Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Holy Roman Empire, Hanover

Anderson Jacob dipped a piece of cloth in alcohol and carefully wiped the jewellery in his shop, with a smile plastered on his face. He had been in an exceptionally good mood in recent months. Ever since he started importing jewellery from the Bharatiya Empire, his profits had shot up like a fountain of water hooked to a steam engine. And now, having recently found another seller willing to offer him the same jewellery at an even cheaper cost, the thought of his future prospects made his smile wider.

'Maybe I can buy the William manor after giving out more loans with the profits I'm about to make,' he smiled gleefully as he continued to wipe the jewellery.

"Uncle, uncle...."

Anderson's smile completely disappeared when he saw his niece running in with a panicked expression.

He quickly put aside the jewellery and held his knees in his hands, "What happened, dear? Did someone hurt you?" He had a bad feeling in his heart as his niece was shaking like a newborn puppy. And that was not something that could happen easily, you know, he had employed his niece as the shopkeeper of his shop, and she had dealt with so many people, among whom there were even knights. No matter how rude they got, at most she would be startled, but never this scared. What could have happened?

"Sob!"

"Uncle, those... those... knights ke... ke... killed grandfather Alfred and brother Schneider."

Anderson was shocked. Alfred and Schneider were a pair of father and son running a liquor store down the road. Although they had some conflicts with the local ruffians, it never got to the point of getting killed over disagreements. Besides, who would do such a thing in broad daylight when the guards—

Thinking about the guards, suddenly something clicked in his mind.

"What about the Knights, where are they? Did they not try to stop them?"

For some reason, as soon as he said these words, his niece only cried harder.

"It is those guards and Knights that rushed into the tavern. I got so scared that I ran away, but I saw Grandpa Alfred being stabbed and brother Schneider being kicked repeatedly."

"Sob!"

"Sob!"

"Uncle, did Grandpa and Brother do something wrong? Why wasn't the trial held?"

Anderson suddenly stood up on his feet, his face turning white, and his palms beginning to sweat. He was momentarily paralysed, but soon his instincts kicked in as he quickly peeked through the window to see the situation outside. When he saw the armed guards of the city at the end of the road furiously rummaging through the shop, all owned by Jewish merchants, he immediately realised what was happening. So without hesitation, he pulled his niece, shoved a few silver jewellery and gold ornaments into his undergarments, then quickly went to the backroom.

He opened the basement door and decisively went in with his niece.

"Uncle, what are you doing?"

His niece cried out, unable to understand what was happening, but he did not utter a word.

In the shocked eyes of his niece, he took a crowbar that was at the corner of the basement and shoved it into an inconspicuous gap in the rock, and pulled perpendicular to it with a grunt. As he exerted the force, the rock actually moved.

Without saying anything, he just stared at his niece to keep quiet and pushed her inside.

After carefully checking again to make sure he had not missed anything, he went inside with the crowbar and firmly closed the Rockwall from the inside. Only then did he finally let out a deep sigh of relief.

Feeling his niece hugging him tightly, he gently patted her back to calm her down. From his small stash, he pulled out the jar of honey he had kept aside for emergencies and gave her a little to make her feel better. Her trembling eased as she slowly tasted the sweetness.

After she had some, he took a spoonful himself. The familiar taste helped calm his nerves. He had stocked up on jars of honey, all kinds of pickles, and even a few bottles of wine.

When he had bought them, the merchants he had travelled with to the Bharatiya Empire laughed and said he was being paranoid. But now, sitting in the safety of the dark room, with his supplies neatly stacked and ready, he couldn't help but feel smug despite his current situation.

But the smugness quickly disappeared as he could vaguely hear the sounds coming from within the shop. It was the sound of all his glass breaking and his jewellery being taken. He could hear the people cursing, but it was so vague that he could not make out what they were saying.

However, the problem did not exist for long, because the next moment, the door of the basement was smashed open.

He heard footsteps on the other side of the wall, more than one, and his heart began to pound faster. His eyes darted to his niece, whose face had turned deathly pale. He gave her a look, almost pleading with her to stay quiet, but the fear in her eyes made him worry she might accidentally let out a sound if startled.

Slowly, carefully, he placed his hand over her mouth and pulled her closer to him, holding her tight. With his other hand, he covered his own mouth as well. In moments like these, one could never be too careful.

"Tch, Jewish swine, they seem to have run away."

"Hey, captain, there is a hidden compartment here."

Hearing these words, Anderson's heart dropped to his stomach. Unfortunately, he did not have a heart condition, since he would rather die than get caught. But the next moment, he felt like a boulder had been lifted from his shoulder as he heard the sound of wood being smashed from within the main entrance of the shop.

He was relieved that the hideout they found was only his old one, which was actually under the main floor of the shop. If he hadn't travelled to the Bharatiya Empire, he might have actually used that one, but after experiencing how meticulous the police of the Bharatiya Empire were, he felt uneasy and created a new hideout himself.

Several curses were heard. He could not understand them due to the distance, of course, but he could feel that they were pissed.

A few minutes later, the sounds of the soldiers finally disappeared, but he didn't dare to go out. He decided to stay in the hideout for a few days until the situation cleared out, after which, maybe he would decide what to do.

---

A man who looked to have been shot in the leg was trying as hard as he could to move forward, with a woman supporting him and a couple of children following him.

Reuben cursed under his breath with hatred and, oddly enough, remorse, because although he was angry at the nobles who acted so blatantly, he was more angry at himself for failing to recognise the truth of the situation. When his father had given him all the property and left for the eastern empire, he had continuously warned him not to get greedy and not stretch his hands anymore, but unfortunately, he did not listen to his father and did exactly what his father told him not to do. For a few years, everything went very well, business got better, and the banking became more prosperous. He got so wealthy that he could even rival a marquis.

But everything came crashing down when attacks were launched on all of these banks at the same time, and the nobles brought in the knights directly to his home. Thankfully, even though he had not followed the warnings of his father, he still maintained the connections he had left behind, so he was able to realise beforehand that the attack was going to be launched. But unfortunately, despite knowing what was coming, he was still a little rash, as he ended up getting shot in the leg while he was fleeing.

As he walked farther and farther, he could feel that he was getting weaker. He had lost too much blood, and in the heat of the moment, he had forgotten to tie his wound.

He cursed at himself for being careless and quickly slumped down as he gestured to his wife to tightly bandage his wound. The blood flow did slow down, but when he tried to get up, he couldn't.

"You three leave first, I'll catch up from behind."

He ordered in as calm a voice as possible. His wife was unwilling to go, and so were his kids, but thinking of his current situation, he got very angry.

"Don't waste all my efforts now, go. Go, get out before those lunatics find the tunnel."

He felt relieved when he saw some determination in her eyes.

"Take this emblem and meet a merchant called Reichmann. He owes Father a great deal; he will be responsible for getting you out."

His wife took the emblem, gave him a sweet kiss, the sweetest and the longest one he had ever felt, and pulled away his two reluctant children.

After looking at his wife and kids leave, he felt relieved, and this relief brought him tiredness. "I'll sleep for a while," he murmured as he closed his eyes.

As fate would have it, the tunnel was never discovered, since it was actually dug through the hill the mansion was on, and it was designed in such a way that once it was used, its entrance would be completely filled with rubble, and there was no way anyone could get through it. Unfortunately, Reuben was unlucky enough not to have noticed his blood flowing out like tap water, which led him to his eventual demise.

The richest, the most wolfish, and the smartest Jewish merchant in Europe dying due to his own carelessness, maybe this was a joke played by God.