War of Independence
War of independence.
Back when people were still hurling stones at each other over the harbor, Europe was in an absolute mess too.
"Honestly, those people aren't even human anymore..."
"We fed them like it was charity work, and the moment they got a little strength back, they start another war..."
Haneul and Mose sat side by side over tea, sighing in unison.
The trouble had begun when Catholics and Protestants split into opposing camps and started a war — in the name of religion, no less — over a wealthy free city within the Holy Roman Empire.
"Exactly like the Crusades. I'd bet it's all about money."
"If they're going to fight anyway, why drag religion into it and pick sides over it?"
"Religion doesn't really mean much here. France took the opposite side without a second thought, remember?"
Luckily, Europe wasn't utterly destroyed, because the Ottoman Empire was too tangled up in civil strife and squabbling regents to spare any attention elsewhere.
But the German lands had been reduced to ruins. Unpaid armies left a trail of pillage, rape, slaughter, and arson wherever they marched, and even dragged the local population off to work as slaves.
"Now do you see why I'm always calling them barbarians?"
"Haa... How horrifying..."
Haneul and Mose, who had been reading through the reports, let out a long sigh and simply shoved them off to one side.
"Haneul-nim, what if we just conquered everything ourselves?"
"I'm deliberately not doing that."
"Huh? Why not?"
Truth be told, given Daehan's national power, conquering the world would hardly be difficult.
She simply chose not to.
"There has to be a garbage can. Otherwise, all that filth splashes back onto us."
"Ugh..."
What Haneul meant was that the world needed a place for its lunatics to gather — and that place didn't necessarily have to be Daehan.
Besides, there was something more pressing to deal with.
"They're asking us to support their independence?"
"Yes. In return, they say they'll formally recognize our harbor territory."
"The land we paid good money for?"
"They know that too, so they're not asking for a refund. They just want weapons and material support."
"How could you possibly sell our land without so much as consulting us!"
"That's right! We must take it back!"
"What did Spain have to say?"
When the money had been raised to sell off Portuguese land, most of Portugal's public officials had, in fact, been Spaniards.
The Portuguese nobility had been too deep in wine and tobacco to notice — and by the time they came to their senses, the land was already gone.
"Spain has made no reply whatsoever..."
"Damn bastards. Still acting like the world belongs to them, I see."
The Spaniards could get away with this only because their national power was a shadow of what it once was.
The New World, which was supposed to be a land of gold, had turned into a bottomless mire and quietly swept away Spain's treasury instead.
On top of that, with their navy annihilated at the Battle of Pyeong'an, they were now struggling just to hold their own against the Ottomans at sea.
"A setting sun fears nothing anymore, as they say."
"Let us take back our country!"
"Yes! Gather the people!"
And so the nobles had gathered for independence. The man they rallied behind was João IV.
"One question, though. If you were in their shoes, would you simply hand back land bought with an enormous sum of money?"
"I imagine we'd demand our money back, wouldn't we?"
"Exactly. Isn't that a nation of devils obsessed with money, after all?"
The nobles' condemnation and mockery of Daehan were as biting as ever.
Even as they spoke, their hands clutched cups of Daehan liquor and their mouths puffed out clouds of pipe smoke.
"And where exactly would we find the money to repay them? From what I can see, even liquidating every last piece of our private property wouldn't cover it."
Just the sum confirmed to have entered the royal treasury through Spanish nobles had already been beyond what they could bear.
Add in the money that had quietly flowed into the House of Braganza — money they knew nothing about — and the transaction had been impossible from the very start.
"Either way, we were in the wrong. Let's seek their support and backing."
"Their backing?"
"You mean bring them over to our side."
The nobles sank deep into thought.
On reflection, it was the most reasonable course after all.
"Hmmm..."
"Hmm..."
Steam practically rose from the nobles' heads as they wracked their brains.
Anyone who remembered the detailed accounts of the Battle of Venice and the Battle of Pyeong'an knew that taking the land back by force was simply out of the question.
Even if they somehow retook the land, a naval blockade would leave them with no way to survive.
"If we win their backing, wouldn't that be worth more than the support of all Europe combined?"
"We can't oppose them anyway, can we? Sounds good to me."
The mood of the meeting drifted toward agreement with João IV's proposal.
"In that case, we must go as far as an alliance."
"Why?"
One noble added another point.
"Their territory is right next to our capital."
"Ah..."
Daehan had long since given up on precision observation and simply kept extending the range of its guns — the harbor was close enough to be shelled from the capital.
"Right, then. An alliance is essential."
Think it through, and an alliance with Daehan would be worth a thousand armies.
"Good. I'll go myself."
"Are you certain, my lord?"
European kings did not move personally — a king's absence was an invitation to rebellion. But João was not yet a king, so he felt no such burden.
"Do they still look like the common brigands of Europe to you?"
And besides, wasn't inviting a guest to dinner only to poison or assassinate them practically a European pastime?
"Aren't they the ones under the protection of the devils, after all?"
"Ha ha. Do you mean that sincerely? Then perhaps you should start by dropping what's in your hand?"
At his joking remark delivered with a laugh, the noble hastily hid his hand behind his back and stepped away.
His face was burning red — from embarrassment, or perhaps from the drink.
"Then I shall pick a date and make the journey."
João IV wasted no time and called on Pyeong'an Fortress at once.
"..."
"..."
Silence hung over the reception room.
Haneul wore the sullen expression of someone wondering why this visitor had bothered to come at all, while João IV looked like a man deep in regret over having married so young.
"Slurp."
"Ahem."
At last, the sound of Haneul sipping her tea broke the stillness.
"I've heard the story. You'd like our support, I take it?"
"That, and... we would like to form an alliance."
"Slurp."
Haneul's face turned troubled. In her experience, there wasn't a single European worth trusting.
"We don't form alliances. At most, we maintain a cooperative relationship."
"Is that so?"
She had never once met a trustworthy soul in Europe. Why, even the farmers she'd taken in to grow crops had stirred up trouble recently, hadn't they?
"Whatever support and backing you want, we'll provide in full."
"Hmm... That's rather awkward, actually..."
"Why so?"
"This city of yours sits far too close to our capital."
"Oh? Are you worried we might attack you?"
Only now did Haneul seem to catch on, and a chilling smile spread across her face.
That beautiful smile somehow sent a shiver down João's spine, and sweat began to bead in his tightly clenched fist.
"As long as you don't do anything foolish, we will never strike first. On that, you have my word."
"I... I understand."
João IV felt strangely as though he were gazing up at that small, slight figure from far below — as if the very ground were pressing down on him.
On the journey home that day, João IV fell into deep contemplation.
"They do not form alliances..."
Somehow, those words seemed to suit her lofty, distant nature perfectly.
She possessed the power and standing to look down upon anyone in the world, after all.
December, 4103. Ribeira Palace.
Click. Click. Click.
"Advance!"
Soldiers clad in boots and uniforms supplied by Daehan, muskets slung over their shoulders, stormed the palace to seize it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Aaagh!"
"Spare me!"
Gunshots rang through every corner of the palace. Blood sprayed, and Spanish blood began to flow.
They were clearing out the Spaniards who had occupied the palace and toyed with the nation as they pleased.
CRASH.
"What is the meaning of this! Fall back! This is treason, you dogs! Have you no fear of Spain?!"
"If you'd governed any better, none of this would have happened, would it?"
Miguel, the Secretary of State, utterly failing to read the room as he ranted about treason —
"Aaagh! No! Stop! Don't—!"
BANG.
— was seized on the spot and hurled out the window. Naturally, he took a bullet on the way down, too.
Next, the viceroy was arrested and locked away, and the revolutionaries spread out through Lisbon, rounding up the Spanish troops as well.
"Proclaim our independence!"
"Portugal has risen again!"
"Huraaah!"
They acted swiftly — dispatching envoys to announce their independence to the world, appointing generals, and raising armies.
Spain did not simply stand by and watch, but there was nothing to be done about a Portugal flush with vast material support from Daehan.
"Hahaha, this is excellent!"
"Ohoho. Isn't it, though? Absolutely delicious."
"Haa..."
Why on earth were these people abandoning their own palace to come lounge around here?
"Haneul-nim? This really is wonderful."
"..."
A six-year-old midget going red in the face like that — it was just too funny... Please, you of all people, don't do that.
Where was the man who'd been so worried we might attack because the capital was so close?
Now he brought his whole family over again and again, freeloading meals without end.
"Haneul? Eat with us! It's so good."
"No thank you. Eat plenty — I have this every day."
"Oho~ How enviable."
This queen, how should I put it... She'd struck me as some prim and proper noble lady, but now that I looked closer, she was nothing but a middle-aged auntie through and through.
"A match between you and our Teo would suit wonderfully, Haneul."
"Ha..."
And now she kept bringing up marriage proposals with a six-year-old.
"I'd be honored."
"This is maddening..."
Did this little shrimp actually understand what he was agreeing to?
Does he know he's more than four thousand years too young for me?
Pop!
"Oh! The bulbs are lit!"
"Oh my. Back home we have nothing but the banquet hall — this is truly remarkable. Bright in every direction."
Well, the fortress had lights installed inside and out for security's sake, so of course everything was clearly visible.
There was even a garden on the grounds, and once night fell, the atmosphere was genuinely lovely.
"Ohoho. João, let's take a stroll."
"Gladly. The ambiance is simply wonderful."
And off they went, hand in hand, wandering the garden and cooing over every little thing. Ha-ha, ho-ho — what a perfectly matched pair of cockroaches.
Squeeze.
"Haneul, let's go too."
"Sigh... Wake up from your dream, kid. You and I can never, ever get married."
"Gasp! Why not!"
What, did the sky fall? Is not marrying me really such a catastrophe?
"I'm already married — to my homeland."
"No! You can't! Take it back!"
"Impossible. Otherwise about three million people would end up crying."
Daehan Company's staff was roughly that size, wasn't it?
That many people meant an organizational restructuring was overdue, honestly. We ought to sort them into proper departments.
"What do you mean, three million people?"
"That's how many subordinates report directly to me."
"Gasp..."
That's probably more than the entire population of Portugal, come to think of it?
"Truly... you are a most remarkable person."
"Yep. I'm simply too big for you. It won't work."
Gulp.
Hey — I didn't mean big in the chest! The little pipsqueak went wide-eyed and everything?
"You can't play with grown-ups."
"Then when I become an adult?"
"Come back when you're as old as me."
"Forgive my rudeness, but how old are you?"
"Oh, about four thousand?"
"...?"
You won't believe it, will you? Honestly, it amazes even me — that I've lived this long.
They say the human mind can't endure this many years. Seen in that light, I really can't be counted as human anymore, can I?
"So... that is a refusal..."
"That's right."
It felt a bit like trampling a budding seedling, but an impossible dream is best woken from early.
At least for you.