How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony

Chapter 23 - 23: Sensation

Everyone in the banquet hall froze in confusion at the current commotion.

Like children tasting sugar for the first time, the Queen and her most noble subjects were frantically gathering grapes in their hands with their eyes rolling back.

The sounds of swallowing and bewildered whispering grew louder from all around. The audience's curiosity and tension increased.

"...Well, I've presented one bunch as a gift to Her Majesty the Queen, but I have one more bunch left."

Walter Raleigh was not a man to miss such an atmosphere.

The banquet hall had now become the best promotional venue.

Raleigh held the box of grapes and circled the hall once, capturing people's attention.

"Unfortunately, I only have two bunches at hand, so I'll divide the remaining bunch and share one grape each..."

"Oh, might I be able to taste one?"

"Ah! Of course, Baron! Come forward!"

Thus, a brave young nobleman slowly stepped forward to Raleigh and plucked one grape.

"Transparent... it is."

"Simultaneously large and firm. Yet there will be nothing disturbing when you eat it."

"Pardon? What does that mean?"

"Try eating it. Then you'll know."

"..."

The baron swallows and takes a small bite of the grape. His eyes widen briefly then shrink.

"D-delicious..."

"And?"

"...Huh?"

The baron's eyes scan the cross-section of the grape. Something important that should be there isn't.

And he licks the grape remnants in his mouth with his tongue,

He was gathering even souls.

An ordinary person would focus on bringing goods accumulated in the new colony at this point. It's normal human psychology to think about taking some profits when experiencing such a 'moon shot.'

But Sir Raleigh was different.

He was a man with a beast's heart.

A man who entered the core of England's power with nothing but the Queen's favor, and then had an affair with that very Queen's lady-in-waiting while praying not to get caught.

A man who, if a coin he held rose tenfold, would invest funds gathered by pledging even his organs as collateral, waiting for it to rise a hundredfold.

That was Sir Raleigh.

That boldness was his charm, and that charm had made him, a nothing, a fallen gentry, into the Queen's favorite.

Walter Raleigh immediately began buying up all the cows throughout England. The number of cows gathered this way was about 237.

Once enough livestock to set up a large ranch had gathered, Raleigh proceeded with the business without hesitation.

The so-called 'Virginia Trading Company' was established, and under that company's name, the construction of new ships was ordered.

Cargo ships capable of carrying hundreds of livestock and various loads were purchased and built several at a time.

And when the cargo ships were ready, Raleigh didn't delay any further.

"Thomas! Thomas Harriot! What did I tell you? I said it would work!"

"...Ah, so it does work."

"Go quickly. Governor John White needs these livestock to pioneer the new colony!"

He crossed the Atlantic right away.

Hundreds and thousands of able-bodied men flocked to the Virginia Trading Company he left behind, applying for immigration rights.

However, almost none of them were actually promised immigration.

Only technicians with families were accepted; all others were disqualified.

That was also a condition Raleigh had promised to White.

...And it was also what White had been ordered by Nemo.

Raleigh never thought that he was being moved by that 'noble local collaborator.'