Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 854: Agni goes to the Battlefield

4th September 1671

Puducherry, Cholapuri, Akhand Bhagatiya Empire

Agni was stunned. Even though Srikanth, his secretary, had left the office, he kept looking at the closed door with a bewildered look on his face.

'Why would Father call me all of a sudden?'

He kept questioning in his mind, as he really could not think of any possibility why his father would summon him so urgently.

'Is it for the festival?' He thought of one possibility, but he denied it immediately. Ganesha Chaturthi was right around the corner, and it is naturally expected of the royal family to spend their time together in one of the major festivals of the empire. But if that was the case, there was no need for his father to invite him through a secured communication link, especially now that his business is doing so well and it requires his attention for a lot of things.

There is no doubt in his mind that his father wouldn't notice his predicament. 'Despite knowing my situation, why?'

Whew!!

Ultimately, he couldn't zero down on a reason. 'Maybe there is something else happening or he needs me to do something.' This was the only conclusion he could come up with.

Left with no other choices, Agni called back his trusted secretary, Srikanth Krishnamurthy, back into the office.

"Srikanth, I will be going back home for a while."

The young man nodded his head without any surprise.

"In the meantime, handle the day-to-day affairs of Bhagat Shipyard. There are several ships that are about to complete their services. Contact the clients and have them take it away. Also, I have talked with manufacturers about providing a discount for our shipyard since we order all the parts in bulk."

"If I don't return within a few weeks, I will arrange for someone to send you my seal. Complete the contract on my behalf."

Srikanth took down all the notes and continued to listen diligently.

"Oh, and modifications of the five ships of client 204 are completed. Contact the client and have them clear out the remaining payment."

Srikanth paused his writing. "Is it the ships that needed to be converted into isolated container vessels for carrying tea and coffee?"

Agni nodded. "Yes, it's those. Apparently, the client's company is called the GRB Vault Logistics." Thinking about the nature of the client's business, an idea suddenly came to his mind. "Come to think of it, if I'm not mistaken, Pondicherry is slowly becoming the port where most of the coffee and tea is transported to the overseas territories in the East. In the future, other logistics and shipping companies might require isolation carrier-type customised modifications for tea, coffee, and spices as well. Since we are the only company doing this business in the surrounding areas, we can take full advantage of this opportunity."

"So here is an idea. Isn't there Ganesh Chaturthi in a week and Navratri at the end of the month? Run discounts for the festival, then make up a package deal for the tea and coffee carrier modification plan."

"A lot of people should come to our doorsteps."

"You will have to do all the planning and handle the orders while I'm away. Can you do it?" Agni asked as he looked up, looking straight at Srikanth to see how he would react.

Sweat began to seep out of Srikanth's forehead. This was the first time he was given so much responsibility, that too unmonitored by His Highness. The pressure was great.

'Gulp!'

However, isn't this what he always wanted? A chance to prove himself so that he would be useful to His Highness. Wasn't his dream to be a figure like His Excellency Ganesh or His Excellency Bhaskaracharya, the right-hand men under His Majesty the Emperor? Now that he had such an opportunity to fulfil his dream, how could he hesitate?

His eyes suddenly became firm. They radiated an unshakeable will and determination to persist no matter the hardships. Agni, who was an expert in reading people's emotions and sensing their auras, imperceptibly nodded his head in approval.

"I will make sure that everything happens as you have envisioned, Your Highness. Please leave it to me," Srikanth solemnly promised without averting his gaze.

"Very good. In that case, I will set off in a few hours. Have someone prepare my carriage."

"Yes, right away, Your Royal Highness."

---

Simhasana Bhawana, Imperial Capital Bengaluru

"Your Majesty, His Highness is here."

"Thank you, Ganesh. Bring him in."

Vijay closed the book he was reading, clasped his hands, and waited patiently in his seat.

Agni entered the office with a respectful bow and stood in front of Vijay, assuming the expressionless look on his face. What took him off guard was that his father, out of expectation, did not ask about the business, did not clarify the doubt he had, did not inquire about his education, not even about the ambitious research project he was doing for the university. Instead, he simply motioned for him to sit down, which he did with a progressively more baffled look.

"Tell me, Agni, do you want to be an emperor?"

"Wha... What!!!"

The question completely broke his defences. He could no longer maintain his stoic expression, even to maintain his image. What was his father asking him all of a sudden? 'Is his father going to abdicate ?' 'Or is this a test of some sort?' 'Or else is it to test my ambition?' 'How should I respond?'

Countless questions emerged in his mind, but still, he could not grasp what his father's question meant. Even his trusted senses, which enabled him to know the emotion and aura of other people, did not work on Vijay, as his aura was steady as a rock—like an omnipotent energy, ever-present and ever-existing, not fluctuating even a little bit.

Looking at his son's complicated emotions, an arc appeared at the corner of his lips, but he covered it quickly enough. He knew that the question he asked caught Agni by surprise, but he felt like there was no other occasion to ask the very question better than right now.

"I am asking the question because I want you to understand what it means to be an emperor, and I want to know whether you are willing to go through its trials and tribulations."

Vijay got up from his chair and walked to the window, where the view of the freshly cut garden appeared, spreading the aroma of jasmine that had blossomed.

"I hope you understand, son. For me to reach the position I am in, I had to trek through mountains of corpses and rivers of blood."

"I solidified my position as the emperor by butchering a whole class of nobles, and that includes your uncle and my cousin."

"People in the empire may argue that what I did was Dharmic in nature; it was what I was supposed to do for the greater good, but it does not change the fact that I did what I did. A lot of innocent women and children were butchered in that battle, all because i did not want troubles in the future to arise from the remnants of the nobles."

"For my ambitions and for my vision, I was responsible for the deaths of millions of people in the subcontinent, the majority of them being Sanatanis."

"Once again, people might say that I did nothing wrong, as it is my dharma, it is what I am supposed to do in order to rid the sacred Bharatiya Subcontinent from the clutches of the Islamic invaders. But once again, that does not change the fact that I was responsible for bloodshed in the millions. The weight of curses from the affected families is not light."

"In such a way, I have come forward, crossing one adversity after another, one enemy after another. It has not been easy, but I am here."

"So tell me, my dear son, do you want to be an emperor?"

Vijay, whose presence was like that of Mount Kailash, peaceful and stable, suddenly changed. It became so much more overbearing and overwhelming, all directed towards Agni, causing him to take the full brunt of the energy.

All the blood in Agni's face was suddenly drained away as his expression became completely pale. He could not even look up under the mighty pressure, which was like that of a mountain pressing on his head, not allowing him to look up. The heat of the aura radiating from his father was so majestic that it was almost comparable to the evening sun, which he always avoided gazing at. The killing intent radiating from the smile almost made him go crazy. 'Is this really my father?' His heart began to race like a runaway horse, and the feeling of dread began to seep into his soul. Right now, he was not in the office of Simhasana Bhavana, but he was sprawling in a puddle of blood next to the river of blood flowing through the mountain of corpses on which stood an invincible man, overlooking him, scrutinising his every movement as if to judge whether he was worthy.

Just when he was about to collapse due to his senses being overwhelmed, a hint of ruthlessness appeared in Agni's heart. It was like the flame of the undead, small, weak, flickering, but it was unwilling to go off; It wouldn't succumb; it was inextinguishable, and it continued to grow, feeding on the will and determination of Agni. There was no longer panic in his eyes, as they became extremely sharp, as if they were ready to witness the purgatory of hell if they had to. His legs trembled, his back creaked, but still he got up, one inch at a time, gritting his teeth, groaning in his throat.

'Grrrrr!'

He was like a beast that was awakening. His soul, bombarded by the majestic and powerful aura of his father, began to be refined and reborn more powerful, determined, and relentless than ever before.

He clenched his teeth, making his gums bleed. His eyes turned bloodshot, veins popped out of his neck, and the nails pierced his hand, but as an act of defiance, he raised his head high up into the sky, looking at that immortal figure looking down on him, and roared.

"I... AM... WILLING!!"

He deliberately uttered one word at a time, an act to showcase his steely willpower to go through literal Hellfire if he had to:

Maybe he was dreaming, but for a split second, he could have sworn that he saw a slight smile on his father's face. But the next moment, all the pressure disappeared. To his shock, he was neither bleeding from his gums nor his hands; at most, his eyes were bloodshot, but they too soon returned to normal.

'It is an illusion?' By this realisation, his heart palpitated. He looked at his father once again, staring with a completely different gaze. It was filled more with the respect a weaker person gives to a stronger person than the gaze of a son looking at his father.

Vijay didn't comment further but simply handed over a thick document, which was lying on the table, to Agni.

"A special operation is being planned in the Middle East in a few months."

"If you leave now, given your previous military training, it should only take a few weeks for you to adapt to the Middle Eastern battlefield."

"You'll appear in the Vajragharba (star fortress) as an ordinary sergeant. I have arranged identity documents for you."

"Since you are so determined to inherit my mantle, you can start contributing to the empire, starting with this Middle Eastern war."

"I trust you know what you can do and what you cannot."

Agni numbly took over the documents and flipped over them in passing. As he guessed, it was an identity with a different name. He understood what his father wanted him to do.

Maybe if it were before, he would have hesitated going to the live battlefield for the first time, but after being baptised by the aura of his father, he no longer had any distractions in his decisions. He had already become much more resilient than before.

"I understand, Father! I will fulfil my obligations without fail."