Empire of the Ring

The night in late November was quite chilly.

Youngho thought the Hummer could handle the rough unpaved road, but they ended up abandoning the car and walking to their destination.

It was reported that one of the Serbian descendants in the mine village near the ranch had been missing for a while. Since they were already near the ranch, Youngho and his friends decided to gather people to search the missing villager's house. Youngho thought the villagers would give up when it got dark, but having extraordinary night vision, they did not mind walking in the dark.

Youngho and his people guided by a young shepherd boy were close to their destination. The shepherd boy was way ahead of them, waiting with a lantern in his hand.

As they approached the house, Youngho sensed a sudden ominous signal from the ring. The signal was not vibration or blinking lights, but it was closer to a chilling sensation filling Youngho's head. It was enough to alert Youngho for danger nearby.

Youngho and Jongil exchanged glances, 'Let's hurry.'

Somebody around could be in a danger at this moment.

Youngho took his pistol out and sprinted toward the missing villager's house.

When the group got closer to the house, they smelled an unpleasant odor all around the house. It was blood. The torn fleshes of sheep were all over the place and the blood stains were spotted everywhere. The intestines of sheep were pulled out of their dead bodies. Eating intestines first was a habit of predators. There had to be some beasts more vicious than wolves because the ring would not react like this to animals like wolves. A risk factor that Youngho had not thought of should be near them.

"Grrrrrrrr…. Grrrrrrr…."

Youngho heard a low range sound of a beast coming from behind the house.

There were no other animals but bears that could make this sound around the Caucasus.

It was probably a bear that came down close to the village to find extra food before going into hibernation.

The door of the old house was torn apart and the inside of the house was a mess, looking as if the bear had swept by. Youngho had no time to think. He had to take care of the bear first and then find the resident.

As soon as Jongil and Youngho went behind the house, they saw a seven-foot-tall bear roaring with its claws out. It was only about sixty feet away which was close enough for Youngho and Jongil to hit the target blindfolded.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Youngho thought three shots would take care of the situation.

Unfortunately, two more bears rushed toward them after hearing the bear's cry after being shot.

Youngho and Jongil almost emptied their magazines to take down the other two bears because of their thick skins. All three bears were still alive since the pistols could not completely penetrate their bodies. They ended up shooting the bears' heads to quiet them.

They could not find any signs of residents inside the house. If they were eaten by those bears, the remnants of their bodies should be there. The villagers concluded that the residents fled to their refuge since they could not defend the house. Since this kind of event happened almost every fall, the villagers were not even worried about the missing people. They had been living in such a dangerous environment. It was natural for the villagers, but Youngho could not stand it.

These were Fatima's people from the old kingdom, and, one day, they might re-establish their empire within the Caucasus with Leon too.

It was necessary to hurry the village construction around the ranch so people could move into houses early. Youngho needed these people to be safe and well.

The villagers whistled and the missing villagers walked out of from the refuge nearby. They had not even a scratch on their bodies because they were prepared for this kind of situation.

***

Youngho called Niksic to the cafeteria at the ranch. Youngho wanted to meet the people living deep inside the mountain since he could not stand people being exposed to danger.

"Chief Niksic, I cannot ignore this anymore. We need to do something for them. Fatima and Leon wouldn't like this either."

"If you command us, we will get to it right away. But this is really not a big deal for us at all. We've lived like this for hundreds of years."

This was an ordinary life for the villagers.

"We shouldn't let this happen again for your livestock's safety either. I will provide hunting rifles if necessary. Please put the people's safety in priority."

"Rifles? Are you sure you'd give us rifles?"

Even having a protective rifle was such a luxury for them.

If only they had these weapons, it would not have been so dangerous living the mountain.

"They're all members of our village. They are important people, especially for Fatima and Leon. I wouldn't hesitate to spend every resource for them."

Niksic was touched by what Youngho said.

"Our ancestors always emphasized that our reconstructed kingdom will rule the world. Now, I understand what they mean. Our people have been waiting for the time like this."

"Please don't take it that way. The old definition of the kingdom all of you've been waiting does not mean much now. If we can pass on a better life to the descendants of the kingdom, this small village will be our kingdom."

"I understand what you are afraid of, but we, as knights, have our obligations. Protecting the Archduchess and her child is still our mission. Please forgive us for being such a trouble for you."

Youngho could not disagree with him because it was Niksic's purpose in life.

On one hand, Youngho could not understand them at all. What made them be so blind?

On the other hand, Youngho felt relieved to be surrounded by people who would die for Fatima and Leon.

One of the bearskins was tanned well and placed on the living room floor.

The villagers' tanning skill was beyond comparison. Zeynep's dog was trembling when it saw the bearskin on the floor. The dead predator was still terrifying to the little dog.

A number of shotguns were delivered to the village as promised. After a few shooting practices and safety training, young villagers surprised Youngho with their extraordinary shooting ability. It was evident that they were either natural warriors, or the special knight breathing technique had a part in their shooting ability as well.

Most of the wolves near the ranch and distant houses soon disappeared.

The special knight breathing technique had not been passed down to Jongil yet. The villagers did not forgive Jongil for making a joke to Fatima, and Jongil was still treating the villagers as crazy medieval people.

***

People were loading this year's wines on a truck.

The bottling process was completed a little early because Sergey told him that the wines were almost out of stock.

It was not difficult to find workers as the Serbian descendants were available for help because they stayed at his farm or at the guesthouse on the ranch.

They were cheerful because they were paid with cash right after their work. Since they only had their hands on cash once or twice a year when they sold cheese or leather in markets, this was a brand new world for them. They were able to go to Baku's downtown once a week by the farm's minibus to buy supplies.

They were already living more satisfactory lives since they lived where the Archduchess dwelled, and they now had easy access to the supplies they needed and wanted.

The very existence of the Archduchess inspired people to be diligent and proactive because they believed the kingdom was finally reconstructed. They did not need to worry about being persecuted for they had their own monarch.

Zeynep wine had no competitors in Southern Russia and Kazakhstan for its unique color and taste. Sergey was strongly vocal about raising the wine's price. With his Ph.D. in Business Administration, he believed that when the balance between supply and demand was slightly broken, it was the best time to raise the price of a product. Supplies were fixed but demands were continuously increasing. The wholesalers were at the level where they had to adjust the price on their own. Therefore, Youngho decided to raise the price by a dollar for each a bottle starting this year.

Youngho was afraid of the consumers' resistance against the raised price, but Sergey seemed to be confident about it since there was no competitor brand. No wholesaler would be brave enough to sell foreign wines in the Southern Russian market where the mafia was in control.

Still, only trusting mafia would not be appropriate for the future of the company's business since they needed competition for the growth of Zeynep's wine company. The company would not survive if they kept selling their products without effort. This was why Youngho wanted to pioneer in the Western European market.

Youngho had never heard the French and Italian wineries being troubled even though the Argentine budget-friendly wines were overwhelming the market. Australian and Argentine wines did not get on the dinner table because they created a cheap image by producing too many wines from enormous farms. Even though the taste of Australian and Argentinian wines were not too far from Europian wines, they were only used for cooking.

This was why Youngho was stubborn about wines with a long period of aging in oak casks. He did not want to produce tasty but cheap wine. He had nothing to worry about because he already owned a self-processed factory. Especially now he could save a lot of costs for a low-temperature warehouse because he could use the gold mine cave as a warehouse.

The wine value would surely go up.

Youngho was smiling after calculating the estimated profit.

Wine revenue was way more than his expectations. It was more than twenty million dollars.

2.1 million bottles of tank-aged wine brought him seventeen million dollars, and 600,000 bottles of one-year oak barrel-aged wine made nine million dollars.

With this money, the village that would be built around the ranch for the descendants of Serbian knights could be more fortified. It was only paper money. Youngho could deposit the money in the bank. But if the situation got worse, the money would turn to no more than toilet paper.

There was no reason to save paper money when gold bars from the mine would be the true assets. The priority would be getting machines and supplies to keep maintenance of the ranch. Youngho probably needed to award the Jewish capitalists for making him turn his eyes to the land and its resources.