1593.
This is the fifth New Year since I came here.
“Angel! When is Mama coming? I miss her, so please tell her to come back!”
“Virginia! You can’t talk like that to Sir Nemo!”
“Hahaha, she’ll be here soon.”
Virginia Dare, who had been toddling about when I first saw her, was now five years old—or seven by Korean reckoning.
“Your mother has gone to do a very noble thing. She’ll return carrying lots of gifts for our Virginia!”
“Woooow! Will I get lots of new friends too!”
“Of course! Ten! Twenty! No, more than thirty!”
“Woooow!”
“...Sir Nemo, is it truly alright to say such things to the child?”
“Don’t worry, Vicente. This time, that many really will come.”
If Raleigh was as politically competent as I judged, and if the streptomycin had worked well, then Raleigh, Eleanor, and Margaret would have become heroes of London.
Especially if Raleigh had become a formidable politician with genuine popular support and a solid power base, rather than merely the Queen’s favorite?
Then how many resources could he bring in?
“For starters, the earlier settlers said they’d bring their families, so it’ll easily exceed five hundred. There will be many family-unit settlers.”
That’s right. Raleigh will have filtered out those coming alone just to make a quick fortune in the colony. There will probably be many coming with the intention of settling here permanently.
“Besides, isn’t London always suffering from overpopulation? If the Black Death situation had been resolved well, Sir Raleigh would have been able to bring no small amount of resources.”
I am very... looking forward to it, Walter Raleigh.
How many will come? Seven hundred? Or eight hundred?
Perhaps... maybe even more than a thousand.
Then the population of this community would approach nine thousand, but how should I utilize all those people?
Build clipper ships, trade, farm wheat, potatoes, and grapes... No. I’m not even hoping for a thousand.
If only about eight hundred came, there would truly be much we could do. Putting aside how much easier shipbuilding would become, if only there were a few more blacksmiths among them, I could realize dreams I hadn’t dared to implement.
Yes.
Just let eight hundred come.
“My! Our granddaughter is grabbing Sir Nemo’s pant leg!”
“Grandpa! When is Mama coming!”
“Eleanor will be here soon, so don’t worry! Hahaha!”
And so, amid all that anticipation, the New Year’s Day party concluded successfully, and the Christmas holiday continued for several days thereafter.
And then... about a week had passed?
“A sh-ship! I see a ship! Sir Nemo! I see a ship!”
“Where, Manteo!”
“There, east-southeast!”
I took the telescope from Manteo and looked in that direction...
...Oh!
A single ship slowly appeared over the horizon. The red cross flag flying from its highest mast confirmed it as an English vessel.
Behind it, one by one, ships revealed themselves starting from their masts.
All five ships that had departed from here were returning...
“...”
“...”
“...”
Another one.
And another.
And yet another.
...
...
...Huh?
“It’s Mama! Mama is waving over there! Mama really came!”
“...”
“...”
“...”
Virginia jumped about in excitement, but we stood frozen, unable to do anything. At Manteo’s shout, others who had come out to see the ships also stopped dead in their tracks, mouths agape, the moment they realized the number of ships far exceeded expectations.
And so, twenty-two ships arrived in Chesapeake Bay.
“Sir Nemo! We have returned! Volunteers poured in by the tens of thousands, so we had no choice but to select and select again...”
“...”
“...Sir Nemo?”
Looking at Walter Raleigh, who had bounded down the gangplank in high spirits, I cautiously asked:
“...How many are there in total?”
“How many, you ask? You mean excluding all the sailors and laborers who will return to England?”
“Yes.”
“About... two thousand?”
Wow.
More than double my maximum estimate.
“Blacksmiths and shipwrights combined make up one-tenth of them. Veterans who built the Ark Royal, England’s greatest warship!!”
“Uh...”
One-tenth of them are the high-level technicians we had been desperately seeking.
“Of course, we also brought another hundred dairy cows!”
A hundred more cows needed for the smallpox vaccination of the natives had been added.
I felt like... the protagonist of an American self-help book who helped an old lady on the street, only to find out she was actually a third-generation chaebol heiress who bequeathed a massive fortune to him.
I was dumbfounded.
“A-a situation report... seems necessary.”
“S-saints’ land!”
“Heavens, it’s the continent of the Angel!”
“...Right now.”
I asked Walter Raleigh, and Eleanor Dare and Margaret Lawrence, who followed him down.
Just what on earth happened here.
***
“So... it wasn’t much at first.
Her Majesty took Margaret and me back to Whitehall Palace in London. There were those who remained in London caring for the poor, so under the pretext that she alone couldn’t flee London.
Actually, early winter was coming and the Black Death seemed nearly eradicated, so she returned to the palace. Anyway.
At Whitehall Palace, she praised us as England’s true saints, gathered all manner of nobles and clergy, and made us tell them the story of meeting the Angel in front of them...”
“...Did you talk about me?”
“Ah, no. I mean, it was about you, Sir Nemo... but distorted somewhat for propaganda purposes...”
“Ah, I roughly understand. And then?”
“After that, we had no time to treat anyone. Wherever we went, crowds swarmed in, grabbing our hands and hems, asking us to pray for them...”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Anyway, that’s how statues were erected in some square, and we gave sermons at Westminster Abbey with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and all sorts of strange things happened...”
“And when you tried to leave afterward, volunteers flocked from everywhere saying they would follow the saints?”
“Yes! Exactly!”
“Uh... I see.”
“...”
“...Saint?”
“Ah, that... please don’t.”
“Understood. Eleanor? Miss Lawrence? Is that the whole story?”
“Ah, no. Not exactly...”
Eleanor and Margaret peeked at each other, then turned their heads toward Raleigh. Then Raleigh suddenly stood up and bowed his head to me.
“Sir Nemo, I thank you. It is all thanks to you.”
“What do you mean, Sir Raleigh?”
“I am no longer a ‘Sir.’”
“Then...”
Raleigh raised one corner of his mouth and said.
“...Please call me Baron Roanoke.”
“Oh...”
“And, John White. You too must go to London with me on the next voyage.”
“Y-yes? What is it?”
“It’s time something was placed before your name as well.
Isn’t that right, Sir... John White?”
“...”
The moment he heard those words, White’s face stiffened.
I briefly thought of the hardships of his life.
Come to think of it, this year was 1593.
The year he should have lost his daughter and granddaughter and died a lonely death.
“K-knight? Me, a... knight?”
Born into a worthless commoner family, even when Sir Raleigh appointed him as governor, his origins had to be fabricated into the gentry class.
But now, there was no longer any need for such fabrications.
“I... a noble...”
Because the ‘House of White’ is no longer a fake empty shell.
White stared at us, unable to speak for a moment... then looked out the distant window.
Tears of joy mixed with rapture fell from his eyes.
...Anyway.
Uh... so... let’s organize this.
1. Eleanor Dare and Margaret Lawrence have become ‘Saints.’
2. Walter ‘Sir’ Raleigh is now Walter ‘Baron’ Raleigh, and his confidant John White is also scheduled to become a noble.
This is... the rough summary.
The facts extending from that are:
1. Numerous people requested to migrate here following Eleanor Dare and Margaret Lawrence.
2. Walter ‘Baron’ Raleigh has become the Queen’s full right-hand man and arrived here with massive support. He brought all manner of experts including shipwrights to build clippers, blacksmiths, carpenters, and so on.
...The population exceeded ten thousand overnight.
Of them, more than two thousand are those who have never seen my ‘immortality’ with their own eyes.
Meanwhile, the number of craftsmen has multiplied several times over.
Walter Raleigh had already begun ship design by looking only at the clipper drawings I had given him, estimating their internal structure and overall layout. The shipwrights began processing the New World’s abundant timber at his command.
“...”
Am I happy?
Of course I am happy. My power has grown several times stronger in an instant.
Moreover, most of the new immigrants are said to be those who were treated for the Black Death in London. If I scatter those who have already witnessed miracles among the remaining eight thousand, I will naturally be able to make them believers of the ‘Nemo faction’ as well.
But.
‘...What next?’
I have many concerns as well.
What should I do after this?
They are those indebted to the ‘Saints’ I sent, having followed their footsteps all the way here. Therefore, they won’t be difficult to recruit.
But having accepted several thousand Englishmen, this place is now inevitably connected to England. In the future, the population here will grow from ten thousand to twenty thousand, to one hundred thousand.
How should I recruit them?
Can a society with a population in the ten thousands run on the same makeshift methods as before?
And another concern.
‘...Spain.’
England and Spain are still at war. It would be no exaggeration to say the entire Atlantic is their battlefield.
And Englishmen building new full-rigged ships here? Several thousand Englishmen living here?
It has become a place worth Spain mobilizing a great army to crush.
How will I stop their potential invasion?
Thus two problems rise in my head. Didn’t they say too great a gift becomes a great worry at the same time?
After mulling over the worries in my head for quite some time...
“Sir Raleigh? No, Baron Roanoke?”
“Just call me Walter.”
“...Walter, there’s something I’d like to ask.”
“Ask me anything.”
“There’s something I’d like to import from England... I’m wondering if it would be possible.”
I had slowly reached a conclusion.
“What is it?”
Walter asked, and I answered.
“Cannons.”
This colony needs power.
***
“Look! It’s Sir Walter Raleigh!”
As a ship bearing the emblem of an angel holding a sword surfaced on the Thames, countless people began to gather. Spectators waved handkerchiefs at the ship and let out cheers.
“Long live Sir Raleigh! Long live England!”
“Baron Roanoke! Please look this way!”
If Eleanor and Margaret had become London’s saints, what of Walter Raleigh, who brought them and led London’s plague prevention alongside them?
He was already enjoying popularity akin to London’s holy saint.
The great man who received the title Baron Roanoke and tremendous rewards as the foremost contributor to ending the Black Death.
Wherever Raleigh went, the citizens’ cheers never ceased, as if a king were processing, and it continued until the carriage carrying him headed toward Whitehall Palace.
Having disembarked from the carriage, Raleigh took two men and went straight to the audience chamber. Soon, the Queen waiting for him, her officials, and the court nobles greeted him.
“Your Majesty, I have once again brought rare treasures from the New World.”
And as in the voyage before last, numerous boxes were wheeled into the audience chamber. Elizabeth’s eyes glazed with greed, then... shifted to the two men Raleigh had brought.
“So. You are John White?”
“I-I humbly greet Your Majesty.”
“Look forward to it. I shall richly reward the loyal servant who has expanded my territory…”
As the queen’s smile swept over White, he tensed for no reason and bowed deeply at the waist. Then the queen’s gaze moved straight toward… the other man.
“…Who is that man?”
“He is an envoy sent by the ‘Native Emperor.’”
At that moment, everyone in the court fell silent.
The man who had rendered brilliant service in calming the Black Death in London by gifting them an exquisitely crafted “syringe.”
The master of precisely cut jewels, vast territories, all manner of sweet fruits, and overflowing wealth.
A great Christian who had sought the Lord’s word of his own accord and been baptized.
A powerful ally across the Atlantic.
“He is called Oitotan, and he is that person’s… vassal.”
Hearing his own name, the American turned his head for a moment, then gave a small nod. Then he shifted his gaze again and looked around the palace.
With an indifferent expression.
At that attitude, Elizabeth raised one eyebrow, and the nobles began to murmur.
“…His reaction is completely different from when that man called Manteo came here several years ago.”
“Is the court of England nothing special to a servant of so great an emperor?”
In their minds, their imaginings of the great Native Emperor’s court began to grow once again. Raleigh let their imaginations run on their own and opened his mouth.
“Your Majesty, if I may… I wish to petition for permission to bring one kind of goods into the Virginia colony.”
“Goods?”
“Yes. We need cannons.”
“…Cannons?”
“That is so. We need cannons to withstand attacks from the Spaniards.”
English cast-iron cannons were slightly inferior in quality to the bronze cannons of the Continent, but they were several times cheaper, making them an important strategic resource for England. Their export overseas was also prohibited.
“Hmm.”
“Your Majesty, Virginia will become an important stopover for striking at the Spanish colonies in America. And now, from a religious standpoint as well…”
As she pondered, Sir William Cecil, the Lord Privy Seal, whispered to her. When the queen’s other chief ministers also came to her side and whispered this and that, the light in the queen’s eyes grew clearer and clearer.
It was clear that, for the first time in a very long while, the opinions of her ministers had come together as one.
The queen waved her hand and dismissed the ministers. Then she looked at Sir Raleigh and smiled in satisfaction.
“…Very well. You are right. I shall issue a charter permitting the export of cannons to Virginia, so arm the colony.
Must we not protect the ‘Land of Angels’?”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Then now it is time to hear what the ‘Emperor’s’ envoy has to say.”
“…”
At the queen’s words, Raleigh naturally stepped back, allowing Oitotan to come forward. Oitotan looked around the palace for a moment, then…
Rustle.
He took something out from inside his clothes. As Oitotan approached the queen, an attendant reached out and received it in her stead.
The queen… soon received the object from the attendant and gave a start.
—“To Elizabeth, Queen of England, a gift from the Emperor of America. May our friendship be eternal.”
Letters engraved upon an aluminum cylinder.
When she pulled the ring placed on top, the aluminum lid opened smoothly, revealing the contents inside.
It was precious pineapple.
“Having heard that pineapples are precious in Europe, that person created this item. It is said to be pineapple sealed in aluminum.”
Queen Elizabeth opened her eyes wide and looked back and forth between Oitotan and Sir Raleigh. Then she looked at the thin, sharp lid she had just removed and said,
“…What does one do with this lid? Do you melt it down and make it into another ornament?”
As Raleigh was about to answer, Oitotan spoke first.
“Throw away.”
His English was clumsy, but that one sentence silenced everyone present.
“…What did you say?”
“To us, precious. To him, not. He throws away.”
“…”
“…He throws away dirty clothes, too. But it is fine. New ones are made.
Is it so here?”
“No, we, in the name of the Lord, practice frugality…”
“The chiefs of England are poor.”
Oitotan thought of Nemo.
He used every object and immediately threw it away. Even so, there was no shortage in his wealth. But the people here wore all manner of dazzling jewels and moved about cautiously, anxiously, as if unable to sit still.
Nemo was different. He did not handle any object with care. Because there was no need to.
The only things he handled carefully were things to eat and drink, like that pineapple.
And so, out of pure curiosity, Oitotan asked,
“Raleigh, are small jewels like those precious to you?”
“…”
The rumors of the wealthy emperor of the New World grew and grew again that day.
And.
“People… dig the ground? There are no beasts made of iron here? The ones that tore the Spaniards to death…”
Thus, the courage of several adventurers who had dreamed of plundering that wealthy emperor was broken as well.