"That was anticlimactic. either the people in this village are remarkably helpful, or the cheat achievement title worked as intended. All my prepared story gave me a 'hmm' from the village leader, and somehow I was placed with one of the families. All of it went so fast that I don't even remember what I had for dinner, only that it was something vegetarian. Damn it, I should have paid attention, and try to estimate the likely timeframe based on vegetables, if this is indeed the same world. I have a remarkable habit of keeping unrelated trivia in mind. While I don't recall which fruits are available in which season, I do know that common ingredients like chilli, potato, tomato and even brinjal were brought in by the Portuguese roughly around Jahangir's time. Anyway, soon enough I'll know the answers, but my immediate goal is to find a place to stay without lounging for free. Better go to the town and see if I can get some money and an inn to stay in. But how to make money?"
Prashant had this lengthy monologue while resting after dinner. One thing he noticed was that his cheat, while not giving any directives, is remarkably responsive to how he behaves in this world. Even something as simple as telling others a made-up surname got reflected in the actual status window, and the way he talked with the farmers gave him an achievement, which suits his way. Maybe if he had used a more assertive approach, the cheat would have bestowed a different title. He was conscious while using the surname, as India was a remarkably stratified society in medieval times, even 21st century and all the internet hasn't succeeded in blurring the jati categories from daily lives. The Patils were one of the traditional leaders in any Maratha village. Patil for landlord, Deshmukh for tax collection, Kulkarni for correspondence with the wider world and Joshi for religious rituals. These quartets acted as common elders in any village council. Based on the actual situation, this council was further supplemented by other people. If a village was particularly famous in the region for pottery, then one of the prestigious person from the kumbhar jati would take a place on the council. The same goes for a myriad of other occupational jati. If the village was granted to a particular temple, a family or a guild, then they would send additional representatives to manage the daily life.
Prashant chose the surname just to make it easier to mingle with the world, and the cheat acknowledged it. By extension, he should be careful in deciding how to make money, too. It's not just a matter of going to a city and doing any job that pays. Medieval India paid attention to how you made the money. For example, one can't simply choose to hunt and sell the produce for quick cash and later expect everyone to treat them the same. A) Usually, all jobs were assigned to a particular Jati, so his doing it meant taking away their work. B) No matter how alien it is to our modern sensibilities, India had the concept of purity back then. It simply meant that the kind of job you do decides your place in the spiritual and social hierarchy. All jobs related to the flesh of animals were kept below others. So even if a hunter made a lot of money, usually they remained in spiritually lower categories. There were always exceptions; if someone contributed to social welfare, this usually entailed service to the temple and the poor, and people would justify it as an act of purifying the taint of killing. Plus, if there is chaos, invasions and general instability, then hunters, being somewhat of a martial class, could present themselves as defender of people, order, justice and essentially the dharma. If you go through the history of villages, you'll find plenty of examples like "...one of our ancestors once hunted a tiger and protected people, for that he was granted this village, and we became the landlords." Still, these were few and far between and required specific circumstances.
Prashant thinks there is no reason to commit to this path from the get-go. So he should see if there are other ways to make money first. Usual ways are trading things like agricultural produce, things like honey, wax from forests and crafts. But even then, craftsmen were again jati-bound, selling something like, say, clothes means you're encroaching on someone else's traditional craft. While no one may notice, still, Indian land has a long memory, and one should try to avoid choosing the wrong option wherever possible. "Prashant, you always make everything complicated. Look at other stories. By the first day, they would be on their way to launch a rebellion and create a kingdom, and here you are, sleeping in someone else's mat and thinking for hours about medieval Indian society like some professor. Maybe I'm not suited for a high-stakes, instant-action life. If only I could magically summon a bag of rice, that way it's the most neutral way of making money. Everyone farmed to some degree, and selling loose grains was common whether you're a Patil or a Kumbhar."
[Mana used, copied 1 bag of rice. Current mana: 0/1]
"Heh, what just happened? I was just kidding, I totally meant a bag of gold. Cheat, come on, that was just a spelling mistake, truly I meant gold!!! Anyway looks like I'll have to suffer this injustice, truly a Kaliyug, even cheats are not the same these days. Hmm, looks like 30kg of rice, looks the same to me. I'll ask villagers to evaluate how much this is worth. I've personally experienced that shiny, white rice is not always the priciest. My father would look for yellowish, small-grained and older rice for a premium price and tell me you'll never understand what quality is. That aside, how did this happen? Did the cheat summon the desired object using mana? Or somehow I unlocked the magic of summoning, and the first summon happened to be an object that could be summoned under some obscure conditions? I have a gut feeling that I won't be summoning gold anytime soon. Plus, how does mana work? I feel no difference between 1 mana and after it was depleted. Now what? Does it refill with a constant trickle? Or do I have to do something specific, like meditation or sleeping? Hope it's refilling in the background without me thinking about it. So tomorrow's plan is set, I'll see the worth of the rice, and ask when the villagers will go to the town market next time. Time to sleep, that should not be compromised regardless of the world."
[Achievement unlocked: Cheat or no cheat, a man stays the same. Makes you resistant to the adverse effects of unintended cheats.]
"What the hell!! Remarkable, that's the only thing I can say. Good Night. Better not sleep in late like always. Cheat baba, wake me up at daybreak."
Everything went normal in the morning, when people were ready to start their work, Prashant asked a few to grade the rice. Nobody asked where it came from; the cheat is truly doing the hard work. He was told that this bag could be sold for enough to live in town for a month. The market day is a week away, and 3 days later, villagers will go there to trade. Prashant decided to play it safe and travel with them. In the meantime, he'll help villagers with their hospitality. At least that was the intention, as it turns out, he is not built for any of the jobs except his monstrous strength for carrying loads. So everyone in Dongarwadi got to know about the new guest, the one and only hardworking gu,y Prashant, winning the third strongest title after a rather muscular bull and a sarcastic donkey. At least Prashant thought it like that; that donkey was always seen as giving him that look. The one toppers give you if you accidentally win first place in the MCQ test. Nature is truly jealous of perfection. What can we say?
But he did spend all his time during the days helping everyone, not just the farmers. But smiths, carpenters, and masons to see if he can determine a timeline by looking at technological progression. He obviously overestimated himself on the deduction front. Still, he noted that innovations like wheelbarrows, heavy ploughshares and standardised weights and measurements can increase productivity, probably. He paid special attention to the temple and volunteered to carry the water for daily rituals, for simple maintenance tasks by helping the masons and carpenters with loads. "It's not about religion or god, I'm often a believer and non-believer on and off kind of guy. But it's more about dharma, the duty, righteous action and cosmic order. Simply put, the good deeds people expect from you are called dharma. By showing everyone that I'm more than happy to help with the goddess's tasks, I'm slowly building my reputation. Maybe it won't matter much right now, but over time, surely it'll make a fine story about a good man doing good deeds. What no one will know is that the good man was simply a lazy, risk-averse guy showing just enough goodness that nobody could find fault. Truly an ideal government officer. Just keeping the files moving, actual work is destined for somebody else." As usual, Prashant had this monologue when lifting the hundred kg wooden beam for strutting the temple.
Days went by, and it was time for a grand adventure, to sell a whole total of 4 bags of rice at a reasonable price. All that's missing is background music and people trailing behind for those sorrowful departures. As it turned out, they were simply running behind to ask where he left the donkey yesterday, and he replied in infinite wisdom, "Don't worry about his disappearance, bade bade shaharon mein choti choti bate hoti rahti hei (Such small things are common in large places). Just on cue, the village patil yelled, It's bound to a tree behind the temple and with this small episode, the journey continued.
[Name: Prashant Patil
S: 8, C: 13, L: 9, M: 1
New achievement: Nemesis of donkeys (Attacks from animals do half damage but double pain)
]
"Damn you donkey, we're not done yet, Mark my words, next time we meet it will be the duel of the century."
[Achievement title in effect, removing the negatives.]
"Oh, never mind, kindness to animals is a traditional virtue I always adhere to. Let's go, here I come..." Filtering all his monologue nonsense, what Prashant did on the journey was essentially chalking out a plan for the city. Although rural life seemed peaceful, Indian villages were remarkably self-sufficient; even the cargo they were carrying was just a surplus. They have already satisfied their demand, and now they are on their way to making quick cash, a far cry from a typical common man from modern India. This self-sufficiency means there is not much demand for outsiders to come and live in the village without interfering with the jati's work. This might seem constant ramble, but medieval India did work like this. Unlike Europe, which might welcome a smith from town to settle in their village as their existing smith is old, his children went to war or settled as farmers. India had entire lanes of different artisans, all supplying the village with necessities. Maratha regions had their 12 balutdar's (craftsmen) who bartered their services in return for land and a place to live. City, on the other hand, while being costly, gave a much freer place to conduct a myriad of economic operations. The Islamic invasions meant that one wouldn't stand out as an outsider in a place already teeming with foreigners. They brought in specialised crafts never seen in India before, and hence loosened the jati system by a bit. Prashant hoped to spawn a few grams of incense, make a solid profit, and then think about what to do next.