Zhao Chen looked at the Flame Elf Queen's show of calm.
He smiled slightly.
In truth he knew why the Flame Elf Queen had been able to appear here with her Holy Elf legion fleet group.
It was entirely because she had acted on her own.
Before this, the Flame Elf Queen had contacted them to ask what help she could give, and, if she sent out legion fleets, how she should help them on the battlefield.
Grand Marshal Charlotte's answer then had been very simple.
If the Flame Elf Queen really could help in this expedition against the Devourer Civilization,
Grand Marshal Charlotte gave the Flame Elf Queen a time and a set of coordinates.
The coordinates were the position of this very battlefield, and as for the time, it was roughly around now, though not very exact.
Luckily, the Flame Elf Queen had come in very good time this time.
It could be said she had arrived, as luck would have it, at just this critical moment.
"Take it when I tell you to take it. Though it isn't brand new, mind; it's a Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought with some damage from the battlefield, but I'll take it back to the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire first and have it repaired before I send it to you. But it isn't a free gift. As a return for the Holy Elf Empire's Flame Elf Queen supporting the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire this time, this Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought will be lent to the Flame Elf Queen free of charge for ten years, but it has to be returned after ten years. Any problem with that?" Zhao Chen looked at the Flame Elf Queen with a smile.
Zhao Chen did not call it a gift; in truth that too was out of regard for the Flame Elf Queen.
To give away a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship just like that: most people would probably find it awkward to accept outright.
So calling it a loan suited better.
And such a Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought could change the Flame Elf Queen's position in the Holy Elf Empire.
After all, the help the Flame Elf Queen had given the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire several times before had already done great harm to her standing in the Holy Elf Empire.
And now, moving legion fleets on her own authority and hurrying to the Devourer Civilization's interstellar war, was beyond doubt a grave offense.
Even as an elf ruler, it might not end well for her.
So Zhao Chen had come up with this way.
A Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought was still beyond price to the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire now.
After all, it was the only mass-production quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship in Zhao Chen's hands now.
But it also stood for a relationship.
And it was enough to set off the Flame Elf Queen's standing within the Holy Elf Empire.
They had just sent over a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship; only on loan, true,
but the quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship sat there before you, real and solid.
If you impeached their elf ruler now, wouldn't that be giving them no face at all?
Did you still want this quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship or not?
In other words, it was a ten-year life-saving charm Zhao Chen was giving the Flame Elf Queen.
So long as she had this life-saving charm, no one would dare lightly shake the Flame Elf Queen's standing as an elf ruler.
Of course, it was not only because of the bond between Zhao Chen and the Flame Elf Queen; it was also that Zhao Chen set great weight on the Holy Elf Empire.
However much this ally, the Holy Elf Empire, dragged its feet, its military power was beyond doubt.
Among the known universe's civilizations, apart from the Devourer Civilization and the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, it was unquestionably the first.
And it had great prestige and deep reserves besides.
Zhao Chen had to keep up his relationship with the Holy Elf Empire, and for that he naturally needed a "confidant" in the Holy Elf Empire.
This "confidant" was naturally the Flame Elf Queen.
So long as he had such a "confidant" within the Holy Elf Empire, Zhao Chen would have a thousand ways and chances later to help this ally of his, bit by bit, find its fighting resolve.
The Flame Elf Queen naturally understood what Zhao Chen meant by these arrangements too.
She looked at Zhao Chen and smiled slightly, and did not draw the subject out any further.
Instead she asked Zhao Chen about the terms of this oath-covenant.
When she learned that this oath-covenant set no limit on the interstellar fleets' powers or numbers either side could bring,
the Flame Elf Queen was greatly startled, and said with some misgiving, "That one was put forward by that Black-God Sovereign, so it must be very much to their advantage. My guess is the Black-God Sovereign means to draw on Order's power. You'd better be careful about that."
Zhao Chen said with a calm smile, "I've thought of that, naturally. But first, Order can't come down and attack us directly itself, or it wouldn't have left the job to its little brother, the Devourer Civilization. Most likely it'll give the Black-God Sovereign some forces in support. Nothing more than the errand-boy fleets under it, or else interstellar civilizations like the Devourer Civilization that will back them. But in return, I put forward a condition in our favor too: thirty months to grow. For our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, thirty months to grow matter a great deal. With thirty months to grow in peace, our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire will grow far faster. By then, our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's military strength will be sure it can fight the enemy."
The Flame Elf Queen looked at Zhao Chen and asked straight out, "In thirty months, are you confident you can develop a true T7-grade interstellar warship outright?"
"I don't know." Zhao Chen shook his head and said it frankly.
Zhao Chen had been working all along toward developing a true T7-grade interstellar warship.
But promising it could be developed was something Zhao Chen could not do.
Thirty months was enough to change a great many things.
And Zhao Chen had always had faith enough in the speed of his Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's technological growth.
"When the time comes, I'll surely find a way to help you!" the Flame Elf Queen said very firmly, looking at Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen said straight out just then, "The way things stand in the Holy Elf Empire now, I can't count on your side stepping up to give me any help. And if it meant you standing on my side regardless of everything to help me on the battlefield, I wouldn't want that either. To me, friends aren't something to be used up."
The Flame Elf Queen naturally heard the teasing in Zhao Chen's words.
The Flame Elf Queen's eyes dimmed for a moment; it seemed she knew this problem very well herself too.
But about this problem, perhaps she herself had no way out either.
"All right, enough of that. Let's hurry and withdraw now. If we don't get back within the fixed time, who knows how the Black-God Sovereign opposite will hate me." Zhao Chen gave a teasing smile.
The Flame Elf Queen looked at Zhao Chen in surprise; knowing Zhao Chen as she did, she knew that smile of his was certainly not so simple.
"Have you left the Black-God Sovereign some card to be played later? Mind you, you and the Black-God Sovereign have sealed an oath now; until then neither of you may do anything to harm the other. Otherwise, the oath will punish you. Don't you take that Oath Fruit lightly. Even in our Holy Elf Empire's history there are records of it. It's certainly no ordinary object. That you got hold of it at all is very rare."
"It's fine; I've long known the Oath Fruit's rules, and I won't do anything that would get me killed. As for this Oath Fruit, it's something I got from another interstellar trader before, while exploring other interstellar universes. You know those interstellar traders reach more of the world, and most of them collect odd, strange, valuable-looking things besides. So they gave this thing to me. I brought it back, looked into it, and found it really was an Oath Fruit. I meant to keep it as a curio; I never thought it would come in useful at a time like this."
Seeing Zhao Chen say so, the Flame Elf Queen said nothing more either, for she knew Zhao Chen knew what kind of thing this Oath Fruit was.
He was sure not to do anything risky.
He was a man who knew his limits.
"When you get back, would you like to come and sit a while in my Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire? I expect things on your side have all boiled over into a pot of porridge by now." Zhao Chen looked teasingly at the Flame Elf Queen.
The Flame Elf Queen shrugged helplessly and rolled her eyes at Zhao Chen. "You know how tangled things are on my side now too. If I chose to go to your Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire right now, tomorrow the top headline trending in the Holy Elf Empire would probably be: Flame Elf Queen Leads Her Holy Elf Interstellar Legion Fleet Group Over to the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire. Even if I don't think of myself, I have to think of those under me. Since there's nothing more on your side, I'll take my legion fleet group and go first. If you need anything, contact me again."
When she had said this, the Flame Elf Queen walked straight out through the bridge doors.
"That elf ruler knows our bridge better than her own home by now," Zhao Chen said teasingly, looking at Lilith beside him.
"What, has our Majesty the Emperor's heart been stirred? No wonder, after all; she's an elf ruler. And a Flame Elf Queen at that. With peerless looks and figure, and a rare fiery temper besides, she's absolutely the finest of the fine. Even if I were a man, I'd probably be stirred." Lilith looked at Zhao Chen with narrowed, smiling eyes.
But for some reason, seeing that smile, Zhao Chen felt a chill run down his back.
Nothing good could be behind that smile of Lilith's.
"I'm talking about serious business; where's your mind gone?" Zhao Chen glared at Lilith in front of him.
Lilith said, putting on a serious air too, "I'm talking about serious business too. If the Owl Dragon Emperor took this beauty for his own, wouldn't winning over the Holy Elf Empire be all the easier? Then it wouldn't be foreign affairs anymore; it would be standing up for your beloved. Word would get out that you'd gone to war in a rage for a beautiful woman. That has the ring of a legend to it."
Zhao Chen naturally heard the teasing in what Lilith said, but Zhao Chen could also hear that it was quite workable.
That was the frightening thing.
The thought even rose in Zhao Chen's own heart in spite of himself.
But the moment the thought came, Zhao Chen shook his head and shook it right out.
Then he glared crossly at his secretary-officer Lilith and said, "She's an elf ruler of the great Holy Elf Empire. How could she easily take a fancy to an ordinary man like me?"
"You're no ordinary man. You're the Owl Dragon Emperor of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, who can stand off against the Devourer Civilization and sit down to laugh and talk with the Black-God Sovereign. And by a woman's instinct, if you just took a little initiative on your side, or even pinned that elf ruler against the wall outright, then surely that elf ruler would be willing to follow you, Your Majesty."
Zhao Chen rolled his eyes.
Then he said, "Enough jokes like that; it's time to do serious work. We have thirty months now to rest, recover and grow. But time waits for no one; we have to seize every moment to build up our military power. Only so can we win decisively in the oath-duel thirty months from now."
When Zhao Chen spoke of the oath-duel, his look was very grave.
He did not want to face the oath-duel thirty months from now without being sure of winning.
If it came to that, everything they were doing now would be for nothing.
In Charlotte's deepest thinking,
the greatest aim of the oath-duel was to take control of every star-system bloc of the Devourer Civilization with the least destruction,
and use the Devourer Civilization's resource reserves to build the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's military power.
Only so could the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire grow, in a short time, to a level to rival Order.
After all, before the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, the Devourer Civilization was only a stumbling block on the road.
What they truly had to face was still Order, a T7-grade interstellar civilization.
Beating Order, that hidden threat, was the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's final boss now.
"Understood. We've already begun arranging the withdrawal; we'll certainly withdraw on time. Besides that, our secretary department has also begun the after-action summary of this campaign. And we'll draw up a development plan for the next two and a half years too."
Hearing these arrangements, Zhao Chen nodded, at ease.
With Secretary Lilith here, there was in truth no need at all for Zhao Chen to worry about these things.
Zhao Chen sat in the captain's chair and turned his head to look out through the bridge viewport at the universe outside.
He saw the Owl Dragon interstellar legion fleets around him slowly withdrawing, and saw the enemy's interstellar warships far off in the vast universe.
His gaze seemed to cross the distance, pass through the hulls of those enemy interstellar warships, and see the Black-God Sovereign who had sealed the oath-duel with him.
"I'll be waiting for our duel," Zhao Chen murmured.
He turned back and looked at his bright bridge and its many busy crew and officers,
so different a sight from the black universe outside,
as if one side were heaven and the other hell.
And under the gaze of the Devourer Civilization's interstellar fleets opposite,
these interstellar legion fleets of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire were withdrawing bit by bit from the Devourer Civilization's universe.
The interstellar battlefield that had been filled with the fires of war now seemed to have fallen a great deal quieter.
Both sides' interstellar warships kept very good order; had it not been for the wreckage of interstellar warships left on the interstellar battlefield from both sides' fighting,
no one would ever have guessed that over ten days of fierce interstellar war had been fought here.
And compared with the Owl Dragon interstellar legion fleets' withdrawal, which was as good as a triumphant return,
for the Devourer Civilization's interstellar fleet commanders this war was a nightmare.
They probably never wanted to face this terrifying interstellar legion fleet again in their lives.
But they all knew too that their Lord Black-God Sovereign had sealed an oath-duel with the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's Owl Dragon Emperor.
One day in the future, they would carry on this unfinished interstellar war on the battlefield of another universe.
About this, from top to bottom, from commanders to captains to officers, both sides had very different feelings at this moment.
On the Owl Dragon legion fleets' side, the captains were all unwilling to let it go, regretting that they had not destroyed a few more enemy interstellar warships in this interstellar war,
and had not managed the combat tasks their commanders had given them as they wished.
As they withdrew now, what they all said to one another
was that in the war to come they would destroy as many enemy interstellar warships as they could.
And the Devourer Civilization's interstellar legion fleets were the very opposite.
They had waged wars of invasion against other interstellar civilizations countless times, and in those wars they had always played the winners, the conquerors,
always reveling in the joy of war.
But this time was different; they had lived to see the war end.
But at the same time a blade hung over their heads, and as the oath-duel drew near, the blade kept coming down toward their heads.
So, in the thirty months to come, a kind of fear hung over the Devourer Civilization's interstellar legion fleets, and from top to bottom no few captains, officers and soldiers set off a wave of discharges.
In the Devourer Civilization, naturally, you could not be discharged just because you wanted to be.
Only those of noble standing or with some backing behind them could leave the service.
These two entirely opposite states of mind were now in the hearts of the fighting men of both sides, high and low.
Some twenty-odd hours later,
every interstellar warship of the Owl Dragon legion fleets had completed its withdrawal.
From that moment on, not a single Owl Dragon interstellar legion warship remained within the Devourer Civilization.
This stage of the war could be said to have come to a close at this moment.
But for certain people, the torment was far from over.
The bridge of the Drought-Fiend Sovereign's starship
His forehead was beaded with sweat as he looked nervously at the group of people who had appeared before him on his own flagship's bridge:
the Black-God Sovereign, and his guards.
"Black-God Sovereign, what brings you here so suddenly? Why didn't you let me know beforehand, so I could come and meet you?" The Drought-Fiend Ghost-King wore a fawning look.
There was none of a Sovereign's old airs about him at all.
He was no fool; that the Black-God Sovereign could come unannounced and appear straight on his bridge, with no one at all stopping him,
showed that his bridge was more or less all Black-God's people already.
And for the Black-God Sovereign to appear on his bridge in person could certainly not be for a simple chat about home.
One does not visit the temple without a reason.
So the Drought-Fiend Sovereign's forehead was covered in sweat now.
He had a guess in his heart, but he did not want it to be that guess.
If it was, today would likely go very badly for him.
The Black-God Sovereign did not answer the Drought-Fiend Sovereign, but walked of his own accord to the captain's chair of this super-flagship.
"I may sit, I trust?" the Black-God Sovereign said.
The Drought-Fiend Sovereign swallowed, then said, "Naturally; sit if you like."
The Black-God Sovereign sat down.
And the Drought-Fiend Sovereign stood beside him at this moment like some lackey, not daring to make a sound.
"You don't mind my sitting in your chair, do you?" The Black-God Sovereign looked over the bridge of this super-flagship before him; he was speaking to the Drought-Fiend Sovereign, but did not look at the Drought-Fiend Sovereign before him.
That alone showed how little the Black-God Sovereign thought of the Drought-Fiend Sovereign,
as if he did not count at all.
"How could I possibly mind? You must be joking," the Drought-Fiend Sovereign said with a laugh.
But the Black-God Sovereign's next words plunged him into an ice cellar.
"But this chair of yours isn't very comfortable to sit in. The Devourer Civilization has too many chairs; one is enough. Drought-Fiend, don't you think so?"
Faced with the Black-God Sovereign's question, the Drought-Fiend Sovereign could naturally not answer it outright.
What these words hinted at was already very plain:
they were telling the Drought-Fiend Sovereign that in this Devourer Civilization, he wanted only one Sovereign.
There was no fitting answer the Drought-Fiend Sovereign could give now.
If he said he disagreed,
wouldn't that be slapping the Black-God Sovereign in the face?
Did he still want to live?
And if he said there was no problem,
it would be as good as giving up the seat of Sovereign.
Naturally no one at all would be willing to.
After all, both he and the Troll Monarch had put in a great deal of effort and paid a great price for the seat of Sovereign.
How could they give it up so easily?
But now the Black-God Sovereign had appeared before him like this; wasn't it nothing less than forcing the throne from him?
That much could already be seen very plainly.
It left the Drought-Fiend Sovereign now like an ant on a hot pan.
"What? Unwilling?" This time the Black-God Sovereign looked at the Drought-Fiend Sovereign.
The Drought-Fiend Sovereign swallowed, and only then said, "In truth I have no great objection to this. But a matter this important isn't for me alone to decide lightly. Shouldn't we see what that fellow Troll thinks too? Of course, I'm on your side, Lord Black-God Sovereign!" the Drought-Fiend Sovereign said with a laugh.
"You want to ask Troll's opinion? Then I can send you to see him right now." The Black-God Sovereign stood up just then, walked slowly behind the Drought-Fiend Sovereign, and laid both hands on his shoulders.
The Drought-Fiend Sovereign shuddered.
Just then the Black-God Sovereign turned him to face the floor-to-ceiling window on one side of the bridge.
The next second, the Drought-Fiend Sovereign's pupils widened.
Outside the bridge's floor-to-ceiling window, he saw something round drifting by.
It was the Troll Monarch's head.