“W-Why why are you all looking at me like that?”
For a moment, Richard didn’t understand. Perhaps it was because he was too intoxicated—drunk on the pleasure of his newfound authority and power. In his mind, these were people who were supposed to nod when he spoke and applaud when he commanded. They had always done so, and he assumed they always would.
But now, those same people were staring at him with open anger, or avoiding his gaze in bewilderment.
One of them spoke.
“What would you feel if someone told you your ancestors were burning in an eternal flame?”
…Ah.
“Your words make no sense! Why must my father go to hell? Simply because he didn’t know someone died and came back to life across the great ocean? No one was even here to tell him!”
“Y-Yes! How can you say such a thing!”
“Y-You must be wrong, aren’t you? My grandmother, there was never a moment she wasn’t kind to those around her! You say she went to hell?”
“…”
The wave of heartfelt, angry words washed over Richard, and he belatedly recalled the traders’ warning.
“Be careful. I say this because I know you were only recently ordained, but you must take care not to dismiss them as savages or mistake their customs for devil worship.”
That’s what the traders had said—the same men who were likely, at this very moment, traveling through the villages to register them for the Community’s gift exchange, the same men who were probably inoculating people with cowpox.
Richard finally, painfully, realized his mistake.
Ah. I shouldn’t have done that.
How could he…
…how could he not see them as savages?
“Those who do not come through our Lord Jesus Christ naturally go to hell. That is the self-evident truth! ‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!’ (John 8:32) See! The holy scriptures say so!”
How foolish they were, that even after he had preached so fervently about Him who is the way, the truth, and the life, they had still not awakened from their ignorance.
“Jesus Christ, who is love and mercy, bore the cross so that we sinners might have a path to become as angels, solely through Him. How can you question this? All things in this world depend on God’s will! All things depend on His sovereignty! It is preordained that those who follow and obey Him go to heaven, and those who defy Him go to hell! To even argue the point is blasphemy, it is succumbing to the voice of Satan.”
“Bullshit! My mother and grandmother never defied him! How can you defy something you don’t even know exists!”
“You’re trying to comprehend His will with a human mind? He sent to hell those He meant to send to hell! But did He not send me to save you? Then believe in me, follow me to the Lord’s.”
“Why the hell should we believe any of that!”
“Dammit, to think we were fooled by such strange words.”
Just like that, the people began to storm away from him. Enraged and filled with malice, Richard shrieked after them.
“Fine! Go! You minions of Satan! You were not destined for salvation, but were born to be abandoned, to burn forever in hell!”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Those savages! The seed of the serpent! Sons of Judas! Goddamn cannibals! I must have been mad to think I could save such things!”
After venting his fierce anger and hatred with all his youthful passion, Richard let out a “Huuu” and looked around.
He saw that a few dozen people still remained. Their eyes, one and all, seemed to be burning with fear of the Lord, with reverence, and with unshakable faith.
Looking at those who stayed, who still believed in him, Richard steeled his heart.
Yes.
Isn’t it enough to save these few from death first?
As for the rest, in time, his actions would reveal whether the Lord had chosen them to receive His love or not.
“Let us all pray for those foolish people. We will be able to save them from death one day.”
He would begin his conquest from here.
May the holy church finally begin the Lord’s fight in this very place.
Richard clenched his fist and cried out.
“Those of you here, mark these words, from Matthew 10, verses 35 to 38! ‘For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household! He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me!’ Now! Swear that you will sever all bonds with family, friends, and neighbors, leaving only your bond with the Lord! If you do not, truly, an unquenchable fire awaits you!”
He strode over to the young woman sitting closest to him and spoke, as if threatening her.
“Will you swear? I said, will you swear!”
“I-I-I-I swear.”
“And you? You in the back, will you swear?”
“I swear.”
“Good! All who remain, gather here! Kneel and swear the oath with me!”
He forced the dozens of people to their knees, gave them an impromptu baptism on the spot, and held a service, believing that this present hardship, this terrible mass apostasy, was but a trial preparing the way for the glorious days to come.
***
“You must be extremely careful. Please, Lord Nemo, think of yourself as the pillar of our Community. If there is danger, you must avoid it.”
“Of course. Please tell the other council members I’m entrusting the Community to them while I’m gone.”
“Understood.”
“Ah, and I’d like to know exactly what friction occurred to cause this commotion. Could you tell me again?”
“Yes. Our missionary declared their ancestors were in hell, threatened the native shamans, and led a portion of the tribe away to form their own separate commune, from which they are now abducting people.”
As Hewitt delivered the explanation, he bit his lip, unaware he was even doing it. He had specifically chosen missionaries with calm, deliberate personalities precisely to avoid this kind of incident, and had personally trained each one. The fact that they had evangelized dozens of tribes without a single accident proved the effort had worked.
But recently, the Community’s expansion had been too rapid, and they had hastily hired former pastors and priests without proper vetting. That was the problem. No. If I had managed it more carefully…
“Thank you. Just give me the information on this missionary.”
“Here it is. Richard Peterson. Scotsman, 26 years old, male.”
At the Lord’s calm demeanor, Hewitt felt the weight of his own responsibility and bowed his head.
“Hm, good. This is enough. I’ll be going now. Don’t blame yourself too much, Hewitt. This is my responsibility too.”
He took the file from Hewitt and slowly boarded the ship. With a gentle, compassionate smile, he patted Hewitt’s shoulder, and the boiling anguish in Hewitt’s chest seemed to quiet down.
Hewitt silently watched the ship depart, offering a prayer.
The report he had just handed over was based on news that was already a month, perhaps a month and a half, out of date.
More could have happened in that time. And if more had happened, the situation was likely far worse.
“Huuuuu.”
This might be the first time the Virginia Community finds itself in an explicit state of hostility with another tribe. There might even be a war.
Whatever has happened, it must be resolved, no matter the cost. But he was afraid his Lord might overexert himself.
“He’s the kind of man who ran for days on end just to save people from a storm.”
As Hewitt murmured this and looked up,
“…”
The face of the man standing at the prow was hard.
Like stone.
***
Fwoosh!
A basket full of tobacco leaves was set aflame, and everyone present seemed to fall into an alert, wakeful state.
The elder chanted, offering words of thanks to the spirits, and the people listened with reverence.
In the midst of this sacred ceremony…
“Praise the glory of the Lord!”
A group of people shouted from the distance, interrupting the elder’s speech.
“‘One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all!’ (Eph 4:5-6)”
“We give thanks again to the one who rules the land.”
“‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them!’ (Exodus 20:4-5)”
“Th-Those people, we must drive them away.”
As the elder said this and stood up, he saw his daughter beyond the fence. His daughter was muttering something like a mad person, occasionally shouting.
“‘For I the LORD thy God am a jealous God!’ (Exodus 20:5)”
As the elder stepped forward with a look of devastation, others from her group rushed forward, throwing stones to keep him at bay, and dragged the 17-year-old girl away.
The elder roared.
“Th-They’re kidnapping my daughter! They’re taking my daughter, whom I haven’t seen in days!”
At his words, others rose to give chase, but all they could hear was the booming shout in the clumsy foreigner’s accent as the group retreated.
“Your daughter came to us of her own free will! Quick, Onwari! Tell him!”
“D-Dad? The Pastor, he said that for our whole family to avoid hell, at least I had to come. I want you all to follow me later! Please! I don’t want the people I love to-to suffer forever!”
“You dammit! Stop listening to that bastard’s words and come here right now!”
“N-No! I don’t want to-to go to hell!”
And they quickly fled into the bushes and disappeared. The people raised their weapons to chase them but, fearing the elder’s daughter might be harmed, they could only watch, helpless.
The elder’s daughter, Onwari, wept as she followed the words of Richard and the others back to their own village.
The village of the ‘Saved.’
Richard, having disrupted their “devil worship” and “rescued” another convert, looked around and took a headcount.
“We’re missing a couple of people. What do we do?”
Again, someone had fled.
At the report, Richard clicked his tongue and shook his head. Unbelievers with weak wills couldn’t be trusted. How could they seek the things of a moment and lose eternal life?
With that thought, he ordered his followers back to their homes and went to sleep in his own hut. When he awoke hours later,
“Priest Richard?”
“Why are you people here?”
“Your appearance has, gotten much rougher.”
At those words, Richard glanced at his reflection in the water. His eyes were a bit wild, his cheeks sunken. His unwashed face was smeared with soot.
But what did these people know? He clicked his tongue again and glared, and the traders flinched.
“We’ve sent a letter to the homeland. Someone will be here soon to judge your atrocities. Lord Nemo himself might even come. This is serious enough for it!”
“A-Atrocities?”
“My God, you ask as if you don’t know? How many of their sacred sites have you desecrated? How many of their people have you abducted. Putting all that aside, what do you think you’re doing to the relationship between our Community and this League? Are you, insane?”
Click.
“Did you just point a gun at us?”
“Get out.”
“…”
“Did I not just say, get out? And I never abducted anyone. They all came of their own free will. I only told them to sever their former ties. Is that a problem? Becoming a true Christian?”
“You’re mad. Completely mad.”
“Get out.”
“…”
“…”
The terrified traders left his hut. When they got outside, they had already packed their belongings as if to leave this place for good, and they left the village on their own.
“…”
He was almost relieved. He had long been displeased with their talk of “the homeland this” and “Community regulations that.”
They were men who put the laws of man before the laws of the Lord. Richard shook his head, but he mulled over one thing they had said.
“Lord Nemo himself might even come. This is serious enough for it!”
“…”
What Richard felt was not tension.
It was not fear, regret, or awe.
Surprisingly, Richard felt hope and ecstasy welling up in his heart.
He… might be coming?
When he stepped outside, he saw several Mohawk converts, having gathered for morning prayer, praying to the cross erected in the center of the village. He smiled, proud at the sight.
When he approached, they all flinched and looked up at him. Richard was their chief, their ruler. They believed in Richard as they believed in God.
Richard let out a quiet sigh and stepped up before them. With his back to the cross, he shouted.
“‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’ (John 14:6) The path to salvation is narrow. And we are heading down that narrow path very well!”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Do not believe the words of others, believe only the word of the Lord! Soon, His glory and power will descend upon this land! To stray from the narrow path is death and eternal punishment. Everyone, be ever vigilant!”
Richard, swept up in his own oratory, spoke with rapture.
“‘He’… is coming soon.”
Yes.
Glory was not far off.
There might be conflict at first. Those faithless merchants had surely twisted his actions in their reports.
But, if he went to ‘Him’ and calmly explained what he had done for His glory and the Lord’s, ‘He’ would smile and embrace him.
And ‘He’ would make great use of him. Here, in this land, he would lead thousands, tens of thousands of saints, and this small village would become the site of a great chapel!
He would live in that overflowing glory. As the first to spread the gospel in this land, his portrait would hang on the chapel walls.
His heart overflowing with ecstasy, he came down from the dais and finished his daily tasks.
And he made plans.
He thought about invading their so-called ‘sacred sites’ and smashing their idols.
It would be a thrilling affair. Hadn’t the prophets of the Old Testament broken and destroyed the temples and idols of pagans? How could it not be an act worth emulating?
He also thought about stealing children from the savages’ villages.
Not only would they serve as hostages to win over the devil-worshippers, but it would be for the children’s own good. If they weren’t baptized and made into Christians, they would go to hell.
Several days passed as he laid out these and other various plans—grand strategies for the church.
A crowd of thousands, holding torches and spears, gathered around the village.
“Come out, Richard! We will skin you and kill you!”
“We will chew your living flesh! Give me back my daughter, my son!”
“Everyone, calm down! Richard of the Virginia people! If you come out now, we will grant you the least painful death possible! Return the children at once and apologize before our ancestors’ graves! Those who follow him, come out! You were deceived by that wicked man’s threats and lies! If you come out now, we will spare your lives!”
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The three gunshots Richard fired into the air were his only answer. He turned to his followers and said in a low voice:
“If you leave now, I swear in the Lord’s name, I will shoot you in the back.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“And then, you will go to hell. You died abandoning your faith, and what’s more, you chose death even after hearing my warning. Is that not suicide?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“So, choose.”
Richard smiled, satisfied by the fear that filled their eyes.
“Good. That’s settled.”
And so, several more days passed.
The food ran out.
It rained a few times, and they caught the water to endure their thirst.
Several more days passed.
While Richard dozed, several people fled. A grim mood settled over the village.
After that day, Richard did not sleep.
As time wore on, the enemies, who had initially feared the gun, gradually tightened their siege.
During a moment when Richard had nodded off, he dreamed his followers were skinning him alive and offering him to his enemies. He woke in terror, trembling, and gave a speech to his followers about how betraying him was betraying the Lord, and that only death awaited such people.
Several more days passed.
A few of the villagers collapsed from starvation.
In his delirium of hunger and exhaustion, Richard saw a vision.
On one side was the valley of death, and on the other, the stairs to the halls of heaven. The confederacy warriors, the merchants who had abandoned him, and the followers who had betrayed him all fell into the valley…
But up the narrow, narrow, oh so narrow stairway to heaven…
Only he and the people he led were walking happily…
And all of humanity, save for the people he led, was falling into hell.
As Richard looked down on this sight, satisfied, he was suddenly,
“G-G-Get up! Get up!”
Someone was shaking his shoulder, and he awoke from the vision. He scrambled to his feet, grabbing his gun, and stared wildly at the follower who had called him.
“Explain why you woke me.”
“Th-The siege! The siege is breaking!”
What?
Richard rushed to the village stockade and looked out. Sure enough, the thousands of men who had encircled the village were clamorously parting to open a path.
Someone was walking through that gap.
A very tall man, with an appearance that seemed both Eastern and native.
Richard knew who it was.
He knew who ‘He’ was!
Richard let out an involuntary cry of triumph and ran forward.
“O-O, Nameless One! The one who is no one before the Lord!”
Oh! Praise Him! He comes to me, as a king rescuing his loyal subject!
Oh! He walks with such a majestic gait, like Alexander bringing the kings of the world to their knees…
“Angel!”
…He is reaching the village gate!
Richard fell to his knees before His feet, not even realizing he had done it. His strength had given out. He trembled, laughing like a madman.
Haha… ha… hahaha.
I’ve waited for this moment! Only this moment!
Behold! Behold this glory, my followers! He has come Himself to congratulate and praise me! And you, you worshippers of Satan, you look, too! The just and righteous ruler of the Community, the head of the holy church, has come to me like this…
“Raise your head.”
“Ah, yes! Yes! I will, I will.”
“Now.”
The voice was cold.
It felt ominous, but surely, it was just a trivial fear. Richard raised his head.
His face was cold.
As if carved from the ice of a thousand years, packed deep in the mountains.
“…”
For a moment, Richard was struck speechless with bewilderment.
The Nameless One spoke.
“Why are you walking the path of destruction?”