Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 796

Chapter 796: African Foreign Exchange Students (1/2)
August 13th 1663

Lakshadweep

Mwanga Sekate Kamegere and Ekema Lobuko a Mbongo, sat on a bench both shivering incessantly even while they were covered in a warm cotton-padded blanket.

Originally, the journey from Sokotra to Lakshadweep went very well without any incidents, but at the final stretch of the voyage, who could have expected the weather to suddenly get worse and it to start raining heavily? Even the waves started to turn turbulent. How could they, who had never been to sea, withstand the mental turmoil? Not to mention it was approaching 5:00 PM and the sunlight was already dimming. Fortunately, when the heavy rains started, they were only a few kilometres away from the Lakshadweep Islands. After a few hours of struggle, they somehow made it to the floating naval fortress of the Bharatiya Empire.

The adventure was too thrilling. The two princes, even though they were born into and grew up in harsh conditions of central Africa, still being princes of two nations, grew up without much actual struggle. Now suddenly, how could they be calm after experiencing something so life-threatening? They may be well educated by their fathers to be ready for the challenges in the Bharatiya Empire, but how could they be ready for the challenges that nature put forward? Despite their bodies already being dry, they continued to shiver constantly, thinking about the terror they experienced for the last few hours.

In fact, a slight fear of oceans has already taken root in their minds like a parasite. If Vijay knew about it, he wouldn’t know if he should laugh or cry, because in his previous life, because of the massive slave trade that had happened and due to the number of Black people that had died on the oceans and seas during transportation, the whole race had developed a slight aversion to large water bodies. But in this life, Vijay doesn’t know how things will play out.

Matia the butler was also a little shaken, but fortunately, it was not the first time he was travelling through the sea. He had already done it once before when he personally travelled to the Bharatiya Empire on behalf of King Kumbugwe and Chief Mbedia to inquire if there was any university in the Bharatiya Empire that would accept the young master of his kingdom.

It made him slightly more composed than the young masters. Looking at his masters, who were still experiencing the aftereffects of the storm, he simply shook his head, thinking that they would recover soon, and he looked over at his sailors and ordered them to bring over the luggage to a specific spot.

The sailors who had taken shelter under a small roof along with the masters looked at each other in dismay since the rain was still relenting, but since they did not have any danger of drowning, they still braced their teeth and ran back to the ship, which was trying its best to escape from the harbour. Fortunately, the dock workers of Lakshadweep helped to reinforce the ship to the harbour.

Soon, several boxes were brought in front of Butler Matia.

“Follow me,” he ordered the workers and looked towards the two young princesses and invited,

“Your Highnesses, please let us depart.”

Mwanga and Ekema sighed and got up.

Soon, they were within a tall building that looked heavily protected. The group even walked across a fully equipped squadron patrolling the building nonstop despite the rain.

“Currency exchange, please!” Matia said as he opened the lid of the wooden boxes with a crowbar.

It was gold, enough to stimulate the greed in anyone’s heart. Fortunately, the butler had already sent away the sailors. As for the princes, they had seen a lot of shiny golden metals since they were kids. Although this quantity was a little exaggerated, they wouldn’t react much.

The civil servant who was working at the currency exchange was shocked. His eyes bulged as he looked at the unusual group of Black men with amazement, especially at the man who wore metal rings around his neck. His attention lasted on him for a few milliseconds more. ‘Who knew there were so many rich people among these poor Black people as well,’ he thought to himself.

“Just a moment, sir. I’ll do the conversion. Are you going to convert all the gold, sir?” he smiled politely with a cordial expression. Whales of this calibre were very rare. After all, he had only seen the Europeans with such wealth, but they would do all their conversion in Madagascar, and they rarely came to Lakshadweep.

Matia did not think for long and immediately nodded. There was still a box of gold left over on the ship; if in an emergency, he could still use that to get back home.

“You have a total of 40 kilograms of gold, sir, giving you the value of one million seven hundred and sixty-four thousand seven hundred and seven Varaha. If you’re willing to go through with the conversion, you will be getting one million seven hundred and twenty-nine thousand four hundred and thirteen Varaha after two percent transactional and conversion charges.”

He looked back at the three people with some expectation, because if the deal really goes through, then he has a commission of 5% of the government cut—meaning the government gets to make 35,295 Varaha for the conversion, but he gets to keep 1,765 Varaha from it. This is a lot of money—it’s the same amount he earns every week, but he is currently earning it in a single day.

“I would like to go through with the conversion,” Matia confirmed.

“Very well, sir. Just a moment.”

The chubby civil servant immediately had a few soldiers take the gold away to the treasury, while he ordered a few staff in the bank to bring out the money.

The people in the bank started to count the money, while the chubby, civil servant with a flushed face looked at the three noble guests with a smile.

“Sir, might I interest you in opening a bank account to store all your money? Not only is it secure and theft-proof, but it is also very convenient for people like you, whom I assume have come to tour the Empire.”

Matia shook his head. “No, we are not here to tour the Empire, but for the purpose of education.”

The chubby civil servant was taken aback, but looking at the richly dressed young men, he quickly understood. “Still, sir, you should consider opening a bank account, as paying the fee to colleges is easier with the existence of a bank account. Not to mention, if you are staying in the Empire for a longer time, the money in the account will increase, as there is a 5% interest on average in any of the five banks of the Empire, but I suggest you open the account with the Raya Bank.”

Matia paused he didn’t know what to do, so he looked back at his young master it was his money.

Mwanga fell into contemplation, thinking about everything he knew about the Bharatiya Empire and remembering the various conversations he had with the Bharatiyaas who were working in the kingdom. He immediately reached a solution.

“Open two separate bank accounts, one for myself and the other for Brother Ekema.”

“Each account will hold 500,000 Varaha each.”

“The rest, 729,413 Varaha, will be cashed out.”

The chubby civil servant immediately smiled from ear to ear, almost covering up his eyes. He makes 500 Varaha for every major customer he invites to the bank, but now it could be considered that he was bringing two major customers since half a million Varaha in 2 accounts could already be considered as high-net-worth. So he made 1,000 Varaha from being a guide alone.

2,770 Varaha in a day was a very big harvest for him—in fact, the biggest yet in his three years of service.

“Haha,”

“Excellent choice, sir. Please give me a moment, I will go through all the formalities.”

A few minutes later, he handed over a couple of documents.

“These are the bond papers, sir. It contains the proof of your deposit of 500,000 Varaha in the bank. The account will only be opened and show your deposit two days from now, since the ship has to manually transfer all the information from Lakshadweep to the Mainland. But once your account’s money is reflected in the mainland, it is pretty straightforward from there on, since your accounts will be constantly updated with the Arkha Dristhi communication stations being spread all over the Empire.”

—

Mangalore Vijayanagara State, Akhand Bharatiya Empire

Mwanga Sekate Kamegere and Ekema Lobuko a Mbongo walking in the port town of Mangalore attracted a lot of attention from the people. Their skin colour coupled with unusual attire, especially the neck rings worn by Ekema, were attraction magnets, but the two princes were too stunned to care about the gazes around them.

The busy dockyard with hundreds of ships entering and exiting the harbour, the exquisitely paved cobbled footpath, cement roads, beautiful greenery, drainage channels beside every road, neat and tidy shop fronts, exquisite clothes, elegant jewellery, exotic and alluring women, and even some enchanting ornaments were all something they had never seen before.

To Be Continued…