Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

10th August 1677

Agni's journey took a few days, but he still made it to Coimbatore in time for the ceremony.

He was quite pleased with himself, especially considering the unconventional travel methods he had to rely on to make it happen, an elephant-drawn carriage that cut across state lines, a short inland boat ride through dense jungle, and multiple short-distance rickshaw rides that weaved through urban cities like a hot knife cutting through butter, among other improvised things.

Upon returning to Coimbatore, he went straight to his office to freshen up with a much-deserved bath and change into a clean set of clothes.

Meanwhile, the city was bustling with activity. Sailors, financial professionals, reporters, and merchants had swarmed the outer road leading to the Bhagath Shipyard, all buzzing with excitement.

A reporter stood at the main gate of the shipyard and addressed the writer.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today marks a historic occasion. The first mass-produced Antarwahini-class inland steamboat is officially going on sale."

"Our sources suggest this ship has signalled the beginning of a new era. As for why that is, it is unknown, but we are soon about to know because...."

She then turned to the man beside her. "With us here is the Vice President of Brown Logistics, Mr. Sardar Bahaddur. Sir, could you please tell us why this moment is so significant, and why so many people are excited about a ship said to be the culmination of the two princes' efforts?"

Sardar Bahaddur folded his hands in a Namaskara and replied, "Miss, you've already answered your own question. There's no great mystery. The importance lies in the fact that this is not the work of just one prince, whether His Highness Agni or His Highness Vedant—but of both. How could it not be important?"

He replied, his tone showing a little contempt.

The colour of the reporter's face immediately shifted. Did she get some exciting news where the Vice President of one of the largest logistics companies is actually looking down on the princes?

Sadly, she was soon disappointed. Because Sardar actually laughed the next moment, completely abandoning his serious and meticulous appearance.

"I'm just kidding, haha."

'Hehe,' the reporter laughed as well, but it could be seen that she was faking it.

"But on a serious note, the reason why so many people are interested in this new ship of His Highness is for one simple reason, and one simple reason alone, and that is because there has never been any ship like this, a ship that does not require a sail...to...sail."

"See what I did there, sail to sail...anyway, moving on."

The reporter's mouth twitched, 'Damn fatty, this is not the time for puns, how'd you even become a VP?'

"Antarwahini is not just any other ship that gets built every once in a while, but a start to something great. Remember the Hampi class sloop? It was insignificant in the context of its time, but it was the foundation for the Bharatiya Navy, the strongest navy in the world, and the current ship invented by the two princes is also the same. Though tiny now, it shows very broad prospects in the future of logistics, so it is a given that most of my colleagues are excited. If they are not, I would even doubt if they deserve to be in this field."

He shrugged and continued, "However, as far as my company alone is concerned, the ship can make a trip from the western coast of the empire to the eastern coast within a day, without showing any dependencies on the wind or the currents of the water."

"A greater ship for the great southern Bharatiya canal had not been created, and probably never will be for some time to come."

"So, representing Brown Logistics, we do want to purchase a few of these ships to operate this route, and maybe in the future, even different routes that would be made after the canal projects in the northern part of the empire are completed. Who knows, maybe we will even use this in the overseas territories, the possibilities are endless."

The reporter thanked Sardar and turned back to face the writers.

"There you have it, folks, you heard it from one of the top executives from top logistics companies himself."

"This is Chitra Srinivasan, and you are reading The Observer. Stay tuned for more updated news about the launch of the ship and many other exclusive articles from the top merchants, politicians, civil servants, public servants, and many more."

A similar situation was seen across Coimbatore. The people in the logistics industry were generally extremely excited about the news that the Antarvahini class will be put into mass production, and the first sale of five ships will happen today. But the rest of the people are still confused about what the fanfare is about. Isn't it just the launch of a new ship? Doesn't this happen every so often in the empire? Why is it so special this time?

It is only when the people in the know explained it did the people understood what was at stake.

"So, this small little ship might just be an insignificant component of the whole naval fleet of the Bharatiya Empire, but it is the flagship that leads the way to other ships in the future?"

"Who said it's not? My brother works for the Ministry of Transportation. He said that if this ship proves itself to be reliable and worthy of use for a long time, then more ships like this in bigger sizes might come out very soon."

The group of young policemen sent to maintain security was talking with each other as they directed the traffic.

Overhearing the conversation were a group of foreigners, Europeans from different countries, who crossed the street. Most of them did not have any reaction to the words being mentioned, but some people had a glint in their eyes. What this meant could only be known in the future.

---

Agni came out of the room, and he was immediately greeted by Rajendra, whom he had not seen for more than half a year.

The smile appeared as soon as he saw his cousin and gave him a warm hug.

"You gave me quite a scare there when you said you hadn't set off as scheduled."

Agni shrugged, "But I still made it, didn't I?"

"That you did."

The two then looked at each other for a brief while before they burst into smiles. Agni is only this free and easy with a few people, and Rajendra is one of them.

"All right, let's put that aside. Tell me, where is Vedant? I haven't seen him since morning."

Agni shook his head with a wry smile, "Will not be coming. You know how it is with him, once he gets busy with research, nothing can catch his attention."

Rajendra was a little disappointed, "Oh, it's a pity. I wanted to introduce a girl to him." He inwardly mumbled, "Oh well, you are here, and I guess I'll be content with that. Let's go. The auspicious time is about to arrive; we can't be late."

---

With the priests starting the ceremony, the people who were gathered in the Bhagat shipyard on the outskirts of Coimbatore quieted down and silently looked at the ceremony.

Bharathi mantras were chanted and slokas were recited as the sacred flames were lit and various ingredients were offered into the fire. Finally, Agni stepped forward along with Rajendra to participate in the ceremony as the owners of the company.

After the ceremony, the ship was unveiled to the eyes of the public for the first time.

Looking at the ship that did not have any sails but had a large paddle wheel at the back under a prominent bulge in the middle, everyone was amazed, especially when a loud sound came out of it, steam began to pour out from the chimneys, and it began to move.

"Amazing!!"

Bahadur exclaimed, and his eyes were wide open.

His determination to purchase one of the five ships today was only made more firm.

At the end of the day, the five ships that had already been manufactured went to the five richest logistics companies in the empire, the VRL Logistics, Brown Logistics, Reliance Logistics, and other logistics companies.

Not only that, orders had been taken from several other logistics companies to manufacture 20 Antarwahini class ships in the next few months.

The event was a great success, and Agni was very pleased with the results.

---

ICDC Research Laboratory

"This is amazing," Bindu exclaimed with her mouth wide open.

Tanvika didn't deny it and nodded in acceptance.

"I had confidence that it would work, but who would have thought it would work like this?" Her words quivered a little after looking at the data.

After much deliberation, the decision whether to take the risk and inject a disease agent that triggers Sushila Mantra's immunity response to increase the white blood cells in her body to fight against the Balkan Death was ultimately left to Sheila Mandir.

To their surprise, Sheila did not consider the matter for too long at all. She immediately decided that she wanted to do it, not that she was looking for death, but she knew that if her condition worsened, then her situation would be no different from the people she had tried to help on the frontline.

Death under harrowing circumstances was the only end she could expect. But now, even with the increased risk, there was a silver lining; if it worked, her chances of survival would improve. And who said that the experiment failing and her dying would be a bad thing? At least this way, she could die on her own terms.

After all the documents were signed, while she was still in a sane state, a bacterial disease agent was injected into her body.

Now it has been several hours already, and the effects are already showing.

She began to sweat heavily, caught a high fever, needed to be cooled, and her entire body seemed to be in pain, but

when a blood sample was taken and examined under a microscope, an astonishing discovery was made. The white blood cell count had indeed increased, and they were frantically trying to resist the germs present in her bloodstream and throughout her body.

"Quick, give her the penicillin concoction, " Tanvika ordered. The message was passed back in the isolation camp, and Sheila Mandir was soon made to drink the concoction made of penicillin and other herbs.

"Repeat the process every 4 hours, do not stop."

"And don't let her stomach be completely empty, pad it with some nutritious loads every once in a while."

Tanvika's eyes were sharp with focus as she issued one order after another. The researchers under her command didn't understand why she was making this decision, after all, wasn't the injection working just fine now? Still, they followed her instructions without question.

Tanvika, however, had a strong sense that things weren't so simple. Despite everything that had been done, the body's immune system was not strong enough to fully overpower both diseases. For now, the high metabolic activity might be holding them at a standstill, but if it ever weakened, the diseases would overwhelm her, and she would die even faster.

So she prepared Sheila's body for the battle of attrition with enough good grain supply and concoction to slow down and hinder the progress of the plague in her body. As for what consequences this can lead to in the future, she can't care too much about that now. She has finally seen the hope of saving someone who was in the grasp of Moroi's Fiend. She can't let them die halfway through.

P.S. I'm tired, so rough edit.

P.S. Thank you, MarinatedFish, for the pizza x2.

P.S. Thank you, Sudhanva_SH, for the IceCola.