Chapter 110

Henry IV, the just, legitimate, and sole King of France, found that every day of late was a joyous one.

One had only to listen to the greedy cheers and gasps of delight echoing from every corner of France.

—“What is the… the price for this?”

—“Oh, it’s nothing much. Altogether, three thousand livres.”

—“Oh, Lord! Look at this quality! It has a different sort of charm than the Russian furs!”

The fur trade was a roaring success. As expected of a commodity that was both a traditional European luxury and a practical necessity, one that had always been the financial lifeblood of Northern Europe and Russia. The moment the New World furs—in all their various types and price points—hit the market, the profit margins being made were nothing to scoff at.

—“We no longer need to import aluminum from England, can we? But why is it so difficult to find even a decent brooch?”

—“Well, what do you expect? The chartered merchants bring in this much, but every noble in Paris is desperate to get their hands on it. The same item is resold, and resold again, and the price multiplies in an instant.”

Furthermore, right on cue, a craze for the New World’s “white gold,” aluminum (a craze Henry himself had personally engineered), swept the nation. Once again, Henry seized control of the supply chain and reaped enormous profits.

On top of that, it was revealed that the New World’s seedless grapes were not, in fact, just English boasts or legends. Their sweet wine, too, had quickly become an indispensable indulgence at banquets and was selling out as fast as it arrived.

And the entirety of this flow of trade, it all trickled through the hands of Henry IV.

The debts he thought he might never repay in his lifetime were gradually being cleared. The royal coffers, once empty, were steadily filling. The reconstruction of France, the restoration of French royal power that he so craved, was no longer a distant dream.

Everything was thanks to the exchange with the New World, with Virginia’s mysterious native empire. It was impossible not to feel that things were finally going his way, now that they were becoming friends.

However.

—“I, too, as Chief, would be sad, if I could only feed my tribesmen, one chicken a week.”

—“To not eat a chicken every day. It is sad. Are chickens so rare here?” —“Oh… This is a chicken? I thought it was a chick.”

—“Oh! It truly is a chicken! How fascinating! How did you raise it to be this way? Was its size reduced intentionally? The flavor is a little lacking, but it’s intriguing!”

“…”

That had been a bit much.

Of course, he understood the intent. By boasting of Virginia’s overwhelming wealth, they were trying to secure a position of superiority in their future relations.

Such a move wasn’t entirely bad. In fact, it was beneficial for him. The narrative of the ‘naive native chief’ who ‘unwittingly flaunted his wealth’ had focused all eyes on Virginia. And this intense focus on Virginia was extremely profitable for him, the man growing rich off Virginia’s luxury goods.

But.

‘To go so far as to diminish my authority with such an exaggeration…’

Honestly, he found the true motive hard to discern.

No matter how you spun it, hadn’t he been mocked and insulted about his own governance, to his face? Henry had no idea how much effort he’d had to expend to quash the rumors that Virginia’s envoy had insulted the King.

‘It cannot have been an unintentional act.’

Many who had explored the New World said there were no chickens there. This was a conclusion reached over decades by people of countless nationalities and stations—Spaniards, Frenchmen, Englishmen, Dutchmen, and more.

Of course, the fact that they had all failed to discover the ‘Empire’ in the first place made one question their reliability, but it was still unsettling to dismiss their findings entirely.

‘Why would he do it?’

They were clearly in a crisis, in a position of needing to request France’s help.

Unless…

“Was it the ‘Emperor’s’ will?”

The moment that thought struck him, Henry IV’s face hardened.

Yes. The Christian monarch, fluent in Latin, French, and English, must have spoken through Oitotan. If so, that sudden diplomatic gaffe, that absurd talk of feeding everyone chicken every day… it all made sense.

‘I may be asking for your help now, but do not think for a moment I am beneath you.’ ‘I am, in all things, the one bestowing my vast wealth upon you.’

That is what the native Emperor was whispering in Henry’s ear.

“Is he posturing, knowing the Atlantic Ocean is his barrier?”

Or… is there truly something else?

As he pondered that latter possibility, Henry IV felt a sudden shiver. The powerful Emperor who had repelled the Spanish and now cast his influence over the entire eastern coast of North America… It was impossible that he didn’t have other strengths.

He was extending a hand to Henry IV, and issuing a warning at the same time.

Do not underestimate me.

“Your Majesty, the Marquis de Rosny has entered the palace!”

“He returns, at last.”

The chamberlain who had just entered announced the return of Maximilien de Béthune, whom he had sent to Virginia. Henry IV nodded to himself, steeling his resolve.

The relationship with Virginia was important. But the King’s dignity was just as important. He would not be pushed around this time. Whatever news the Marquis de Rosny brought, he would not be swayed.

With that thought, he strode into the court.

“I must say, I did not expect you to return.”

He was, for a moment, taken aback to see Oitotan standing beside Rosny. Oitotan just chuckled awkwardly, and the Marquis stepped in to explain.

“Your Majesty, ah… they have come to apologize for the recent diplomatic incident, and to offer a gift for the sake of our continued friendly relations.”

For some reason, the Marquis’s face was also beaded with sweat. Between them sat a large crate, covered with a cloth. It was rattling constantly, as if something living were inside.

The Marquis’s demeanor was so strange that Henry tried to catch his eye, but,

Flick.

“…”

“…”

—he was pointedly avoiding his gaze. A sense of foreboding settled over Henry. What in the world could make them all act this…

“A gift of friendship.”

Fwip.

At Oitotan’s gesture, the other natives with him lifted the crate and whisked away the cloth. Henry leaned forward to get a better look at the contents. The Marquis hung his head. Oitotan, for some reason, looked incredibly proud.

And.

Flap-flap-flap. Cock-a-doodle-doo!

“…”

“…”

“…”

Everyone in the court fell silent. Inside the crate was a single chicken. It was enormous, several times the size of a normal chicken, as if it had swallowed a pig whole.

And.

“This is, a gift from our Emperor. I have been ordered to teach you how to raise them.”

“Enough.”

Henry IV’s face began to tremble, then turned a deep, blotchy red.

“This has gone too far.”

No matter what, this was unacceptable. To so blatantly mock him by presenting one, single, superior chicken. The talk of ‘chicken once a week’ was not just some idle promise; it was a critical declaration that underpinned his popular support.

And it had been ridiculed. This was no longer about friendly relations. If he didn’t respond here, his authority would be in jeopardy. And even setting aside such political calculations—

“This joke… is not amusing in the slightest.” Henry IV was barely, barely, restraining his rage. “As far as I am aware, there were no chickens in the New World before the arrival of Europeans. Therefore, for your chicken to be so large as to make ours look like chicks. It is—“

His hand, shaking with fury, rose to point at the chicken. He spoke in a low, clipped voice.

Screeeech…

The audience hall doors opened again. As everyone murmured in confusion, a massive iron cage was wheeled into the palace. Inside it, dozens of chicks were running about. They were all roughly the same size as a normal French chicken.

“These are two-week-old chicks. They hatched on the ship.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear what you said. The chicken’s crowing was too loud.”

Oitotan said this. The murmuring in the court stopped. All eyes focused on Henry IV. Henry IV stared, dumbfounded, for a long moment. Then he cleared his throat. Ahem. Ahem.

“Welcome back to France!”

He smiled, a bit stiffly, and opened his arms wide.

***

Originally, there were no chickens in the North American continent. So, Kim Lee-sang said, “My children, lay many eggs and grow strong.”

And the two primal mothers, Koko and Daekdaek, laid eggs as if possessed, and their children laid more eggs, and they hatched chicks, and more chicks, and on and on…

Kkyolk. Kkokkik. Kkiggok. Kkokki-yoooo. Kkok. Kkolk. Kkureuk. Kkyolk. Kki-ok. Kkik. Kkolk. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkokki-yoooo. Kkok. Kkolk. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkiggok. Kkokki-yoooo. Kkok. Kkolk. Kkokki-yoooo. Kkok. Kkolk. Kkureuk. Kki-ok. Kkik. Kkolk. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkokki-yoooo. Kkyolk. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkokki-yoooo. Kkok. Kkolk. Kkiggok. Kkyolk. Kkik. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkokki-yoooo. Kkok. Kkolk. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kki—

Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of chickens were being raised everywhere. There had been a time, during a food shortage, when we had tried to reduce their numbers, partly to conserve the grain used for feed… But the reproductive power of the chicken was so great that it made all those efforts seem like a brief ‘hiccup.’

The population was growing exponentially. It had gotten to the point where several tribes had to institute rules like ‘eat eggs daily’ and ‘eat chicken daily’ just to keep the numbers in check.

And the tribe that had been in charge of raising and breeding all these chickens from the very beginning was Oitotan’s. It was only fitting.

Kkolk. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkokki-yoooo. Kkok. Kkolk.

Taking a mere few hundred chickens from this massive population was no loss to us. If anything, it helped with population control. Everyone was getting a bit tired of chicken, anyway.

Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkiggok. Kkik. Kkokki-yoooo. Kkok.

If a simple gesture like this could help improve relations with France, it was more than worth it. At the same time, it would flaunt our wealth and abundance, showing them the benefits of a continued friendship with us—-

Kkokki-yoooo. Kkok. Kkolk. Kkiggok. Kkyolk. Kkik. Kkiggok. Kkik.

It’s so noisy. I stuffed cotton in my ears and looked around.

For broiler chickens, the first month of growth is generally the most critical. That is the period when a chick becomes a full-grown chicken. Here, we maintain a constant, warm temperature of over 30 degrees Celsius year-round, allowing the chickens to continuously grow and reproduce. This is because chickens do not handle cold well, and they breed and lay eggs most actively in the summer.

As I walked a little further, leaving the chicken coops behind, I saw boxes kept warm with straw, cloth, and stoked fires, even as winter approached. Each of these boxes was filled with eggs. And after 21 days, the chicks inside would hatch. It was a simple incubator.

Wait, did incubators even exist in this era? Hmm. The catalog didn’t list the invention date of the artificial incubator, so I had no way of knowing. Well, I left it to Oitotan, so I’m sure he’ll handle it fine.

This time.

***

A simple ‘Virginian-style poultry farm’ was soon built in France, and Henry went to his estate to inspect it. When he met Oitotan, who was managing the site, he felt a strange sense of foreboding and asked:

“What is this?”

Henry IV immediately regretted asking. Oitotan’s expression somehow shifted, reminding him of a teenager from that peace-loving island nation in the Far East, a place he’d never even been. It was an inexplicably arrogant-looking expression. He felt as if Oitotan was about to mutter, ‘Aah… so this country called doesn’t have yet?’ and then, if asked what he said, would reply, ‘Ah, it is nothing.’

Of course, nothing like that actually happened. But.

“Hmph. It seems you do not know.”

“…”

“This is a machine called an incubator. It is used to hatch eggs.”

“…”

For some reason, Henry felt like he was supposed to reply, ‘Eeh! Amazing! I’ve never seen such a thing?!’ Naturally, Henry did not say that. But he couldn’t shake the feeling, that he was still being vaguely insulted.