Taxes

···Hoo.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Lord Nemo? You’ve worked hard.”

“Not at all.”

I had burned myself white.

Somehow, it ended like a storm.

Everyone was exhausted after the meeting, where all manner of discussions had flown back and forth in at least three languages.

No, well··· I had intended to keep one step removed from the process of making laws. I knew it would be tiring.

But everyone had gathered because of me. It would be strange if I threw it all aside and played games by myself.

In any case, a considerable portion of the issues had now been resolved. We had more or less found a direction on complex matters such as land ownership and differences in customs between tribes.

Still, it had not been total chaos.

With all sorts of tribes and people of different denominations gathered by the dozens, I thought it would be extremely confused. Unexpectedly, the scene in the meeting hall was orderly.

When Eleanor or certain other people spoke up, the dozens who had been arguing heatedly until just moments before all went quiet at once. I wondered what the standard was, and after thinking it over again···

They were all people who had spent a long time with me.

Eleanor Dare, Thomas Hewet, Manteo, Vicente González, John White, Walter Raleigh.

I saw a kind of religious authority surrounding them like an aura.

Hmm··· looking back, the meeting process more or less showed who would later become the center of our settlement. I should keep that in mind.

Anyway, that was how it went.

Since we roughly finished the difficult problems today, the rest should be fine now!

We only have to resolve denominational autonomy and liturgical issues, the problem of the natives who continue to believe in spirit worship, tax issues, and concerns over conflict with nearby native tribes, especially the Powhatan tribe!

They’re all issues that will be over once dozens of people debate all day again without a break, so there’s nothing to worry about! Ha, hahaha! Hahahaha···.

‘···The conversation is just spinning around and around like a hamster wheel.’

First, it started with the tax issue.

-“Once the government is established, everyone will pay a little tax so that···.”

-“Hmm? Then what will that ‘government’ give back to us?”

-“Pardon? Give back?”

-“Then you’re saying it will only take without giving anything back?”

It was not like some otherworld hero story where, if I said something like, “This is called [tax]. It is used to handle public affairs,” everyone would accept it while doing somersaults in the air.

The natives all caused an uproar because they could not understand the concept of “offering something to this thing called [government].”

-‘No, all of you already offer labor or goods to Lord Nemo, do you not?’

-‘That and this are different!’

···I don’t know what the difference is either.

It reached its peak especially when we got to the Powhatan tribe at the end.

When the natives brought up some complicated, ambiguous story while mixing Algonquian and English, the English and the Spaniards got dizzy and broke off the meeting···.

Should we accept the Powhatan tribe as allies? Should we be hostile to them? Well, I think it was something along those lines, but it was hard for me and the Europeans to understand.

-“No, if the Powhatan tribe gives us gifts··· we’re not supposed to accept them?”

-“No. You must accept them. You must accept them, but after receiving them, you must return several times as much.”

-“Pardon? But that side is saying not to accept them?”

-“That side is saying something wrong, so do not listen.”

-“···???”

The hardest thing to understand was the “gifts.”

No, weren’t we talking about our alliance? Why does this talk about gifts keep repeating?

And every tribe said something different. So I asked Manteo.

-“Must we be hostile to the Powhatan tribe?”

-“Then we must refuse the gifts they send.”

-“···If they sent gifts, doesn’t that mean they have submitted? Then wouldn’t it be fine to accept the gifts?”

-“No. Then we must return gifts several times greater.”

-“···Pardon?”

That was how it was.

I could not understand it.

“Manteo.”

So I asked Manteo separately during the meal.

“What is going on here? Why is everyone saying something different?”

Those gathered for the meal were the so-called “apostles.” A little distance away, Bacon and Harriot were having a discussion about some mathematical topic.

Just by looking at the faces gathered here, one could tell who was leading this colony.

Those who had maintained ties with me the longest.

The thirty Croatoans, Manteo’s tribe members, and even the Spanish sailors.

They were the leaders of this settlement.

In addition to them, a few minds I had brought from England assisted my rule.

In any case. Manteo, who had somehow become the representative of the native world here, glanced around before turning his head toward me and speaking.

“As I said earlier··· whether it is the Powhatan tribe or anyone else, if we are to be hostile to the ‘natives,’ we must not exchange gifts with them.”

At Manteo’s words, I nodded roughly. Then Manteo continued.

“If they should send a grand gift first, Lord Nemo must either firmly reject it, or accept it and repay it several times over.”

“Hmm···.”

When Manteo and I began our conversation, the others also quietly inclined their ears toward us. As I still wore an expression that said I understood and yet did not, Manteo tilted his head.

“You still do not understand what a gift is among us, do you?”

“Yes. Honestly, it is difficult. You call it a gift, but if they sent something first, is it not tribute of surrender? Shouldn’t we simply accept it?”

“No. Then the enraged Powhatan tribe will wage war against us.”

“Pardon? Even though we accepted the gifts?”

“They wage war because we accepted the gifts. No, this is···”

After hearing my words, Manteo covered his face as if wondering where to begin explaining··· then snapped his fingers.

“Ah. Then Lord Nemo still does not understand why you are our great chief, do you?”

“What? Is it not because I am the wealthiest?”

“No. It is because you sent gifts to others.”

“···Pardon?”

I searched my memory for a moment.

Because I had Shine Muscat grapes to spare, I bartered with Manteo.

Manteo scattered the Shine Muscat grapes he received from us among the neighboring tribes, and in return, he brought back all kinds of food and luxury goods to us.

I thought it ended there··· but later, Oitotan began honoring me, saying I was the wealthiest person, the great chief, and so on. So I thought that was how it had happened.

“No.”

“···Is that not correct?”

“The part about barter is wrong. We have never bartered.”

“···Pardon?”

“Think about it. Was sending jewels, food, and pelts for one bunch of grapes truly barter? Do you think the tribes around Pamlico Bay did that because they went mad over grapes?”

“···.”

Manteo said,

“A gift is, that is, according to Lord Nemo and the Europeans, a kind of display. It is also a gesture of goodwill. But before that, it is a display.”

“···.”

“···.”

“···.”

It was something I had never heard before.

Manteo continued his explanation.

“Why do people worship the sun? Because the sun endlessly gives the gift of light.

So people return offerings to the sun, but those still cannot compare to the strength and vitality the sun brings. That is how powerful the sun is. That is why people worship the sun.

Did people barter offerings for sunlight here? No. They are repaying the gift of sunlight bestowed by the sun, are they not?”

“···.”

“Do you understand?”

“I think··· I do and I don’t.”

“To give a gift is a display that says, ‘I am this wealthy,’ and therefore a gesture of goodwill that says, ‘Come within my sphere of influence.’

To refuse it means you intend to be hostile to the other party. It means you will not respect their power.”

“What about accepting it?”

“It means you respect the other party’s power. So we must also return gifts to show our own power.”

“···.”

“If we are wealthier than the other party and can return something greater than what they gave us, then the other party must acknowledge our power.

But if we are poorer than the other party and can only return a relatively meager gift··· then we are acknowledging the other party’s power.”

“When does the gift exchange end?”

“It does not end. It simply continues forever. As long as we are alive.”

Giving a gift is, before expressing goodwill to the other party, displaying one’s wealth and power.

Just as I had given Shine Muscat grapes to Manteo’s tribe.

They were precious fruits that could not be obtained anywhere. I had shown Manteo my power.

Manteo then scattered them among the neighboring tribes, and the neighboring tribes returned pelts, jewels, and food to me. Because that was their obligation.

But all of them were less precious than the Shine Muscat grapes. They probably could not find anything more precious than that.

Therefore, they acknowledged my superiority, and I became their great chief.

Though I had not known it.

Only now did I feel like I more or less understood.

“In that sense, the kings of you Europeans are strange. How can one who leads be respected when he receives gifts from those who are led? Shouldn’t the one who gives be respected, and the one who gives be the one to lead?”

“But offering gifts means submission, doesn’t it?”

“Why would that be submission, Madam Dare? That is generosity and an expression of power.”

Conversely, Manteo could not understand our way of life.

To Manteo, a leader is the wealthiest person.

And the wealthiest person is the one who gives the most.

Because he gives the most, he receives the most respect and gains leadership.

To us, a leader is the strong one.

Because he is strong, he rules and protects everyone else around him.

And in return for protection, he receives vast wealth from his subjects and gains the right to rule.

It was··· completely different.

Then what am I?

All of a sudden, I looked at Manteo and the other apostles, who had at some point begun arguing. I saw them glancing at me.

Ah.

I am both.

I am the strongest.

Therefore, I protected them from poverty and disease, and in return, gained their loyalty.

At the same time, I am the wealthiest.

Because I bestowed countless things upon them, I gained their loyalty in return.

···The tax issue was the same.

To Europeans, it was only natural.

When a thug collects protection money, there is no madman in this world who says, “So what are you going to give me back?”

Therefore, it was natural to them that the government took taxes, and that kings or nobles or whoever they were took taxes.

But not to the natives.

A leader is naturally someone who bestows something.

If you receive a gift, it is only natural to return one, so they would “gift” him labor and resources in return, but unilaterally taking things was outrageous robbery.

It was like the sun.

The sun continues to shine sunlight and warmth upon them, but it does not wish for something greater to be returned.

“···Then are you saying the natives cannot accept an organized government?”

Hewet said with a sigh.

“That is absurd, Manteo. We must somehow teach them taxes and obedience to the government, and make them members of this settlement.”

He was right. When I nodded, Manteo spoke again.

“Then what about the other natives? Do you think they will accept favorably an entity that unilaterally extorts things from those it rules?”

“···.”

“Must they not all accept it one day as well? Are you going to be satisfied with just a little over ten thousand people?”

Manteo was right too. I had no choice but to nod again.

Someone once said that premodern states and thugs were no different.

Just as an armed thug collects protection money and says they are maintaining order here, ordinary states are the same.

To the natives, the Europeans’ so-called “state” would look like a thug in exactly that way.

···And in actual history, it did.

They suddenly appeared, forced people to offer this and that and swear loyalty, and when they did not listen, drove them all out and killed them.

That was the conclusion reached by the so-called “state.”

“···.”

Huet and Manteo continued to argue, and I rolled the peas on my plate a few times with my spoon before… coming to a conclusion.

“Manteo is right. We must not do that, if only to win over the other natives.”

“…Pardon?”

“Our government will not collect taxes.”

Huet’s eyes widened. The others, too, stared at me with their eyes round.

“However.”

I nodded.

“We can accept ‘gifts’ equal to what the government has bestowed.

Those will take the place of taxes.”

At first glance, it was merely wordplay.

But at this moment, it was wordplay we needed.

With my words, the debate among the “apostles” was settled.

And once the debate among the “apostles” was settled, the debate at the meeting that continued the next day was settled as well.

There would be no taxes. The government would not extort. It would only receive gifts in return.

Nothing would change immediately. I would continue to plow their fields and divide up land for them.

In return, they would offer me taxes under the name of gifts.

There was no real difference. But the natives quickly understood and all agreed to the matter.

And so we moved on to the next issue.

All of us felt something strange.

A nation without taxes—doesn’t that sound absurd, even if it is just wordplay?

Well… nothing would change right away, though.

***

A child reached Chesapeake Bay starving.

Because of the famine, the people of his tribe had scattered in all directions. The child had no parents, so he had followed various people here and there, only to lose his way.

And so the child became someone cast alone into this world.

Having wandered for several days and nights with nothing, the child walked blindly eastward. It was because he had once heard a rumor.

There was a tribe there led by an immensely wealthy great chief, and one would not have to starve. If only one could reach that place, one would no longer have to worry about food.

Trusting in that single statement, the boy walked all the way to Chesapeake Bay. Moving with his emaciated body, he had no strength.

The boy… staggered… and collapsed.

“H-hey, there’s a boy here!”

“B-bring water and porridge at once!”

The boy was, in a manner of speaking, a vagrant child.

If it had been Spain, the boy would have wandered for the rest of his life as a despised beggar, sustaining himself through begging. A vagrant child was not something the state needed to concern itself with, though he might be worthy of pity.

If it had been England, the boy would have been seized by a soldier and locked in some workshop, living out his life in backbreaking labor. After all, it was a loss to the state for a vagrant capable of working to be idle.

“What is your name?”

“Uh… ngh…”

“Slowly. Don’t strain yourself. Just tell me your age, your name, and your hometown.”

“Nghh…”

But this was the Virginia settlement.

A place where there existed not an extorting government, but a giving one.

The child was soon “gifted” food and a place to sleep.

And after he came to his senses, the child hurriedly picked berries from the surroundings and “gifted” them back to Eleanor, who had gifted him food, clothing, and shelter.

At that, Eleanor smiled, ate the berries, and expressed her gratitude, then “gifted” the boy land and seeds.

The boy diligently plowed the earth and planted the seeds. At last, after several months had passed and fruit had borne, the boy “gifted” the fruit to Eleanor, and Eleanor stroked the boy’s head as she said,

“Wait here. ‘He’ will come to you soon.”

The boy, bewildered, returned home. And a few days later, when he heard an unfamiliar roar and stepped outside, he saw a strange sight.

A beast made of iron was turning over the fields of the boys and their neighbors anew. It seemed there would be no need to do any more work.

And in front of the boy’s hut was a basket. When he opened the basket, it was filled with cheese, all sorts of foods, and household goods.

“Uh…”

“Are you awake?”

The boy suddenly looked up at the man driving the iron beast in front of his house.

The sun shone behind his back.

“I am Nemo. Welcome to Virginia.”

The boy realized that this man had given him a gift so great that even dedicating everything to him for the rest of his life would not be enough, and soon he joined the others, whose hair had grown long, in going out to cut wood.

Now the boy was a Virginian.

At first, it seemed as though nothing had changed.

Slowly, however, everything changed.

People did not follow Virginia’s government because it had a fearsome chieftain.

They remained by its side because Virginia’s government gave endlessly, like the sun.

They did not fear the government.

They themselves did not know it, but they loved their government.

Just as they loved their angel.