PREVIOUSLY.
["It was the winds, Great Leader!" he excused himself, his tone a mix of pitiful and joking. "I swear it by the gods! The currents pushed us; I didn't want to go that way. I tried to turn the helm, but... the wind is terribly stubborn!"
I couldn't contain myself and burst into a clear, ringing laugh that echoed throughout the office. I waved my hand dismissively, signaling them to vanish from my sight. Sogeking scurried down the corridor, and Nygua closed the door with a stiff bow.
As I sat back down in my chair, I was still chuckling, knowing perfectly well that Nygua's dark glare meant Sogeking was in for an additional—and exceedingly severe—reprimand at naval headquarters here in Dawn City.]
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Two weeks later.
Year 14 of the SuaChie Calendar, Third Month (May 1496).
Dawn City (Santiago de Cuba, Cuba), Caribá Region (FRFI).
Chuta's Office, Stone Manor.
Two weeks had passed since that meeting where Sogeking tried to blame the ocean currents for his foray into the southern ice masses.
During this time, the kingdom's logistics operated with the precision of a meticulously calibrated clock. Yesterday at dusk, the captain's new squadron had finally weighed anchor, vanishing into the horizon over the waters of the Dawn Ocean.
The air drifting through the wide windows of my office in Dawn City carried the unmistakable scent of saltpetre, pitch, and the warm Caribbean breeze.
Spread across my grand desk of polished mahogany lay several leather and parchment maps, marked with lines of red and black ink that drew the borders of a world we were rapidly rewriting.
Nygua sat on the other side of the desk. We had spent just over half an hour reviewing every detail of Sogeking's deployment, the strategic supply routes, and, above all, the impact this mission would have on the history of the kingdom.
In my previous life, history books recorded the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano as the first circumnavigation of the globe. But in this timeline, the Suaza Kingdom was poised to snatch that historical milestone away from the European powers.
According to all the intelligence our Shadows and the Armada had gathered, there was no empire—neither in the Great Quyca nor in the newly discovered lands of Europe, Africa, or Asia—that possessed such a comprehensive cartographic vision of the terrestrial sphere, much less one that had dared to chart a continuous route around it from end to end.
Nygua adjusted his posture, resting his forearms on his thighs as he fixed his dark eyes on the maritime charts.
"There is one detail of the marching orders that keeps tumbling through my mind, Leader Chuta," the admiral began, with that measured and analytical voice that characterized him. "Why send Sogeking to begin the formal circumnavigation voyage from Desert Oasis City? If we wanted to maximize efficiency and military control, the fleet could easily have departed from right here in Dawn City, or from the shipyards of the isthmus."
I leaned back in my armchair, drumming my fingers against the desk's polished surface.
In my mind, the answer was ridiculously simple and personal: I wanted to compare, meter by meter and day by day, the time it would take my modern squadron to complete a voyage around the world against the historical record of the 1519 Spanish expedition, which had used the western coasts of Africa as its final great Atlantic foothold before plunging into the unknown.
To me, it was a benchmarking experiment, a way to assess the technological and logistical gap between my new empire and 15th-century Europe.
However, I could not explain Magellan, parallel timelines, or my memories of the future to Nygua.
I remained silent for a few seconds, feigning to weigh his question with political gravity, before offering a carefully crafted explanation.
"Desert Oasis City (Dakar, Senegal) is not just a port on the coasts of Guanza Quyca, Nygua. It is the symbol of our first great overseas settlement across the ocean," I said, pointing to the spot on the map corresponding to the shores of modern-day Senegal. "Having Sogeking begin the official tally of his voyage from there sends a clear message to our colonies and to the European kingdoms: the dominion and scale of the Suaza Kingdom neither begin nor end on the shores of the Great Quyca. Our footprint is already upon Guanza Quyca, and from there, we shall encircle the world."
Nygua narrowed his eyes slightly, observing me with a mixture of respect and mild doubt.
He knew my mind often operated on symbolic planes that did not always align with the Armada's strict tactical logic, but he did not press further. He accepted the explanation with a sober nod.
"An argument with political weight, without a doubt," the admiral conceded, smoothing the creases of his military uniform. "Changing the subject, Leader... yesterday afternoon, right after Sogeking's departure, Admiral Umzye sent me the consolidated reports of the latest vessels to dock. They are the ships that completed the final phase of the first solo expedition."
The mention of it made me sit up straight, giving him my full attention.
My mind traveled back a few months. That first solo expedition we had sent westward had been a feat divided into two stages. The first half, under the direct command of Bachuaga, had returned to Dawn City early this year with invaluable data on Pacific routes and the eastern kingdoms.
But the second half of that fleet had remained strategically stationed in the waters of Xiefiba Quyca, awaiting the rendezvous with our second solo expedition. That second wave was not just a scouting mission; it was our first major formal commercial and political expedition, designed to consolidate the diplomatic foundations and resupply points we had already clearly defined on the map of Southeast Asia.
"I've been eager to see those reports," I admitted, folding my hands on the desk. "What is the condition of the boys? How did they fare after so many months on the high seas?"
A shadow of amusement, almost imperceptible but exceedingly rare in a man as rigid as Nygua, crossed the admiral's features.
"All the sailors arrived safely, sir. Casualties were practically nonexistent, and the ships only suffered the usual wear and tear of long voyages." He took a deliberate pause before continuing. "Though... just as it happened with the men who returned with Bachuaga in the first group, several of the sailors from this second fleet did not return alone. They brought their 'partners' with them from Discovery City."
I couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh that broke the solemn atmosphere of the office.
"By the gods..." I said, shaking my head as I chuckled. "It seems our sailors spend so much time at sea they forget that the Suaza Kingdom has thousands of prosperous, cultured, and incredible women waiting for them. They have to cross the entire Sunset Ocean just to find a wife."
Nygua offered a faint, sidelong smile, agreeing with my sentiment.
"The isolation of long voyages forges strange bonds, Leader Chuta. But the women who came with them have proven to be hardworking and are adapting well. Furthermore," the admiral continued, recovering his professional tone, "the volume of merchandise they brought back in the holds is staggering. Just as in the first stage of the mission, there is an invaluable cargo of goods from the Ryukyu Kingdom, but this time they added a considerable volume of wares acquired from the southern trading zones of Cipango."
I raised my eyebrows in genuine surprise.
"Cipango?" I inquired, leaning forward. "When Bachuaga was there, he restricted himself strictly to Ryukyu to avoid getting tangled up in the civil wars tearing Cipango apart. Why did they risk making port in the south of the Japanese islands?"
"That was our ambassador's doing," Nygua explained, with a tinge of suppressed pride. "Zote didn't just sit idly by in Naha. Utilizing the diplomatic network he wove upon his arrival, he managed to establish direct contact with emissaries of the Ōtomo clan. They are a very powerful feudal house in southern Cipango. It seems the warlords of that clan had heard of the unsurpassed quality of Suaza textiles, spices, and tools since the days of the first joint expedition with the Europeans. They wanted to trade with us directly, and Zote seized the opportunity without compromising the kingdom's neutrality."
I nodded slowly, impressed by our envoy's tactical acumen.
"Zote turned out to be far more capable than any of us anticipated," I remarked sincerely. "When we sent him there, I thought his scholarly profile would confine him to books and the royal court, but he has navigated Eastern diplomacy and commerce like a fish in water."
"Admiral Umzye always had blind faith in him," Nygua agreed, shifting in his chair. "He used to say that beneath that timid academic facade lay a mind of iron. And he has certainly proven it."
The admiral paused briefly, glancing toward the window as if recalling an additional detail from the report, before turning back to me with a much warmer expression.
"Ah, by the way, Leader... Umzye's report included a personal note attached from Naha. Zote has become a father. His wife, the King of Ryukyu's niece, gave birth to a healthy boy."
"A son?" I smiled, feeling a warm satisfaction bloom in my chest. The kingdom's network was spreading not only through ships and treaties, but through blood and life in the most distant lands. "And what name did they give the child?"
"They named him Zotepab Shinsei," Nygua replied.
The name resonated in the room with a poetic weight: a perfect fusion of his father's Suaza roots and his mother's island royalty heritage. The seed of our people was already germinating on the other side of the planet.
I stood there contemplating the map on my desk, where the lines of our ships connected continents that previously did not even know of each other's existence. Sogeking was already sailing the Dawn to begin his expedition, while in the Far East, the son of a Suaza sage was opening his eyes for the very first time.
One week later.
Year 14 of the SuaChie Calendar, Fourth Month (June 1496).
The Dawn City breeze carried an unmistakable warmth. The hustle and bustle of the port reached my office windows like a constant, industrious murmur.
General trade was booming; in fact, it exceeded our most optimistic estimates. That very morning, I had been running my fingers along the rim of a fine blue-and-white porcelain teacup resting on a scrap of crimson silk that adorned my desk.
Some of the European captains and merchants who docked at our piers had already fixed their greedy eyes on these exotic Asian goods. I had no doubt that as soon as they weighed anchor, they would carry the astonishing news back to the courts of their respective realms: the Suaza Kingdom not only dominated the lands of the West, but was already drinking from the goblets of the Far East.
I had witnessed that same bedazzlement firsthand in Edward de Vere.
The English nobleman, who had become a constant figure at both Margaret's residence and my own, had approached me a couple of days prior, unable to hide his fascination with a jade statuette that adorned one of my shelves.
"Where do these marvels come from, Great Leader? This is not the craftsmanship of your local artisans, and I know full well that no such skill exists in Europe," he had asked me, his eyes wide.
"The same way we managed the joint expedition, Edward. With another expedition," I had replied, taking a sip of my tea with feigned nonchalance.
His reaction still amused me to recall. Edward had been struck speechless, blinking a few times before his astonishment morphed into genuine disbelief.
He had been very close to his father and, therefore, knew the inner workings of Henry's court. He was perfectly aware of the logistical hell, the economic hemorrhage, and the grueling years of preparation required to assemble a long-range expeditionary fleet.
That the Suaza Kingdom could dispatch fleets with such 'ease' so soon after the previous one—which still felt so recent—while maintaining an overflowing economy and secure borders, seemed almost magical to him. Especially since both he and I knew that things in England were far from peaceful.
Three sharp knocks on the heavy mahogany door abruptly pulled me from my memories.
"Come in," I ordered, straightening my posture.
An aide poked his head in, an expression of diligence on his face. "Great Leader, Chancellor Zasaba is here. He says you are expecting him."
"Send him in," I instructed immediately, waving a hand at the scribe who accompanied me in the office. "Leave us. Review those cargo manifests in the antechamber."
The scribe offered a quick bow and exited just as Zasaba crossed the threshold. True to his habit, the leader of the Shadows entered with a step so soft that the soles of his boots barely made a sound against the polished wooden floor. He wore his usual tunic, immaculate yet devoid of any eye-catching adornment, and his face maintained that stoic neutrality that characterized him.
"Leader Chuta," Zasaba greeted, stopping before the desk with his customary sobriety and respect, bowing his head slightly.
"Zasaba," I returned the greeting with a smile, gesturing to the empty chair Nygua had vacated days earlier. "Take a seat, please. What brings you to my office so early?"
Zasaba sat down with precise movements and rested a small leather folder on his lap. "I have come to deliver the consolidated report, sir. We have already compiled and decrypted all the intelligence sent by our agents deployed across the Sunset Ocean."
I leaned forward, lacing my fingers together on the desk. That was music to my ears.
"Excellent. Go on, you have my full attention."
"To begin with, I must inform you that the flow of intelligence from the Ryukyu asset is considerably more abundant than that from Discovery City," he began to explain, opening his folder to glance at his notes. "The commercial network there allows for much better-camouflaged message transit. However, we have made strategic adjustments in the south. Tyfo has reassigned one of our best agents in Xiefiba Quyca directly to Butuan."
"That was a smart move on Tyfo's part."
"Indeed, sir. With that position secured, intelligence gathering in the region will be far more accurate and profound in the coming months. Our agents have already managed to grasp the complex local power dynamics, the tribes, and the warlords that dominate the straits. And better yet, through that network, we have stumbled upon extremely valuable intelligence regarding the general landscape of Xiefiba Quyca."
"What kind of intelligence are we talking about, exactly?" I asked, feeling my heartbeat quicken slightly with anticipation.
Zasaba looked up from his parchments and met my eyes directly.
"According to the records and legends that so obsess the Europeans, there were three or four primary locations from which the world's most sought-after marvels originated. We already have a presence in two of those spheres of influence: Cipango and the Han people, whom we now formally known as the Ming Empire. But the other two had always remained a nebulous mystery... the famous Indies and the mythical Spice Islands."
He paused dramatically, a rarity for someone as pragmatic as him. I could see the glint of triumph in his pupils.
"We now know the approximate location of both, Leader Chuta. They are places we had not visited on any of our westward expeditions until now, but our maps now hold the theoretical coordinates."
"That is a colossal breakthrough, Zasaba," I praised him sincerely, feeling a surge of pride in my spy network. "With that information, our next commercial fleet will know exactly where..."
I stopped. I had noticed the faintest tension in my intelligence chief's jaw. Zasaba had lowered his gaze back to his documents, his fingers tracing the edge of the leather in an uncharacteristically hesitant rhythm.
"What is it?" I asked, shifting to a far more analytical tone. "There is something else in that report that troubles you."
Zasaba let out a silent sigh and nodded, acknowledging my read on his body language.
"The agents in Butuan and Discovery City recovered another piece of intelligence, sir. At first, we thought they were just exaggerations from the local sailors, mere island myths... but the reports are far too consistent."
"Speak plainly, Zasaba."
"They speak of a continent," he finally blurted out, his voice dropping a register, laden with genuine awe. "South of Discovery City. The merchants who navigate beyond the island straits claim there is a colossal landmass. They say it is a great, unknown land, a vastness so immense that even to the local inhabitants of Xiefiba Quyca, it remains an unfathomable mystery."
I had to exert a superhuman effort to keep my expression neutral, swallowing the knowing smile that fought to creep onto my lips.
Australia.
They had stumbled upon rumors of the immense Australia. In my previous life, it was a basic geographical fact, but hearing my own kingdom discover Terra Australis in the year 1496 was a surreal and fascinating experience.
I leaned back in my chair, stroking my chin, pretending to process the sheer magnitude of such a revelation, while in my head I was already beginning to draw up colonization routes for the red continent.
…
The fantasy of charting routes south and raising ports in the vast land of crabs vanished from my mind just as quickly as it had erupted.
As the silence stretched on in the office, interrupted only by the distant crying of seagulls and the clattering of masts in Dawn City's port, my calculating side instantly crushed my enthusiasm.
Colonize Australia?
It was a logistical pipe dream. I knew perfectly well that the Suaza Kingdom, no matter how prosperous it was, would never be capable of moving thousands of souls across the ocean just to erect cities from scratch in places that weren't worth the trouble.
But the greatest obstacle wasn't the distance or the resources, but the people.
The kingdom already possessed an overwhelming cultural surplus. With every tribe, clan, and lordship we had assimilated beneath the Suaza banner, a torrent of new customs, beliefs, and tensions had poured in—ones that, if not handled with kid gloves, could fracture our nation in the future.
It was a sociopolitical jigsaw puzzle that I assembled and reassembled daily, balancing powers to avoid a civil war that could plunge us back into the Stone Age. Integrating even more cultures from an entire continental mass would be inviting collapse.
I exhaled slowly, letting the tension drain from my shoulders, and locked my eyes on my Chancellor.
"Zasaba," I began, adopting a measured and thoughtful tone. "Let us assume that this colossal landmass to the south is real, and not the mere delirium of drunken sailors in the straits. From your position, analyzing our actual capabilities... do you see the kingdom settling people there, just as we have done in Guanza Quyca or, more recently, in our enclaves within Xiefiba Quyca?"
Zasaba did not answer immediately. True to his methodical nature, he diverted his gaze to the map spread across my desk, his dark eyes tracing invisible routes over the parchment. The soft aroma of jasmine tea permeating the room seemed to hang suspended in the air as he weighed the hidden numbers of the kingdom: coffers, harvests, population, and militias.
"I will speak with absolute frankness, Great Leader," he said at last, straightening his back. "No… I firmly believe it is unnecessary, and attempting it would be a sheer folly."
"Explain yourself."
"Our kingdom continues to grow at a pace that frightens our own bureaucrats," he argued, his voice serene but thick with conviction. "The population is increasing, our culture is flourishing, and trade fills our coffers. However, our territory is already extremely diverse. We govern the vast macro-regions of our heartland, in addition to the overseas territories we have been securing. Why stretch our supply lines and our bureaucracy toward a remote and unknown land? It would serve no practical purpose."
Zasaba paused. His fingers lightly drummed against the leather folder resting on his lap, a gesture that betrayed he was about to cross a delicate line. He held my gaze, evaluating my reaction before dropping the statement.
"Even... at the risk of sounding insolent, I feel that at times we have squandered valuable time and resources on these massive westward expeditions, sir."
Far from getting angry, I nodded slowly in understanding. Zasaba's words, devoid of any flattery, landed like a cold, necessary weight upon my conscience. I leaned back in my chair and let the echo of his pragmatism resonate in my mind.
The truth, the raw and undeniable truth, was that the Suaza Kingdom was settling and consolidating itself formidably on its own merits. The directives emanating from Central City were yielding spectacular fruit.
Recent military reforms had endowed us with a versatile, heavily disciplined, and massive armed force. Political reform had structured a division of powers that would be the envy of any absolutist king in Europe or sultan in the East.
And education... we were forging a generation ready to grow, to slowly unite into a single national identity. We were an autarkic power blessed with enviable resources. We did not need to beg abroad or expand out of mere greed.
My gaze got lost in the blue of the ocean drawn on my map.
Zasaba was right to question the expense of the expeditions, for he was unaware of the true chessboard on which I was playing.
The sole reason, the foundational motive for which I had orchestrated that first joint expedition with the Europeans, was pure geopolitical survival. I needed, at all costs, to divert the attention and the predatory greed of these kingdoms away from Great Quyca, our home.
And, so far, the stratagem was partially working.
England was submerged in the development of its fledgling settlement in the frigid North Quyca, while we kept them docile by selling them valuable goods and propping up their economy.
Portugal, for its part, had taken the bait in Africa; its crown had focused absolutely all of its energy on rounding the south of Guanza Quyca, obsessed with finding their own route to the spices.
The only loose end, the true latent threat that robbed me of sleep, was Spain.
The Catholic Monarchs seemed to hesitate. They were trapped in indecision between following in Portugal's slipstream or seeking an alternate route that, sooner or later, would crash them into the coasts of Great Quyca.
"If news of the successful English settlement in North Quyca reaches the ears of the monarchs on the Iberian Peninsula..." I thought, clenching my jaw, "...Spain will also want its own piece of the pie so as not to be left behind."
I had even toyed with the idea of manipulating intelligence, of planting precise rumors and "misplaced" nautical charts to guide them toward the south of the continent, straight toward the future Río de la Plata.
Let them settle there, thousands of kilometers from our secure borders, dealing with plains and cold, just as England was doing in the north. Keep them busy. Keep them away.
The meeting with Zasaba dragged on for several more hours.
The sun began to dip, bathing my office in hues of orange and copper, as we meticulously unpacked the reports obtained by our agents in Naha.
The flow of goods, the movements of local dynasties, and the market opportunities in the ports of Ryukyu occupied our discussion, and Zasaba proved, once again, why he was the perfect leader for the Shadows.
But when Zasaba finally bowed and withdrew from my office, leaving me alone with the shadows of dusk, my mind was not on the eastern ports nor on the spies of Xiefiba Quyca.
It was fixated on his critique.
I stood up and walked over to the large window, observing the silhouettes of the ships anchored in the bay of Dawn City.
The kingdom was not losing out with these expeditions, of that I was certain. We gained exotic resources, invaluable naval experience, and a global knowledge that put us decades ahead of any other nation.
But Zasaba's words echoed like a muffled bell in my head.
I felt a cold knot in my stomach at the thought that perhaps I had made a mistake. I had projected the fears of my past life onto the present, spending fortunes and risking lives on overseas expeditions. It was all useful, it was all profit, yes. But, at the end of the day, the truth was that none of it was absolutely necessary for the greatness of my people.
Was I protecting the kingdom, or was I simply playing god, moving pieces on a map that was far too large?
.
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[A/N: CHAPTER COMPLETED
Hello everyone.
Thank you for your support, and let's celebrate the first 200 chapters!
How many chapters will there be in the end? I don't know.
How many of us will be at that point? I don't know that either.
First, I'd like to let you know that there are a few more reunions, time jumps, and an episode about echoes from the East (Europe). There are also some surprises in store.
On another note, now that Google is allowing 10 videos per week, I've been taking advantage of the opportunity to make a few videos with the images I'll be uploading, and they're turning out quite well.
Details:
First image: Chuta at 1 year old / Second image: Hyba, Chuta's father (Zaque or Cacique) / Third image: Za, Chuta's mother (a high-society woman)]