NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3: A village
Chapter : 3; A Village
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"Your Highness, although you weren't able to defeat us, with your skills, we are both sure nothing will happen to you. But the promise is this: tomorrow evening, you will return to their camp. Do you dare to give your promise, Your Highness?" Vikram didn't stop Ayush after seeing that at least he could fight head-to-head with him.
Ayush was also surprised by Vikram's words. He had thought that he would be able to win against the grandmaster swordsman, but reality showed him the mirror. If it weren't for his strong physical body, he was sure he wouldn't have had time to fight back against him.
"Don't worry, this prince knows and will definitely keep his promise to return to the camp before tomorrow evening," Ayush replied to Vikram's challenge.
"But Your Highness, you should speak to Her Majesty. We still can't allow you..." This time, Maan Singh spoke up.
Upon hearing Maan Singh's words, Ayush's mood suddenly dropped. He knew his mother would never let him go.
"Okay... I will go ask her. You wait for me." Ayush had no choice at that moment. Even though he was a prince, he was still nothing in front of his mother.
In the barracks...
Sitting in front of his mother, holding her hands like a child asking for something, Ayush made an expression that reflected his plea.
"Mom... please let me go. I promise I will return safely, and definitely by tomorrow evening. Please let me go!" Ayush requested his mother.
"No... Ayush... it's too dangerous to go alone, especially in the jungle. Not to mention the Mughals, but even many wild animals could attack. I will not let you go, no matter what." Kalyani rejected Ayush's request to go out.
"Mom... please...!"
"Nope!"
"Fine... since you don't want me to go, I won't, but I will definitely not eat." Ayush tried to threaten her by refusing to eat. He knew his mother very well, she couldn't bear seeing Ayush in pain.
"Alas... my child... fine, since you want to go so badly, it's okay. But safety comes first. I can't live without you now," she said as she patted his head calmly.
"Okay, Maa!" Ayush cheered like a child.
In the evening...
It was already 4:00 pm.
Ayush gathered some food, a dagger, a sword, and a spear, and strapped them to his horse before finally leaving their camp.
"Maan Singh, Vikram, take care of my mother, and don't let anything happen to her. And one more thing, don't let anyone approach her." Ayush warned them.
"Yes, Your Highness!" Both of them bowed and acknowledged the prince's orders.
After that, Ayush left the barracks.
One hour later...
In the deep forest, where even sunlight reached the ground with great difficulty, Ayush, riding his dark black horse, galloped through the woods. In the last hour, he had traveled around 25-30 miles and finally emerged from the jungle, looking for the nearest human village, which the system indicated on the map.
He came here for two reasons. First, if he could convince the villagers to join their camp, it would be much easier to gather food. Their camp was running low on supplies, and what they had might last only about twenty days for a group of forty people. The second reason was to recruit them for the fight against the Mughals.
Currently, the Mughal Empire hadn't expanded too far into the Vidhya range, even though Akbar had taken the throne of the Mughal Empire. Ayush wanted to take advantage of this situation.
As ayush rode towards the village, with black horse, the villagers notice Ayush arrival, but they didn't get up immeadiatliy but waited for ayush to come inde the village area, because they found there were no one behind the ayush.
However some people has alrealy noticed the cloths of the Ayush, though they are not rich or have understanding of rich but from thr attire of Ayush of Ayush they cn clearly tell, he is defiantly a noble, he can't be civilian.
Few minutes later.
However, just as Ayush was about to reach the entrance, he heard many footsteps of horses galloping toward the village.
Ayush noticed that there were around thirty people coming on horseback, holding swords in their hands. For a moment, even Ayush was confused, thinking he had been caught by the Mughals. But then he noticed the soldiers' clothes, which were not of the Mughal style. From this, Ayush calculated that they might be from another dynasty or kingdom entering the village.
Ayush didn't make any movement, instead stepping aside from the road to wait and observe what they would do next. After all, he didn't want to make enemies unnecessarily, which could affect his plan.
And he also wanted to know what they intended to do. If the villagers needed help, he might assist them, which would help him integrate the village into his kingdom and eventually form a new empire for Bharat.
"Hey, where is the chief of the village? Why hasn't he come out yet?" a scared-faced man holding a mace in his hand yelled.
.
"Malik... (Master)... let us go, Malik. We don't have enough food for the taxes this year. The rats have eaten most of the crops, and if you take them as taxes, we won't be able to survive, Malik," an elderly man in his sixties came out from a hut, crying in pain as he knelt down in front of the scarred-faced man.
Ayush stood back on the road and saw the whole thing happen. He was not interested becoming involved, and he had no intention of getting involved.
Above all, Ayush was aware that he lacked the strength to confront these individuals and that he had no desire to start trouble suddenly.
He had a plan, a careful strategy he needed to follow. The village, the taxes, and the struggles of its people were not his immediate concern. What mattered most to Ayush was how he could use this moment to his advantage, whether it was gaining the trust of the villagers or gathering information about who these men were.
The scared man dismounted from his horse, gripping the mace tightly in his hand. Without saying a word, he hurled the weapon at the old man's back.
"Uhh..." the old man cried out in pain, collapsing onto the ground. But no one from the village stepped forward to help him. The villagers, despite their sympathy, stood frozen, afraid to act. They had already paid their taxes, and they knew this wasn't about the taxes anymore. It was the village chief who was holding things up, and the fear of retaliation kept them quiet.
The scar-faced man, his eyes cold and merciless, stepped closer to the old man.
"So, do you think you can keep delaying the payment of taxes over and over, repeating the same excuse every time?" he demanded, his voice dripping with scorn.
"Malik… please spare me, Malik(master)! We really do not have much food in our homes…!" The old man clung to the leg of the scar-faced man, his voice trembling with desperation.
"Ugh… get off! Don't dirty my clothes…" The scar-faced man looked at him with a disgusted expression, repulsed by the old man's dirt-covered form.
"Hehe… since you don't have food or money to pay taxes, I've heard that you recently married your youngest son to a very beautiful woman. Why don't you send her to sleep with me, and I'll let you off the taxes? What do you think? The scared faced man said arrogantly.
As soon as he said that, the scar-faced man looked around at the villagers. When their eyes met his, all of them turned their heads down in shame and anger, knowing they didn't have the strength to fight against such injustice.
At this, Ayush's forehead bulged with veins as anger surged through him. He couldn't help but sneer at the villagers' powerless stance.
How could they allow this to happen? How could they just accept this kind of abuse?
Ayush's patience finally snapped. His hand moved instinctively, and he glanced at the system, a cold resolve settling within him.
"System, summon all the elite guards stationed just outside the village and have them come here now," Ayush commanded, his voice firm and unyielding.
He wasn't going to let this continue. Not on his watch. The time for watching from the sidelines was over. He was going to take action. And this was also opportunity for ayush to convinve the villagers.
[A/N Note. :- Are you enjoying the chapters?]