182 Jayde's Secret Plan

That left only the second option, which was to level the playing field. Somehow Jayde had to figure out a way to upgrade stone and copper ranked citizens of the Lower Realm. It was only by stone and copper ranked citizens becoming bronze ranked mages would they truly be free. For any other mage in Doha, this would be an impossible idea.

But Jayde wasn't from this world. Thankfully she came from a universe where medicine had advanced to such a degree that humans could physically improve their bodies, either through genetic manipulation or advanced medical procedures. From Jayde's medical studies at Damonia, she had already realized just how underdeveloped the medicine in Doha was.

While they had miracle magical pills and potions that any doctor in the Federation would sell their souls for, they had little understanding of how the magic pills and potions worked. Just that it did was their go-to answer when questioned. They didn't even know what the pills or potions did to their bodies. Oh, they knew if they took a bone-mending pill—broken bones would heal, but if you asked them how the bones healed, they just gave you a blank look.

This was also the reason why there was so little advancement in pills and potions, as the mages who 'researched' this field carried out cruel human experimentations on their drug slaves. Testing one potion after the other, not truly understanding what they were doing. Only by chance would they stumble upon a new recipe. Jayde didn't even want to think about how many people had lost their lives over the ages to their inhuman experiments.

And as to the stone and copper ranked mages. Jayde suspected that they had been deliberately created. Not initially, from what she had read, there use to be only a small number of stone and copper ranked mages in the Lower Realm. From the history books and what Isha had told Jayde centuries ago, bronze and silver ranked mages outnumbered the stone and copper ranked mages—and not by a small number either but by the hundreds of thousands.

In those days it had been rare for a stone or copper ranked child to be born. But over the centuries their numbers had grown exponentially. It was during this period that it became standard practice for higher ranked mages not to interbreed with lower ranked mages. Initially, it was considered socially unacceptable. But once the nobles and royal families noticed that more stone and copper mages were being born, it wasn't long before they started to exploit these weaker citizens.

And before long these families implemented their 'breeding' programs forcing stone class mages to only mate with other stone class mages, and the same for copper ranked mages. Within a couple of centuries, a whole new labor and slave class has been breed for these for nobles to exploit.

It was once Jayde realized this that she came up with her plan. Either she had to find a way to upgrade these mages physically. Unfortunately, her medical skills were rudimentary, well compared to the Federation doctors, she was a novice, but compared to the healers on Doha she was a bloody genius.

And if she couldn't figure out a way, then she needed to start her own 'breeding' plan. The one thing she had found out, was that it was rare for a child to take after the weaker parent. This knowledge was deeply hidden from the general population, Baebio Senna had led it slip during one of their private discussions.

When Sor Senna had realized his mistake, he had sworn Jayde to secrecy. That is when Jayde found out that it was illegal to research or even talk about the interbreeding in between ranks. The general belief circulated was that if a higher ranked mage had a child with a lower ranked mage, they had a higher chance of their child being born taking after the weaker parent.

This belief was so widely spread that everyone believed it, and no one questioned it. The ironic thing was that the mages who had spread this rumor had shot themselves in the foot. By spreading this belief, silver ranked mages refused to marry and have children with bronze ranked mages, as they believed that their children would end up being bronze ranked mages, and this had led to the current situation of there being only a few silver ranked mages being born each year. And with most silver ranked mages leaving the Lower Realm for the Mid Realm as soon as they could, this had only exacerbated the situation as there were now only a hundred or so silver ranked mages left in the Lower Realm.

Of course, Jayde wasn't about to reveal this information to anyone. Not yet anyway, the time wasn't right. But Jayde knew that she wouldn't be staying in the Lower Realm, soon she would have to leave for the Mid Realm, and it would be highly irresponsible of her to initiate the changes she wanted to make and then just up and leave. Leaving the Lower Realm in turmoil.

This was the main reason why Jayde's plan required her to find suitable partners to carry on her schemes when she left. It was only now with Raven, Ash, Nova, Maianna and Elder Terrakeep's blood oath that Jayde felt comfortable starting her plan.

Charliye Andire looked on curiously as Jayde activate the privacy ward. He was confused about why Jayde felt the need to raise the privacy ward at all. What could she possibly have to say that required her taking such a precaution, he wondered.

Once the ward activated Jayde then laid out her plan about freeing the slaves she and Maianna were going to buy, she also informed Charliye that not only would these slaves be free, but they would be treated equally in Shaihshire and paid just like any other employee.

Charliye could only stare at Jayde in shock as she revealed her plans. Well at least I now understand why she wanted the privacy ward, he thought slightly hysterically, as he sat there mute, trying to digest the information Jayde had just dumped on him.

Charliye found it ironic that he had been thinking earlier about the plight of stone class citizens in the Lower Realm. Guess this what they mean by being careful what you wish for as the gods may grant it, he thought grimly.

While Charliye was sympathetic to the plight of stone and copper rank people in the Lower Realm, he also realized that the danger of a conflict arising between the noble and royal families and the people of Shaihshire was great. The last thing Charliye wanted was for his sons to be placed in the middle of the upcoming battle, but according to his blood oath, he couldn't reveal Jayde's plans to them.

"Lady Jayde... I mean Clan Leader," Charliye said, quickly correcting his way of addressing Jayde. "Once the nobles and royal families find out you are freeing your slaves, they will retaliate—they will wipe Shaihshire off the face of Doha."

"Master Andire, I am well aware of the risks," Jayde said. "This is one of the reasons why I am insisting on anyone staying in Shaihshire taking the blood oath.

"But—"

"Also," Jayde said, holding up her hand to stop Charliye objections. "Shaihshire will no longer be considered a village but the Centauri Family Estate. This will allow us to limit any visitors to the town. This is also the main reason why you must have our defensive walls built as soon as possible."

Charliye calmed down slightly at Jayde explanation. Jayde's solution was quite elegant, by stating that Shaihshire and the area around the town was the Centauri clan estate, they would be able to limit visitors to the city. This would limit the number of strangers visiting the city and would lower the risk of exposure, but it would not eliminate the threat.

When Charliye brought up this Jayde, Elder Terrakeep and Charliye discussed further ways to reduce the risk of exposure.

"Clan Leader," Elder Terrakeep said. "How about setting up a designated area for visitors?"

Jayde pondered over Elder Terrakeep's suggestion. Personally, Jayde would prefer to prevent any strangers or visitors from entering Shaihshire, but she knew this would be unrealistic, and would most likely raise the suspicions of the noble and royal family, something she was desperate to avoid.

"Hmm, I like your suggestion," Jayde said thoughtfully. "We can build a couple of courtyards for guests, and if we only allow bronze rank mages to serve as servants, this will reduce the risk of outsiders finding out about our free slaves."

Charliye bobbed his head. "But won't those mages be suspicious about having bronze ranked servants?" he asked.

Jayde smiled faintly. "Not at all, if anything, they will think we are kissing up to them."

Charliye looked at Jayde, confused. His eyebrows were furrowed deeply as he tried to understand what Jayde meant.

Seeing his look of confusion, Jayde chuckled softly. "How many clans would allow their bronze rank members to serve their guests?" she asked.

"None, "Jayde said, answering her own question. "But by having our 'high' ranking clan members serve those guests, they will think that we value them highly."

"Ah," Charliye exclaimed excitedly, as his expression cleared.

The three discussed where to set up their guest quarters, after some deliberation, it was decided to use a small area on the north side of the village. Initially, the area was meant to be used to build a small palace for the late emperor, but the town was abandoned before construction could be started, but a few gardens had already been created.

The area was secluded, and it would be easy to build high-security walls around the new courtyards, Jayde figured that with the beautiful, immaculate gardens, high-security walls, and elegant courtyards, any merchants or buyers visiting Shaihshire would be satisfied with their guest accommodation.

Jayde wasn't too worried about these guest exploring on their own, as every clan estate had restricted areas, so the mages of the Lower Realm knew not to go off on their own. Jayde also intended to have guards allocated to any guest. Of course, guests would be informed that these guards were there to ensure their personal safety. This would serve to only underline to their guest how important they were to Shaihshire, but these 'bodyguards' would serve a higher purpose, and that was of ensuring that these guests were discreetly lead away from any sensitive areas.

Charliye also suggested that the residents of Shaihshire were outfitted in clan tunics, it was a common practice the in the Lower Realm for all servants and slaves in a clan to wear clothes that designated their clan. With all the villagers dressed as members of the Centauri clan, it would make it easier for any stranger being spotted. Jayde agreed with Charliye suggestion. She would bring this up with Maianna and have her and her seamstress make clothing for the villagers who were staying.

Jayde made a mental note to design proper sets of clothing for the villagers, unlike other clans, her people would be clothed in suitable attire, made out of appropriate material. At the same time, Jayde made a mental note to inform Maianna to limit the number of visitors to Shaihshire. She would prefer to meet with merchants and buyers outside of the village.

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