First Business

The next day, Sanjay took his cycle and went to a local gold shop.

Seeing the gold bar, the jewelry shop manager asked him lots of questions, but Sanjay finally said, "If you're not going to buy, I'll take this elsewhere." Only then did the jeweler stop asking questions.

"I can only give you 50,000 rupees for this gold," the jeweler said.

"Uncle, this is a one-kilogram gold bar. Even if it's fourteen-carat gold, its market price is at least 180,000 rupees. Since it's not legal, I should get at least 140,000 rupees for this bar. If you don't offer a better price, I'll go to Manoj's shop or someone else. At least they won't give me such a ridiculous price," Sanjay said sternly, standing up from his seat.

Though he was just sixteen years old, he had the soul of a thirty-five-year-old man. He had faced enough struggles in life to know how to avoid being cheated.

The shopkeeper was shocked. He hadn't expected this kid to have so much knowledge. What Sanjay said was absolutely true—180,000 rupees was the minimum value of the gold bar.

"Okay, kid. I will give 120,000 for this. This is my final offer," he said, agreeing out of fear that the kid would storm out. He knew Manoj Jewellery would agree to pay this much and still make a profit. After all, they all had their fair share of dealings with illegal gold.

Sanjay didn't bargain any further and accepted the amount.

The manager handed Sanjay the full amount in 1,000 rupees notes.

Sanjay put the money in his bag and left on his cycle.

After he left, the manager ordered one of his employees to follow Sanjay on a motorcycle.

But they didn't know that Sanjay had already planned for this. Having read a few detective novels in the past, he had thought of possible scenarios like this.

He entered a crowded area in the local market, and the follower soon lost track of him.

Sanjay then made his way to the largest wholesale market and bought one hundred packets of salt, sugar, some spices, soap, cold drinks, and other items. Everything cost him around 10,000 rupees.

He also bought some cheap clothes: ten shirts, ten pants, and ten women's dresses, costing him a total of 5,000 rupees. He thought to himself that women's outfits should be worth more than men's, as women had always been more interested in beauty since ancient times.

Now, the next problem was figuring out where to store everything. He needed a secure location to hide and deliver these goods to his villa.

He hired an auto-rickshaw driver to transport the goods to an abandoned house near his home. The house was almost falling apart and completely empty. The owner planned to demolish it next month to build a new building, so no one lived there, making it the perfect spot for Sanjay's plan.

He gave the driver the address and cycled there himself. When he arrived, the driver had already unloaded the goods and was waiting for payment. Sanjay handed him a 500 rupees note, as they had agreed.

After the auto driver left, Sanjay carefully checked to ensure no one was around. Thankfully, the place was deserted. He quickly touched the cartons containing the packets and teleported the entire load to his villa in two rounds.

He had discovered that the things he touched would move with him, but there was a limit to the size and weight. Large, immovable objects like floors or buildings wouldn't teleport. He still needed to test more to fully understand these limitations.

After two rounds, his streaks were depleted—they needed time to recharge.

He calculated that it took two hours to recharge each streak. With four streaks, he would need eight hours for a full recharge. This recharge time didn't depend on where he was, even if he traveled to a medieval timeline. He suspected it had something to do with his body, perhaps the streaks were absorbing some kind of energy from him. So far, he hadn't found a way to reduce this time.

He cycled back home.

His mother was waiting for him at the door, a broom in her hands.

"Hi, Mom," Sanjay greeted her casually, without a second thought.

Without a word, his mother started hitting him with the soft side of the broom.

"You have exams in six months and you're still roaming around outside! Who will study?" she scolded, continuing to beat him lightly.

After taking a beating from his mother—a feeling he had almost forgotten after so many years—Sanjay finally sat at his study table, rubbing the bump on his head.

He opened his math textbook, choosing to study his favorite subject. It was math that had eventually led him to become an AI engineer in his previous life.

Sanjay began solving problems one after another but soon got stuck on trigonometry. He realized he didn't remember many of the theorems or their rules.

After studying for a few hours, his head began to ache. He wasn't sure if he would be able to score better than he had the last time.

When his mother's scrutiny finally eased, Sanjay was able to leave his room.

He traveled to the medieval timeline, where one day in the modern world equaled six days. This time, he brought his textbooks with him. He planned to study there, where time moved slower.

Checking the inventory of goods, he carefully took out only the amount needed for the orders he had received. Dumping the entire stock at once would have been foolish—he needed to keep backups.

For now, he rented a carriage, as he had only a few silver coins left after melting all the gold coins from before.

After loading the goods, he delivered the promised shipment to the fat merchant. Seeing the shipment exactly as ordered, the merchant was very pleased.

Previously, instead of selling the items, the merchant had sent them to the headquarters, which should have reached the capital by now. There was still time to receive a response.

After verifying everything according to their previous deal, the merchant handed Sanjay three hundred and fifty gold coins.

For the clothing shipment, the merchant gave him six hundred gold coins. As Sanjay had estimated, the shirts and pants sold for about ten gold coins each, while the women's dresses fetched twenty gold coins each.

The merchant was especially excited about the artistic designs, which showed no visible stitches. Even the cheapest quality clothes Sanjay had brought were praised as some of the finest the merchant had ever seen.

Sanjay's heart raced as he looked at the gold coins in his hands. He was finally rich! Quickly calculating in his head, he realized that if melting forty gold coins had earned him 1,20,000 rupees, then the nine hundred and fifty gold coins he now possessed could produce about twenty gold biscuits with fourteen-carat purity. That would be worth approximately 24,00,000 in Indian rupees.

Taking a deep breath, Sanjay marveled at the enormous sum of money. It was a fortune even in 2025, but in 2003, it was unimaginable. His family's household income from his father's job was no more than 5,00,000 rupees per year, and in his previous life, even as a team lead, he had never earned more than 15,00,000 rupees annually.

With just one trip, he had surpassed all that.

After doing a small victory dance in his room, Sanjay calmed himself. Although he had the money, he couldn't directly convert it into modern Indian rupees.

If he tried to exchange too much gold at once, the police might get involved, and he didn't trust jewelers entirely. He needed someone to help him, but as a decent boy in his past life, he had no connections in the underground world. He would have to figure something out once he returned.

For now, Sanjay decided to improve his living conditions in the medieval world.

First, he contacted a broker and bought the villa for two hundred gold coins. With the broker's help, he hired a few maids to keep the villa clean.

The maids had been sold as slaves in this era—a practice Sanjay didn't like. After buying them, he promised to pay them one gold coin per month for their work.

Hearing this, the maids were overjoyed.

He also purchased a few male slaves who seemed capable of combat. He offered them five gold coins per month and promised to give them a good life if they did a good job of protecting him.

The two men kneeled down and promised to dedicate their lives to Sanjay. Earning five gold coins a month was more than they could have ever hoped for. Both men were in their twenties and full of gratitude.

There was a small servant quarter on the property. The men would stay there after it was repaired, while the women would occupy the main servant quarters. Sanjay hadn't hired too many people—just ten in total, consisting of seven women and three men.

The seven women would work as maids since Sanjay felt uncomfortable having muscular men wandering around inside his villa. The three men, on the other hand, were tasked with his protection.

One thing that puzzled him was the appearance of the slaves. They weren't from a different racial background but looked like typical South Asians.

Unable to suppress his curiosity, Sanjay decided to ask one of the women, who had strikingly good looks.

"What is your name?" he asked.

The girl, startled, immediately knelt down in fear. "Alisha, my lord."

Sanjay realized he had frightened her unintentionally. "I didn't mean to scare you," he said gently. "Can you tell me your story? How did you become a slave? That is, if you don't mind sharing."

Hearing that she hadn't done anything wrong and that her master simply wanted to know her story, Alisha relaxed. She began to speak, her voice trembling at first but gaining steadiness as she continued.

She explained that after her kingdom had been conquered, the nobles were captured and sold as slaves. This had happened in her parents' generation, and as their children, they had been born into slavery. Her story, she revealed, was the same as almost everyone else's.

Sanjay was astonished. This world didn't seem safe at all. The thought that entire generations could be enslaved after a kingdom's fall left him uneasy. However, he calmed himself—at least he had an escape plan if a situation arose that he couldn't handle.

After buying a few miscellaneous items like food, bedding, and weapons for his new employees, Sanjay was left with five hundred gold coins.

He ensured he got the best quality goods for everyone, especially the weapons. The men were armed to the teeth with armor and swords. Fortunately, they had been combat slaves in the past, so they were experienced fighters and skilled with weapons. This gave Sanjay a sense of relief, knowing they could defend him if needed.