Takshashila: Royal Quarters
The residence that the two royal brothers would call home for the foreseeable future was, by any ordinary standard, an impressive complex.
It occupied a vast tract of land, a remnant of the decades when Takshashila had served as one of the principal seats of the Royal Family of Valangar. Spacious courtyards, administrative halls, gardens, and residential wings had all been built to accommodate not only the royal household but also the countless officials, guards, servants, and guests who accompanied it.
Yet to Hamsa, it was merely adequate.
After awakening his memories and earning the right to attend court barely a year later, he had spent the following years gradually transforming the Royal Palace at Vala. Some changes had been simple, introducing improved plumbing, better kitchens, more efficient tools, and standardized storage. Others had been far more ambitious. Entire sections of the palace administration had been reorganized from the ground up, new offices had been established to oversee everything from law and order to public hygiene, infrastructure, taxation, and record keeping, while outdated practices had quietly disappeared altogether.
At first, nearly every decision still passed through Hamsa himself. There simply wasn't anyone else with the knowledge needed to operate the new systems. Over time, however, he had personally trained officials to take over those responsibilities, allowing the administration to function independently while steadily reducing the burden on both himself and his parents.
Unfortunately, almost all of that experienced bureaucracy had remained behind in Vala.
Only his personal attendants and a small cadre of carefully selected officials had accompanied him to Takshashila. The rest of the administration would have to be rebuilt almost from scratch. Existing officials needed to be evaluated, incompetent ones replaced, and promising people recruited from among the local population before they could be trained in the new methods.
Fortunately, this time he was not starting alone.
Even a handful of experienced administrators who understood his system would shorten a process that had once taken years.
-----
Yuvraj Hamsa's Chambers
Hamsa sat behind a desk that had already disappeared beneath a growing mountain of documents.
The reports gathered during the march north were still being organized by his staff, but the first completed summaries had already begun arriving in a steady stream. Census records, tax accounts, military inventories, engineering assessments, petitions from local officials, and preliminary surveys of the province all found their way onto his desk as clerks hurried in and out of the chamber.
This was only the beginning.
Before any reforms could be implemented, he first needed to understand precisely what he had inherited.
Sarasvathi was present alongside Gopal; each seated before their own desk on either side of the Yuvraj. Palm leaves, birch bark manuscripts, parchment, and neatly stacked reports covered every available surface as the three worked through the ever-growing mountain of administration.
"Sarasvathi."
She immediately looked up from the document she was reviewing.
"Yes, Yuvraj?"
"I want you to take over Gopal's responsibilities until the new administrative staff have been trained well enough to manage on their own."
Sarasvathi blinked before offering a small, polite smile.
"Yuvraj... with respect, I already am."
Hamsa paused, the stylus in his hand freezing above the palm leaf.
"You instructed me to do exactly that before we departed from the Dead Forest. I've been handling those duties ever since."
For several seconds, Hamsa simply stared at the unfinished sentence before him, trying to remember issuing the order.
"...I did, didn't I?"
"You did."
A long silence followed.
Hamsa quietly set the stylus down, no longer remembering what he had intended to write in the first place.
Seeing the rare lapse in his lord's composure, Gopal finally spoke.
"Yuvraj, I believe it would be best if you retired for the rest of the day. I can handle today's workload. You already intend to visit the university and inspect the surrounding lands over the coming week. It would be unwise to begin those duties while exhausted."
Hamsa considered the suggestion for a moment before giving a slow nod.
"...Very well."
He rose from his seat without objection.
As he left the chamber, Sarasvathi quietly followed behind him while Gopal slid the unfinished documents onto his own desk.
Only after the door closed did he release a quiet sigh of relief.
As they walked through the corridors toward the inner gardens, Hamsa broke the silence.
"Where's Padmavathi?"
"Resting in her quarters," Sarasvathi replied. "The journey here seems to have taken more out of her than she expected."
"I see."
He nodded.
"Stay with her whenever you can. She's not the type to think or ask for rest if works presents her."
"I will."
The two continued into the inner courtyard.
The rhythmic clash of steel greeted them long before the fighters came into view.
Rajkumar Garuda and Naga, commander of the Royal Guards assigned to the Yuvraj, were engaged in a full sparring match. Neither had bothered with practice weapons. Instead, both wielded real steel, their blades meeting with ringing impacts that echoed throughout the courtyard.
Even from a distance, it was clear Garuda held the advantage.
The Rajkumar pressed forward relentlessly, forcing Naga onto the defensive one exchange after another.
Hamsa watched in silence, choosing not to interrupt while the duel continued.
After a few moments, he spoke without taking his eyes off the fight.
"Oh... one more thing."
"Yes, Yuvraj?"
"Arrange for several mongooses, honey badgers, and whatever large eagles enjoy hunting snakes."
Sarasvathi dutifully noted the instruction down.
"...May I ask why?"
"I don't intend to encounter another snake while inspecting the countryside."
There wasn't the slightest hint of humour in his voice.
Sarasvathi simply nodded.
"As you wish, Yuvraj."
She had long since learned not to dwell on orders that sounded strange at first. More often than not, they made perfect sense after she either asked for an explanation or simply waited a few days.
A few minutes later, the spar finally came to an end.
Naga found Garuda's blade resting lightly against his neck.
The commander exhaled, lowered his sword, and offered the Rajkumar a respectful nod before the two stepped apart to catch their breath. Only then did Hamsa walk onto the training ground, while Sarasvathi remained quietly behind, continuing to jot down notes whenever necessary.
"Naga," Hamsa began, "you're relying too much on your eyes. Trust your Mana Zone more. Sense your opponent's movements before you see them, and reinforce your body accordingly."
Naga nodded.
"I understand, Yuvraj."
Garuda wiped the sweat from his brow before shaking his head.
"Brother, you make it sound as though that's something anyone can simply learn."
Hamsa glanced at him.
"And you're no better."
Garuda frowned.
"You're far too aggressive. Against opponents weaker than you, it works. Against someone with comparable skill and mana control..." He shrugged. "...you'll find your head rolling across the ground before you even realize you've lost."
Garuda grimaced but wisely chose not to argue.
"Enough of that." Hamsa turned back toward Naga. "Give me the current situation."
Naga immediately shifted into the tone of a commanding officer delivering a report.
"We currently have roughly five thousand standing soldiers stationed throughout the province, three hundred war elephants, and around one thousand cavalries, excluding the Royal Guard. In an emergency, we could levy another ten thousand men from the local population."
"And the forts? Supply lines?"
"The forts themselves are in reasonable condition," Naga answered. "However, logistics remain our weakest point. If an invasion were to occur today, we estimate we could hold the province for roughly half a year or so before we'd begin losing territory."
Hamsa nodded thoughtfully.
"That's better than I expected."
He folded his hands behind his back.
"Begin retraining every existing unit. The borders should remain relatively quiet for the foreseeable future, so withdraw as many troops from the frontier and countryside as can be spared without compromising security."
Naga silently committed every instruction to memory.
"I also want preparations made for a large recruitment drive. Treat it as a proper enlistment, just as we do for the Royal Guard. Every recruit is to understand the conditions of service before they swear their oath."
"Understood."
"And sometime next month, graduates from the Military Academy in the capital should begin arriving. Prepare accommodations and assignments for them as well."
Garuda tilted his head.
"Why?"
"Because I intend to change how this new military is organized, trained, and maintained."
Garuda immediately looked suspicious.
"...What exactly do you mean by 'change'?"
"To begin with, I intend to expand the standing army—"
He was interrupted before he could continue.
"You told Father and Mother about this... didn't you?"
"I did."
Hamsa answered without missing a beat.
"They approved it, provided the additional soldiers are funded, equipped, and supplied through my own administration rather than the Royal Treasury."
Silence.
Garuda slowly looked toward Naga.
Naga looked back at Garuda.
Neither man spoke, yet both wore the exact same expression.
He's about to do something completely insane.
Standing a short distance away, Sarasvathi calmly finished writing the latest instruction onto her tablet.
Unlike the two soldiers, her thoughts were elsewhere.
Mine and Gopal's workload is about to increase again.
"Well, anyway, just make preparations. You have enough time till Padmavathi is up and the new smithies are ready," the Yuvraj spoke.
"Well, you can talk this out. I am off," Garuda said, leaving as he knew his presence from now on would not serve any purpose.
Naga got ready as well, and both he and the Yuvraj walked off talking.
"I want to change how we operate and even fight. More for long-term conquest and holding land..." the Yuvraj and Naga talked as they walked.
The details of the conversation were rather simple. The Yuvraj wanted to change how the Valangar army was run in every way, from recruitment to how it fought.
Right now, the system went something like this.
Recruitment was part voluntary and part conscription. The state maintained a relatively small standing army when compared to its neighbours. Even the Ranga Kingdom maintained a standing army of comparable size.
However, given enough notice, the kingdom could increase its numbers drastically, as most able-bodied adult men in the kingdom would have either served or, more commonly, been trained by the local garrison or one of the permanent regiments, with many serving in them for a brief period before returning to civilian life.
It was a system like no other, brought about by the grandfather of the Yuvraj and later refined by his father.
It had proven highly effective. Every time the kingdom had been invaded, they had successfully repelled the enemy, even after suffering heavy losses. It was not that the generals and rulers treated men as expendable; rather, they simply possessed a far larger, well-trained, documented, and readily available pool of manpower than any other state in the region.
It is one thing to win or lose a battle, but to win a war one must ensure that the resources to continue fighting remain available long after the first victory or defeat.
This system not only provided a steady reserve of trained soldiers but also ensured that the kingdom could mobilize far more quickly than its rivals.
As for how they fought, the majority of the army consisted of infantry, supported by heavy and light cavalry that served as the principal maneuverer and striking force. War elephants acted as powerful breakthrough units, used to break enemy formations and support the advance of the infantry at decisive moments.
The kingdom's preferred method of warfare was to use cavalry to outmanoeuvred the enemy while disciplined infantry fixed the opposing force in place. Once the enemy had been committed and their formations disrupted, the elephants would strike in conjunction with the infantry to shatter their lines. Meanwhile, the cavalry swept around the battlefield, pursuing routed soldiers, securing the flanks, and, more importantly, ensuring that enemy reinforcements never arrived in time to alter the course of the battle.
Though every battle demanded different tactics, these principles formed the foundation of Valangar warfare.
Then there were the things unique to this world—mana.
Mana did not play a major role in the main fighting done by ordinary soldiers on the battlefield. Instead, it was far more valuable in the supporting aspects of war, such as reconnaissance, communication, maneuvering, logistics, and countless other specialised tasks that the average person rarely considered.
Siege warfare was another matter entirely. Every siege depended on the city itself, the quality of its fortifications, and the capabilities of both the attackers and defenders. Even a city's history could determine the outcome, as some ancient defensive technologies could no longer be reproduced, while those that remained were only partially understood.
A prime example was the protective barriers surrounding certain ancient cities, whose true workings had long since been forgotten.
From this, the Yuvraj did not intend to change much when it came to the kingdom's battlefield doctrine. The existing combination of infantry, cavalry, and elephants had already proven itself over generations. Instead, he intended to reform the army as an institution, changing how it was organized, supplied, trained, and employed, particularly during times of peace.
For starters, the Yuvraj wanted to establish large state-run manufacturing centres to ensure that the army possessed a uniform standard of equipment. At present, apart from major assets such as siege engines, war elephants, and elite cavalry units, most soldiers were equipped with whatever their local lord—or they themselves—could provide. While certain weapons were officially standard issue, even those varied greatly in quality and design.
Instead, the Yuvraj wanted each type of unit to receive standardized equipment tailored to its intended role and the conditions under which it was expected to fight. Spears, shields, armour, helmets, wagons, and other essential equipment would be produced to common standards wherever practical, making replacement, repair, and supply far easier while also improving overall quality through the kingdom's recent advancements in manufacturing.
He then turned to training. Every soldier would continue to receive instruction in combat, but they would also learn basic literacy, arithmetic, surveying, camp construction, and engineering. An army that could build roads, bridges, fortified camps, and field defences was an army capable of campaigning in any season.
The officer corps would also undergo significant reforms. While officers were presently trained primarily in the capital at Vala, the Yuvraj intended to establish additional military academies throughout the kingdom with a standardized curriculum. Officers would be educated not only in warfare but also in logistics, engineering, administration, strategy, and leadership. Promotion beyond the lower ranks would increasingly depend upon merit, examinations, proven ability, and service in the field rather than birth alone.
The structure of the army itself would also be standardized. Permanent regiments would be organised into fixed companies and smaller units with clearly defined chains of command, ensuring that every soldier knew his immediate commander and every officer knew exactly whom he commanded. Standardized formations, signals, banners, and drills would allow different regiments to fight together seamlessly, regardless of where in the kingdom they had been raised.
Beyond warfare, the Yuvraj envisioned the army serving a greater purpose during peacetime. Dedicated engineer corps would oversee the construction of roads, bridges, forts, canals, and military depots, while ordinary soldiers would assist these efforts whenever they were not on campaign or actively training. Such work would strengthen the kingdom's infrastructure while ensuring that the army remained disciplined, productive, and prepared for war at all times.
--
"Yuvraj, with all due respect, this all seems a little too ambitious for what we have now," Naga said as they walked side by side through the inner gardens before eventually leaving the palace grounds.
"Of course it is," Hamsa replied with an easy smile. "It will take at least a decade before everything even begins to resemble what I have in mind. Half that time will be spent simply laying the groundwork before we can properly begin building on the scale I envision. And even then..." He paused for a moment. "...the most difficult task will still lie ahead."
Naga frowned. He had expected Hamsa to speak of finances, logistics, or perhaps the resistance of the nobility.
"What could possibly be more difficult than changing systems that have existed for decades... no, centuries?"
The Yuvraj slowed to a stop.
For a few quiet moments, he simply looked upward, watching the clouds drift lazily across the afternoon sky before finally speaking.
"People already know this land by many names. Some call it Bharath, others Hindustan. Pilgrims travel from one end of it to the other. Scholars debate in its universities. Merchants cross its roads, and kings dream of ruling all of it. The idea of this land already exists."
Turning toward Naga, his expression grew more serious.
"What doesn't exist is a people who truly see themselves as belonging to it first."
Naga remained silent.
"A man from the western deserts calls himself a son of his clan. A man from the eastern forests belongs to his tribe. Someone from the north is loyal to his kingdom, while another from the south swears by his local ruler. They may all acknowledge Bharath, but it is rarely the identity that guides their decisions."
Hamsa resumed walking, his hands clasped behind his back.
"I want to change that. I want them to remain proud of their kingdoms, their customs, and their traditions, but I also want them to understand that they belong to something greater than any one ruler or dynasty. A shared civilization deserves a shared identity."
Naga finally understood why Hamsa had called it the hardest part.
"This... has little to do with the army anymore."
"It has everything to do with the army," Hamsa replied. "An army is one of the few institutions that brings together men from every corner of the realm. They train together, eat together, fight together, and depend on one another to survive. A farmer's son from the plains should return home having served beside a hunter from the forests, a merchant's son from the coast, and a shepherd from the hills. They should leave not merely as soldiers of Valangar, but as men who have come to see one another as fellow children of the same civilization."
He smiled faintly.
"Kingdoms will rise and fall. Dynasties will come and go. One day, even Valangar may cease to exist."
Naga instinctively turned toward him, but Hamsa continued as though stating nothing more than the changing of the seasons.
"If that day ever comes, I don't want this land to descend into endless wars because the throne that united it is gone. I want its people to remain united because they believe they are one people, regardless of who sits on the throne or if a throne as we know even exists."
For the first time since the conversation had begun, Naga found himself without an answer.
He had followed the Yuvraj through discussions of military reform, logistics, recruitment, and organization without much difficulty. Those were ambitious, certainly, but they were still matters of administration.
This was something else entirely.
The Yuvraj wasn't merely trying to reform an army.
He was trying to reshape how an entire civilization thought of itself.
"Don't worry," the Yuvraj said, noticing the utterly bewildered look on Naga's face. "I'm more confused about how to achieve it than you are trying to understand it."
Naga remained silent for another few steps before finally letting out a slow breath.
"I believe I am failing to even comprehend what you're proposing, while you, Yuvraj, are already worrying about how to bring it into existence."
Hamsa couldn't help but chuckle.
"That is true." He smiled as they continued walking through the gardens. "You've spent nearly a decade around me. You've listened to my ideas, watched me implement them, argued with me often enough, and you're both well-educated and intelligent. Yet even you are struggling to grasp what I'm trying to say."
He shook his head with an amused sigh.
"Which means I have an even greater challenge ahead of me. If explaining the idea to someone like you is this difficult, then convincing the nobility, the priesthood, merchants, village elders, and eventually the common people..." He trailed off for a moment before laughing quietly. "...that may well prove to be the hardest thing I ever attempt."
Naga gave a reluctant smile.
"I'll admit, Yuvraj, I still don't fully understand it."
"I don't expect you to."
Hamsa's expression softened as he looked ahead.
"Most ideas sound impossible until enough people begin believing in them. Mine is no different. The difficult part isn't imagining the future..." He smiled faintly. "...it's convincing everyone else that it's worth building."