Official Duty

The sun had already set and the moon was high in the sky. Nirpendra Malla stood in place, thinking about something as the shadows of the flames of a nearby funeral danced on his placid face. He was facing the great fire ignited with stacks of wooden logs. The frequent crackling and the separation of a small red dot would typically be relaxing if only the reason behind this fire wasn't so unappealing.

Inside that fire was the dead body of a Kasai and his wife was laid on top of this fire to burn alongside her husband. The fire had been lit from beneath so the heat slowly climbed up to the woman. Nonetheless, she had already accepted this situation and closed her eyes in acceptance. Once the fire finally reached the top and burned the woman alive, she refused to let out a single scream. 

Surrounding the fire, a group of people were dancing around it as though this was a festival to celebrate. The children's joyful laughter and the Nepali music consisting of mandalas and cymbals playing regularly did not fit this situation at all.

This scene left a terrible taste in Nirpendra's mouth. 

This was due to the overly blind belief in sati pratha that almost seemed like a virus turning everyone mad and also partly because this entire outcome was unjust and the woman was a victim. Whatever the reason might be, Nirpendra was not happy with this outcome. 

But after a few seconds, he sighed deeply and swore in his heart.

'Purnima Kasai… I will remember your name as long as I end this crazy system.'

Death was unavoidable, we could only make amends in acceptance in the face of death. To help with that, Nirpendra helped justice be served by executing the guard. But he knew true justice wouldn't be stopped until this mad system ended. That's right, to deliver justice to every woman who suffered because of this crazed custom, he will have to end it once and for all. 

The next day, it was the time for Nirpendra Malla to attend to official business for the first time in his life. 

A servant led him into a study room with a single table in its center. The walls were occupied by bookshelves having tons of books. Reaching the study table, he saw pieces of papers stacked on top of each other. Unlike the usual thin and smooth white paper he was used to in his previous life, this one was thicker and rough on its surface.

Picking up the paper on the top of the stack, he read:

[Public Coronation Ceremony Report]

"King Nirpendra Malla ascended to the throne in 1674 September 30. Nobody broke the coronation silence. The King of Patan and King of Bhadgaon were present. Mohar with a new design will start printing ...."

After skimming through the paper, his eyes stopped upon the final line of the report. 

"Expenditure: 62 Mohar."

'Since you can get lunch for ¼ Mohar, which would cost you 100 Rs in the modern day, 1 Mohar would be equivalent to 400 Nepali Rupees.' 

That exchange rate was probably way off the mark but it would serve its purpose for the time being. 

'So only 62 Mohar? That's kind of cheap.'

Thinking that, Nirpendra mindlessly signed at the bottom of the paper where a confirmation signature of an administrator was required. He continued doing this to countless other papers, none of them were important and were quite boring. After getting through a few dozen of these reports and signing them all, the two papers on the final position of the stack caught his interest.

The first report was a Population Report. According to this paper, the entire kingdom of Kantipur had a population of only 125,000 spreading around 10 towns. And among that amount, 37,000 were all 'untouchables'. 

This was yet another reason that the caste system shouldn't exist. 37,000 people being considered 'untouchables' meant that they wouldn't get equal chances as the rest of the population. This meant that out of 37,000 people who were highly talented and valuable for the country would not get the recognition they required. What this does is hinder the progress of the country. And not to mention that the country barely has any real population so any extra manpower is necessary.

It was then a knock appeared on his door, which Nirpendra had been expecting for a long time.

"Enter."

Once he gave the permission, a servant opened the door. She reported that the king of Bhadgaon had paid them a visit and was awaiting his presence. Nirpendra nodded at this information and gave a small order to the servant before she left.

"Prepare some good food and drinks for us."

Nirpendra was still for a few moments before sighing and exiting the room. He went to his own room, got dressed and went towards the function room with Manila.

Upon reaching the function room, where the king of Bhadgaon would be waiting for him, he opened the door and found a young man sitting lazily on a couch. The traditional crown of jeweled hat and a luxurious bird's tail on its top was the key factor deciding his position as a king. He had servants standing beside and behind him respectfully.

When Nirpendra entered, the servants bowed respectfully. 

"Namaste!" Jitamitra Malla, the king of Bhadgaon, stood up with a joined hand gesture and Nirpendra returned the gesture. 

"Although you said I owed you a favor, you're redeeming it quite early."

"No, no. I think this is not even a favor. It will benefit the both of us, afterall. Come, let's take a seat for our talk."

When the two of them took a seat, the door opened and a servant entered respectfully and put plates of snacks in front of their table along with two glasses poured with wine. This servant bowed once again and stood behind Nripendra alongside Manila.

"So what is it you want to talk about, Jitamitra?"

"Let's take our time slowly while presented with such food."

The man named Jitamitra who is also the king of Bhadgaon was stuffing his mouth from the sukuti on his plate and drinking from his glass.

"Right." Nirpendra slowly raised some food up to his mouth. And sipped some wine from the glass.

After a few moments, Jitamitra was chewing with large cheeks and the plate in front of him was empty. After chewing for a few seconds, he swallowed it whole and washed it down with the wine. 

"Arrgh! That was good! How do you even make these things? I have to hand it to you, Kantipur has really good food!" 

Jitamitra said heartedly and patted his stomach a few times. This was the first time Nirpendra had seen this behavior of the king of Bhadgaon. Who knew that he'd be this gluttonous? Perhaps he was just hungry right now considering he's not that chubby at all.

Nirpendra knew that they had gone way too offtopic so he said;

"And Bhadgoan has a strong army."

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room got a bit tighter and everyone was in silence for a few moments. Jatimatra wore a serious expression on his face, a far contrast to his previous playful expression. He said solemnly:

"Not anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"..." Jatimatra had a conflicted expression on his face, "Let's talk in private."

The two kings ordered all of the servants to empty the room and once everyone had left, the atmosphere in the room remained the same. 

"To tell the truth, most of the army under my command were annihilated. It was midnight, everyone was asleep in the training camp and a group of assassins sent by Patan infiltrated the area. You can guess what happened next…"

"So does that mean your borders are practically undefended right now?"

After a bit of silence, Jatimatra admitted solemnly.

"Yes."