Princess Fighter: Search for the Throne

VII

All correspondence received, translated by Saraswati with the help of a fourth team member who did not live in Gurukul's place.

He's the handler of the new recruits. During the first six months of post-selection, it is his duty to train them and prepare them for real-life tasks.

Name's Shauryaveer. At the age of eighteen, she was the youngest handler and was renowned for her ability to evaluate people and strategies to remain undetected and undercover.

"What is your first impression of the new group" Prithvi asked Ramanujam.

"The four boys are all children of former members of our team. The only thing we need to check is their talent. With the programme I have created, we have to get a fair idea of whether and which is suitable for our team. As for the girl, I will send a letter to Charulata today with an investigation into the girl's background. If she had recommended her daughter to the team, I assumed that she would have done so for a legitimate reason. In the meantime, we can let him train with the others. All we know is that he may be stepping down from the program himself" Ramanujam told his superiors.

Prithvi fiddled with the colorful bracelet on his arm while thinking about the situation.

"Tell Saraswati to send a message to Shauryaveer. I want him to come to Gurukul this weekend. Let him see potential recruits. His instincts were quite precise," with that, he walked towards the back end of the room and pressed the lever.

A gaping crack opened on the floor and he jumped into it. The floor glides back smoothly.

Ramanujam came out of the room to give Saraswati the necessary instructions.

"Chief, there's a letter from Gurukul. Why did they send him here, not to your house?" the police came to Belavati's cabin at the police station.

"Is the letter addressed to me personally?" he asked, immersed in the report the day before.

"Written - To, Chief of the North Zilla Police Station. Also, the man who took her, was waiting outside, who knows you have an answer to bring back" the police said.

Bela almost snatched the letter from her hand and tore it apart.

Scanning the contents quickly, he said, "Take the courier to wait. Also, I don't want to be disturbed for the next fifteen minutes. Make sure you close the door on the way out."

"There must be bad news about his daughter's performance in Gurukul. I've never seen this chieftain confused," the police mused as they walked out.

Bela looked at the letter but her mind saw the events that happened twenty years ago.

"Please give this to the man. Ask him to send it to the Head of the Administrative Department personally. Also, I'll leave for the house early today," Bela called the police and gave him instructions.

Walking towards the house, he read back the coded letter from Prithvi. He had asked that question to Charulata.

Bela had not heard herself called by that name for sixteen years now.

When he moved to North Zilla for the first time with his father, a new identity had been given to him.

It took him almost a year to recover from his injuries.

In fact, he had met Raghuveer due to his injuries. Back then, Raghu's father was a local doctor and Raghu used to help him at the clinic.

Bela and Raghu become friends because of the frequent times he goes to the clinic. His injuries were quite terrifying and he must have been curious.

But to his credit, he never urged him for details beyond what he shared.

She felt a fundamental kindness in him and after two years of getting to know each other, she asked him to marry her.

Three years younger than him, he did not hesitate a second before telling her that he was relieved he had proposed to her.

Had it been handed to her, she would have taken another decade before mustering up the courage to ask her out.

"You're home early today. Did the sun rise from the wrong end?" Raghu teased him, as he entered the house.

"I got a letter from the department where Mriga is currently interning. The head of his department turned out to be my junior from the previous err," he said cautiously.

There were some things that Bela had never shared with anyone, even with Raghu.

"Mriga told me that you had asked her to apply to the Administration department during the last semester break. Funnily enough, when I attended Gurukul, I didn't even know that there was a department with that name. I assume that you think our daughter is capable enough to propose there," she had a slow question in her voice.

"You know that I thank you for your unwavering trust in me. I will never abuse that belief. I believe that with proper training and guidance, Mriga will surpass my skills in no time. I just want him to have a chance to realize his true self. Whether he wants to go that way further or not, it will be solely his decision" she told him.

Bela is attacked by memories of the night's past.

At the age of eighteen, she qualified to become a member of the bona fide spy network under the service of Cakra Suraksha. As fast as lightning, he was one of the most promising talents in his group.

For the next three years, he traveled throughout the kingdom to carry out the orders of service.

Its main task is to identify other royal spy networks, if any in Chandragarh.

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

Northern Zilla

Bela's main task is to identify other royal spy networks, if any in Chandragarh.

His big break came during that summer when he was just twenty-one years old.

He has found a group of agents working for Saptsindhu, a neighboring country that has long weaved aspirations to conquer Chandragarh.

Back then, Bela had been stationed in West Zilla for the past eight months.

Hostility between Chandragarh and Sapsindhu is a phenomenon that is almost a century old.

When the first queen, Rani Damyanti had taken over Chandragarh and established her reign for the time, the then ruler of Saptsindhu approached her and asked her to marry him to join the two territories.

The queen refused on the grounds of differences in the way of ruling the respective monarchy. The king has been again humiliated and vowed to conquer Chandragarh.

The next few years had seen repeated fighting between the two neighbors. After several failed attempts to seize the kingdom, there has been a tentative truce signed between them.

They have agreed to abide by the terms set out in the peace treaty because there are financial and human losses in every war.

But since then, the secret infiltration has begun from Sapsindhu to Chandragarh.

It was then that the Ministry of Cakra Suraksha was born. It was designed in such a way that they operated completely under the radar with a minimum hierarchy and had an early retirement policy.

The success of staying undetected for many years is the fact that ground operators have not worked for more than five to eight years.

They are excluded from active field work and new talent is introduced. Retired agents have the option of being sent to another ministry of their choice or returning to civilian life.

Bela recalled the encounter that almost took her life. There were rumors circulating about an intruder hiding in a certain village in West Zilla, that summer.

Despite his best efforts to gather concrete information, he was unable to find anything solid.

New agents have been assigned under him during that time. He just finished his training. Name Prithvi.

...****************...

Seventeen years ago

"Charulata didi*, I think this rumor is unfounded. If there's a large group of men infiltrating our border, wouldn't border guards be aware of it?" Prithvi.

“I have no doubts about the ability of the Defense forces but there is a reason why our ministry exists. If there is a breach at the security perimeter first, we need to identify and eliminate the threat with minimum noise. Open your eyes and ears to the ground" he advised.

They spend hours exploring markets and boarding houses in search of intruders. The breakthrough came from the brothel where Prithvi was his regular visitor.

One of the boys who spent the night with him, there, told of a man who boasted that the quality of Saptsindhu wine was better than the quality of Chandragarh.

Prithvi has removed the mask of modesty and immediately asks the prostitute who has interacted with the stranger who said so about wine.

The petrified girl had been mercilessly roasted before an accurate sketch of the man appeared.

"Good job. If the man had visited a brothel in this area, I assumed that he and his partner had found accommodation nearby. I'll start with the 'act of housing inspector' I start tomorrow morning and visit all the houses within two kilometers. We haven't been able to find them in any of the public boarding houses, so it's safe to assume that they have local help. In the meantime, you need to make sure that the girl from the brothel is given a new identity and sent from Zilla as soon as possible. I don't want him to talk to anyone about it and I don't want the guy to come back and look for him anytime soon, if we can't track him down until then, either," Charulata instructed quickly.

"Do you want to ask me anything else?" Prithvi's young voice held back the doubt.

Impatience emanated from Charulata's body, "I DON'T care about gender, food, sleep, or other preferences. What matters to me is my ability as an agent. So don't waste your time or time on unimportant things."

Prithvi bowed deeply to her and left the room.

...****************...

Next morning

Charulata had visited forty houses without success. Now, he was beginning to doubt his assessment of the situation.

"We are law-abiding citizens. You will not be able to find a single housing rule that is violated here. Yet the man next door was a different story," the fat woman snorted.

He is interrogated by Charulata who is disguised as a district housing inspector. Charulata's ears pierced the tone of the woman's voice.

"Why, what rules did he break?" Charulata asked indifferently.

"It's not my place to say it, but I've seen so many strange men come in and out of her house. I'm sure he's taken the dorm but hasn't reported it to Zilla's board. He definitely would not pay the tax for it," the woman complained, happily.

Adrenaline flows through Charulata. He thanked the noisy woman and got out of the house.

Pretending to read his notes, he observed the possibility of the house, clandestinely. He debated whether to return with Prithvi or attack now.

The priority was not to let those people slip out of their hands.

Writing a coded message, he hires a small child to send it to where he and Prithvi live.

He patrolled the area for the next few hours, hoping his fellow agents would receive the letter and come soon.

It soon became night and he couldn't wait any longer. Even if one of them sneaked out, he would have trouble tracking everything down. Breathing regularly, he went ahead and knocked on the door.

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

Gurukul, Central Zilla

"We have received a reply from the North Zilla police station" Ramanujam said.

Prithvi took the parchment from his hand and read it –

.........

..."It's nice to smell the West wind after all this time. This bird carries my smell. Take it under your wing, if you think it's worth it."...

.........

A smile adorned Prithvi's face, making him look radiant.

"Ask the Gurukul registrant for a detailed record of the girl's academic and extracurricular performance. I'm very interested in whatever comments or observations his teacher has made over the years about his personality that can give him insight into how and why" he ordered.

...****************...

Mriga's whole body hurts. It's only been five days but he's been bone tired.

His duties had taken him to the whole of Gurukul many times. The five Admin department trainees walked at least twenty kilometers a day, if not more.

And then there is the pressure to complete the task within the given time limit.

“Now I know why Mama asked me to join this department. At this rate, I will be able to participate in the annual Chandragarh Marathon, forget the school sports day. Because of this task, I don't have time to meet or chat with my friends either" he lamented to the mirror in front of him.

"Oh, you're back. I didn't see you at lunch again today. What kind of work keeps you so busy?" Ishani comes and stands beside him.

"Don't ask. I don't know how I can survive three more months of this torment. I'm so hungry that I can devour an entire house right now" he exclaimed.

"Oh, my queen is overrated. Let's go to the dining room. Your food is waiting for you" Ishani laughed.

"You look pale and tired. Are you not healthy? I haven't even seen you in the past week" Yash exclaimed with concern.

He was already impatiently waiting for Mriga to arrive at the foodhall.

"I was busy with the tasks given by the teacher. Today was the first day I managed to finish on time. My last few days have been the last people to come for dinner. One night, I had to beg them to serve my food because it was past their closing time" he lamented.

"Why are you burdened with so much work? We're all just interns here, not war" he said.

"By the way, now that we're all here, don't talk about it any further. I wonder how you will finish devouring the house, tonight," teased Ishani.

Yash stops Mriga outside his dorm. Waving towards them, Ishani went inside, leaving the two of them standing under the pale moonlight.

"I, uh. wish you could come with me tomorrow to the market. I had to study the different policies and practices of the shop owners they used to make a profit. That won't take much time. We could go and have lunch somewhere and maybe watch a drama at night" he said, trying to sound relaxed.

He shook his head and said gloomily,

"I can't come. A new teacher is coming tomorrow and we all have to report to the department, at exactly 6 a.m. We have been asked to work all week. No holidays even on weekends, except when sick."

"What's wrong with them? For God's sake, it's just the Administration department. I never asked you this but why did you choose to propose here? They can't treat you like this. I hope you realize that we were allowed to change our internship department once during the first month. Why don't you apply to the Finance department? With your grades, I'm sure they won't say no. The project I'm working on, good. Also, this by the way, I will work with you for a hundred more days ahead," she finished the last line with a timid smile.

Mriga was tempted, very tempted for a moment.

He took a deep breath and spoke flatly, "The idea sounds good and I wish I could do that. Unfortunately, I have to say no this time. I like to complete the tasks I do, no matter the challenge. This is a choice I made and I will look at it to the best of my ability. Can I ask you to give me four months? I promise to make up for my absence after the internship is over."

With that, he, impulsively, reached out to touch her cheek and ran inside the dormitory door.

Mriga reached the Admin department the next morning, shocked to find the receptionist's seat empty. The remaining students had not yet appeared either.

Normally, Saraswati had already prepared a task force for the five of them before they all arrived.

"Are you looking for a receptionist?" ask for a voice.

Mriga looked around in confusion, trying to find the source of the sound. Suddenly his eyes fell on a bastard-looking man, sitting in one corner of the room.

A dirty washcloth was tied to his head, his hands were full of dirt and there was a foul smell coming out of him.

"Who are you?" he took a step back.

Just then, the remaining four boys reached the reception area.

Over the past week, they had barely found time to interact with each other.

But Mriga has managed to form a bit of an impression about each of them based on this limited exposure.

Abhirath was the first person to complete a given task every night.

Whether he used speed or intelligence or both, none of them had managed to defeat him for the past five days.

Chiranjeev and Nirbhay work as a team. Mriga found this on the second day of their internship.

The two of them had opened the correspondence package to send and exchanged it by address so that the two could take one side of Gurukul each and complete their tasks more efficiently.

Their body language and quarrels show a comfortable friendship. He has concluded that they are old friends who do not mind if one of them gets rewarded for the efforts made.

Lastly, Vandit seemed to have the same level of skill as hers. He got this impression because the two of them came back after completing the task at almost the same time, almost every night.

Surprisingly, he had never crossed paths with any of the four boys during the past few years of living in Gurukul.

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

*Didi - Sister