New Servants

That night, Raiden sneaked into her bedroom in the dead of night and crawled into bed with her. The both of them were dead tired so when Raiden scooped her on to lay on top of him, she woke up for a second to realize who it was before falling back asleep, while Raiden fell asleep the moment she snuggled into his body, wrapping her legs around his. They slept until the early birds sang their song and Jewels threatened to kill the singing birds by burning them to death. Raiden chuckles out loud, even though he was still half asleep.

"So I hear you already have someone who wants to court you." Raiden said with his gruff morning voice.

"Yeah, well when I showed him your ring, he started begging for forgiveness and considering he just sold his home to us, I was in a giving mood and let him keep his life." Jewels said with her eyes still closed.

"Well he sure is lucky that I wasn't there. I would have taken his head the moment he even thought about courting you." Raiden told her.

"I know, I'm pretty sure Roku was just waiting for me to say something about heads and he would have done it with a smile on his face."

"Roku cares about you." Raiden told her. "I see how protective he is about you. He sees you like his little sister."

"I know, that's why he can't say no to me no matter how hard he tires." Jewels laughs out loud.

"You're going to get him in such trouble."

"I know, I'm betting on it."

Raiden chuckles as he forces himself to get up from the bed. He scoops her out of bed and they get ready for the long day ahead of them. Raiden had more court duties to attend to and Jewels and Uncle Jude needed to see an architect about building the guardhouse and her workroom while hiring a construction business to start laying the foundation to start building. Jewels asked Raiden for his opinion and recommendations and he gave her a few options to look into. Jewels was also planning to go visit her Master to say hello and finally meet Nobu and catch up with Fudo.

After spending time with Jewels and her family at breakfast Raiden left back to the palace and everyone separated to go do what they needed to do for the day. Pop pop was in charge of organizing the library, Uncle Jude and Jewels were going to meet an architect and hire a construction company. Thomas and Zeze were in charged of going to do the first round of interviews being held today while Zeze had already made a list of food and items the house needed and gave the list to Chieko and Gina to go shopping and set up a fresh food delivery twice a week to the Estate. Leiko was in charged of helping Pop pop clean the room and was instructed not touch the books. Pop pop was territorial about his books and didn't like anyone he didn't know touching them.

With their plans for the day decided, they all broke apart after breakfast and went their own ways. It was in the late afternoon that Uncle Jude and Jewels came back to the Estate to find that everyone had finished their tasks. Uncle Jude and Jewels found a architect and completed plans and designs for both buildings.  They settled on a construction company and its workers were hired.  They made plans to break ground starting the next day. Chieko and Gina completed their tasks and started to clean the dining room and sitting room with their free time. Thomas and Zeze had whittled the applicants down to 30 people and brought them over for the second interview.

They interviewed the five girls present and settled on two orphaned sisters Claire and Teresa. With their upbeat and positive demeanor, it helped won them the position. But mostly, it was because they were orphans with no connections. They have the same rich red hair and blue green eyes with level 7 cultivation. They looked too thin, but Jewels knew they would work hard for they had very little. Both girls cried when they were picked and hugged each other and went to go stand to the side of the room. Out of the 10 people who applied to be butlers, Uncle Jude decided on Liam, a tall and muscular man who looked more of a lumberjack than a butler, but his presence and demeanor were reserved and controlled. Liam was a high level 9 cultivator and his dark hair had flecks of silver, which told of his age, while his secretive eyes held past horrors that he tried hard to over come. Jacob was a young man, no more than 19 years old and a level 8 cultivator, he had a jovial presence and held a smile on his face at all times. He was quick to laugh, when he was happy, nervous, or sad he laughed. He had blonde hair and brown eyes and a crooked smile that was inviting that it could reel in any girl he wanted. The last man Uncle Jude decided on was Aidan, he was an ordinary man, of medium height with brown hair and brown eyes. He was plain in his features and could be blended into any background and no one would notice. Everyone saw that he was a level 8 cultivator, but with he help of Infinite Galaxy, Jewels was able to see through the mirage and tell that he was a high level 9. This alarmed Jewels greatly.

As for the six courtyard attendants, Uncle Jude and Jewels settled on, Ethan, Blake Chad, Dane, Eve and Jade. The six of them were brothers and sisters and were also orphans from the same orphanage that Claire and Teresa came from. All of them where level 7 cultivators and had the same light brown hair and green eyes. The ages ranged from age 16 to 28 and the oldest, Ethan, has been trying to keep the family together. They have been struggling for the past 10 years and found the opportunity to work for the Brooks Estate a great honor.

After the rest left, Jewels had the new workers up in a line along side the new maids that were given to her from Raiden.

"Hold out your hand," Jewels commanded and waited until each and every one hand one hand out in front of them. Jewels then proceeds to place a single yellow orange pill into their hands. "This pill is called Betrayal's Death. What is Betrayal's Death you may be asking yourself. Well I'll tell you. Here on the Brooks Estate, we like our privacy. We like to know, that the people who are working for us are loyal to us and only us. Since I don't know you, I don't trust you. I can guarantee that we will never do anything to disturb the current reigning monarch. For I am the Princess Consort and will be your future Queen, so why should we do anything to hurt his highness, Prince Raiden or his parents? But what we do demand is your silence, your loyalty, and hard work. What you see or hear from here on Brooks Estate, you can talk about it to each other, but no one outside Brooks Estate is allowed to know the comings and goings of the Brooks family and our business. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Everyone answered.

"That is why we pay you three times as much as other houses, because we want a guarantee that you will work hard for us and be loyal to us only. The Betrayal's Death is a pill that will give me a peace of mind, knowing that once you swallow the pill, it will activate in your body waiting to kill you if you are disloyal. The moment you go and speak about this household to another person or write a message informing about this household, the first thing that will happen is that it'll completely stop your talking. It'll take your voice away first and your throat will close up squeezing the air out of you as you suffocate. The poison will react quickly and head towards your brain, killing it of any thoughts, making you nothing but trash. Then at the same time, it'll attack your dantians, slowly crushing you from the inside out. You would die a painful death and there is no cure or antidote. Chose now what you want to do. Eat the pill, work and be loyal to the Brooks household or not eat the pill and you are free to leave."

Everyone obediently ate the pill except Liam and Aiden. Liam hesitated thinking about his options, before swallowing the pill, while Aiden looked at the pill for a long time before he ate it as well.

"Good." Jewels told them. "Thomas who you've met is our head butler, and Zeze is our head maid, should you have any questions or concerns they can answer it. Their word is as good as our words and their words are gold to you do you understand?"

"Yes, Lady Jewels." They all said.

"Now Aiden, I would like to know why you are wearing a talisman blocking your energy cultivation." Jewels asked as he walked in front of him.

Aiden's eyes bulged out in surprise before he could collect himself and rearrange his features to look straight ahead.

"It is for protection." He states.

"As our new servants, your business is now our business. We do not hold secrets in this household. We share our troubles and figure out the best solution together. Who are you hiding from and why."

Aiden looked down then looked at Jewels for a long time before he answered. "I am the bastard child of a noble house, the house of Ando. The legitimate sons and daughters do not like me for I am a stain on the noble house. I don't want any trouble, I really don't, but every time they see me, they cause me trouble with my place of employment causing me to lose my job. This has been happening since I was 16 years old."

"I shall take care of this matter." Jewels said. "As the new servants of the Brooks Estate, we share our burdens to lighten the load. Should you ever find yourself in a situation that you need help, or should you have an issue now, come seek me or Master Jude and we will find a way to solve the problem. Should you see your fellow worker needing help, as a household, we will stand tall together and help each other out, do you understand?"

Most of the workers held their tears back, moved by her words, they answered Jewels

"Yes, Lady Jewels."

"But also know this, once you betray this household, no matter what your situation is, you are dead to me. Understand?"

"Yes, Lady Jewels."

"Good," Jewels said as she stepped back. "Now, there are some things you should know about me. I have three animals to call. A lion, named Nemean, a phoenix, named Fenghuang and a raptor, named Roc." As Jewels said their names, they came out one by one in their animal form. Nemean roared ferociously in their faces causing them to step back several steps. When Fenghuang came out, she breathed a small breath of phoenix flame at the servants scaring them even more as they tried to hide behind each other. When Roc came out, his huge body couldn't even stand up due to the ceiling, so he cried out at them as he perched on his talons, his cry deafen the whole room, causing everyone's ear to ring loudly.

"Change." Jewels orders them. And as fast as they came out, they changed into their human forms. "These are my animals to call, they can also turn themselves into their human forms, should you see them, treat them with respect. Should they ask you of something, please oblige them and complete the task. Any questions?"

A small voice from Claire squeaked her question, "What if they eat us?"

"Then I suggest you not do anything to offend them." Jewels told them.

The group of servants nods their head accordingly and Jewels orders Zeze and Thomas to bring them to their assigned quarters.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Uncle Jude asked when they all left.

"They would see Nemean, Fenghuang and Roc walking around the estate, should we get attacked and they see them change into an animal, it would cause them a heart attack. Its better they know now rather than later. Besides, I believe one of them will die within the next week." Jewels told Uncle Jude.

Jewels left the Brooks Estate and went to go visit her Master. His new house was near Jewels so it was a short carriage ride for her. In the carriage, road all her animals in their human forms and Roku. The whole time to Master Doku's house, Roku kept asking Nemean, Fenghuang and Roc questions. The three animals tried to oblige him, but Nemean having no patience, quickly went back into Infinite Galaxy. While Fenghuang and Roc waited until they arrived in front of Master Doku's residence. Before the door can open, Fenghuang and Roc went in to the grey space, leaving Roku in mid-sentence.

When the doors of the quiet residence opened, she was greeted by Fudo, which she greeted warmly and let Roku and Fudo have a moment to themselves. As Jewels looked around the small courtyard, her Master came out of the house with a middle aged man with light brown hair and a stout stature. The man had a perpetual frown on his face and hawk like eyes that shifted back and forth between Jewels and Roku.

Jewels walks up to Master Roku and gives him her greetings.

"Ah, my last disciple, you have finally arrived. I was wondering why it took you so long to come to Redbane, but it seems it was because of your engagement to the Crown Prince."

"Yes, Master, this young one, has neglected you and senor disciples for too long and has lost it's roots. Please accept this gift of appeasement."

Roku steps forward with a box wrapped in green silk. Master Doku accepts the box and lets the stout man hold the box while Master Doku unties the silk and opens the box. Inside the box, is a stalk of 1000 year old ginseng. And for the first time since Jewels became his disciple, Master Doku had no witty comment to say to her. His face froze as he stared down at the ginseng root in awe. He looked at Jewels and looked back at the ginseng.

"This Master is blessed to have taken you as his last disciple." Master Doku said after a long time. "This Master will cherish this gift."

"This disciple is honored to be Master Doku's last disciple and hopes that Master Doku has forgiven this young one."

"Of course, of course!" Master Doku said laughing. He closes the box and introduces the stout man next to him. "Aku Kimiko, this is Nobu. Nobu, this is Aku Kimiko."

Jewels greets her senior disciple with respects and hands him a gift wrapped in blue silk and hands Fudo a box wrapped in red silk.

"This youngest disciple has came upon a treasure and wishes to share this treasure with senior disciples as well in hopes that senior disciples will look over this young one with care as this young one is still learning."

When both boxes were opened, they also saw that in the box was the 1000 year old ginseng, neatly laid out on dried moss. Their words also could not be found as they looked at the gift their youngest disciple has given them.

"Youngest disciple's heart is too good and giving to gift Master and senior disciples these treasures. Let us move inside and youngest disciple should tell us of her success and journey. " Nobu said recovering first.

As everyone moved inside, Roku stood outside the room as guard. Once inside the room, Nobu, casted a sound barrier as Fudo brewed tea for everyone. The four of them sat as they waited for the tea to boil, the three of them still looking at the ginseng in their hands. Jewels lets them have their moment of happiness, when the water started boiling Fudo served tea.

Blowing the tea, it was then Jewels told them of her success in the Madewell Tournament and her journey to finding the ginseng in Sky Ship. She told them the condensed version that she told the Rowen's Clan. She did not want to let them know how powerful she has become and did not want them to know about the possibility of her making the Infinite Healing Potion.

"Ah, youngest disciple is not only smart and giving, she is also lucky. " Nobu said.

Jewels spent dinner with her Master and senior disciples and left right afterwards. When she entered the Brooks Estate, she went straight to her room and fell asleep. Sometime during the night she felt Raiden crawl into bed with her.

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The next day Raiden also spent his breakfast time with Jewels and her family, she introduced her new servants to Raiden and he greeted them warmly. The girls blushed as the guys stood up straighter. Raiden made a small speech about them working hard to ensure the Brooks care in Redbane and thanked them for their services. Jewels walked Raiden to his carriage while holding hands and he kissed her deeply before he got on.

"See you tonight." Raiden said.

"Tongiht." Jewels repeated.

When Jewels turned around, she stopped in her tracks because all the new servants were crowding by the door watching Jewels and Raiden's interactions with awe.

"Show's over, guys, back to work." Jewels told them and they quickly left as they came.

The construction workers come by with the design from the architect, lumber was brought in and the foundation was laid down for both the guardhouse and Jewel's workroom. The new servants were put to work as well, helping where they can while, all the women servants were in the kitchen cooking up a meal to feed everyone. Uncle Jude was outside helping and observing as well while Jewels was in the kitchen trying to help, but Zeze kept interfering, finally kicking her out with the excuse of serving cold water to the workers and servants.

So instead, Jewels went outside to serve water to the workers and thank them for all their hard work. When she finished, she tried to walk back into the kitchen, when she found the kitchen door had been bard and Zeze yelling through the door for her to go find something else to do.

With no other options, Jewels goes into her room and lays down with the intentions of going through her library in her grey space and she also wanted to tend to her garden.

In the grey space, she first tended to her herb garden with care. When the whole field was weed free, she swam in the lake and then made her way towards the library. Setting a time limit for two hours, she had Nemean come get her so she could go back when the time was up. Because she did not organize the books according to genre when she first place it into her grey space, every time she finished a book she would categorize afterwards. After the two hour period was up, she had finished 30 books. 15 of them which she thought Pop pop would like, so she brought the 15 books with her as she left the grey space.

When she opened her eyes, there was a knocking on her door and the books beside her.

"Miss Jewels, dinner is ready. Do you need assistance of any kind." Leiko asked through the locked door.

"No thank you, I shall be down soon." Jewels told her. Jewels quickly found some hemp cloth and wrapped the 15 books up so she could bring them with her and give them to Pop pop. When she check the library, he was not there and when she checked his room, it was empty. She made her way down stairs carrying the books and found her Uncle and Pop pop sitting in the dining room already waiting for her.

"Pop pop, I'm about to give you a gift and when I do, you have to promise me not to open a single one of them until after dinner." Jewel told him.

Pop pop nodded his head yes agreeing with her. So she gave her the bundle in her hand. Pop pop opens the bundle quickly and starts to get excited. They were books that he has never seen before. Books that looked like it was barely opened. They looked old yet they were impeccably well kept. He was about to open a book when Uncle Jude interfered.

"Father, you promised Jewels you wouldn't open them until the end of dinner."

Pop pop looked dejected, but wrapped them up again in the hemp cloth and set the books aside. He then got up and kissed his granddaughter on her cheek as a thank you.

After dinner, they spent time together in the sitting room. Pop pop totally ignoring everyone as he looks through the books. Once he finished with one book he would read it over and over, to make sure he didn't miss anything. While Uncle Jude filled Jewels in the progress of the home.

"With all the hands we hired and all the extra hands right now, we can really build the guardhouse within a month. " Uncle Jude said excitedly.

"I know you said to leave the hiring of the guards to you, but I'm just curious, are they all your past soldiers that worked for you?"

Uncle Jude looks at Jewels then sighs heavily before he tells her the truth.

"Yes, the 40 guards that are moving in are all soldiers that worked for me. They are all former special forces. "

"Is there a mission that you did not get to finish, is that why you want our guards to be former special forces? Or is it a revenge kind of a situation that requires your former special forces soldiers to come here?"

Uncle Judes froze with his teacup half way towards his mouth. He did not expect Jewels to guess the reason so spot on that it scared him. He had to remind himself that she is no longer the scared little girl that cried every time she was bullied. She has now grown into a young lady that is strong enough to have three animals to call, she became top 15 in the Madewell tournament and she survived the 5 days in Sky Ship. She was the one who took out the poison out from his body and gave him an exercise routine to follow to help build his body back up. And she is now the Princess Consort of Redbane, the future Queen of Rebane.

"The latter." Uncle Jude said as he brought the cup to his lips.

"If you need my help of any kind, please do let me know." Jewels told him. "I know you would rather keep me and Pop pop out of it, but if its anything I can do, no matter how small, please don't hesitate to tell me."

"I'll keep that in mind." Uncle Jude told her. "How's Pop pop's cure coming along?"

When Uncle Jude asked this question, Pop pop finally pulled his nose out of the books in his lap to listen to the conversation.

"I have a general idea of what I can do." Jewels started slowly. "There's a cure, a complete and total cure that I can make as long as I find the ingredients. I'm close to finding it all, however the ingredients are hard to come by and it might take a couple of years. The ingredient is more rare than the 1000 year old ginseng that I found in Sky Ship. In the meantime, there is a temporary fix that can help Pop pop. I am waiting on one last herb to mature before I can harvest it and make the temporary cure. The plant should mature in the next two weeks. Once I harvest it and make the cure, Pop pop would have to drink the tonic every day."

"What is the tonic called and what does it do?"

"Its called Unbinding." Jewels told them. "The properties of Unbinding is to unbind the mind and tongue, for I believe that Pop pop poisoned himself by taste testing a concoction that he made which bound parts of his mind and tongue. With the Unbinding tonic, once he drinks it, it will only cure him for 12 hours, after 12 hours he would revert back to this state. The tonic is only to be drunk once a day. If Pop pop was to abuse the tonic and drink it twice a day, than slowly, it would stop working. And I don't know when I'll be able to find the rare ingredient that I need to make to heal him completely."

They agreed to her healing suggestion and stayed in the sitting room for a while longer before turning in. When Jewels got to her room, Raiden, who was waiting for her, had already fallen asleep in her bed. After she got ready for bed, she crawled in next to him and he automatically pulls her so she lays half on top of him. Her right leg, wraps around his body and legs as her right arm rests on top of his heart. Raiden fell back asleep, while Jewels lays there his arms for a long time, before sleep finally catches up to her and she falls asleep.