Chapter 60

“There! A large flat-bottomed ship! A transport filled with treasure…”

“Idiot! Ignore it for now! Take out the enemy warships before you worry about a transport that can’t run away!”

Drake moved busily. The Spanish had finally realized that there would be no more enemy reinforcements. But by the time they were dithering, unsure whether to respond to the front or the rear, the tide of the battle had already turned.

“Throw the grappling hooks!”

“Volley fire!”

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

Drake sensed victory. A couple of friendly ships would approach the scattered enemies, launch a boarding action to capture them, and then move on to capture another. As this process was repeated several times, the initial numerical superiority was completely overturned, and the English Cross of St. George flew everywhere.

“Hah! This time, we bring down that carrack!”

“Waaaaaaah!”

When Sir Drake charged at an enemy ship with a mad laugh, his allies would follow, providing cover with a hail of bullets and bringing down the enemy. In the time it took to bring down four ships, not a single Spaniard had managed to board Drake’s flagship. It was a clear sign of how the battle was going.

As he killed and captured, moving forward, Drake thought about what had been the decisive factor in this victory. …Without a doubt, it was those two absurd ships from Virginia. He didn’t know how that ridiculous plan had succeeded, but the miracle that had unfolded before his eyes made all other explanations meaningless.

‘As expected…! The mysteries of the sea are amazing!’

So the talking seagulls and the mermaids I saw back then weren’t hallucinations after all! Behold, is there not a god of the sea here, who knows his and the enemy’s exact position on the ocean! The reason the English warships could now weave through the Spanish was all thanks to the volley of cannon fire ‘He’ had poured on their rear without warning. It had been a short attack, but it was enough to break the masts and walls of many small ships and throw the large ones into confusion.

Come to think of it, his two ships were… “Over there… Oh, Lord, damn it.”

Drake was watching the enemy ships in the distance when he was confronted with a desperate sight. About three warships were surrounding one low, strangely shaped ship. Considering the low freeboard of that so-called ‘clipper,’ there was no way to stop the enemy from jumping onto the friendly ship. It was only a matter of time before that ship was captured.

No. The Native Emperor and the de facto ruler of the Virginia colony (and a mysterious being of the sea) is on that ship!

Drake raised the sword he was holding above his head and waved it around to get his crew’s attention. “At once! Charge forward! Our ally is surrounded!”

At his words, the sailors immediately removed the ropes and planks that connected them to the captured enemy ship and unfurled the sails again. As Drake’s flagship charged forward, the Spanish ships, terrified of a collision, moved aside.

And so a path was opened. As they grazed the starboard side of one of the ships surrounding the Enterprise, Drake fearlessly jumped over and plunged his sword into the neck of a Spanish soldier. Then he put a bullet in the head of a bewildered Spanish soldier, and while Drake was buying time like that, the English sailors laid a plank between the two ships and charged across it.

While his allies were belatedly catching up, Drake, half-drunk on the smell of blood, rushed to the port side and found the besieged and struggling Enterprise…

VREEEEEEEEEEEEE!

…found the… struggling… Enterprise…

“A m-monster! It’s a monster!”

“S-S-Save…! Lord, sa-save me…!”

…What is this.

***

When people talk about why the Spanish conquistadors were able to conquer the Aztec and the Inca, they often point to the ‘gun.’ But is that really so? The firearms of this era took minutes to reload and had poor accuracy. Of course, their penetration power was superior to a bow, but the Aztec and Inca warriors at most wore cloth armor, so it was meaningless. Of course, in the first few battles, the gunpowder weapons, which brought down enemies ‘in an instant’ and were accompanied by a loud roar and smoke, seemed like magic and ate away at the enemy’s morale. A volley of bullets fired by a hundred men at once was enough to instantly break the enemy’s spirit and bring them to their knees, regardless of its actual power.

And that was about it. After the Aztecs and Incas became accustomed to firearms, the gun became nothing more than an unremarkable ranged weapon. And when it became difficult to procure gunpowder, the conquistadors relied on crossbows and bows instead of guns.

But let’s put it the other way around. In those first few battles, the gunpowder weapons were truly ‘evil magic’ to the enemy.

VREEEEEEEEEEEEE!

“D-Don’t come closer! Don’t come any closer!”

VREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

“Gyaaaaaaaah!”

Think of the laser weapons that aliens shoot in sci-fi movies. They flash and have pretty cool visual effects, but if you just look at their descriptions in the story, their power is often not that different from modern firearms. But imagine encountering that in real life. Imagine a green-haired alien pointing a laser gun and a lightsaber at you. Who on earth could think rationally, ‘This is no different from a modern weapon!’?

“Guhk, guuuuhk! S-S-Sa-Save me…”

Splash!

The Spanish soldiers who saw my chainsaw were exactly like that. The number of soldiers who were actually injured by my chainsaw was only about four or five. The number who were hit by friendly fire in their surprise at its hideous appearance and loud roar, or who fell into the sea while fleeing, was several times that.

And so, while about half of the dozens of men who had charged onto our ship were panicking and disoriented…

“Fire!”

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

Under Raleigh’s command, the soldiers with Lexan shields poured out a volley of fire, taking care of the other half. Just as the Spanish had brought down the natives, who were dozens, hundreds of times more numerous, with their guns. We were bringing down the Spanish with a ‘transparent shield’ and a ‘screaming saw.’

After a long time. “…Is it over?”

Once the bodies of the injured and unconscious Spanish were scattered all over the deck, I had a moment to look around. I looked at myself and saw that my clothes were torn and tattered in several places, but there were no wounds. Just as it seemed we had dealt with all the enemies on the ship…

“…What is that?”

“Sir Drake? When did you get here?”

“Uh, no, I came… to help…”

Drake boarded our ship, looking half-dazed.

“…”

“…”

“That, can I touch it?”

“No.”

“…”

“…”

Hmph. No. If a thoughtless Englishman touches this, he’ll get hurt.

And so, I stepped slightly away from Sir Drake and turned off the ignition, and just as Raleigh called out to Drake and Drake turned his head…

“Y-You damned devil…!”

Ah. There was one Spaniard left…!

Squish.

The Spaniard stabbed me in the stomach with his knife and showed a triumphant smile, as if he had seized victory.

VREEEEEEEEEEEEE!

And I, just like that, started the ignition again and ground his neck to a pulp. Then, like an office worker who had woken up four minutes before work, I hastily pulled the knife stuck in my stomach out and straightened my clothes. This, damn it, right in front of Drake…!

“Hmm, it seems there was one more enemy left.”

“…Sir Drake?”

“Yes?”

“Did you… see?”

“See what? I was just talking with Baron Roanoke until a moment ago…”

“…”

“…”

“…It’s nothing.”

Phew. He didn’t see.

 

…Don’t make eye contact. You shouldn’t make eye contact with the ‘mystery of the sea’ for too long. You might go mad.

It seemed he had just seen an ‘illusion’ of a knife being pulled out of the ship. Look. There’s blood on his clothes, but he’s clean, without a single wound. Isn’t he?

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Walter. Any casualties?”

“There are only a few soldiers with minor injuries, like being grazed by a bullet. Don’t worry.”

Even Raleigh and the others didn’t seem to have noticed. Such an indifferent attitude. Only he, Francis Drake, had witnessed the scene just now. As expected… the ones who called the mermaid some strange sea beast were all liars. The Kraken, the Flying Dutchman, the Fountain of Youth—they must all exist.

“Now… it seems the battle is over, so we should be heading home.”

“By home, you mean…”

…The bottom of the sea?

“Croatoan, I mean.”

Ah, I see.

“Ah, the time is already… 4:30. It’s too late; shall we moor at a nearby port?”

…There are clouds so there’s no sun; how did he know? As expected of the mystery of the sea. This world is truly full of wonders. ‘After this is over, I should go looking for El Dorado…’ And so, Drake’s faith in superstition grew ever deeper.

***

“Take all the captured ships except for one or two. In return, we will take custody of the people who were captured as slaves.”

“Ah! Of course, Your Majesty! Hahaha, I wonder if I’ll ever fight such a great and absurd battle again!”

Now… it was completely safe. I realized that fact as I felt Drake’s awe-filled gaze. Our Virginia community’s greatest ally is England. Then what is the greatest potential threat to our community? The Spanish fleet? Close, but no.

It is also England.

The Spanish fleet was dangerous enough, but they fundamentally had a lot to protect, so it was difficult for them to gather in one place and attack somewhere. Even looking at the development of the Anglo-Spanish War in the game catalog, that was the case. After both countries tried a large-scale invasion of each other’s homeland at the beginning of the war and both failed spectacularly, a large-scale, all-out war did not happen again.

When the English loitered near the Spanish colonies and treasure fleets, the Spanish navy mostly focused on swatting away the English, who came at them like a swarm of flies. But the English navy was different. The various fleets led by Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake, John Hawkins, and others attacked, besieged, and plundered the Spanish colonies, taking an offensive stance and accumulating damage on Spain. Why? Because England had nothing to lose.

The English burned and destroyed Cadiz, Cuba, and Florida. They could do the same thing anywhere. But now, they can’t do that in Virginia. The English are reaping enormous profits thanks to me. They even fought alongside us as allies. England’s most threatening naval admiral, Drake, is also showing a favorable attitude toward me and is continuing his contract with me.

Now, it would be fine to consider the threat to the colony almost completely removed. All that was left was to return to Virginia and enjoy a peaceful life. Thinking so, I stepped onto the land of Chesapeake Bay with a cheerful heart.

“Waaaaaaah! We won!”

“Long live the Virginia Community! Long live England!”

I disembarked to the cheers of the many who had sensed victory. Vicente and Raleigh also wore broad smiles and welcomed the cheers of the settlers. Of course, the natives, who made up the majority of the settlers, had no particular interest in who fought whom and how they won, but they were all happy that we had won the war.

Just then, Manteo, Eleanor Dare, Thomas Hewitt, and John White came walking from a distance.

“Congratulations! What a report of victory! To think you would plunder the Spanish treasure fleet! I never knew you would achieve such a feat!” Bacon shouted with joy.

“You were able to… free 2,000 new slaves? Th-That’s a real relief…” Eleanor Dare also sniffled.

“If you don’t mind, may I look around that captured Spanish flat-bottomed ship? From now on, we can connect Chesapeake and Croatoan more closely with that ship! And all that silver…!” John White seemed to be thinking about the benefits this victory would bring to the settlement.

Everyone was writhing with joy and excitement, so I, too, felt my heart flutter and spoke to Hewitt. “Mr. Hewitt, what do you think?”

To which Hewitt replied, “What is there to say? The community’s coffers will be filled with Spanish treasure! We won’t be short on finances for a while!”

“That’s right. For a while now, it will be peaceful…”

“Now all that’s left is to teach those Spanish bastards a lesson!”

“Pardon?”

“…Pardon?”

Suddenly, at my question, the nearby atmosphere grew cold. Somehow… the gazes of the English looking at me became strangely awkward. What, what? Why?

As I was feeling puzzled, Raleigh slowly walked over and whispered to me, “W-What do you mean by that? We haven’t even started yet, have we?”

“Pardon?”

“Now that we’ve plundered the Spanish treasure fleet once, shouldn’t we completely sweep the enemy from this area?”

Pardon?

As I looked around in bewilderment, those who had heard Raleigh’s words all nodded in agreement.

Thomas Hewitt, too.

Walter Raleigh, too.

John White, too.

And all the other Englishmen.

“…Now! Let’s break the pride of those Spanish bastards!”

“Waaaaaaaaaaah!”

They were shouting with the spirit of a shonen manga protagonist yelling, ‘Our adventure has only just begun!’

…Are you guys insane?