How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony-Chapter 32: Assassination

"If people see an angel... they'll think it's a devil and try to kill it?"

"Yes."

To Harriot's confident answer, Raleigh snorted.

"Ha, what nonsense. You speak so boldly, as if you've actually met an angel. Even though you've never had such an experience."

"Of course, I've never seen an angel. And I doubt I ever will."

Thomas Harriot merely shrugged at Raleigh's mockery.

"But I've seen plenty of people. Christians, non-Christians, English, Spanish, French, Algonquin, and many others."

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"Ha! And that's the great result of your human observation?"

"Yes."

"..."

Raleigh shakes his head at his old friend's assertion.

"No. You... know nothing. A person cannot see a pure celestial being directly and consider it a devil.

Rather, even those who think as cynically as you would change if they met an angel directly. Completely crushed by that overwhelming presence, that holiness, they couldn't escape."

"..."

"They might initially doubt and consider it a devil, but after conversing a few times, they would change. Everyone would change their attitude and praise the merciful Lord who sent them an angel."

"Ahem."

"...Are you laughing?"

"Yes, I am."

Thomas Harriot's face bears a terrible cynicism.

"If people were to meet a 'real angel,' they wouldn't be able to bear it. Especially those with power."

"Why?"

"People cannot tolerate beings above them. They cannot stand beings they have no control over, that they must simply follow."

The smile gradually fades from Harriot's face.

"If Jesus Christ returned to the Vatican, the Pope and cardinals would unanimously crucify him. It would be the same if Muslims saw the return of Muhammad."

"..."

"I am certain. Even if it were a real angel, no, especially because it is a real angel, people would turn away from the truth."

A cloud briefly covers the sun.

As the sunlight entering the ship's deck disappears, shadows fall on both men's faces.

==

"...But, are we really supposed to kill him?"

An assassin, pretending to be a shoe polisher while sharpening a shoemaker's knife, asks. The leader, who was dozing with arms folded in a corner of the cabin, answers.

"Why do you ask?"

"Aren't we... English?"

"Yes."

"The Lord told us to serve Her Majesty the Queen of England from birth, so we're English."

"What are you suddenly going on about? Get to the point."

"...Well, everyone's been excitedly talking about how the new colony will flatten Spain's nose and make it easier to strike Spanish colonies, but aren't we ruining that?"

"..."

At that moment, everything around becomes quiet. All the assassins who were sharpening and wielding knives stop moving and stare at the fake shoe polisher.

"I... feel a bit guilty. I hear that the Indian Emperor even saved the colonists when the colonial enterprise was failing and they were all about to go to heaven. To repay someone who saved our compatriots with a knife... it really bothers me..."

"We."

The leader cuts off the fake shoe polisher's words.

"We were paid."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Did you alone not get paid?"

"I-I did. I did, but..."

"Did you throw your money pouch into the Thames?"

"I didn't do that..."

"Then shut up and kill.

Think of money as your Lord, your conscience, and your Queen."

The assassins in the cramped cabin snicker at the slight blasphemy. The leader, however, still speaks without a hint of humor.

"Even if the Lord himself were resurrected, if you're paid, you must kill. That's your job."

"...That's a bit..."

"Know that if you say one more word, you'll die before the Indian Emperor."

"..."

Only then does the fake shoe polisher resume sharpening his knife.

He sharpens it diligently enough to slash a person's throat.

==

"People see what they want to see and see things according to what benefits them. That's my belief."

"..."

"You said everyone would change if they saw an angel directly? Then why did the Pharisees who saw Jesus Christ act as they did? Shouldn't all the Jews who met Jesus have converted?"

"That's..."

"But what was the result? They all flocked to Pontius Pilate and asked him to kill Jesus. And their descendants still don't believe in Jesus."

"..."

"That's what I think. If a person were to see an angel directly, and if that angel said anything even slightly offensive to them...

People would try to kill the angel.

I am convinced of that."

"..."

"..."

The sound of waves echoes in the silence. The creaking sound of boards rubbing against each other as the ship moves tickles the ears.

"...You're wrong."

Sir Walter Raleigh, annoyed by the silence, finally adds one more thing.

"Pardon?"

"I said you're wrong."

Raleigh, as an excellent poet, picked out a few beautiful words and rhetorical expressions... but then gave up.

He decided to speak more roughly, more directly.

"You've never met an angel directly, have you?"

Yes. You haven't seen one.

You have never seen an angel.

"What are you saying now?"

"A real angel... just seeing one brings a moment where you can't help but be convinced.

Such a moment comes, I'm saying. A moment that erases all doubts in your heart and makes you absolutely certain that the being before you is truly a holy celestial being."

"..."

"...Do you understand?"

"I don't."

"That's why you're an atheist."

"Sir Raleigh, you speak as if you've directly seen an angel yourself..."

Just as Harriot was responding tersely, the cabin door swings open. An excited sailor shouts to the two.

"We-we've arrived! We'll soon be at Chesapeake Bay!"

"Finally... my goodness, we're finally arriving."

Sir Raleigh rises with a somehow solemn and heavy expression. He calls a servant waiting far down the corridor and asks.

"Where is the crown?"

"It's here."

"Good. The Bible?"

"That's also here."

Thus, with a box containing the crown made for this day in one hand and a lavishly gold-embossed Bible in the other, Raleigh walks down the corridor. Harriot also quickly follows him.

As Raleigh reaches the deck, he immediately sees people gathered like grains of sand on the beach beyond the railing.

The number of nearby natives, seemingly more numerous than last time, reaches thousands, and among them are about 100 Englishmen.

And among them stands Lord Nemo again.

Right in front of the harbor where they are about to dock. People crowd around him particularly like clouds. Some might see him as the governor of Croatan, while others might see him as the Great Chief.

And Walter Raleigh sees him as an angel.

Just seeing that figure makes Raleigh swallow.

Soon the ship approaches the hastily constructed harbor, and while controlling the movement of passengers, Walter Raleigh and Thomas Harriot are the first to disembark and set foot on the jetty.

Still holding a box containing the crown in one hand and the Bible in the other.

The most sacred, or most blasphemous, moment of his life approaches.

He will directly place a crown on an angel's head, make the angel place a hand on the Bible to swear allegiance, and make the angel confess to being a subject of the Kingdom of England.

The heavy weight of that thought prevents Raleigh from properly taking steps.

His hands begin to tremble. His breathing gradually quickens. His vision blurs from the edges.

Yet, step by step, he moves.

Because it is his duty.

As he walks slowly, about 700 Englishmen who arrived on over a dozen ships have also disembarked behind him. Thousands gathered here are watching Nemo and Walter Raleigh who is heading toward him.

A historic... moment.

In a way, a moment he desperately wished for.

Evangelizing the New World, bringing a foreign monarch to his knees, establishing an immortal achievement that will remain forever.

That moment has come.

Finally, Walter Raleigh stands before Nemo. Harriot stands far behind.

"..."

"Sir Walter Raleigh?"

That voice again.

"Please extend the Bible forward. Shouldn't I make my pledge?"

"..."

"Sir Raleigh?"

The angel urges him in all the languages he knows. As Sir Raleigh slowly extends the Bible forward, Nemo places his hand on it.

Thump.

"...You."

"..."

"You, Nemo, Great Chief of the Pamlico, Chowanoke, Croatan, Chesapeake, and other peoples... now intend to swear allegiance under God's blessing to Elizabeth, the lawful Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and Defender of the Faith.

Will you follow God's law and spread God's word widely?"

"I will."

"Will you serve the lawful monarch of England, France, and Ireland diligently?"

"I will."

"Will you protect your people from all evil and govern them according to just laws?"

"I will."

"..."

"..."

In silence, Raleigh opened the box. A splendid crown adorned with gold and jewels shines within the box.

But it is merely a product of folly. No magnificent object made by humans could compare to the sacred radiance emanating from this person's very existence.

Knowing this, Raleigh nevertheless...

Places that crown on Nemo's head.

Then all those gathered here, as if they had rehearsed, kneel in unison.

As Raleigh belatedly stretches one leg back to kneel as well...

"Kyaaaah!"

Someone's sudden scream.

Unwittingly, Raleigh turns around at the scream. At that moment, what entered his eyes were Harriot's shocked face and Englishmen scattering in all directions in panic.

And.

The shoe polisher, the cleaner, the servant come running. At first, unable to grasp the situation, he wondered what was causing this commotion.

And then, a moment later, he sees the blades that sprung from their hands. Moving as if one body, they block his retreat and approach from all directions.

It feels like seeing teeth approaching while being half-swallowed by a shark's mouth. Raleigh froze instantly.

There was nothing he could do.

"Farewell. Don't blame us."

Numerous blades rushing toward him.

...Who? Whose doing is this?

The Earl of Essex? Or Lord Walsingham? No. There are too many candidates. There are so many who mocked, despised, and hated him that he cannot specify a candidate.

...And they are too close to avoid.

And if he avoids them, Lord Nemo, who has just knelt and is rising, will be hurt.

"Good... heavens."

That would likely be his last words.

Raleigh closes his eyes and recites the Lord's Prayer.

Waiting for the daggers to hack his body.

And.

"Sir Raleigh."

Whoosh!

Suddenly something pulls his body. Hurriedly opening his eyes, he sees that he himself is still intact.

Instead, he saw someone being torn apart by the shark's teeth. The throat, chest, waist, shoulder, thigh being hacked.

So, instead, the one who was stabbed was...

"Kyaaaaaaah!"

"Go-good heavens! The Indian Emperor has been stabbed!"

Ah.

The body clad in white clothes falls, covered in blood.

The most noble being in this world falls.

"Ah, aaah!"

Thud.

Words do not come properly from the fallen body.

"I did not come to punish you. The Lord has not prepared curses for you, but glory and bliss."

"The Lord will use you greatly."

All the words He left him scatter and disappear like a mirage. It's as if all the light in the world is torn into a thousand, ten thousand pieces.

"Aaah, a, a..."

Destruction.

"In this land, countless bloodshed and injustice will flow like rivers in the future."

"Millions will be slaughtered in the name of the Lord, and they will die crying out the Lord's name in hatred."

Was that... what it meant?

Is this how it is realized?

Well, aaah...

Feeling miserable, Raleigh turns his eyes.

Amid everyone fleeing, only the residents of Croatan remain kneeling in prayer. He was about to shout what they were doing, why they were leaving the angel alone... when feeling something strange, he turns back to the front.

Then He...

"Well, well...?"

He...

Was rising from death.