In the end Zhao Chen settled on setting out three days later.
Before then, Zhao Chen had a great many things to arrange.
The Empire's military and government affairs could be left wholly to Charlotte and Lilith.
But in war-industry research it still fell to Zhao Chen to hand over all the work properly.
The Imperial Military Industry Research Academy
The 'Water Dragon Gate' device the Sacred Elf Empire had given them had already been set up in a laboratory here.
Twenty-four hours a day, researchers were taking this device apart and studying it.
They stood behind the huge transparent floor-to-ceiling window.
"This 'Water Dragon Gate' isn't only vital to our one project plan of cross-universe sailing. We must study its internal structure too, and the materials and energy it uses, and so on. We're both T6-grade technological civilizations, true, but with a universe between us, they may well use theories wholly unlike ours, or different technological models. It's only T6 grade, but if we learn it, and take what's good to make up what's lacking, perhaps it can raise our technology on every front," Zhao Chen charged the heads of every project plan behind him.
"Yes; we guarantee to complete the task Your Majesty has given us. We'll absolutely master this technological device through and through in the shortest time!" Chief Engineer Annie's eyes shone, as if she meant to charge in at the very front.
Anyone who did not know better might truly have thought Annie was such a hardworking person.
Zhao Chen looked at the corners of Annie's mouth, which she could no longer hold down.
Most likely the lass knew he was going away on a trip this time, and that at last she would be set free from under his nose;
that was why she was so glad and excited.
"On this trip I'd like to bring one technical talent with me, to learn the technology of another universe's interstellar civilization. Since our Chief Engineer Annie is so interested in new technology, there's no need to choose: you'll come on the trip with me." Zhao Chen laid his hand on Annie's shoulder, his face wearing a kindly smile.
But that smile, in Annie's eyes at this moment, was no different from a devil's.
She shuddered from head to foot.
The smile on her face froze instantly.
"Um… um… I… I get travel-sick… The moment I go on a trip, I feel unwell all over, from head to toe." Annie looked thoroughly pitiful.
Zhao Chen did not tease Annie any further.
For learning another interstellar civilization's technology, no one was fitter than Zhao Chen.
Even if he were to bring technical people, he would not bring the Owl Dragon Empire's present mainstays.
There was a heap of things at home waiting for them to deal with.
"Then you'd better work hard and properly for me at home. I've already instructed my assistant Nicole. She'll keep an eye on you in my place. If I come back and find out you've been slacking off in the meantime, see what I do to you." Zhao Chen glared at Annie.
At once Annie promised with full assurance, "Let Your Majesty rest easy; Annie will certainly finish all the work!"
Hee hee.
The requirements on that task list were nothing at all to Annie.
Suppose a day had eight hours of work; Annie needed only five hours to finish it all.
The remaining three hours could be spent entirely slacking off.
At last she could slack off.
Hooray!
"Besides the work tasks already set, I've drawn up a separate work list especially for you. I'll check it myself when the time comes. And I've specially asked Nana to help me keep an eye on how your work is getting done." When he had said it, Zhao Chen patted Annie, whose face had turned to stone once more.
"Let Your Majesty rest easy; in this time I can just move into your office. I'll work together with my sister," Nana, beside her, added, twisting the knife.
It was as though the already petrified Annie had been smashed to powder with one blow of a hammer.
Zhao Chen nodded in satisfaction, then turned and left, leaving Chief Engineer Annie standing there with a wronged, resentful face.
"While I'm away, if you have anything to do with the war industry, contact Nana, Annie and Iris. In the war industry they can be trusted absolutely. That Annie is lazy by nature, but the work that's handed to her she'll still carry out perfectly," Zhao Chen charged Lilith, who was following behind him.
Because there was no small amount to hand over, Lilith had been following Zhao Chen these few days,
taking down every matter Zhao Chen instructed.
Lilith nodded. "Understood."
It was true their Majesty seemed truly like a hands-off master within the Owl Dragon Empire.
But on close watching, one would find that in every link of the Owl Dragon Empire, the Owl Dragon Emperor had set someone of ability enough in charge of that link,
just as though, on every important module of a machine, the best-fitting gear had been fitted.
In the end, when the machine ran, not one link had any trouble.
So even with Zhao Chen, the Owl Dragon Emperor, not present, the Imperial machine would not be greatly affected,
nor would it collapse for want of a leader, like dragons without a head.
"And besides, in these project plans, whatever these chief engineers and scientists need, meet it as far as possible. What matters most for our Owl Dragon Empire now is breaking through the present bottleneck. If we can master T7-grade technology and develop even one T7 warship, it matters more than building a whole fleet group right now," Zhao Chen charged her.
Numbers matter, true; but when the enemy has technology far beyond yours,
then to stand on an equal footing you must first have the means to meet them head to head.
"I've noted it."
As Zhao Chen and Lilith talked, they had already come to the Imperial Military Industry Research Academy's landing pad.
The shuttle they had come in was berthed here, but beside it there was another shuttle ready.
"So as not to waste time, let's not go back together. You go back to the Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship. I'll go back to the guard fleet group," Zhao Chen said.
"Are you sure you're taking part of the Blizzard ace fleet group to visit the Sacred Elf Empire? Marshal Charlotte said she needn't go, and could put the Reverse Scale ace fleet group under your command, and the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought could be yours too, as your own ship." There was plainly some worry in Lilith's words.
Zhao Chen waved his hand, though, and said, "This time we're going on a visit, not to fight a war. The Reverse Scale ace fleet group is very strong in fighting power, true. But on someone else's ground, what use is it however strong you are? Can it hold out against their hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, five hundred thousand warships bombarding in turns? By comparison, the Blizzard ace fleet group suits a task like this better. If something unexpected really does happen then, the Blizzard ace fleet group, made up of interstellar cruisers and interstellar battlecruisers, can if anything break out and get me away. As for the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought you mention… It's very good. But as things stand, I mean to take the T6 Gluttony Demon King starship along; it will serve as my temporary flagship."
Hearing His Majesty's arrangement:
though not the ideal Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought, the Gluttony Demon King starship was a flagship too, and not a bad choice at all.
"Do you need anything else? Should we take more logistics supply fleets?" Lilith said, after some thought.
Zhao Chen shook his head helplessly, and pinched Lilith's cheek. "I've said it more than enough: we're going to visit and negotiate. Not to fight a war. What use is taking so many strategic resources? Besides, in the worst case, are we to fight the enemy a war of attrition, rather than run away as fast as we can? Taking so many interstellar supply ships would, if anything, drag down our fleet's mobility. Take enough, and that's all."
At last he said a few more words.
Zhao Chen could feel Lilith's worry; if they talked on like this, there was really no saying Lilith would not change her mind and try to stop him going to the Sacred Elf Empire, as Charlotte had.
To keep such a thing from happening, Zhao Chen took his leave early and boarded the shuttle.
Lilith watched the shuttle fly off; to tell the truth, she was indeed worried.
Before, Zhao Chen had vanished for more than half a year; that was the half year she least wished to remember.
And now Zhao Chen was to sail far off again, to another universe.
He had been to the outer domain beyond the universe before, true.
But that had been with the Mechanical Race's help.
And now he was going to a universe with another interstellar civilization in it, of which they still knew very little.
No one knew what might happen.
To say she was not worried would be a lie.
But she knew too that, from the standpoint of reason,
the reasons Zhao Chen had given were all right.
For the larger picture, Zhao Chen had to go this time.
It was his duty as the Owl Dragon Empire's Emperor.
If… if they had never founded this Empire back then,
if… all of this were still that Owl Dragon Fleet,
would… there be none of these troubles?
A thought flashed through her mind in spite of herself.
But very soon Lilith cast it aside with a laugh at herself; how could she have so naive a thought?
Some things are not to be had just by wishing.
Like the road he walked now: in truth, more than half of it he had been pushed along to come this far.
……
After parting from Lilith,
Zhao Chen naturally went to join this expedition's fleet.
In a stretch of airspace,
thirty thousand-odd Owl Dragon-line warships were already stationed here, waiting for further orders.
And when that shuttle appeared,
both fleet commanders present had a jolt at heart.
"Prepare to receive His Majesty aboard." It was the flagship of the Blizzard ace fleet group, Marshal Chitong's own ship.
Marshal Chitong had made her arrangements the moment she saw His Majesty the Emperor appear.
On the bridge, too, a throne in the style of a sofa had long since been made ready, for she remembered His Majesty saying that, rather than a hard throne, he liked a soft sofa better,
preferably one he could lie full length on.
So for this escort operation she had had it set up early on her own ship.
But what came of it was something Marshal Chitong had never expected.
For she found that the shuttle carrying His Majesty the Emperor was actually heading toward the Emperor's Guard Fleet's side.
"Marshal… this……" The secretary-officer beside her looked at Marshal Chitong hesitantly.
"Contact His Majesty at once," Marshal Chitong ordered without a second word.
Very soon a video window popped up.
On the other side was Emperor Zhao Chen, who had only just come aboard.
"Chitong, what is it? I've only just arrived, and you contact me in such a hurry." Zhao Chen looked over, puzzled; he thought Chitong must have something very important for contacting him in such haste.
Marshal Chitong looked at His Majesty the Emperor gravely. "Your Majesty, did you go to the Emperor's Guard Fleet's side first because of some business?"
"Eh? No, I didn't. I've just come back to my own ship. I've left the Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship to Lilith," Zhao Chen explained with a shrug.
"Your own ship? Isn't your own ship the Gluttony Demon King starship!" Marshal Chitong frowned.
That tone of hers: how did it feel like driving over to pick up one's sweetheart, only to watch the sweetheart get into someone else's passenger seat?
"Who said my own ship is the Gluttony Demon King starship?" Zhao Chen said, puzzled.
"The Gluttony Demon King starship is the strongest warship in this escort fleet, and you said yourself the Gluttony Demon King starship would serve as temporary flagship. Then isn't the Gluttony Demon King starship your own ship?" Marshal Chitong said.
Zhao Chen burst out laughing, and said, unable to hold it back, "Who says the highest-ranking person has to be on the flagship? I think this ship is fine. Say no more; I'm staying here. The Gluttony Demon King is still the flagship; if any fighting comes up, you're in charge of command."
For a moment Marshal Chitong was at a loss for words.
It did seem there was no rule that the highest-ranking person had to be aboard the fleet's flagship.
But wasn't that everyone's unspoken rule all along?
Looking at the video window as it went dark,
Marshal Chitong, always so cool of mood, actually felt a touch of disappointment now.
"Marshal, then… His Majesty isn't coming to our ship. Then that… seat……" The secretary-officer pointed at the sofa throne and asked cautiously.
At this moment anyone with eyes could see the air around Marshal Chitong had grown very cold.
"Keep it. His Majesty hasn't come now, but there's no saying His Majesty won't come aboard our flagship later," Marshal Chitong said, somewhat stubbornly.
The secretary-officer answered helplessly.
She had never imagined her own lady Marshal would be so stubborn over so small-seeming a matter.
On the other side,
the one who had started it all, Zhao Chen, had not foreseen either that this decision of his would put an Owl Dragon marshal out of sorts.
By now he had come to the bridge of the flagship of the Royal Guard Fleet, which was also this expedition fleet's deputy flagship.
Looking at the brand-new bridge before him,
Zhao Chen also saw that familiar figure.
"Your Majesty!" The Panda-Girl, Xiong Lulu, seeing Zhao Chen, ran straight over, and on reaching Zhao Chen gave a most correct military salute.
"How's the handover of this new ship going? Is it fit to carry out this mission?" Zhao Chen said, with a touch of teasing in his tone.
This was in truth a newly taken-over flagship:
a T6 Purple-Gold Silver Dragon-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship!
"Let Your Majesty rest easy; we've fully mastered this interstellar battleship. We absolutely guarantee Your Majesty's safety!" The Panda-Girl, Xiong Lulu, said with full assurance.