Chapter 58

Clang! Cla-clang!

“Gasp, wheeze, a-are you alright?”

“I’m… still fine, for now. How about you, Walter?”

I wasn’t on the short side back in Korea, but there’s one thing I’ve realized since coming here.

“I-I-I’m… having a bit of a hard time.”

I’ve become some kind of giant.

This is the 16th century. It’s an era where the nutritional status and growth environment of people worldwide are far inferior to those in 21st-century developed countries. Walter Raleigh, Vicente Gonzales—despite being able-bodied white adult males of this era, they were a good 10 centimeters shorter than me. There was, of course, a big difference in our physique and stamina as well.

“Shall we take a short break?”

“No… We don’t have much time until we set sail, so let’s have Vicente take over. Hey! Vicente, come and take my and Sir Nemo’s place in this sparring match for a bit…!”

“M-Me? Is there no one else…”

“Thomas Hewitt is a lawyer, and John White is a painter. Who else is there besides us?”

Therefore, it was no surprise that the two men who had offered to teach me swordsmanship and other miscellaneous martial arts before the battle were completely exhausted. And that was after they had given up on trying to teach me physical conditioning and other things. It was only natural; no matter how systematic, there was no way a 16th-century physical training method could surpass the various exercise methods of the 21st century.

And so, after skipping all those various processes and jumping straight into swordsmanship, this was the result.

“Heok… hak…” All three of them were wiped out.

People often say that 21st-century people who only sit in front of desks are much weaker than people of the past. That doesn’t apply to me. Hey, bastards, am I not a 21st-century person? Anyway, those office-working types think they’re the only ones living in the world.

“So, when you hold a sword, the balance of your body is the most important, and defending against the enemy’s attack is… uh…”

“…”

“…”

“Come to think of it, is there a need for you to defend?”

“…Vicente, I feel pain, too.”

“Aha.”

What do you mean, aha? Don’t act like you just realized it. I still wake up from nightmares sometimes because of the memory of being stabbed. …Come to think of it, my first-ever stabbing was because of you.

“Anyway… heup, hak… You offered to teach me swordsmanship, but it’s unfamiliar to me and just tiring.”

“Is that so? But if a boarding battle were to happen…”

“Then I will use my own methods, Walter.”

“…”

“…”

The two of them whispered to each other about me for a bit, then nodded and said to me, “Understood. Well, Sir Nemo is superior in both physique and stamina, so it should be fine.”

“Normally, to a ‘person’ going into their first battle, I would say I hope they don’t get hurt… but surely, you wouldn’t get hurt, would you?”

Wow, they’re not worried at all. I’m a person, too. A person… Ah, right. I’m not a person. To them. Looking back, I should probably first consider whether a being that survives after being stabbed in the heart is even a person. Well, that’s not important.

A few days later, after packing a suitable means of self-defense, I boarded the Voyager. And so, we raised the banner of slave liberation and began our grand voyage.

…

…

…

Voyage over. Arrived in Ndakaaru, West Africa (modern-day Dakar, the capital of Senegal).

It was a port not far from Ribeira Grande, where the Spanish were likely stationed at present. It was also a hub where slaves and various luxury goods like gold and ivory were traded.

“Walter, is there any news of the Spanish?”

“Well, since the Spanish and Portuguese frequent this area, even if we find information, it’s not immediately identifiable as belonging to the fleet we’re looking for. The results should be out soon. And, according to the information Sir Drake brought, don’t they still have about three or four weeks before they depart?”

“Then…”

“Yes. We have enough time to release the freed slaves.”

“Then let’s move slowly along the coast.”

And so, we left Ndakaaru and moved southwest. We were soon able to reach the coast near the homeland of most of the Africans we had brought. We let the freed people off on the coast, and they slowly looked around, breathing in the air of their now-unfamiliar homeland.

In fact, it might have been a bit ambiguous to call it their homeland. If a Martian had abducted a Korean, a Swede, a Lebanese, and a Vietnamese and then dropped them off in New York, it wouldn’t be right to say they had been dropped off in their ‘homeland.’ It was also ridiculous that people who had lived in different tribes, speaking different languages, were lumped together and dropped off here for the sole reason that they had been captured as slaves by the Spanish.

But this was also the best we could do. We couldn’t find each and every one of their homelands and return them. For most of them, their homes had disappeared altogether. Still, most of them could now speak Spanish and English, albeit clumsily, and they had built a sense of camaraderie while sharing the same experience. I could only hope that they could live together in this land.

“Hey! It’s the new settlers!”

“Baron Roanoke is here, too! Move the new supplies first!”

In this new settlement. Liberia. The Latin word for ‘land of freedom.’ I couldn’t find a more fitting name than this. It was also the name of the country founded by American abolitionists in the original history when they returned freed slaves to Africa.

The hundreds of freed slaves we had dropped off earlier, who had already arrived in Liberia, greeted the latecomers in Spanish. At that, they hesitated but then strode forward, stepping into the village surrounded by a wooden palisade. Ah, right. There was something I still hadn’t done for them.

“Wait! Please wait!” I shouted, and all those who had been walking forward turned around in surprise.

At my gesture, the sailors placed muskets, ammunition, and various daily necessities at their feet. “There are tribes here armed not only with bows and arrows but also with guns they received from the Europeans. Use these to protect yourselves and the lives of others.”

“…”

“More settlers will come in the future. Walter Raleigh and Vicente Gonzales here will continue to bring people who have been through the same situation as you, so I hope you will welcome them. And one more thing, you must not enslave or sell others. Do not do to others what the Europeans, and other kings and chiefs, have done to you. That is all I ask. For you are free now.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Naturally, there was no one who ‘couldn’t understand’ my words. They stared blankly at my face, then, one by one, they picked up the guns and the various necessities. But for some reason, they couldn’t readily leave the shore. As I was about to ask them why… the oldest of them, a middle-aged man, asked in Spanish, “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are you doing all this?”

“…”

“After being captured as a slave, I have seen many Spaniards. There were good ones, and there were vicious ones. Some, unable to bear watching me work under the lash in the hot weather, would pour cold water on my back, and some would shoot bullets at me, urging me to dig for silver faster. But in all their eyes, equally, I was a slave. One kind master even tried to free me, but that, too, was not without a price.”

I saw myself reflected in the middle-aged man’s eyes. There, I saw an ordinary grape farmer. “But… there is no price for what you are doing now. There is no price at all.” But he seemed to see something different in me.

“You cross the sea for a deed with no price and give food and weapons to people who have nothing to do with you. What you ask for is also trivial. I heard that you are now going to risk your life to fight with others.”

“That is correct.”

“For what reason? Because it is written so in your ‘scriptures’? But the Spaniard who was my master also taught me to obey according to the words of the ‘scriptures.’ Isn’t that strange? I… cannot understand…”

“Do not try to understand.” I pondered my answer, then looked at Vicente and Raleigh standing on either side of me. I saw the many freed slaves lined up behind the middle-aged man, and I saw the Spaniards, Englishmen, and Algonquians lined up behind me. I chose my words carefully. Because I realized that whatever I said next would be forever remembered in their minds.

“…All those many disasters that have befallen you.” The words I spoke were not just for the middle-aged man before me, but for all the Europeans, Africans, and Americans gathered here.

“Can you understand those disasters and that malice? Can you understand why the world is so cruel, so terrible? I dare not understand. Can you?” At my words, the middle-aged man seemed to think for a moment, then shook his head.

“I… do not know either. How it came to be like this.”

“Then there is no need to understand this either. This is not in the realm of understanding.” I told him, “I did it not because our scriptures said so, but because it was the right thing to do. My soul commanded it, and so I followed.”

“…”

“Something does not need to follow a righteous act. People often say that punishment follows those who do evil, and reward follows those who do good. But even without a reward, a righteous act has value in itself.”

“…”

“So, I did it. Has your question been answered now?”

At my words, the middle–aged man blinked his eyes for a moment… then opened his mouth. “I still do not know. But I know one thing.”

“…”

“You are a truly bizarre being.”

And with that, the conversation ended. The middle-aged man turned around, and the others also slowly moved and walked toward the new settlement. I, too, was about to turn around and return to the ship…

“…”

“…”

“…”

Everyone was looking at me. Raleigh quietly recited a prayer to me.

***

“So, who in the world is ‘He’?”

There was nothing in common among the residents of Liberia. The tribe they belonged to, the language they used, their homeland, their bloodline—they shared nothing in common. The only thing that bound them was a single memory.

“Who is he, to have done such a thing? Didn’t you just speak with ‘Him’? What did he say?”

“…”

The memory of ‘liberation.’ The memory of a land called Virginia. The memory of a strange man who ruled that place, who could speak all languages. Who was he, for what reason, and for what purpose had he freed them?

Some said they had been chosen as an army to conquer this land. Did you not see how they periodically left weapons and food? This Liberia was a fortress, but it would also be a forward base. Some said they were being deceived. Was it not common sense that no one would give out resources like this without any compensation? They said they had been bewitched by a strange spirit.

Whatever the answer was, they had been moored here without hearing any reason or purpose. They had established a settlement and were continuing to accept people, but they were staying in an ambiguous state, not knowing what to do. They wondered amongst themselves if it was alright for them to just stay like this, and what ‘His’ true intention was.

“…I saw you speaking with ‘Him.’ Tell us.” As the story that the answer might come today spread, all the residents of the settlement gathered and asked the middle-aged man.

“…An angel.” And the middle-aged man uttered that one word, then quietly closed his eyes.

“Oh, Amen…” At that, the converted Christians made the sign of the cross. The rest, not knowing what it meant, tilted their heads. But they, too, would soon come to know its meaning. No, all the people of Africa.

And one day, all the people of the world. They would come to know His will.

***

Having finished our business, we returned to Ndakaaru and lay low. Unless something else came up, we planned to stay here for a while and gather information. What kind of information?

“For now… we will find out if the Spanish are purchasing ‘goods’ according to the same information that Drake delivered,” Raleigh said in a hushed voice. “We will have to watch the way the stories are exchanged among the merchants in this area.”

“Will the merchants just give us information for free?”

“Of course not. Is there anything you need?”

“Hmm…”

And so, I ended up hoarding a large amount of coffee beans. Wow, buying it direct is so much cheaper than buying it through England!

After enjoying the aroma of caffeine to my heart’s content for several days, Raleigh came running again. “I’ve found it! There was a big contract, so I looked into the rumor, and it seems there is a contract on the condition of buying about 2,000 slaves at once! There has never been a contract of this scale before, so everyone was whispering about it! It’s definitely the story of the fleet we were looking for!”

“When is the departure date set for?”

“Three weeks from now. It’s exactly as we found out before. Still, it seems it is a time to quietly watch the flow of people and goods.”

“For now, the general information has been confirmed, hasn’t it? Is there really a need to take a risk by watching?”

“There is. They say that large warships are gathered in Ribeira Grande; shouldn’t we grasp their military strength as much as possible?” Raleigh said firmly and nodded. “I will go further. I will try to ask the Spanish sailors while minimizing contact with the Spanish in Ribeira Grande.”

“Understood.”

And so, time passed again. Not long after, Raleigh came running into the cabin for the second time.

“I have confirmed the scale of the enemy fleet.”

“We already know that, don’t we? 15 ships…”

“It’s 23 ships!”

“…Pardon?”

“It seems they realized from the beginning that the information had been leaked to Drake. And…” Raleigh dropped his head and said, “They have already departed. We must give chase at once.”