Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il, who was giving a speech in a mosque, was startled when the Sultan of the Mahra Sultanate of Qishn and Socotra came to visit him in such a hurry.
"Khalid, what happened? Why are you sweating so profusely?" he asked, a little unhappy that his day was ruined.
"Imam, I'm extremely sorry that I have to meet you in such a way, but please hurry up. The commander of a Bharatiya Naval Fleet has requested to meet you. They are currently stationed in Socotra Island," Khalid explained with a worried expression.
Mutawakkil was taken aback. "The Bharatiya Empire? What do they want?" He immediately became nervous. Who in Arabia didn't know about the naval strength of the Bharatiya Empire? Legends were told, like fairy tales, of a man from the Bharatiya Empire single-handedly destroying an unsinkable Ottoman warship (Sarvesh).
"Your Excellency, they want the Socotra Island under my control. But you know I have to ask your opinion before I make a decision, so I requested a day to arrange a meeting with you."
Mutawakkil nodded but became suspicious. "And they agreed? The mighty Bharatiya Navy accepted your proposal?"
"Um!" Khalid was immediately embarrassed, but he did not have time to dwell on it. "I could feel that the commander was feeling impatient, so I told him about our enmity with the Ottoman Empire, hoping that due to similar enemies they would reconsider. Fortunately, I was right."
Mutawakkil immediately looked at Khalid a little differently. "You did a good job," he said as he quickly boarded the ship in which Khalid had arrived and set off to Socotra.
In the meantime, Vijay was surprised that there was an unknown enemy of the Ottoman Empire all the way at the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula.
Knowing about their goal to recapture Mecca and Medina, he felt happy because if they had such an ideology, they were never going to reconcile with the Ottomans.
Moreover, in his past life, he had heard a rumour that Muslims in the Arabian subcontinent were completely different from Muslims in Central Asia. They were much more tolerant of others since legend says that they remember their own paganistic roots. It is said that this is one of the reasons why pagan idols within their holy Mecca had not been removed.
'Come to think of it, out of all the invaders that had invaded Bharat in my last life, most of them had come from Central Asia, particularly the Ghaznavids and Ghurids, originating from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan,' Vijay thought. Also, thinking about the Hindu, Buddhist, and animistic temple remains found in Socotra, which were reported by Akhil, he began to doubt whether his made-up story about Dharmik Islam was indeed partially true.
"Anyway, these things cannot be verified. The only thing that matters is that no invader from Yemen has invaded Bharat on a large scale," he concluded. This was enough for Vijay to make a judgment on how to treat the Qasimid state.
Mutawakkil was amazed when he saw the battleships of the Bharatiya Empire floating on the Arabian Sea. He realized how right his decision had been to have a meeting with the commander of the Bharatiya Empire.
Akhil greeted the Imam with a little bit more respect than he had shown Khalid. If he treated Khalid as an acquaintance, then he treated the Imam as an equal.
Mutawakkil smiled kindly, like a kind old man. "What can my humble kingdom do for you, sir?" he asked, his posture very humble.
Akhil immediately smiled. "Your Excellency, please, you don't have to underestimate yourself too much. You have fought against the Ottoman Empire, after all."
"Anyone who stands against the tyranny of the Ottoman Empire is a friend of the Bharatiya Empire. So I will not beat around the bush. I believe Sir Khalid has already informed you of our objective, didn't he?"
"Good, then the conditions proposed by the Bharatiya Empire are as follows:
A monetary compensation of 2 million Varaha, as well as a discount on the purchase of military products from the Bharatiya Empire, and a guaranteed procurement of 1 million Varaha worth of products from your kingdom every year."
Mutawakkil was immediately confused. He knew what Varaha meant, but he did not know how much it was worth.
Akhil understood the dilemma and did some calculations using an abacus. "It is roughly around 50 kilograms of gold."
Knowing that the Imam would be unfamiliar with the metric system, he asked his subordinate to bring over a 10-kilogram cannonball.
Mutawakkil took the cannonball into his hand with interest. He realized that what he was holding was ammunition used in artillery, but he did not understand why he was given such a thing. If it were earlier, he might have thought this was some sort of a threat, but he did not believe the Bharatiya Empire would do such a thing in the middle of a negotiation that was clearly going favourably.
As he expected, Akhil soon explained.
"The cannonball you are holding is exactly 10 kilograms. Fifty kilograms of gold is roughly five of the cannonballs you are holding."
Mutawakkil was immediately overwhelmed. This was a large amount of money. He did a few mental calculations, converting the gold to the local currency, and he was filled with ecstasy. However, he did not let himself get too overwhelmed by the money since he understood the importance of Socotra Island. Just because he wasn't interested in naval expansion didn't mean he didn't know the strategic value of an island situated in the middle of the Gulf of Aden.
Sadly, he also understood that he did not have the power to bargain with the Bharatiya Empire. The only thing he could do was accept the terms as long as they were not too extreme. To be fair, he felt the terms mentioned by the Bharatiya Empire were extremely generous.
"It is acceptable, sir, but what are the local products that you would like to procure?" he asked, worrying that the Bharatiyas would ask for something his country was unable to provide.
Akhil shrugged. "Don't worry. It is nothing exotic. It's just sheep hides, bran, molluscs, and honey."
"Aren't these things produced extensively in your kingdom? We'll just take that."
Then Akhil couldn't help but remind , "In fact, the 1 million Varaha used to buy all these things is just a form of our empire's investment in your kingdom due to your enmity with the Ottoman Empire."
"If you cooperate with our empire well in the future, the benefits you could obtain will be only more and not less. In fact, we can actually help you realize your lifelong goal of reclaiming Mecca and Medina, your holy cities."
"So consider it carefully," Akhil said.
Mutawakkil was immediately overjoyed. The conditions put forward by the Bharatiya Empire were more favorable than he had originally thought.
"Of course, it is acceptable. Qasimid State can agree to your offer," Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il declared.
Akhil smiled with contentment. "Happy cooperation," he said.
"Happy cooperation," Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il replied.
While Akhil was about to arrange a few warships to be stationed in Socotra and send the rest back to the battlefield in Mauritius and station in Kuala Lumpur, he suddenly remembered something.
"Your Excellency Imam, before I forget, here is a gift from my side."
Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il took over a book that looked very familiar and asked with confusion, "This is?"
Akhil replied nonchalantly, "The Muslims in the Bharatiya Empire call this the Holy Book of Dharmik Islam, but the Christians and Europeans who have read this book have called it the New Testament of Islam."
"The original copy of the book was found in an ancient cave in Southern Bharat. It was apparently the final residence of someone divine."
"So I felt that you should know about this," Akhil said.
Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il was startled. He was shocked; he did not know that the holy book had another testament. He knew that the Christians' holy book had a New Testament along with the Old Testament, but he never knew that Islam had one too.
"How have I never known this!" he exclaimed out loud.
"Hehe," Akhil shrugged. "It's natural, really. When Dharmik Islam spread from the Bharatiya Empire to the Ottoman Empire through various merchants, it was choked by the Ottoman Emperor Mehmed, and the name of Dharmik Islam was not heard again from the hinterlands of the Ottoman Empire."
"I would reckon the Ottomans would not like it if the news spread to you, the Orthodox of Islam."
"It's these Ottoman traitors again," Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il immediately became angry. "Not only did they distort the truth in the holy book, but they also dared to hide the New Testament. How dare they!" He clenched his fist until it turned white.
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, sir. I, Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il, owe you and the Bharatiya Emperor a great deal of gratitude."
In such a way, not only did the Bharatiya Empire get the Socotra Island without spilling any blood, but they also strengthened the enemy of the Ottoman Empire and coincidentally became one of the reasons for the discovery of the New Testament of Islam.