Chapter 3 - Sakura And Rosary

23-7-1581

Portuguese Nagasaki

Lara Croft (in a loose white linen shirt and breeches) sat in the small library of Padre Sebastião Alvito's minka, spending all day busy reading a Portuguese-Latin Dictionary and jotting down various translations on a small notebook with a dip pen. She was in dire need to learn some simple Portuguese so that she could understand basic military commands during the upcoming Yamatai exorcist-expedition. She could not over rely on Padre Sebastião's simultaneous interpretation particularly during critical moments between life and death. In truth, the young Countess was quadrilingual. While her mother tongue was Surrey accent English, Lara also spoke French-Picard dialect and Dutch-Hollandic with near-native proficiency. The former was taught by Lara's Huguenot mother Amelia to remind her Northern French lineage. The latter was taught by Uncle Roth and the Endurance's crew since 80% of them were Hollanders. Lara was also a master of Latin since the language was mandatory for aristocratic education. She could thus perfectly read and write all its variants from Classical all the way to contemporary Neo-Latin. The Dictionary was in Ecclesiastical Latin which was very easy for Lara to understand because of its simplistic but flexible language structure. The process of Portuguese-Latin-English translation and memorisation was so far quite successful.

Just as Lara was about to take a break by preparing a new cup of matcha, a voice suddenly came from behind, "I hope I am not interrupting."

The young Countess nearly jumped from surprise. She turned around and greeted the Jesuit Priest, "Of course not. I am just learning some basic Portuguese. How are you doing?"

"Excellent… until I heard a story about a 'bizarre but beautiful dual-wielding Nanban Onna-Musha' saving a slum from protection rackets by slaying 4 rōnin-thugs with ruthless proficiency. Many even describe her as the reincarnation of Tomoe Gozen and Hangaku Gozen. I am SURE that you know NOTHING about it, right?"

"Well… about that… errr… I don't know what Onna-Musha and who those 2 Gozens are…"

"Female samurai and legendary heroines. Now back to the topic, don't you find it strange? There are only a handful of European women in Nagasaki but only one of them is known for dual wielding swords."

"My rapier and parrying dagger are still confiscated in the city ordnance depot."

"Fair point. However, I would like to know why my house suddenly has 4 new pairs of uchigatana and wakizashi out of nowhere? The eyewitness claimed that the mysterious Nanban Onna-Musha collected the exact number of weapons."

"... Fine, ya got me. I killed them. Are you going to imprison me again?"

"No."

"You are not mad at me?"

"Well yes but actually no. I am disappointed that you are dishonest with me. Yet, the Council is happy that your little stunt boosted our publicity among the locals. You became a folk heroine in a single night, congratulations.

"Em… Thank you. I am sorry that I lied to you at first because I am really scared that you will kick me out."

"You are more afraid of being homeless than a brutal death in slums. I find that hard to believe. Would you like to tell me what truly happened last night?"

Lara nodded and explained every detail to Padre Sebastião. When she finished her tail, the Jesuit Priest was speechless for a few awkward minutes. He eventually broke the silence and commented in deep thoughts, "... You are a very dangerous and unpredictable woman, Lara. It seems that we all underestimated your combat capabilities. I am glad that you are on our side, at least for now."

"Don't worry. I am too far away from home and you guys are the only ones who show me kindness in this barbarous land. I am not going anywhere."

"Glad to hear that. By the way, I will introduce you to the crew of São Nicolau de Mira and soldiers of the Yamatai exorcist-expedition tomorrow. I am sure you will like them."

"Right…"

24-7-1581

Portuguese Nagasaki

Padre Sebastião's young Japanese housemaid finally accepted Lara's complete ignorance of traditional Japanese dressing codes, doing rapid mental gymnastics that she should be open minded to Lara's unique fashion sense. However, she nearly died from cringe when Lara (in a pitch-black male kimono) tied the uchigatana and wakizashi to her left waist with an uwa-obi (belt/sash). Only hereditary military nobility of samurai was allowed and required by Japanese law to carry 2 swords in public. It was so fortunate that Nagasaki was under Portuguese administration or Lara would instantly be executed if she was outside the city. The young Japanese housemaid voiced her concern to Padre Sebastião who in turn sincerely warned Lara about the potential danger of her action. The young Countess thanked their advice and promised that she would never dress in such an offending way outside Nagasaki… meaning she would continue to violate traditional Japanese dress etiquette within the city.

After dressing up, Padre Sebastião led Lara to the city barracks and its muster field. She quickly spotted an extremely unorthodox terço in drilling formation. It was a small joint Portuguese-Japanese unit formation. There were no universal military uniforms and each soldier was uniquely colourful. For the Portuguese, all junior commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers and pikemen were equipped with munitions-grade almain rivets. Their helmets were either morion or cabasset or burgonet. The matchlock musketeers, military musicians and field medics shared the same helmets but had no body armour. Catholic Deacons wore their usual biretta but had a jack of plate underneath their black cassocks. For the Japanese Catholics, all ashigaru were equipped with munitions-grade karuta tatami dō and jingasa. Meanwhile, samurai were in Nanban dō gusoku and kabuto. Both Japanese units' armour was decorated with various Roman Catholic iconographies like the Holy Cross, Christogram of IHS and Chi Rho.

Outside the terço was the Capitão (Captain). He wore a morion with a huge peacock crest, a silver three-quarters armour with gilded edges and a ocean green silk sash. The Capitão was accompanied by an Alferes (Ensign) with white plumed burgonet and a Sargento (Sergeant) with blue plumed morion. The trio were equipped with halberds and wheellock pistols. They slowly walked around the terço and barked drilling orders. They carefully inspected the unit discipline and equipment, eyeing for any potential mistakes or improvements.

For the terço, 4 evenly divided matchlock musketeer units were positioned at the 4 corners outside the pike square. They consisted of 70 Portuguese musketeers, 20 Japanese ban-zutsu tanegashima ashigaru and 10 Japanese o-zutsu tanegashima samurai. They used fire by rank and kneel fire tactics to constant continuous volley fire. O-zutsu tanegashima were in huge anti-materiel calibre and could use bo-hiya (incendiary-explosive fire rocket) ammunition, essentially making them man-portable light siege artillery. Once in melee range, the matchlock musketeer units would retreat into the hollow pike square. It consisted of 50 Portuguese pikemen and 40 Japanese nagae yari ashigaru. They formed the defensive pike square with their approximately 5m long thrusting spears. While slow and manoeuvrable, they were extremely effective against enemy infantry and cavalry charges. Due to very small unit size and shallow depths, some enemies may penetrate the battle line and cause breaches. 15 naginata samurai and 15 no-dachi samurai would thus stand firmly behind the pikemen to maintain the terço formation and fill in any potential breaches. The aforementioned matchlock musketeers also shared similar roles and served as the terço's last combat reserve, either by switching to melee sidearms and entering the fray to fill in the gaps or shooting foes at point-blank range. Additionally, all samurai squads could be used as shock troops to exploit weak points or flank enemy formation while the pikemen were pinning the foes in melee like a anvil.

In the middle of the terço was the command squad. The most eye-catching was the Porta-bandeira (Standard-bearer) with a burgonet. His huge Portuguese Empire flag-banner was well decorated with gilded spear head and red silk-wrapped flagpole. He was accompanied by a Barbeiro-cirurgião (barber surgeon), his 3 local Japanese medical apprentices/assistants, 2 Deacons, a Baterista (drummer) and a Fifer. They were all equipped with wheellock pistols. Their presence maintained and boosted unit morale even facing certain death in the darkest hours.

Lara praised in amusement and excitement, "Never in my life would I ever imaginate seeing a beauty like this! The perfect blend of advanced European and exotic Far Eastern aesthetics into one unique hybrid war machine… This is just too magnificent! The contrast and hybridity! I am in love! Who comes up with such a splendiferous idea?"

Padre Sebastião pointed at himself, "Believe it or not, it's me."

"What!? Seriously!?"

"YES. About 2 years ago, I started to notice that many Japanese weapons actually shared very similar functions to our European equipment: yari are pikes, naginata are halberds, no-dachi are zweihänders and tanegashima are just copy and paste of our matchlock muskets. Since our undermanned East Asian colonies cannot send us much military support, we are basically on our own for any external threats. I thus proposed to the City Council that we should recruit local Japanese Catholic volunteers and train them to fight in terço while maintaining their traditional armament. The City Council approved it last year but had no implementation due to insufficient Portuguese officers in Nagasaki until the arrival of São Nicolau de Mira on 2-5-1581. This terço is thus hastily trained but it will do the job."

"Wo… that's… I mean no offence but… it is really hard to imagine a Priest like you to have such extensive insights in military equipment, tactics and administration."

"It's ok and there is nothing to feel strange about. Just like Ignatius of Loyola, I used to be a soldier before I became a Jesuit Priest. When I was 17, I fought as an arquebusier mercenary under the Republic of Florence. As the best sharpshooter in the whole company when it comes to reload speed and accuracy, I was active at the final stage of the Italian Wars from 1555 to 1559-"

"Wait, didn't the Kingdom of England fight as one of its allies from 1557 to 1559?"

"Correct. I actually became fast friends with a few English mercenaries in cities when off duty. They taught me English and I taught them Portuguese as additional recreational activities. You know, constant drinking, gambling and picking up girls can get boring really fast."

Lara laughed out loud as she leaned forward and put her right hand on hip, winking her eyes and teased, "Oh my~ Didn't expect you to be a ladies' man~ You must be incredibly popular and bring new girls home every night."

"While I was popular, I never did the… you know… the deeds. I merely flirted and catcalled them. But my English friends actually engaged in multiple sexual relationships and they all ended up horribly…"

"... Syphilis?"

"YES… Don't you find it ironic? These promising young men survived the most brutal fray on the battlefield, yet all died horribly from disease caused by carnal desires… I knew that it was God's warning and my spiritual calling. I let my mercenary contract expire in 1563 and went to study theology in Roman College in Rome. Italy will forever be my second home... 8 years later in 1571, I was ordained as a Deacon and served in the Holy League's fleet against the Ottoman Turkish invaders in the decisive Battle of Lepanto. By the way, have you heard of Thomas Stukley?"

"Oh! You mean Lusty Stucley? Yea, definitely! He was a devoted Catholic recusant from Devon and a stern rebel against Queen Elizabeth. Uncle Roth sees him as his bitter rival and still constantly talks crap about him. I think it just makes Lusty Stucley more fascinating, even though he died 3 years ago in Morocco."

"Precisely! I was actually on Thomas Stukley's galley during the Battle of Lepanto and he was a valiant commander. Although my original role was to just provide a spiritual and moral boost, I eventually had to pick up a matchlock musket to defend the ship, slaying many foes. With the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we were victorious in the gargantuan naval battle and decisively saved Europe from Islamic enslavement. After that, I joined the Society of Jesus and was ordained as a Priest. I travelled to Portuguese Angola, Mozambique, Goa and Macau as a missionary to evangelise the locals, eventually arriving at Nagasaki 3 years ago. I guess old habits die hard because whenever I see native soldiers, my old profession and instincts instantly kick in. I will record them, draw comparisons and write military treatises on how to improve their equipment and tactics."

"Damn… that's hell of a journey, talent and passion. I am glad to be on your side."

Lara paused for a whole 10 minutes in deep thought to reflect Padre Sebastião's words. She then asked in concern, "Wait… Is this terço all we got for tomorrow's expedition? How many troops do we have in total? Also, how is such a large column of troops supposed to travel through a humid subtropical island? I am sure there will be a lot of trees, rough terrains and hills."

"You are right. This terço already consists of the entire São Nicolau de Mira crew, a few squads of Portuguese city garrison and local Japanese Catholics. We have a total of 234 troops, including you and me. However, we need to have at least 30 men to guard the ship and 30 to fortify the landing priminter due to potential Wokou threats. We thus actually have only 174 mobile troops. They will be divided into 9 squads of 14 and 3 squads of 16 to explore the island for Himiko's demonic anomaly. Portuguese and Japanese soldiers will mix together in units to encourage comradeship. The terço formation won't be used until we are forced to assemble together and fight overwhelming foes. While the chances are low but we still shouldn't take any risk. The Council thus insist the troops to practise terço formation drill one last time before launching the expedition."

"Ok… then what about us? Which squad will we be assigned to? And what is my role in the expedition?"

"We are assigned to Alferes Alexander Wyss's squad. Considering your past exploration experience and extraordinary combat performance against the 4 rōnin, it will be a total waste if you simply serve as a rank-and-file soldier. Therefore, you are going to be a pathfinder and shock trooper."

"Well, beggars can't be choosers. Am I right? Still sounds good for me though."

After 10 more minutes, the drill ended with the Capitão giving a 10 minutes Portuguese speech to the soldiers which was simultaneously interpreted by a Jesuit Deacon in Japanese. While Lara could only understand 1% of the Portuguese speech, it was extremely passionate and she had no doubt that the Capitão was an excellent commander. He then gestured Padre Sebastião to lead Lara in front of the terço. After a friendly handshake, the Capitão introduced Lara to his fellow soldiers and many quietly gasped in surprise. With Padre Sebastião's whispering simultaneous interpretation into English to the young Countess. Capitão described her being a "villainous" English privateer but turned over a new leaf by joining the Yamatai exorcist-expedition as a penitent crusade. He explained how everyone was sisters/brothers in arms, everybody deserved a second chance and no one would get left behind. The Capitão also revealed and praised Lara as the "mysterious" folk heroine who single handedly brought the 4 rōnin-thugs to justice in the city's slum. The entire terço formation applauded thunderously which greatly embarrassed Lara. After that, the troops orderly marched off the muster field, except the officers and a selected squad of soldiers. Padre Sebastião introduced each of them to Lara who greeted them sincerely by shaking their hands one by one.

The name of the Capitão was Cristóvão Oliveira - a 46 years old Portuguese Naval officer from Lisbon. He had short black hair, brown eyes and a bandholz beard. His military rank referred to being a navy Capitão of the galleon São Nicolau de Mira, not as an army Capitão. He specialised in naval combat, boarding action and amphibious warfare.

In contrast, the terço was a large army infantry formation. Its true command thus actually belonged to the 25 years old Alexander Wyss - the terço's Alferes and Lara's shipwreck rescuer. He was handsome with short brown hair and crystal blue eyes. Unlike most men who kept stylish beards or moustaches, Alexander was clean shaven. When Lara mentioned that she could speak Dutch-Hollandic, Alexander immediately communicated with her with the same language. Although he completely butchered the pronunciation and grammar, the duo could somehow understand each other with ease. Lara felt instantly attached to him for his talkative and humorous personality.

Alexander's adventures were full of twists and turns that made Lara's exploration look unremarkable. He was a Swiss German mercenary from the Catholic Canton of Uri of the Swiss Confederacy. The poor Alpine rural region had very limited economic options. Alexander thus joined his cantonal force at the age of 18 like most of his fellow citizens. His regiment was hired by the Habsburg Spanish Empire and deployed in the Spanish Netherlands from 1574 to 1578. The mercenary company immediately integrated into the Army of Flanders. Alexander learned some basic Spanish through military commands and Dutch-Hollandic from visiting local cities. The Swiss mercenaries' objective was to crush the Dutch Revolt and suppress the heretical Protestant insurgency. Alexander and his battle brothers exalted the role with brutal efficiency. They crushed their foes in the Battle of Mookerheyde in 1574, Siege of Oudewater and Schoonhoven in 1575, Siege of Zierikzee and Sack of Antwerp in 1576, and Battle of Gembloux in 1578.

After that, the mercenary contract expired but Alexander did not renew it like his fellow Swiss brethren as he wanted a new adventure. He joined a new company of 3000 Flemish and German mercenaries to the Portuguese Empire. They were re-designated under the commander of Thomas Stukley - the aforementioned English Catholic recusant mercenary general. They helped the young but pious King Sebastian to reorganise the Portuguese Army as terço after the model of Spanish tercio. With additional Moorish, Castilian and Italian reinforcements, the new 23000 men-strong Portuguese Army loyally followed King Sebastian's crusade to Morocco, aiming to establish the Moorish ally Abu Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi as the new Sultanate of Morocco and neutralise the Islamic threat to Portuguese North African enclaves. Unfortunately, it ended in complete disaster in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir on 4 August 1578. King Sebastian was missing in action. 8000 were valiantly killed in action, including Thomas Stukley, Abu Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi and most Portuguese nobles. 15000 were captured and sold into slavery. Only 100 survivors escaped to the coastal Portuguese enclaves like Asilah, Alexander was among the few of the lucky ones.

The catastrophic military disaster in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir did not stop Alexander from seeking new adventures. He joined São Nicolau de Mira as Capitão Cristóvão Oliveira's land warfare adviser. They sailed from Lisbon to Angola, Mozambique to Oman, Goa to Ceylon, Malacca to Macau, and finally to Nagasaki. They traded goods, defended Portuguese outposts/colonies, searched and destroyed various pirates along the way. During the long voyage, Alexander mastered Portuguese with the crews' help. They only arrived at Portuguese Nagasaki on 2-5-1581. Due to São Nicolau de Mira's large capacity, strong hull and excellent armament, it was specifically selected as the vessel for the Yamatai exorcist-expedition.

For tomorrow's campaign, Lara was assigned to "Segundo" - a 16-men squad led by Alexander. Meanwhile, Capitão Cristóvão Oliveira would lead another called "Primeiro".

For Segundo, it had 8 melee frontliners. They included Alexander as a halberdier, Lara as a fencer of rapier and parrying dagger, 2 Portuguese pikemen, 2 nagae yari ashigaru, a no-dachi samurai and a naginata Samurai. There were also 8 missile backliners. They included Padre Sebastião and 4 other Portuguese soldiers as matchlock musketeers, 2 ban-zutsu tanegashima ashigaru and a o-zutsu tanegashima samurai.

Apart from Alexander and Padre Sebastião, the most unique squad member was the o-zutsu tanegashima samurai - Justina 'Samantha' Nishimura Yuno. She was an onna-musha and specialised in hōjutsu/teppojutsu - the art of gunnery. Justina was 22 years, a year older than Lara. She was beautiful with brown eyes and silky pitch-black chest length hime cut. Justina was an outgoing girl with passion for adventures. She was hailed from Nara of Kansai region and her original name was Nishimura Yuno (西村由乃). Following the footsteps of her distant uncle and devoted Catholic daimyō Dom Justo Takayama Ukon, she was baptised as "Justina" in 1573 and participated in final stage of the Ishiyama Hongan-ji War from 1577 to 1580 under Oda Nobunaga. With the zeal of the convert, she quickly learned Ecclesiastical Latin and Portuguese, thus able to fluently communicate with everyone. Despite having a very feminine body frame and was 3 cm shorter than Lara, she handled the huge and heavy "anti-materiel" o-zutsu tanegashima like a toy, causally taking all its shoulder-breaking recoil like eating dorayaki. Furthermore, Justina preferred to be addressed by her weird nickname "Samantha". It was a Sri Lankan masculine given name driven from their false pagan deity Saman. Apparently, Justina encountered it while reading a Jesuit travelling log. She found the name sounding incredibly "cool", thus instantly adopted it as her nickname and pen name.

Yea… talkin' about the duality of pious women with wild-child tendencies. Lara took a mental note to always call her as "Samantha" from now on.

After chatting with the rest of the Segundo squad, Padre Sebastião ordered Alexander to take Lara to the harbour docks and gave her a tour of São Nicolau de Mira. The young officer happily obliged as his eyes sparkled with thankfulness to the understanding Jesuit Priest. As the duo left the crowd and was walking alone to their destination, Lara said sincerely, "Once again, thank you again for discovering me on the beach and saving my life from the shipwreck. You have my forever gratitude. Please tell me if there is anything that I can repay you."

Alexander took a deep breath and suddenly blurted out, "Please go on a date with me!"

That shocked Lara and her mind went blank for a few seconds. She had been single since birth. Noblemen found her too aggressive, masculine and hyperactive for their taste. Commoners simply gave up due to Lara's out of reach high aristocratic status. The awkward situation only intensified when all handsome young men on Endurance were specifically ordered by Uncle Roth to always keep a professional distance from her. Otherwise, they would suffer his wrath by keelhauling. Needless to try, no one dared to try and Lara just gave up hope on romance. Yet, Alexander was now the first ever man to ask her out in her entire 21 years of life. The situation was surreal and Lara happily accepted, "Yea! Sure! When and where should we go?!"

The hyper-eagerness and enthusiasm completely surprised Alexander. He blushed and answered, "I… I am so happy that you accepted. However, we can only go after the exorcist-expedition and I still haven't found a good place yet. Ya know, I am still new here just like you."

"Alright then, we can figure it out together later on Yamatai! I am sure it will be a great time!"

With that said, the duo arrived at the harbour docks and Lara's already euphoric mood further boosted onto heaven when she saw the magnificent galleon of São Nicolau de Mira. The multi-role sailing ship's entire hull was painted black with pitch to prevent alkaline corrosion and shipworms' parasitism. Its towering forecastle provided excellent elevated shooting and crossfire angles. The galleon had well-armoured decks and a total of 20 devastating cannons from port and starboard. The duo embarked on the "Black Ship" and Lara instantly explored both its exterior and interior sections curiously. Its structure and design were identical to Endurance but the space was bigger and a lot more comfortable. Most rooms were already occupied by the crews, soldier's personal belongings, ammunition, equipment and food supplies for tomorrow's Yamatai exorcist-expedition.

Alexander then showed Lara a small room with a bunk bed, a small table, 2 chairs and a wardrobe. Some Japanese clothing and accessories were already tidily placed on those wooden furniture. He explained, "This will be your quarter during the expedition and you will share it with Samantha. You will definitely enjoy her company."

Lara sincerely thanked Alexander and continued to explore the São Nicolau de Mira, greeted and chatted with various crews on board all the way until night. The Alferes then escorted the young Countess back to Padre Sebastião's minka and the trio had dinner together. Both men had endless adventure stories but had polar opposite tone and orientation. Padre Sebastião's tales were full of wisdom and extremely academic, each story contained a small hidden piece of life advice and spiritual guidance. They involved many thought-provoking topics regarding faith, natural science, anthropology, morals and ethics. Meanwhile, Alexander's tales were just full-on combat action or vulgar comedy. Although they lacked any educational value, they were extremely entertaining and captivating. Lara thus completely forgot/ignored the fact that Alexander actually killed her fellow Englishmen and distant French Huguenot brethren during the Siege of Schoonhoven in 1575 or brutally sacked various Dutch cities during the Spanish Fury. After the delicious dinner, Alexander left and returned to the city barracks. Lara silently stood at the gate and gazed dreamily at his masculine back fading away under the bright moonlight.

Her girly smile was interrupted by Padre Sebastião's worrying voice from behind, "You two just properly meet for a single day and yet you already look at him like that. This development is way TOO fast."

"What do you mean?", Lara asked in confusion.

The Jesuit Priest just sighed, "... Nevermind… The expedition will commence after we have breakfast and your equipment will be on the ship tomorrow. You should sleep early and get more rest tonight."

Lara nodded and Padre Sebastião left her alone. The young Countess enjoyed the comfortable night wind and scenery for 15 more minutes, before taking a hot bath and retiring to her bedroom. A new adventure would begin tomorrow…