yasinovel Chapter 58 The Prison
Chapter 58 The Prison
The city guard captain frowned, clearly also somewhat impatient.
He turned to the Kshatriya and said politely but firmly, "Your Excellency Surya Arjuna, please rest for a while. Leave this to us, and we will give you an explanation."
After calming down the unruly Kshatriya with a few words, the captain turned back to look at Vilandra and Vijay.
He also realized that Vijay was the caravan lord, while Vilandra was the one who could truly make decisions and communicate effectively.
The captain took a step forward, lowered his voice, and said in a volume only the two of them could hear:
"I know what happened and I understand right and wrong, but since this is a nobleman, we have to follow the proper procedures. We can only ask this person to come back with us for temporary detention. His life is not in danger. You can find someone to smooth things over and pay the ransom later, and he will be released safely."
The fact that the captain said so many thoughtful things is enough to show his attitude!
Vilandra nodded slightly, indicating his understanding.
Within the laws of the city-state, this is already the safest course of action; if he were in Harappa, he would most likely have handled it the same way.
In the midst of their hushed conversation, the old servant Bim, who had been standing nearby, quietly moved closer.
With practiced ease and without a sound, he flicked his wrist and quietly slipped a heavy money bag into the city guard captain's arms.
The captain paused almost imperceptibly.
A subtle hint of relief and joy flickered across his previously tense and serious face.
He said no more, took a step back, and loudly gave the order:
"Take all those involved in the disturbance away!"
This time, Vilandra did not try to stop her.
He knew very well that with the captain's promise that "his life would not be in danger," plus the generous gift that Bim had just given him, Vijay would be absolutely safe, even if he suffered some hardship in prison.
His next task was to immediately use all his connections to find more powerful high-ranking officials in the city, negotiate a ransom amount as soon as possible, and get Vijay out of the city as soon as possible.
Vijay was fully aware of this arrangement.
He did not resist, calmly extending his hand and allowing the city guards to come forward and take him and the two Shudra members away.
Before long, they were taken to a secluded garrison in a corner of the city, passed through several heavy iron gates, and finally locked in a dark and damp iron-barred cell.
This cell is pitifully small.
There was only a small, fist-sized ventilation window on one side of the wall, which allowed a tiny bit of light and thin air to get in.
The cell was filled with foul-smelling straw, the floor was damp and slippery, and the smells of sweat, excrement, and mold mingled together to create a suffocating stench.
As soon as he entered, the pungent smell hit his nostrils, making Vijay almost vomit.
What made him frown even more was that this seemingly small cell was already crammed with more than a dozen people.
One by one, they were dressed in tattered clothes, pale and thin, with cloudy eyes. Some were huddled in a corner, some were lying diagonally in a pile of straw, and some stared wide-eyed at Vijay and his two companions who had just entered, their eyes filled with a hint of malicious mockery.
Vijay and the two trembling Shudras were pushed in by the soldiers, and with a clang, the heavy iron door was locked shut.
From this moment on, they became prisoners in this dungeon.
The two Shudra servants were so frightened that their legs went weak. They lowered their heads and huddled behind Vijay, not daring to even breathe.
Vijay stood at the cell door and calmly surveyed the people inside.
Most of these people were low-class individuals who had been arrested for theft, fighting, and other reasons. Their eyes held no murderous intent, but were filled with humility and a sense of wretchedness.
Seeing that Vijay was neatly dressed and had a calm demeanor, clearly not one of their kind, the prisoners immediately felt like they had found a new source of amusement.
No one dared to rush up and provoke them immediately, but some people started grinning and making strange, snarling laughs.
There was also a naked, filthy prisoner who brazenly made extremely lewd and obscene gestures towards Vijay, while making foul noises.
It is tolerable and unbearable.
Vijay's eyes instantly turned cold.
From the moment he entered the cell, he maintained his composure, not wanting to cause any trouble in such a filthy place, but that did not mean he would tolerate such unwarranted insults.
Before anyone could react, Vijay moved so fast that he was just a blur.
He took a step forward, rushed straight to the prisoner who had made the indecent gesture, clenched his right fist, and slammed it hard into the man's face!
"Bang!" A muffled sound.
The prisoner, who wasn't particularly thin, was sent flying by Vijay's punch like a tossed chick. He was sent flying into the air and crashed heavily into a haystack in the distance, instantly losing consciousness. His body was still twitching slightly, like a flattened worm.
The entire cell fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone was stunned.
None of them expected that this young man would be so ruthless.
The prisoners who had been chuckling and looking at Vijay with ill intent just moments before instantly shut their mouths, lowered their heads, and huddled in their corners, not daring to even glance at Vijay, for fear that they would be the next to suffer.
Vijay coldly swept his gaze across the entire room.
No one dared to meet his gaze.
Without saying a word, he walked straight to the only spot in the cell near the small window, sat down on the cleanest straw, leaned against the cold, hard stone wall, and closed his eyes.
This is the best spot in the entire cell.
Now, it belongs to Vijay.
Upon seeing this, the two Shudra servants scrambled to Vijay's side, knelt down with a thud, and kowtowed repeatedly to him, their foreheads striking the hard ground with heavy blows, their faces filled with guilt and gratitude.
"Master! It's all our fault; we've dragged you into this!"
"Brahma above, you saved our lives and imprisoned us... Please allow us to swear an oath to serve you faithfully to the death and to regard you as our master!"
Upon hearing this, Vijay opened his eyes and glanced at the two of them indifferently.
He vaguely remembered that these two people were wandering Shudras, people with clean backgrounds who were selected by Bim before the caravan set off.
It seems there's nothing wrong with it!
Even if he were to revitalize the Mittal family later, it would clearly be insufficient to rely solely on Bim, Rajan, and Maya!
With this thought in mind, Vijay nodded slightly, his voice calm:
"Brahma bears witness! I accept your allegiance. You may call me master, but I do not desire mere verbal submission. I demand your complete sincerity, your full power, and your absolute obedience from now on!"
"Yes, Master! We obey!"
The two men kowtowed again with great emotion, then stood on either side of Vijay, like two loyal guards, blocking the view of others with their bodies and preventing anyone from getting close to or disturbing Vijay.
The cell fell silent once more.
Only faint breathing and the occasional footsteps from outside remained.