Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 931: Ghosh Aeronautics established!!

Outskirts of Hampi, Vijayanagara State, Akhand Bharatiya Empire

Mateo Garcia was the son of the Spanish diplomat who came to the ceremony along with his father, who was currently standing before the crowd, unable to hide his complicated expression, mixed with nervousness and excitement.

Mateo, never in his wildest dreams, would have expected to find himself in such a situation. In fact, he hadn’t even understood why his father insisted he come along, at least not until he arrived at the ceremony. But fate works in mysterious ways. A happy-go-lucky teenager, simply content with barely passing his classes and playing cricket with friends in the district College sports League, was now chosen to be the first European ever to take to the skies.

As the realisation hit him about the magnitude of the feat he was about to participate in, he was left overwhelmed, with countless chaotic thoughts swirling in his mind.

Next to him was his father, Santiago Garcia, who was constantly asking him not to go. Mateo could barely hear his father talk over the commotion, but still, given that he had a good relationship with his father, he could make out the context of what his father was saying, which was basically his regret to not pull his hand down when he raised it, and more insistently, almost demanding that he give up the idea of going on the hot air balloon.

However, unfortunately, Mateo had already become too attached to the idea. The moment he realised he would have the chance to enter the history books of various European countries—and more importantly, the history books of the Bharatiya Empire—and be gawked at by his useless buddies, he couldn’t help but be drawn in, like a moth to a flame, by the honour that awaited him.

He felt like his life would be fulfilled if he rode the hot air balloon.

Santiago Garcia’s face was red with worry, his heart was racing like a runaway horse, he was constantly trying to pull his son away, but unfortunately, given that his son studied his high school as well as his college in the Bharatiya Empire, and underwent the rigorous physical training every teenager in the Bharatiya Empire is subjected to, he was much stronger than his out-of-shape self.

He tried threatening his son, demanding him, ordering him, but it did not work; he simply stood there like a log, looking at the hot air balloon that slowly rose up into the air, carrying the first unlucky person who was selected. In the end, he even put his face down and tried to plead, but that did not work either.

Santiago immediately got angry; however, the anger soon dissipated after he realised that he was in the company of various chief ministers, cabinet ministers, and important people of the Bharatiya Empire, and he couldn’t risk offending these people by showing his ugly side.

Even though the relationship between the Spanish Empire and the Akhand Bharatiya Empire has been a little strained in recent years, the orders he received from His Majesty were still to maintain proper diplomatic connexion with the Bharatiya Empire, on the account that the Viceroy of New Spain and other colonies in the Americas are becoming more and more dependent on the resources shipped by the Bharatiya Empire. Not to mention, the Bharatiya Empire constantly imports the savages from the Americas, which caused a huge trouble for the Spanish and paid the money to do so while they were at it.

In the end, he was forced to choose between his son and his nation, and he ultimately chose his nation. ’Well, at least something going wrong with Mateo is much rarer than relationships being strained if I take action now,’ he comforted himself.

Everyone’s attention was soon attracted to the sky, because the screams of Murugan could be heard loud and clear.

The colour on most of the onlookers’ faces immediately changed, worried about something going wrong, but soon the expressions turned weird, because the shouts which were initially filled with panic had completely turned to the ones of joy and exhilaration, even a few keywords like amazing, beautiful, marvellous, breathtaking could be heard from time to time.

The shouts of Murugan seemed to snap Mateo Garcia out of his imagination. Realising that the shouts were filled with exhilaration and excitement, the uneasiness within Mateo slowly faded, replaced by a growing sense of anticipation.

Noticing his son’s expression, Santiago’s heart sank. If he were being completely honest, he would have preferred the hot air balloon to crash and the Minister of Finance, Murugan, to fall to his death. At least then, his son’s boarding the balloon could have been completely avoided. But unfortunately, he knew deep down that such an outcome was highly unlikely, because the Bharatiyas rarely miss. And even when they do, it’s almost never disastrous.

The hot air balloon was suspended in the air for 10 whole minutes until it eventually reduced in height and made a touchdown with the ground.

Murugan was immediately startled. Everyone was looking at him with piercing gazes. His heart suddenly began to palpitate, and he instinctively took a step back. But then, remembering his excited shouting, a wave of embarrassment hit him. His face, already flushed from the adrenaline rushing through his veins, turned even redder—almost like a ripe tomato.

"Clap!" "Clap!" "Clap!" "Clap!"

A deafening applause was given, which made Murugan heave a sigh of relief.

He took control of his emotions, jumped out of the basket, did a namaskara, and took a deep bow.

"Thank you, everyone, and thank you, Ghosh Aeronautics, for giving me this opportunity. I have no doubt about the success of your business, and please do consider setting up a branch in Cholapuri as well."

He said as he finally went to talk with the prince and the empress, who seemed to be motioning to him.

After the first person experienced air travel, the next person was much calmer. This time, it was not a politician, but a young businessman who emigrated from Cheranadu into Vijayanagar, called Parushiram Nambiar.

The experience of Parushiram was very similar to Murugan; the initial shouts of panic and then the screams of excitement, it was like a déjà vu for the people.

10 minutes later, it was finally Mateo’s turn.

He got onto the basket and looked around, only to see his father continuously drawing the Holy Cross on his chest, the big leaders and politicians looking at him with expectation, and the reporters vigorously writing something on a piece of paper as if they were possessed by a ghost.

The young man, who was around the same age as him, asked whether to proceed with the lift-off. Mateo hesitated for a split second before he resolutely nodded, "Yes, let’s go," he said, his voice hoarse.

Right before his eyes, the ground was getting farther and farther away, the sounds of the crowds completely disappeared, leaving only the raw sound of flame constantly burning and the unique sound the balloon makes when it goes up.

Mateo didn’t scream like the other two winners, as he was already overwhelmed, he was feeling the tightness of breath, but as the hot air balloon finally rose more than 100 metres and the mesmerising view of the Hampi City, a city which was like a museum of grand architecture, came into his sight, he couldn’t help but roar at the top of his lungs.

Mateo raised both of his hands up into the air in exhilaration, and he began to breathe heavily, forcing his body to adapt to the conditions.

As the hot air balloon climbed higher, Mateo could even see the large reservoir of the city and the majestic royal palace with the gigantic Shanku Chakra of the Devaraya family, one of the largest palaces in the empire. He could even see the people vaguely, who appeared like insects to his eyes. The carriages could be seen as well; they were like ants carrying large rice crumbs into their nest. The hot air balloon finally stopped rising, and he looked around, his eyes filled with vitality, a kind of vitality that wants to permanently etch everything it had seen.

He saw the green fields in the distance being harvested by a large harvester, a sight that brought a strange sense of peace to his mind. He even spotted a few villages farther away—and funny enough, he could make out people running in panic, looking up at him.

Turning around, he saw a few more reservoirs on the other side of the city, shimmering under the sunlight like a lake of mercury. In the far distance, he noticed birds fleeing from the hot air balloon, as if they had just encountered a giant monster ready to devour them alive.

In the blink of an eye, his time ended, and he slowly started to descend, still looking unfulfilled. Getting out of the basket, he received a round of applause just like the ones before, but this time the applause was the loudest from the European crowd, who looked at him with admiration. Then his father came forward with a wide smile and hugged him tightly.

---

With the end of the ceremony, the first civilian aeronautics company in the empire came into being, causing several dozen accidents and several hundred cases of people of Hampi informing the police of an enemy invasion.

But all the chaos the hot air balloon caused in Hampi worked in its favour, as the very next day, all the major newspapers in the empire only mentioned the hot air balloon on the front page and nothing else. Some smaller newspapers even made the whole newspaper about it, filled with various interviews with the civilians and professionals, and even a few soldiers who were off duty.

Almost within a week after the opening ceremony, Ghosh Aeronautics received clients who were willing to sign up for the air tour of Hampi, completely ignoring the whopping price of 100,000 Varaha per ride.

Read 𝓁at𝙚st chapters at (f)re𝒆we(b)novel.com Only