Oil-Producing Nations Union?

On February 10, the Leman Federation formally declared that the Ritz Kingdom had left the federation. At this situation, everyone reacted as if it was something that might have happened. Meanwhile, the situation of the Ritz Kingdom, which had been forcibly separated from the federation, was gradually worsening.

In particular, the reactions of the people were sharp and divided in two. One side defended the king who cared for them, while the other side resented and denounced the king who had driven them into the worst situation.

As both sides launched fierce demonstrations, insisting that their own words were right, there were times when violent fights broke out to the point that they exchanged punches with each other. In this situation, the aid entering the Ritz Kingdom began to decrease rapidly.

The Moria Empire reduced it first, and then the Noma Empire also reduced its aid. Aside from that, other countries also reduced what little aid they had been giving, as if joining in. By contrast, the support for the federation that still remained as the Leman Federation and formed a two-kingdom system was not decreasing at all.

It was literally an act by the two empires sending pressure from every direction, and in the middle of this, what added even more fuel to the fire was that the Polia Kingdom imposed a food export ban limited to the Ritz Kingdom.

Even though, after the Great War ended, many countries were recovering their food self-sufficiency rates by restoring farmland and so on, the countries that were still normally producing and exporting food were the Polia Kingdom, along with the Magnia Empire. Those countries had always exported their remaining agricultural products to various countries, and Polia had placed a ban on those exports only to the Ritz Kingdom.

As the situation turned this way, the practical conditions of life began to worsen rapidly. Since the quantities of wheat and various other agricultural products decreased absolutely, their prices rose exponentially. Because of this, even those who had defended the king began to break away little by little.

No matter how much patriotic feeling they held, the reality was that once their own situation rapidly worsened, they had no choice but to turn away. In the end, leaving only a minority behind, only those who fully resented the King of Ritz remained.

In practical terms, the Ritz Kingdom had no choice but to halt all restoration activities that had been underway. In truth, not only the money to hire people to carry them out, but also the raw materials themselves had been completely cut off, so they could no longer do anything. Hungry people even began to increase in the streets.

Even in such a worst-case situation, the King of Ritz still did nothing. Since this was the situation, voices calling for the king’s abdication began to be heard quietly. With even the nobles joining this movement, the King of Ritz seemed to think that he could not remain still.

He immediately moved the defense forces in the king’s name, but less than half of them listened to the king’s order. It showed just how far royal authority had fallen. Amid this situation, a coup occurred, led mainly by nobles who placed one of the royal family members at the forefront.

The coup that erupted on February 25 only ended around 9 a.m. the next day when they caught the king trying to secretly escape. Because of this, the scale of various damages had no choice but to grow.

In a situation where there had originally been nothing, even the buildings that had barely been built through tearful restoration over the past few years suffered damage, with quite a few completely burned down. This coup, too, was effectively something that had occurred under impossible circumstances, to the point that even their already meager livelihood was ruined.

Thus, once the king was captured, what was carried out was his abdication, and even in that situation, the king merely said that he had only done what he could for this country. He was a king who did not bend his stubbornness until the end.

In the end, he was forced to abdicate, and among his children, the person who was the Fifth Prince ascended to the throne. In truth, he was a prince with no support base at all, so he had been chosen by the nobles and placed on the throne. In a way, the future of the Ritz Kingdom looked dark.

It was very likely that from now on, it would become a country where the nobles operated state affairs while keeping the king as a puppet. In truth, it was already becoming that way. Meanwhile, after enthroning a new king, the Ritz Kingdom took an attitude completely different from before.

The first action they took was to put the king forward and adopt a low posture.

[The acts committed by the previous king were anti-humanitarian acts, and I make it clear that they were acts that cannot be tolerated. As the new king, I deeply feel responsibility, and I offer my great apology to the Polia Kingdom, which suffered damage because of this matter. In addition, this kingdom makes clear that it has the intention to rejoin the Leman Federation, and from now on, for a better future………]

It was an apology that the new King of Ritz stood on the platform and read aloud. Something that should have been done earlier had been done once the king changed. Meanwhile, in response to this apology, the Polia Kingdom conveyed that it accepted the apology and immediately moved to lift the food export ban.

The king had even changed, and they had formally received an apology, so there was no reason to keep dragging it in a petty and negative direction. In truth, if there was a hidden inside story, it could be said that the Polia Kingdom’s intelligence agency had also partially intervened in the coup that had occurred this time.

Because of the King of Ritz’s behavior of offering not even a word of apology, they had intervened and made him abdicate. There were issues such as rejoining the Leman Federation, but since that was not something Ian’s side needed to concern itself with, he took his hands off matters concerning the Ritz Kingdom.

March 1.

“The migration of the Dairam people, which has been underway since last year, is currently continuing, and only about 10% of the population has crossed over.”

The plan decided last year to migrate them to the islands located in the Sea of Abundance seemed to be going well. It would have been good to send everyone at once, but since there were the numbers of people themselves and also the infrastructure needed for them to live there, they had no choice but to send them slowly.

“To move all of them from now on, we will have to look at at least ten years, won’t we?”

“Yes, it seems that only with about that much time will we be able to settle everyone properly.”

“Then have you emptied the population of the city located on the island?”

“Yes, in order to make a thorough distinction, for now, all the Dairam people who lived in the main city, Dallon, have either been migrated or sent outside the city. The city will be inhabited only by mainlanders.”

“That should make it easier to manage.”

It was a city where as many as 500,000 people had lived. Of course, it was not said to be as developed as other mainland cities, but even so, since it was a city where that many people had lived, it could be said that it had all the general infrastructure needed for life in its own way.

“Let us distinguish the city and the island, and later have mainlanders advance throughout the island as well.”

“I will draw up the plan that way.”

Annoying and complicated procedures would continue, but in truth, this was also work for the future. Only when the Dairam people completely emptied the island would there be no problems in the future. For this, he thought that they could sufficiently accept losses.

Thinking that way, Ian spoke to the chancellor sitting across from him.

“Ah, come to think of it, there was an interesting report.”

“Yes, an opinion was sent to our kingdom asking whether we had any intention of joining a union centered on oil-producing countries.”

“Was it an intention that came from the Magnia Empire?”

“Yes, it was an official document sent by the chairman of the Magnia Empire’s petroleum industry.”

“It is said that the chairman sent it, but it must also be entirely the intention of Emperor Jedic.”

Just like the Polia Kingdom, in the Magnia Empire as well, the emperor possessed 100% ownership rights over oil. In such a situation, the fact that they sent such an intention meant that it was also the emperor’s will. In any case, they had surely sent it now to every country that produced oil.

‘Are they saying they will begin controlling oil from now on?’

In truth, from long ago, only the four empires had been oil-producing countries. They had divided ownership rights over the places that had been discovered and developed not only on the Old Continent, but also on the New Continent. Amid this, after its previous defeat, the Doicheun Empire had all its ownership rights taken away and was no longer an oil-producing country.

In truth, one could say that among kingdoms, there had been no oil-producing country until now. Since it was difficult for the powerless to protect treasures if they possessed them, even if oil deposits were discovered in a kingdom’s own country, the structure was such that they had no choice but to be taken away by the empires.

‘But our kingdom alone became the exception.’

In the past, when they had to import all the oil they needed, an oil deposit was discovered by chance while they were creating a landfill, and they had become an oil-producing country. Thinking about the moment when they had been obstructed during development back then, one could tell just how much they had not wanted a new oil-producing country to be created.

Currently, not only were they consuming the oil they needed, but they had even reached the point where they exported the remainder to foreign countries as it was.

‘At the very least, there is even one more oil deposit that I have not yet ordered to be developed.’

The deposit left for the future was currently being blocked so that no one could develop it under strict surveillance. Whatever the case, the countries called oil-producing nations in the current world could be said to be these four countries: the Polia Kingdom, the Magnia Empire, the Noma Empire, and the Moria Empire.

‘In other words, we took the place of the Doicheun Empire.’

Whatever the case, the Magnia Empire currently seemed to want control over industries related to oil.

‘Thinking about it, there is nothing bad about it, is there?’

Since they were acknowledging them as an oil-producing country, it did not seem particularly bad. Rather than creating a relationship that would become estranged for no reason, he thought it would be good if they earned a lot of money together through a cooperative relationship.

“It is presumed that the oil union will be joined by the Noma Empire and the Moria Empire, along with the Magnia Empire.”

“The empires certainly want to properly control oil. It would not be bad for us either.”

“That is correct. Then shall we join as well?”

“We should join. Far from taking losses, will it not become a union from which we only gain benefits?”

“That is true. For now, if we can simply know the quantities produced by one another, we will not suffer losses from excessive production.”

It was not a good thing simply because one extracted oil recklessly. Extracting crude oil and storing it also required maintenance costs, and transporting it cost additional money as well. If too much was produced, all of that would become expenses that had to go out as money.

As such, if they knew each other’s production volumes in advance, they would be able to produce only a fixed amount, use what they needed themselves, and export what remained, thereby using costs in just the right way.

“Is the surveillance over the second deposit being handled properly?”

“Yes, we have guards patrol the area regularly in case someone secretly attempts to drill.”

“If they know that oil makes money, one can expect that there will be people who grow greedy and try to extract it secretly. So do not let your guard down, and if such people exist, you must catch them without mercy.”

“Of course.”

Listening to the chancellor speaking confidently, Ian felt reassured by that for now, and then brought up another issue.

“By the way, I heard that the population of the capital has already exceeded 7 million this time.”

“Yes, it has already increased that much.”

“To think it has reached this level even when the new cities have not been formed yet. If this continues, it will become a city of ten million.”

“Residential areas are currently continuing to be completed in the districts where the new cities will be built, so we will have people move there. Then we expect that the excessive concentration of population in the capital can be relieved.”

“Even having the population increase too quickly is a problem.”

“It seems that since there are many people flooding in from the provinces, and the people living in the capital are having many children, the population has no choice but to rise too steeply.”

As the chancellor said, the problem of the population rising too quickly was currently trying to slowly trouble the Polia Kingdom. Of course, he had no intention at all of applying the brakes because of something like this. Since he knew that the moment he applied the brakes even once, they would no longer show such a growth rate, he was thinking of deliberately not applying the brakes at all.

“What is the total population of our kingdom now?”

“Officially, it is currently 123.2 million.”

“Has it already increased that much?”

Ian himself knew that when he became twenty-five years old, they had achieved a population of 100 million. In such a situation, now that he was twenty-nine, the population had increased by more than 20 million.

“The number of babies born in a single year alone easily exceeds at least 5 million.”

It was a number possible because everything was complexly intertwined. First, since the economy was in a good state, there were not many economic problems regarding marriage, and at the same time, the royal family was directly providing support from a welfare perspective, so everyone was having children.

They were even providing education for free, so everyone had no choice but to have no hesitation about having children. In any case, looking at these results, he felt that after ten years passed, they might still be able to aim for at least a population of 150 million.

‘Of course, that is under the premise that this population growth rate continues.’

Whatever the case, in terms of population, it was large, but since the Polia Kingdom was now in a budding period where many children had just begun to be born, it had no choice but to be a kingdom with an extremely young population. For those children to grow properly and become active, it would only be possible after at least ten to twenty years passed.

“Will we continue the population growth policy as it is?”

“Do so. The more population there is, the better, so I intend to let it continue increasing.”

“Your Majesty still thinks that way, I see. Understood.”

Since Ian always said that the population needed to keep increasing, the chancellor now seemed to have accepted it as such. In any case, their conversation continued a little longer before coming to an end.