Empire of the Ring

The leadership and members of the revolutionary government and the National Congress held a series of meetings each day over the cost of the coronation of the Queen. The cost of the event was a big issue since the economic situation of Kazakhstan was not very good. So, when the royal family said it would pay a hundred million dollars for the coronation, the conference room was turned like a beehive that had been poked.

“It’d be nice to have a simple ceremony, but we can’t miss like the golden opportunity to bring the whole Kazakhstan people together. So I’ll pay for the coronation with the royal family’s money.”

“Duke, that’s not possible. The ceremony should be held with the money donated by every ethnic group of Kazakhstan. That way, it can be a real event of harmony. All 120 representatives from each ethnic group agreed to do so.”

“How can we make them pay when we know that all of us are struggling to make ends meet? Don’t worry, the royal family’s wealth is more than enough to cover this.”

“No, it should be looked at from a different perspective. It is more important that we all contribute to symbolize that all people are appointing the monarch together. That kind of formality is absolutely necessary since it is our first queen.”

“Then, would it be alright if the Queen returns all of your expenses in the form of a royal grant after the event?”

“It’s not that we don’t know how much you care about the people, but we’ve made our own decisions.”

Nine members of the National Congress, who were the representative of 120 ethnic groups, had continued to work with Youngho since the start of the revolutionary movement.

Youngho had purposely brought them in since their help was absolutely needed in order to get the support of the minority in Kazakhstan. As a result of such efforts, the voter turnout and approval rates for the constitutional amendment were evenly high regardless of region or ethnicity. It was very encouraging of them to take the lead in paying for the coronation, so Youngho kept insisting to give the money back.

“Why don’t I make a suggestion? How would you like it if the royal family built a national school or a community hall in each major community of ethnic groups under the name of the Queen in the future?”

“That’s a good way. If the hall or school was given by Her Majesty, it’d be appreciated by the people.”

“All right. I’ll consider providing institutional support to each ethnic school to teach its own culture and language.”

“If you recognize the culture and traditions of each ethnic group, the royal family and the Queen will be praise for long.”

“Well, I don’t want to be praised, but if it will help the minorities find their identity, I’ll be happy with it. If we take advantage of the characteristics of each ethnic group, it will serve as an opportunity for further development of Kazakhstan.”

“We promise that we will continue to maintain our own ethnic identity and continue to do our duty as citizens of Kazakhstan more thoroughly.”

“I’ll also do my best to repay your hard work.”

The coronation of the Queen of Kazakhstan was big enough to attract the world’s attention.

An invitation was issued to all countries that had established diplomatic ties with Kazakhstan. The fact that a new dynasty was established in the 21st century itself was intriguing news. It was also hard to understand that the constitutional monarchy was adopted at a referendum, which resulted in an extremely high approval rate. The world had speculated that a coercive method would have been employed as it sounded like nonsense.

People around the world were not interested in the Caspian Sea, as most of the countries that faced the Caspian Sea became independent in relatively recent times. Even their names were unfamiliar. They did not know that Kazakhstan was a country of 120 ethnic groups. However, the emergence of a new queen in such a country was drawing attention to the countries of Central Asia.

***

As the event was only a day away, the city of Astana was bustling with diplomatic envoys from various countries, tourists, and reporters who came to cover the event.

The original capital of Kazakhstan was Almaty in the south, the largest economic city in Central Asia. Astana started as a fortification city in the mid-19th century and began to take the form of a normal city, then developed into an administrative and transportation hub and became the capital of Kazakhstan only in 1997.

Although it was a historical city, it was reborn as a modern city in accordance with the new city plan when it became the capital. The former president was motivated to make it a global city, and it did not fall short compared to other advanced cities in Europe.

The coronation ceremony was held without any religious color.

Since the secular Muslim-majority group occupied more than 60 percent of the population and nearly 40 percent of the population believed in Russian Orthodoxy, the coronation could not be lopsided. There was no religious color and grandiose formality to emphasize national unity and harmony.

What mattered was the pledge of loyalty of representatives of each ethnic group. Although their ethnicities were different, people had to be united under one monarch in order to become one. The ethnic representatives looked proud to receive the title awarded by the Queen after their pledge.

Now, the official name of the country became “The Kingdom of Kazakhstan.”

Tens of thousands of people gathered in the square and cheered as Fatima stood on the podium and announced the official name of the country. Only then, the true festival began.

The festival of the Queen’s coronation was spreading throughout the whole country. Since festivals were only fun when there was food and things to see, Youngho decided to provide refreshments for the people of Kazakhstan in each city. Although each ethnic group had contributed to the coronation event, Youngho did not want it to be a dry event. The atmosphere should be enjoyable like a real festival. It was not fun for people who had to stand outside in dry areas without a speck of shadow.

Ice creams and drinks were provided during the daytime and cold beer and generous food were served at night with fireworks to entertain people. Such provisions were made to give people hope that Kazakhstan would be better with the new change.

Fireworks were held in downtown Astana. Since Youngho had never seen such fireworks before, he could not close his mouth. It seemed a tremendous amount of money was put in for such fireworks.

“How much did you pour in?”

“Mr. Basten sent firework technicians. So, I have no idea exactly how much this cost.”

Basten, the representative of the Information Agency, was a very secretive person. He never showed up in official events. So, instead of being unable to attend, he sent the fireworks as a gift.

“How much resource is your company trying to take from us that you’d spend this much money?”

“Hahaha… Well, at least we’re paying for it.”

“Is there a special mineral that we don’t know about buried under our land or something?”

“No way. Mr. Basten will probably be a little greedy for gold.”

“Please tell him that we’ve got plenty of gold to spend for Sweden.”

“There will be a purchase of gold for our company too. But, that’ll be only a few tons.”

“Tell him that I’ll even give away royal gold if necessary.”

“I’m sure Mr. Basten will look forward to it. But was there so much gold in Serbia in the Middle Ages?”

“It was a small country, but I heard it was very powerful. It was not involved in any conquest war, but I was told that it was as rich as an Empire. I’ll leave the rest of the story to Eriksson’s imagination.”

“Have those knights standing in front of the Queen kept the royal property?”

“Yes. They’re great people who are unbelievably loyal to the Queen. With the establishment of the new kingdom, they must have had their long-awaited wish come true. Now that they’ve achieved their aspiration, they may vanish like dust in no time, as you can see in fantasy movies.”

It was a joke, but Youngho said that because there was a subtle change in his body. When Fatima shouted: “The Kingdom of Kazakhstan” and countless people cheered, it was like the energy of the world was coming all at once. That power filled his lower abdomen, and then it felt like it was absorbed into him.

He should check up on his body later, but he felt like he became the owner of a body that was made out of iron, which could only be found in martial arts novels.

It could not be explained if the ring did not have the Serbian Kingdom’s desire of the last Archduke.

As Youngho joked about a fantasy movie, Eriksson made an ambiguous comment.

“You have a different vibe and atmosphere from yesterday’s”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s kind of an atmosphere that’s hard to relate to. It’s like you have the whole world in you. It’s something you can only feel from someone who’s lived a long time.”

Youngho could not help but panic at his remark. Of course, Eriksson must have a different idea from Youngho’s, but Youngho had to ask a stupid question.

“Did you feel like you were seeing a ghost from me?”

“Oh, Duke, what’s up with you today? I don’t know why you keep saying weird things.”

“You said I seem different today.”

“I’m just saying that you look great in a complicated way.”

“Eriksson, did you study Eastern philosophy?”

“No, I studied psychology and sociology.”

Since he always said things like Zen riddles, Youngho thought that Eriksson might have studied Buddhism before. Anyway, Eriksson’s remark was quite impressive. He said Youngho’s atmosphere was changed, so Youngho decided to ask Fatima later to find out if it was true.

The change must have been due to the ring’s spirit, but it was strange that it responded to the cheers of the residents every time.

It was kind of a wake-up call, and he did not know if it was only related to the loud cheering. There was no other way to explain if the ring was not connected to the residents’ roar.