Chapter 294: From Across the Pacific (2)
Before his eyes were a white beach, vegetation beyond it, exotic trees, and fruits scattered here and there.
“Luis, do you know where this place is?”
“I don’t know yet, but so people are searching the nearby coast to confirm, so we’ll have an answer soon. Isn’t saving our lives more important than anything else?”
“Well… I suppose so.”
The man tidied his official attire and followed the other sailors off the ship. Looking back, the vessel they had co on had a broken mast and was twisted in many places, already beyond sailing without repairs.
Seeing that condition, the joy of survival faded from Luis Sotelo and the man’s minds, and practical concerns began to erge.
Where on earth was this place? An island? A continent?
Various parts of Arica were already dominated by Spain, so if this was a land touched by the light of civilization, they would soon be rescued and could return to their original destination.
But what if this was a deserted island? Or worse, what if it was a place inhabited by the cannibals they had only heard about? Or even if not, what if it was a land full of hostile barbarians?
In that case, far from escape, they would have to worry about survival here. As these thoughts reached them, the man and Sotelo felt chills down their spines.
They prayed.
That this would be a land ruled by Christians.
And.
“Look, the reconnaissance team is returning…”
“R-r-r-run away! Everyone run away!”
Their wish was granted in a direction they did not want.
“There, a steel carriage… a monster…”
The faces of those who heard these words froze.
They knew exactly what it ant. Especially since most of the people here were Spanish, they couldn’t help but know.
This was Florida.
It was indeed a land ruled by Christians.
Soon soldiers sward in and surrounded them.
“T-this is a land ruled by a barbarian monarch, where the teachings of wicked apostates and heretics prevail!”
“According to rumors I’ve heard, the slaves here worship so angel? It’s terrible.”
“They say they control fearso machines that instantly destroyed our soldiers.”
“I-I, I saw that machine!”
“Good heavens, we’re all dead n now!”
While the Spaniards, who had landed in enemy territory, trembled in fear, he too helplessly watched the soldiers pointing guns at them.
He had heard the rumors.
That to the northeast of Nueva España spread an empire of heretics, and its emperor cooperated with other heretics of the European continent to threaten faithful nations including Spain.
That a strange and terrifying heresy among heresies ruled this land.
That they should be careful of them.
Looking far away, he could see sothing like an outpost. They seed to have been discovered from there and co running.
“Tireso Spanish devils, have you invaded again!”
“Drop your weapons or we’ll kill you! Everyone drop your weapons!”
When soldiers from the outpost shouted loudly, people quickly lost the will to resist and dropped their weapons.
Especially those who claid to have seen so iron carriage or whatever it was dropped their weapons first. They had already completely lost their fighting spirit.
The rest also gave up resistance one by one, seeing dozens of well-ard enemy soldiers rushing in from nearby.
It was an astonishingly quick response. As dawn broke and the ship was spotted, soldiers who had been standing by in the vicinity rushed in to surround them.
Columns of smoke rising from all around seed to be so kind of signal fire.
‘Could it be that they’ve placed such outposts all along the coast to monitor the sea?’
The composition of the soldiers surrounding them was also unusual.
There was a diverse mix of people from Africans and Indians to Europeans.
And they were all glaring at them while carrying guns slightly different from what had been seen in Europe.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
And, a heavy chanical sound.
At the eerie sound of tals brushing and interlocking, people involuntarily turned their gaze. He couldn’t help but gape.
A beast made of iron.
It was big enough to crush a person instantly.
While he was dumbfounded seeing the size of the tractor, others were just trembling, saying the devil’s chariot had co. They feared they would soon be executed by firing squad.
Florida’s coastal guard imdiately disard the Spaniards, then lined them up one by one and dragged them sowhere.
As he was being dragged away, he looked around again.
All those soldiers were wearing unified clothing and marching with identical armant. He had never seen such an army.
Everything was bizarre.
==
Only the main entity had changed from the Virginia Community to the Continental Covenant, and England had withdrawn from the front line.
The war between the Covenant and Spain was still ongoing.
Especially the Florida Diocese was most seriously concerned about Spanish reinvasion, and as a result, they destroyed various Spanish military strongholds in the vicinity and extrely strengthened coastal security.
They placed dozens of surveillance outposts and fortresses, and ford a coast guard in conjunction with the knights.
They established an abbreviated military school benchmarking Virginia’s knight school and chanical engineering school, and trained soldiers.
As a result, unlike Virginia’s military system centered around tractors and knights, Florida maintained thousands of standing troops and focused on monitoring the surroundings.
The Continental Congress did not interfere with such coastal security, judging that such ironclad vigilance would help prevent dangerous rumors about Nemo from leaking outside.
To maintain such a large standing army, Florida rapidly increased its numbers.
They made liberated slaves and remaining Spaniards scattered everywhere into registered population, and quickly embraced and diated with Arican tribes, incorporating them into the system.
Thus, ethnically diverse soldiers defended Florida’s coast, and incidentally blocked the possibility of spies and smugglers.
Of course, it was nearly impossible for just a few thousand people to block the entire Florida coast, which was now approaching 2,000 kiloters.
In the end, they had no choice but to establish outposts at regular intervals, arm local residents, and improve the information delivery system by installing signal fires for quick response.
Most of the Florida governnt’s capabilities were invested in this work.
“Bishop, the Spaniards discovered on the southern coast appear to be castaways for now.”
“Then, after detaining them, we must convert them one by one…”
“However, there is one peculiarity.”
When the aide handed the docunt to the Bishop of Florida, the bishop’s face hardened.
“There is soone claiming to be a diplomatic envoy from a distant country.”
“I don’t know how to read this na. What is his identity?”
“You can read it as Hasekura. And his identity is…”
“…”
“…”
“…Let’s report this to the Continental Congress.”
==
“I-I am an envoy from Japan who ca to et His Holiness the Pope under my lord’s orders! You cannot treat like this!”
“Your na is…”
“Hasekura Tsunenaga!”
The man, detained in the sa room as missionary Sotelo, shouted.
That was the first encounter between the Continental Covenant and the East Asian world to be recorded in history.
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