It was a beautiful fable.
A queen who had lived her entire life in fear of death meets an angel in her old age and finds salvation and peace. And the queen soon passed away, with a serene smile that never left her face, even in the coffin. Through this ending, all who read the fable would realize the beauty of life and be reminded of the Lord’s grace, which shines like the sun upon everyone, regardless of their individual good or evil.
“Margaret? So angels really do exist! It is a charming paradox that an angel truly sent you.”
“Oh—I suppose so, Your Majesty? Though I imagine you worried terribly about.”
“Hm, worried about what?”
“Pardon?”
Of course, no such ending occurred.
In the span of a few days, the Queen’s complexion—which had been clouded by the worry of ‘What will happen after I die?’—brightened considerably. Margaret was astonished to see the Queen’s color improve and her skin blemishes actually diminish.
Well, that much is plausible.
But for her hunched back to straighten, for her lost weight to return, and for her muscles to grow stronger again, wasn’t that close to a miracle?
“My legs are too tired for hunting now. I shall summon the Baron of Roanoke and go fishing near Chesapeake Bay!”
“F-Fishing, Your Majesty?”
“Hm? Is there a problem?”
There was no problem. It was just that the Queen who had been lamenting with a deathly pale face, ‘I am destined for hell—!’ only a few days ago, was still vividly etched in Margaret’s mind. But now, the Queen was?
“Ha, ha ha! Look, my Water! A magnificent catch!”
“Truly, Your Majesty is great.”
She was too lively.
The Queen’s movements were far freer than before. She was no longer confined to the narrow bounds of Roanoke Island. She could now travel anywhere—Chesapeake Bay, Croatoan Island—provided she gave advance notice. Consequently, she received the resources she needed more easily, and she no longer needed to move under a two- or three-layered guard whenever she visited Chesapeake Bay.
The Queen began to enjoy her hobbies and leisure with far more energy than before. Fishing, simple hunting, gardening, bowling, watching football matches, remodeling her residence, and so on.
It was as if the whole world had become her playground.
“Uh—uh-oh—!”
CRASH-BANG-BANG!
“You knocked them all down, Your Majesty! Incredible!”
“Hahaha, it was nothing. Margaret? Why is your face so pinched?”
“Um… Ah, no… it’s just.”
An encounter that was supposed to change her life entirely. The salvation of a sinner.
—Where did all the repentance and piety that should follow go? Margaret fumbled for the stories she had heard since childhood, but Elizabeth’s laughter snapped her back to reality.
“Excellent! Now, let us move to the fishing pond.”
“Your Your Majesty!”
“Hm? What is it?”
“That Did you not gain some profound realization, as a Christian, after meeting Lord Nemo?”
“Ah, the Angel, you mean.”
The Queen set down the bowling ball and spoke to Margaret with a serious expression. “Yes. My meeting with him changed me. He drove out the fear in my heart.”
“Then, you finally repented!”
“And so, I intend to live as I wish to live.”
“Pardon?”
“This life is short, after all. What a pity it would be to die without enjoying it, wouldn’t it?”
Elizabeth had clearly heard many things from him. The core message was, undeniably,
—”Do not be so concerned with the ‘next,’ with heaven or hell.”
That was it. That’s right! Wouldn’t it be better to enjoy this very moment than to fret over hellfire after death!
“And repentance?”
When Margaret Lawrence asked this, Elizabeth replied, “Hmm… I’ll get to it someday.”
“Pardon?”
“Right before I die.”
“Pardon?”
People, it seemed, did not change so easily.
***
“…” “…” “…”
Everyone’s expression changed subtly after hearing Elizabeth’s news from Margaret.
“Well, did you all expect it? Did you think Her Majesty would weep, repent her past luxury, debauchery, and vice, and live like a nun?”
Everyone except Raleigh.
Stung by the accuracy of his jab, the other apostles’ faces hardened. Hewitt, finally recovering from the shock, spoke up in retort to Raleigh.
“No—but still, wouldn’t an ordinary person be changed after meeting an Angel? He’s none other than ‘The Angel,’ is he not?”
The Angel.
The Lord’s messenger and His hands and feet on Earth. The one who is, in a sense, the model for humanity, as the righteous shall become like the Angels after the Resurrection.
And Queen Elizabeth, after meeting such a being, was stubbornly sticking to her ways.
“—Why are you all looking at me? What am I supposed to do about Her Majesty being the way she is?”
Raleigh shrugged at the others’ looks, which begged him to somehow intervene. With that, the discussion on the subject came to an end.
***
Well, whatever the other Apostles expected, I didn’t expect Elizabeth to fall to her knees, weeping, ‘Oh, Angel!’ after hearing the truth. I had simply cleaned up the mess after she discovered my identity and abilities.
In any case, the situation concluded in the best possible way. Elizabeth did not recoil in horror, declaring us heretics. She did not threaten us, using my weaknesses as leverage to extort us.
“Ah! Lord Nemo, Her Majesty asked if you would be willing to play a game of bowling sometime.”
“Tell her I’ll go later.”
“Understood.”
“…” “…” “…”
No, Elizabeth’s intention in moving about so freely, yet continually seeking to involve me, was clear. It was a declaration that she would not be an enemy.
…Hmm.
“Even so the words I spoke must have made quite an impression on the Queen.”
At my comment, everyone—even Raleigh this time—tilted their heads in confusion.
In any case.
“Let’s put the discussion of the Queen aside for now. It is time to deal with other matters, Harriet?”
“Ah, Yes, Lord Nemo.”
“Are the preparations for the handover proceeding smoothly?”
With that, our conversation shifted to another topic, and everyone focused on the more urgent, important problems at hand.
John White had left us.
John White was a member of our six-person administrative council and one of the few people who could operate the Excel program.
We had to fill his empty seat.
We had temporarily placed Thomas Hewitt, who knew how to use Excel, in the position to prevent an administrative vacuum but this was just a stopgap measure.
It was true that our Commonwealth was still a small nation of less than 100,000 people, and a stopgap might suffice. But considering we would grow to a million, ten million, we needed to establish proper rules now. Everything we did would be recorded as precedent for this community. Something we carelessly glossed over now might later become something like, ‘Oh, the great custom established by the Angel and the Apostles!’
“The Knightly Order… Ahem, what were you saying?”
“The Knightly Order was entirely under the management of Sir John White. For the time being, they have been placed under Mr. Hewitt’s management. First, if you can familiarize yourself with the structure of the Agricultural Knightly Order.”
“W-Wait a moment! Mr. Hewitt? Everyone? How long do I have to study all this?”
“Until tomorrow? The harvest season begins tomorrow.”
Of course, until a proper system was established, things would still run by improvisation. It couldn’t be helped. Up until now, everything had worked smoothly without needing a rigid system. White, Raleigh—they all knew each other, they all knew what the others were doing.
But now…
…Someone will, eventually, leave us like this.
I looked at the seat Hewitt was occupying, the seat that had been White’s.
Hewitt and the others all looked uneasy.
***
“A new document has arrived from Agricultural Knightly Stronghold No. 14. To whom should I report this?”
“Knight! Sir Knight!”
“Ah—uh, yes. I must make a report. But where should I send it?”
The Commonwealth’s Agricultural Knightly Order was not originally conceived as such a systematic organization. Kim Lee-sang had created the title of ‘Agricultural Equipment Knight,’ inspired by South Korea’s heavy equipment operator and industrial engineer qualification systems. Its original intent was closer to a licensing system.
However, the tractors were made by the officially sanctioned craftsmen of the Commonwealth, and the ownership of the tractors belonged to the Commonwealth itself. Thus, the Knights naturally organized themselves, with the title evolving into a type of civil servant.
From there, ‘Technicians’ with specialized maintenance and equipment production skills branched off from ‘Knights,’ who handled the operation and administrative management. As strongholds were built in various locations, the production and management of crops naturally fell under the purview of the Knightly Order.
By various twists of fate, the entire Agricultural Knightly Order ended up under the sole jurisdiction of Sir John White, who managed agricultural affairs. The entire process was built on accident, personal relationships, and improvisation. It would have been far more chaotic if John White himself hadn’t been so competent in agriculture and administration.
And now, he was gone.
That empty seat had to be filled.
“We need someone who can send reports to the central authority. Since Sir John White is no longer with us.”
“We need someone to represent us!”
And so, they elected an ‘Order Commander.’
To distribute the administrative duties John White had handled alone, Order Commander Oitotan organized the strongholds into several regional branches, appointing a Chief Knight for each.
Slowly, over the course of several months, a system was established: reports would be sent from each stronghold to the regional hub, where the Chief Knights would compile the data and forward it to the Order Commander.
Finally, the Commander would compile the final data and submit it to the six-person administrative council, which would then formulate the Commonwealth’s agricultural policy.
This was the newly established rule and system.
“Oitotan? Are you the second Order Commander, not the first? Why is that?”
“Why, it is to honor Sir John White, of course.”
Kim Lee-sang looked at the Commander’s Office, which was located in the center of the Chesapeake settlement, and fell silent for a moment.
The official name for the building was grand: ‘The Grand Citadel.’ However, Kim Lee-sang rather preferred its nickname.
“’Castle White,’ is it.”
It was a rather grand name for a wooden building that was only a few houses wide.
Kim Lee-sang quietly nodded, offered Oitotan his congratulations on the election, and walked on.
Near the citadel stood the Council Building and the Council Chamber. He walked past the Council Building, which was being converted from wood to stone, and entered the Chamber. Several people were hurrying about, preparing for the meeting. Seven seats were arranged around a round table. As Kim Lee-sang took his place, the preparations seemed complete.
Raleigh gave him his report.
“The situation in England, Lord Nemo, is, …catastrophic.”
***
Elizabeth slowly read the letter Robert Cecil had sent from North Ireland, frowning and tapping the paper with her finger.
No matter how much she had handed off her burdensome tasks to enjoy her retirement, a Queen was still a Queen. She could not lay down her essential duties. For example, reading the dispatches from her loyal Secretary of State, Robert Cecil, to gauge the political climate in Ireland and Britain.
“—In January, there was a great flood in the Bristol Channel?”
It was now February 1607. The fact that she could read information from across the Atlantic, less than a month old, was thanks to Virginia’s clippers.
“It is true, Your Majesty. Thousands have died, and the loss of livestock, homes, and farmland is immeasurably vast. Thirty villages have been affected, and the public sentiment is extremely agitated.”
Fwip.
“Fortunately, last year was unusually warm, and the harvest was not bad. There is no need for Your Majesty to worry overly much.”
Despite the words of the man sent by Cecil, the Queen felt an inexplicable sense of dread.
“How are the Catholics moving? The dispatch only says ‘very serious.’”
“Well, The information network within England has been heavily compromised by His Majesty, Co-King James.”
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
The Queen read a name in the report, and felt her intuition sounding an urgent warning.
“Relay the order to the Earl of Salisbury (Robert Cecil): Investigate this man.”
“Ah, I understand. I will take my leave now—”
The Queen sighed, reading Cecil’s handwritten report endlessly. The name kept catching her eye.
“Guy Fawkes.”
***
“Lord Nemo, is that truly true?”
“Yes, it is.”
While historical facts can be altered by the butterfly effect, nature does not change so easily. Therefore, the conclusion:
“In 1607, there will be a great cold wave.”