Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

"Oh, have the American colonies started to trade with the Bharatiya Empire?" Mateusz, along with the other Europeans listening to the conversation, were taken aback.

"No. If I'm not wrong, the Bharatiya Empire has established a trade route with New Mexico, with its own ships."

"So fast!" Philippe de Valois, a French-origin merchant, exclaimed, feeling palpitations in his heart.

"Yes. A week ago, the Ministry of Agriculture published an article in the newspaper about diversifying the crops of the Bharatiya Empire by planting new types of fruits and vegetables in various States. What we are currently seeing now should be part of the initiative taken by the ministry."

Mateusz Sobieski nodded his head in understanding.

The farmers planting the seedlings on the farm were confused as to why so many white people were staring at them as if they were monkeys in a zoo. Just when the landlord was about to question the foreigners about what they were doing, Samuel smiled, waved at him, and left. The landlord was left scratching his head.

A few weeks later, the tour eventually reached Madurai.

Angelo Bianchi, a merchant from the Papal State, frowned as he smelled turmeric in the air, "Mihai, why are there so many Demigod houses in this nation?"

"This is getting too much. No matter which village, town, or city we go to, these Demigod houses can be seen everywhere. Don't these blasphemers know that they are going to hell for not believing in the lord and saviour Jesus Christ?"

Mihai Petrova didn't even respond; he completely ignored it. This was not the first time the man made such complaints. If not for the fact that he was quite rich and would occasionally treat everyone to a large meal, he would have been sent back to Thiruvananthapuram.

The tour continued. They had gone through Rameshwaram, Madurai, Kanchipuram, Tirupati, Hampi, the capital Bengaluru, and finally, now they were in Ujjain.

Wilhelm von Greifen got up from a pleasant sleep and saw Mihai taking with him all the clothes that had been washed and dried yesterday. He was curious, "Mr. Mihai, where are you taking the clothes?"

Mihai Petrova smiled, "To the ironing shop!"

"Um, to the what?"

Mihai didn't continue to explain but motioned William to come with him.

William, looking at the women sprinkling water onto their clothes and ironing them with a hot iron, quickly understood the use of such a thing.

Mihai, noticing the surprised expression on William's face, laughed, "It's surprising, isn't it? Such a simple design hadn't been invented by anyone in the West. This was invented by a Bharatiya laundryman called Jitendra. His invention was only made a few months ago, but due to its usefulness and his very low charge to sell the manufacturing patent, it spread throughout the empire."

"What do you think? It's amazing, isn't it?"
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William nodded numbly, "Can I buy the patent? How much will it cost?"

Mihai looked at William with a weird expression on his face, "Are you from the Republic of Venice, the Portuguese Empire, or the Tsar's Russian Empire?"

William shook his head, "No, I'm from the Holy Roman Empire. Why do you ask?"

Mihai was even more surprised, "Then your country doesn't have patent regulations like the Bharatiya Empire. Moreover, it doesn't even have a good relationship with the Bharatiya Empire. In such a situation, why do you even want to buy a patent? If you want to sell it in the Holy Roman Empire, can't you just copy the design? It should be easy enough, shouldn't it? With one look, you know how it works."

William was embarrassed. He actually didn't know about any patent laws of the Bharatiya Empire because all he had done since travelling to the Bharatiya Empire was trade with the companies and nothing else. He never had the idea of obtaining a patent or manufacturing something in the Holy Roman Empire. The idea only crossed his mind when he saw the usefulness of the iron and how simple it was to make. He thought, 'If I could make this in the Holy Roman Empire, they should sell for a lot.'

"Um, makes sense," he awkwardly nodded.

The tour continued to Varanasi, Prayag, and Kurukshetra.

Jørgen Eriksen was the oldest tourist among the group. He was from the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway.

Getting down in Indraprastha, he immediately noticed something odd. "Why are all these well-dressed people opening a lid and looking at it with interest?"

Mihai did not have an answer to the question either, so he looked at Samuel to see if he knew anything.

Samuel looked at the device people were holding in their hands and immediately recognized what it was.

"It's a pocket edition sundial."

"I have read about it in the news recently. It was only invented a month back by a pair of Sanathana and Jewish government employees working at the port. Apparently, they invented it as they felt inconvenienced viewing the time."

"It was written that they had made millions from their patent fees."

Jørgen Eriksen was shocked. "A month ago? Isn't that the time we just left? How is it possible to manufacture the thing and make it so widespread which had been invented only recently so quickly?"

His heartbeat began to increase, 'If even a civilian product can be manufactured so quickly and spread throughout the empire spanning over four or five million square kilometres which is like half of Europe, how fast can its weapons be produced and mobilized?' Just thinking about it made him shiver.

Samuel did not understand the complicated thoughts of Jørgen, but he still shook his head. "It's not widespread, sir. It's still a luxury product, only bought by the rich. Due to the high patent fees, the companies that bought the patent have to sell the product as a luxury item until they can recoup the patent cost and make a profit. I believe after that, it will be much cheaper."

"As for why you are seeing so many people using the sundial in Indraprastha, well, mainly because Indraprastha is the agricultural capital of the Bharatiya Empire. This is the place where all the trade takes place if you want to buy an agricultural plot in the 650,000 square kilometres of Indo-Gangetic Plains."

"This is the most fertile soil in the world. Anything you put here grows. The land is made of gold."

"So, the people you see here are all landowners, each of them owning no less than 100 acres of land."

"For these high-net-worth individuals, spending a few thousand Varaha on an experimental pocket sundial is no problem at all if it means they will be able to gauge their time accurately."

Jørgen Eriksen was a little relieved but still uneasy. The speed at which the Bharatiya Empire developed made him scared. By the time he passed from the southern part of the empire to the Northern part, he had already witnessed two new products being invented and multiple iterations steadily coming out from one state to another.

The mobilization and manufacturing capacity of Bharat not only impressed Jørgen Eriksen but also Philippe de Valois, Angelo Bianchi, and Dmitri Ivanov—the few among the many merchants who had come along on the tour.

'Well, forget it. No matter how powerful the Bharatiya Empire becomes, Denmark-Norway isn't going to be affected. Instead, it might even reap some benefits. With the existence of these eastern powers, maybe it can keep those bloody westerners occupied with something,' Jørgen comforted himself.

In the final stretch of the tour, the group went through Haridwar, Ayodhya, Mathura, Astina Pur, Kedarnath, Badrinath, and finally Dwarka.

From Dwarka, the group returned back to Thiruvananthapuram through the Arabian Sea. Samuel and Mihai made a lot of money from the tour—150,300 Varaha to be precise—and this was the profit from just one tour. Both of them were overjoyed.

On returning, they immediately decided to set up another tour, but this time they planned for a larger group. Now that they had the experience, they decided to employ a few more people to handle tasks like washing clothes, cooking, medical assistance, and other necessities.

As for the carriages, Samuel resolutely sold the ones they had used in Dwarka, as bringing them back to Thiruvananthapuram would have cost a few thousand Varaha. Adding a few thousand more to that amount could actually get him brand-new carriages.

Selling the carriages and Horses for 1500 Varaha each, Samuel and Mihai ordered the construction of six new carriages, all custom-built for the purpose of touring.

The people who went on the tour spoke highly of the experience, which significantly increased the popularity of Benveniste and Petrova Touring. Their demand for the next tour skyrocketed. Amazingly enough, even a Bharatiya man signed up for the tour, as even he had not seen the full stretch of his own empire.

In this way, the partnership of a 38-year-old Jewish man and a young 27-year-old Romani man set up the largest touring company in the world.