A Tale of Crowns and Conquerors

The early 16th century is mostly dubbed in the history books of the old world as The Age of Exploration and Conquest. A time when the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors ran wild in Central and South America, toppling down native empires to acquire the precious gold and silver mines they owned which will be smithed and sent to enrich their respective nations in Europe.

It was also the time when the Islamic nations of the middle east halted the spice trade with Europe, prompting many of the European nations to find a sea route around Africa in order to reach India and South-east Asia where the highly sought- after spices are found.

And of course, with new colonies conquered and ruled by their European overlords, there really wasn't much consensus or even aversion during that time about the trade and use of slaves… and truth be told, the capturing of people that started the process of this trade wasn't even perpetrated by the people we expected to have done those things.

But in this new world… things didn't seem to have gone in the way that it did in the old world. It surprised me as well after learning it from both Officer Hans and Sister Camilla Dormer, but the events and the characters of this Age of Exploration are just too different from how I knew about it and---

Oh… It seems like my pen has run out of ink…

"Kichi… sweetie?"

"Ah! What is it, papa?"

"Can you get papa a new pen from his drawer? Get the black one that I always keep in a case, if you can."

"Mm! I'll be back soon!"

As my adorable little daughter left my bedroom to get my pen in my office, I looked at the small table and chairs where she and her animal plushies are playing "tea party" and it made me think of this book that I am starting to write in order to record what we know so far about the western powers of this new world.

"Britain and Prussia, huh? Who would've thought that they would really ally themselves like that and be the greatest powers in Europe…?"

The first and probably greatest difference in this world's Age of Colonization is the fact that two powerful nations in the European continent has been joined on the hip for two hundred years already through the series of political marriages between the British Royal house of Anson and Prussian Kaiser lineage of Reibnitz.

Though the popular saying that political marriages are just stop-gap measures to avoid war until both sides are prepared to go all in is correct, one would be sorely mistaken if they thought that those two hundred years of alliance and peace between the two nations are flimsy and probably not even functional.

"A way to counter the House of Asbergs that are planning to consolidate the entire continent's monarchical governance… what a long and roundabout way to do just that…"

To make all of the political talk easy to explain, the royal families of both Prussia and Britain, who was ostracized by the other royal families who has been infiltrated and are now being run by the Asberg royal house (this world's version of the Hapsburgs?) for not joining their royal families into the fold, decided to ally with each other and began what is essentially a line of leaders that would go against the wiles of the Asbergs.

For the past two hundred years, this rivalry continued as the Asbergs grew their reach into more countries and their respective royal families and thought that they are winning the show of prestige, until suddenly, the Islamic kingdoms and sultanates of the middle east ceased the spice trade and basically cut off the single major commodity trade of the eastern and southern European countries, depriving the Asbergs of their well desired riches.

It was at this moment that all of the nations heard rumors about the spices and other luxury items from the east being sold in the markets of Britain and Prussia as if they were unaffected with the trade ban.

To many, it was an impossibility for these two nations to still have access to said products after the embargo… but it only needed a few drinks of ale and a night with a highly prized prostitute for a ship captain to leak that the British have found a way around Africa and has long been trading directly with India and China. This sparked something that will never be taken back anymore in the future.

The Age of Exploration, Conquest and Colonization for this new world has begun.

Two years after this news reached the ears of every other nation, fleets of ships from Castille and Portugal made their way around the fabled Cape of Perseverance (The Cape of Good Hope in the old world, if I remember right), the southern tip of Africa, and continued on to India where they didn't receive good trade deals as their British and Prussian counterparts.

Apparently, bringing loud and haughty friars who keeps on shouting racial slurs and stating "you will all burn in hell for your sin of believing in a mongrel faith", among many other actually well-meaning sermons and religious teachings that can probably be spoken in a better way, along with your merchants who are negotiating with the Indian Mughal lords, isn't a good idea.

What broke the camel's back though is that one Castilian friar, said to be missing the taste of food from his homeland which is believed to be Picadillo (a Spanish ground beef dish), found a roaming cow at the streets of Calcutta, asked around if anyone owns it, and after receiving answers like "No one owns the cows here" and such, led the cattle to the courtyard of his chapel and began to slaughter it.

Now, I know that anyone who is reading this might have already guessed what went wrong if they know about India and the Hindu belief there regarding holding cows as sacred beings… and that was exactly what happened.

Those who got attracted to the loud noise of the animal being killed and chopped for consumption, found out that it was a cow that was being slaughtered, reported the news to their neighbors and soon, the chapel was besieged by an angry mob that only ended when the friar and his fellows was beaten to death and their chapel, razed to the ground.

After hearing this, it was obvious that the Spanish and the Portuguese raised their concern to both the Mughal emperor and their homeland's monarchs. Unfortunately for them, the Mughal emperor back then was a devout Hindu and instead of facing them after hearing their case, gave them an ultimatum to leave his empire within a month and sent orders to every single one of his governors to cease trade with the merchants of the two nations.

The Spanish and Portuguese took this ultimatum kindly and with an understanding heart, right?

No, of course not.

After hearing the order of the Mughal emperor, the friars' words became harsher as they began to call the imperial monarch as "an infidel that must be replaced by the greater and nobler blood of our dear monarchs who share the same faith as ours." After a few weeks, the ultimatum was over, and the local governors was instructed to drive out the unwanted foreigners that was still left… but these overly prideful stragglers aren't willing to go down without a fight.

Three separate battles in three different Indian cities began as the Spanish and Portuguese banded together to not be driven out or massacred… but without the support of their homeland who has just received the news about the friar and his Picadillo that started all of this mess, the defenders fought a losing fight and within a few days, was either caught as prisoners of war or killed in the fighting.

Just because one man wanted to reminisce about his homeland's comfort food, both Spain and Portugal lost their credibility in India and was forever banned from even sailing around it.

With it being clear that only Britain and Prussia will be able to source the well-desired products of India and the far east in Europe, the other countries set their sights on the west after tall tales and rumors from sailors who lost their way around the Atlantic spoke about an entirely new continent in there with new products that might be desired highly in Europe.

In 1514, a Portuguese sailor with the name of Andreo Magallanes, was tasked by Spain to sail to this rumored western continent and claim it in their name. Assembling a fleet of 5 ships and about 300 men, they crossed the Atlantic and followed the warm waters at the Equator in order to not get lost since they believed that their navigation equipment has "not experienced the west yet".

A year after leaving port, they landed in an island which will later be called as Cuba and as instructed, claimed it as a colony of Spain. After a few months at sea, Andreo knew what his men has gone through in the voyage and within weeks, they left the land and its natives as dilapidated wrecks before leaving a garrison force in the island and continuing south where they heard a greater land mass is located.

"Hold on… Wasn't it the conquistadors who did this first? Why is this knock-off Magellan being credited as the one who discovered south America?"

Regardless, they soon arrived at the land that is called now as Brazil and this time, Andreo heard that if he claims this giant swathe of land for Spain, he, a Portuguese, would most likely not even be credited with it. So, after careful consideration (which is clearly just a night at the tavern with a few blackouts from drunkenness), he chose to claim this land for Portugal, his motherland, in hopes that he would be accepted as the governor or even viceroy of the land.

With all of those victories, Andreo and three of his ships became a bit adventurous and decided to go south more and more, trying to find a way to see the world's rim (basically the edge of the world, as they still believed back then that the world is flat, and thus, has an end where sea water pours out). They eventually found a narrow passage at the tip of South America and would've fulfilled the voyage of Magellan of sailing through the Pacific, if not for Andreo's ship being mistaken by a giant squid for a whale sunbathing on the ocean's surface which it attacked.

The two other ships managed to defeat the squid though, and his ship escaped certain doom, but it did leave the vessel only half sea-worthy which jeopardized their aim of going as west of the world as possible. Having tasted the unknown monsters of this new open ocean, the three ships decided to just go back to Brazil where they fixed their ships, restocked for the voyage back to Europe, left men to both govern and defend the land, went to Cuba to do the same before following the equator yet again to get back to Europe.

His four ships anchored in Spain first and he reported news about the land that they conquered and claimed for the Spanish throne. Along with this colonial land, he brought out plants and produce that came from the land such as pineapples, sugar canes and even liquor native to the Americas such as tequila.

Having received news that there is indeed a new land in the west, the Spanish assembled a new fleet to reinforce and spread out their colonies in that place. This hubbub was used by Andreo to slip back to Portugal and report to his king that he also claimed a land in the name of Portugal in the Americas and if he is allowed, he would like to be the governor of it.

Unbeknownst to him though, his crew that was liquored up in the celebrations back home spoke about the two nations they conquered and the fact that Andreo claimed it for two different countries in order to appeal on being made governor of it if ever one is to deny him the said reward.

Both Portugal and Spain weren't happy about this news regarding his unscrupulous action, and wouldn't give him a single sliver of credit, although they did keep both Cuba and Brazil to their selves…

However, just months after the formal creation of the colony of Cuba, its port received a ship that flies two flags. One is the familiar flag of the English Royal navy, and another is the strange flag of another country.

"Wow. Even in this place, they aren't the first people to set foot at."

Unbeknownst to them, Great Britain has already founded a few colonies in North America by following the ancient raid routes of the Vikings through the arctic north. They landed on Iceland, Greenland and finally arrived in Canada before forming their main foothold colonies in North America.

That meant only one thing… even in the New World continent, they aren't the first people to arrive and make colonies. And the British has buried this information so well that no one even noticed that it has already been done.

In time, these colonies on the Americas grew and sprouted out more countries. History went relatively peaceful save for some civil uprisings and native American raids. However, there is still the looming achievement of reaching the world's rim up for grabs ever since the failure of the Magallanes expedition's attempt. And this was what the combined expeditionary fleet where Officer Hans belonged to was tasked to do.

He said that the last mapped land that they dropped anchor on is the island of Melanesia in the Pacific Ocean where they restocked and the crew unwinded from the fatigue of their voyage. They thought that after that island, the world's cusp would already be within sight, but there, they met a faction that they never expected to find in that place.

"The Dutch… they are mainly just trading middlemen with no colonies to their nation's name. But if they were so adamant to wipe out their fleet after they crossed paths near south-east Asia, that may mean that the Dutch are hiding something that they cannot let anyone to know around that place."

It is not yet known if the Dutch did claim a colony in the south-east after they seem so insistent on hunting down Han's fleet, but it is clear that because of his and Sister Camilla's survival and accounts about what happened, this wouldn't be taken well by the combined courts of Britain and Prussia once the news reaches their respective royal courts.

Nevertheless, with the news of the great war in our nation finally spreading far and wide outside our borders, I expect news about a proper first contact sooner than I initially expected. And as the Shogun of this country, who has been freed of the work of pursuing and finishing off our mortal enemy, the handling of these outsiders has been left to me by the other five.

"S-Sora… I have news from Okinawa."

"…I see. It has begun, as I expected. Ai-chan, I'll leave Kichi to you. Bring her to her room to take a nap later."

"As you wish, Your Highness. I'll take care of her."

Leaving my daughter in my bedroom along with her personal caretaker and best friend, I walked slowly and laboriously from my bed to the door, my legs and back felt like they are weighed by bars of lead as I tried not to stumble down.

"Geez… Just ask someone to bring you a wheelchair if you're going to have such a hard time like this. It's not like no one will castigate you for asking help."

"I still am the Shogun, Endou… I have to appear strong as much as possible. Getting hiccups on my health like this isn't enough for me to permit myself to look like I am at the end of my rope."

"Alright, alright… At least use a cane so you won't limp around too much."

After he gave me a baton to use as a walking cane, I headed to the communications office of the Shogunate Palace and there, talked to the coast guard admiral that we placed on Okinawa to guard the place which we labelled as a high-risk area for foreign invasions.

"It is a pleasure to speak with you, Shogun Amanogawa-sama."

"The pleasure is all mine, Admiral… Let's get straight to the matter at hand. What happened down there which is the reason of your call?"

"The foreign invaders that we expected to come has indeed come, Your Highness. We found them through radar about seventy kilometers away south-west of Okinawa and intercepted them before they can reach the horizon of our islands."

"Did they stop sailing after seeing your vessel?"

"They did, sir. But only after forming a firing line and priming their cannons."

"Did you issue a warning on the languages we assumed they have?"

"Yes, sir. Namely Dutch, English and German. We've confirmed our petty officer's foreign language fluency and pronunciation with Legion Officer Zettour, and he remarked that it was excellent enough."

"And what is their reply?"

"…Coast guard patrol ship Shuten-douji suffered dents on its paint from a two-pound cannonball that was fired by a Prussian ship-of-the-line."

"I see… They have either underestimated the ship as nothing but a dud or was too intimidated by the shock of seeing an all-metal ship that they fired at it. In any case, what is the aftermath?"

"All ten wooden ships and their contingent of rowed galleys has been sunk. An estimated five hundred men has been rescued and are now being kept as prisoners of war. Camp Shintoki is in custody of them at present."

"…"

"Shogun-sama…?"

"We will be there within a week, Admiral. Inform Camp Shintoki to clear the runway for us."

"As you wish, Shogun-sama."

As the transmission was cut, I turned my gaze to Endou who seems to carry the same thoughts as I do.

"Losing that much naval power in an expeditionary fleet is sure to raise the west's attention to us."

"Indeed… there is even the possibility that they would send a second fleet after no replies from the fleet arrives."

"In that case… I guess I should do my end of the deal with those five. They're going to take care of the country from the inside, so I am going to take care of it against the outside."

"Will your health permit it though?"

"I'm sure it will. At this point, I need some sun on my back and sea breeze on my face to get well. Spending all of my days in the palace is getting boring already anyway."

"I see… That's one thing to consider too."

"Besides, my wedding anniversary with Chiasa is coming soon. A honeymoon trip with her in Okinawa sounds nice."

I giggled slightly with the thought of having time to ourselves in Okinawa during that trip. There are a lot of people in the palace and even in our estate house, so I doubt that the prospect of being alone with my wife during the trip wouldn't end up draining me in more ways than one.

"Sora-senpai… You have my condolences…"

"…You darned brat. Get yourself your own wife and you surely won't joke about this anymore."

Later that night, I spoke about the trip to Chiasa while we are having dinner and after wiping Kichi's lips, she told me that it sounds nice and it would be good to bring our daughter with us so that she can finally see the sea which is one of the things that she wanted to do.

"Are you sure? It's our anniversary and knowing you, you would want to have that time all to ourselves."

"Don't joke like that on the table, Sora… and around Kichi and Ai-chan too…"

"Ahahaha… sorry, kids."

"In any case, I don't see anything wrong with bringing Kichi and some of our personal servants with us in the trip. While it is also for the sake of overseeing the recent events at Okinawa, you bringing up our anniversary gave me a hint about what your true intentions are…"

"Oh-ho? And what could that be, my dear wife?"

I know that Chiasa knows me more than anyone else and I was right after I heard her mention my "true intentions".

"…Stop making decisions and assumptions like that, Sora. You might be getting weak from the karmic justice of what you did back then, but it will not kill you."

"…"

"Don't overthink your mortality and try to cheer up and decide about things with the assumption that you yourself would see it to the end. Do you get what I am trying to say, darling?"

"…I am… I understand it all well."

"Alright… I'll check later if you really understood it."

"-!"

"Kichi, go and read your books for a while before you brush your teeth and go to sleep. Ai-chan, I'll leave her to your capable hands."

"Mm! Understood, mama!"

"I shall take care of her, Your Highness."

As the two children left the dining hall, I found myself looking at Chiasa like a lamb caught by a lioness' claws.

"Go and take your medicine already. I'll take a shower and meet you in the bedroom."

"…Yes, ma'am."

Oh… how I thank the heavens for letting me get a new body before I became reunited with my wife. My short life span would be further shortened by her if ever that didn't happen.

A day before we rode a plane to Okinawa, I had a meeting with the five alliance Daimyos where they reported to me the progress of the war at the north.

"A number of cities has already rose in revolt, with many more to follow once we have supplied them with weapons and coordinated our saboteurs with their groups."

"In addition to what Kusanagi-sama just spoke, we've also confirmed that the trading routes they have in the northern island is being severely strained by the submarine force's presence. Although torpedo attacks and trade convoy sinkings are rare, not many of the merchants are willing to risk their life in there anymore."

Kusanagi Kyoko and her subordinate daimyo, Ayanami Mitsuha spoke good things about the progress of our operations to overthrow the Northern Coalition up there.

"Good. All of that is good news for us."

"Another thing, the plane that you requested from Kiko would be arriving in Yamato by noon today. It's an upgraded form of the plane that we used to go there."

"Thank you for lending that to me, Hiroshi. I'll use it properly."

"No need to thank me. You're taking care of the mess in the south for us even with the state of your health. If it's for the sake of making your trip quicker and more convenient, there is-"

"Waaah! It's uncle Rai and the others!"

"W-Wha-!? How did you get in here, Kichi?!"

"You know, uncle Rai, we're going to Owinawa for papa and mama's awiwersorry! We're going to the sea and beach!"

"K-K-K-Kichi! Please don't speak anything else, sweetie!"

"Ah! Mama also said that next year, I might get a younger sister alre-"

Before she can blabber more about our personal life, I hurriedly brought Kichi out of the office and away from the microphone and monitor and this time, double-checked if the locks are properly in place.

"Hehe… "Awiwersorry" at "Owinawa", huh? I wonder what that thing means and where that place is…"

"-!"

"Kichi's lucky that she can bask at the sun and seawater while everyone else will shiver this early winter… I guess she has such doting parents to let her experience that."

"E-Everyone… please let's just pretend that-"

"And that last part… fufufu~! I can see that Kichi's papa and mama are hard at work."

As Hiroshi, Mitsuha and Kyoko, all stabbed me with such words that they gleaned from Kichi's blabbering, I sank deeper and deeper into a state of shame. But after seemingly having their fun, we returned to our usual form and discussed what I should do while interviewing the prisoners of war.

"I'll inform Sister Camilla to meet and ride with you once you land in Kiko to refuel. I'm sure she will be a great help in negotiations since it was her letters that informed the Europeans about our nation."

"I know. I'll also bring Hans with me so they can at least share a sense of camaraderie as fellow military men."

"Would that be alright? Officer Zettour would seem like a traitor if you bring him there as your subordinate."

"He'll dress in his Prussian Imperial Navy uniform and I'll be referring to him more like a hired mercenary than an actual subordinate. Besides, even if he went under me, Hans still has loyalty to his nation."

"I understand. I won't stop you then if that is your decision."

"In any case, do you think these westerners would actually see us as equals once negotiations begin?"

Kyoko raised her concern and it seemed like Mitsuha and Rin had the same thing on their minds.

"Well… to put it simply, it is hard to deduce if they would still see us as weaklings given that a lone coast guard vessel was enough to decimate their expeditionary fleet. I think they would still try to act haughty and such once we begin talks in order to preserve the dignity and supposed superiority of their nations, but they would surely be reasonable enough to avoid inciting military hostilities against us."

"Does that mean that you have to bring foreign affairs officers with you, Shogun-sama?"

"That's already a given, Koshiro-kun. We're dealing with colonial invaders after all."

"I see. Can I request sending some of my men with you then, Shogun-sama?"

"Men? What is the purpose of this, Koshiro-kun?"

I was surprised after hearing the young lord of Fuku requesting if he can send some of his subordinates with me.

"W-Well, I discussed this with both Mizuki-dono and Iwasawa-dono… And they both agreed that my land should be the useful as a foreign affairs hub in the near future."

"Foreign affairs hub? As far as I know, isn't much of the merchant guilds, foreign consulates and even estates of local provincial ambassadors already established around Naka city of Kiko province?"

"Those are for economic affairs, Sora-san. Although its true that Naka harbor holds almost all of those facilities, most of what is being done there are for the sake of trading and economic agreements."

"Then why not just tack on foreign embassies there?"

"The answer to your question is something that both of us know which is "Urban Sprawl"… You've visited Naka years ago already when I just became its ruler, so I doubt that you know how much the city grew since then."

"I heard regular reports but I don't have images… if your concern is that Naka is becoming too crowded, I guess that handing it over to Fuku province and Yamaguchi-kun is good enough."

"Yep. And that's why he must be asking if you can bring some of his foreign affairs officers-in-training. I only got to hear a pip about it, but I do know that their batch just finished their schooling in Aoya State University."

"I see…"

"I-I know that the plane would be too crowded if they will fly with you, Shogun-sama. So, I'll just have them take a ship to Okinawa."

"…Alright. Let's do just that. I'll receive them once they arrive and bring them with me in the negotiations."

"T-Thank you very much, Shogun-sama!"

Our conversation went on for another hour where they told me about their estimates until we get to corner our enemies in the north. I wanted to suggest assembling a naval blockade up in the north so that they would be surrounded once the Spring offensive comes, but Hiroshi said that icebreaker attachments for his navy is still in experimentation stage and might not make it in time.

As a compromise, he said that instead of a naval blockade which would stress our supply lines, it would be better to just destroy every harbor and port that they can use to cross the channel to the northern islands. I was about to ask how they can slip such a huge force to do just that until I remembered that he already has planes for transportation use, and it wouldn't be much of a stretch if he has formed an air force as well.

"Hehe… I still find it funny that you managed to bring that much military hardware back to life in the span of six years."

"I might have taken on a medical course to follow the footsteps of my father in the past world, but engineering has always been my and Hiro's main interest. And besides, you've brought books from the past world that detailed everything we made so far… It's not that hard to make things when you already know what you need and how to make it."

"Well, I guess you're right in that."

"In any case, you can leave the war on the north to us… and we'll leave the avoidance of war to you in the south."

"You can depend on me in that. If ever hostilities are unavoidable though, no need to halve the war effort up in the north. I'll have my own forces handle the south."

After we gave our last words in this conversation, the signal was cut, and I leaned back on my chair to rest my eyes and mind. Suddenly, I heard the door being opened with a key and as it opened, I saw my wife bringing in a serving tray with a tea set and some baked scones.

"That was quite the discussion. I thought you were already done and resting in your room, but it seems like talking with the young ones went longer than expected."

"It did… There were more things to talk about after what just happened in Okinawa."

"About that, I've already had our servants prepare our belongings. The plane would arrive by noon and fly us out after lunch, right? Let's prepare ourselves too then."

"Alright… I'll go and get changed too."