Empire of the Ring

The ice on the Yenisei River melted from spring to early summer, so the river water melted in the middle and the upper stream flooded every year as it passed through the downstream section, which was a tundra region. That was one of the reasons why the river was exceptionally wide.

Although the river’s width had reduced a lot as it was already July, the river was usually 20 kilometers wide from the site of the Tunguska River, and it did not even feel like a river anymore.

Youngho was indulged in the surrounding scenery because it was his first time sailing through the Yenisei River. It was barely halfway through the River even though the ship had sailed about 1,000 kilometers already. The river over 4,000 kilometers was not realistic to him before, but now he could see how long and huge it was.

Youngho was envious about Russia’s immense nature and vast land.

As he was deep in thought, Kim Il-kwon approached him.

“Boss, what are you thinking about?”

“Don’t you envy this huge land mass that belongs to Russia? Man, this unimaginable size is even suffocating.”

“I’m out of breath too. I didn’t know Siberia was this big. I can’t believe there are only trees, moss, and animals without humans.”

“There’s only moss in the tundra region. I don’t know what the natives here use as firewood.”

“It’s amazing how people can live in such an environment.”

“They were probably pushed north by the immigrants or followed the reindeers.”

There was no way that the innocent natives who lived with reindeers could have fought with well-trained immigrants. They were still powerless now like thousands of years ago when they peacefully lived around Lake Baikal since Youngho was now snooping all the way to find them.

The tundra, where the thick trees disappeared as the land was covered with moss, unfolded before Youngho’s eyes at the end of the Taiga region. It was not that there were no trees at all, but there were some tall perfumes and willow trees in the drainage areas of the low hills. If they traveled further, it would be the polar region where there would be no more trees.

The sailors lowered their small boat. They checked the depth of the water busily and searched for a place to moor. After an hour of searching, they found a bay-like spot along the river. They got off the lamp door on the back deck of the ship so that their light armored vehicles could land. The Turkish tactical armored vehicle Cobra 2 was an amphibious vehicle with four-wheel drive and could carry as many as 10 people with a weight of 12 tons. The six-cylinder diesel engine had a power of 3,600 horsepower and was able to travel up to 800 kilometers with a fuel tank of 200 liters, making it the autonomous state’s main battle vehicle.

Only four people were aboard on each of their three light armored vehicles, while the rest of the space was spared to carry water, oil, and other small amounts of combat ration.

They originally planned to dock at the Port of Igarka, but it was impossible since there were so many ships, so they went through the trouble of descending into the lower reaches of the river.

If it was not for its color, the river could be even mistaken as a sea. It seemed that it was no exaggeration to say that people could catch fish there with their bare hands when the river was frozen. As they cast their fishing rod at the river, a fish would be caught immediately. The size of fish caught was as big as the ones in the sea as they lived on abundant organic matter in the water.

Sturgeons were also frequently caught that it made the sailors happy.

Its eggs were known to be expensive and amazing, but that was ignored on the state. Rather, they cooked the whole fish, and its meat was quite chewy and good.

Youngho was fascinated by the Yenisei River after only two days of sailing. It did not matter that the water was frozen for more than half a year. If it was a place where one could enjoy such a great nature, then he wanted to have a piece of the land.

***

“Even if we find a reindeer in the future, don’t kill it. Two reindeers will last several days for twelve of us.”

“Prince consort, can’t we just peel off their skin?”

“With your skills, we won’t have much left of their skin anyway. I know it’s a pity, but let’s just leave them alone.”

The reindeer were seen and hunted for their meat, but skinning was a formidable task. Besides, if the natives saw them hunting recklessly, it would not make a great impression of them.

“Boss, it’s a pity that we have no one who’s good at skinning. I’ll have to practice skinning before I come to Siberia.”

“Yeah, we should. It’s harder than it looks.”

Most of the Countryside Force guards who came along the Tundra expedition were Serbian young lads, and they were terrible at skinning work. If only there were middle-aged soldiers, this would not have been a problem, but they were all young men who lacked experience.

“There’s no way to barbecue this because there’s no wood here. We’ll have to make it a steak, or boil it and eat it with salt.”

“This must be why the natives enjoy raw food.”

The natives might prefer raw reindeer meat not because the meat has a lot of vitamins but because they don’t have any trees to burn. When they come to the Taiga region in the winter, where there was a lot of trees, they could cook the meat. But, in the tundra, there was not much to burn. Since only a small fragrant tree or a small willow tree could be seen, one would have to carry firewood to cook anything.

Youngho thought that he would easily find the natives in Tundra, but they were nowhere to be seen. He brought combat rations and rifles to make an exchange with them, but he could do no deals since there were no natives.

It was not until the afternoon of the second day of their expedition that their effort to search for the natives worked because they managed to meet them. A couple in their early 40s, two teens—a boy and a girl—and twin boys that were in Leon’s age were the members of the family that Youngho met.

The family said that they were stuck in the region for days because they had a patient. Most of the natives moved to eastern Siberia because it was midsummer. Youngho would not have met an Evenk if there was no one in their family that needed medical attention.

Everyone was happy to be able to finally meet an Evenk family, and the family was glad that Youngho’s group had medicine to heal their wounded child. Since the Countryside Force guards were trained to give basic first aid, it was fortunate for the wounded child.

The teenage child, who had a cut in his thigh, was suffering from a high fever. One of the guards disinfected and stitched his wound which was as small as a pocket knife.

The problem was that the knife was rusty and a secondary infection was developed by it. The group called the doctors in the autonomous region on a satellite phone to receive instructions to treat the child. Finally, the child fell asleep with a steady breath in the end. Everyone sighed in relief.

***

Youngho’s group camped out nearby the river and went to the place where they saw the Evenk family earlier in the morning. They were getting ready to leave since the moss around the region was exhausted already.

Young-ho jumped and dissuaded them.

“Most of the people infected with tetanus get sick for about a month before recovering, but many also die from it. No matter how important reindeers are, your child is more important.”

“For us, reindeers are family. If the child doesn’t survive, he will return to the arms of Siberia just like other reindeers, so it won’t be too sad.”

It seemed that the Evenks thought of death more of a natural event. Hearing the father’s words, Youngho felt like he was in a different world.

“I understand, but you still need to disinfect the child’s wound and let him rest for a while and take medicine. It’ll be fatal if he gets infected.”

“Thank you for your help, but if we wait any longer, the reindeer will scatter in search of food.”

“Then we’ll help you. Just give me the location, and I’ll drive him on the car.”

Since reindeers were directly located to the Evenk people’s life, Youngho could not argue with them. He did not want to send the child with the group since he needed to rest more. Besides, the purpose of his visit here was to meet the Evenks. He resisted to help them and finally, the family agreed to him.

The parents and their teenage daughter would herd the reindeers, and the rest of the family got on one of the armored vehicles. As the family’s loads were loaded onto the roof of the armored vehicles, the reindeers galloped with lightened steps.

The Evenk family did not even set up tents at night but slept in the open because they were in a hurry, and they did not want to lose time setting up tents. They looked quite uncomfortable sleeping in a reindeer skin, so Youngho gave them a tent that was easy to install. The family thanked him multiple times. Their leather tent was not enough to stop flies or mosquitos flying in the summer tundra. It was natural for them to get bitten by mosquitos at night but now that Youngho gave them a simple tent that was simple and light and would prevent bug bites, the Evenk family was immensely grateful.

They were now mentioning the reindeer skin as a token of gratitude.

“The only thing we can give is this animal skin.”

“I’m here to explore the great world, not to seek leather.”

“We Evenks always repay a favor.”

“As a friend of the Irtysh of the warm spring forest, I did what I had to do.”

“You are his friend?”

“I ran into him in the woods last winter. We’re meeting there again this winter.”

Youngho also gave them the lamb-based combat ration and a hunting shotgun, the Evenks were amazed by his gifts. They seemed to want more. They had never had food that tasted this good in their entire life.

The wife and children were fascinated by the combat ration, and the father who was named Dudinka was in love with the shotgun. It was a very cheap hunting gun on the market, but it was more attractive than anything else for him who had an old-fashioned gun that probably was made in the ’50s. Since they were all offered as a gift, they were surprised.

“I can’t accept it because it’s too precious. You even rejected the leathers, so I have nothing to exchange them with.”

“I don’t know what it’s like in Siberia, but in the East, even small ties are taken very preciously. Don’t feel pressured because I’m a friend of Irtysh.”

Dudinka thought for a moment, and he went through the pocket in front of his reindeer-skin suit.

“It’s like an amulet to us, but I’ll feel better only if you take it. I can get it again, so don’t worry.”

“If it’s like a charm, I can’t take it.”

“You can get as much as you want if you go to the small stream. Have you ever heard of the red stone?”

Youngho finally got a chance to see the real red stone. He was waiting for a perfect timing to ask about it since he did not want to give the wrong idea, but Dudinka took it out to show it to Youngho without hesitation.