Disclaimer: This is fanwork based on the manga the Quintessential Quintuplets (Go-Tobun no Hanayome), by Negi Haruba. Its setting, characters and plot belong to its rightful creator. I write this only for fun and as a little writing experiment.

The Lost Fleet

The Church's enthusiastic approach to the settlement of the New Continent faced opposition, both inside and outside.

The Kingdom of Nino in particular became a vocal opponent. It claimed that the Holy Church of Miku was overstepping its bounds and acting like a worldly power with worldly ambitions that clashed with those of other Nakano powers. But the Church did not relent. Even when the Kingdom started spreading outrageous stories about the Uesugi, painting the natives as barbarians and savages who pillaged, raped and looted their neighbours, the Church spoke in their defence.

"Never have the Futaros in all the known lands of Futaria committed any act against the Church or the Nakanos, nor have they acted against neighbouring nations without having suffered first acts of unwarranted aggression.

Miku wanted love to be called her single commandment. This we owe to all men and women. Nobody is excepted. While the people of Futaria are strange and have villainous faces, they are innocent at heart and deserve the protection of the Goddess."

(From "In Defence of the Futaros", year 6 of the Discovery)

In the end, with the Ichika Empire and the Itsuki Commonwealth arguing for continued expeditions, the Kingdom of Nino had no option but acquiescence and join the efforts, although begrudgingly.

This time, in fact, the Nakanos were going to collaborate closer than before. This was going to be a massive expedition, with ships from every country, to explore and settle the New Continent. Not even the Kingdom of Nino was going to refuse the call.

However, the expedition ended up being one of the most troublesome of the Age of Exploration.

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The preparations

It was going to be the greatest effort ever made to colonize lands beyond the Old Continent. Carracks and caravels from the Ichika Empire, the Kingdom of Nino, the Republic of Yotsuba and the Itsuki Commonwealth assembled in the port of Harubia, while priestess, monks and templars of the Church of Miku embarked in the ships they had hired for the occasion.

The plan was simple: the Nakano fleet would travel to Raiha Island, which was deemed the most suitable assembling point after Quintus Negi's glowing reports. From there, the ships would reach the continent's shores and set up their own settlements, always fulfilling the terms of alliance.

Given their previous experiences, the Itsuki ships would depart first to prepare the island for the arrival of the larger fleet, who would set sail right a few months later.

And so, on the early days of year 7 of the Discovery, the ill-fated expedition started.

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The storm

At the beginning, everything went according to plan. The Commonwealth's ships reached Raiha Island safely and enjoyed a warm welcome by the natives. The gifts of the Itsukis made an excellent impression and the sailors were able to gather much information about the island and the surrounding waters and regions. Everything was prepared for the arrival of the rest of the fleet.

But the fleet was late.

Initially, the plan was for the rest of the ships to depart in the middle of the year. However, domestic issues and some organizational problems delayed their departure, and it wasn't until the end of the year that the expeditionary fleet joined their Itsuki counterparts in Raiha Island. All the plans about reaching the continent to start the settlement were postponed until the next year.

During their stay in the island, the locals caused a great impression. The Yotsubas in particular were extremely pleased with the Raihas. In his letter to the Duchess, the leader of the Republic's detachment wrote:

"It is no exaggeration to say that the people of this land are the friendliest and most amenable in the world, and their island is a bountiful paradise that would be the envy of the riches of the Empire and the granaries of the Commonwealth. If Her Serenity could make this land a part of Yotsuba and turn these people into legal citizens of the Republic, the doors of the New Continent would be open to us and the prosperity of our nation would be ensured for a hundred generations."

Finally, after spending the winter in Raiha Island, the Nakano fleet set sail in year 8. Following plans laid out years before, they had decided on a particular bay in the New Continent to start their settlement. But right after leaving the island, disaster struck: a tropical storm hit the region, throwing the fleet into chaos.

Several ships sunk. Others crashed against the island. And the rest lost their way.

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The search for the Lost Fleet

In an ironic twist of fate, the only ships who managed to arrive to the chosen destination safe and sound were those from the Kingdom of Nino. Surprise turned into worry when the weeks passed and there was no sign of the other Nakano ships. Unwilling to start settling down on their own, but also fearing that another storm would wreck their damaged ships, the Kingdom's sailors had no choice but seek help from the local Futaro clans.

Fortunately, the Futaros of that region were a seafaring culture that, while not prepared for oceanic voyages, knew the coast, the currents and the winds very well. The local chieftain promised that, if their people found the Nakano ships, they would send them to the bay right away.

Some of the ships were easy to spot. The Yotsubas, for example, had run aground near Raiha Island and, given the good disposition of the locals, decided to stay there for reparations.

Others, however, were much more of a challenge.

The surviving ships of the Itsuki Commonwealth and the Church of Miku had been scattered in different directions, and even when following the instructions of their Futaro partners they would often get lost again due to the sorry state of their vessels.

Still, their situation was better than the Empire's. Almost every single ship of the Ichikas had been destroyed in the storm. The few survivors found themselves far away from the meeting point and, believing their brethren to be lost forever and the expedition ruined, they decided to go back to the Old Continent, bearing grim news.

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The Empire's choice

The news of the Lost Fleet were a heavy blow to the Nakanos in general and the Empire in particular.

Despite their size and grandstanding, the truth was that the financial situation of the Ichika Empire was poor. Too many wars in the frontier and too many lavish projects had emptied their treasury. While the Empress was publicly in favour of renewed colonization efforts in the name of Nakano cooperation and to foster their traditional alliances, in private the leading court officials considered it a waste of time and money just when the Empire needed to focus on domestic matters.

But if there was something more important for the Ichika Empire, it was its pride. As the self-proclaimed heir to the Renan Empire's legacy, it was their duty to rescue their own. In a famous speech at Kobayashi, the Ichika Empress said:

"For centuries after the fall of our ancestors, we thought we could hold our head high as the Eldest Nation. We decided to keep the Empire and protect the line of Rena. How are we to tell the children of the Nakanos that we cannot keep our promise? This is a challenge that we alone must overcome. If we fail after all this, the people of Ichika will not be able to look our neighbours in the eyes."

After issuing extraordinary taxes, the Empire defrayed a smaller expedition on its own. Its goal? To find out the whereabouts of the Lost Fleet and rescue the survivors, if possible.

In the year 12 of the Discovery, the Ichikas returned to the New Continent. Expectations were low when no sign of the Nakano expedition was found at Raiha Island or the bay, but then the same Futaro clan that had helped Nino's sailors informed them that the people they were looking for were still alive. It was just that they had decided to move up north and build their settlements there.

And it was true. The Lost Fleet was not lost any more. When the Ichika vessels encountered their fellow Nakanos, there was a huge celebration. Gunpowder was used to produce fireworks, the first ever seen in the New Continent. Locals from the Futaro clans and Raiha Island were invited to partake in the feast. To remember the momentous occasion, the nearby cape was named Cape of Fireworks. It seemed as if a bright future was ahead for the Nakanos in the New Continent.

Sadly, they were wrong. Despite its eventual happy ending, the Lost Fleet had been a warning for many in the Nakano countries. Colonization was risky and expensive. And there were secret forces in the Old Continent who wanted to stop it once and for all.

Author's notes:

More real life influences in this chapter:

-The Church coming to Futaro's defence in the face of Nino's criticism is, obviously, a reference to chapters 5 and 6, but it's also inspired by the works of Bartolomé de las Casas, a Catholic priest that famously wrote against the treatment natives suffered in the Spanish colonies.

-The Lost Fleet episode is based on the Today's A Day Off arc (ch. 7-12), but also on many expeditionary fleets that were lost, or sunk, or suffered many other adversities during the European exploration of Africa, Asia and the Americas. More symbolically, it also refers to how the dreaded Cape of Storms was renamed Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese king to celebrate Portuguese efforts in reaching the Indian run.

-Carracks and caravels are the main types of ships used by Spaniards and Portuguese to cross the oceans to other continents (other ships like galleys were used for the more tranquil waters of the Mediterranean sea; those will appear in future chapters).