How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony

To explain about them... I need to go back to when I first started thinking about educational facilities.

Someday, I want all the people of the "Covenant" to receive education.

And naturally, it's impossible for me alone to devise a perfect curriculum and teach them perfectly.

First, I needed scholars who could work with me on such a task.

Also, I needed someone who had experienced systematic education in some way.

Then, as it happened, Elizabeth discovered my identity, and not long after, I made a proposal to the Queen.

How about sending exchange students from Virginia to famous English universities for smooth mutual exchange between the two countries?

The Queen's courtiers influenced me through Raleigh by saying things like, "Ah, I'm an Oxford graduate, and it was truly a beautiful place with excellent professors..." or "Compared to Cambridge, Oxford can hardly be called a university! A vibrant hall of learning..." and so on.

Anyway, the Queen gladly accepted.

"You must have had a hard time living in a foreign land for years. As always, Virginia welcomes you all."

The exchange students I had sent then had returned.

The bright young people I had carefully selected.

Among them, I picked out a familiar-looking young man from Croatoan and asked him:

"Ambrose, how was your homeland? No, how was school? Was it satisfactory enough?"

"..."

"...Are you alright?"

Then Ambrose hesitated, looked at me directly.

And said:

"Well, England seems to be hell after all."

==

Ambrose Vikas was one of the hundred or so people who departed in 1587 to pioneer "Sir Walter Raleigh's Virginia Colony."

More precisely, he was one of the nine children among them.

After the Roanoke colony ended in failure, he somehow mixed in with the group led by Eleanor Dare. And on Croatoan Island, he lost consciousness, on the verge of starvation.

And... when he woke up.

'He' was there.

Thus, receiving 'His' grace, Ambrose became a resident of Croatoan.

Since then, he has lived with pride in his heart.

He is someone chosen by the Lord's messenger and saved from death.

He had the duty and 'privilege' to observe Sir Nemo's words and devote himself to His will.

With such thoughts, when Sir Nemo assigned him the duty of vineyard keeper, he did his best, and when Sir Nemo taught him to read and write, he learned to the best of his ability.

Then...

"Ambrose, how would you feel about studying abroad in England?"

It seemed like an opportunity had come to him.

"Ambrose, you are a bright young man. You might adapt well at Oxford."

So he eagerly seized that opportunity.

...Of course, he didn't have high expectations for academics themselves.

"Blood generated in the heart perishes at the extremities of the body. This is from the heart..."

Sir Nemo had warned him not to expect much regarding the accuracy or interest of the knowledge to be learned there, and thanks to that, he could spend his time fairly productively studying theology and rhetoric, which Sir Nemo hadn't taught, without major disappointment.

...Of course.

If that had been all, he might have attended school with satisfaction.

"Kill him!"

"Waaaaah!"

But the university students were closer to somewhere between beasts and humans than to people.

Day in and day out, duels, alcohol, gambling, duels, alcohol, gambling...

Fighting among themselves, brawling outside, then fighting among themselves again...

The professors were in similar straits, and the city, surrounded by all sorts of filth, was unclean and unpleasant.

It wasn't an environment where one could learn something systematically and properly. It was all so different from when Sir Nemo taught knowledge to others in Croatoan.

At the same time, students of high status, with their noses in the air for being university students, often bullied others.

His daily routine sometimes became apologizing everywhere on behalf of friends who had destroyed various things in taverns.

...Why does something like the right to beg even exist in the first place?

Anyway.

In a word.

"En-England... I never want to go back."

==

"..."

Somehow, this is quite different from what I expected.

If Elizabeth, who had intended to create pro-English figures through exchange students and solidify the alliance between the two countries, had seen this mess? She probably wouldn't have been pleased.

Neither am I.

No, education... institution? Is that right?

What I expected from universities wasn't anything special. At the very least, I wanted the process of systematically teaching something to create talent with practical usefulness.

But... that was more like a club.

A club created by people gathered under the names of professors and students.

Wait, come to think of it, "community" in Latin is "universitas."

Universitas, universitas, university...

...It really is a club.

Just in case, I asked others.

"How was Cambridge?"

"Ah! It was truly an excellent place!"

That's a relief. At least this one seems to have been satisfied. Indeed, different for each person...

"I learned fraternity and courage while disciplining those who dared to tarnish our university's honor with guns and swords..."

No.

He just over-adapted.

Looking more closely, it was the difference between those who had received something close to education from me and had been actually deployed in some work like vineyard keeping, and those who hadn't.

In other words, the perspective of people who had experienced different kinds of education in life would be more accurate.

Wondering if perhaps only England was like this, I sought out those who had been Spanish military commanders and asked them.

"The University of Bologna was a wonderful place! There I learned pride and honor..."

"What did you major in?"

"Medicine! There I taught lessons to many impudent fellows through duels..."

As expected.

Something's not right.

...

...

...

Perhaps.

Perhaps the concept of a university needs to be redefined. If we want to establish a proper educational institution, that might be necessary.

I needed a space that would allow us to move beyond the current situation where I alone hide future knowledge and bestow it at the right time.

A space where people can research, exchange ideas, teach posterity, and form an academic community and systematic educational environment was needed.

Who will do that?

...

...

...

I guess I have to do it.