Empire of the Ring

The queen's visit to Azerbaijan showed an unprecedented move.

The meeting with civic groups and welfare organizations was not particularly noteworthy because it normally happened in a ceremonial manner, but it was shocking that she accepted the visits of political figures.

The fact that the queen met political figures alone and accepted invitations to dinner by the business community despite the fact that the Duke of Kazakhstan was not with her was surprising.

The Kazakh queen's visit was a boost to the Azerbaijani government. It was because she said she would not sit back and watch the crisis of Azerbaijan in an interview.

When the Queen's interview was announced through the media, the exchange rate rose, and creditor banks, which had demanded repayment of the principal, declared a grace period.

They had no reason to rush as the Kazakh royal family promised to support Azerbaijan.

If the Kazakh government and the Kazakh royal family intervened, Azerbaijan's foreign debt would be nothing.

Even though Kazakhstan's foreign exchange reserves were only 50 billion dollars, its potential as a vast resource-rich country was unquestionable, and its assets were beyond measure.

This series of changes resulted from the Kazakh royal family, and the minds of Baku citizens were already completely tilted toward the Kazakh royal family.

The Baku residents' minds also represented the whole Azerbaijani citizens' minds.

Baku was home to a quarter of Azerbaijan's population, so it served as a barometer for the entire Azerbaijani people's opinion.

Rather than the government's efforts to overcome the financial crisis, a word from the Kazakh royal family was working to bring the crisis back to square one.

The political movement had subtly changed.

Politicians who were dying to earn President Aliyev's heart began to change.

How could they trust and follow the president when his inability to even resolve the financial crisis was revealed?

It was already evident that the public's sentiment had been completely tilted toward the Kazakh royal family.

However, President Aliyev's approval rating was not down, either.

Although it was a long-term dictatorship, his efforts for Azerbaijan's development and the people were still recognized.

But would he still be able to maintain the current approval rating if the people found out about the huge slush funds he had stored?

He would have to step down from power immediately and seek asylum abroad to save his life. Although the people of Azerbaijan were naive, they showed an uncontrollable tendency once they were angry.

Anyway, the people of Baku were thinking of the Kazakh royal family as if it were their own.

It was not new that the relationship between the two countries was close.

And Kazakhstan was no better off than Azerbaijan a few years ago.

However, it had achieved tremendous economic development since it became a constitutional monarchy, and its military power had also surged rapidly, making it the strongest country except for Russia around the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea coastal countries.

They were paying attention to the fact that Kazakhstan could achieve so much in a short period of time because of the existence of the royal family.

A recent rumor had it that the Kazakh Navy introduced nuclear-powered submarines and a small aircraft carrier, and with such enormous power, it was active in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.

In addition, the royal family had alone pioneered the Arctic route and opened the way to Far East Asia in the shortest time.

While Kazakhstan was developing rapidly, Azerbaijan, the richest country in the Caspian Sea, was facing a financial crisis.

Had it not been for the help of the Kazakh royal family, the government would have come to face the humiliation of receiving IMF bailout funds.

The people of Azerbaijan were envious of Kazakhstan, which accepted such a capable royal family.

While the queen was staying in Baku, all sorts of rumors swirled around the nation.

Words were circulating that if Azerbaijan did not accept the Kazakh royal family, the future of the nation would not be guaranteed.

Some Azerbaijani were shocked by the fact that the national incomes of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which used to be poorer than Africa, became higher than the national income of Azerbaijan after becoming federal states of the Kingdom of Kazakhstan.

At this rate, some even said that Azerbaijan may soon fall short of Armenia.

Public opinion was increasing that Azerbaijan should also be incorporated into the federal kingdom of Kazakhstan.

***

"Doctor, did you get the results of the sample survey?"

When Dr. Park Young-sun came in from the door of his office, Youngho started asking questions even before he sat down.

"Your Highness must have been very curious. I am late to report because the satellite phone suddenly went dead."

A team led by Park Young-sun went to do a sample survey of a new offshore oil field off Baku and returned.

Youngho had been looking forward to hearing good news from now and then, so he was eager to ask about the results of the exploration.

"There's no way the satellite phone would go down. You didn't mean to rend my heart?"

"No way. Their radio wave disturbance was especially severe in that area."

"Please don't hesitate and tell me the results first. I'm very curious."

The reason for his eagerness was because it was an area that was attempted to be drilled during World War I, with the techniques at the time.

For whatever reason thereafter, it had been forgotten from public interest.

The Swedish Information Agency tipped him off, so only Youngho and a few people knew about it.

The Caspian Sea would be another area of world attention if there were large amounts of crude oil or gas deposits.

"We found a small layer of gas in several places even though it was just a basic survey of drilling about only 70 meters down. Whether or not there are reserves, we have confirmed that it's economical enough in terms of development costs."

If a layer of gas was found, it meant that there was oil or gas underneath it.

It was especially impressive to detect gas only at a depth of 70 meters.

Most of the oil and gas layers were buried hundreds of meters deep in the ground.

"How does the gas distribution look?"

"You know, I didn't get to report back to you early because I had to survey more areas. Gas was found all over the region, so I needed to make sure."

Park Young-sun's face was brightened, which was telling everything.

"You mean they were all found in a wide area? That would be a lot."

"It is difficult to predict recklessly because it may be spread across a wide area between strata. I can say that I'm hopeful."

It was good news.

This meant that the larger the gap between strata, the more crude oil was likely to be.

Youngho jumped up from the sofa and gazed at the map occupying one side of the wall.

It was a detailed map of the oil field development station that was put together after an agreement with President Aliyev.

"Can you roughly mark the area where you found the gas on this map?"

When Youngho finished speaking, Park Young-sun drew a rough sketch of the area he surveyed with a colored pencil.

The section marked seemed quite wide on the map.

"It's not accurate, but it's probably about this much."

"What is the actual area?"

"The area we roughly surveyed was only about 10 square kilometers, and I think it's going to be a wider range."

Youngho tilted his head as he could not measure its size in his head.

"Can you compare the size with something?"

"It's four times the size of Yeouido in Seoul."

The size would not be very large if it was for farmland, but if oil was buried, it was a different story.

Youngho calmed down his excitement and sat back down again.

Come to think of it, he had not even offered tea yet.

"Oh, where are my manners?! I was so excited that I didn't even serve a cup of tea to the person who has been working hard for the royal family."

"Hahaha… I remember when oil was found in the royal territory. You were very excited at that time, too."

It was quite a shock to find oil reserves in a country without a drop of oil.

"The global community is running out of oil, and it's a blessing that we can still find new reserves. That's more welcome than finding a gold vein."

"We still need a thorough investigation, but the scope might be expanded. I think we shouldn't have offered to split the revenue in half with Azerbaijan."

"If you give up greed, it comes back with the greater good. The proposal to split is actually working for us."

Park Young-sun was not yet fully aware of the situation in Baku.

"I don't know what you mean…"

Youngho explained to Park Young-sun how the people of Baku were looking at the Kazakh royal family these days.

"It has become a situation of snowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. Even if the crude oil we find is shallow, it's going to bring in several times the profits we lent from our royal family."

"I think it's more important to win the hearts of the citizens of Azerbaijan than to gain that kind of benefit."

"Do you intend to accept Azerbaijan as a federal state?"

"We should consider it if the people of Azerbaijan want to."

For Park Young-sun and her daughter, Baku was like a second home.

He even remarried with the woman he met there, so it was of course, special.

"Even though it'll be a loose federal relationship, the people will have high expectations for the royal family. If we don't settle that well, it's not worth having a federal relationship."

Though Park Young-sun was not a politician, he did not sound empty because he was a man of knowledge and wisdom.

People would expect all the worries of the world to disappear if they accepted the Kazakh royal family, but Youngho did not have an answer to the question of how to resolve such expectations.

"If we want to reassure the establishment and the political community, we have to start with a loose federal system. We'll be disappointed if we expected the nation to change overnight. I'm willing to take that much."

If Azerbaijan demanded a federal system first, the royal family would only play a pivotal role.

Then, it would gradually change the Azerbaijani political system to a democratic one without bloodshed.

"Great expectations make a great disappointment. We have to get rid of it so that our royal family can settle in Azerbaijan."

"We can't do anything about the political community right now, but I think we can give the people enough economic satisfaction."

What Youngho expected depended on the results of the drilling.

If there were reserves enough to surprise the world, his proposal to split the revenue in half with the Azerbaijan government would be a divine move.

This was because the Kazakh royal family had asked to develop a specific place.

If he already knew about the huge oil reserves and still wanted to share the development benefits, the people of Azerbaijan would praise the royal family and approve of its loyalty to them.

"Your Highness, you must expect the oil we find will play its role for sure."

"So, can I look forward to it?"