How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony

Looking at the current situation, the answer becomes immediately obvious.

Let's think about what prompted the development of the automatic water pump in the first place.

First of all, the water pump 'itself' isn't that complex a machine to replicate. It's just something that sucks in water and spits it out. The water pumps of the 21st century aren't that different from today's water pumps.

The problem was the... engine that drives it.

Wetlands that needed water pumps were abundant, and water pumps could be replicated in any quantity, but there was no power to drive them, so they had to be operated using people or horses. The efficiency? Naturally, it was poor.

After the Porter was created, we tried connecting the Porter's PTO (Power Take Off) to it.

Still, the absolute lack of power was unavoidable.

And windmills or waterwheels can only be placed where wind or river water flows consistently strong, so their locations are limited. They're also difficult to build.

So what we created was the automatic water pump.

And what we created was a power source to drive the automatic water pump.

The steam engine.

Yes. If you're transported to the past, you should at least create a steam engine.

Mechanical engineering problems? The structure was simply illustrated in educational comics, so it wasn't a big issue.

Materials engineering problems? My house produces 21st-century steel pipes and copper pipes. With the materials available, we can produce reliable parts at the farm.

That's how we solved the problem just recently.

Now, dozens of water pumps are operating in various places, and the power shortage problem we previously experienced has almost disappeared.

And now another problem has arisen.

Food is scarce.

In other words, agricultural productivity is low.

Honestly... coming to this neighborhood, farming couldn't be easier.

"...Nemo? Are you crying?"

"I'm crying because there are no floods in the summer, Mr. Hewett..."

"Indeed... Once again, you think only of the settlers."

That's not it.

It's because the past years of farming in Japan seem so futile now.

Whether it's the summer monsoons, the land drying up in other seasons, or the weeds growing like crazy because rain comes all at once.

What does it mean that water worries and weed worries have decreased significantly?

It means that, unlike in Japan, the times when labor is concentrated are limited. Because we don't struggle all day with weeding and water management like in Japan.

So it's busiest during planting and harvesting, and the rest of the time is leisurely.

And during those leisurely times, we cultivate land...

That's the hardest part.

If we look at why this lack of productivity is occurring, first of all, there's an absolute shortage of land.

Clearing forests and leveling hills can be handled instantly with excavators and such.

But the work of turning land that has remained wild for decades, if not centuries, into permanently cultivated land?

That... actually, there are many agricultural tools for that... and they're easy to replicate...

But there's only one power tiller to drive them.

We also use horses to plow fields, but productivity is still low.

If people pull them, it gets even worse.

Thus, there are few agricultural tools that can be operated simultaneously, and naturally, the number of agricultural equipment operators to drive them was also small.

Therefore... there's only one conclusion.

We need to do what we did with the water pumps.

We need to use steam engines for land cultivation.

In other words.

"...Tractor."

We need to make a steam tractor.

Flutter. Flutter.

...First, I consumed all the educational comics, biographies, and high school textbooks in the house.

After my parents' failed attempt at farming, this house was a storage for our family's old things. After being transported here, I took out and read all the dusty books in this house.

Thumby and Squeaky, and all sorts of 'Doctors' (who travel everywhere with children as if they have too much time on their hands) became my guides.

'Doctor! What's that?'

'Ah, that's the first external combustion engine or something! If you look at that internal structure...'

'Doctor! What's that?'

'After the external combustion engine was created, steam locomotives and tractors appeared. That structure is...'

...

...

...

Thank you, Mom and Dad...! Those strange educational comics you bought instead of Comic Meix Story are helping me...!

After mastering dozens of professional books(?), the conclusion I reached:

'The structure of the steam engine used in tractors is simpler than I thought!'

Since early steam engines are, intuitively speaking, just about boiling water to move pistons, they had a much simpler and clearer structure compared to later internal combustion engines.

Therefore, except for materials and processing issues, everything could be made.

And both were solvable.

I have steel pipes and copper pipes that regenerate every 24 hours, and various 21st century machines.

This solved the two most major problems.

Of course, I can't do anything with the steel pipes I have.

To work with steel, you need to hammer, cut, and stretch it, but I can't handle my steel pipes that way to make large boilers or other things. They don't do that even in modern times.

But this is where the grace of Queen Elizabeth of England shines.

Woooooong!

"Hey! The iron chunks are coming! Get ready!"

Thank you for your hard work, blacksmiths of Roanoke...!

Like this, once a week, we load about 4 tons of scrap metal onto the Porter and head to Roanoke Island.

Hmm, was the original Porter's load capacity about 1 ton? What does it matter? It won't break anyway.

As those scraps return transformed into various large parts, the metalworkers on our island immediately grind their surfaces smooth with lathes and attempt to produce precision parts to match those dimensions.

With 16th-century technology? Producing precision parts? Of course, it's difficult.

But there was a reason we could be free from processing problems.

Wheeeeee!

We had grinders.

With rotating grinders, we could modify them to create similar lathes.

After making various precision parts by cutting pipes with these makeshift lathes, we connect them to large parts made from castings.

After assembling them with rivets as suggested by the craftsmen according to the blueprint.

We spray lubricant on the joints, and finally, with the mindset that the whole universe will help if you earnestly wish, when we finish praying...

Thud, thudududud!

Screech! Screech-screech!

It works.

It works...!

As the steam engine operates, the wheels connected to it begin to slowly move forward with a creaking sound.

It's still a prototype, so it can't change direction or do anything else, but this is just the beginning.

"Wh-what can we do with that now?"

When someone whispered in astonishment into the air, I wanted to answer.

We can do anything.

Literally anything.

After giving the craftsmen various materials and encouragement to continue developing the prototype, I returned to what I was originally doing.

"Nemo, will that really solve the problem of insufficient cultivated land?"

"Yes. Definitely."

I nodded and said to Hewett's words.

"We'll need to pay attention to the Florida issue from time to time, but for now, this issue is more important."

External enemies are far away, but internal dangers can bring down our community in an instant.

Of course, we'll need to pay attention to external issues from time to time.

Having forgotten for a while due to the refugee-related problems, we were at war.

A war to drive out the Florida colony, a war to drive out slavery.

It's not an issue directly related to our community's survival, nor one that needs to be addressed urgently, but it's still important.