Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

The tribal chiefs and the tribals, looking at the paper in their hands that they had received in exchange for their hard work, did not know what to do. However, they soon stored the paper, which felt like leaves, in their homes and forgot about it. After all, even though the work was hard, they were fed delicious food, and their lives hadn't changed too much. Instead, their convenience had increased since they no longer had to go hunting or fishing, as the entire population of the two tribes was now completely employed by the outsiders. The food they provided was very delicious and abundant.

The isolation and hatred for the outsiders started to reduce when the outsiders took off their leg skins and joined their hands in front of their totems. They did not understand what the gesture meant, but they did understand that it was a sign of respect. From then on, the tribals occasionally went to the praying places the outsiders had built and joined their hands like the outsiders did.

One certain day, Koora Koorlbardi, the young translator boy who had previously been employed by the Bharatiya Empire and now goes to the school built by the Bharatiya Empire, came before his father with a pleading expression and asked, "Father, can I get the leaves the outsiders gave you?" He had gotten the paper leaves the outsiders usually gave after completing work for translating their language, but he simply handed them over to his father after receiving them. However, a few days ago, he had seen something interesting and wanted to try it out.

"Why do you want it?" Birak Koorlbardi, the father, asked in confusion. The paper leaves the outsiders gave them were very exquisite, so even though they were useless, everyone kept them safely.

"I want to see if I can exchange it with the outsiders."

"Yesterday, when I went to school, I saw a place in the village of the outsiders where people exchanged a lot of things. I want to see if I can do the same."

His father was immediately intrigued, so he took a few paper leaves the outsiders had given him and followed his son.

Coming close to the outsiders' village, he immediately removed the head garment he was wearing, draped it on his shoulder, and followed his son to a boxy rock building that was part of the outsiders' village. He stood behind a few outsider warriors in the queue.

A few minutes later, Koorlbardi stood in front of a Bharatiya man who was staring at them with his eyes wide open as if he hadn't expected natives to come to the store today.

"Finally, today is the day, huh?" He murmured something inexplicable. Then he looked at the middle-aged man and asked, "What do you want, Mr?"

Birak was immediately a little flustered because even though he could intermittently understand the Bharatiya language after going to school for several weeks straight, he had not yet learned how to speak it. He only knew a few words. Fortunately, he had his son with him.

"What do you have and can it be exchanged with this?" He asked as he took out the paper leaf from his father and showed it to the man inside the store.

The man looked at the 10 Varaha note and nodded,

"Of course, it will work. Why else did we pay you the salary?"

Koorlbardi father and son were immediately overjoyed, especially the son. He was even happier that his speculation turned out to be true.

"As for what can be bought, there are too many to count. Just tell me what you want, and I'll tell you if it is available or not."

The father was stumped as he didn't know what to ask for, but the son had a clear mind. He had already thought of what he wanted.

"Give me honey, as much as possible. Ah, and give me a pair of clothes for me and my father, as well as the leg skins you guys wear. Oh, and the helmet—give me that too."

The man in the store nodded and went inside to get the things.

"Here, this is the only amount of honey that I can give you," he said as he placed a small 50-millilitre honeypot in front of the father and son. "Back in the empire, you can buy as much as you want, but now that everything has to be imported from the empire, some items can only be bought in limited quantities."

"As for the clothes, boots, and helmets—here."

"That will be 24 Varaha!"

The father and son did not understand; they looked ahead cluelessly. The man within the shop immediately realized that the tribes had yet to be educated on money denominations. So he took the 10 Varaha note and waved it in front of them. "Two more exactly like this."

"Oh, here!" The father handed over two more identical notes and took the things placed on the counter with some hesitation.

"Can we take it away now?" Koora asked with amazement in his eyes.

The man within the store nodded his head and handed over six different pieces of metal.

Koora's hands were free, so he took it over. "This is?"

"Oh, it's the balance that I owe you. Ten of these metal coins are worth one of the notes you gave me. Just remember its colour; it's easy to remember."

"Wait one moment. Take this jute bag; you can use it to carry."

Koorlbardi did as they were told and immediately put all the bought items into the jute bag and walked back to their house with excitement on their faces.

Looking at the first natives doing business in the store, the man in the store immediately informed the general about the matter.

Getting the news, the general smiled happily because he had purposefully not explained the use of money solely because he wanted the natives to take the initiative on their own so that it would make assimilation easier.

Getting close to his house, Koora looked at the paper leaves leftover in his father's hands and at the things they were carrying. He immediately got an idea.

"Father, why don't we set up a store exactly like the one we saw in the outsiders' village? How about we exchange all the paper leaves we have in the house to buy clothes and other things from the store?"

"It looks like the outsiders use these paper leaves instead of bartering, and the paper leaves' value seems to be fixed."

"So how about we sell the things we bought from the outsiders to the tribe people for a little profit?"

"Wouldn't it make us richer?"

Birak immediately realized a way to make money. Most of the people in their tribe do not know how to use the paper leaves the outsiders gave them, but without exception, all families have several hundred of these paper leaves. They're just sitting in their houses without being used. Now, if he took advantage of this information, wouldn't they have more paper leaves than anyone in the tribe?

Thinking of this, he immediately agreed, and the next day he exchanged all the paper leaves in the house for exquisite clothes.

A day later, father and son started to scream at their tribe about exchanging paper leaves for comfortable clothes just like the ones worn by the outsiders.

The business was a huge success with a profit margin of more than 100 percent. The father and son were laughing from ear to ear, wearing clothes from the Bharatiya Empire, looking like a couple of nouveau riche.

The sudden wealth of the Koorlbardi family immediately got the attention of the tribal chief, Wardan. Being a loyal bodyguard, although reluctant, Birak did not hide it and told the truth. The tribal chief's eyes lit up as he immediately realized that the paper leaves could be used to trade things with the outsiders.

That was all he needed to know to get an idea. The next day, using all the boats in the tribe that belonged to him alone, he had the people who were free go fishing and bring him a lot of fish.

He then went to the village of the outsiders and asked the person in the store if he would like to purchase the fish he had caught. To the tribal chief's surprise, he agreed, and the cost was not low either—each fish could bring him one small coin.

"We will buy not only fish but also any edible poultry like chickens or ducks."

With the profits he made from selling the fish, he employed more people in his tribe to make him boats. He employed more fishers to catch him fish, and finally, with the fish being exchanged with the outsiders, he made a lot of profits.

The method of earning money slowly became popular in the tribe, and the tribal people began to use their brains in order to see if there was any way to make money. Most people failed, but a few succeeded. One unusual way was when a person learned how to earn money by selling information about a small iron mine he had discovered to outsiders.

The Noongar tribe began to prosper; houses started to appear in the tribe which seemed to be built with the same stone as that used for outsider houses.

Yamatji, although a little behind in progress, found out about the insider tricks of their rival and started to follow suit.

Interestingly enough, their way of making money was completely different from the Noongar tribe, who used fishing and service to earn money. They actually used hunting and smelting rough tools to earn money.

In a blink of an eye, two months had passed.

Several people who had succeeded in starting businesses unusually received outsider guests.

"Mr., please register your business with the Bharatiya Military."

"For the first year, not only are you exempted from taxes, but the number of materials you can buy from the military store could also be increased while giving you a cheaper price so that even if the tribals discover that purchases could be made in the store, the price difference between the military store and your store wouldn't be any different, thereby not making you bankrupt."

The people were immediately startled and immediately signed the document.

Looking at the report, the general smiled happily because if he performed well enough then he could directly resign from his post in the military and be appointed as governor of this stronghold. Looking at how things had developed, his career looked very promising.

His orders were not only to make the tribals speak the Bharatiya language but also to make as many people in the tribe dependent on the Bharatiya Empire as possible so that they would not get ideas of rebelling. Now, looking at these reports where almost 200 people had already become higher aspirational class according to Bharatiya Empire's standards, he was overjoyed.

'Maybe it's time to write my resignation letter and put in an application to become the Governor of Śaṅkhapattana, the immigrants should be arriving in a few weeks,' he thought to himself excitedly.