October 6th, 1655


    It was early in the morning in the city of Ahmedabad. Everyone was getting up from their sleep and trying to go about their duties even during these tough times.


    Well, everyone except the City Defense Corps, of course, because they had to stay awake all night long in order to guard the city.


    At the southern end of the city, there was a vige called Gayaspur. This vige was built on an ind in the Sabarmati River.


    *Glug, glug, glug*


    Near the vige, bubbles began to rise steadily from the water. At first, it was a slow trickle, but then they surged, increasing dramatically. Suddenly, *ssh*!


    Out of nowhere, a human head slowly popped out of the river and took big breaths of air. This was Sarvesh, who had left Kasindra the previous night. Sarvesh first looked around to make sure that he was not spotted. Fortunately, due to it being early in the morning and the sun not yet fully up, when he walked out of the river, he was covered by the darkness.


    After confirming that no one had seen himing out of the river and making sure that the coast was clear, he threw four rocks into the river at varying intervals.


    Immediately, hundreds of soldiers emerged from the water. All of them had some sort of animal dder in their mouths, which they were using to breathe. Dragging their heavy bodies onto the shore, they discarded their wooden flippers and copsed, sprawled out and breathing heavily. The journey had taken its toll, leaving them utterly exhausted.


    As they nced up at Sarvesh, who remained standing, they couldn’t help but marvel at his strength.


    Seeing the 700 or so people crawling on the riverbank, Sarvesh knew that they needed some rest. They were not in abat-ready state.


    "Come on, get up, march. If you’re discovered, our operation will fail. Either you move or go back into the river and abandon the operation. The current will take you somewhere downstream."


    The people who heard the words were disheartened as they had to get up and move again. "Sigh."


    "Not everyone is a monster like you,mander," some of them muttered in low voices. Sarvesh heard it but acted as if he didn’t.


    They quickly moved to the Gayaspur vige. On the way, something rustled in the bushes beside them. Everyone was alerted, including Sarvesh. He pulled out his knife, as it was the most suitable weapon in the current situation.


    Sarvesh motioned for everyone to stay back as he went closer to the bush.


    "Ah!"


    A high-pitched, startled sound was heard from the bush. Sarvesh carefully took a branch of the bush in his hand and pulled it aside to reveal what made the noise inside. What they saw startled everyone present: a boy around the age of nine or ten, squatting on the ground, visibly shaking all over. He was not wearing any clothes except for a loincloth.


    The soldiers felt embarrassed, realizing that the little guy had been taking a dip and had been startled after noticing their presence.


    Sarvesh, upon seeing the boy, lowered his hand which was holding the dagger.


    The soldiers wanted to stop and convince or even plead with Sarvesh not to do anything to the boy. They could just capture him, and he wouldn’t leak any information. But, to their surprise, the unforgiving Sarvesh actually just gently ruffled the hair of the little boy.


    "Inquire about the boy’s family and the vige," Sarveshmanded.


    The soldiers, still surprised and dumbstruck by Sarvesh’s actions, quickly realized his orders and approached the boy. The boy, still scared, revealed everything about the vige and his family. After gathering this detail, Sarvesh surprisingly ordered them to go to the vige.


    When they arrived at the vige, they received inquisitive nces due to their obviously unusual clothes and the weapons they carried. As the news passed around, the vige chief was alerted, and the old man quickly got up from his sleep and ran to the street to meet with Sarvesh and his crew.


    "Lord, we are only a small vige on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. What can we do for you?" the vige chief inquired.


    "We will stay here for a few hours. The only thing everyone in this vige should do is not leave until we say so," Sarveshmanded with authority. The vige chief hesitated to follow themand and was unwilling. "But this... Lord," he began, expressing his concerns.


    His words stopped abruptly when Sarvesh pulled out his talwar, obviously stained with a lot of blood, and pointed it at his throat. "Aye old man, this is not a request."


    *Gulp*


    The old man, being threatened, finally chose to give in. Although the thugs who frequently came to the vige threatened him sometimes, he could tell that they did not actually mean it. But looking into the guy’s eyes who pointed the sword at his neck, he knew that this guy meant it 100 per cent, and he would do what he said. So, he had no choice but to give in.


    *Neigh*


    A horse’s neigh was heard, and a person was quickly trying to get out of the vige. Sarvesh realized that this could be a Mughal Guard who had stayed in the vige.


    Before it was toote, Sarvesh acted. He swiftly snatched the bow from one of his crew members, pulled the string, andunched the arrow. All within a few seconds.


    "Shoo"


    The arrow cut through the air and urately hit the man on his shoulder. The man lost his bnce and fell down, while the horse just kept running and eventually slowed down, proceeding to graze the grass in the fields.


    "Ah, Dad!"


    To their surprise, the boy they met earlier ended up being the son of the man who was just shot. They did know that his father worked as the security guard of the vige, but they were just unaware that this guard worked for the Mughal Empire. If not, why would he run away as soon as themander said not to leave the vige?


    Anyway, Sarvesh went closer and pulled the man by his cor, asking, "Why did you try to run? Where were you going? To inform the Mughals? Are you their dog?"


    The vigers eximed in shock as one of their own was shot by an arrow. Although they were furious, they could do nothing but watch as the soldiers tightly guarded the injured man and unsheathed their weapons. No one in the vige dared to try anything with the soldiers present.


    *Ah!*


    The man was still in pain, constantly rolling on the ground and screaming loudly. Hearing his dad scream in pain, the little boy also panicked, tears running down his eyes. "Dad! Dad, don’t do anything to him!" Despite this, Sarvesh forcefully pushed the boy aside, causing him to fall down and scrape his elbows on the ground.


    Seeing his son being abruptly pushed away, the man momentarily regained some rity. His face was panicked and desperate, afraid that something had happened to his son. He quickly crawled forward towards Sarvesh. His left arm was drenched in blood, but still, he managed to hold onto Sarvesh’s legs with his bloody hands and started to beg, "Lord, I beg of you, please spare my son.


    He’s the sole remaining child I have. My wife has passed away, and he’s all I have left. Please, take me in his ce."


    Sarvesh felt conflicted By the man’s sentiment but still asked with the same stern and emotionless expression, "Answer my question, or else both of you will die. Were you going to inform the Mughals of our arrival? Are you theirckey?"


    Hearing the question, the man was surprised. He momentarily looked at the man who was around his age in confusion. "If you are asking this question, sir, are you not from the Mughal Empire?"


    Sarvesh was taken aback by this question. Looking at the man who was looking at him with a confused expression, he did not know what to make of it. "Why do you ask?"


    The man finally confirmed that he had gotten it wrong. "Sir, I am deeply sorry. I might have misunderstood you. I thought you were gangsters from one of the factions that usuallye to our vige. If I knew you were not from the empire, I would have weed you with open arms."


    Taking his hands off the legs of Sarvesh, he joined them together to make a namaskara as an apology.


    Sarvesh was even more confused now. "What are you talking about?"


    The man exined, his anger almost overwhelming his pain as he clenched his teeth. "Sir, it’s like this. Due to our vige being in the centre of the river, Which also coincidentally happens to be the centre of the Ahmadabad city at its southern edge, there are two regions in the city which im the taxation rights on us.


    Unfortunately, Diwan does not care about this small issue, so he lets the people under him settle it among themselves."


    The man’s face became sad again. "After the decision made by the Diwan, both regions that imed to have the taxation rights over our vige colluded with each other and made a pact. ording to this pact, which we have guessed already when it is time to collect the tax, only one party collects it at a time.


    But the other party secretly funds some goons and sends them to our vige to extort money by force."


    "Because of this, our vige, which was fairly affluent because of its strategic position, became poorer and poorer, and the poption has been reducing constantly. Usually, the goons do not cause too much trouble; they extort the money and leave.


    But sometimes they do too much and try to defile the women of the vige." When he said this part, he had tears in his eyes as he stroked his son’s head, who hade to hug him.


    "In these asions, usually I go to inform the lord who was responsible for collecting the tax this year so that they could at least drive away these goons. Because, at least on the bright side, no local lord will collude with the goons.


    So, I misunderstood your Excellency and your crew to be these goons, and you were bringing out the sword directly stained with blood, I thought you were one of those unreasonable ones."


    Sarvesh finally understood what was going on, and the people in his crew were also saddened to hear about this news. Moreover, now that they noticed the condition of the vige, it was very downtrodden.


    Even though they could see some houses built with stone, indicating that the owners of these houses were very affluent, unfortunately, judging by how these houses had fallen into disrepair and ill-maintenance, it could be seen that the mary condition of this vige had be very dire.


    n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    With the misunderstanding resolved, the man was released and swiftly attended to by one of the medics in Sarvesh’s crew. Sensing no immediate danger in the vige, Sarvesh decided to rest until the attack on the main fortress, spearheaded by Ramayya Senapati and Narasimha Nayak started.


    In the meantime, he tasked the boy, who still harboured hatred over injuring his father, to contact the Bharathiya External Pragya’s informant. With some convincing and bribing from his soldiers, the boy, whose name was Gajendra, reluctantly agreed. With the boy cooperating, Sarvesh instructed him to reach a specific ce in the city and perform a sequence of hand signals, and that was it.


    Within 40 minutes of the information reaching the Bharatiya External Pragya, the whole intelligencework in the city of Ahmedabad came alive. Suddenly, two carriages were transported to the vige in absolute secrecy after forging the documents.


    Sarvesh, looking at the supplies, was very happy. They contained flintlocks, muskets, grenades,bat gear like armour, iron-reinforced boots, helmets, and more.


    Along with that, he had also gotten a bundle of detailed information about the situation in Ahmedabad. He couldn’t help but be amazed at how thorough this information was.


    "I never knew this guy Roshan was so powerful," Sarvesh muttered to himself.


    It had already been a few hours since the crew had rested in the vige. They had eaten and were ready to go. The fatigue fromst night was almost suppressed by the excitement of battle.


    *BOOM BOOM*


    A smile ran across Sarvesh’s face as soon as he heard the bombardment of the cannons starting. He could not mistake this sound; it was the distinct sound of the 30KG calibre giant cannon of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire.


    "Suit up," Sarvesh ordered in a low voice.


    The soldiers who were resting suddenly were alerted upon hearing the order. "Yes, sir!" They shouted in unison.


    Boots, jackets, armour, swords, guns, helmets—everything was put on in clockwork like a perfectly tuned machine. The soldiers were ready and standing in formation within five minutes.


    Sarvesh was no exception as he stood in front of them fully armed.


    *shing* *shing*


    He slowly sheathed the two bloody talwars in their holsters at his back.


    His eyes were bright, and his determination to fight was burning. His aura was very strong, and it affected his soldiers. They began to notice the rise of their confidence and morale; their hearts were beating fast, waiting for the battle.


    "Let’s go kick some ass," Sarvesh said with a smile on his face.