Empire of the Ring

Thanks to the coronation, the city area of the Arirang Autonomous State and its surrounding areas had become much cleaner. It looked fresh all the way from the airfield to the city that was renovated. The control tower looked fresh with its newly-painted exterior.

It was the day when the 12-seater jet arrived. Its size was huge compared to the six-seater jets that the state already owned. It had a range of more than 6,000 kilometers and had a maximum speed of 970 kilometers per hour, which was incomparable to the six-seater jets.

With this huge jet, the state now had transportation that could fly to any city in Northeast Asia as well as to the Europe nonstop. There was a reason for the rush of bringing in the jet. Even though the state had a small population and had settled in a barren land, Youngho wanted to show off the state’s wealth.

“You really should have bought this earlier. I’ve been nagging you to choose a big one since the beginning, but you’ve been so stubborn that you’re now buying an extra jet.”

“Is it a light plane that the Intelligence Department has been flying around? ”

Jong-il complained even though the Intelligence Department—which he was the head of, had been using a six-seater jet as if it belonged to the department.

“I’ve been using it only because I couldn’t just leave the jet idling around since we bought it anyway.”

“That’s why you need to figure out a way to receive more immigrants. We’ve doubled the size of our state. How are we going to fill it up?”

“Let’s just develop it into grassland and leave it alone for a while. It’s not going anywhere. What’s the rush?”

If the wasteland was to turn into a grassland, it would need waterways and reservoirs all over the place, so it was not something that could be done without enough manpower. In addition, in order to prevent desertification, trees must be planted and artificial hills must be created to change the course of the wind. The state was far short of people who would do the job. That was why Youngho was begging for Jong-il to attract more immigrants.

“What is the movement of the Koryoins in Uzbekistan?”

“They’re relatively well-off, so they won’t need to move. We’ll have a better chance with the Koryoins in Tajikistan.”

“Tell agents to recruit more immigrants in Tajikistan. There are more than 200 remaining houses. We need to fill them up with people.”

Now that the state brought in a mid-sized jet, it had enough to show to the visitors that would come to attend the coronation. Jong-il said that he would keep the freighter when it returned from Siberia so that it could be displayed for the visitors. Residents were also busy to shop for clothes to wear during the coronation ceremony. All the people went to the city of Atyrau at once on a car ferry to shop.

***

People in Baku were also busy preparing for the coronation ceremony. Szecheny and Zeynep also returned to the farm and snooped around historical museums with Fatima. They were trying to mimic the old traditional clothes and pieces of jewelry for the event. Since it was their first time to have a big, official ceremony as a royal family, they have no idea what to do.

Even if they wanted to follow the traditions of the Middle Ages, they had not many relevant data, and if they followed the modern way, it would reveal the disconnected history of the Serbian Kingdom. Since it had been such a long time, it was impossible to imitate the old Serbian Kingdom’s traditions.

Even Chief Niksic returned to Baku to search for old materials, but he could not find anything left since the knights were dragged as slaves and most of their belongs had been lost. After a few generations, most of the traditions were forgotten because they were busy making ends meet.

“I can’t raise my head because I’m ashamed, prince consort. I think I lived in vain.”

“Chief Niksic, you’ve been busy making ends meet. It would be weird if you kept all the artifacts of the Serbian Kingdom after a few hundred years. It’s just a symbolic coronation. Let’s not worry about traditions.”

“I can’t do that. Even though we lost our traditions, we have to start our own tradition from now on. I’m going to have to imitate the one from the traditional Orthodox way because the Serbian Patriarch is going to visit us.”

“I heard he couldn’t come because he’s too old. Can he make it?”

“It was just an excuse not to come. When I asked him, he said that the traveling cost was a problem, but he’d be glad to come. So, I think we should offer him our jet.”

“Of course we should.”

The Serbian Orthodox headquarters—based in Bucharest, Romania, had about 10 million followers. But since most of them were very poor in southeastern Europe, the church was financially not supported well. The patriarch had to rely on his followers’ thin wallets, which made him feel uncomfortable traveling around. It was great that the state had enough airplanes to provide for the patriarch.

“I’m going to have to make some donations to the Serbian Orthodox Church from now on.”

“How generous of you to think that when you’re not a religious person, prince consort. If you do that, the Orthodox Church will actively help out with our state’s future events.”

“We can’t ignore the traditions of Serbians if we’re going to take the Archduke system. Our history begins now.”

“I’m just thankful for your consideration. It’s a great deal of luck for us Serbians to have met you. I don’t have any more wishes now.”

“You should take care of your health now, Chief Nikisic. There’s still a lot of work for you to do here.”

“I have nothing to lose since I’m already old. Ask me anything, and I’ll serve you with all of my strength.”

From the standpoint of Niksic, he had no more wishes since he was now about to watch the old Serbian Kingdom’s rebirth with the Archduke’s coronation ceremony. The descendants of the knights had waited and waited for generations to see this day, and the fact that he was given a formal title as a knight—was exceedingly rewarding for his lifetime of waiting and endurance.

***

“Brother, the Danish royal family would like to send a congratulatory delegation to the state. What should we do?”

“I didn’t send an invitation, but they’re going to attend?”

The fact that the Danish royal family still wanted to attend without an invitation was quite surprising since the state had concluded that it would not send an invitation to any European royal family.

It was nothing to be thankful to the Danish royal family for their willingness to attend the ceremony. It could be misunderstood by other European royal families for leaving them out from an important event.

“Tell them that it’s an internal event. They’ll understand if you say that it could be a gossip since we didn’t send out invitations to other royal families.”

“I see. I’ll try to persuade them. It doesn’t matter if Princess Isabella comes in as my date, does it?”

“Yep, there’s nothing wrong with the princess’ visit.”

If an invitation was sent to other royal families but they did not send an appropriate delegation or an attending group in return, it would be embarrassing to the autonomous state. That was why the state had given up sending out invitations to them since it was not sure that if other royal families would recognize the birth of a new royal family. Not to mention, the state had no interactions with other royal families yet whatsoever. Youngho did not want the state to be taken as begging for its approval.

“The executives at the Danish Shipyard said they would attend.”

“Of course they should come. If they don’t come even after receiving an invitation, that would be mere rudeness.”

Only businesses with economic ties to the Arirang Autonomous State were invited to the event this time. Of course, the Danish Shipyard was included in the list since Youngho and Szechenyi’s investment company was the shipyard company’s major shareholder.

“I’m almost tired because they let me know every time there is a ship order these days.”

“I’m sure the management is very nervous right now. Even though we said we were a partner, we became a major shareholder so quickly, and that must be overwhelming for them.”

“I don’t think so. They were hoping that you’d get involved in the management soon.”

“Really?”

“I think they’re shocked that you’ve won two more icebreaker orders recently. They couldn’t make it through all their efforts, but you’ve won six orders in a short period of time. Even the dock that had been shut down was restarted now. They’re expecting that good changes will happen when you involve the management.”

“I won’t get many orders for icebreakers anymore, but I have a few people who might be interested in ordering freighters and ferries. If they won’t, we can order ships for Arirang Shipping from the shipyard.”

As the volume of shipments had increased due to rumors that Arirang Shipping had become specialized in non-regular goods shipment, Jong-il had been complaining that more vessels were needed for the shippers’ high demands.

Although Arirang Shipping was a little bit burdened by its debt, Youngho could help out with the company’s finance if needed. Even if the company bought used ships and let the Danish Shipyard repair them, the company would appreciate it. Until now, the used ship market was flooded with sales to dispose of ships that had been held due to the financial difficulties of many shipping companies.

“You shouldn’t be involved in the management of the shipyard for the time being. We may have to bear the brunt of the slump. Tell them you’re just happy as an investment company for now.”

“They’ve grown so excited about you. The union is also very favorable to us. They want us to be in the front line.”

“They said that they maintained their reputation through cooperation with the labor union. I guess now they’re being dragged by the union. How bad on earth was their management?”

“That’s probably why they trust you.”

“I acknowledge the hard work of the workers, but I don`t want to bring them into management. Ask them to do their best in each other’s respective field. Inform the union about my management policy.”

It seemed that the company was having a hard time due to the neglectful management, which made the company borrow the union’s funds, and now it was being swayed by the union. Still, it was also funny that labor union with low expertise was involved in the management of the shipyard. Although it may be a dichotomous idea that was distinguished between management and workers, Youngho had the idea of respecting each other’s field of expertise. If labor union wanted to manage the company’s own business despite having received the privilege of all kinds of legal and institutional devices to protect themselves, it would be like taking advantage of the power of the majority.

Such a right of authority was a discouragement to entrepreneurs. Workers and labor unions could only exist when there was a company in the first place. If there were such signs at the Danish Shipyard—he was about to take their hands off from the company.

Many people in the third world were still dying out of poverty and unemployment, and if people in the world’s best-living countries practiced their right of authority by labor union power, Youngho would not stand it. He would rather shut down the company. Now that he was becoming the official prince consort of the Arirang Autonomous State, he wanted to act like a real one even in businesses.