Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1640 - 1169: Is This the East? Damn Columbus…

"Almighty! Is this... is this the fabled prosperous East? Is this the Capital City of the Xipangu Japan Kingdom?... This... this damn place doesn't even count as a town; it's just a shabby native village, a simple and impoverished Barbarian camp!... Ah! Damn Columbus, he deceived us! That shameless swindler!!..."

"Antonio, this is definitely not an ordinary native village! Look at all these native warriors in armor, so many native militia with iron spears... and a native stone Temple! This must be an important native stronghold! It can't be the Capital City; how could a Capital City be so poor?... And it's not a village, how could a village have so many soldiers? I know! This is... the stronghold of the Xipangu Kingdom!... Yes, it must be so! We've been taken to the port fortress near the Japan Capital City!... Damn Columbus!..."

Two captured Castile ships dropped anchor on the lake north of Iron Bay Town. This small town, established only three years ago, didn't even have a deep enough dock for the nearly three-meter draft Caravel. The Kingdom's Warriors escorted the captives to Oar-sailed Longships for landing at the town's simple port. Then, a stretch of natural lakeside fields and primitive wild grass huts unfolded below the reddish hills.

Carpenter Antonio and Goldsmith Carlo stood by the lakeside with eyes wide, staring dumbfounded. They looked at Iron Bay Town, home to over two thousand people, recalling the native villages they had seen before, trying hard to find differences. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Iron Bay Town was not small, with a broad Temple Square at its center, divided into east, west, south, and north. The east and west sides were vast, cultivated into endless fields where hundreds of able-bodied men from tribes were busy. The fields grew short cassava and beans, crops from the New Continent that the captives from the Old Continent did not recognize. Between large fields were neat tribal houses, seemingly arranged in a specific pattern, more organized than any native village they had seen before.

From the east and west fields leading south, to the horizon, were high and low open-air huts standing on red hills. Most of those huts let out smoke, though it was unclear what was being burned.

The north side where the crowd stood was the lakeside port, with over a hundred canoes and a dozen strangely shaped small Oar-sail Ships. The flag on these small ships also had bird motifs, but with squares surrounding it, distinguishable from the longships. There were also many bizarre tribes with headpieces and draping adornments on these small ships, staring wide-eyed at the large ship and captives, shouting loudly.

"By the high-hanging Serpent divine! Such a large ship, such white-skinned people!... Truly white skin, big-bearded people!... Oh sacred cotton tree! Which Divine Tree's roots did this strange tribe emerge from?... Gods at the tree's peak! Could it be... just as the Gemstone Tribe said, they emerged from the Abyss of the Dead, spreading the plague of the Evil Demon?... Ah! The Evil Demon!..."

"Almighty! Holy Mother! Vizilopo!... These... the heads of these natives, why are they so long? Their eyes are slanted... dreadful Evil Demon! Truly horrible Evil Demons from the Hell of Fire!..."

Carpenter Antonio, shivering from the eerie long-headed people on the small Oar-sail Ships, reached to grab Carlo's arm in terror, not daring to look again. Goldsmith Carlo, however, ignored him, following Boatswain Qia Chu's footsteps, walking south with the native warrior leader to wait at the center's Temple Square. Then, with a puzzled look, Carlo turned south to the huts, eyeing the trails of rising smoke.

"Hmm? Such thick smoke! Are they burning charcoal or bricks?... Well!? This smell even has an iron scent... Oh! That red and black ore pile looks like iron ore... They're smelting iron!... Among those open-air huts, natives busied over smoking furnaces, all of them iron furnaces!... By Vizilopo's Almighty! This is the Xipangu Kingdom's Iron Smelting fortress!..."

Seeing a familiar trade, Goldsmith Carlo approached, unable to resist peeking into the hut activities, assessing the Xipangu natives' iron smelting level. As a goldsmith on an ocean-going sea ship, he also doubled as a blacksmith, repairing sailors' weapons. In fact, on the Peninsula, goldsmiths and blacksmiths often shared trades as everyday work involved blacksmithing, and scarcely anyone brought gold to forge gold items.

"Hmm... upright furnaces, cylindrical, not like Catalonia's square box furnaces, nor like the common countryside horseshoe furnaces... Could it be the iron plate furnaces used by Eastern countries? No way! Iron plate furnaces must be over three meters high; rumored Northern Italy City States' new upright furnaces even reach over seven meters..."

Goldsmith Carlo tiptoed, observing for a while, growing ever more perplexed.

"By Vizilopo! How small these furnaces are! They must not smelt much iron... Ah! Natives breaking the furnace for iron? They are single-use clay furnaces!... How hot can such rudimentary furnaces burn? Likely not much quality iron... Almighty! These natives' iron smelting may even lag behind the Dog Island Natives!... Holy Mother! We were defeated by natives who can't even smelt iron, reduced to their captives! Damn Columbus!!..."

"Pah! Carlo, what are you ranting about?... Uh? Coño! You're the Dog Island native! Your whole family are!..."

Dog Island native Qia Chu turned back, gave Carlo a nugget, then tensely lowered his voice, scolding.

"Joder! Bow your head, ready to salute!... Natives... cough! Important figure from Xipangu coming!... Feathered hat on his head, a large gilded chain on his neck, Xipangu Knights following behind!... Coño! He approaches us... ah! Praise Vizilopo's Almighty!..."

"Hmm... praise Vizilopo! Praise you, noble Lord Xipangu!!..."

"Hmm... is this the prophecy of Your Majesty? Is this the white-skinned Evil Demon?..."

Cuba's High Priest Tomate opened his eyes wide, carefully and thoroughly examining the three kneeling captives. His gentle yet meticulous gaze swept over their faces, beards, and clothing, finally resting on their hair.

"Three captives, three hair colors... blond, black-brown, brown... Oh! The blond one has yellow skin... Puap, is he what you called 'Ah Gou,' a Dog Island native corrupted by Evil Demon, who awoke and willingly converted to Chief Divine?..."

"Yes, esteemed High Priest Tomate! Haha! Ah Gou is an island Tribal Warrior, awed by my mighty force and valor, kneeling in surrender, converting to Chief Divine... He led these two white-skinned captives, taught the Tainu sailors to maneuver sails, bringing back these two Evil Demon's ships. And these two captives, one claims to work with metal, another can repair ships, neither very brave, both willing to convert to Chief Divine... I figure these captives know much, understand the Evil Demon's Magic Artifact, and are willing converts, making them useful blades!..."

"Hmm, not bad... His Majesty said to learn the Evil Demon's skills, Magic Artifact... slaughter those who must, sacrifice those necessary, keep skilled ones willing to teach alive..."

High Priest Tomate squinted, gazing at the Caravel anchored on the lake, then at the astonished Mayan merchant ship sailors, suddenly smiling with satisfaction.

"Praise Chief Divine! They arrived at the perfect time... Truly unprecedented large ships, even larger than the Kingdom and Maya's oar sail ships!..."

"Chief Divine witnesses! Able to build such large ships, possessing ironware like Lightning, crossing unknown vast seas... These white-skinned Evil Demons must be inspired by Evil God, thus possessing Thunderbolt, Fire, and the Power of Death!..."

"However, Supreme Main God foresaw everything! The divinely inspired His Majesty has long issued divine decrees... We crossed eight thousand miles of waves for this day, to confront these terrifying Evil Demons! To eradicate the apocalyptic calamity at its source!..."

High Priest Tomate, impassioned, recited the Chief Divine's praises and scriptures in fluent Maya, extolling the Almighty's omniscient power. Afterward, he raised his lips, eyeing the wide-eyed and astounded young Mayan Noble beside him, asking with deep meaning.

"White-skinned Evil Demon, great-sailed large ships, Chief Divine's miracle, His Majesty's prophecy!... Respected Prince Yan Lake, witnessed personally now, as real as the cotton tree... Do you believe?..."