I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 270

< Fraternal Asia (4) >

If you were to pick the best festival of the 21st-century global village, it would undoubtedly be the World Cup, but that wasn’t the case in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In modern times, even the Olympics, not to mention the World Cup, which is called a festival for people all over the world, could not match the initial status of the Expo [World’s Fair].

In fact, in the early days, those two events were treated as add-ons to the Expo, so how great was the Expo’s status?

The reason is that the Expo, as the name World’s Fair shows, was a place where the world’s great powers competed to show off their superiority.

In order to promote their system and politics, they had to demonstrate that their country was superior to others, and there was no better way to do this than the Expo.

That’s why even the heads of state of each country stepped forward to promote themselves, and the anecdote that even the mustachioed man from Germany [likely referring to Kaiser Wilhelm II] tried to participate directly is famous.

The London Expo, originally considered the beginning of the International Expo, was just a taste, but as a result of my involvement, it became too large.

Overwhelmed by the disaster he had brought upon himself, he suffered the humiliation of being unintentionally shamed in front of numerous ambassadors.

“Are you okay? I saw you earlier and you couldn’t control your facial expressions… Pfft.”

“…What do you mean I couldn’t control my facial expressions? That was my usual self.”

“Oh, really? I didn’t know you were such an easily flustered person, even though I’ve known you since we were little. Amazing.”

Victoria has been nagging me for taking too much time off lately, but it’s been a long time since she’s been so openly amused and teasing me.

Well… I guess she was just that entertained.

Although I was subjected to shame play, if my beloved wife is happy, then that’s okay… no, it’s not.

I invited almost all the ambassadors from Europe, and I was subjected to this mindless praise, so who is going to take responsibility for this atmosphere?

What if the foreign ambassadors misunderstand that I ordered Joseon [ancient Korean kingdom] or Japan to do such praise?

No way, no matter what, they wouldn’t think I planned such a low-level show.

I’ve shown them what I’m capable of so far.

“But, Killian? The Japanese diplomats were saying ‘Susanoo? Susanoo?’ What is that?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Hey, your reaction makes it clear you know. Tell me. If you don’t tell me, I’m going to call the Japanese ambassador right now…”

“It’s a god that the Japanese people believe in, and one of the three most important gods in mythology.”

“Ah~ I think I’ve heard of it. It was said to be polytheistic, right? It felt similar to Egypt.”

Come to think of it, it’s true.

The Egyptian Pharaoh is called the incarnation of the sun god Horus, and the Japanese Emperor is revered as the incarnation of the sun god Amaterasu.

In that sense, the Japanese ambassador must have compared me to Susanoo in a hurry, since the Emperor is the incarnation of Amaterasu.

It’s slightly lower than the Emperor, but he brought in one of the most beloved gods in their mythology, and oh, I’m so grateful that I’m about to cry.

Since they keep saying Susanoo, Susanoo, I suddenly feel like a strange pattern is about to appear in my eyeballs.

“Japan is a representative polytheistic country in Northeast Asia, so they attach the names of gods to all sorts of things, so you don’t need to pay much attention to it.”

“Wow, my husband is the incarnation of a god, so are our children demigods? Demigods?”

Wrong. She’s not listening at all.

Of course, there is no possibility that the Queen of England, the head of the Church of England and at the forefront of devout Christian culture, would take Japanese polytheism seriously.

She’s just too amused by the fact that she witnessed her husband’s embarrassing history being made right in front of her eyes.

I should say that it’s fortunate that the children are still young and didn’t come to the banquet hall.

“Yes, yes, but how can I compare to Her Majesty the great Queen, the center of all the world and the first in history to be recognized by the countries of the East as the center of the Heavenly Order?”

“To be honest, that was a bit embarrassing, you know? But then a huge declaration came out that made it all seem trivial, so I was honestly relieved. Otherwise, I would have ended up feeling awkward.”

“…Right? There’s no other husband like this in the world.”

“Anyone would think you did it on purpose.”

Victoria smiled cheerfully and lightly kissed my forehead.

It wasn’t intentional, but I think this has completely absolved me of the insensitivity of participating in the Crimean War, which I had been constantly reminded of.

I was even thinking about how to properly educate the Japanese ambassador who dared to make me a clown, but seeing Victoria so happy, I thought, ‘Who cares?’

I’ll just think that I enjoyed that clown for fun.

And in the first place, those guys probably don’t even know what they did wrong. I think they were sincerely praising me to make me feel good.

“Victoria, anyway, now that that’s happened, I can assume that you’re completely ready, right?”

“Is there anything for me to prepare for? In fact, it’s just an honorary position, and nothing really changes, so I just have to relax and take what they give me.”

Some may say that calling oneself an emperor or king in this day and age is a futile act, and in most situations, that is true.

For example, even if Prussia now calls itself an empire and shouts, ‘I am not a king! I am an emperor!’ nothing really changes in practice.

After Napoleon ascended to the throne, all sorts of countries attached various excuses to call themselves emperors, but nothing really changed.

In fact, after the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Ottomans also claimed that the Sultan was the Roman Emperor, but Europe ignored them, telling them not to talk nonsense.

However, it is also true that if you are a true empire, not a self-proclaimed emperor, you can gain diplomatic advantages.

What I’m aiming for is not to use India and Brazil to call myself the Emperor of India and the Emperor of Brazil, who are emperors in name only, like in the original history.

The only person who guesses my true intentions is probably King Heonjong of Joseon, who I spoke to directly.

If they were quick-witted, they might have been able to deduce it at the last banquet, but because the Japanese went on a sudden rampage and I became a laughingstock, it’s likely that it’s been forgotten in everyone’s memory.

Even Victoria is showing that kind of reaction.

Wait? Then is it true that the Japanese are helping me?

Now that this has happened, I should not refuse and enjoy this opportunity to the fullest.

The time has come to reassemble the chaotic order of Northeast Asia with my own hands.

* * *

While Killian was laughing and crying and spending a pleasant time with Victoria due to an unexpected accident at the banquet hall.

The Japanese Embassy, which had suddenly become the superstar of the banquet, was in complete chaos.

The ambassador, Chikashige, who caused the problem this time, was a new ambassador who had been newly appointed to London under the orders of the Shogun [military dictator of Japan].

As a close aide to the Shogun’s secretary, appointing such a person as ambassador was an expression of the Shogun’s intention to establish a more active relationship with the British Empire.

However, the existing ambassador, Tadahusa, who was scheduled to return to Japan in exchange for his position, was constantly yelling at his successor.

“No! How many times have I told you! Absolutely! You must never do anything strange! But what on earth did you do yesterday!”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“At the banquet hall, to His Highness Killian! You shouted ‘Incarnation of Susanoo!’ and chanted ‘Banzai [Japanese cheer]’ three times!”

“Ah, that? It was very well received. Wasn’t it a great success?”

A great success? Just thinking about what happened yesterday makes my face turn pale, so what kind of great success are you talking about?

That’s why you can’t have country bumpkins who have only been stuck in Edo [former name of Tokyo, the capital of Japan].

“Ambassador Chikashige, Europe is different from Asia, where we were. Have you already forgotten the way the other ambassadors looked at us yesterday?”

“Everyone looked at us with curious eyes. But what about it? I think it’s more beneficial because it attracted attention.”

It was the kind of attention that made people marvel at monkeys in cages speaking human language, but how is that beneficial?

Is it better to be ridiculed than to be ignored?

If you think about it, that might be the case, so I’ll admit that much.

But…

“What’s with the ‘Incarnation of Susanoo’ thing?”

“That’s my excellent wit. The attention of each country, which was almost focused on Joseon, immediately shifted to us.”

“……”

“Since His Majesty the Emperor, the incarnation of Amaterasu, is here, we cannot praise His Highness Killian in that way. However, he is also a descendant of the Tokugawa bloodline. Moreover, he is the admiral of the Great British Empire’s navy, which has dominated the world’s oceans, and a war hero who defeated Russia. Isn’t he a person who is in no way lacking to be called the incarnation of the god of the sea and storms, Susanoo?”

So that’s why he compared him to Susanoo instead of Tsukuyomi [another Japanese god].

It seems like a good fit in some ways, but that’s only from the perspective of the Japanese people.

“Even if we’re talking about Susanoo or Tsukuyomi, to the Europeans, it’s just, ‘What is that? You Asian country bumpkins!'”

“That’s what we’re going to do by giving them related gifts. If we give them national treasure-level paintings or other treasures with Susanoo as the theme and explain the origin, they will definitely be very satisfied.”

“Hoo… No, man. Didn’t I tell you that this Great British Empire is a Christian country? Christian countries worship one God! Even if we say things with good intentions, we don’t know how they will accept it! His Highness Killian knows our culture to an amazing degree, so he can laugh it off, but others may not like it!”

“Ah… I see. I understand. Depending on the case, introducing gods from other religions can be seen as blasphemy. Is that right?”

I’m relieved that he finally understands, but I’m still relieved that he seems to have understood.

I have to tell this Edo country bumpkin one by one so that he doesn’t cause an accident in the future, and then I have to go back to my country, or I’ll be too anxious to leave.

“Ambassador Chikashige, have you ever heard of Christianity, which European countries believe in? I’m talking about the religion that the Oranda [Dutch] missionaries, who often came to the mainland, believe in. Strictly speaking, that Christianity is divided into Catholic and Protestant denominations, but the core beliefs themselves are similar.”

“Do you think I wouldn’t have studied that much? Of course I know. Then let’s see… I’ll revise the strategy according to your advice, former ambassador. His Highness Killian is the reincarnation of the Jisas [Jesus] that Christians believe in…”

“If you do that, I’ll really kill you!”

Fortunately, when I shouted in earnest, this country bumpkin seemed to have a sense of what was going on and scratched his head and nodded.

Even in the midst of that, he’s saying nonsense like, ‘Why is that? It seems like a good idea,’ which makes the fire in my stomach boil over.

If I leave like this, won’t a diplomatic disaster break out within a month?

No, I’m willing to bet my entire fortune that it will definitely happen.

“I’ll postpone my return schedule, so let’s talk for a while. Oh, and because of the strange things you’ve done, everyone’s forgotten about it, but do you remember that the Qing Dynasty [former ruling dynasty of China] was glaring at Joseon as if they were going to kill them?”

“Of course. If we do this wrong, the conflict between Joseon and the Qing Dynasty may become the main topic of this Expo. The Shogun told me that Joseon should never be more noticeable than our country…”

The other European countries don’t know the international order of Asia, so they don’t know, but Japan knew very well what Joseon was aiming for.

If so, there’s no way we can’t use this.

It’s also good for Japan’s future to take this opportunity to thoroughly crush the Qing Dynasty, which is just a paper tiger anyway.

To that end, it wouldn’t be bad to secretly join hands with Joseon.

Anything can be done to attract attention.

The discussions between the former and current Japanese ambassadors continued until the early hours of the morning.