Western Coast of Japan, Designated Trade Port.
Late December 1836.
What happened at the port didn't stay there for long.
By the next morning, the French already had everything written down. They checked the damage, went over what happened step by step, and confirmed who was involved through the Japanese officials assigned to the area. Nothing was left unclear.
Guizot didn't react right away.
That made some of his own men uneasy.
He stood near the edge of the enclosure while the steam engine was being tested again. It ran like nothing had happened—smooth, steady, no signs it had been damaged the night before. From the outside, everything looked normal.
But it wasn't.
His aide walked up beside him.
"The report's done," he said.
Guizot nodded. "And the machine?"
"Fixed. They hit some exposed parts, but we replaced them. It's running again."
Guizot kept his eyes on the engine.
"They didn't even understand what they were breaking," he said.
The aide shook his head. "No."
