“Beautiful. The perfect weather to set sail for Africa!” Walter Raleigh, who had returned before long, said as he stroked the hull of the newly launched Voyager. Vicente Gonzales, who had been chosen as the Voyager‘s captain, smiled and said, “The Voyager is a bit larger and more robust than the Enterprise. The craftsmen have also become more accustomed to building this type of ship, so it is superior in every aspect.”
“Still, I somehow prefer the Enterprise to the Voyager. Don’t you think the name itself is more appealing? Enterprise! America! The final frontier! Our mission is to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. Doesn’t the name Enterprise fit that perfectly?¹ But the name Voyager… it lacks a certain punch.”
“But can’t the Voyager carry more cargo and more cannons?”
“That’s different. It’s a matter of… feeling. For some reason, it feels like it’s going to get shipwrecked somewhere, or just drift aimlessly. Like the name is just plastered with bad omens.”
“…Please don’t say that about another man’s ship.”
“I’m only half-joking.”
The two men were scheduled to cross the Atlantic to Africa, taking the slaves Nemo had purchased from Drake. The estimated travel time was about three months—a duration shortened thanks to the clipper ship’s phenomenal speed. They watched as the Africans, who had fully recovered their health, began to board the ship one by one.
“…Be that as it may, it seems ‘He’ is opposed to the institution of slavery.” Though Raleigh had only said ‘He,’ Vicente could understand without difficulty. In this settlement, there was only one being people referred to as ‘He’ without any context.
“That’s right. I thought it was just business as usual when he purchased the slaves from Sir Drake without hesitation, but I never imagined he would free all of them…”
The very first thing he had done after purchasing the slaves was to speak with the newly freed people. He asked them where their homes were, if they wanted to return, and if it was possible to return. Based on their answers, he divided the freed Africans into several groups: those who would newly settle in Virginia, and those who would return to their homeland.
Not a single person remained a slave.
Raleigh, after hearing the news upon his return, mulled over a question he had been harboring for a while and asked Vicente carefully, “You, too, have traded in slaves, have you not?”
“Me? Of course. I bought slaves and commodities like ivory from various tribes in Africa and sold them to the Spanish colonies. I had a few in my own colony as well. Have you never, my Lord Baron?”
“Me? I led a fleet of privateers. Of course, I have.”
“…”
“If He abhors the practice of slavery, then the Lord must as well.”
“…”
“I fear how we must look in the eyes of the Lord, and in His eyes.”
“Who among us is not a sinner in His eyes? Is it not enough to atone for the rest of our lives?”
“…”
“Doesn’t everyone, as long as they are alive, get a second chance?”
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy as a serious conversation unfolded. The two men quietly recited the Lord’s Prayer and made the sign of the cross, then disembarked to make a final check that the preparations for the voyage were complete…
“Virginia! I have come!”
“…”
“…”
…when they turned around to see a fleet docking on the shores of Chesapeake. The man with the hearty impression, rowing over in a boat, was a very familiar face to both of them.
“…Sir Drake?”
“Ah, Baron Roanoke! It has been a long time! It has been quite a while since we last met!”
“…”
“You there! Vicente? You’re here, too! Come over here and help me a bit!”
“Ah, have you come to deliver the new slaves…”
“Hush!”
“…Pardon? No, if not slaves, then…”
“Hush, I said!”
“…?”
Vicente, puzzled by Sir Drake’s sudden fury at his words, glanced over at Raleigh. But Raleigh was just as clueless. Sir Drake stomped over to Vicente and spoke with ‘sincerity.’
“Slaves? If a person is captured by vile pirates and slave traders in Africa, do they become a slave? Do you think the Lord would stand for such an evil act?”
“…Pardon?”
The words, ‘You’re the vile pirate and slave trader,’ rose to the tip of his tongue, but Vicente barely managed to swallow them.
“Instead, call them ‘Freedmen from Africa’.”
“…Understood.”
“Sir Drake, it seems your piracy this time yielded a good harvest…”
“Baron Roanoke! The same goes for you! Piracy? Piracy is when one steals from another. But I have only moved according to the holy cause of returning freedom to those whose freedom was stolen. I have returned from achieving a great deed.”
Raleigh, feeling that something was strange, glanced behind him. In the distance, Nemo was watching them. He looked as small as a dot, but Raleigh had no idea how Drake had noticed him.
“…It seems the harvest of your ‘great deed’ was a good one?” As he corrected his expression according to Drake’s opinion, the man’s face, which had seemed enraged, instantly relaxed.
“Ah, of course. We have liberated over 300 slaves this time alone. And we have also ‘reclaimed’ the evil property that the Spanish had plundered from the slaves and Indios.”
The ones who were plundered were the slaves and Indios, so why is Drake the one reclaiming it? Raleigh, like Vicente, was flooded with all sorts of questions, but he barely suppressed them. When he looked back again, He was already beside them.
“Sir Drake, you’ve come. That wound on your cheek…”
“Ah, Your Majesty! I was slightly cut by a sword when I stepped forward, unable to contain my righteous indignation while fighting the wicked Spanish… but it is nothing. What is a small scar like this to this Drake?”
“If… so, then I am glad.”
“Indeed. If I had fallen and died in that spot, who would have saved the hundreds, thousands of Africans suffering under Spanish rule in America? It is clear that the Lord saved me from death.”
“…”
‘He’s flustered, as expected.’
‘He is flustered.’
Raleigh and Vicente could easily sense the bewilderment on Nemo’s face. And Nemo, as if he was thinking for a moment… finally couldn’t hold back and opened his mouth.
“Um… Sir Drake, have you not engaged in the slave trade yourself? You even allied with local African tribes to capture slaves directly.”
At that moment, Raleigh and Vicente felt a sense of immense relief. That was it! They had been itching to say it! The two of them had just been discussing, ‘Are we not sinners…?’ and then this next-level villain appears and spouts such nonsense with such confidence; it was nauseating! They exchanged a glance and smiled, imagining Sir Drake stammering and apologizing. The two men were getting a rough taste of the cathartic satisfaction popular in stories hundreds of years in their future.
However.
“Ah… you speak of my shameful and vile past.”
“No, I did not mean to point it out. It was just on my mind…”
“Were you not speaking of the time when I was mad with the wealth and pleasure that slaughter brings, a time when I was vile, filthy, and without conscience?”
“…Pardon?”
They had underestimated Drake. Drake suddenly bowed his head deeply. And then, just as actors in the 21st century often do on variety shows, he suddenly shed a tear.
“I… will go to hell. A sinner like me… deserves to die!”
“Ah, no, that’s not it…”
“No, Your Majesty. Even if I try to do good deeds, it is as useless as mixing honey with poison. I know that, too. The Lord sees everything, so I, too, will one day pay for this sin…”
“P-Please, don’t be like that. The sin is a matter for later; for now, are you not performing a righteous act?”
“…Now that I hear you say it, you are right. For now, I have brought 353 Africans, so I will take just about 2 kilograms of aluminum.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
For a moment, Raleigh and Vicente looked at each other and came to a single, unspoken agreement. They honestly didn’t know how great of sinners they themselves were. But the man before them was a literal lump of sin.
…What a transparent man.
I gave Drake a few kilograms of aluminum and saw him off. Seeing that bright smile, he seemed like a child, and yet… what kind of child commits murder and arson as if it were a daily meal? In any case, a man whose trustworthiness had dropped to -255 acted like this, so an underflow occurred, and his trustworthiness actually increased. To zero.
If he couldn’t be a principled and steadfast ally, perhaps it was better for him to be this transparently chasing after money and status. In any case, Drake was doing his job well, so we had already freed about 500 slaves. Among them, about 150 had nowhere to return to and remained in our community. Not a bad result. If I could save hundreds of people with just a little clump of aluminum foil…
‘The problem is something else.’
I wondered if I had been too much of a busybody. I was worried that because of Drake’s increasingly rampant piracy, Spain might adopt an attitude of, ‘Where’s that bastard’s base of operations? Virginia? Attack at once!’ And though the slave trade was not a major industry in England, there must have been slave traders; I wondered if they wouldn’t protest Drake’s actions.
This, could this cause a diplomatic problem?
‘Well, still, how can a person just stand by and do nothing?’
And if I build a connection with Drake like this, it will surely be useful later. Isn’t he something like the commander-in-chief of the English navy? His public recognition is also considerable. Anyway, since there hadn’t been much of a response from Spain for several years, they probably wouldn’t harm us or react differently… And in England, a few slave traders squawking wouldn’t be enough for them to give up a cash cow like me.
England… well, they’ll handle it.
***
Drake knew very well what he had to do with this ‘pure aluminum’ he had gotten his hands on. As expected of a man who had been raised with pirates since childhood and had learned the nature of power from his teens. He lived in a country of pirates and organized crime gangs. At times like this, one should not be stingy when it comes to paying tribute.
That was the difference between him and the other insignificant pirate gangs who failed to leave their names in history. He knew very well how to catch the ‘boss’s’ eye. And so, the ‘boss,’ Elizabeth, who had received the tribute… immediately decided to continue the political offensive.
“Tighten the belt a little more. You must appear resolute.”
“Understood, Your Majesty.”
Soon, the political show with Drake would begin. Before going out to court, Elizabeth slowly went over the current situation in her mind again. What was the situation in England now? Originally, it had been bad beyond words. Before the war, they had lived off the pleasure of constantly hitting the money pot that was Spain and extorting vast fortunes in return… but now Spain was saying it wouldn’t just take the hits anymore.
Because of that, first of all, they had run out of funds. War required ships, and ships required timber, but the forests within England were nearly depleted. In other words, it was all imported. The treasury was empty from buying timber and ships from Sweden and Denmark at high prices, and then they would patch up the empty treasury with piracy, and then buy back the timber and ships lost in the piracy… The royal budget was in the red every year, and the entire country was teetering on the success or failure of one or two pirate raids.
And in the midst of that… salvation arrived.
‘Virginia.’
Luxury goods periodically came in from the Virginia colony, established in the territory of the Native Emperor, and through those luxury goods, she reaped enormous profits from the nobles. At the same time, since the Virginia colony had begun to operate a shipyard, it seemed they would soon be free from the shortage of timber and ships. And on top of that, the food situation had improved.
It was a moment when the various problems that had made England creak were being healed as if washed away. Of course, was the nation’s wealth being drained because England was importing luxury goods from Virginia and the Native Emperor? That wasn’t the case either. They were buying up vast amounts of sugar, spices, and woolen fabrics. And… a strange fruit that grew near Africa.
‘Coffee, was it?’
When Raleigh had brought it, saying it was the Native Emperor’s request, both Raleigh and the Queen had been at a loss for a long time, not knowing what it was. Only recently had they been able to supply that item to the Virginia colony, and thanks to that, the amount of gold flowing out to Virginia had decreased considerably.
So, to summarize. The Virginia colony, and the Native Emperor beyond it, was a top-priority ally for England, filling its treasury and supplying strategic materials. And he was hostile to Spain.
Then the conclusion was clear.
‘The Emperor’s condemnation of slavery is a signal to plunder Spain together!’ As expected of a pirate boss.
Fling!
“H-Her Majesty is coming forth!”
As Elizabeth stepped out into court, all the people bowed their heads, and Drake, standing in the middle, also bowed his head. To him, Elizabeth, as they had planned, spoke with trembling hands and tears in her eyes. “So… this is the gift we have received from our ally across the sea?”
“That is correct, Your Majesty.”
“And it was obtained as the price for freeing the pitiful slaves…”
“Indeed!”
At Drake’s words, Elizabeth clasped her hands in prayer and slowly… let a single tear fall. “I… have always wished.” At her words, everyone in the court held their breath.
“I have always wished that all the people of this land would be freed from a state of servitude and live, treading upon the green fields as freemen.”
That was it. That was the true wish Elizabeth harbored. “Because… that is the will of Christ.” The freedom and liberation of her subjects. As the ruler of the Kingdom of England, as the head of the Church of England, and as a single Christian, it was what she desired more than anything.
It was absolutely not because the aluminum Drake brought was being exchanged for gold of several times its weight. And of course, it was also not because they could no longer sell slaves to the Spanish colonies, which had been their biggest customer. Likewise, it was not for national propaganda. All of it was just the petty slander of Spanish spies against England and its queen.
Or maybe not.
“But as if having read my will in advance, has not our ally from across the sea given a great inspiration to me, no, to all our souls? Is it not so?”
“It is truly so, Your Majesty!”
“Yes. It is truly so. Slavery is the greatest sin invented by man, and the most terrible act of rebellion against God. And as you all know, the Spanish are still enslaving countless pitiful ‘natives’ and Africans!”
“That is correct, Your Majesty!”
“You speak the truth!”
At this moment, Elizabeth Tudor, who had invested in the slave trade several times after tasting its sweet profits, died. And Elizabeth Tudor, who had employed a dark-skinned Moorish servant (who did not receive a salary, but was definitely not a slave), also died.
And when she opened her eyes again, through her tears.
“Behold! An angel appeared out of nowhere and healed the plague of London, and now a Christian foreigner is helping us without any compensation! Why do such fortunes only happen to England and not to that Spain! It is because we are just! We will be victorious in this just war! And we will crush the evil custom of slavery! From this day forward, slavery shall be permanently banned in all lands where the rule of the King of England extends!”
She was now reborn as ‘Elizabeth I, the Emancipator.’² And Elizabeth’s Moorish servant, for the first time in a long time, no, for the first time since coming to England, received something called a salary.
And so, Sir Drake’s fleet once again set out for the Caribbean, with ample support. To kill more Spaniards. To burn more Spanish homes. To plunder more Spanish property.
…No, that’s not it. To free more Spanish slaves. If anyone disagreed with this opinion, they were clearly either Spanish or a spy for them.
…
…
…
“‘Though We have invested in the slave trade several times, in the end, We could not overcome Our conscience and have withdrawn from it…’ What is this bullshit?” And the Spanish, upon seeing the holy proclamation of the Queen of England, were also enraged.
“…Wait, didn’t that woman quit investing just because it wasn’t profitable?” That was correct.
“To be precise, uh, wasn’t it because she was wary of smuggling slaves into our colonies?” That was also correct.
“But we’re the minions of the devil? For buying and selling slaves?” And upon reaching the conclusion, everyone was enraged. “No, how moral are they! In the first place, what right do people who make a living by burning and plundering other people’s colonies have to say…”
“E-Everyone, calm down. Isn’t the problem of their Virginia colony more of a priority? That fellow Francis Drake has set up a base there and is plundering us, so we must devise a countermeasure…”
“Yes! And how big has that Virginia colony gotten? We can’t even bring it down with our strength! What countermeasure is there!”
To be precise, it wasn’t that they lacked the power to deal with it. King Philip II of the Spanish Empire possessed far greater wealth, far stronger power than the likes of Elizabeth of England. It becomes even clearer when you consider that England, which was perpetually in the red, was surviving by sucking on the wealth of Spain.
However, the powerful force of the Spanish Empire had to be projected all over the world. It had to be used to suppress the great nobles within the country, to keep the Pope in check, to stop the expansion of the Ottomans, to suppress the Protestants of Europe, and to compete with their Habsburg relatives for world hegemony. England was an obstacle in the Spanish Empire’s world policy and one of many enemies, but by no means a major adversary.
Therefore, the Empire, despite its powerful force and overflowing wealth, had no choice but to leave the gadfly-like pirate gang of Drake and its breeding ground-like Virginia colony alone. In the end, the method they chose remained defensive.
“To block England’s infiltration, we must grow the Caribbean coast and the Florida colony! We must increase the number of permanent settlements beyond simple mission headquarters and military bases!”
“That’s right! We must immediately develop that area with our allied Indio tribes!”
“B-But, are we not short on hands?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
To protect the colonies from English infiltration and the plundering of slaves, they had to strengthen the colonies’ internal affairs. And to strengthen the colonies’ internal affairs…
“…We will import more slaves.”
“Damn it, only the Mali Empire will be happy.”
It seemed contradictory, but it was the only option. In the end, they imported more slaves, and the various kingdoms of West Africa, including the Mali Empire, made a fortune.
And the Spanish began land reclamation.
“We plan to build about four windmills. This area is all swamp.”
“How long will it take? Don’t think about the loss of life. Assuming we mobilize slaves.”
“…In that case, about 6 months?”
“Six months?”
“You mean, ‘only six months,’ I presume. And we will also need blacksmiths and iron mines.”
“For what?”
“We’ll need shovels, won’t we? We can’t tell the slaves to dig up the dirt and scoop out the water with their hands, can we?”
“Grrrn… The Virginia colony already has a population in the thousands. Can we catch up?”
“Of course. Unless they are draining the water without windmills.”
“Here, this is an automatic water pump!”
“Ooooh…”
“If you put firewood in here, the water pump will run automatically, moving 24 hours a day without any human touch!”
***
“Gyaaaaaak! A-A-Alligator…!”
“Bring the muskets!”
“There… are no muskets!”
“Why? Didn’t we build a blacksmith shop?”
“My, does metal bend and cut itself?”
***
“Here, these are steel pipes.”
“I-I-Is it alright to use this many? We need them for the water pump parts…”
“What’s to worry about when the Lord will replenish them? And turn on the grinder. We have to run the lathe, don’t we?”
Vreeeeeeeeeee!
***
“Guhhhk… gasp, wheeze…”
“Carry the stones! Your devotion will be the glory of His Majesty the King of Spain!”
“Guhk… S-Someone, just move the stones for us…!”
“Speak sense. You might as well say that some beast with a shovel for an arm will build a dike for us.”
***
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
“If we work with the excavator… it should be finished within half a day.”
“Ah, perfect!”
“Mr. Hewitt, let’s prepare the water pumps first. I’ll go to the factory.”
What is it? Is someone calling me? Why are my ears itching so much? Anyway.
There are many large and small wetlands near Chesapeake Bay, and it’s difficult to place a windmill in every single one to reclaim them. The so-called ‘automatic water pump,’ to be placed in such places.
When I went to Mr. Brown’s factory, all sorts of ironworkers were walking around busily, engrossed in a variety of tasks. When I pulled up close in my Porter (…not the Damas, the Porter!), Mr. Brown came out and guided me.
“Ah, have you come for ‘that’?”
“Yes. That’s right. The place where you’re working is…”
“Over there.”
There were many different technologies and materials needed to make the automatic water pump. For example, let’s look at the cylinder, the most important part of the power unit. I’ve seen these people make muskets, but in this era, it takes an enormous amount of skill and labor to create a cylindrical shape out of metal. To make the cylindrical barrel of a musket, you have no choice but to hammer a steel plate with all your might and roll it into a circle. After that, the hole inside is cut by inserting a core.
How do you make an accurate and uniform cylindrical shape by making it so crudely? Of course, you can’t. It was a time that made you understand why pre-modern weapons were not standardized. The cylinder’s cylinder, being the same shape, had to go through the same process. Originally.
—“Uh… wh-what is this?”
—“It is a steel pipe, of course.”
—“…”
If the steel pipe made with 21st-century technology hadn’t been a ‘consumable,’ that is. In other words, if you just block one end of that steel pipe and wrap it with thick steel to reinforce its strength, a cylinder is completed in a jiffy! And with steel made with 21st-century iron and steelmaking technology, no less!
To cut the inside a little more precisely and smooth the surroundings…
“First, you just need to turn on this grinder! Wait just a moment!”
Vreeeeeeeeeee!
Yes. This is it. Smoothing the inside of the pipe and making a perfectly fitting part to finish it would have been impossible without a lathe that transmitted power from a grinder. Anyway, if you fit the well-processed steel pipe and piston together, the cylinder is complete.
Then, you drill a hole in the completed cylinder with a (21st-century) drill. Now that the cylinder, the most important part of the power unit, was complete, we then made the crank, boiler, and valve chamber. The method was simple.
“Excuse me, Sir Nemo? I’ve forgotten the exact structure of the crank…”
“The book is here. I will now copy it and put it on the wall, so don’t forget.”
“Th-Thank you!”
We laid out the overall structure of the power unit by referring to a (21st-century) biography I had in the house.
“Where did the cylinder go! We need to assemble it!”
“Bring the pipe to be used for the valve chamber here!”
We needed to create a space for the gas to enter and exit the cylinder, so we made a valve chamber with another pipe and attached it to the hole we had just made in the cylinder. Then, we connected the valve rod connected to the valve chamber and the piston rod connected to the piston to the crank. That’s how we converted the reciprocating motion of the piston in the cylinder into a circular motion. And if the water pump connected to that crankshaft continuously pumped out water, we could pump water without borrowing human or animal power.
…I never thought that my house, which had become like a family warehouse while I was living alone, would be so beneficial. The old books that had just been collecting dust because no one had opened them since I was a child were now treasures. Especially the various pictures in the biographies and educational comics I read as a child (like scenes where, ‘Ho ho! Are you curious about the structure of an external combustion engine? Ah, it’s Dr. Da-ara!’) showed me the light.
That wasn’t all.
“Excuse me, but did you by any chance bring ‘that’?”
“Of course. It’s packed full in my Porter.”
“As expected! Let’s carry it out right now!”
‘That.’ The (21st-century) lubricant that I had hoarded.
Ssshhhk! Shhhk!
With just this, the creaking sounds and frictional heat disappear! Efficiency improves several-fold!
When I brought the lubricant, the artisans took it by the armful and sprayed it on the joints of the automatic water pumps they were repairing and inspecting. I watched them and… was struck by a new realization.
Wow. This resource cheat is really insane.