Empire of the Ring

Youngho had contact with the descendants of mine slaves who lived near the ranch.

When Youngho visited them with some daily supplies, they welcomed him with shy smiles.

Although the meal prepared for Youngho was not to his tastes, he still ate the food and began to talk.

“I need people to keep maintenance of the dead mines which will be used as wine aging storages. Are you willing to work on the ranch?”

“You were very nice to us, so I wanted to talk to you with a few technicians about the mines, but I had to pull out all of them because I was told that everything was done.”

Youngho’s desire to find a gold vein did not allow an opportunity for the engineers to share their opinions and he only had let them go.

“I see. I just found out that I had to keep maintaining the cave.”

“Of course, caves should constantly undergo maintenance and reinforcement. I’d love to work for you if you need us. We can also work on expanding the caves. ”

“Great. How many people can work in the mines then? ”

“I can gather about fifty people. They have been working at mines through several generations. They can do no other work. Besides, lately, only open mines are being developed, so we have no other places to work as cave mining technicians.”

Youngho did not need fifty people at the moment, but it was a different story if they were the descendants of mine slaves.

“I am not sure if this is a fair question to ask right now, but are they also all descendants of slaves?”

The conversation stopped at the mention of the slave’s descendants.

The middle-aged engineer sighed deeply. His face turned slightly red. He must have felt uncomfortable to hear the term ‘slave’s descendants.’

Bottles of alcohol rolled on the floor.

Youngho and the Serbian descent in his mid-forties, Nermin, were talking as they drank cognac although it was still in the middle of the day. Not being able to take their miserable story of the past without alcohol, they had been drinking up. Sometimes grasping both fists tightly and tearing up, Youngho listened to Nermin.

Youngho had never expected to hear the undiscovered history of the Kingdom of Serbia whose power once rivaled the Ottoman Empire’s, though felled by the empire, from one of the descendants of the slaves.

Although Nermin was a descendant of slaves and could not receive education, he had not forgotten a word of the history of their ancestors.

He said that he only survived with the will to raise the kingdom once again.

Most of those who were brought to slavery were knights or their offsprings.

Serbian people were forcefully submitted to the empire, but knights did not bow their heads until the end, and that was why they became slaves.

Even though they hid from the public, the spirit of the knights still remained.

“Do you also know about the descendants of the last Archduke?”

“I don’t have any knowledge regarding that. If you want to know more about that, you may need to go to Niksic who is our village head. He was always proud of his family since his ancestor had served as the last head knight of the kingdom.”

Youngho was hopeful, expecting that he might be able to hear Fatima’s ancestral story.

The people’s bond with each other remained strong for hundreds of years only because they were from the same roots. If they are the same people as the Fatima siblings, Youngho and Fatima’s soon-to-be-born child would have another background.

If so, having an ethnicity would be more valuable than having gold mines.

***

“Are you trying to build a new city?”

Jongil asked when Youngho was looking at a blueprint of the village built for the descendants of the slaves around the ranch.

“You are turning into a demon now. It’s not a new city but it’s a village for more than 300 families.”

“Man, are you going to get a medal from President Aliyev or something? You must be planning on offering the village to him for choosing our wine as the official wine of Azerbaijan.”

Recently, Zeynep wine was chosen to be the official wine of Azerbaijan.

“These people are already causing too much trouble to protect the Archduches. They will calm down only when I tell them to stay close to the ranch.”

“These people came to protect Fatima, and they so do not fit in the 21st century. You are getting more and more into this medieval play.”

When Fatima was confirmed to be the Archduches, some sturdy young villagers came to the ranch to escort her. Although Youngho persuaded them to go back, it was obvious that their knight spirit was still alive.

“Shut it, man. If they hear you, they’ll kill you. ”

“It’s the freaking 21st century! Who talks about knights and archduchesses? The mansion and houses on the ranch are perfectly secured since I worked hard on it! We don’t need a freaking village!”

Youngho smiled at Jongil.

The day after Youngho met Nermin, Niksic, the village head of the mine village in his seventies, almost had a heart attack when he heard Fatima’s last name, Aleksandar, which was the last Archduke’s last name.

The Fatima siblings were the descendants of the Archduke that they were looking for all along.

Despite the cold weather of October, Niksic took a bath in cold water and polished himself to come to see the Archduches. He only stopped begging after Youngho explained that Fatima was pregnant and the baby will be born soon. However, the next day, he still visited the ranch with a couple of the villagers to see Fatima and finally went back to his place with satisfaction on his face.

It was an unforgettable moment to Youngho. They showed extreme royal etiquette to Fatima while calling her the Archduches as if they were still medieval knights. It probably was a natural reaction for they had been waiting for this moment for generations. The Archduches was here and they now could fulfill their long-awaited purpose: reconstruction of the kingdom.

They were the descendants of the kingdom’s knights.

The story passed down from generation to generation had become a reality and they now had new hope. Of course, Fatima’s existence was important so they would be protecting her no matter what. Although Szechenyi was there, the eldest was still in the most important position, regardless of gender.

It was a very funny situation, but Youngho was forced to accept it because of their seriousness. Still, Youngho enjoyed the situation regardless of what Jongil said. He was just sketching his idea of ​​building an efficient village even though only about 50 households were to enter the ranch.

“So, while more than 60% of the slaves were dead, the knights still survived?”

“If they still survived when they were abused and lacked food, they must have their own secret training method. But no one knows about that. Their ancestors only asked them to survive and rebuild the kingdom. Such nonsense.”

“Niksic’s eyes were still blazing. He still seems to be living in medieval times. When the old man glared at me, I almost wet my pants. There must be a special training method. Maybe we should send Szechenyi to find out what it is. ”

Jongil was battered by Niksic after being caught joking at Fatima.

Youngho asked Niksic about the special training methods of old knights, but he did not say anything.

Furious at Niksic, Jongil was sure that the old man was hiding something. He suggested using Szechenyi to find out the secret since Szechenyi was still a descendant of the Archduke. The old man had got to pass on the secret somehow.

However, Szechenyi looked at Youngho and Jongil as if they were crazy and refused to do it, saying that he could not understand them.

Youngho would not have to worry about people finding out about the gold mines if the villagers worked on the ranch since these people seemed like they could die for Fatima. It was because they accepted anything related to the Archduches as their fate.

The shepherds working on the ranch were entangled in marriages with them, therefore, no one would cause trouble.

Youngho decided to build houses starting next spring while equally dividing 17800 sq. ft. per household along the fenced southern side of the ranch.

When Youngho said that he would contact a construction company, the villagers all opposed the idea because they did not want to spend the Archduchess’ money like that.

They insisted to build the houses on their own if Youngho provided materials and equipment. Still, everyone agreed to his idea to build a school to educate children and young adults.

Although they had been brainwashed by their ancestors, the villagers did not care much about the inconvenient life because they thought that their destiny had already been settled and they now had a clear purpose.

They reminded Youngho about the towns in Georgia in South Ossetia.

Yet, It would be a big mistake to think that they were easy-going people.

They were such a fanatic group and they might go insane or kill themselves if their hope disappeared. They needed a lot of help from Youngho and Fatima to live normally like others.

Youngho was shocked by the standard of their living.

It was poorer than life in the 1950s.

They grew their own vegetables in a garden near their house, raised a few livestock, got milk, eggs, and meat from them, and they did not have electricity.

Even after an hour or two away from the city of Baku, the government was not able to set up a pole and supply electricity since small groups of people were scattered around the Caucasus Mountains.

Their stubbornness to preserve their own ways also played a part.

Now, thanks to Youngho’s ranch, there was a paved road and many people could easily transport from here to there. Nermin had a better life than others since he had experienced working in a mine outside.

Youngho had no idea that there were still many people who lived in woven clothes of wool yarn.

***

Fatima gave birth to a son.

If it was a month or two ago, Youngho and Fatima would be only receiving words of celebration from people who related to Youngho, but now it was different.

When Fatima gave birth to her son, the descendants of the knights, the people of the mine village, almost fell into a frenzy of craziness.

The house at the ranch was completely filled with presents from the villagers.

They gave the most precious things in their homes, such as chickens, lambs, carpets, handicrafts, and household items. Youngho returned the presents back to the people later. All he could remember was that their sincerity was intense.

When Fatima gave birth, the villagers volunteered to work at the gold mine and refine gold from winter to spring.

For payment, they agreed to accept all the food and supplies from Fatima.

It worked this way: They were showing their loyalty to the Archduchess with gold, and the Archduchess as the monarch granted them food and clothing, as done in the old kingdom.

Since Fatima was still recovering, Szechenyi and Zeynep distributed food and clothing to them. However, Szechenyi and Zeynep were completely disgusted by their fanatic loyalty, and Youngho could see why. Even Jongil tried to avoid dealing with those people.

Anyhow, it was relieving to be eased from all the hard work: secretly searching for a gold vein and crushing rocks since the villagers were working in the mines. Youngho made sure that they wore protective gear so that they would not be injured by rockfall or stone powder.

They were no longer descendants of slaves.

They were the Knights and people of the Archduchess, Fatima.

For them, the lost kingdom was rebuilt, and now they were the people under the great monarchy.

Moreover, Youngho’s son was born.

The newborn baby was the next king of the kingdom, and hope for the people.

He was only Youngho’s son for a moment. Soon, he became the son of the whole Serbian kingdom.