"Columbus, the king has ordered your release."
"Ahaha! I, Columbus, have finally returned!..."
"Ahaha! Thank you, envoy of the Queen, for coming to receive me from prison, and even bringing a four-wheeled carriage fit for nobles... Hm?! Why is it you?! Eleazar, you fire-pit-damned bastard!"
Columbus stood at the prison gate, changed back into the clothes that had originally been confiscated from him. Though they were still ragged and torn, at least he looked like a respectable man now. Beside him followed Captain De La Cosa, his face haggard and sallow, his body thin as a reed, clearly tormented half to death by prison life.
As for the other Sailors of the Santa Maria, only the last eight remained. Even the navigator Pedro was nowhere to be seen; no one knew whether he had died of illness. To the Portuguese, if these ordinary bottom-rung Sailors died, then they died. Even if the Kingdom of Castile pursued the matter, at worst they would pay a few dozen silver coins...
And now, the Jewish merchant Eleazar emerged from a luxurious four-wheeled carriage with a beaming smile. He looked Columbus up and down with an affectionate smile for a while before speaking.
"Of course it's me! Columbus, the food you ate in prison these past few days was quite good, wasn't it? I paid for all of it for you!..."
"."
Columbus pressed his lips together. A mouth that ate another man's food went soft; after being locked up so long, his whole body had gone soft. For once, he did not curse. He only looked at Eleazar, dressed head to toe in fine clothes, with a complicated expression, and asked, "The Holy Mother truly has opened her eyes! A miserly fellow like you can actually be this generous?..."
"Haaha! Columbus, after all,