How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony-Chapter 6: Mysticism

"Um, excuse me... would you... possibly... accept us? We'll do anything!"

Perfect.

I barely held back from cheering at that response.

Finally, I had found a 'friendly force' in this strange world.

With just me alone, survival in this world would be nearly impossible.

The natives who would want to eliminate the strange person who suddenly appeared on their land.

And the white settlers who would want to eliminate the strange person who just took someone else's land.

I need to maintain balance between the two while pursuing my own survival.

And right now.

"...I cannot give you an immediate answer. Let me think about it for a moment."

"Uh... what?"

This is my last chance to gain an advantage over these white settlers.

The English people before me are just 30 people.

Since I saved them from starving to death, if they're human, they should understand gratitude.

Moreover, they approached me first, humbling themselves while their resources and weapons were in poor condition.

This is the best case scenario among the situations I had imagined.

Therefore.

I showed hesitation at first. I couldn't just accept eagerly as that could expose a weakness.

"..."

"..."

The longer I remained silent, the more anxious the English people became. After several minutes of thick silence had passed.

When I opened my mouth, everyone's attention focused on me just from that.

"...Very well."

And when my answer came out, cheers erupted along with prayers and sobbing from all around.

Eleanor too seemed unable to suppress her emotions as her hands trembled while she lowered her head and clenched her fists... then raised her head to speak. Her eyes were red.

"Th-thank you..."

"However."

I raised a finger in front of the excited Eleanor.

"Having you all come to our settlement would be burdensome."

"If-if you just let us settle nearby, that would be enough! If you could share just a little food..."

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

"Would that be sufficient? If you build a village near our settlement, we can help you establish yourselves. I can provide seeds and tools if you wish."

"..."

"In return, just keep one condition."

"...What's the condition? We'll keep anything!"

To Eleanor's question, I answered while trying my best to maintain a gentle smile.

"...I only wish for our friendship to continue."

==

...It was unbelievable.

Eleanor almost pinched her cheek.

Permission to come near the settlement.

Help with building a village.

Support with tools and seeds.

And in return... nothing.

She was dumbfounded by the unbelievably generous terms. She felt like a child who had received an unexpected gift.

"We-we can't just keep receiving! If there's anything we can give you, we will!"

"Oh? What can you give me?"

"Mr. Nichols here is a tailor! If you have any clothes that need mending..."

"I have sufficient clothing."

"Ah... then..."

"It's fine. For now, we'll need a few days to prepare, so please wait."

"...Thank... you."

"Not at all. If you feel bad about it, you can help with labor occasionally."

After that, a few meaningless pleasantries were exchanged, and he left.

"..."

"..."

"..."

No one could speak first as they looked at each other.

The painful times they had endured flashed through everyone's minds.

Even getting to the New World had been a series of hardships.

Due to the sudden whim of the navigator, they had missed the farming season, and ended up settling on Roanoke Island, full of wetlands, which wasn't even their intended destination.

Several people died when they encountered hostile tribes while trying to catch fish and crabs. In retaliation, they launched a night raid but mistakenly attacked their allies.

After constantly starving, several more people drowned while coming to this Croatoan Island, and here they had nearly starved to death again.

Eleanor could imagine all sorts of horrible possibilities. They could have killed each other fighting amongst themselves, or been killed in attacks by hostile tribes.

If that 'helping hand' had been even slightly delayed... that's probably what would have happened.

And now that savior promised another opportunity.

He said he would help them achieve their reason for coming here, their 'new life'.

"Co-could this be Satan's temptation? Like maybe hell awaits if we follow him to his settlement..."

"What kind of Satan would bring medicine and food every day to people who are dying of hunger?"

"...Well, that's true."

Kindness without cost.

Faced with kindness they had never experienced before, with such a huge opportunity in an unexpected situation, people spouted nonsense wondering if there was something more to it.

Even while knowing there wasn't, just because, it didn't make sense.

"Well, 'he' said he would return tomorrow, so let's all stop talking and sleep early! We'll have to move again starting tomorrow!"

At Eleanor's words, people began lying down one by one.

Under the tent made from cloth 'he' gave.

Sipping the mysterious drink 'he' provided.

Fiddling with the mysterious metal container 'he' gave.

They dreamed of tomorrow's hope.

They couldn't fall asleep. There was no reason to sleep and dream. Tomorrow they would see their dreams come true while awake.

"..."

Eleanor felt the same way.

Eleanor had been nothing until now.

But now somehow... she had become a leader figure, at least among their group which consisted mostly of women and children, and was on the verge of establishing a new colony.

Finding new allies they hadn't found before, meeting new people they hadn't met before.

Eleanor looked at the beautiful engravings and mysterious letters on the metal container. Those unknown characters, sometimes square and sometimes round, looked more like mathematical symbols than letters.

And Eleanor couldn't read a single one of them.

Going to an unknown world.

Maybe that man was the king of a kingdom full of gold and pure silver. Maybe he was a wealthy and powerful monarch ruling over millions of subjects with thousands of servants.

Maybe... as some said, he was an angel.

Honestly, that didn't seem likely, but the mercy and devotion he had shown to the English people so far was indeed angel-like. It was understandable why some would think that.

Either way.

Eleanor lay awake through the night, imagining the settlement they would build starting tomorrow.

She drifted off to sleep imagining the mysterious eastern kingdom that would be next to it.

And when she woke up the next day.

When they headed there under 'his' guidance.

THUD!

"Move the injured people to the farmhouse inside that fence."

"Farm... what?"

"The hut over there."

"And... the rest of us?"

"Let's cut down and use that forest over there. I'll help."

"Oh, no! It's fine! There are 30 of us! One more person won't make much difference..."

WHIIIIIIR!

THUD THUD THUD!

"There is... quite a difference...?"

All of Eleanor's imagination had been wrong.

...Come to think of it, maybe he really was an angel.

==

It's now early September. The ripening period for Shine Muscat grapes is ending.

In other words, right before harvest.

I spray foliar fertilizer (applying specialized fertilizer to leaves for quick absorption) while continuing to add nutrients, focusing on phosphorus and potassium for flavor and storage ability.

To prevent the fruit from tasting watery and bland, I reduce the water amount just enough to keep the topsoil from drying out. About 60% of the usual amount should be sufficient.

After working on this for a while, I suddenly had a realization.

'What's... the point of all this?'

It's not like I'm going to eat all the Shine Muscat grapes from this 13,200 square meter greenhouse by myself. Why am I doing this... by myself no less.

"...Urrrgh."

As Confucius said in The Analects Of Confucius.

If you gain enlightenment in the morning, you can die content in the evening.

Having gained enlightenment, I now want to die.

'...No. There might be more special benefits.'

For example, maybe if the constellation [Lord of Olympus] buys my grapes, I'll earn [Coins] and awaken hunter abilities.

Or maybe my grapes are some incredible elixir, and if you eat them and try to cultivate qi, pure internal energy will overflow from your dantian...

Yeah right.

Even though I accidentally bought the wrong game cartridge and fell back to my ancestor's time 400 years ago, it can't go that far. If that were the case, a status window should have opened by now.

Therefore.

My current actions preparing for the grape harvest are completely meaningless.

They only contain the inertia, lingering attachment, and stubbornness from years of farming life.

"...How could I... what farm I built."

The fact that my workplace, which I spent my entire early twenties building, had become meaningless in an instant was apparently hard to bear.

I sat down heavily in that spot but got up again when I heard footsteps approaching from afar.

Hoooo... focus, I need to focus.

30 versus 1. I need to minimize conflicts and showing weaknesses. While maintaining my advantage, I need to continue a friendly alliance relationship.

The behavior pattern I decided to take for that purpose is as follows:

"...I told you not to come in here."

"So-sorry! Someone was injured so I came to find you..."

"Did you move them to the farmhouse as I said? I'll go soon."

"Th-thank you."

"It's fine."

"..."

"Next time... don't come here until I call for you."

"...Yes."

Mysticism.

Did the group captured on the Nautilus in "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" try to take Captain Nemo hostage or escape? No. They acted as obedient passengers for years.

Why is that?

Because they didn't know their opponent well.

Because they didn't know what the other person could do to them, how inferior they were compared to the other person.

Even until the end of the novel, the protagonist never discovers Captain Nemo's true identity.

My strategy is exactly the same.

Mysticism. Mysticism.

"Is this... a grape farm?"

I can tell from Eleanor's tense expression in front of me now.

Seeing the grape vines lined up in rows, and the large grape clusters hanging from them, her eyes grow round. She seemed quite unfamiliar with the sight of me moving around on a wheeled chair spraying fertilizer.

Trying my best to maintain a nonchalant and calm expression, I start spraying fertilizer on the leaves again slowly.

"Yes. As you can see."

"I've seen many grape farms when I went to Sussex or Kent... but I've never seen grapes this big."

"It just turned out this way as I grew them as a hobby."

That's right. I must be some mysterious and powerful being, not a grape farmer drowning in debt. I sprayed fertilizer on the leaves with an expression as bored and indifferent as possible.

Like Bob Ross doing his brush strokes, making it look so easy and fun, as if this was nothing at all.

And casually said:

"Would you like to try one?"

"Oh, thank you."

When I plucked off a few grapes, washed them, and handed them over, Eleanor whispered while examining them several times with curiosity.

"They're like jewels..."

Of course they are. They were created by concentrating 20th century agricultural technology at a research institute under the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

And as soon as she put it in her mouth, her eyes grew round.

It must be delicious. I saw earlier that it was over 20 Brix.

Of course it's good - it's department store quality.

"This tastes really goo... huh?"

"What's wrong?"

"..."

A serious look comes into Eleanor's eyes.

"There-there are no seeds!"

Ah, right. I forgot. This is 400 years ago.

"...Yes. Is seedless grapes so surprising?"

...Don't panic. Keep it natural.

"Of-of course it is! Then how do these grapes reproduce?"

"Through cuttings, of course."

"Then they can't reproduce without human help?"

"Correct."

"How could something like this exist in nature..."

"It can't."

"..."

"I removed the seeds."

By using gibberellin to promote growth.

"Good heavens..."

"It's a product of my homeland."

Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' Agriculture & Food Industry Technology Research Organization, thanks for developing this.

Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, thanks for forgetting to register the variety. Nice that no royalties are needed.

"Wh-where exactly is your homeland?"

"..."

I just gazed distantly at the sky and said:

"...It's in a place you can never reach."

I am an honest person.

So I only spoke the truth.

==

Indeed, he must be an angel.