Empire Ascension: The Rise of the Fated One-Chapter 189: Shrewd Merchant

Since few weeks ago, Khirkee village, Delhi

Ashitosh Kulkarni was a thorough businessman. His way of doing business was out of the conventional ways, and this was the reason why he became a successful merchant through his own merits and managed to join a reputed merchant group of the Marwari community’s Mahajan Sangh.

After his arrival in Delhi, he didn’t get much help from the local authorities regarding the entry to Khirkee village. So, he decided to explore Delhi for more benefits. In the city, there were fewer options to start anything new, as it was already flocking with merchants offering far better products than his.

Then he remembered he had spotted the tents of people living outside the village who were there for jobs in company. Since they were lower-caste poor peasants, he didn’t give them much value. But their sheer number was enough to get a hefty amount if he could tax them 1 copper each, which would turn out to be almost 2,000-3,000 coppers, which meant it would be 20 silvers or 20 rupees. That would be a good amount to pay for his daily bills, and that too luxuriously.

Now, the only thing needed was to find a way to milk them dry. Motivated by this idea, he gathered a few of his people and went to check on the area.

He caught two or three lower-caste people, like barbers and field laborers, and interrogated them about their daily life activities. Taking information from them was child’s play, as they had a mentality of servitude in society due to being discriminated against. But all that mattered to Ashitosh was finding a way to get some extra money.

The good news was that there were more than 3,500 people estimated to be outside the village border. They worked odd jobs elsewhere and would return to the tents at noon and night. Some rich tents were also there, but their location was exactly opposite, so all the focus of necessities was available to the rich travelers, while the poor, low-caste people lacked such premium mediums .

However, thanks to the emperor’s concern over hygiene and diseases, basic necessities were provided by the authorities. A water system was arranged through canals, initially meant for farming nearby lands, and free rations were distributed so the people could cook for themselves and survive. From this, Ashitosh got the idea of how to mint money from them.

The first thing he did was choose a suitable location within their settlement that was accessible to all. Then he hired people from that very settlement to meet his needs for local guards with staffs, cooking, and storage.

Since he liked the local inn idea, he decided to provide a private toilet and public bathhouse by simply barricading and digging some space, putting up a tent for shade, and making it free to use. It was a baiting area to attract customers for his real business.

The food prices were set at 2 copper per meal, affordable enough for them to purchase, and as soon it was started it boomed and become a success.

Ironically, he didn’t own anything: not the land, nor items, neither labor, but he used them to meet their needs by simply organizing them with his money and the return was over-expected.

The best part was the toilet, as the locals had to either go to the river or some canals at night, which was dangerous. But with the confined area and local guards providing security, it added confidence, especially for women. While going to the toilet, they would often cross paths with the outlet, which was at a comfortable distance, allowing them to have their meal at an affordable price without spending much time cooking when they could buy it. Not everyone was there with family, so a cheap outlet was a boon.

For a normal merchant, this might not have crossed their mind, as people at that time believed in untouchability, and nobody cared much about the lower caste, especially if they were poor. But with a little investment, his outlet became famous by word of mouth,

His business grew so much that he opened more outlets and hired more people in other areas of the tent settlement, eventually earning around 4000-5000 coppers a day.

Finally the fateful day arrived, as he received the summon to meet the prince, not from the public welfare office but direct from the prince himself.

He could hardly believe that he had received this opportunity so soon. Perhaps his business popularity had reached the prince’s ears during his survey of the settlement. Filled with anticipation, he made his way to Purana Qila.

When he reached the grand hall of Purana Qila, his eyes were wide open. The castle, the courtyard, the long corridors of the inner palace, and the intricate designs of the walls were all new to him. He had met royalties of small kingdoms before, but none matched the scale of this grandeur.

As the guards led him to the grand hall, he was dumbfounded by the sheer number of people present there already. There was an aura of nobility about them, and from the looks of it, he could also smell some rich merchants from the top merchant group he could only imagine joining. He sighed as he noticed the expensive gifts and cursed his luck as he hadn’t prepared anything beforehand.

He waited for a couple of hours as he spotted more guests arriving, and finally, at the end, the prince entered, flanked by his guards and a young official nearby, maybe a personal attendant.

He was amazed by the charm of the prince, so young, charming, and yet approachable, with not a trace of arrogance as he smiled at everyone for their normal greetings before entering his private chamber.

Then a royal butler came and briefed them regarding the prince’s meeting in the private chamber. He explained the gold coins numbering system, where they were to pick one from the tray, and the numbering would be decided based on the number of coins. This way, it would be fair, and it all depended on luck who gets to meet the prince.

Ashitosh was sitting at the table with his nameplate in front of him. The butler started with him and signaled subtly to pick a particular coin with a wink. Hesitantly, he picked a coin and was shocked to see it was the number ’1’.

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//A/N:

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