How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony

"If you had, you would certainly be a sinner, a clear sinner, but I would have considered it. And I might have forgiven you. You could have obtained fields and a house in this land and lived happily.

No, if we think about why you left Florida in the first place, that wouldn't have happened."

No. What's important now is not 'how did he know?'

"You were dissatisfied with life in Florida, weren't you?

So you wanted to enjoy a wealthy life with the favor of a rich native Emperor. From the beginning, there was neither a will to repent nor a conscience in your heart, so all questions are meaningless."

What's important now is 'how do I escape?'

"You will pay for your sins here. So speak finally. I will give you a chance.

I'll give you the opportunity to say that you are willing to apologize to those slaves you locked in the basement and repent for your own sins..."

Asuero was no longer listening to him.

Upon hearing those words, Asuero looked around to see if there were any guards, but the house was quiet with no one inside.

There was no one around.

If... I act here.

If I can just eliminate the "witness" here and escape.

Then I can buy time to safely escape to Florida.

Asuero gripped the knife he was holding. Seeing this, the 'Emperor' calmly continued cutting meat and speaking.

"Deceiving me is the smallest of your sins. Your sins are..."

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

He shall pay the price for that arrogance!

Asuero rose and repeated what he had done countless times during his mercenary days with the knife he was holding.

Instead of meat, he cut a person.

Shuck.

The knife penetrated the Emperor's neck. The Emperor's eyes widened with pain, and then...

"...!"

KWAKWAKWAKWAKWANG!

He rose up, grabbed Asuero's neck, and pushed him against the bookshelf.

BOOM!

The bookshelf fell over, and books scattered everywhere. Black frames broke, vases shattered into pieces, and fragments of dishes bounced in all directions.

Tables broke, the floor was scratched and dented, and objects all around lost their places and broke.

"Die! Die! Die already!"

And so... during their fierce struggle, Asuero frantically stabbed the Emperor's vital points.

Despite all that pain, the Emperor did not release Asuero's neck, and each time, Asuero, terrified, wildly stabbed and slashed the Emperor's body.

And...

Slurrrp.

Time was on Asuero's side.

After being slammed against the wall and pinned under the bookcase several times more, the Emperor collapsed, drained of blood.

"Mo-monster! I thought you'd fucking die... kek... kaak!"

Cough. Cough. Asuero spat phlegm on the floor, recovering his damaged throat that the Emperor had been strangling.

It didn't make sense. To endure this far. Is this the kind of strength that gave him confidence to meet me alone without any guards?

But he was foolish. Idiot, what kind of emperor would receive a strange foreigner without a single soldier?

Asuero hurriedly searched for valuables in the house and stuffed them into his pockets. Then he headed towards the door and tried turning the handle...

Rattle! Rattle!

...It wouldn't open.

He had to get out. He needed to leave this house immediately, but where to go...

'The window!'

Asuero threw a chair and smashed the window with a crash. Through the broken window, a peaceful, pastoral vineyard was spread out.

...It's okay.

Everything had gone wrong, but it was still okay.

Seeing that it was still quiet around, no one had noticed. He just needed to grab a few more valuables and slip outside quietly.

And then, prove it with those valuables. That he had killed the native Emperor, that he had done it.

Then the wealth and glory he desired would await him.

Now if he could just find a small boat and return to Florida... Huh?

Gone.

When Asuero checked his pockets, all the pottery fragments and aluminum statues he had stuffed in earlier had disappeared.

Asuero blinked again.

Dong.

Dong.

Dong.

The bell of 12 AM rang.

Asuero watched.

He watched a 'miracle'.

The broken glass pieces floated into the air and then assembled one by one, piece by piece.

And the assembled glass was fitted back into the window frame.

The fallen bookshelf stood up on its own without anyone's touch.

Scattered books arranged themselves and sat on it.

The broken frame was filled in, and the cracks disappeared like wounds healing.

The head of a broken statue reattached itself.

The fallen chair was righted, and the dirt scattered on the floor suddenly melted away.

It was as if this 'palace'... was alive.

As if it was slowly recovering from its wounds.

"De...devil's work...this is."

Everything moved as if time was rewinding.

If that's the case... could it be...

"...Your greatest sin is not that you deceived me.

Nor is it even that you deceived the Lord."

Clatter.

"You deceived your own soul.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)

You drove the Lord out of your heart."

The moment he heard his 'voice', Asuero's thinking stopped.

Asuero could no longer move or breathe.

Stiffened like stone, Asuero barely managed to turn his neck to look back.

On the table that had been shattered to pieces, on the tablecloth that should have been torn.

He was cutting meat just as before.

As if nothing had ever happened.

Yes. He rather wished that all the previous moments had been a dream. That nothing had actually happened...

"Sit down again."

But the 'Emperor' said.

He said in a very cold voice.

"It is dinner time now."

Everything in the living room had returned to how it was before midnight.

But his fate had crossed a river that could never be turned back.

Asuero, having lost even the thought of resistance, collapsed to the floor.

The Emperor chewed a piece of meat. Yes. Meat.

Like that meat, I am nothing but a piece of meat. When a knife enters, I am cut, and I am merely a piece of meat that drips red blood.

I am a handful of dirt. Just as an ant is crushed under a child's finger strength, I am powerless before him. My life is more worthless than a fly's.

That's right.

"...De, devil."

Vanity of vanities... all is vanity.

"The devil's... power..."

He was, a mere human.

"De-deceiving those who dwell on the earth and telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and lived... (Revelation 13:14)"

But he was not human. If he wasn't human, then he must be either an angel or a devil.

You who died and came back to life, you must surely be of the devil's power, the devil's beast. No, you must be the devil's beast.

"De-devil's power! Devil's beast! Ge-get away! Get away! Fucking get away!"

Asuero hastily pulled out a dagger from inside his clothes and raised it towards that strange and extraordinary being who was silently looking down at him. He was not trying to stab him.

"Lo-Lord! Lord! Please! Drive away that devil. Please, please, glory, on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Fu-fu-fuck!"

His hand trembled violently. He raised the dagger held in both hands to form a cross.

"Power of hell, be gone! Be-be gone, I say!"

Please, may this holy form drive away that evil being. Please, I, I have never been negligent in worship throughout my life. Please, please...!

"How dare you try to violate the Lo-Lord's pe-people..."

"How dare you call yourself the Lord's people."

The moment he heard those words, Asuero's head became dazed.

'He' was calmly walking towards him. As Asuero held out the cross made with his dagger, he...

"...What? I, I, I was baptized, and I, I, I confess every week."

"What does baptism matter, and what does confession matter."

"Uh... uhh...?"

He gripped the blade forming the cross tightly.

Blood flowed.

Blood dripped, falling to the floor.

He grabbed the blade and took the knife away from Asuero, throwing it away. Then he proudly showed both his hands.

They were clean. As if...

As if the cross had refused to harm him.

Asuero squeezed his eyes shut.

"Look at me."

He couldn't bear to look. He had to be a demon.

"Look at my eyes."

He didn't want to see. He didn't want to see how... petty and insignificant he was, reflected through his eyes.

"Asuero Javier!"

But at that cry, Asuero's eyes flashed open as if receiving a royal command.

"Ah... Ahhh..."

And he saw.

He was...

"Uwaahh... No, it's not true. You, yo-you, savage emperor, can't possibly..."

"..."

"..."

He wept like a child who had sinned.