>>6016406>>6017593>>6017717"It's a long story, one best saved for a safer time," you say, deflecting John Blackthorne's probing with a nonchalant shrug. Soon, you and Blackthorne are ushered through the narrow streets of a Japanese village, paraded like exotic animals. Curious villagers peer at you, their whispers of "Barbarian" and "Christian" floating through the air. You are eventually brought before a man with cruel eyes, who you gather is the ruling lord of this area. His eyes are sharp and calculating as he surveys you from his elevated seat, a mocking smirk playing across his lips. A Portuguese priest steps forward to translate, breaking the silence. "Papist prick," Blackthorne mutters under his breath, his disdain for Catholics barely contained as he glares at the priest. The priest, oblivious to Blackthorne's contempt, begins to translate. "Our busho, Lord of Izu, Kashigi Yabushige, he wishes to know who you are and how you came to be in this land. Who are you?" he asks in Portuguese.
>We are just merchants. Lost at sea, seeking safe passage home. We drifted here by accident, hoping to once again glimpse our own shores. The Erasmus is nothing more than a trading vessel.>We, too, are servants of god, seeking peaceful passage through a foreign land.>I am called David, a scholar from the far-off lands of the Americas.>Other 