"I call this great bird Little Red. We grew up together. Commonly, elves of any standing have a mount of this kind raised for them by their families when they're born." The Flame Elf Queen stood at the very front.
She turned her head and looked at Zhao Chen and Gladys. "Mind you stand steady; if you really can't stay on your feet, hold on to Little Red's feathers. We're about to take off."
At once Gladys crouched down, gripping the great bird's red feathers, and even struck a very practiced pose, braced for it.
She looked at Zhao Chen beside her, unmoved, and urged him hurriedly, "Your Excellency the Owl Dragon Emperor, this great bird is rather hot-tempered. It isn't very gentle in flight. It would be safer for you to crouch like me."
Zhao Chen waved his hand with a smile and said, "No matter; I'll stand for now. If it really won't do, I'll sit down."
Gladys wanted to urge him a little more, but at that moment a sudden rush of wind swept into her mouth,
stinging so that she could not speak at all.
The great bird had already begun to climb steeply, beating its huge wings, and shot toward the clouds like a launched rocket.
The great wind forced Gladys to crouch low, pressing her body as close to the great bird's as she could, and gripping its feathers, which alone kept her from falling off its back.
The Flame Elf Queen's face was full of enjoyment now, her red hair streaming back in the wind; she truly looked like a little red sprite.
The Flame Elf Queen had not forgotten she had a special guest this time; in truth, her taking off so suddenly just now had had a small purpose behind it.
She wanted to see this guest from afar, said to be the supreme leader of an interstellar civilization who had walked out of the fires of war,
and what kind of man he really was.
If he had not even this much nerve, she would be sorely disappointed.
The Flame Elf Queen turned her head and glanced behind her.
She saw Gladys sprawled in a sorry state, and she saw Zhao Chen, standing there calm with his hands clasped behind his back.
A look of astonishment came over the Flame Elf Queen's face.
For mind, Little Red was climbing steeply at near sixty degrees at this moment.
Even she, trained as she was, could not have kept her feet here had she not mastered the essence of it.
And this man could be so calm and at ease, and even… even wore a look of enjoyment on his face.
Zhao Chen was indeed enjoying it now,
enjoying the feeling of the wind beating on his face and rushing past his ears, his clothes flapping in it too.
Zhao Chen looked beside him at the ground growing smaller and smaller, and the clouds drawing nearer and nearer.
He felt very much at ease.
It was a feeling wholly unlike riding in a warship or a shuttle.
At this moment he felt himself so close to the sky.
Every pore of his was enjoying this free feeling of soaring through the sky.
It felt too good.
Then the great bird, as if wishing to show off its abilities, or perhaps displeased with the stranger on its back,
began to fly in the air in all sorts of tricky ways.
The speed, the angles, the agility of it
made even the Flame Elf Queen quietly grip a red feather, bending slightly forward so as not to fall off.
As for Gladys, by now she no longer dared open her eyes.
And Zhao Chen was still as easy as ever, as though he had become one with the great bird.
Very soon, under the great bird's flight, Zhao Chen and the others came to the top of that huge Moon-God Tree.
There an area set aside especially for mounts to land on could be seen.
The great bird beat its wings, raising a gale, and slowly came down.
The moment it touched the ground,
Gladys fled down from the mount as if running for her life, then leaned on a tree at the edge of the ground and was sick into the grass.
"Your Excellency the Owl Dragon Emperor truly is formidable. I never thought you'd master the knack of it on your very first ride on Little Red. You're the first person ever to come down off Little Red's back without turning a hair." The Flame Elf Queen looked at Zhao Chen openly, not in the least hiding that she had been testing Zhao Chen just now.
Zhao Chen smiled slightly, jumped down from the great bird, and looked at the red great bird before him.
The red great bird gazed at this man before it too; a few seconds later,
the red great bird lowered its head to Zhao Chen, and Zhao Chen reached out and stroked its beak,
and its feathers.
The red great bird seemed to enjoy Zhao Chen's stroking very much, and even gave a fond cry.
"Now I understand why, though you've plainly reached the interstellar age, you elves still keep this primitive way of flying," Zhao Chen said with a smile.
The Flame Elf Queen said with a smile, "Few of the old customs are left that could be kept, and this counts as one of those few. And it's one point that shows the elves' tough character; the elves of now are far from as steadfast and fearless as the elves who had just stepped into the interstellar age."
Zhao Chen looked at the Flame Elf Queen; there was unwillingness in her gaze.
"Do you mean the Sacred Elf Empire's never fighting with all its strength, each time other civilizations' universes were invaded by the Devourer Civilization?" Zhao Chen asked.
"Not only that; the weakness of the elves now is about to sink into the bone. If the Devourer Civilization hadn't now reached its fangs to the Sacred Elf Empire's throat this time, nothing could have woken these sleepers. But… no one knows whether this awakening is still in time." There was a meaning behind the Flame Elf Queen's words.
Zhao Chen was about to say something more.
But at that moment the others arrived one after another.
"Salaman, why were you so fast! Didn't I tell you to take care?" The Radiant Elf King looked at the Flame Elf Queen in reproach, and then apologetically at Zhao Chen. "Your Excellency the Owl Dragon Emperor, I hope you weren't alarmed."
"No matter, no matter; I thought it a fine experience. It let me feel the Sacred Elf Empire's ancient culture too," Zhao Chen said with a smile, and when he had said it, his gaze went to that red great bird too.
To tell the truth, he truly wanted to get a few to take back.
The thing was indeed far handier and more comfortable than a shuttle.
The Flame Elf Queen naturally did not know Zhao Chen had taken a fancy to her mount.
When everyone had arrived,
the Radiant Elf King had Gladys take Zhao Chen and the people of the Owl Dragon mission to the place where they would rest,
for the formal banquet was to be tomorrow.
Zhao Chen looked at the darkening sky; around the Moon-God Tree could be seen no few points of light like fireflies, very beautiful.
And with the natural surroundings besides, it truly was very fine.
"This is where Your Excellency the Owl Dragon Emperor and the Owl Dragon mission will stay tonight. I'll be staying here tonight too. If there's anything you need, call me any time." Gladys brought Zhao Chen and the others to where they would stay.
Before them was a building very natural in style.
There was no light of technology; every source of light came from flowers and plants and from those glowing insects that flew about.
The air was full of a faint fragrance that made one feel at ease.
Panther-Girl went in front, checking the house Zhao Chen would stay in tonight inside and out before him.
The check was soon done, with nothing wrong at all.
Zhao Chen walked into the room.
If one likened this place to a hotel, it was a hotel growing on a huge flower.
At the very top was Zhao Chen's room, and the flowers on every branch below were the other rooms.
And the steps up were formed of vines.
The room was not very large, but inside it had everything.
All the furniture and things were formed of natural plants.
Even the bath for bathing was the juice of some kind of flower.
It was very fragrant, and when he put his hand in it was just like water; though it was the juice of flowers, there was no sticky feeling.
The bed was some kind of wood, but very soft, very comfortable.
Zhao Chen looked around once.
"How is it? Is Your Excellency the Emperor satisfied?" Gladys asked.
"Very fine." Zhao Chen nodded in satisfaction; he had now fully experienced how the Sacred Elf Empire used plant technology in every little thing of life.
And from his point of view, such a place to live was quite fine indeed, above all suited to rest and recovery,
like coming back to the mountains after working a long time in a great city.
"Good. If there's anything you need, just contact me directly. And now I won't disturb your rest. Tomorrow morning at eight I'll come to call you. The banquet begins tomorrow at noon. After that, if you don't mind, the meeting is set for after the banquet, that is, in the evening. If you'd like to rest, it can be put off to the day after tomorrow too. ……" When Gladys had gone over the next day's itinerary once, she took her leave.
Zhao Chen looked at the room, now quiet.
He went to the window, drew back the curtain formed of leaves, and looked at the starry sky outside.
This truly felt wholly like another civilization's universe, and gave Zhao Chen a feeling of being in a dream.
"This truly is a very beautiful interstellar civilization," Zhao Chen said with feeling from his heart.
If the two sides had no strife at all, Zhao Chen did not wish to see such an interstellar civilization perish in the claws of the Devourer Civilization or Order either.
He hoped the meeting to come would go very smoothly.
The Owl Dragon Empire needed allies now, above all a powerful ally.
……
The Moon-God Tree · the Moon-God Palace
Here the three Elf Sovereigns Zhao Chen had met, and the two members of the High Council, had all appeared too.
Besides them, every member of the High Council was either there in person or present by hologram.
And besides those, there were the other two Elf Sovereigns.
"You've all seen that Owl Dragon Emperor. What do you make of him?" A male Elf King seated on a throne spoke, with an air of pride in his tone.
Had Zhao Chen been here, he would have judged this Elf King's haughty tone far beyond the Emerald Elf King's before.
"A rather kindly leader, easy to deal with," the Radiant Elf King gave his verdict first.
"Very bold, and very strong in body; he's the first to ride my mount and not turn a hair," the Flame Elf Queen said.
"Tolerable to look at," the Emerald Elf King gave a short verdict.
But this simple verdict surprised the High Council very much.
For everyone knew what the Emerald Elf King's character was; for an outsider to get such a verdict from the Emerald Elf King already counted for a great deal.
"So far there's no problem, but we'll only know after learning more in detail."
"I think we can move on to the next stage."
The two members of the High Council spoke as well.
"Since everyone who has dealt with this Owl Dragon Emperor finds no problem, then let us move on to the next stage. The Devourer Civilization has had its eyes on us all along. We need not worry about Order's threat, but the Devourer Civilization, after several wars, has grown strong to the point that we can't stand against it alone. If this Owl Dragon Empire hadn't suddenly appeared, the Devourer Civilization would likely be planning now how to invade us. So the idea of finding an ally to face the Devourer Civilization together must be brought about quickly! As things look, this Owl Dragon Empire is the most suitable. And the Devourer Civilization means to invade the Owl Dragon Empire's universe too; that way we can use the Owl Dragon Empire's universe as our buffer. If the war doesn't happen directly in our universe, its effect on our universe will be brought down to the least," an Elf Queen with a gentle voice said.
Her voice was gentle, but what she said was very hard-headed.
"I agree. The mission the Owl Dragon Empire sent this time has warships of T6 and T5 grade throughout. On fighting strength alone, they can well have our acknowledgment. Fighting shoulder to shoulder with us is no problem at all," the Radiant Elf King said in a deep voice.
"How we're to cooperate, then: that's the question!" a member of the High Council said.
The other members of the High Council spoke up one after another.
"We can cooperate with the Owl Dragon Empire, but in this cooperation we must hold the initiative!"
"Command on the battlefield must be ours!"
"The Owl Dragon Empire's demand before to station troops in our universe: we cannot agree to it. When has our Sacred Elf Empire ever allowed another civilization's universe to station troops in ours! And why would we need their help!"
"……"
These endless suggestions stood, for the great majority, on the ground of those on top, and considered only the Sacred Elf Empire's interests.
Hearing them, the Flame Elf Queen could not help frowning.
She stood up and said, "Enough! At a time like this, you're still thinking of these things! Before, when those other universes' civilizations were invaded, we could have had a great many allies fighting shoulder to shoulder with us; if we'd acted then, it would never have come to where things are now. And at a time like this you're still thinking of this and that. Can't we cooperate with them honestly? We have military strength equal to theirs; we ought to consider this meeting solely from the standpoint of standing against the Devourer Civilization, not mix other things into it. We chose wrong once before; if we choose wrong again this time, it will push our Sacred Elf Empire into the abyss!"