Eleanor's memories of her mother are hazy.
Her father said she was a good person, so she just accepts that. In truth, even the feeling of missing her is faint.
Ironically, her first memory of her mother is her funeral, which says enough.
The image is still vivid: her mother being lowered into the coffin, gradually covered with earth, and raindrops falling on the gravestone marked with a cross.
Even now, when she thinks of her mother, she remembers the gravestone more clearly than her face.
And the sight of her father embracing that gravestone and crying after seeing off the mourners.
"Fa... father, are you crying?"
Eleanor was still young then, but looking at her father's face turning toward her, she vaguely realized something.
That she was the only one left to comfort her father.
Because neither her deceased mother nor her brother, who died as a newborn, were there by his side.
Her father's face brightened slightly upon seeing young Eleanor.
Eleanor smiled back at her father then. She held back her tears and acted the part of a lively 10-year-old daughter.
Responsibility.
That word was engraved deep in Eleanor's heart at that moment.
Even when they first set foot on the strange American soil just last year.
Even when the colony fell into chaos due to lack of food.
Even when her father left for England to find food right after Eleanor gave birth to her first child.
...Even when her husband died from a stray arrow.
She never lost that sense of responsibility.
That responsibility drew people to her.
Though just 19 years old, and a woman at that, people gathered around her. As the daughter of the governor, she made her decision.
"Let's go to Croatoan Island! We'll wait for father there! Surely, father will return, and the friendly natives there will accept us!"
However, at the same time, she was just 19 years old, and a woman at that.
People had already lost faith that her father would return.
They left on their own for the land of the friendly Chesapeake tribe. They thought it better to entrust themselves to friendly natives than wait for her father's relief.
All that remained were a few people who had been close to her father John White, women without husbands... and her one-year-old daughter Virginia.
Thus, including herself, just 34 people total.
Only 34 out of 107 remained.
...No.
Despite her being a woman and only 19 years old, 34 people stayed with her. Eleanor strengthened her hope in the midst of despair with this thought.
So in 1588.
They set sail for Croatoan Island.
And in the process, they lost several more to a storm.
That left just 32 people total.
Only 32 people were able to set foot on Croatoan Island.
They had no food.
Somehow, they ended up on the coast where no natives lived.
"Walk! We'll cross through the forest to where the natives' village is! Soon we'll all be able to live!"
She spoke with a forced smile... but honestly, there was no hope.
It would take quite a long walk to reach the native village, and these sick and starving people no longer had the strength to make it there.
And even if they reached there, it would still be problematic. If they were lucky, they might receive food and shelter while waiting for rescue, but what if there were communication problems?
Every possibility pointed to one outcome.
Death.
Still, Eleanor walked at the front. She was the first to step into swamps where men hesitated, and she lit fires while holding her child, telling hopeful stories to her companions.
And when they had walked about halfway across the island.
Thump.
"Ugh, uuugh..."
"Damn it all! Mr. Hewett has twisted his ankle! Mr. Hewett, Mr. Hewett..."
"I... I'm done here... everyone go on..."
"Eleanor, what should we do?"
The final moment had come.
One of their company could no longer walk.
Virginia, cradled in Eleanor's arms, now slept all day. So quietly that she could die at any moment.
One by one, they collapsed.
Eleanor sensed death here.
She had watched her philandering husband die before her eyes.
Besides him, many companions and friends had left her side. Some died, some betrayed her.
These were unbearable times for a mere 19-year-old girl. But they were times she had to endure.
But... now it's too much.
"L-let's camp here."
"Eleanor...?"
"Don't worry. Tomorrow, the kind natives will... save us..."
"..."
"..."
Everyone caught Eleanor's lie, but they all said nothing and collapsed onto the ground.
This would be their end.
One by one, they closed their eyes and grew quiet.
Had they all departed for the Lord's kingdom?
Yes... now I too...
Surge.
...I have to leave now?
"Ah, ahh... hic..."
I, I'm only 19 years old.
Fear, sorrow, and directionless anger that she thought had been dulled while leading the group and weathering terrible experiences welled up.
No.
I don't want to die.
So she clawed at her throat and spoke.
"H-h-help... me..."
Anyone would do...
Please, please just one more chance.
Lord.
Please.
...
...
...
And then a miracle came.
"Where are you! Where are you!"
Someone comes running, shouting in fluent English.
...Through her blurring vision, a person's silhouette appears.
A mysterious... and kind-looking man.
Though he didn't seem to be European... he wore strange but obviously sturdy clothing.
He held a large steel sword in one hand. Its blade glinted sharply as if prepared for righteous judgment.
Also, in his other hand he held a lamp... no.
The man held light in his hand.
It was pure white light like the sun! He illuminated her companions with it and then began to speak in a whisper.
"144,000... 144,000..."
(14:3) And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
Ah.
Aah.
"All starving... must feed them quickly..."
Grab.
Eleanor unconsciously grabbed the man's wrist. And with courage from who knows where, she spoke thus.
"An... angel..."
"..."
"Take me, or at least my child, to heaven."
Desperately.
"Please... to the Lord's side..."
With that, Eleanor lost consciousness.
==
"One, two, three, four... thirty people..."
The number of people dying of starvation in front of me right now.
"H-hey! Is everyone alive?"
...They are alive.
They're starved to the point where their stomachs are stuck to their backs, one is a baby, and one even seems to have injured their leg, but miraculously they're all still breathing.
"An... angel... please..."
W-well, the woman who suddenly grabbed my wrist just now seems okay too.
For now.
Anyone can see they're one step away from death in their current state.
"Eat this and open your eyes... ah, how can I feed this to starving people...! Just let it melt for now! Okay? Don't swallow, just let it melt!"
Since all I have to eat is chocolate, I unwrap them and put one in each person's mouth, and they all twitch at the sudden sweetness.
Yes. Just put it in your mouth and let it melt. Slowly melt it and eat it. Please live. Please...!
...Arrrrgh!
'You take 15,840 yen... you take 15,840 yen and make people suffer like this, you bastards...?'
I really feel like crying. Now I understand the unusually detailed text on the back of the game package and those meaningfully mysterious opening phrases.
'O immortal one who will transcend time, a new world now calls to you.'
You damn game narrator. These days we don't use terms like 'new world.' Then are all the people who originally lived in the 'new world' 'new humans,' you bastard?
Anyway, so I've been transported to a failed colony in America? And to the crazy Elizabethan era, 400 years ago at that!
I'd rather be sent to 21st century America, even if it's the hood where kids play with guns and fentanyl is everywhere. Send me back to modern times, I'm saying!
People can't live on grapes alone, and without great knowledge or helpers to assist, how can I survive...
...Wait.
The game package.
I thought while pouring the last chocolate milk into the mouth of the starving child the young woman was holding.
There's information in the lengthy catalog included with the game package.
The detailed maps of Roanoke Colony and the surrounding area with explanations of resources and terrain that were 'somehow' written in detail.
The timeline of historical events from that period with similarly detailed explanations that were 'somehow' kindly prepared.
If that was for this moment...
If that information is the path for my survival from now on...!
I quickly grabbed my flashlight and machete and ran back toward my farm.
Seeing these people stirring, they seem to have passed the immediate crisis, but I haven't given them proper food yet. If I don't want to let them die, they need medicine and food right now.
And... no.
First I need to memorize all the content in the game catalog!
==
"Please... wait..."
She saw an angel.
He disappeared swinging his great sword, just as he had arrived.
And the sweet food he poured into their mouths, when they slowly melted and ate it, strength naturally welled up in their bodies.
"Ugh, uugh..."
"Mrs. Dare? Are you conscious?"
Her closing eyes open. Her stiffening limbs move again.
Eleanor realized she had walked back from death's door. The others had similar expressions.
"Oh, oh Eleanor...! I, I saw an angel! He saved us!"
"I wasn't the only one who saw him? An angel with a sword in hazy light put sweet fruit in our mouths..."
"Mrs. Dare? We're all alive! We're alive! Ha, hahaha!"
"..."
Eleanor Dare still hadn't regained her senses.
Everyone had awakened from the death that had been approaching like sleep after eating the sweet fruit he gave them.
At first after waking, she thought she might have had a hallucination, but it was certain since most of her companions here testified to seeing it together.
He was either an angel, or at least a righteous person sent by the almighty Lord.
"What could it mean that we saw an angel here? An angel who appeared in non-European form at that!
Isn't this telling us to build a new colony on this land and spread the gospel to the savages?"
"We are 32 people. How can we build a colony here?"
"Well, when Mrs. Dare's father returns, won't the scattered people gather again?"
"That's right! We'll build a church right here, till fields, and together with people..."
"W-wait a moment!"
But Eleanor had to calm the people gathered here.
Whether they had just met an angel or some unknown righteous person, excessive excitement was forbidden.
"Nothing about our immediate situation has changed. We still have far to go to reach the native village, and one of our company is even injured."
"..."
"..."
Yes. Someone had to tell the cold truth to people lost in hopeless optimism.
Did food magically appear? No.
Did the injured person miraculously heal? That too, no.
Nothing had changed.
"Sigh... but since the 'person' who helped us wasn't European, they were probably a righteous native."
She took a step back to prevent religious fervor from blinding reason and maintained a reserved attitude.
"So that righteous native might soon bring their tribe's people to help us. They've already given us food without reason. Then we won't need to abandon Mr. Hewett and leave."
While doing so, Eleanor breathed new hope of a different form into these people to keep their spirits from falling.
The leadership she gained while overcoming her father's absence led her to make the best judgment.
"Th-that's true!"
"This worked out well! It means if we wait here, hope will appear somehow!"
...Yes. She needed to cool their heads.
Thinking about it again, it's hard to believe that someone was an angel. They must be a noble from some native tribe around here...
"But, they could speak English, right?"
"...Pardon?"
"Those mysterious clothes, and what was that mysterious lamp they held?"
"..."
"And above all."
Talkative Margaret picked up the scattered golden wrappers and said,
"I don't think fruit with such shiny wrapping could exist in the New World. What is this? It seems like cloth, but golden on the outside and silver on the inside..."
"..."
...Why is their side more logical?
Come to think of it, how did they speak English? Did they learn from some passing Englishman? But we are the only 'passing English people' in this area! And they spoke too fluently for someone who'd only studied for a few years!
Ugh... my head hurts. The mysterious light of that angel she saw then still seemed to ripple in Eleanor's eyes.
...No.
No matter what, they couldn't really be an angel. Isn't it odd for an angel to suddenly appear in non-European form?
What angel would... just like in Revelation...
"...In 1587, John White's pioneering group arrives at Roanoke Island.
In 1588, after the Spanish Armada is defeated by England, John White, who couldn't sail during the war, finally returns to Roanoke in 1590..."
...What... uh... not warning about the future...
"Plus the French Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici dies in 1589. Plague strikes London from 1592 to 1593... oh, Descartes was born in 1596?
Shakespeare was from this time, right? Romeo and Juliet comes out in 1597... ah, this kind of information isn't necessary... oh, the French Wars of Religion end in 1598. I should remember that."
Rustle.
"...Ah, everyone's awake? How are you all feeling?"
...Huh.
The companions tried to get up but slumped back down.
The 'angel' had returned.