The Road to Europe
The year was 3963. Eight years had already passed since I settled in Japan, caring for orphans and backing Nakamura's rise.
There were so many orphans in Japan that the school just kept expanding, and now it had grown bigger than a fortress. That was partly because of all the annex buildings — the dining halls, the dormitories, and so on — but honestly, those kids studied like lunatics.
"You're getting married?"
"Yes. To a son of the Nakamura household."
And Himiko had blossomed into a stunning beauty. That gaunt little stick of a girl had gradually filled out, color had returned to her face, and these days she was the kind of child who made passersby turn around for a second look. Nakamura, for his part, had devoured nearly all his rivals and become a daimyo of national prominence.
"The children will miss you."
"I'll still come to the school."
"Huh? You're not moving far away?"
"He insisted he wouldn't leave this place even one step, so he's decided to come here instead."
Ah. Himiko really is pretty, isn't she? The man's already so smitten he's tossing his own estate aside to chase her here.
Cool beauty, you could call it. She wears an icy expression most days, but the moment she smiles she turns into a flower in full bloom. I'd figured someone was bound to fall head over heels for her eventually — turns out it was the Nakamura boy.
"You know where our territory ends, right?"
"Yes. I've learned that everything enclosed within the fortress walls counts as the concession zone."
"When I'm gone, you'll have to look after it well."
"I will."
The school didn't just teach — it functioned as a kind of administrative office for the concession. All the sharp kids who'd studied in this region gathered here, and as they grew up they married one another and began settling together inside the walls. Naturally, being most comfortable around the school, they started collecting taxes there and handling the city's minor affairs.
"Come here for a moment."
"Yes…."
My, how she's grown. A hug is in order.
Squish.
Ah… so Himiko is quite well-endowed, too….
With the two of us pressed together like this, our arms couldn't even reach around each other.
"Be happy. If anything goes wrong, come running to your big sister. And if I'm not here, you know you can go to the Daehan Company and ask them to pass the word along, right?"
"Of course…."
She really did grow up well, our Himiko. I believe in her.
Himiko knows. She knows that Haneul is not a human being — one glance at the fact that she looks exactly the same as she did eight years ago makes that obvious enough.
It's not a matter of simply aging slowly. Not a single strand of her hair has changed, and Himiko has never once seen so much as a speck of dust settle on her body.
At first she'd mistaken her for a ghost and been terrified, but a ghost this warm was one she could serve for all eternity.
Ah…. Warmer than even my mother's arms.
As Haneul held her, she deliberately bent her knees a little and buried her face against that chest. A fresh floral scent she had never smelled anywhere else set her heart at ease, and she nestled there without any sense of the passing time.
"Ah! I'm sorry."
"For what? Hahaha."
She felt a little embarrassed. She'd lain there for ages without a thought in her head, like a child in her mother's embrace.
"I'll do well."
"You will. Himiko always does."
And now that the summons had come, she decided this was the moment to pursue her ambitions in earnest. That was why she had deliberately ensnared the son of Nakamura, the most powerful family in the region.
She dared not compare herself to Her, but she took pride in the certainty that no one in these parts was as beautiful as she was. That was why she studied so diligently, watched what she ate, and exercised in moderation without overdoing it — all of it, for that reason.
This country is still ruled by men. So I must rule the man who rules.
And there were quite a few children who shared her ambitions, busily stacking up knowledge and polishing their appearances. The well-built boys, too, were studying and building their strength. They would become retainers, distinguish themselves, and climb to high positions.
And the children who fell short would stay here, becoming farmers and merchants.
"Be happy."
"Yes."
She had her goals, of course, but she would find happiness along the way as well. She'd planned to simply live alone if no one caught her eye while she tended the school, but Nakamura's son — who had passed her scrutiny well enough — turned out to be a rather decent man.
He knew how to help the unfortunate, and he never flaunted his power carelessly. Her heart had gone out to him for that.
Clever Himiko would work hard at her duties and seize happiness in the same stroke.
"Oh, and take this with you."
"Eh? Isn't this yours, Haneul-nim?"
It was the thing called a revolver. The mere sight of it was a wonder in itself. She, who had just been held in those arms, understood immediately — there was nothing like it anywhere on Haneul's body, yet it had appeared from nowhere.
"I have plenty. Use it when you're in danger."
"It's a weapon that can harm people, isn't it?"
"That's right. Don't use it lightly — keep it safe, so you can draw it when you're truly in peril."
"Yes. Thank you."
Himiko nearly shed tears of emotion. In all her years she had met countless people of Daehan, and the only one who ever carried such a revolver was that Moses person who followed at Haneul's side everywhere.
Which meant this was a gift carrying expectations of that same magnitude.
This is holy water, then. A token. Thank you.
Haneul meant it simply as protection for a child she cherished, but Himiko, receiving it as the proof of her station as Haneul's proxy, felt her eyes begin to burn.
Himiko would take the Daehan Company and this concession territory as her base and swallow Japan whole. Letters packed with intelligence and news were already flowing in from the children who had spread across the country.
When the age of her children's children's children arrived, this land, too, would belong to Haneul.
Haneul left Japan for the first time in ages and returned to Sinsi. Japan, she figured, would manage itself just fine under Nakamura and Himiko now — after all, the Emperor, the single greatest obstacle, was bound hand and foot with debt.
And back home, sure enough, China was still trapped on its continent and floundering, while Vietnam had hit the limits of its expansion and was merely holding the line.
"East Asia is going to stay more or less like this from here on out."
"Strange, isn't it? Vietnam's been getting so much support, I thought they'd build an empire — but all they can manage is keeping things as they are?"
When one fellow grows too big, the neighbors get jealous. That's just how it goes.
"The checks against them are brutal, right?"
"Yes. Every little state around them is on bad terms with Vietnam. It's remarkable."
Look at Vietnam's borders alone — Ming, Lan Xang, and Cambodia, three nations all zeroing in on the same target.
"That's just human nature. 'We look about the same, so why is that guy living better than me?' — and off people go to make his life miserable."
"Eh? Then what about us?"
Us? We're just getting started. The Europeans will come swarming with fire in their eyes before long, I'd wager.
"Word is that sailing ships other than ours have appeared off the eastern coast of the Eastern Continent. So soon enough they'll come either to check us or to negotiate."
"What will you do?"
"Go take a look, of course."
Good tidings should be spread far and wide, after all. Which means there's one thing I need to go prepare~
Frankly, we're not doing enough trade with Africa to justify it — circling the whole continent with dozens of coal depots just to reach Europe would be a monstrous waste.
"How's the ship coming along?"
"Well. I went to see it, and it's the most terrifying thing I've laid eyes on in my life."
"Even so, there's still time left to go. Might as well head over and prepare in the meantime."
The single biggest obstacle to building an ironclad? Rust. Iron is nothing more than stable iron oxide that's been forcibly wrenched out of its comfortable state, so it spends its whole existence straining to return to what it was.
Blocking that instinct is why we've already burned thirty years developing coatings and new materials. The hull and the engines themselves were finished long ago.
"Is that why you ordered them to develop all those useful household technologies?"
"Yep. Imagine never having to worry about water again."
They were using waste heat from the steam engines to produce fresh water right at sea. And then purifying it with Holy Water!
Water that should only have been good for washing — or for giving you a stomachache — was becoming genuinely drinkable. Which meant the water storage tanks could shrink dramatically. Add heating to that, too.
"If you cram in everything you've mentioned, it sounds less like a warship and more like you're building a hotel on the open sea."
"What? What's wrong with comfortable?"
"Well… I hear the soldiers are begging you to just send the ship out as-is, saying they'll scrub the rust off themselves while they sail. The Navy's complaints about how often they loiter around the university — you haven't seen those?"
"Not happening."
"Which is why the chemistry department keeps filing grievances."
That said, their chemical engineering has been improving at a remarkable clip. An opportunity like this can't be wasted — we did reap great benefits from the flood of intellectual refugees out of Europe.
The ones who fled here hand over materials freely, so the researchers have been having the time of their lives. Honestly, I'll never understand Europeans — the moment something appears that they don't understand, they start screaming demon or witch and start killing people.
"Doesn't look like it'll take much longer. Tell them to work even harder."
"I couldn't say. They've already written up a report saying they'll simply follow you to Europe anyway."
Exactly right. Hand it over, say "do your best," and walk away — the most comfortable management style there is.
"Hmm. Humid, as expected."
"Ugh, and hot on top of it. This is no way to live."
I'd originally intended to dig a canal clear down to Panama, but the land crossing from Maya country was so hopelessly mountainous that no rail line could ever be threaded through it. So I decided to do something brute-force instead.
"So what are you planning to do here?"
"Dig a waterway."
"…What?"
Panama Canal, schmana canal. We're going to have our own canal.
The Mexico Canal? No — there won't be any Mexico. Ara is a bit too far away, anyway.
Should I call it the Ari Stream? Plaster that name right on here? The Ari Canal, then?
"By the way, why are there so many people here?"
"Word from the young lady is that something tremendous is about to happen, they say?"
"Is that so?"
Eventually I'm going to dig this thing wide and deep enough for battleships and aircraft carriers to pass through — genuinely enormous. Ahh, but there is one thing that worries me…
What happens if I dig into the ground and strike gold….
"You've routed as many trains this way as possible, right?"
"Yes. Eastern and northern expansion will probably stall for a while."
"This matters more, so there's nothing to be done. Still, make sure the tribes don't run short on supplies."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Well then — shall we begin? Back when I first arrived on this planet, when I could have split the Earth in half with a single blow, I could have done this in one strike. A little wistful, honestly?
Here's how I do it. It's not complicated — focus is the key. Close your eyes, feel the earth beneath you, and at the point where it feels right, push.
GU-GU-GU-GOOOOM.
"Agh! What the—!"
"Cover your ears! It's deafening!"
It sounded like the Earth itself was crying out in anguish. It isn't hurting, is it? Sorry, planet! My bad!
With a monstrous roar, the land pressed itself flat — broad and deep enough for three or four colossal ships to sail abreast — all the way to the far edge of the horizon.
THUD. THUD.
"Solid as expected."
I hammered the canal bed with telekinesis, and the ground had compacted until it barely needed finishing at all. Compressed that hard, it was practically stone by now.
At this density, the water shouldn't seep away — how convenient.
"Hieeeek…."
And there's Moses, watching Moses's own miracle unfold.
"M-milady? What… what is this?"
"What? Scared of me now, are we?"
"A… a little?"
Stuttering like that over "a little." How hurtful.
"But wait — couldn't you just fill this with water, connect it to the sea on both sides, and sail through whenever you like?"
"There's nothing stopping that, technically. I'm doing it just in case."
It's hard to imagine a channel this narrow doing much damage to deep-ocean circulation or anything of the sort, but better to block it off, no? That way I can play landlord and collect tolls!
If the thing's going to work, it ought to earn its keep, honestly. Sailing from the Atlantic to the Pacific means tens of thousands of kilometers of open ocean — who wouldn't pay a little to cut straight through here instead?
"Do it right, or the Earth could end up with an eternal winter. Understood?"
"Huh?! From connecting one sea?"
Don't look so shocked. It's a manner of speaking, that's all. To actually disrupt ocean currents, you'd have to carve something incomprehensibly massive.
"Enough chit-chat, back to work."
"What's left? We're done, aren't we?"
"Are we? Then let's keep walking and keep digging."
"Right behind you!"
Though, am I even doing this properly? With no way to gauge the depth, I have no idea how deep we've actually gotten…
GU-GU-GU-GOOOOM.
With that colossal roar, the earth began reshaping itself once more, its contours carved anew as far as the eye could see.
"Gasp…."
"Oh…. Ye gods…."
"Good lord…."
The people of Daehan had gathered here to work — and not just them. Even the employees of the Daehan Company, people who had witnessed Haneul flying through the sky more than a few times before.
Faced with this overwhelming display, no one had a single word left to say.
"The young lady is a god. There can be no doubt."
"Haha. That's right. Follow her alone, and you'll all live lives of joy and happiness — I promise you that."
"Thank heaven we were born in Daehan."
The people of Daehan, beholding Haneul's power confirmed anew, bowed low in reverence — while the natives who didn't yet believe in the Sky Faith, who had merely come to earn a day's wages, stood trembling where they were.
"The gods were real all along…."
"So that's why they live so well."
"When I go home, I'm visiting the temple."
"You think they'll punish us for it?"
"They've let us live this well already — surely showing a little reverence from now on is enough."
The thousands upon thousands gathered on this spot would all be flocking to a temple by tomorrow — and spreading word of what they had witnessed to every corner of the earth.