"A feint?" The Radiant Elf King understood at once.
He said with a smile, "If that's all you ask, we can certainly work with you."
What a joke.
No need to truly send legion fleets into the Devourer Civilization's home universe; only to strike a pose and stir up some show on their own little patch of ground.
A thing with no risk at all in it, they were naturally willing to do.
At most it would cost a little starship fuel; it could be treated as a military exercise.
"Then can the order be given right now?" Zhao Chen said.
"This……" The Radiant Elf King had just agreed readily, but to tell the truth, a matter of this weight needed the other Elf Sovereigns' consent.
So he looked at the other Elf Sovereigns.
Unexpectedly, the Nightglow Elf King spoke first: "I agree."
Since even the Nightglow Elf King, always so cautious, agreed, the other Elf Sovereigns naturally had no reason to object.
"Then since it's agreed unanimously, may we leave this matter to you, Salaman?" The Radiant Elf King looked at the Flame Elf Queen.
After all, this was a military matter, and the Flame Elf Queen was the best at those.
"Hmph." The Flame Elf Queen did not refuse, but it was plain she was very unhappy now.
"Then since it's decided, let's leave it at that for now. As for the other matters, I'll wait for you all to decide for yourselves. I have some business to see to on my side, so I won't trouble you all any longer." Zhao Chen stood up and took his leave.
The Elf Sovereigns did not stop him.
"I'll see you out." The Flame Elf Queen stood up, meaning to see Zhao Chen off.
But an unexpected voice cut her off.
"Let me see him out instead. Don't you have some very important business to see to?" The Nightglow Elf King stood up, looked coldly at the Flame Elf Queen, then followed Zhao Chen.
"Your Majesty the Owl Dragon Emperor, you won't mind my seeing you out?" No feeling at all could be seen on the Nightglow Elf King's cold face.
"Not at all." Zhao Chen smiled faintly.
So the two of them walked out side by side.
None of the other Elf Sovereigns had expected the sight.
The Flame Elf Queen was stunned a moment, but said nothing more; she glanced at the three Elf Sovereigns still sitting,
snorted coldly, and left with quick steps.
The three Elf Sovereigns at the conference table looked at one another; the mood was somewhat strange.
The Bluewater Elf Queen spoke now: "Have we… done wrong?"
The Radiant Elf King said in a low voice, "Facing the Devourer Civilization, we have to be cautious. Don't forget: behind it stands Order!"
…………
In a quiet gallery,
Zhao Chen and the Nightglow Elf King walked side by side.
"Five more minutes ahead and I'll be at the hangar. Don't you mean to say something?" Zhao Chen looked at the Nightglow Elf King beside him, still wearing his cold face.
This fellow had suddenly said he would see him off this time.
He would not come to the temple without business; he surely had something to say to him.
The Nightglow Elf King looked straight ahead and said without turning his head, "Salaman is a fine Elf Queen, and the finest legion fleet commander our Holy Elf Empire has at present. In campaign command, no one can match her talent. So I hope you'll keep your distance from Salaman. Her helping your Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire time and again has already badly hurt her standing among her own tribe."
Zhao Chen frowned slightly. "You mean that in Salaman's tribe, there are people who've begun threatening her place as Elf Queen because of her cooperation with our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire?"
The Nightglow Elf King said seriously, "Salaman's character is unusual, unlike us ordinary High Elves. A fiery, frank character is the mark of the Fire Elf tribe. But not to the degree of Salaman. She has ideas very different from ours, more like yours, if anything. Perhaps that's why the two of you work so closely. Before, even when Salaman had some idea, without the leave of the High Council and of us, at most she could voice an opinion; she couldn't do anything of substance. But now she's overstepped many times. If it weren't for her great standing in our Holy Elf Empire's armed forces, any ordinary Elf Sovereign would have been impeached long ago. Even I would most likely have been out of this seat long ago. But if she goes on her own way like this, sooner or later she'll pay a price for it. I don't like her character, but I admit her talent and ability. The Holy Elf Empire as it is now can't lose a commander like her."
Zhao Chen fell silent.
He had looked into the Holy Elf Empire's system; there was a strict hierarchy,
but to keep the special class of "Elf Sovereign" in check,
for every Elf Sovereign put forward by a powerful tribe, that tribe had the right of impeachment.
Once an Elf Sovereign could not keep the people's support and was impeached, the seat of Elf Sovereign would be taken away.
That woman had always looked so light and easy in front of him, but in truth she was under great pressure in her own empire, and even in her own tribe.
What she had done this time would most likely draw a great deal of criticism too, once it got out.
Zhao Chen drew a deep breath and said, "How Salaman and I get along, I think, needs no one else's criticism. I respect Salaman; she's a fine Elf Queen, and a fine leader too. She knows what road the Holy Elf Empire should take, and what choice to make, and when."
The Nightglow Elf King frowned slightly and turned his head now to look at Zhao Chen.
But before he could speak, Zhao Chen stopped first, turned his head and looked at the Nightglow Elf King, who had stopped too and faced him.
"There's only the two of us here. To tell the truth, I can't stand your character or that sour face of yours. But since your tribe put you forward as an Elf Sovereign, you must have some ability at least. So I want to ask you here: why do you always agonize over this, agonize over that? You've all seen the Devourer Civilization's threat. Now such a fine chance is set before you; even someone who isn't a professional officer should know what choice to make at a time like this. Yet you let the chance for battle slip again and again. It was like this in our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's campaign before too; had you supported us with all your strength at once back then, the Devourer Civilization's interstellar fleets trapped inside our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's borders could never have withdrawn. We could have eaten them all! And now? Now you're still hesitating. Irresolute, unable to decide anything!"
Zhao Chen came straight out with it, throwing out all his displeasure in one breath.
At Zhao Chen's somewhat offensive words,
the Nightglow Elf King did not grow angry, but said calmly, "You're the Emperor of an interstellar civilization too, its supreme ruler. You should know a thing isn't as simple as it looks on the surface. I know the Devourer Civilization's threat; I know of Order's existence too. But I've also seen the threat of a certain great dragon."
Zhao Chen frowned slightly.
"In a short ten years, you've pulled an interstellar civilization from something that had only just stepped into the T4 technology grade to a mighty power that can develop and build quasi-T7-grade interstellar warships. And the history of your past ten years is basically a condensed history of war. The campaigns other interstellar civilizations have fought in a thousand years may not be as many as you've fought in these ten. To me, your Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire is a threat of the same degree as the Devourer Civilization. How do I know that after we destroy the Devourer Civilization, your Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire won't turn its guns around and use every means to enslave our Holy Elf Empire? Don't talk to me of oaths and alliances. When real gain is set before you, all of that can be trampled underfoot at will. Isn't that so, Your Majesty the Owl Dragon Emperor?" The Nightglow Elf King looked at Zhao Chen coldly.
"So in the end it all comes down to not trusting us." Zhao Chen put his hand to his hair, scratched his head and looked helpless.
"The word 'trust' looks very simple. But it's very hard to live up to. To tell the truth, speaking only of you as a person, you're very good. Even though you're not a High Elf, you're a male carbon-based life form I admire. But I can't trust you without condition because I think well of you. For behind that trust may lie the rise and fall, the ruin, of an interstellar empire. Call us irresolute, or call us indecisive. Or even call us cowards, as Salaman does. Where we stand is different in the end. The angle and the ideas from which we see things will be different too." When he had said this, the Nightglow Elf King walked on.
Zhao Chen stepped out after him too.
He said with a light laugh, "We've met a few times. You've said more this time than in all the times before put together."
"Have I," the Nightglow Elf King said quietly.
"I have to say, I can't rebut what you said. There's some sense in it. I can't make you trust me completely on my word alone. Nor can I promise we won't become enemies. Just as if I said now that so long as your Holy Elf Empire doesn't touch our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's interests, we'll bear the Holy Elf Empire no enmity at all, words like that: I bet if I said it, you wouldn't believe it either." Zhao Chen folded his arms, irritated.
He shook his head and said, "To be honest, talking among us carbon-based life is really such a bother. Talking with certain iron fellows is far easier."
"Iron fellows?" There was some curiosity in the Nightglow Elf King's words.
"Mechanical life; I don't know whether you've seen any," Zhao Chen said.
The Nightglow Elf King nodded in understanding. "Silicon-based life, also called artificial intelligence, mechanical life, intelligent-machine life. In the Holy Elf Empire there's no such thing. But I've heard rumors of these creatures. In most interstellar civilizations' universes they're basically outcasts; once found, it's a fight to the death. I never thought you'd find them easy to talk to."
"Of course; they don't have the twists and turns we have in our heads. Their minds can decide a thing in a short time and judge from a very rational angle. So talking and working with them goes very smoothly. Much better than your old-woman fussing. I had a few mechanical-life friends before. A pity they aren't here now." Zhao Chen shrugged as he said it, his gaze turning to the universe outside the floor-to-ceiling window that had appeared beside them.
Without his noticing, it had been some years since they parted.
"The Mechanical Race that once appeared in your Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire held the legacy of the Gaia Empire from long ago. To help you hold off Order's invasion, they led their own legion fleets into the space beyond the universe, to stop Order's encroachment," the Nightglow Elf King came out with.
Zhao Chen was not surprised, but said with a light laugh, "It seems you know a good deal about us."
"We know each other equally well," the Nightglow Elf King said calmly.
"All right. I won't waste any more words on you all. If you're unwilling, so be it. Without you elves, our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire can get things done all the same. When the time comes, don't blame us for stealing your Holy Elf Empire's thunder, and don't be jealous of us." Zhao Chen walked toward the shuttle parked in the hangar ahead.
Just then the Nightglow Elf King's voice came from behind.
"I won't do anything risky. But what you asked before, working with you to create the impression that we'll send legion fleets too, I'll back fully. As for the result, I don't like the Devourer Civilization's existence either; they're brutal, destructive, disgusting creatures. If you can destroy the main strength of the Devourer Civilization's universe, perhaps in future we'll change our minds," the Nightglow Elf King said coldly.
Zhao Chen waved his hand without looking back. "No need. You Elf Sovereigns have your own rules for how you do things. But have you ever thought: all these years, your Holy Elf Empire hasn't made the slightest progress. In so vast a multiverse, isn't an interstellar civilization that can't make progress going backward, in a sense?"
The Nightglow Elf King frowned slightly.
Zhao Chen stopped before the shuttle's gate, turned his head and met the Nightglow Elf King's eyes. "I don't know what the elves used to be like. But I think the first elves, the forebears who went out from the Moon-God Planet into the interstellar universe, surely had a spirit of daring and fearlessness. They'd surely never have been irresolute. If they knew what you're doing now, they'd surely be very disappointed. They had wings, and flew out from their Moon-God Planet. And you have wings in vain, yet will be trapped forever on your Moon-God Planet."
With that, Zhao Chen boarded the shuttle.
The Nightglow Elf King watched the shuttle leave the hangar and fly off into deep space.
His eyes held complicated feelings as he went back over what Zhao Chen had just said.
He could not help raising his head to look at the starry sky overhead.
He stood there gazing a long while.
Later it was said that on that day the Nightglow Elf King stood under the starry sky, unmoving, for five full hours.
No one dared ask what the Nightglow Elf King was looking at,
nor did anyone dare disturb him.
Only when the Nightglow Elf King's handheld terminal sounded was this Elf King's mind dragged back from wherever it had gone.
And all this while,
the Flame Elf Queen had not been idle either; she was furious that those Elf Sovereigns had not agreed to give any real help to the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's military operation,
but there was nothing she could do now except help the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire as far as she could within her power.
So the Flame Elf Queen's moves in these five hours could be called mighty and sweeping.
First, in the name of the five great Elf Sovereigns, the Flame Elf Queen ordered every front-line and even second-line legion fleet of the Holy Elf Empire into a state of second-grade war readiness.
War readiness on so wide a scale was not announced publicly,
but anyone with eyes could see something big was afoot.
For before this, even in the campaign to support the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire against the Devourer Civilization's invasion, there had been no such stir.
"Have all the orders gone out?" the Flame Elf Queen asked her adjutant with a black face.
"All the orders have gone out," the adjutant answered.
The Flame Elf Queen paused, then went on, "From now on, every ten minutes, send every unit war-preparation orders again and again. The wording must show determination and urgency, so that those below get the false impression of a storm coming. If anyone asks what on earth it's for, the line to give out is one sentence: this is the supreme order of the five Elf Sovereigns; don't ask what you shouldn't ask; obeying orders comes before everything! If anyone asks again, tell them to come and ask me themselves, if they dare!"
The adjutant nodded. "Understood."
The Flame Elf Queen thought a moment, then said, "Also, tell every star port, interstellar fortress and even star gate to go under military control. Every interstellar transport fleet is to stop its present work and get ready for wartime logistics shipping. Every staff member at the stores of war resources is to go on twenty-four-hour standby."
"Ah… these demands… will greatly affect the normal running of our Empire. Shouldn't you contact the other Elf Sovereigns first?" Hearing these arrangements, the adjutant grew worried at once.
"Contact them, my foot. They wouldn't agree to the rest; if they won't even put on this sham show now, heh… I'd say they'd better go home and grow fruit while they still can. Do as I say. If anything happens, I'll take all the responsibility," the Flame Elf Queen said flatly.
The adjutant looked somewhat hesitant.
"What? My word doesn't count anymore!" The Flame Elf Queen frowned at her adjutant.
The adjutant said worriedly, "My lady, it isn't that I'm unwilling to carry out these orders of yours. But your situation now… you know it as well as I do. These orders you're giving now are sure to cause a great stir later, and then… they're bound to hurt your standing further still. I'm afraid……"
"What the hell is there to be afraid of? They just don't want me to go on being Elf Queen, that's all. This old girl never wanted this seat in the first place. It was those few old men in the tribe who insisted I sit in it! Fine: since I'm sitting in this seat, I'll sit in it properly. But look what this crowd is doing now! Before this they even made a point of contacting me, telling me to keep my distance from the Owl Dragon Emperor and the people of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire! Keep my distance! What does keep my distance mean? He's the Owl Dragon Emperor; I'm the Flame Elf Queen. We stand at the same level in two interstellar empires; isn't it perfectly normal for us to have dealings? And I'm the one mainly in charge of our Empire's military, and our two empires have a great many dealings in that line now. We even have troops stationed in the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire now. If I don't deal with him, whom do I deal with? Those old diehards?" The Flame Elf Queen seemed now as if she had suffered some great wrong; she began pacing back and forth, pouring it all out.
At last the Flame Elf Queen snorted coldly. "Saying I'm too close to the Owl Dragon Emperor. What? Is that Owl Dragon Emperor going to eat me alive? It's only an Elf Queen's seat; push me too far, and this old girl won't even want the job."
After a round of complaints,
the Flame Elf Queen calmed down a little too, and sat back in the captain's chair.
The adjutant had not interrupted all this while; she knew her lady's temper: she spoke very bluntly and looked very fiery,
but in fact she seldom did anything rash.
At least what she did was, in her own heart, reasonable.
"Calm yourself first; I'll pass on these things you've told me," the adjutant said beside her.
The Flame Elf Queen nodded.
But then she spoke again: "Get me… the Owl Dragon Emperor."
The adjutant looked at the Flame Elf Queen now somewhat awkwardly. "My lady, those few just told you……"
"So what if they told me? This old girl is still Elf Queen now, and this old girl's word still counts. When I tell you to contact him, contact him. Hurry!" the Flame Elf Queen said impatiently.
Seeing this, the adjutant could only sigh and begin trying to reach the Owl Dragon Emperor's side.
Very soon the link was made.
A video window appeared before the Flame Elf Queen; on the other side was the Owl Dragon Emperor.
"I'm sorry; once again I didn't get done what you asked of me," the Flame Elf Queen said, ashamed.
Zhao Chen smiled faintly. "What is there to apologize for? It was never your responsibility in the first place; there are five Elf Sovereigns there, and your ideas can't sway the whole. And if you hadn't been busy running back and forth all along, perhaps these things would have been harder still. You've done your best. And before I came, I'd in fact already prepared for the worst. At least for now, this trip of mine wasn't wasted."
Zhao Chen's humorous words made the Flame Elf Queen give a self-mocking smile. "You call this not wasted? Only having some interstellar legion fleets put on a show, without giving you any real help at all. I……"
"All right; I know your difficulties and your pressure. I understand too. You did nothing wrong. Each of us need only do our best and be true to ourselves. All right; I have to hurry back now too. I expect Charlotte's side has already begun the military operation. But the battlefield over there needs me in command. I'll leave things here to you," Zhao Chen said with a smile.
"Don't worry; at least I'll do this play-acting well. And I'll do my best to change those few people's minds too, to give you as much real help as I can. Even if we can't send interstellar legion fleets directly, at least we can supply you with some strategic supplies. Your Owl Dragon interstellar legion fleets burn through things fast when you fight; you're sure to be short of supplies! And if anything truly urgent happens, contact me. I'll surely find a way to help you," the Flame Elf Queen said very earnestly.