Both sides were sizing each other up.
Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, looked Zhao Chen up and down directly, bold and unabashed, with something of curiosity in her gaze.
This elf was unlike Gladys; she had red hair and red eyes, and a figure that was very hot indeed.
And she wore some kind of close-fitting red tactical leather suit, which set off her striking figure all the more.
If the elves had a born refinement, this Elf Queen was refinement with fire in it,
giving the feeling of a rose with thorns.
Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, had an air of holding himself stiffly, with his emerald hair and his garments woven of every kind of plant,
giving the feeling of someone come down out of the mountains.
His skin had a sickly whiteness, and in his eyes was that cool arrogance,
as though he did not care in the least about the standing of Zhao Chen before him.
"By what Gladys sent back before, you've just fought a battle with the Pitch-Black Legion fleets?" Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, asked straight out, eagerly.
And in her form of address she paid no heed whatever, using a plain 'you.'
It gave Gladys beside him a fright, and even Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, frowned slightly at his colleague.
But he knew this Flame Elf Queen's temper too; even had he reminded her to mind the courtesies and conduct of a meeting between two interstellar civilizations, she would likely have thrown it out of her head long since.
"Yes. That was a little under a year ago," Zhao Chen said.
"How did the fighting go? What were the casualties!" At once this Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, began asking.
By the look of it, this Flame Elf Queen, like her presence and her looks, was rather keen on matters of war.
"Salaman. This isn't the time to discuss such things. Don't forget what we're here for," Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, beside her, could not help reminding her.
Had he not reminded her, the fellow would likely have gone on talking forever.
Did he not know her temper?
A warmonger pure and simple, not in the least like one of the noble elves.
"True… then we'll find a time later to talk it over properly." Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, thought a moment; perhaps she too realized it was not quite fitting to talk of these things just now.
But at the last she did not forget to look at Zhao Chen and fix an appointment for later.
Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, had not meant to waste words on this fellow from another universe.
He had not even wished to come and take part in receiving him.
He felt from his heart a revulsion for other interstellar races,
not only those from other universes, but even, in their own universe, every interstellar race besides the elves.
He disliked them all without distinction.
But as things stood, if he did not go through the procedure himself,
left to Salaman, who knew how much time it would take to finish this welcoming ceremony.
To be done with the procedure quickly,
he could rely only on himself.
Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, made himself look at Zhao Chen, and said, "Your Excellency the Owl Dragon Emperor. Salaman and I, on behalf of our Sacred Elf Empire, welcome your visit. Next, Salaman's and my fleets will accompany you to our Sacred Elf Empire's capital planet, where our five Elf Sovereigns, and the High Council, will meet you and discuss the matter of a cooperative alliance. Here, on behalf of the Sacred Elf Empire, I once again warmly welcome your arrival."
After that they exchanged a couple of simple words more.
And this Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, quickly ended the video call.
Zhao Chen could see that, though this Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, had gone through the whole procedure, he had kept one tone throughout as he spoke, and his gaze had not changed at all,
as though finishing a task, reciting a script.
Toward Zhao Chen's presence he had not shown even a flicker of feeling.
This was a very conceited, very proud man.
That was Zhao Chen's verdict on him.
Before this, Zhao Chen had already made himself ready in his mind for the Sacred Elf Empire.
He knew these elves might be much like the Angel Race Zhao Chen had first dealt with.
If the other Elf Sovereigns were all of this Emerald Elf King's character, and the High Council like it too,
this cooperative meeting would be a very troublesome one.
That Flame Elf Queen, on the contrary, was someone good to deal with; perhaps she was his way in within the Sacred Elf Empire.
His first contact with the Sacred Elf Empire's rulers over,
the thirty thousand warships Zhao Chen had brought, led by the two Elf Sovereigns' interstellar fleets, sailed toward the star gate of the nearest star system.
"It looks as though your Emerald Elf King was in a great hurry?" Zhao Chen looked at Gladys beside him with a smile, with a meaning behind his words.
Gladys stopped short; just now she had in truth felt nothing amiss at all.
Perhaps it was just that this Emerald Elf King always did things this way, and everyone was used to it.
Only now did Gladys explain, "Your Excellency the Emperor, please don't take offense. Our Lord Emerald Elf King is simply like this in character. Besides the elves, no other interstellar race can rouse his interest. Even before a high elf he says little. What he pays attention to is more the ecology of planets, plants and the like. Even we elves hold that this Elf King is rather obsessive in certain ways."
These last words Gladys said perhaps to soothe Zhao Chen's feelings, but her tone was very, very soft; one could see she held the Elf King in great respect.
"Plants? An Elf King interested in plants?" Zhao Chen was somewhat surprised.
That was something he had not expected.
"Your Excellency the Emperor, don't make light of plants. Above all in front of the Emerald Elf King, or he'll give you no good looks. And in plant technology, the Emerald Elf King is at the very top in our Sacred Elf Empire. At present, under the Emerald Elf King's arrangement, over a fifth of the Sacred Elf Empire's energy supply uses plant energy. And the technology in this area was all developed by the Emerald Elf King. That's also why, though the Emerald Elf King's temper isn't good, no one dares make trouble for him."
Plant energy technology.
Zhao Chen was somewhat astonished.
As to technology for drawing energy from plants, there was in truth research in this area within the Owl Dragon Empire too, but it belonged to the out-of-the-way fields,
perhaps no more than knowledge at the theoretical level.
And here in the Sacred Elf Empire, they could actually rely on plant energy to supply a fifth of the Sacred Elf Empire's energy needs.
Don't make light of that proportion of a fifth; some may think it not much.
But mind, the Sacred Elf Empire was a T6 technological civilization empire ruling a whole interstellar universe.
That meant something quite vast; not only in military matters, but in everyday life, every day there was an enormous need for energy.
And for plant energy to take the place of a fifth was a very large figure too.
The chief reason was that plant energy was sustainable, renewable energy, with a very low pollution index.
It meant that, in the main, one had only to set up an ecological chain of plant energy, and so long as no disaster of star-system scale happened,
plant energy could be produced without end.
It worked to the same end, by a different road, as the 'T6 Dyson Spheres' Zhao Chen was now building on a great scale in the Owl Dragon Empire.
Only, by comparison, the T6 Dyson Sphere gathered energy more efficiently, but cost more to build too.
Each had its advantages and drawbacks.
For an interstellar empire, cheap long-term energy was something whose development it must consider.
It bore on the bottlenecks of that interstellar empire's future growth.
On this point, the Owl Dragon Empire's plan for the future was this:
that Dyson Sphere energy should secure at least eight-tenths of the Owl Dragon Empire's energy supply.
It was still a very long way from that goal at present, but under Lilith's arrangement it had been in motion all along,
working toward that end.
"Then your Emerald Elf King truly is formidable. I hope that in future I can discuss this technology with him in depth," Zhao Chen said with a faint smile.
"Better not. In this field the Emerald Elf King is very obsessive. To tell the truth, even I… would really rather not be alone with this Lord Elf King," Gladys said with a wry smile.
"And the Flame Elf Queen?" Zhao Chen asked.
"The Lady Flame Elf Queen has a fine character. But… among… the upper levels, she may be somewhat out of place." There was something subtle in Gladys's look.
"Because she's warlike?" Zhao Chen asked without thinking.
Gladys nodded helplessly. "It isn't really a secret. Our Sacred Elf Empire is in truth a peaceful interstellar civilization, not fond of war. If it weren't to protect ourselves and guard against wars that might come, we wouldn't even build fleets. That can be seen from our having had cross-universe sailing devices for a long time without ever launching a war of invasion against another universe. But the Flame Elf Queen is an exception. She belongs to the fire elves. Among the many elf races, the fire elves have always been rather bold in character, and fond of fighting. But none has ever been so astonishing as the Flame Elf Queen. And in return, the Lady Flame Elf Queen's gift for battle far exceeds every other Elf Sovereign's. That's also why the Lady Flame Elf Queen, though her character is out of step with everyone's, sits firmly in the seat of an Elf Queen. And she now serves at the same time as our Sacred Elf Empire's supreme Grand Marshal, with the right to call up the great majority of the Imperial legion fleets. She holds the greatest military power. The fighting of recent years has all been in the Flame Elf Queen's charge too, with good results all along."
"You've fought wars?" Zhao Chen was somewhat surprised.
"Of course." Gladys laughed lightly. "We love peace, but sometimes there are wars we can't avoid. That's one purpose of our keeping up armed forces. For instance, when a universe's civilization that's been in contact with us is invaded by the Devourer Civilization, it will ask us for support. To tell the truth, we in the main can't stop the Devourer Civilization achieving its invasion. But we still do what we can. For example, we send our Imperial fleets to support and cover the evacuation of the people those universes' civilizations need to get out. All these years our Sacred Elf Empire has generously taken in great numbers of refugee races from those destroyed universes' civilizations. These military operations have all along been in the Flame Elf Queen's charge."
Zhao Chen nodded in understanding.
He glanced at Gladys, and said, "You say you can't stop the Devourer Civilization. But your military strength shouldn't be below the Devourer Civilization's; so long as Order stays out of it, fighting the Devourer Civilization should be no problem for you."
Gladys paused, and said in a low voice, "What you say is true, in fact. Never mind winning; even odds, at least, is no problem. But… would you risk your own home for the sake of another interstellar civilization?"
It seemed this must be the decision of the several Elf Sovereigns and the High Council:
to give those interstellar civilizations suitable aid, but not to go to all-out war with the Devourer Civilization over it.
The Sacred Elf Empire's upper levels were afraid; afraid of the Devourer Civilization, and of Order behind it.
"But on this point, the Flame Elf Queen is in truth of the party that wants to fight. Several times my lady has put it to the High Council that going on like this is only a slow death for the Sacred Elf Empire. Watching the interstellar civilizations' universes around us destroyed one after another, those that might have become allies vanishing one by one: sooner or later the Devourer Civilization will set its sights on the Sacred Elf Empire. When that time comes, this war is bound to arrive. Rather than sit waiting for death and let her own home become a battlefield, she would rather meet the enemy beyond the gates. But… as you've seen, plainly the Flame Elf Queen's proposal wasn't taken up." Gladys shrugged helplessly.
Zhao Chen's mind lit up in spite of himself.
From these details one could see that this Flame Elf Queen might truly be someone to win over.
"Then I've grown more than a little curious about this Flame Elf Queen. She and I agreed before, too, that we'd have a proper talk when there's time. I wonder whether you can arrange it for us." Zhao Chen looked at Gladys.
Gladys's standing now looked to be that of Zhao Chen's guide, staying aboard his ship and accompanying him.
In fact her task likely included one more thing: watching Zhao Chen at every moment.
She would be answerable for some of what Zhao Chen did next in the Sacred Elf Empire.
So whether Zhao Chen could meet this Flame Elf Queen still depended on Gladys's arrangements.
Though a situation like this was uncomfortable, this was someone else's ground, after all, and keeping to the rules within reason was called for.
Gladys hesitated a moment and said, "I don't know how the Lady Flame Elf Queen's time is arranged. But I'll report the matter upward, and if anything is arranged, I'll let Your Excellency the Emperor know as soon as I can."
"Thank you." Zhao Chen thanked her.
And what came next was his first journey in this alien universe.