Chapter 415 - 383: Mindset Of Public... Dolphins Arrival...

(A/N):

Drop a meme here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.

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They had grown up in a kingdom where the royal administration had invested in education, where medical training was not restricted to a privileged few, and where the laws were intended to protect ordinary people rather than merely preserve the influence of powerful families.

They had their own reasons for wanting to defend the kingdom that had given them such opportunities.

Elsewhere, farmers gathered near the village wells, artisans spoke to customers while repairing tools, and travellers exchanged the latest reports at roadside inns. Everywhere, the same questions emerged.

Would Vrishasena declare war? Would the other kingdoms honour their promises? Would Devara agree to lead the alliance?

And beneath those questions was one certainty that very few people felt the need to voice aloud.

No one who knew Devara doubted that he would stand and fight if war came to Trivenivrata.

The people had seen him return from distant journeys, heard accounts of the enemies he had defeated, and watched the kingdom prosper under his rule.

To them, Devara was not simply a king who sat upon a throne and issued commands from behind palace walls.

He was the man who had challenged traditions that denied ordinary people opportunities, the ruler who had opened the doors of education to those who had previously been excluded, and the warrior who had repeatedly placed himself between danger and those he was responsible for protecting.

They could worry about their families, their livelihoods, and the uncertainty of the coming days.

They could hope that diplomacy would succeed and that the soldiers would eventually return to their ordinary duties.

But the possibility of their king being defeated was not something that occupied their thoughts in the same way.

For them, the more troubling question was not whether Devara could face Vrishasena.

It was whether Vrishasena understood what he had done by making an enemy of Trivenivrata.

And as the soldiers continued their preparations beneath the watchful eyes of their commanders, the people returned to their daily work with a mixture of apprehension and quiet confidence, trusting that whatever awaited their kingdom, their king would not abandon them when the time came to face it.

The following morning, after spending several hours reviewing the reports brought by his ministers and listening to the latest updates concerning the approaching royal delegations, Devara decided that he needed a little time away from the palace.

The question of an alliance against Vrishasena was important, and he had every intention of dealing with it properly, but he had no desire to spend the entire day surrounded by maps, military reports, and discussions about the possibility of war.

There were matters he wished to consider privately, and there was one person with whom he particularly wanted to speak before making any major decision.

His mother.

Goddess Ganga had always been someone he could approach whenever he needed to clear his thoughts.

Although Devara possessed the strength and experience of a seasoned warrior, he was still capable of finding himself caught between several difficult choices, especially when those choices involved the lives of thousands of people.

His mother had a way of looking at such problems from a perspective that others often overlooked, and he suspected that a conversation with her might help him organise his thoughts before the visiting kings began demanding answers.

Having informed the palace officials that he would be visiting the harbour along the Ganga, Devara mounted his horse and departed with a small escort of royal guards.

He had deliberately chosen not to take his magnificent Vajravyaghra Rath, preferring the simplicity of riding through the countryside without attracting more attention than necessary.

Even so, the sight of their king travelling with a contingent of armed guards was enough to draw curious glances from the people along the road, many of whom greeted him respectfully as he passed.

The journey took them through stretches of fertile farmland and small settlements where the morning’s activities were already in full swing.

Farmers worked in their fields, merchants loaded goods onto bullock carts, and children ran along the roadside until their parents called them back.

Beyond the settlements, the land gradually sloped towards the great river, whose broad waters reflected the morning sunlight in countless shimmering fragments.

By the time Devara reached the harbour, the Ganga was flowing peacefully beneath the open sky, its surface broken only by the occasional ripple created by passing boats and the movement of aquatic creatures beneath the water.

Fishing vessels were anchored near the wooden piers, while a handful of merchants supervised the unloading of their cargo.

The air carried the familiar scent of river water, damp timber, and the offerings of flowers that devotees had left along the steps leading down to the riverbank.

Devara dismounted, handing the reins to one of the guards before walking towards the water’s edge.

His horse gave a quiet snort as he moved away, seemingly content to remain in the company of the royal escort, while the guards spread themselves around the immediate area and maintained a respectful distance from their king.

For a moment, Devara simply stood there, watching the river flow.

The Ganga was no ordinary river to him. It was the earthly manifestation of a divine being, a mother whose presence extended far beyond the water that nourished the lands of Bhulok.

Somewhere within those sacred waters lay the passage to her divine dimension, a realm he could enter whenever he wished to meet her.

He had visited her before, and the memory of those encounters brought a quiet smile to his face as he considered how best to approach the conversation he had planned.

He had barely taken another step when something moving beneath the surface caught his attention.

Several dark fins had appeared in the water a short distance from the harbour, cutting through the river’s surface before disappearing beneath it again.

A moment later, another fin emerged, followed by a smooth, curved back that glistened in the sunlight.

The creatures were moving towards the bank with surprising speed, their movements graceful and purposeful.

Devara’s expression brightened with recognition.

"Well, look who has decided to come and greet me,"

he murmured, folding his arms as he watched the water.

The royal guards immediately became alert.

A pair of them moved closer to the riverbank, their hands instinctively resting near their weapons, while another glanced towards the boats to determine whether the creatures posed any danger.

They had seen enough unusual things in Devara’s presence to know that the world contained creatures far stranger than ordinary animals, but the appearance of several unfamiliar fins in the water was still enough to put them on guard.

"Maharaja, should we move you away from the river?"

one of the guards asked cautiously.

"We do not know what those creatures are."

Devara glanced over his shoulder, amusement flickering across his face.

"Put your weapons away. Unless you have developed a habit of threatening every creature that swims past you, I see no reason to disturb them."

"But, Maharaja, their teeth..."

"Are considerably sharper than yours, I imagine,"

Devara replied with a straight face.

"That does not mean they intend to eat us."

Before the guard could formulate a response, the water near the bank suddenly stirred, and the first creature broke through the surface.

It was a dolphin, though anyone accustomed to ordinary dolphins would have immediately noticed the differences.

The creatures inhabiting the sacred waters of the Ganga possessed noticeably elongated snouts, longer and more prominent than those of their ocean-dwelling relatives, while their mouths revealed rows of sharp teeth whenever they opened them to breathe.

Their bodies were sleek and muscular, adapted to navigating the river’s currents, and their dark, glistening skin reflected the sunlight as they moved through the shallows.

Another surfaced beside it, followed by two more that circled the harbour before swimming directly towards Devara.

The guards watched with growing apprehension as the dolphins approached, particularly when one of them opened its mouth and displayed its teeth.

The creature gave a sharp, breathy exhalation before dipping beneath the water again, its dorsal fin cutting a narrow trail across the surface.

Devara, however, appeared entirely unconcerned.

These were the dolphins of the Ganga, creatures who had made their homes in her sacred waters.

Though their appearance could be intimidating to those unfamiliar with them, they were generally friendly towards those who treated the river with respect.

Devara had encountered them on previous visits and knew that their curiosity often overcame whatever caution they might otherwise have displayed.

One of the dolphins swam close enough for its elongated snout to emerge just above the water, its dark eyes fixed upon him.

It released a series of high-pitched whistles, then slapped its tail against the surface, sending a small shower of water towards the riverbank.

Devara chuckled.

"Is that how you greet everyone, or have you been saving your finest manners for me?"

The dolphin responded with another series of whistles, turning in a tight circle before approaching him again.

A second creature surfaced nearby, nudging the first with its snout as though impatiently demanding a share of the attention. Soon, all four were swimming close to the bank, their fins appearing and disappearing in the water as they gathered around the man they recognised.

One of the younger guards stared at the scene, his earlier apprehension gradually giving way to bewilderment.

"They know the Maharaja?"

"They seem to,"

another guard muttered, still keeping a wary eye on the nearest dolphin.

"Though I cannot say whether that is a good thing. Look at its teeth."

Devara heard them and shook his head, unable to suppress his amusement.

"You would think you had never seen an animal before. They are dolphins, not demons from the depths of Patala."

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(Author note:)

I hope you guys give me your opinion and idea’s.

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