Princess Fighter: Search for the Throne

XI

Royal Palace, Capital

It was late at night. The oil in the giant lamp had already been replaced three times but it seemed like it needed to be filled once more before the night staff in the palace could rest.

The Queen seems to be in the mood to stay up, again!

The blueprint of the next Queen's election competition is almost ready. The input has come from all the heads of the zilla and Rani Samyukta has personally spent hours pondering over it.

He wants the process to be as complete as possible to choose the person who is best prepared for the role. For him, excellence in education or sport is not as important as the total amount of one's internal composition.

She wanted to test the opinions and reactions of these young girls against various real-life situations that her position would demand in the years to come. He didn't want to leave anything to chance.

Chandragarh has always managed to pick the best candidate in the past, and he wants that to continue.

The problem lies in the fact that the criteria were previously known to everyone and people can spend enough time trying to prepare and defeat the system, something like 'Guide on how to be the next Queen'.

Therefore, it becomes imperative to make a plan that tests the actual courage of the contestants and makes any preparations beforehand - irrelevant.

Indrani patiently waited for his best friend to finish reading the document.

Although there are only a few months to complete the twenty-five years of Rani Samyukta's reign, there are still three more years to guide the new queen, who will be chosen in the coming year.

So Chandragarh is in safe hands for now. Indrani did not understand why Rani Samyukta was so agitated.

There is no need to prepare and extend the selection process that has been tiring.

But he chose not to voice this opinion because of many past events where Indrani failed to see the bigger picture and ended up just focusing on what was in front of him.

Rani Samyukta belongs to the preemptive stronghold while Indrani is more reactive.

"I think this has become a broad plan. I would like to announce the newly amended rules before the end of this semester in Gurukul, so that the female candidates have enough time to plan, discuss, and strategize the same as them, he said, parents when they return. Nor will they be under any pressure from the lessons to distract them during this period" Rani Samyukta told him.

"Umm, so is the document ready for the final draft?" Indrani wants to make sure.

"Yes, make sure to include all the points I have added tonight," replied Rani Samyukta with exhaustion that finally sounded in her voice.

"Instead of reaching for the next pile of documents, why don't you sleep for a few hours? There was hardly any time left before the sun came up. At this rate, you will not have a single black hair left from the sun. When you finish your term as Queen. Walking beside me on the street, people will be confused because your age is approaching my mother rather than my age" Indrani said.

He smiled, pinched the base of his nose and said, "Maybe they will. After all, you stopped aging beyond the time limit. Is it any wonder that your parents still receive so many applications for your marriage today" he teases his friend, who remains single only to better serve the Queen and her country.

"Well, if you don't survive with a lifestyle suitable for monks, you'll look like me too. I love to enjoy the little pleasures in life. When was the last time you put a hot jalebi in your mouth and enjoyed the taste? If you're gonna keep eating prunes, you're gonna look like that, aren't you?" he mumbled slowly.

Looking at the Queen's raised eyebrows, he hurriedly changed the topic and asked, "When do you want to hold the first elimination round for the competition?"

“Well, this first stage competition will actually be the biggest allowance. Let's give them three months to prepare after they file it,”.

Indrani noted the same thing. They were sitting in the queen's private room.

The two women wore soft* cotton sarees that were hand-woven by local craftsmen.

The Queen preferred to wear and promote commodities that were planted within her kingdom. Its motto is 'make it yourself', which leads to reduced dependence on imports.

Each Queen in Chandragarh has stressed on healthy export versus import ratios to maintain revenue streams and ensure that neighboring countries depend on them in some form or another.

It is always beneficial for others to owe them rather than the other way around.

As a role model for his people, Rani Samyukta uses every opportunity to encourage the growth of domestic trade at all costs. The goal behind this is to empower the Chandragarh community to become financially independent and thrive.

In fact, tax policy is also designed with the same motto. People who pay taxes regularly and fairly are often given considerable rebates. They are recognized and praised at the annual town hall led by the queen.

The network Chandragarh builds across borders is not only used to follow what is happening politically, but also to emulate best practices, if any, in the governance and economic policies of other countries.

The latest change is the way transactions in Chandragarh are conducted.

Since the last few years, the financial system has changed from a pure barter system to a combination of barter and coin systems of various metals having different values attached to them.

This mixed system allows flexibility for people to trade as per available resources.

The system is prevalent in the small neighboring country that shares a border on the East side with Chandragarh.

After hearing that, the Queen had conducted many experiments and evaluations before placing her in Chandragarh gradually.

The lower strata of the economy welcomed the policy with open arms because of the flexibility it offered. It has been prevalent since then.

For example, if a shopkeeper wanted to sell his clay pot, the notice board outside his shop would look like this –

*Payments are accepted in coins or the like.

Seller's Weekly Terms* -

• cause of chicken

• A grain sack

• green Gram

• tea leaves and others...

...----------------...

Two weeks later

Mriga could not believe that time had passed so quickly. Shaurya had told him the night before that this would be the last time he came out for an assignment during the internship.

"Don't assume that you've suddenly acquired some life-changing skills in the last few weeks. You can't go out late at night like this EVER, without a senior team member accompanying you. I shouldn't have heard of you showing off your powers of observation to anyone and nor should I catch the slightest bit of you bragging about the various places we visit, to your classmates, friends, or to your friends, and another." she had warned him last night with her usual cold tone.

From then on, he felt humble. It was as if something precious was taken from him. Seeing her so quiet, Shaurya asks if she was unwell before they parted that night. He shook his head negatively and went inside the store without a word.

But that feeling stayed all night. He had been up until late at night, first cleaning up the shop thoroughly, updating the registers and then doing the same to the room where he had spent his nights for about the past month.

Shaurya hasn't returned as long as he's awake.

Does this mean he hasn't slept in this store for the past few weeks, as he says? he thought in a sleepy heart as he finally went to bed before dawn broke.

His mood did not improve by the time he woke up. In fact, she was completely moody the next morning and did not expect to be reunited with the rest of the team, who would arrive at the store in the next few minutes.

Despite the fact that he hadn't seen them for weeks, he wasn't excited.

Shaurya had stopped by with breakfast for her some time ago and gave her this news before stepping out again.

He nodded his head at her instructions but said nothing more, making her pout from him.

"Are you sick?" she had asked him harshly but he assured her that he did not.

Shrugging his shoulders, he had left the place, telling her that he would be back soon.

"Well, right, it looks like they didn't send you back to Gurukul but instead trained you to become a shopkeeper. The place looks pretty clean so I don't think you did a bad job. Maybe you finally found your core competency," Abhirath's loud voice did nothing to improve his already rotten mood.

But she ignored his comments and instead smiled for the other boys.

"I hope you're okay. I came looking for you a few times in the evening after our task was done but found the shop always empty," Vandit said those words softly, just aimed at his ears.

He gave her an apologetic smile but offered no reason for his absence.

Chiranjeev looked at her curiously and said, "There's something different about you. But I can't figure it out."

Nirbhay remained silent and observed the shop and its surroundings.

"I'll tell you what's different about him. The superior demeanor he carried on his shoulders for no reason, seemed to have withered in the face of his poor performances in the past few weeks. Think about. Why isn't he involved in even one task given to us? And, you don't know what extraordinary lesson you've missed, "Abhirath directed the last sentence at him.

"How do you know that he's not given a job to do?" Nirbhay asked him, suddenly.

Before Abhirath can answer that question, Shaurya arrives there.

"I see not much has changed since I first saw you in the Office of Business. It seems like these three weeks nothing has improved your attitude" he said flatly.

Immediately regretting, Abhirath lowered his eyes.

"It's okay! I've gathered you all here today because I want to wish you good luck for the rest of your training. I hope you all have managed to improve your skills to some extent in the time you spent here. Make sure to stick around and try to apply some of the learning from the past few days to improve your level even further. This is a small parting gift from me to all of you as a reminder of the time you spent here, "said Shaurya and started handing over identical bags to all of them except Mriga, which accept packages of different sizes.

Touched, they all thanked him and peered into their gift packs.

The beautifully carved wooden cover contained a large pile of parchment and there was writing on the first page - the

...~~ New chapter in your life from now on, make it memorable. ~~~...

Mriga looked at the package in his hand and then looked at Shaurya in confusion.

"Why is yours different from ours? I want to see what you have received" said Nirbhay, curiosity written on his face.

He opened the package. Peering at the contents inside, his smiling face trembled for the first time since last night.

Chiranjeev took the parcel out of Mrignayani's hand and took out his gift. Everyone's mouth is open.

He held a set of white clothes that looked worn and muddy and tangled. He was confused about the reason why the teacher gave him something that looked like an insult rather than a compliment.

Abhirath also stared at the clothes, puzzled. Vandit looked annoyed at his name. Only Nirbhay noticed the smile spreading on his face and the gratitude he directed at the teacher.

He took the clothes back from Chiranjeev's hand and just put them in the bag.

He sees Shaurya first and then to the small shop where he metamorphoses into a better version of himself.

Shaurya has started to leave. He asked them to take their bags and follow him. It's time to report back to Gurukul.

Mriga did not pay much attention to the conversation around him. He was deep in his thoughts enough not to notice the trip back to school.

So it was very surprising when he realized that they had arrived at the entrance gate. He restrained himself, waiting for everyone to finish their farewell with Shaurya.

"I'll wait for you inside the gate. Come on in together," Vandit said to her gently.

He smiled and said, "I'll take my time. Please proceed. See you in the Admin department in a minute."

Shaurya had finished talking to everyone and was waiting for him when he came to him.

"Are you okay? You've been very quiet since last night," she finally let her worries speak through her words.

"I wasn't feeling well until a while ago" he said faintly.

He looked at her with great respect and spoke humbly, "Thank you for the gift. I've also prepared something for you."

He looked at his empty hand and then raised an eyebrow to ask.

"That's a lot of promise. I promise not to ask any more frivolous questions. I promise to follow your teachings as best I can, for the next. I also promise to wait for you to look for me for the next task, whenever you think that I am ready and worthy" he said in a hoarse voice.

It was Shaurya's turn to look at him in amazement. He could barely recognize this calm adult girl in front of him.

Before he could think of a suitable answer, he bowed deeply to her and entered into the gate.

Mriga suddenly felt embarrassed after saying those fiery words to Shaurya and quickly turned around after saying goodbye to him. He could only stare at his backward back until he did not disappear from his sight.

He rushed back to the dormitory to keep his bag in the room before rushing towards the Admin building.

Saraswati is in her usual place. It seems Mriga was the first to arrive there.

"Oh! The boy left before me. Have they not arrived here yet?" he wondered in wonder.

"The four of them had gone to the sports ground with Ramanujam. You have to go inside. Mr. Prithvi is waiting for you" Saraswati answered her unspoken question without a tone in her voice.

Suddenly Mrignayani's heart started pounding.

Will he ask him to leave the team?

He entered the stuffy room he was now familiar with in trepidation. He walked towards Prithvi who was sitting on a chair, scanning through some papers.

He leaned over to touch his feet respectfully.

"Thank you, my son. Come sit down," he pointed towards the chair opposite him.

A wooden stick was resting beside him.

Mriga remembered that she always walked, leaning over it even though there was nothing wrong with her feet on the surface.

"Why am I thinking of irrelevant and insignificant things right now?" he mentally rolled his eyes, reprimanding himself.

Then she wiped her sweaty hands clandestinely on her dress and took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"I'm sure you've been wondering quite often in the last few weeks about the fact that you've been trained differently than the rest of the team. I'm here to tell you why, today. I think now that you've at least learned the fact that the department's main purpose is not to run courier services for Gurukul," he stopped to wait for his reaction.

He nodded his head excitedly and he took it as a gesture to continue speaking, "For now, all you need to know is that this is a secret organization working to protect Chandragarh. A very low team even the people officially guarding the country do not know it. And we worked so hard to keep it going."

Mrignayani tried to keep his face expressionless.

He had suspected something similar but had not expected to be told about it with many words.

"On the basis of your observation and evaluation of duty, I have decided to give you a training opportunity for what may be the greatest honor one can hope for in a lifetime - to serve your country, selflessly. But let me warn you - if you're looking for a moment of your fame, this isn't the place for you. None of this team has ever received a prize or recognition, publicly. In fact, most of our teammates are also unaware of each other's individual achievements . We do our work purely for the love of Chandragarh's glory and security. Now, what do I want to know if you have the desire to carry this burden on your shoulders," Prithvi looked at him with a calm intensity.

......................

*Saree - women's clothing consisting of curtains measuring 5 to 9 yards and usually wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, exposing the middle abdomen.