Chapter 44

…Phew.

“You’ve all worked hard.”

“Sir Nemo? You went through a lot of trouble yourself.”

“Not at all.”

I was completely burned out. It felt like a storm had passed. The meeting hall where all sorts of discussions had taken place, with conversations flying back and forth in at least three different languages, had left everyone exhausted.

No… I, too, had intended to stay a step removed from the lawmaking process. I knew it would be a tiring affair. But everyone here had gathered because of me. It would be strange if I just abandoned them all and went off to play games by myself.

In any case, a significant portion of the problems had now been resolved. We had found a general direction for the complex and multifaceted issues of land ownership, differences in tribal customs, and so on. Still, it wasn’t complete chaos. I thought it would be incredibly confusing with dozens of people from all sorts of tribes and different religious sects gathered together. But surprisingly, the scene in the meeting hall was orderly.

Whenever Eleanor or a few others spoke, the dozens of people who had been chattering heatedly just a moment before would fall completely silent. I pondered what the criteria for this was, and then it hit me…

They’re all people who have been with me for a long time.

Eleanor Dare, Thomas Hewitt, Manteo, Vicente Gonzales, John White, Walter Raleigh. I saw a kind of religious authority surrounding them like an aura. Hmm… looking back, the meeting process showed me, more or less, who will become the center of our settlement in the future. I should keep that in mind.

Anyway, that’s how it was. We had finished with the difficult problems today, so the rest should be fine! All we have to do is solve the problems of autonomy and liturgical matters for each sect, the issue of the natives who continue to practice their spirit worship, the problem of taxes, and the worries about conflict with nearby native tribes, especially the Powhatan!

It’s a problem that will be solved if dozens of people discuss it for half a day without a break, so there’s nothing to worry about! Ha, hahaha! Hahahaha…

…This conversation is just going in circles.

It all started with the issue of taxes.

—“Once the government is established, everyone will pay a little in taxes…”

—“Hm? Then what does this ‘government’ give us in return?”

—“Pardon? Give in return?”

—“So it just takes, without giving anything back?”

It wasn’t like some isekai hero story where you say, ‘This is a thing called [taxes]. It is used to handle public affairs,’ and everyone does a backflip and accepts it. The natives couldn’t understand the concept of ‘offering something to a thing called [government]’ and all hell broke loose.

—‘But don’t you all already offer your labor or goods to Sir Nemo?’

—‘That and this are different!’

…I didn’t know what was so different either.

The discussion reached its peak, especially with the final topic of the Powhatan tribe. The natives would start a complex and cryptic conversation mixing Algonquian and English, and the English and Spanish would get dizzy and interrupt the meeting… It seemed to be a discussion about whether to accept the Powhatan as allies or treat them as enemies, but it was difficult for me and the Europeans to understand.

—“Wait, if the Powhatan give us a gift… we’re not supposed to accept it?”

—“No. You must accept it. But after accepting it, you must give back several times the amount in return.”

—“Pardon? But they over there are saying not to accept it.”

—“They are wrong, so do not listen to them.”

—“…???”

The most difficult thing to understand was the ‘gift.’ Weren’t we talking about an alliance? Why do they keep talking about gifts? And every tribe said something different. So I asked Manteo.

—“Should we be hostile to the Powhatan?”

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

—“…If they sent a gift, doesn’t that mean they have submitted? Then shouldn’t we just accept the gift?”

—“No. Then we would have to give back a gift several times its value.”

—“…Pardon?”

That was it. I couldn’t understand.

“Manteo.” So, I asked Manteo separately at the dining table. “What is going on here? Why is everyone saying different things?”

The people gathered at the table were the so-called ‘apostles.’ A little way off, Bacon and Harriot were discussing some mathematical topic. Just looking at the faces gathered here, you could tell who was leading this colony. The ones who had the longest-standing relationships with me. The thirty from Croatoan, Manteo’s tribesmen, and the Spanish sailors. They were the leaders of this settlement. In addition to them, a few brains brought over from England assisted my rule.

Anyway. Manteo, who had somehow become the representative of the native world here, glanced around, then turned to me and said, “As I said before… whether it’s the Powhatan or anyone else, if you are hostile to the ‘natives,’ you must not exchange gifts.”

I nodded vaguely at Manteo’s words. Then Manteo continued. “If they send a magnificent gift first, you must either firmly reject it, Sir Nemo, or accept it and repay it several times over.”

“Hmm…”

As the conversation between Manteo and me began, the others also stealthily leaned in to listen. Seeing that I still had a look of confusion on my face, Manteo tilted his head. “You… still don’t understand what a gift means among us, do you?”

“No. To be honest, it’s difficult. You call it a gift, but if they sent something first, isn’t it a tribute of surrender? Shouldn’t we just accept it?”

“No. Then an enraged Powhatan tribe would declare war on us.”

“Pardon? Even after we accepted their gift?”

“It is because you accepted the gift that they would declare war. No, this is…” Manteo, hearing my words, looked as if he was trying to figure out where to start explaining, then… snapped his fingers.

“Ah. Then you must still not understand why you are our great chief, Sir Nemo.”

“What? Isn’t it because I’m the wealthiest?”

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

“…Pardon?”

I searched my memory for a moment. I had an abundance of Shine Muscats, so I had bartered with Manteo. Manteo distributed the Shine Muscats he received from us to the surrounding tribes and gave back to us the various foods and luxury goods he received in return. I thought that was the end of it… but later, I saw Oitohtan revering me as the wealthiest man and the great chief, so I thought that’s how it happened.

“No.”

“…Isn’t that right?”

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

“…Pardon?”

“Think about it. Is sending jewels, food, and animal hides for a single bunch of grapes really a barter? Was it because the tribes around the Pamlico Sound were crazy for grapes?”

“…”

Manteo said, “A gift, that is to say, as you and the Europeans would put it, is a kind of display. It is also a sign of friendship. But before that, it is a display.”¹

“…”

“…”

“…”

I had never heard anything like it before. Manteo continued his explanation.

“Why do people worship the sun? Because the sun constantly gifts them with light. So people give offerings back to the sun, but it still cannot compare to the power and life force the sun brings. That is how powerful the sun is. So people worship the sun. Did people barter offerings and sunlight here? No. Did they not give back in return for the gift of sunlight the sun had bestowed?”

“…”

“Do you understand?”

“I… think I’m starting to.”

“To give a gift is a display of ‘I am this wealthy,’ and therefore, it is a sign of friendship that says, ‘Come into my sphere of influence.’ To refuse it is to be hostile to the other party. It means you do not respect the other’s power.”

“And to accept it?”

“It means you respect the other party’s power. So we, too, must give a gift in return to show our power.”

“…”

“If we are wealthier than the other party and can give back something greater than what they gave, then they must acknowledge our power. But if we are poorer than the other party and can only give back a relatively meager gift… then we are acknowledging their power.”

“When does the gift exchange end?”

“It doesn’t. It just continues forever. As long as we are alive.”

Giving a gift is, before being an expression of friendship to the other party, a display of one’s own wealth and power. Just as I had given Shine Muscats to Manteo’s tribe. It was a precious, rare fruit that could not be found anywhere else. I had shown Manteo my power. Manteo, in turn, distributed it to the surrounding tribes, and the surrounding tribes gave me back animal hides, jewels, and food. Because that was their obligation. But they were all less precious than the Shine Muscats. They probably couldn’t find anything more precious. Therefore, they acknowledged my superiority, and I became their great chief.

Though I hadn’t known it. I thought I was finally starting to understand.

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

“But offering a gift is a sign of submission, isn’t it?”

“Why is that submission, Mrs. Dare? It is magnanimity and an expression of power.”

Conversely, Manteo couldn’t 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 a strong person. Because he is strong, he dominates and protects all others around him. And in return for that protection, he receives numerous treasures from his subjects and gains the right to rule.

Something is… completely different. What am I?

I suddenly looked at the other apostles and Manteo, who were now engaged in a debate. I saw them glancing at me. Ah. I am both.

I am the strongest. Therefore, I protected them from poverty and disease and received their loyalty in return.

I am also the wealthiest. Because I bestowed numerous things upon them, I received their loyalty in return.

…The tax issue was the same. To the Europeans, it was a matter of course. No one in their right mind would say to a gangster collecting protection money, ‘So what do you give me in return?’² Therefore, it was natural for them that the government takes taxes, that kings and nobles take taxes.

But not to the natives. A leader is, of course, someone who gives something. Since it is natural to give back when you receive a gift, they would ‘gift’ back labor and resources to him, but for him to unilaterally take was an unthinkable act of robbery.

It was like the sun. The sun continuously shines its light and warmth on them, but it does not expect anything more in return.

“…Then, are you saying the natives cannot accept an organized government?” Hewitt said with a sigh. “That’s absurd, Manteo. We must somehow teach them about taxes and obedience to the government and make them members of this settlement.”

He was right. As I nodded, Manteo spoke again. “Then what about the other natives? Do you think they will look favorably upon a being that unilaterally extorts things from those it subjugates?”

“…”

“Will they not all have to accept it someday? Are you going to be satisfied with just over 10,000 people?”

Manteo was also right. I had no choice but to nod again. Someone once said that a pre-modern state and a gangster were no different. Just as a gangster with military power collects protection money and says they maintain order here, so does a typical state. To the natives, the so-called ‘state’ of the Europeans would look just like that—a gangster.

…And in actual history, that’s how it was. They suddenly appeared, demanded they offer various things and pledge loyalty, and when they didn’t listen, they drove them all out and killed them. That was the conclusion the so-called ‘state’ had reached.

“…”

Hewitt and Manteo continued to argue, and I rolled a pea on my plate with my spoon a few times… and came 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.”

Hewitt’s eyes widened. The others also stared at me with wide eyes.

“However.” I nodded. “It can receive a ‘gift’ equal to what the government has bestowed. That will be in place of taxes.”

At first glance, it was just wordplay. But it was the wordplay needed at this moment. And so, with my words, the debate among the ‘apostles’ was settled. And once the debate among the ‘apostles’ was settled, the debate in the meeting that followed the next day was also settled.

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 distribute land to them. In return, they would offer me taxes in the name of gifts. There was little difference. But the natives quickly understood and all agreed to the matter.

And so we moved on to the next issue. And we all felt a strange sensation. A state without taxes; it sounded like wordplay, but wasn’t it strange? Well… not that anything would change right away.

***

A child arrived at Chesapeake Bay, starving. Famine had scattered his tribe. The child had no parents, so he had followed various people here and there and gotten lost. And so, the child became a person alone in this world.

After wandering for several days and nights with nothing, the child walked east without a destination. Because he had heard a rumor before. That there was a tribe of a very wealthy great chief there, and you wouldn’t have to starve. If you just went there, you wouldn’t have to worry about food. Believing only that, the boy walked to Chesapeake Bay. Moving with a gaunt body, he had no strength.

The boy… stumbled… and collapsed.

“H-Here’s a boy!”

“Q-Quickly, bring water and porridge!”

The boy was, so to speak, a vagrant. In Spain, the boy would have wandered as a despised beggar his whole life, living by begging. A vagrant was not the state’s concern, but he was a pitiable being. In England, the boy would have been captured by soldiers, locked up in some workshop, and worked to the bone for the rest of his life. Because a vagrant who could work but was idle was a loss to the state.

“What’s your name?”

“Uh… ugh…”

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

“Ugh…”

But this was the Virginia settlement. A place where there was not a government that extorted, but a government that gave. The child was soon ‘gifted’ with food and a place to sleep.

And soon, the child came to his senses and hastily gathered tree nuts from the surroundings and ‘gifted’ them back to Eleanor, who had gifted him with food, clothing, and shelter. Eleanor smiled, ate the tree nuts, expressed her gratitude, and ‘gifted’ the boy with land and seeds.

The boy worked hard tilling the land and planting the seeds. When the fruit finally ripened after a few months, the boy ‘gifted’ the fruit to Eleanor, and Eleanor stroked the boy’s head and said, “Wait a little. ‘He’ will come to you soon.”

The boy, bewildered, returned home. A few days later, he heard a strange roar and went outside to see a bizarre sight. A beast made of iron was plowing the fields of the boys and his neighbors anew. It seemed there was no need for them to work any further.

And in front of the boy’s hut was a basket. When he opened the basket, it was full of cheese, various foods, and household utensils.

“Uh…”

“Are you awake?”

The boy suddenly looked up at the man who had been driving the beast made of iron in front of his house. The sun shone from behind his back.

“I am Nemo. Welcome to Virginia.”

The boy realized that he had received a gift from this man that he could never repay even if he dedicated his entire life to him, and soon, like the others who had grown up, he went along to cut down trees.

Now, the boy was a Virginian.

It seemed as if nothing had changed right away. But slowly, everything had changed. People did not follow the government of Virginia because there was a terrifying leader. They were by the side of the government of Virginia because it, like the sun, gave endlessly.

They did not fear their government. They did not know it themselves, but they loved their government. Just as they loved their angel.