The Rise of Australasia

As time entered 1921, National Day on January 10th quickly approached.

There was nothing special about this year’s National Day. Due to the ongoing construction of the three great ships at the shipyard, Arthur decided to keep a low profile for a while.

This resulted in the National Day celebrations being limited to the usual flag-raising and some simple activities, aside from the free patriotic movies.

Although the celebrations were simple, it did not hinder the patriotic sentiments of Australasians. Even though National Day started on January 10th, flags were hung all around the cities and towns of Australasia since the beginning of the month. People loved their country and would spontaneously celebrate this beautiful day of its birth.

Of course, some things would be magnified countless times on such a day.

January 11, 1921, Sydney Street, Australasia. Your journey continues with empire

Asian faces were still present, but there were obvious differences compared to those from other regions. One could see subtle differences.

"Mr. Murakami, I have to admit that Australasia’s wine is really good. When I make it big, I will definitely buy a winery in Australasia and have a glass every day," a drunken, red-faced man wobbled out of a bar, chatting with his friend.

"Mr. Ikeno, you should drink less! Our living expenses for international students aren’t much. A bottle of wine costs 2 Australian dollars, which is a whole 10 Island currency!" Murakami did not play along with his friend; instead, he put his hand in his pocket and touched the few remaining bills with a pained expression, speaking to his friend.

"What’s the big deal! If we can conquer the whole of Australasia, wouldn’t all these vineyards be ours? How much money would that be, Mr. Ikeno? Damn these Australasians; their resources should be ours!" Ikeno obviously disagreed, his words full of anger towards Australasia.

"Are you crazy?" Murakami broke out in a cold sweat, relieved that the surrounding Australasians could not understand their language. He whispered a complaint: "Luckily they can’t understand us, or you’d be deported from Australasia!"

"What’s there to be afraid of! They can’t understand us anyway. Even if we insult them, they wouldn’t know," the drunk Ikeno said nonchalantly, swaying and walking forward without a care.

It was summer in Australasia, and although there was no rain today, the wind was strong. Australasia flags on the street were swaying in the wind, sometimes stretching out and sometimes fluttering chaotically.

"What a great place this is! If we could take over, our island country would surely become a top-tier power, wouldn’t it?" A drunken Ikeno began to lament, disregarding the surrounding Australasians and other foreign tourists, speaking loudly to his friend behind him.

At that moment, a strong wind blew an Australasia flag down not far in front of Ikeno.

Feeling nauseous, Ikeno hurriedly looked for a nearby trash can to bend over and vomit.

He was feeling terrible and couldn’t care less whether he had vomited into the trash can. He’d clean up after he was done, but the nausea was unbearable right now.

Feeling relieved after vomiting, Ikeno did not think much of it; however, his friend, Murakami, in the distance suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, his face rapidly changing color as he rushed forward to pull his friend away, questioning, "Are you insane, Ikeno?"

"What’s wrong?" Ikeno was taken aback by the sudden pull but then remembered that he was vomiting. He thought his friend was worried about him littering and getting fined, so he said nonchalantly, "I’ll clean up after I’m done vomiting. Sorry, Mr. Murakami."

"Is this about vomiting? Look at your feet, Mr. Ikeno." Murakami reminded him irritably.

Surrounding Australasians had started to stare, as stepping on and dirtying a flag and throwing it into a trash can was a direct trampling of national dignity in Australasia.

"My feet?" Ikeno was stunned and looked down, only to see the Australasia flag.

However, the obviously drunk Ikeno did not realize the severity of the situation. After a few seconds of silence, he threw the dirty flag into the trash can.

"What are you doing?" Murakami had reached his breaking point, seeing more Australasians approaching and his buddy pouring fuel on the fire.

But before he could question further, the surrounding Australasians quickly surrounded Murakami and Ikeno.

Although they could not understand the two’s language, the acts of stepping on and dirtying the flag and throwing it into the trash can were clearly seen by all the Australasians present.

It should be known that the Australasia flag bears the royal emblem and represents Australasia and the entire royal family, considered sacred and inviolable.

According to Australasia’s national flag law, such acts of trampling, contamination, and destruction were seen as provocations to national and royal dignity, with severe cases facing lifelong imprisonment.

Especially during the National Day holiday, the public’s patriotic feelings were the strongest, having been influenced by the free patriotic films.

Under such circumstances, Murakami and Ikeno’s actions were nothing short of courting death.

"You bastards, pick up the flag from the trash can!" A burly man rushed to the front, pushed away Mr. Murakami who wanted to explain, and said angrily to Mr. Ikeno, who was still vomiting non-stop.

"What?" Mr. Ikeno, with a dizzy head, was obviously slow to react and asked in his own language.

"Islanders? Kill these islanders!" The burly man didn’t care about what Mr. Ikeno said. Seeing that Mr. Ikeno didn’t make any move, he stepped forward and punched him to the ground.

As someone took the lead, a group of Australasians no longer cared about the explanations of the two islanders and launched a one-sided fight against them.

Well, a group of people beating up one person should also be considered a fair fight, right?

"Stop it, we’re international students from the islands, protected by island law, can you treat us like this?" Innocent Mr. Murakami became a victim, but who asked him to be with Mr. Ikeno?

In the eyes of the onlooking Australasians, these two were both part of the group that trampled on the national flag and deserved to be beaten.

It’s worth mentioning that public beatings in Australasia are illegal. However, if it’s done to protect the national flag and there’s sufficient evidence, as long as it doesn’t result in a fatality, it’s not actually illegal.

Indeed, with their abundance of evidence that the islanders had trampled the flag, witnessed by the public, the Australasians didn’t hold back their force in the beating. Soon, the two islanders were bruised and bloodied, with blood and an unknown fluid mixed together on the ground.

"My goodness, these islanders are really suffering. It makes me want to go up and kick them a couple of times myself." Not far away, those Asian faces who were discussing in the industrial area earlier now had a "eating popcorn" attitude and were discussing it with interest.

"You better be quiet. Foreigners can’t tell whether you’re from the islands or us; we all look the same anyway. If you go up there and get caught up in it, you might get beaten along with them. Just watch the show and avoid trouble.

These islanders are really vindictive, and if you go up there and kick them a few times and they see you, who knows how much trouble you’ll get into?" An older person by the side said unhappily.

When the Australasians beat up these islanders, they did it on their turf, so they don’t have to worry about the islanders’ retaliation.

However, it was different for these Asian international students. Their country isn’t as strong as the island country, and drawing the islanders’ resentment could mean trouble for their nation.

Moreover, most foreigners are face-blind and can’t tell the difference between different Asian appearances.

If they went up there, they might be mistaken for islanders and get beaten as well, becoming scapegoats.

Being beaten up is one thing; being mistaken for an islander is an insult to one’s dignity, right?

Being treated as animals is the worst form of insult to a person, and they didn’t want to experience that.

The beating soon ended, and the two islanders couldn’t take it anymore.

It’s worth mentioning that during the entire beating, no one notified the police. This led to the beating ending with patrolling officers coming across the group.

All those involved in the beating didn’t panic, as they were filled with indignation. If it weren’t for the constraint of the law, they would’ve torn apart these islanders in their rage.

Seeing the police question them, the group of Australasians added fuel to the fire by stating the facts of the islanders trampling on the national flag and used the dirty flag in the trash can as evidence.

Since it involved the islander’s international students, this was a diplomatic conflict among major powers.

The police dare not make a decision on their own, so they preserved all the evidence and brought everyone involved, including the half-dead islanders, to the police station, waiting for higher authorities to handle the situation.

Since the incident happened in Sydney Street, it soon reached Arthur’s attention.

Hearing that a group of Australasians had beaten up two islanders in the street for the purpose of defending national dignity, Arthur immediately laughed and said, "Although beating people in the street is wrong, if it’s for the purpose of protecting the nation and effectively defending national dignity while punishing those who undermine national dignity, then this deserves to be praised."

Arthur’s words were not empty; he ordered the Royal Guardian to go to the police station to publicly announce the acquittal of the Australasians and awarded each of them ten Australian dollars for their courageous actions.

The direct pardon and reward from Arthur made the Australasians extremely proud, and everyone sighed that they should have hit harder since they might have received more rewards.

In addition, they were grateful for Arthur’s leniency. Despite being in the name of national dignity, they beat up international students from another major power, which could have caused a diplomatic conflict among major powers. Since it involved their nation, the situation wasn’t easy to handle.

Arthur’s swift pardon and reward showed these people that in his heart, they were far more important than the islander international students.

This is the best embodiment of loving his people as his own children. How could these cherished Australasians not adore their sovereign passionately?

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