Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 821: Bhagat Shipyard (1/2)
"Aakshu!!!"
Manju sneezed as soon as he entered the office room, his nose was twitching. He had a sensitive nose, and the smell of newly painted walls made his sinuses act up.
Indra's eyelids immediatly jumped. His heart started to beat rapidly. When meeting powerful people, first impression is everything. But now, how would it look if the first thing they ever did after meeting His Highness was to sneeze?
He wanted to blame Manju for not being able to control his reflexes, but the next moment, a magnetic voice was heard throughout the room, which attracted their attention.
"Oh, it seems like the smell of paint really does cause irritation for some people."
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"I'm sorry, I hadn't considered this before."
It was from the young man whose face looked like it was chiseled by the finest craftsman in the world, his eyes bright and majestic like the radiant sun in the sky, his demeanor noble and unrestrained. He sat there with a smile on his face as if he was the master who had everything under control.
Even if this boy only looked like a teenager barely 15 years old, even the thought of underestimating him would not appear in the mind.
Manju had mostly recovered, but he was still trying to control his reflexes by holding his breath for a few seconds. However, this did not affect his ability to converse. "Where, where, don't worry about it, Your Highness. I'm just more sensitive to this kind of smell. Please don't blame yourself for it."
The young man was undoubtedly Agni Devaraya, the unofficial Crown Prince and future emperor of the mighty Bharatiya Empire. Agni chuckled and motioned them to take a seat.
"Mr. Indra, Mr. Manju, I will get straight to the point. I need talent who are proficient in the maintenance of ships, no matter the type or size."
"They don't have to know how to manufacture the ship, but they have to know how to maintain it, repair it if something goes wrong, and even know how to take it apart."
"Can you get these people for me?"
Indra's heart was beating rapidly. 'It's finally here.' The words he and his brother had fantasised about hearing for a long time had finally been uttered by His Highness.
"Of course, I can find these talents for you, Your Highness. Give me a few days, and I will give you the list of people who are willing to join as well as their résumés."
Hearing the words, Agni had no reason to refuse, so he readily agreed. "It looks like the title of the premier human resources company in the Empire is not just hearsay. Your company is really efficient. It deserves its reputation." There was a hint of admiration in his tone.
Indra and Manju both felt flattered. Their faces turned red with excitement, but in the end, Indra only said, "Thank you, Your Highness." Then he added, "Is there any other requirement, Your Highness?"
Agni shook his head. "There are no complicated requirements. I just look at talent and nothing else. Also, even if you poach talents from Raya Shipyard, it doesn't matter, so don't be constrained."
Indra's face turned serious all of a sudden. Manju as well. There was uncertainty and a hint of hesitation in their expression. Until now, they had not been too blatant in poaching people from industries under the royal family, worrying that they would incur some unwanted consequences. But now His Highness is directly asking them to poach people from Raya Shipyard. They did not know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
Their expressions were noticed by Agni, as his eyebrows were immediately raised in bewilderment. The color of emotions in their hearts became very uneasy and almost vigilant. Why? He was confused—did he say anything wrong to make these two people so stiff? But suddenly he remembered his last words. "Oh, that is how it is," he suddenly realised.
He let out a chuckle and comforted, "Don't worry, His Majesty will not mind your actions as long as they are legal. What you are doing will not be taken to heart by Father. Not to mention, it might be really hard to poach people from Raya Shipyard. Father pays them very well, and they are very loyal to the company, so you don't have to put pressure on yourself and do your job wholeheartedly."
Indra and Manju hesitated, but since His Highness personally approved and vouched for it, they decided to honour his wishes. An hour later, after delving deeper into the details of their cooperation, Indra and Manju rose from their seats and departed.
Shortly afterwards, Agni made his way to the port.
Puducherry Port
He was here to pick up Rajendra, who is not only his cousin but also one of his friends and a partner in his entrepreneurial venture.
Soon, a young man who looked to be in his 20s got down from the ship. He had a muscular build like that of a champion wrestler, but he carried an air of nobility and dignity around him that was not seen in athletes.
Rajendra looked around to see if there was anyone who came to pick him up, but as soon as his gaze passed by the end of the terminal, the face of Agni caught his attention. He smiled and quickly ran forward.
"Agni, you are here! Hahaha!"
Agni had no expression on his face as he stared at 15-year-old Rajendra without any response.
But Rajendra seemed like he was used to it, so whether he liked it or not, he gave Agni a bear hug with a wide smile and continued chattering endlessly.
After the fat guy had given a pause in his continuous chattering, Agni finally opened his mouth. "The dry docks as well as the warehouse for the shipyard have been built. The office has also completed its construction. Do you want to inspect it?"
Rajendra excitedly nodded, "Of course, I want to see how our shipyard looks now. The last time we did the site selection, there were a lot of rocks and trees in the area. I want to see how it has all changed."
"As for the office, I don't have to see it. Those boring buildings—I see them every day. What's new to look at?"
Agni did not deny it and nodded. In fact, he wanted a good architect to design a special office building for the shipyard, but given that he had limited funds, he chose to go with the most economical option.
The shipyard he had founded was called Bhagat Shipyard. The money for the shipyard came from the pocket money he had saved up for the last three years, which was around 24 million Varaha. Rajendra was brought in as an investor later with an investment of 10 million Varaha. So, currently, Agni owns 70% of the stake, while Rajendra owns 30%.
The carriage soon arrived at the outskirts of Puducherry near a large isolated warehouse. This was the dockyard of Bhagat Shipyard. Agni gave Rajendra a brief tour as he showed him the dry docks, the machinery tools which he had purchased, the warehouse space, and other things.
Rajendra was excited at first, but soon he got bored and started to talk about unrelated things once again. Even though Agni tried his best to control his emotions, a hint of helplessness still seeped out of his expressionless face.
"So, will you be going back to college?"
Hearing the question, the mood of Rajendra completely fell. "Yeah," he sighed.
Unlike Agni, he was not a genius. He could only be considered as relatively good in his age group, so he just joined a college this year, and he had to go back for the first day of college, which will begin in a few days.
In the meantime...
Indra and Manju got to their work immediately. People from Indra Manju Human Resources Pvt. Ltd. across the empire started to approach engineers from various large shipyards all over the empire. The targets were well thought out, and the way of contacting them was also very open and honest.
in a coffee shop
"I am sorry, even though the salary is very attractive, I am living a very stable life working in Ashoka shipyard," a middle-aged engineer said as he was about to get up and leave.
The man sitting opposite did not mind being rejected. Instead, he simply smiled. "What if I say the employer is His Highness? Would you be willing to consider that?"
As soon as he heard these words, the engineer immediately sat back down, and his expression turned extremely attentive.
The person from Indra Manju Human Resources didn't feel surprised, as this was not the first person he had contacted throughout the day. "Two cups of mint tea, please," he ordered the waiter.
This sort of thing is not only happening in one place but in dozens of coastal towns and cities throughout the empire. Wherever there is a major shipyard, all the restaurants as well as tea houses have seen the arrival of people from Indra Manju Human Resources.
The actions of the human resources company were a little large, so the engineers who got back to their work started to talk with each other, already guessing that some of their companions might have been invited as well.
"Have you received the offer from His Highness's company?"
"Ha, yeah, the people from Indra Manju Pvt. Ltd. contacted me a few hours ago. I assume you were contacted as well."
"Hehe, of course."
Listening to the conversation, another person joined in.
"Hey, you guys, I was invited as well. So, what do you think? Is His Highness's company really promising?"
Indra and Manju, gaining the bravery they needed, made sure that even Raya Shipyard was not spared. The recruiters approached the talents of Raya Shipyard, the place with the most shipbuilding talents in the empire, and constantly put forward newer and better job opportunities. All the engineers who could be reached were contacted and offered a new job opportunity at Bhagat Shipyard.
At first, not many people realised what was going on, but as time went on, people noticed the actions of Indra Manju Pvt. Ltd. Indra Manju Pvt. Ltd. is not a new company, after all. It had already caused a storm when it blatantly poached hundreds of media talents from top media companies when the explosion of newspaper companies happened. So, business spies had already been implanted within Indra Manju Pvt. Ltd.
Ravi Shetty, knowing the news, immediately felt helpless. "This nephew of mine, it's really big news when he makes a move."
"Forget it, forget it. Don't care about the people who want to resign. Don't make things difficult for them, let this little guy play however he wants."
Francis Molin felt troubled. "Increase the salary by one level for the core and backbone engineering staff. For the rest, it will be increased by half." He didn't want to make this decision, but he was left with no choice. Due to him being a Venetian, the shipyard he controls is not too popular with the talented people of the empire. Even though he got his citizenship, the shipyard can only be the last choice for the most brilliant engineers. So, for the existing engineers, if they get a slightly better offer than what they are being offered from a reputable shipyard, they are very likely to jump ship.
Eventually, the news even reached the ears of Vijay, as Kattappa informed him of his son's actions. But in the end, he did not care much about it. He let him do what he wanted.
To be continued...
