile, "I'm the Leader of Star Mercenary Agency in Rain Town, Warren!"
However, to both men's surprise, Jacob didn't even invite them in and asked in a vexed tone, "What do you both want? I'm telling you, I won't join anyone, no matter what you offer me."
Warren glanced at Ralf with a questionable gaze, and Ralf shrugged. He meant he had no idea why this fellow was like this.
Although Ralf had a brief encounter with Jacob, he still didn't know his personality. He had already invited Jacob to meet with Warren, but he never appeared and instead vanished for over a month.
It was yesterday they received news of his return and thought he would visit them since they consider it beneath them to visit Jacob with their status.
But when they heard, Austin had paid Jacob's a visit with the man's own mouth before coming to them.
They suddenly felt something was amiss and came here first thing in the morning.
But Jacob was just cold and without any manner, he didn't give them any face at all, despite their introduction.
This made them slightly unhappy, especially Warren, who had a bad temper!