Chapter 43

"No wonder only the one traveling doctor was willing to even properly evaluate me. All of the others, put up an act and even our clan's Patriarch felt that they had done this half heartedly. My son has been showing quite a lot of promise and cultivating very hard so whoever had chosen to do this, not only has ties with the major and noble clans of Boulder Village, but they felt threatened as well by my son so chose to target me in an effort to slow him down!" Jacob's father replied as he continued trying to piece together this puzzle.

"The only noble clan that would feel pressured by us, are the Rock clan who is considered to not only be the weakest of the noble clans within our village, but their foundation has been shaken quite a bit and the pressure of being dethroned and replaced probably drove them to doing such a thing. Now is not the time to point fingers, so all we could do is watch them closely as I recover." he told those within the room before laying back to give himself a mental rest.

Upon exiting the room, Timothy felt a wave of emotions running through him as Jacob and his mother both hugged him. He was still unsure if Jacob had the time to discuss what he and Timothy had spoken about during the tournament, but it seemed that even if Timothy wanted to distance himself and break the contract, it would be impossible for him to get rid of Jacob and his family.

"From the looks of the ingredients on this list, it should not be more than fifty gold pieces even with the quantities associated with them. Jacob, I hate to do this to you, but I will have to take fifty gold pieces from you so that your father can start the healing process. I will personally work hard to repay you, so please listen to me just this once." Jacob's mother asked him. Timothy felt slightly awkward since his mother had done this in front of him, but then he realized something.

Since his mother had openly said this to Jacob, it was equivalent to letting Timothy know that the contract has been accepted and that Jacob would in fact be like a brother to him and his second in command in the future as long as the benefits outweighed the cost. At this moment, it seemed like neither party that was involved cared since Jacob's father could begin earning a wage and taking care of their family once again thanks to Timothy's assistance.

"Understood mother, do not worry, I am sure that I will be able to earn the gold back in the future. I just want my father to be okay again." Jacob said as several more tears ran down his face. It was a bit annoying to Timothy that Jacob seemed like a big cry baby, but then he remembered about his cultivation method and cut him a break.

"As for you Timothy, I expect that you will keep this a secret even from your parents. Even in passing, if someone knew that we were onto the Rock clan, it may lead to danger for not only us, but you as well since you were the one to help put this together." Jacob's mother explained to Timothy before making the two young men exit the house so that she could begin making proper preparations.

"I don't know how to thank you for all of this." Jacob told Timothy as they sat down outside. "My only question now since I am your second in command, is what will be next for us? With the tournament more than likely ended and remaining paused for a while, we can either continue focusing on cultivating, or pursuing something else."

"Jacob, since we are both cultivators and are working very diligently to reach immortality, it will be difficult for what I have planned. Before I explain my plans to you for our future, I need you to answer some questions. The first being, if there is anyone that you fully trust with your life, who may lack in cultivation, but who seems like they would make a good manager?" Timothy asked Jacob right away because if the two mainly focused on cultivating, they needed someone to run the actual business!

"There is someone I have in mind, her name is Erika and she is similar to you because she comes from a commoner background. However, her parents run a bookshop in our village and she has helped them with many of the daily tasks since she was even younger. Unfortunately, she is already fifteen years old so I am unsure how she would feel about joining two kids like us." Jacob replied after pondering over the question for a minute or so.

"Just leave the logistics of bringing her aboard to me. The second question is a rather long one. I need to know more about the different clans within Boulder Village, including their most prominent members and those who spend time with the Rock clan." Timothy told Jacob before continuing. "You do not need to do this right away, just try to think over these next few days."

"Now, onto the matter of what my plans now are. I do not feel like Boulder Village can be considered to be safe for either of us or our families. Between the demon beasts attacking two times in a short amount of time along with the fact that there is a strong possibility that the Rock clan is trying to suppress your own clan through very sneaky and evil type of tactics."

"You can either come with me or stay within Boulder Village to await my instructions, but I intend on making a visit to Mist City and putting my paperwork in with the official Bark Kingdom's embassy building located there so that the business I am trying to start will be an official one. The paperwork and cost is only five hundred gold pieces, but having our business as an official one will give us interesting perks."