"May God bless you! Esteemed Sir Miguel de Sintra. After the storms and journey through the deep seas of the Atlantic Ocean, to meet you again at the Sierra Leone Port is truly the Holy Mother's blessing!"...

"Greetings to you, brave Knight Captain Bruno. I'm glad to see you returned safely! I've heard from the Kingdom Navy that His Majesty has entrusted the dangerous task of exploring new routes to the West to you... How did the exploration go? How come you're coming from the Southern Sea? Also, I seem to see only one ship, what about Sir Silvira?"...

"Ah! Almighty's protection! This dangerous voyage exploration was like sailing in the Demon's Hell of Fire. Sir Silvira was devout and fearless, heroically sacrificing himself for the Almighty... talking about it could take a long time..." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Oh! No rush, speak slowly... Someone, bring two bottles of banana wine and some fruit! Bruno, would you like local maidservants to serve you?"

"Hmm... no need. Everything about the Western new sea route is still a top secret of the Kingdom. Sir Miguel, we are old acquaintances, and have both served under Captain Diogo Cao... the Almighty as my witness! I can only tell these insights to you alone!"...

"Good, good! Bruno, my old friend, I'll certainly entertain you tonight to your satisfaction! Now, let's discuss important matters first!"...

The colonial port of Sierra Leone is not large. Among rows of wooden houses, there are only three stone buildings, which are the "Port City Hall," the "Trading Station Warehouse," and the largest "Mountain Top Fortress."

At this moment, Captain Bruno and Noble Mayor Miguel are sitting in the Port City Hall. They were reclining on two low-backed chairs decorated with ivory, sipping locally specialized banana wine, conversing about adventures and explorations at sea, occasionally sighing with emotion.

"Ah, Almighty! In the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, there's actually a new continent? Bruno, are you sure it's a new continent and not a large island?"

"It is absolutely a new continent! Miguel, you know the Kingdom's maritime manual states that once a great river appears, a continent must exist! You know, on that Jungle Continent, the size of the Great River I saw was astonishingly wide!"

"Ah? 'Great River'? How wide is it?"

"At least fifty kilometers wide! During high tide, it can reach eighty kilometers! In the peak rainy season, I can't even dare to imagine!"

"Holy Mother, fifty kilometers wide! Is there really such a wide river in this world? Even wider and more turbulent than the Congo River? Could it be that the continent you discovered is larger than the Southern Continent? Almighty, this seems unlikely!"

"The Almighty as my witness! I dare not say whether that new continent will be larger than the Southern Continent... but the distance of my route alone revealed a coastline of a full five thousand kilometers! Five thousand kilometers of coast! Miguel, calculate how many Kingdom outpost stations can be established there! Such vast land for five thousand kilometers!"...

Speaking of the conditions of the Southern Continent, Bruno was both excited and invigorated. These were his exploration achievements, which would surely bring him, and his family, a long-term, rich reward!

Just like Miguel de Sintra, who became Noble Mayor to manage the Sierra Leone Colony because his grandfather was the maritime noble who explored and discovered this coastline—Pedro de Sintra. With this connection, the Sintra Family can participate in the colonial expansion at Sierra Leone Port and share a big piece of the colonial interests cake!

Meanwhile, with Bruno's discovery of the new Jungle Continent, once the Kingdom of Portugal begins colonial expansion there, his family's descendants can also prioritize participation and eventually become Noble Mayor or even Governor of the colony!

"Hiss! Five thousand kilometers of long coast? Seriously?!... Bruno, you mentioned between 8 degrees North to 5 degrees South latitude? Wouldn't that all be a Tropical Jungle, like the devilish Congo place? The difficulty of developing such a jungle is quite challenging!"...

Upon hearing this, Noble Mayor Miguel slightly furrowed his brows. The Sintra Family had experienced colonial expansion along the West Africa Coast, so he knew very well how high the initial human cost would be to develop a tropical colony amidst jungle coasts, and just how many bones would be required!

"Merciful Holy Mother! Like the newly established trading station in Congo, in just three years, of the 200 pioneers sent there, a third perished from plague. And of the missionaries sent to the Congo hinterlands, seven or eight out of every ten have died, urgently needing replenishment. The support fleet I received last month had seven or eight priests recruited from the Kingdom's rural churches, all of commoner origin. They were devout but destined to burn themselves for the Almighty's light, hardly any of them could return alive."

"Ah! The Devil-shrouded Congo place! Terrifying, it truly is terrifying!... Er, Miguel, though the Jungle Continent is indeed full of jungles, it shouldn't be as terrifying as the Congo place, there aren't as many Devil's Curses there?... The jungle natives I met there are much gentler compared to the dangerous Cipangu Natives!"...

"Besides, that Great River stretches one thousand kilometers to the east and west, although it's dense with forests, closer to Saint Rock Cape in that one to two thousand kilometers, clearly emerges highland ranges... Tropical highlands are better than lowlands, easier to develop! Of course, during initial development, consuming manpower is indispensable... but there are ways! Such as the tribes in the Southern Continent..."

"Eh! You're saying? You mean?... Hmm, as long as the returns are sufficient, that's indeed feasible! Like the plantation on Cape Verde, using those Black-skinned Tribes to cultivate expensive sugarcane... Of course, capturing local natives would be best!"...

At this moment, the sentiments and amazement, discussions and plans of the two Portuguese nobles regarding the wealth of the new continent resonated together in the stone City Hall. They were like peering through a thick curtain, witnessing the exceedingly vast new world "Dawn!"

However, this "Dawn" first fell on Africa—the "Dark Continent," in the West Africa Colony established by Portugal, with thousands, even tens of thousands of Black-skinned Tribes enslaved and driven by the Portuguese people.

At this moment, with the discovery of the new continent, the blood-red tributary of the fateful Amazon River was divided! A brutal and terrifying future had silently arrived upon countless tribes of West Africa, causing an originally impoverished, overlooked "commodity" to start gaining "product" value...

"Almighty's protection! Bruno, you know, the most valuable commodity like that produced at the Ghana Coast is always gold, gold, gold!... In your exploration of the new route, did you see any signs of gold among those natives?"...

"Cough! We encountered the Cipangu Native Kingdom in the northern archipelago of the Jungle Continent. That native kingdom indeed has gold... possibly in considerable quantity!... It's a pity! I have limited manpower, and the native kingdom was strong, couldn't obtain the gold..."

Seeing Miguel, whose eyes glimmered with greed, Bruno had a thought and decided to conceal the 3 pounds of gold and a bag of pearls traded from the native tribes. He didn't want golden, dazzling temptation to test their admittedly unstable friendship.

If not, should the other party bring up conditions to demand a share, Bruno with his rundown ship and just eight trusted sailors truly cannot refuse...

"Ah, merciful Almighty! Those demon Cipangu Barbarian Tribes! Their ferocity and cunning are even more terrifying than the Southern black-skinned natives! They claimed to engage in friendly trade with us but secretly dispatched fleets to attack us at night!... Devout Captain Silvira died in their barbaric ambush, along with a whole ship's people cruelly murdered by the natives!"...

"What? Natives attacked you at sea? Using their small boats to ambush the Kingdom's large ship?"...

"No! The Almighty as my witness! These natives have light sailing ships just like ours! And the style completely resembles Castilian vessels! I highly suspect, either they're colluding with the Castilians, or similarly ambushed Columbus's exploration fleet!"...

"What?! Castilians involved too?!... Bruno, did these natives have any reason to blindly attack you? Could it be the fleet relaxed discipline slightly while landing and repairs, discovered by them?"...

"Cough! The Almighty as my witness! As the captain of the exploration fleet, I constantly restrained the sailors! At least in that sea region, the sailors were more disciplined than in the Lisbon Port! It's these cunning natives who long intended to raid us! Their feigned desire to trade with us was all to delay time, moving their naval forces over!"...

"They even have some prophecy, claiming our arrival was foretold, saying we're 'white-skinned bearded evil demons,' to wage some 'Holy War,' 'until death or victory'..."

"Ah?! A prophecy? Demon prophecy? Holy War?... Seriously? If so, that's a big problem!"...