Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

Few kilometers from the capital, Hampi. Harsha's army had been waiting to march to the battlefield. The battle had already started.

The camp was on high alert. They could be moving to battle at any given moment. The nervousness of the soldiers was palpable. Most of the soldiers in the army were sourced from the lower castes of society.

Even after strict training, they weren't battle-hardened like their counterparts in the other armies.

*THUD*

*THUD*

The grenadiers were still getting trained. Tarun, a regional leader from the Guntur, was given charge to train the grenadiers. Tarun was one of the first members to join Karna's small ragtag group.

He had admired Karna for her straightforward attitude and strength. The Karna he knew never really liked the noble class.

It came as a surprise when he had joined the ranks of the youngest prince of the Vijayanagara Empire. Tarun wanted answers for becoming the subordinate of the prince.

He was met with a short answer.

"I felt like it."

This didn't convince Tarun, but he still respected Karna's decision and followed him. He was trusted by Karna, so he was made into a regional leader and given expanding bases to handle.

It was recently that Tarun had finally seen the prince. The man who made Karna submit. Tarun quickly grasped the reason behind Karna's decision.

He couldn't even meet the gaze of the prince without a shiver running down his spine. The prince was like an unreachable entity. The demon butler standing meekly even surprised him at first.

Viswa, the butler of the prince, was known as a demon among the group for his cutthroat, efficient methods and work ethic. The cold and calculating demeanor was replaced by a timid and meek personality in front of the prince.

It was clear that Viswa was fully loyal to the prince. A strong individual such as Viswa to submit easily to the prince. It was a big feat that spoke of the prince's extensive abilities.

*THUD*

*THUD*

The heavy huffing and breathing interrupted his thoughts. The training for the day was finally done. He was merely overlooking the training instruction set by Viswa. It was rigorous to the point he felt sorry for the grenadiers. But unfortunately, he was bound by the orders of the higher-ups.

"That's enough training for today." He shouted to the huffing members.

Their faces lit up as each one of them collapsed on the dusty earth to catch a break.

Tarun went back to the main camp to report to the prince. He was tasked with reporting not only the status of the grenadiers but also the reports of the scouts to the prince.

The scouts were planted all across the area to maintain secrecy. Three scouts of the enemies were already killed during this period.

The scout teams usually consisted of 3 to 5 members each spread across the area. This made it easier to catch enemy scouts and kill them.

The sun was setting, and the orange hue of the evening was fading away, replaced with eerie darkness. The bonfires were being lit up one by one for the night.

He entered the tent, where the prince was taking a rest after training.

"Your Highness. We have the report from the scouts on the battlefield."

The prince was lying on a soft mattress, reading a book. He was calm and collected, unlike all the soldiers and commanders.

Harsha looked up at Tarun.

"Ohh! The day ended? Give me the report!"

Tarun handed over the report to Harsha, who began to skim through the content of the report.

"It looks good. Nothing too serious has happened yet!! We can take our time!"

"Your Highness. There have been some changes in the strategy of the first prince."

"True, I know the reason behind it. Don't worry. You may leave!" Harsha dismissed him.

'She began to support the first prince!'

Lakshmi was the mastermind behind the civil war. The unusual strategies of the first prince were probably a result of the support from Lakshmi. The capital was under his surveillance even before the battle.

Harsha had ordered Viswa to leave some of the members in the capital for information. He had received a report of the new commanders and the troops joining the first prince's army a few days before the battle had commenced in the capital.

This information was coupled with the mastermind being the sister of the first prince. The result was right in front of him. Lakshmi had lent her support to the first prince.

Although he was still skeptical about the extent of the support. If Lakshmi was capable of orchestrating the whole civil war. She had more than enough ability to take the throne from the first prince.

Harsha had a faint feeling she was using her brother for something.

He had to acknowledge the influence of his half-sister. It was the first time after coming to this world that he had seen a worthy opponent.

"It will be fun defeating you, Sister." He muttered.

He looked through another report lying on his table. Tarun had brought in a summarized and detailed report of the battles.

Harsha read through the detailed report.

"Casualites seem to be higher on Chandra's side." He muttered aloud.

It was understandable since he was facing the power of the cannons. But the more he read through the report,. Some oddities started to show up.

An ambush was thwarted by Chandra's army with ease on the backline. The flank recoveries and the minimal damage output by the cannons.

'Hmmm!! Something feels odd!'

Ambushes were hard to predict in the chaos of the battle. The scale of the battle made it quite odd. The fact that the backline was reinforced raised some questions in his mind.

'It was as if they knew about it.'

Someone with good observations would know looking at the detailed report. Something fishy was happening on the battlefield.

It was highly likely even the second prince noticed this wasn't just a coincidence like the first day of the battle.

He looked at the last page of the report and smirked.

"So this was the reason!!."