179 Finding a Stonemason

After tea, Jayde accompanied Elder Terrakeep to his study to view the map of Shaihshire. Jayde was pleasantly surprised at how well the village was laid out; one could see a lot of thought had gone into the initial design of the town.

The biggest issue that Shaihshire faced was the lack of defenses, by the time it came to building the defenses of the village, the town had already been abandoned. Since Jayde figured she still had time before anyone found out about her intentions, she ordered Elder Terrakeep to repair some of the houses and warehouses first, then to build new walls. Jayde also discussed building defense towers along the shoreline to protect the harbor from pirates.

After their discussion, Elder Terrakeep handed Jayde a scroll containing all the villager's names, with their ages, skills, and occupations. Scanning the scroll, Jayde was pleased to note that Shaihshire had a blacksmith as well.

"Elder Terrakeep," Jayde said thoughtfully. "What are the chances of Charliye Andire and Braedyn Steelstream staying on in Shaihshire?"

Elder Terrakeep cleared his throat. "Actually," he said while rubbing his chin with his hand. "Charliye the stonemason, he will most likely take the blood oath—that man is set in his ways, there is no way he would want to up and leave, while Braedyn... he's a strange fellow. He's only interested in his metal ores and potting around in his smithy, he's been here for over twenty years, but hardly interacts with the town folk."

Jayde stood quietly. "Well, let's go and see Charliye Andire first then," she said with a small smile. "Then afterward we can chat to Braedyn Steelstream."

Elder Terrakeep nodded, before standing up and walking out of his study, Jayde followed him. She was looking forward to meeting both of the men. She was determined to get the stonemason to stay on in Shaihshire, as she desperately needed him for her future plans.

***

Charliye Andire and his small family did not live far from Elder Terrakeep's house, and similar to Elder Terrakeep's home, Charliye Andire's cottage was well tended too, with a small stone wall surrounding it. Elder Terrakeep unlatched the little wooden gate and led Jayde to the front door.

A couple of seconds after he knocked on the front door, the door was opened by an attractive middle-aged woman.

"Elder Terrakeep. What a surprise," the woman said.

"Hello Doren, sorry for the intrusion. Is your husband home?"

"You are in luck, Charliye just arrived home a short while ago. Please come in," Doren said, as she looked curiously at Jayde standing next to Elder Terrakeep.

"Ah pardon my rudeness, Doren this is Lady Jayde, one of the new owners of Shaihshire, Lady Maianna's partner," Elder Terrakeep said, before turning to Jayde. "Jayde, this is Doren Andire, Charliye's wife."

Doren's dove grey eyes widen as she looked at Jayde. Like all the town's folk, she knew that Maianna had bought the whole village. The people in the village had spoken of nothing else but Lady Maianna's acquisition of the town during the past couple of weeks. There had been much debate about the new owners of Shaihshire, most of the villagers were in two minds, whether this was a good thing or not. What Doren hadn't been expecting was that Maianna's partner would be so young.

"Lady Jayde, welcome to our home," Dren said bowing respectively, before indicating for Elder Terrakeep and Jayde to enter her home. Jayde smiled slightly, as she followed Elder Terrakeep into the house. Doren quickly led Jayde and Elder Terrakeep to a small study.

Knocking on the door to the study, Doren opened the door while saying. "Dear, Elder Terrakeep and Lady Jayde are here to see you."

At his wife words, Charliye Andire swiftly stood up and walked over to Jayde and Elder Terrakeep. Jayde examined the middle-aged man as he approached. While his dark brown hair was laced with a few strands of grey, his solidly built frame spoke of a man who was physically active and fit. His scar-riddled hands told a story of someone who did manual labor most of his life.

Charliye solemn pale green eyes scrutinized the young woman standing by Elder Terrakeep. So this is one of the new owners everyone has been talking about, he thought, as Elder Terrakeep introduce Jayde.

While Doren hurried away to fetch refreshments for their guests, Elder Terrakeep and Charliye exchanged small talk. Doren returned shortly carrying a tray with tea and dainty cakes, while she was busy serving the tea, Jayde had to listen to Reiko envious comments about the delicious cakes being served. Reiko wailed when Jayde offered a small cake to Takara.

[Oh for gods' sake Reiko, I just gave you and Yinxin a dozen cakes from the bakery yesterday,] Jayde grumbled.

Every Sixday the bakery delivered her standing order of cakes which Jayde ported to Reiko and Yinxin in her dimensional space. Jayde had grown accustomed to the strange looks that Lucia sent her way when every Restday she returned to find all those cakes had been 'eaten'. She had resigned herself to Lucia, thinking that she was a glutton.

[Yes...but Takara got his share too, now he gets more than me,] Reiko whined.

[For the love off...] Jayde said exasperated by Reiko's grumbling. [Fine, I promise I will make you some barbecue tonight.]

Jayde cursed silently to herself, how she wished that Reiko had never discovered cakes and sweets. If she could redo the mission to Telia, she would make sure that Reiko had never tasted Mrs. Ryunzo's cakes, her life had not been peaceful ever since. Jayde was also quite sure that Kameko, Reiko's mother, wouldn't have agreed with how spoilt Reiko had become, nor did she think Kameko would approve of young Reiko's awful sweet tooth.

[Really? Then that fine, but you have to give me more meat than Takara since he got more cake,] Reiko demanded.

Jayde couldn't help rolling her eyes at Reiko's demand. The greedy Shadowbeast always had double the amount of everyone's barbecue anyway; now the little pig wanted even more.

[Deal,] Jayde said, quickly agreeing with Reiko before the Shadowbeast tried to extort more from her. Knowing Reiko, she wouldn't be surprised if he tried to get her to throw in some desserts as well, it was best to shut down their bargaining before he thought about it.

I need to curtail Reiko's sugar intake, Jayde thought for the umpteenth time. Jayde had been quietly sipping her tea, while she conversed mentally with Reiko. During that time Charliye had been eyeing her curiously, wondering why Elder Terrakeep had bought the young woman over to his house.

Once Doren had finished serving them, she silently left the study, closing the door softly behind her. Once the door was closed, Charliye couldn't help letting his curiosity get the better of him. He asked Elder Terrakeep for the reason of his visit.

"Ah, Master Andire, Lady Jayde requested to meet with you," Elder Terrakeep answered.

"Really?" Charliye asked with surprise. "Lady Jayde, what can I do for you?"

Jayde paused, before leaning over and placing her teacup down. "Master Andire, I have a proposition for you."

Jayde went on to explain her plans for Shaihshire. She did not elaborate about her intentions to free the slaves that she and Maianna would be purchasing, that would only be revealed to villagers who took the blood oath, but she did inform Charliye about her demand for all villagers who would be staying on in Shaihshire to join the Centauri clan and take the blood oath.

"So you have a choice. You can join the Centauri clan and take the blood oath, or you can leave. If you decide to leave, you will be given a hundred gold pieces to resettle your family, or you can stay in Shaihshire. But even if you decide to leave I do hope that you will stay for a couple of weeks to repair the buildings needed, of course, I will pay you a monthly wage of five gold pieces," Jayde said.

Charliye eyebrow's disappeared into his hairline at Jayde's generous offer. Any other noble would simply have kicked his family out of the village, without a single gold piece, so Jayde's offer of a hundred gold pieces to resettle was unheard of. Even her offer of five gold pieces per month was overly generous—it was more than double what he would earn in any of the main cities in the Lower Realm.

"That is exceedingly generous of you, Lady Jayde," Charliye said cautiously. Jayde's generous offer unsettled him. If there was one thing that Charliye had learned, nobles couldn't be trusted, so he was wary of why Jayde was so reasonable.

Charliye couldn't help being somewhat suspicious about the terms offered by Jayde. Jayde wasn't stupid, while she was the first to admit her EQ was low, she could immediately see that Charliye was skeptical about her offer.

"The Centauri has always been a clan that has upheld the belief that all mages, regardless of their standing, must be treated fairly and equally," Jayde said glibly. "I am only following the examples left by my parents and elders."

Takara who was busy nibbling on a piece of cake, choked upon hearing Jayde suave reply. Shit, he thought, isn't this woman worried lightning would strike her lying like this. Even Reiko in Jayde's dimensional space couldn't help rolling his eyes at Jayde blatant fabrications.

Thankfully Charliye and Elder Terrakeep didn't know what Jayde's two beasts were thinking; both were pleasantly surprised that Jayde had been raised in such a decent clan, and more importantly that she was upholding her upbringing. Most young nobles were egotistic and full of themselves.

She's such an upstanding young woman, Elder Terrakeep thought, as he lay down his misgiving about the blood oath he had taken earlier. He hadn't wanted to blood swear himself to Jayde, but when his daughter had taken the oath, he had felt obligated to take the oath. He only had his daughter, and grandson left, and he could not bear to be separated from them.

"Elder Terrakeep, have you taken this blood oath?" Charliye asked.

"Naturally," Elder Terrakeep answered. "Even Taera and Camryn have blood sworn themselves to Lady Jayde."

Charliye's fingers touched his mouth as an incredulous look flashed through his eyes at Elder Terrakeep's statement. Elder Terrakeep had always struck Charliye as an extremely conservative man; blood swearing was such a life-altering decision, that Charliye was shocked that Elder Terrakeep had actually blood sworn himself to Jayde, and not just him but had allowed his daughter and grandson as well.

Charliye didn't doubt that Elder Terrakeep had made the decision to blood swear himself; one thing that was commonly known is that you could not force a mage to make a blood oath. It had to be voluntary, that was the main reason why noble and royal clans made their young blood swear their loyalty, as youngsters were easily manipulated.

Mages had learned during the ages that having young children blood swear was the easiest way around the taboo of forcing a blood oath, too many mages had lost their lives to the rebound punishment they suffered when forcing another mage to blood swear. With Jayde and Elder Terrakeep sitting calmly in front of him, without any apparent injuries, was all the evidence that Charliye needed to know that Elder Terrakeep had made the oath out of his own free will.

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