How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony

Here were various high-quality materials and religious art pieces imported through French merchants.

Plus jewels and various treasures offered by natives.

It was full of donations pouring in from all over America.

Through the warehouse windows, natives, English people, and Africans were moving about, setting up pillars and frames.

...It seems there was some progress after all.

==

Henri de Bourbon.

Henri IV of France and Navarre.

The great founder of the Bourbon dynasty and hero who ended the long religious civil war...

"Chief Minister! Duke of Sully! Maximilien! Da, damn it...! The treasury is on the verge of collapse again! Do we really need to build that canal?"

"Your Majesty, you know, don't you? To collect taxes from that place..."

"Urggghh."

... was currently strapped for cash.

Today again, after several meetings with his most trusted advisor, Chief Minister and Finance Minister Duke of Sully, Maximilien de Béthune, he collapsed into a chair.

Becoming the sole and legitimate king of France was good.

But the fact that France was full of ruins and Catholics and Protestants trying to kill him was not so desirable.

Yes. The situation in France was not good.

For the past few years, he had barely been pulling the domestic situation out of the mire, but the civil war had been too long, and spies from Spain and the anti-royalist faction were everywhere.

Every day was a difficult battle.

'Could I, like that Elizabeth, throw everything away and just enjoy..."

No, probably not.

He had a newly established dynasty and children to whom he needed to pass the throne. He was different from the start compared to Elizabeth, who lived alone and would die alone.

'No... who am I envying?'

Wasn't it Elizabeth's fault that he was currently so strapped for cash?

Right now, due to the chaos in the British Isles, trade with Virginia had shrunk, and along with it, the various luxury goods that Elizabeth had directly provided to the French royal family had also been cut off.

Wasn't he suffering now because the funds he could draw from the nobles had sharply decreased as a result?

Anyway... still, I'm envious.

At least she had her own power, so she could make such a bold choice? Didn't she have the ability and foundation to manipulate even the King of Scotland?

But he had no such foundation.

He had to seize it with his own two hands from the ruins...!

As he was thinking this, clenching his fists and raising his gaze toward the sky.

Knock. Knock.

"Your Majesty, merchants who have crossed the Atlantic request an audience."

"...Let them in."

Once again, the King of France straightened his posture and took his seat with majestic bearing and dignified expression. No trace of his previous suffering could be found.

Then the door opened, and the merchants dispatched by Henri IV bowed their heads. As he nodded slightly, they sat down respectfully opposite Henri.

"Your Majesty, our voyage to Virginia was very successful! They are buying enormous quantities of luxury goods there right now!"

"Here is the list! The furs and aluminum we received in return alone are in tremendous quantities!"

The merchants smiled as they spoke. Henri was annoyed that they seemed abundant while he was struggling, but he didn't show such amateurish emotions.

"Welcome. You are heroes of our homeland, France."

He just quietly smiled and nodded. The merchants chatted away, presenting fur samples and aluminum ingots they had brought from the New World.

Indeed, the quality of the fur was excellent, and the precious metal called aluminum shone with a mysterious luster. But what caught Henri's attention was something else.

"Hmm? What is that round object?"

"Ah, yes? Oh... How strange. I was wondering why exactly 100 livres were missing from the ledger."

A small disc that protruded from among the goods presented by the merchants, sticking firmly to nearby metal.

One side was black and one side white. When Henri IV carefully detached it from the metal decoration, he felt a strange resistance.

"Does it contain magnetite?"

"Ah, exactly right! That is the currency used for trade in Virginia! We tried to replicate it, but we couldn't identify the nature of the material..."

"..."

Light, smooth and warm to the touch like porcelain or ivory.

Henri IV, not knowing the word "plastic," was unable to identify the chip's nature, so he took it apart and then reassembled it before putting it in his pocket.

He confirmed that inside was a well-processed round piece of magnetite.

Henri said to the merchants with his characteristic kind smile.

"It looks difficult to replicate, just by looking at it."

"That's right. We still don't know what technology was used to make it, but even if we found out, I doubt we could replicate it."

"..."

Elaborate and strange.

Henri IV, unable to forget the feel of the chip he had put in his pocket, looked again at the list of exports to Virginia.

Fine marble, colored glass, timber, and...

...Huh?

Something feels off.

A feeling like I'm missing something obvious... Ah.

Henri IV suddenly stands up, realizing something.

"Luxury goods... you said they order many luxury goods?"

"Yes, that's right."

"What kind of things?"

"Mostly religious items. For example, crucifixes, statues of Jesus, and various religious paintings..."

"Yes. That's it!"

Henri IV automatically stands up. The merchants, unable to remain seated respectfully, also stand up without knowing why.

But the man who changed religions as lightly as changing shoes for the sake of the throne, a monarch who, though inferior to Elizabeth, was no less mad, muttered.

"It's all... either Christian... or building materials?"

"Is that so? Let me see... Oh, indeed it is."

These fools, if it was going to be like this, I wasted royal budget sending them.

Can't they notice this? This obvious thing?

Cold sweat runs down Henri IV's back.

Emperor ruling North America.

Honestly... he still couldn't believe in that existence.

Many natives testified to the existence of a being called "Nemo," but he thought that was all. He thought it was either an English scheme or Nemo was a superstitious object of worship among natives.

Logically, if there were an emperor who controlled northern America, wouldn't he have been discovered during the past few decades?

But...

"Various religious paintings, crucifixes, building materials..."

All religious items, all building materials.

The English in Virginia, who probably numbered just a few hundred or thousand, couldn't have requested all those luxury goods. Especially not ordering so many useless building materials.

Then...

'At minimum, tens of thousands.'

Yes.

There is a huge community there, ruling at least tens of thousands.

A community that feels the need to build a large-scale Christian architectural structure.

A native emperor, converted to Christianity...?

"Could it be... that it's not just a fantasy made up by the English?"

"Yo-Your Majesty?"

"Be quiet."

My head is complicated enough already.

Oh, my goodness.

The 'Emperor' actually exists...?

Across that ocean, does a powerful Christian empire really exist?