After another stretch of waiting,
the video window before Gladys, the elf woman, lit up again.
Gladys, the elf woman, looked tensely at Charlotte opposite.
Charlotte said gravely, "About the request you put forward just now, I've reported it to our Majesty the Emperor. His Majesty the Emperor accepts your invitation. He is willing to come to your side's Sacred Elf Empire."
Hearing this, Gladys, the elf woman, let out a long breath, and there was joy on her face she could not hold back.
With that, this mission of hers could be counted fully accomplished.
"But we've put forward a few requirements too," Charlotte said gravely.
"Go on." Gladys, the elf woman, looked at Charlotte.
"First. In the course of this invited visit to the Sacred Elf Empire, your side must guarantee our Majesty the Emperor's safety. Any mishap at all is something our Owl Dragon Empire will not allow to happen!"
"That I can guarantee with my life. Though we haven't signed an alliance covenant yet, as an honored guest, within the bounds of our Sacred Elf Empire's universe, the safety of His Majesty the Owl Dragon Emperor will absolutely be assured. Nothing dangerous of any kind will be allowed to happen!" Gladys, the elf woman, promised with full assurance.
When a great figure of one side attends at the invitation of a great figure of another,
the inviting side always takes great care over such things; if something went badly wrong in such a matter, it might turn into a diplomatic dispute!
"Second. Though I trust your guarantee, we can't hand our Majesty's safety wholly to you. So this time we'll send the Emperor's Guard Fleet and a fleet group to escort him. The scale will be around thirty thousand warships," Charlotte said.
Gladys, the elf woman, hesitated a moment, but very soon nodded and said, "That's no problem. With the standing of His Majesty the Owl Dragon Emperor, willing to visit our Sacred Elf Empire, bringing an escort fleet is something we can fully understand."
"Third. Our Owl Dragon Emperor is willing this time to trust your side, and go to your side's Sacred Elf Empire after only a brief contact. Then we need to see your sincerity too. We need to learn some of your technology," Charlotte said.
Hearing this requirement, the face of Gladys, the elf woman, changed slightly.
She asked, "On this I can't give an answer directly, but may I know what technology you wish to learn?"
"Universe exploration technology, and cross-universe sailing technology," Charlotte said directly.
Hearing this requirement, the tightly knit brows of Gladys, the elf woman, eased a good deal.
"This……"
"If that's too much, then we'll take only the cross-universe sailing technology. Since we're to form an alliance in future, then whether supporting the Sacred Elf Empire or on an expedition to the Devourer Civilization's universe, we'll need this technology. We're close to finishing development of this technology ourselves. We only want to look at your side's technology and compare," Charlotte said coolly.
After a moment's hesitation, Gladys, the elf woman, nodded and said, "Universe sailing technology: we can guide you in some of it. But because we didn't bring many researchers this time, or detailed technical material……"
"All that can wait. Since you could come to our universe, you must surely have used this technological device. If the device is single-use, please lend us one to study. If it isn't single-use, please give us a little time to look it over and record it," Charlotte said.
Charlotte's requirements, step by step, were in truth coming down layer by layer.
In such a case, Gladys, the elf woman, on the contrary, had no chance to refuse.
She nodded, which counted as agreeing.
…………
After that, Gladys, the elf woman commander, set foot on an Owl Dragon Empire warship for the first time.
Though it was only a T6-grade interstellar transport,
still, even from an interstellar transport something of this interstellar empire's level of technology could be seen.
Gladys, the elf woman, kept looking all around as she walked along.
The more she looked, the more alarmed she felt.
Though this was only the inside of a warship, from the inside of these warships alone
she found that the compartment modules inside were actually a good deal finer than the Sacred Elf Empire's.
Some of the workmanship was even beyond anything the Sacred Elf Empire could match now.
"We're here." The woman officer leading the way stopped at the door of a section.
"Thank you." Gladys stepped across into that section.
Coming into the next section, she found it was in truth a 'cargo hold.'
And in the cargo hold was the 'meeting gift' she was giving this time on the Sacred Elf Empire's behalf,
though it was not a meeting gift she was very willing to give.
"Hello, Commander from the Sacred Elf Empire." A man's voice came from some way off.
It came from a walkway on the wall halfway up one side of the cargo hold; Gladys had only just stepped onto this corridor herself.
Only, drawn by the cargo in the hold just now, she had not noticed the newcomer at first.
The newcomer had some women officers around him.
And he was the only man among them.
He too wore a uniform, and had a special air about him; his gaze was very gentle, and gave a very reassuring feeling.
But Gladys dared not be the least bit careless with this man before her.
For by the material she had, this man before her
must be the man standing at the summit of the Owl Dragon Empire's power: the Owl Dragon Emperor.
At once Gladys stood straight and saluted with the Sacred Elf Empire's highest courtesy. "Greetings, honored Majesty the Owl Dragon Emperor. I am Gladys, a high elf of the Sacred Elf Empire. Here, on behalf of the Sacred Elf Empire, I offer you our Empire's respect and goodwill. I hope our two sides may be allies forever."
"Mm, mm." Zhao Chen nodded with a smile, and walked straight up beside Gladys.
Compared with Zhao Chen's easy openness, this elf woman seemed somewhat tense now.
"Charlotte has told me all about you. As for myself, I won't waste words on introductions. Here, on behalf of the Owl Dragon Empire, I welcome our guest." Zhao Chen nodded slightly to Gladys.
Then Zhao Chen pointed straight at the cube-shaped device in the hold, fully ten stories tall, and said, "So this is the technological device you use to sail between universes?"
Zhao Chen had come in person, and was meeting this Gladys,
partly because he would afterward travel to the Sacred Elf Empire together with this Gladys, and it was natural for the two to meet and get to know each other a little;
and partly because Zhao Chen wanted to learn, in the shortest time, the Sacred Elf Empire's technology in the field of cross-universe sailing.
It was a technology the Owl Dragon Empire badly lacked now,
and it must be developed as quickly as possible and put into use.
"Yes. This equipment we call the 'Water Dragon Gate · One-Way Single-Use Delivery Type.' It's small and easy to carry. To use it, you first find a suitable spatial coordinate point, then enter a target spatial coordinate point. After that you fire it off like an interstellar shell. Once fired, it unfolds and starts up at the target spatial coordinate point, setting up a spatial channel to the target spatial coordinate point in another universe. But it's single-use, and the number it can deliver is limited. With the regular fleet configuration of a sixth-grade technological civilization like ours, one such delivery-type Water Dragon Gate can only let three thousand warships make the universe delivery," Gladys explained.
"Wait? Then the thirty thousand warships you agreed before to let us bring to escort the Emperor: how are they to be delivered?" Panther-Girl, the guard beside him, frowned and cut in directly.
Zhao Chen frowned slightly; this guard of his, Panther-Girl, was somewhat hot-tempered, above all where the safety of this journey was concerned.
Before this, Charlotte and Lilith had had a talk with her about this journey, and had likely stressed no little of it.
One needn't guess what they had said.
"Please rest easy on that. When the time comes, I'll first send a fleet back to the Sacred Elf Empire. Then a fleet will come back again, bringing enough of these devices for the cross-universe sailing of the Emperor's escort fleet," Gladys promised.
"This round trip: are there no limits on it? And how long does a single crossing take?" What Zhao Chen cared about more was how this thing performed.
"Cross-universe sailing is also a technology something like subspace sailing. It isn't a direct spatial jump. The time it takes differs with the distance between one universe and another. At the distance between the Owl Dragon Empire's universe and our Sacred Elf Empire's universe, a single cross-universe crossing with this device takes five hours. Besides that, one can't make an excessive number of cross-universe crossings in an area where space is thin, or it leads to spatial instability and the like. But the space in this area is very stable; even using a hundred of these Water Dragon Gates at once would be no problem at all. So as to safety, Your Majesty may rest wholly easy." Gladys thought the Emperor was asking so much because he mistrusted this technology.
"Since this is your single-use model, is there a model that isn't single-use too? Or one with better performance: something like a star gate, a cross-universe star gate that lasts a long time?" Zhao Chen asked again.
This Majesty the Emperor truly was a hundred thousand whys.
Gladys could not very well refuse him face, and these questions were no secret either.
She said directly, "Yes. At present our Sacred Elf Empire has three publicly known cross-universe sailing devices of this kind. This is one of them. They are the One-Way Single-Use Delivery Type, the Short-Term Two-Way Delivery Type, and the Permanent Two-Way Star-Gate Type. The first is this one we see now. The second, the 'Short-Term Two-Way Delivery Type,' can be kept in being for a short time, and like a little star gate can be sailed both ways, for delivering fleets. The third, the 'Permanent Two-Way Star-Gate Type,' is, as the name says, a star gate between one universe and another. But to tell the truth, this star-gate type of Water Dragon Gate: even our Sacred Elf Empire can hardly say it has fully mastered the technology. For before this we built only two Water Dragon Gates of this star-gate type. After all, it has to connect with another universe. And the two universes that were friendly with us were both invaded and destroyed by the Devourer Civilization. The star gates built were destroyed too." There was anger in Gladys's voice.
After that she added, "But these three come in large, medium and small grades too; it's only a matter of the size of fleet they deliver. The higher the grade, the building cost rises manyfold. So unless it's necessary, we use the small ones, occasionally the medium; the large devices are of strategic grade, and can only be used with the High Council's permission."
It seemed the Sacred Elf Empire's technological reserves were quite formidable.
In one technology, research was carried out on every side according to need.
That was the proper order in which a technology ought normally to develop.
On Zhao Chen's side, it had commonly been a matter of replacing things with wholly new technology,
and that with the System's help.
Otherwise Zhao Chen could never have changed generations of technology in so short a time.
"Then, Lady Gladys, the cross-universe sailing technology we agreed before that we could learn: this is only one of them." Zhao Chen looked at Gladys with a smile.
At once Gladys waved her hands again and again and explained, "Your Majesty, I'm not trying to hold anything back. First, with the authority I have now, this model of 'Water Dragon Gate' is the only one I can call on, and giving it to you puts great pressure on me too. As for the latter two you want to learn about: first, I don't have them, and even if you want to learn them, you may have to reach the Sacred Elf Empire before there's any chance of it. The star-gate type above all; I… I have no way to produce that for you!"
"Ha ha ha, I'm only joking with you," Zhao Chen said with a smile.
Gladys was at a loss for words; she had never thought this Majesty the Emperor would truly have no airs at all.
That was wholly unlike the atmosphere among the elves.
"Then how is the journey after this arranged?" Zhao Chen asked.
"Your Majesty. This is the itinerary I've planned. Please look it over. If there's no problem, we'll go by this." Gladys handed an itinerary to His Majesty the Emperor; after all, this bore on the travels of the Owl Dragon Empire's own Emperor.
She dared not be the least bit remiss, and had put together an itinerary in a short time.
Zhao Chen looked it over, and Gladys explained beside him.
"So long as you agree, we can set out in one day at the fastest. That day is for me to send a fleet on the round trip to fetch the 'Water Dragon Gate' devices needed. After that, in the Sacred Elf Empire, with the discussion of every kind of cooperation in view, I've set aside ten days. At the slowest, in ten days Your Majesty can be assured a safe return. Of course, if Your Majesty wishes to stay longer in the Sacred Elf Empire, that's no problem at all on my side."