Charlotte walked slowly down from the platform amid the applause of them all, and returned to her place.
And there was yet one more marshal to be declared.
But Lilith opened her mouth, and found that her voice did not carry.
Her color changed at once.
If the equipment were to fail at such a moment,
it would be a great joke indeed.
But a man's voice sounded at this moment.
"I confer upon the Owl Dragon Empire's highest secretary-officer, Lilith, the rank of five-star marshal." So Zhao Chen's voice rang out.
The applause rose again.
Unexpected as this grant of rank was to some.
Yet Lilith's place within the Owl Dragon Legion, or rather within the Owl Dragon Empire now, was a particular one.
If Charlotte was the woman who stood before Zhao Chen, then Lilith was the woman who stood behind him.
Without Charlotte, Zhao Chen would have no fist.
Without Lilith, Zhao Chen would have no brain.
Lilith was wholly worthy of this rank.
Only that among the several interstellar powers, such a rank had never yet been conferred upon a civil administrator.
For the most part other grants were made instead.
But given that the Owl Dragon Empire rose from a military foundation, the whole of it seemed reasonable enough.
After a brief moment of blankness, Lilith walked up before Zhao Chen.
Her eyes rested upon the teasing man before her.
Her mouth moved; and though no sound was heard, Zhao Chen read her lips.
"And you never told me."
Zhao Chen said nothing, but with a smile fastened upon Lilith this five-star marshal's insignia.
Had anyone looked closely.
They would have found that the two five-star marshals' insignia were not the same at all.
The stars were the same stars.
But the ground behind them was patterned differently.
Charlotte's insignia had a sword and shield behind it,
while the ground of Lilith's five-star marshal's insignia was a book.
And with this the Owl Dragon Empire's appointment of its own high officers might be reckoned done.
The appointment of the remaining officers would go forward batch by batch, and needed no conferring by Zhao Chen himself.
But there were some honorary officers yet to be ranked.
"Qin Xiaolei, Saint Cana, Blanche, Angelia, Wells. Come up upon the platform." Lilith's voice was restored to its ordinary state now, and she called out five names.
Qin Xiaolei and Saint Cana rose; the standing of these two all knew well.
The queens of the Starlight Kingdom and of the Holy Radiance Kingdom.
As for Blanche, the outside world might know less of her, but the Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom knew her well.
For though Charlotte was the Warhammer's leader in name, the true administrator was Blanche.
And this time Zhao Chen had determined to grant this Blanche some honor outright, by way of a reward for what she had given in silence.
And Angelia and Wells were the Holy Angel Queen and the War Angel King.
The five stood together before Zhao Chen.
These five were granted the rank of honorary marshal, by way of an acknowledgment of their standing, though it carried no very great substance.
When Zhao Chen came before Blanche,
she said softly: "There was truly no need for this."
"Charlotte bade me thank you; it is you who have governed the Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom well. In truth she had meant to declare formally that she resigned the leadership of the Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom, and I had agreed to it. What you have done these several years has proved already that you are wholly equal to that place. Only that, considering there may still be not a few factions within the Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom unwilling for it. So you are given this standing first; and when the time is fitting. You may, as Qin Xiaolei and Saint Cana do, govern the Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom in the true sense," Zhao Chen said softly, as he fastened the honorary marshal's insignia upon Blanche.
Blanche said nothing more, but Zhao Chen marked that her body was trembling slightly.
Perhaps it was the stirring of one whose quiet effort over these several years had at last been truly acknowledged.
Very soon these five honorary marshals had received their rank as well.
What followed needed no more of Zhao Chen's hand.
Those ranked next were brigadier generals, major generals, lieutenant generals and generals.
And those who conferred the rank upon them were the two five-star marshals, Charlotte and Lilith.
The two conferred rank upon the military and the civil officers severally.
Such as had not been named before, but who likewise held the office of commander in the former Owl Dragon Legion.
Xue Xiaoxiao, Wei Shishi, Qingman, Ye Xiaotong, Pei Shengnan, Zhao Ruyue, Leona, Midai…
And the other legion commanders,
received their grants as well.
Broadly, all of them three-star generals.
And all of them holding the office of deputy commander of one legion fleet group or another, which may be reckoned the reserve of general officers for the Owl Dragon legion fleet groups to come.
Xue Xiaoxiao looked at her own three-star general's rank, and sitting in her place she pouted and said to Su Lan beside her: "Sister Su Lan. Why is it, when I proposed to my lord the Emperor that an ace fleet group be built made up of interstellar battleships alone. That my lord the Emperor would not agree to it? Only think: great guns as far as the eye can see! Is that not fine!"
Su Lan looked at this junior of hers who so loved a starship's great guns, and said helplessly: "To set interstellar battleships apart by themselves and form an ace fleet group of them is not fitting. For mobility, Marshal Chitong's Blizzard ace fleet group can answer the purpose. For frontal power of attack, the Reverse Scale ace fleet group that General Charlotte leads in person takes interstellar battleships for its core and pairs them with other interstellar ship types, to better effect. At least for the present, this notion of yours is not practical."
Xue Xiaoxiao pouted and said nothing.
But within herself she had begun to turn a certain matter over.
It was rumored that the Hades's remaking was nearly finished.
The Hades had been a great-gunned, great-hulled ship to begin with; and if she herself could be captain of the T6 Rakshasa-Hades, that would be no bad choice either.
Heh heh heh.
The whole ceremony of rank was very soon over.
What followed was the banquet; and Zhao Chen went with Charlotte and Lilith into an empty room.
"With this, our reform of the military system may be reckoned at a stage's end." Zhao Chen looked at the new roll before him.
Leaving out the honorary ranks,
upon it were two five-star marshals, seven four-star marshals, twenty-five three-star generals, ninety-seven two-star lieutenant generals, three hundred and one one-star major generals, and above a thousand brigadier generals.
And this took in more than military posts.
Within Zhao Chen's new system, even certain auxiliary posts would be granted military rank; only that, for safety's sake, the grants would not be made publicly.
The three chief engineers, for instance, had in fact been granted the rank of three-star general.
They held no right to command or dispose of fleets, but they enjoyed the benefits proper to that grade.
At this moment Chief Engineer Annie was blooming with delight; in her eyes that three-star general's insignia was a very money-tree.
It stood for her wealth and honor within the Owl Dragon Empire.
"Hahaha, hahaha…" Chief Engineer Annie laughed heartily. Now she need never want for wealth again as long as she lived.