American: Native Empire

Chapter 67: Expedition.

Kim Ki-woo’s plan.

It was none other than an expedition to another continent.

Just then, the commander-in-chief of this voyage, Brilliant Flower, opened the door of the office and entered.

“Your Majesty, the great emperor, I greet you!”

“Sit down.”

Kim Ki-woo waved his hand lightly, ignoring his greeting.

Brilliant Flower sat down slowly on the chair, calming his trembling heart.

It should have been familiar by now, but meeting His Majesty was always an exciting thing.

‘It feels like a dream…’

Not only talking to His Majesty alone, but also being appointed as the commander-in-chief of this expedition.

He could not believe the situation.

He was just a sailor who was curious about the other side of the sea.

The past events flashed through Brilliant Flower’s mind.

It was the time when the trade with the Andes region was just booming.

Brilliant Flower had saved a lot of money by changing countless ships even after visiting Ddongseom.

He wanted to go to the other side of the vast sea, the unknown world, with his own money.

Sometimes he transported goods and necessities to the newly established settlements in the north, and sometimes he traveled around various regions of the central and southern continents.

And finally.

He had enough money to buy a ship.

“This is…!”

Brilliant Flower’s eyes trembled.

He remembered the many hardships of the past.

While he was immersed in deep emotion, a shipyard employee said a word.

“Hahaha. You are amazing. It must have been hard to raise this much money by yourself.”

Brilliant Flower nodded slowly.

It was true that it was hard to gather such a capital without many people joining together.

“When can I receive the ship?”

“Well, we have to report it to the empire first… It should be possible in a week at most.”

“Then I’ll come back then.”

The employee’s words were accurate.

A week later, he received the ship.

‘First, let’s make some capital.’

To explore the other side of the sea, the unknown world, he had to earn enough capital.

That way, he could pay wages to his crew and fill his ship with food and supplies.

After that, Brilliant Flower started a full-fledged transportation business using his ship.

“Here, this is your fee. I hope to see you again if we have a chance.”

“Haha. Thank you.”

After completing his first voyage safely,

Brilliant Flower checked the money he earned.

“Wow!”

The amount was different from what he had received as a salary in terms of digits.

Even after paying wages to his crew, he had a lot of profit in his hands.

‘This is why people try hard and save money to make their own ships.’

He knew roughly how much profit he could make from sailing, but when he got a fortune at once, he felt very good.

If he continued sailing like this, he thought he could collect his target capital in no time.

He kept transporting various goods and saving money.

Meanwhile,

“There must be another huge continent beyond that sea!”

“Maybe there is a land of divine spirits like His Majesty, the great emperor.”

“It doesn’t make sense that there is only Wakan Tanka continent on this vast earth!”

Here is my attempt to edit and translate the text into English. I have made some changes to the sentence structures, words, and paragraphs to make it more suitable for a web novel. I hope you find it helpful.

There were endless hypotheses about the unknown world beyond the sea.

Brilliant Flower felt a deep interest in those sounds.

‘Is there really a continent?’

Their claims had enough logic.

Considering the time difference, the continent of Waktanga was only a very small part of the earth.

The scholars’ claims gave Brilliant Flower an even stronger motivation.

He had accumulated enough capital by now, so he immediately started to act.

“Have you thought about it?”

“…Fine. I’ll join your plan.”

He began to recruit his companions who would sail with him across the vast sea.

He had been sailing on various ships for a long time, and had made many acquaintances with the sailors.

Among them, there were many sailors who had similar tendencies to him.

Brilliant Flower had been telling them his plan from before, and subtly suggested it to them.

Thanks to that, his companions were easily recruited.

Moreover.

“We also want to join your plan. How about doing it together?”

He also received continuous proposals from other merchants who wanted to join.

Of course, their purpose was not adventure, but opening new routes.

Brilliant Flower replied to their proposals like this.

“Fine. But I have no intention of giving up the leadership of this voyage.”

“Yes. That’s obvious.”

That’s how some merchants joined, and the plan started to gain momentum.

‘I’m almost there.’

Everything was going well.

But.

Suddenly, a law was enacted and Brilliant Flower encountered a strong obstacle.

Shiver!

“How, how can this be…”

His hand holding the newspaper trembled.

He couldn’t believe what was written in the law.

‘Why on earth?’

A law prohibiting ocean voyages…

Why did they stop him from crossing the vast sea!

Moreover, this was a law proposed by the great emperor himself.

He would receive even heavier punishment if he violated this law.

But he didn’t have the will to go against Kim Giwoo’s will anyway.

Brilliant Flower also had a feeling of admiration for Kim Giwoo that went beyond respect, like everyone else.

But he didn’t want to give up his efforts so easily.

‘Right. I just need to get approval from the imperial administration.’

The only thing he hoped for was one exception clause.

But the situation didn’t go as he expected.

“Impossible.”

“Why not? If any other commercial purposes are a problem, I can give them all up. I’ll only go for exploration purposes with my own ship!”

“I’m sorry, but no matter how much you plead here, nothing will change. Please go back.”

He tried various ways to get permission after that, but nothing worked out.

“Sigh…”

A huge sense of deprivation came up from deep inside his chest.

He had been running for only one goal for a long time, but he was blocked before he even started.

Suddenly everything felt futile.

The ships he bought with great care and the capital he had accumulated so far felt worthless.

‘What’s the point of making money like this.’

After his plan was frustrated,

Brilliant Flower immediately sold his ship as second-hand.

He had a lot of money when he added up the proceeds from selling my ship and the capital he had saved up.

He decided to use that money to travel around the continent for the rest of his life.

And just when he was about to put that decision into action.

An official from the Security Bureau came to me.

He was holding a scroll with the emperor’s seal on it.

“Brilliant Flower, receive the imperial edict!”

“Wha-!”

At the sound of the imperial edict, Brilliant Flower quickly knelt down.

Soon, the man’s low voice continued without pause.

Brilliant Flower could not regain his senses as he listened to the imperial edict in that voice.

But the content was engraved clearly in his head.

‘Me, he wants me to be the leader of the expedition?’

The gist of the long imperial edict was this.

He was planning to form an expedition to the continent across the sea, and he wanted to know if I was willing to take charge of it.

‘Ah… so there really is a continent across the sea.’

The first thought that came to my mind was not whether to accept or decline the offer.

In the middle of his words, he clearly mentioned the existence of another continent.

That meant, there really was another continent!

“Brilliant Flower. Please answer his majesty’s words.”

“Ah…!”

I came to my senses when I heard the official’s words.

There was nothing more to think about.

“I will do it! Please let me do it!”

“I have told you clearly. It is so dangerous that I cannot guarantee your life, and once you decide, you cannot go back. That’s what I said.”

I did not care about his threatening words.

If I had cared about my safety, I would not have thought of venturing across that sea in the first place.

That’s how I joined the expedition.

‘There is no one more suitable for the role of expedition leader than him.’

He was the one who had the strongest desire to cross that sea.

In fact, he was the person who would have started sailing across the ocean first if I had not stopped him.

Kim Kiwoo started a serious conversation with Brilliant Flower.

“Are you having any trouble forming the expedition?”

Brilliant Flower snapped out of his thoughts at Kim Kiwoo’s question.

“Trouble? There is no such thing. Everything is going smoothly thanks to his majesty’s support.”

“That’s good to hear.”

After Brilliant Flower became the leader of the expedition,

He gathered again those who had shared his vision with him.

In addition, some of the sailors from the government who volunteered joined the expedition.

That’s how an expedition of incomparable size to what Brilliant Flower had originally planned was formed.

“I called you here because I have something to tell you.”

“What is it…”

“Before that, let my attendant leave for a while. Make sure no one approaches until I finish talking.”

“Yes, sir.”

A sudden order for privacy.

Brilliant Flower swallowed hard at his first experience of a perfect one-on-one meeting.

After his attendant left the office,

Kim Kiwoo opened his mouth.

“Commander.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What I’m going to tell you now must never be uttered until the moment we depart for the expedition. Can you do that?”

“I will do that.”

Kim Kiwoo said solemnly, and the tension in the splendid field commander increased.

“Do you know what the continent across the sea looks like?”

How could I?

The splendid field commander shook his head.

“I apologize, but I do not know.”

“I do.”

“…!”

His face turned pale with shock at the sudden remark.

“W-what do you mean…”

“I know what’s across the sea.”

“Gasp!”

Seeing his strong reaction, Kim Kiwoo leaned forward.

And he asked casually.

“Don’t you want to know? I can tell you if you want.”

It was an irresistible offer for the splendid field commander.

“Y-yes, I want to know! Please tell me!”

Kim Kiwoo nodded his head.

That was the purpose of calling the expedition’s commander-in-chief today, to tell him about it.

Crossing that vast Atlantic Ocean without any information was very dangerous.

Kim Kiwoo wanted to eliminate that risk as much as possible.

After that, he took out a map with the approximate coastlines and currents of both continents, and the direction of the wind, and handed it to the splendid field commander.

“T-this is…”

The splendid field commander trembled as he scanned the map like crazy.

Kim Kiwoo waited silently until he checked the map enough, and then continued.

“What do you think?”

“It’s amazing. There’s such a huge continent across the sea.”

There was no doubt in his face about the authenticity of this map.

Kim Kiwoo’s vast knowledge was already beyond the level of judging by common sense.

He must have thought the same about the knowledge of another continent.

Thanks to that, there was no need for further explanation.

“Take this map and make a sailing plan.”

“Yes!”

The splendid field commander’s face was full of enthusiasm as he left the office.

<The end.>