Walker in Modern World

After a grueling four-day journey, the carriage finally stopped. Sanjay got down, his back aching despite the cushion he'd brought along this time.

'At least I tried,' he thought, but even with the cushion, the endless jolts of the road had taken their toll.

As soon as he stepped out, a few servants came running toward him.

The head servant bowed politely. "Hello, sir. Please come inside. Master is waiting for you."

'Master?' Sanjay thought. 'Is he talking about Rajiv? Most probably.'

Glancing back, he saw the servants unloading his luggage. Tarun, still seated in the carriage, was smiling.

"Sanjay, whenever you're free, visit our clothing store. You'll find me there," Tarun said.

"Sure," Sanjay replied with a nod, waving him off as the carriage departed.

Turning his attention toward the Kalyan household, Sanjay couldn't help but marvel. The estate was massive, with multiple villas, each far larger than the one he lived in. At the center stood an enormous villa, towering above the others.

The head servant, however, wasn't leading him to the central villa but to one of the side villas.

Sanjay followed him inside, and the servant guided him to a study room.

Rajiv was already waiting there, seated at a polished wooden desk. The moment he saw Sanjay, he stood up with a wide smile.

"Sanjay, my brother! Come in. How was your journey?"

"It was alright," Sanjay replied, forcing a smile.

'Well, I can't exactly tell him I practically broke my back on those nonexistent roads, right?'

Rajiv chuckled, then quickly turned serious. "Good to hear. I have a very important matter to discuss with you."

Sanjay raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"You'll need to be in the royal court tomorrow," Rajiv said without preamble.

"Why?" Sanjay asked, his voice tinged with confusion.

"The royal family is interested in your business."

"What?!" Sanjay exclaimed, stunned.

Rajiv nodded. "Your goods are becoming famous everywhere. The clothes you've supplied are now seen as a symbol of status and power. More importantly, those few suits you made—they've only been given to the prince and the dukes. The royal family likely wants to meet the man behind all the commotion."

Sanjay's chest tightened with anxiety. His mind raced with possibilities. What if they demanded his trade secrets? What if they threatened him with execution if he didn't comply?

Rajiv, noticing his friend's distress, placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Listen, Sanjay, as your friend, let me offer you some advice. Until recently, you were just a small merchant, but now you're a wealthy merchant—still without a noble title. In the capital, people will look down on you because of that. Some may try to exploit you, either by befriending you or through threats, especially given the current situation."

Sanjay frowned. "What situation?"

Rajiv sighed deeply. "As the king grows older, the four princes have intensified their fight for the throne. While you aren't directly involved, many people want a piece of your luxury goods. Your business could become a bargaining chip for someone seeking political leverage."

Sanjay's stomach sank. The situation was far worse than he had imagined. Should he pack his belongings and retreat after investing so much?

Seeing the tension written all over Sanjay's face, Rajiv added, "Don't panic. I'll support you as much as I can. But you need to tread carefully from here on out."

Sanjay nodded silently, absorbing the gravity of the situation. This wasn't just about business anymore—it was about survival in a political game he hadn't signed up for.

Even if they tried, they wouldn't be able to track the source of his products, so why couldn't they just continue doing business with him as usual?

"Well, the situation isn't as bad as it seems," Rajiv reassured him. "The king will be in the royal court as well, so no one would dare lay a finger on you—for now. But you need to be more careful from here on."

"Okay," Sanjay replied, resigned. There wasn't much else he could do. He knew how much he had grown over the past two and a half years—it was almost too much, even for him to believe.

After discussing a few more details, Sanjay was shown to his room to rest. Once he locked the door, he immediately shifted back to the modern world.

After having lunch, Sanjay told his parents he needed to step out to fix a few things related to the software. His parents happily agreed this time, proud of his success.

Sanjay made his way to the nearest cyber café and began checking his emails. Then he saw it—what he'd been waiting for all week.

A mail from Oracle.

They were interested in buying the software and the technology behind it. The email included contact details, but nothing more.

Excited but nervous, Sanjay returned home and used his parents' landline to call the number in the email. He didn't need to hide in a phone booth anymore since his parents were aware of his growing business.

"Hello," a male voice answered.

"Hello, this is Sanjay Sharma, creator of the 'iLoveImage' software. I received your company's email asking me to contact you."

"Ah, yes, Sanjay. Hello! I'm the vice president of Oracle's tech team."

"Nice to meet you," Sanjay replied.

"We wanted to know if you would be interested in selling the software and the underlying technology," the man explained.

Sanjay paused for a few seconds, weighing his words carefully. "Well, I'll need to take a closer look at your offer first."

The vice president on the other end of the line understood the hesitation. Nobody would easily sell such a profitable piece of software. However, Oracle was in urgent need of the technology. The world was rapidly moving toward the digital era, and they couldn't afford to lag behind.

They were planning to release their new software in six months, and adding this feature would be a game-changer. While Oracle's in-house team had been working on OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology for years, their progress was abysmal. Even accurately detecting a single word was a massive hurdle for their current system.

Compared to the OCR technology Sanjay had developed, Oracle's efforts looked laughable. His software had set a new standard for the industry.

The failure of Oracle's OCR efforts had also frustrated their investors. Customers were calling incessantly, demanding to know why such a feature wasn't available in their software despite the hefty subscription fees they were paying.

To salvage their reputation and secure their competitive edge, Oracle needed to acquire Sanjay's technology as quickly as possible—before a competitor swooped in and disrupted their business.

"Sanjay, why don't we meet in person? We can discuss things then," the vice president suggested.

"Sure," Sanjay replied and shared his address.

He also received an email from Adobe, but he thought to himself, They're not big enough to pay what this technology is worth, so he decided not to contact them for now.

---

In the medieval world, after some rest, Sanjay prepared for the next day's meeting with the king.

Sanjay and Rajiv boarded a carriage and instructed the driver to head toward the Royal Court.

A few minutes later, they reached the top of a hill. Sanjay peered out the window and saw a massive stone fort, patrolled by guards clad in full armor from head to toe.

At the gate, the carriage was stopped, and they were told to proceed on foot. Only members of the royal family were permitted to ride carriages beyond this point.

After taking several turns within the fort, they finally arrived at the Royal Court.

Sanjay observed the grand hall, which reminded him of scenes from historical movies. The king sat on a high throne, with officials seated on smaller thrones arranged along both sides of the hall.

The king and his officials were already in session, deep in a heated discussion.

When Sanjay and Rajiv arrived, the room quieted, and all eyes turned toward them.

Rajiv, familiar with court protocols, dropped to both knees and bowed. Sanjay quickly followed his lead.

The king raised a hand, signaling them to stand. Both men rose but kept their gazes lowered, as Rajiv had advised Sanjay earlier.

"Sanjay, I presume?" an official stood and addressed him.

"A merchant from a distant land who has brought luxury items into our kingdom and completely destroyed our businesses. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Sanjay was stunned by the accusation.

'Destroyed their businesses?' he thought. 'There's an unspoken rule in commerce—if a company can't keep up with changes, it's bound to fail. I've done nothing wrong; I'm simply conducting business.'

Seeing Sanjay hesitate, the official smirked and continued, "Majesty, we cannot even be sure this is not a conspiracy by our enemies. What if, one day, we eat their food and find ourselves poisoned?"

The room erupted in commotion.

"Rubbish!" an elderly man rose from his chair, his voice commanding.

"Our family is directly involved in procuring and distributing these goods. Do you think we wouldn't test them for tampering before delivering them to the nobility? Or are you implying that we, too, are enemies of the kingdom?"

The old man's gaze burned into the accuser.

"Furthermore," he added, "I've heard that previous food supplies came from your controlled territories. Does that mean you were feeding us food laced with animal waste? If other nations could do such things, what's stopping you from doing the same?"

'What a brilliant response,' Sanjay thought, suppressing a smile. He recognized the old man as the Duke of the Kalyan family—Rajiv's father. Rajiv had mentioned that his father would be present to support them.

The court descended into chaos as officials began shouting over one another.

"Enough!" the king's voice boomed, silencing the hall.

"Let us hear from the man himself. What does he have to say in his defense?"

The room's attention turned to Sanjay.

Keeping his head lowered, Sanjay spoke, "Majesty, since I am being accused of coming from an enemy kingdom, allow me to offer a gift to demonstrate my sincerity."

The court murmured in surprise. A gift? What kind of gift could a merchant offer the kingdom?

Surely, it wouldn't be something as common as salt or sugar—those were hardly needed by the royal family.

Moments later, a group of royal guards entered, carrying a large iron box.

Sanjay walked toward the box, unlocked it, and opened the lid.

The box was filled to the brim with steel ingots, their polished surfaces gleaming under the court's lights.

Seeing such a vast quantity of pure steel, the officials were stunned. One by one, they stood from their chairs, their astonishment evident.

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