The Black-God Emperor had long foreseen this, and did not refuse.
That being so, the last party naturally agreed as well.
It was agreed that the promised legion fleets must be in place before the oath-duel, three months before it at the latest.
And so, for the oath-duel, the Black-God Emperor's scheme had already gathered three hundred million interstellar warships.
This contact, which could be said to span an enormous distance, came to an end, more or less.
The Black-God Emperor watched the light-images on the three chairs fade; had anyone been present now, they would have seen that on the wall behind the three chairs were three murals in utterly opposite styles.
The mural behind the chair on the Black-God Emperor's left
showed a figure in female form, wearing a garment that covered her whole body but the face, her left hand holding a banner high, her right hand holding something like a pair of scales.
And at her feet a great crowd of people knelt.
And in the far distance of the mural one could see banner after banner standing upright, but every one of these banners was planted in a person's chest, so thick that they made a forest of human bodies.
Front and back were utterly opposite in mood:
on one side holiness, on the other hell.
Because of the distances across universes, and for lack of long-range universe-exploration and universe-communication equipment, there was a piece of information very few knew:
the minions under Order were in fact not the Devourer Civilization alone.
There were four in all; they called themselves the Four Divine-Envoy Civilizations.
And this was the Holy Maiden of Precepts Civilization.
On the Black-God Emperor's right sat the owner of the gruff male voice who had spoken so roughly before.
On the mural behind this chair were carved rank on rank of armored soldiers, and above their heads interstellar warships, shuttles and every kind of weapon.
And on one side of the picture one could see people kneeling one after another on the ground, like sinners awaiting judgment.
This was one of the Four Divine-Envoy Civilizations, the Enforcer Civilization.
And last, in the mural behind the chair in the seat facing the Black-God Emperor,
what was carved was very abstract, like a work of abstract art.
For no humanoid creature could be seen in it.
It was all twisted beings of every kind, and these twisted beings seemed to be gathered around some creature in worship.
This was the Soul Apostle Civilization among the Four Divine-Envoy Civilizations.
Counting the Devourer Civilization as well, they made up these Four Divine-Envoy Civilizations.
These four Divine-Envoy Civilizations had naturally been raised by Order as the minions through which it controlled the lower interstellar civilizations.
And because they lay so far apart, the thinking each had grasped from Order had come to differ more or less.
But their loyalty to Order had not changed.
The Black-God Emperor walked out of this secret conference room and stood once more outside under the starry sky, raising his head to gaze up at it.
He seemed to see the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, to see those Owl Dragon legion fleets, and that man.
He said in a deep voice, "Zhao Chen, I have got a great gift ready for the oath-duel thirty months from now. I should like to see whether you, who have always been able to work miracles and surprises, can work one more miracle here this time."
……
Of the thirty months, five had passed in the blink of an eye.
A sixth was already gone.
And the matter of the oath-duel, perhaps by design on the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's part, had not spread widely.
Among the people, life went on and grew in good order.
One could say that the last few years
had been the most peaceful, fastest-growing and most prosperous years in this universe.
Though in these few years the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's wars had never stopped,
because of the Owl Dragon legion fleets' mighty fighting power,
whether in defensive warfare or in cross-universe warfare,
the effect on the homeland had not been great.
So most people had not in fact felt the effects of war directly.
At the worst, perhaps, there was a little more work, travel was a little stricter,
and some star gates could not be used and one had to go round, and the like.
But compared with places where the living were trampled in the dust by war, this was already a very good state of things.
And the data from the earlier war against the Devourer Civilization had brought related research projects a good deal of experience.
That included the production drawings for the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's second quasi-T7 interstellar warship!
Zhao Chen was aboard his own interstellar command ship, the Dragon Emperor, just then; through the bridge's viewport he could see, outside an industrial base, a huge interstellar ship with no paint, looking as if it had been patched in a great many places, slowly sailing out.
It was called a huge interstellar ship because its body really was very large, but compared with the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought that had appeared before, it was a minnow beside a whale.
This super colossus, even within the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's line of interstellar warships alone, could only rank in the top five by size.
For it was only an interstellar cruiser:
a mass-produced quasi-T7 interstellar cruiser; or, more precisely, only a test ship.
"Report, Your Majesty. Because of the success of the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought before, our efficiency in developing this quasi-T7 interstellar cruiser has gone up greatly. Now this test ship is finished; if all the tests to follow pass, the first batch of true quasi-T7 interstellar cruisers can come off the line and enter service within five months at most." Chief Engineer Nana stood excitedly beside Zhao Chen, reporting all this, a proud look on her face.
Zhao Chen nodded, satisfied too.
Zhao Chen looked at the building drawings before him,
and could see why this quasi-T7 interstellar cruiser had been designed so fast.
For much of its technology was very like the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought's.
Its energy system and starship engines, for instance, had been taken over wholesale from the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought.
After all, that energy system and those starship engines could serve a heavy interstellar warship,
so for an interstellar cruiser they were more than enough; with some upgrading and conversion, they could be used directly on this interstellar cruiser.
As for interstellar armor, armor material that could serve a heavy interstellar dreadnought was more than enough for an interstellar cruiser.
As for weapons, the rapid-fire guns might need some research, but it was not very hard.
What was hardest was certainly the interstellar warship's outline and shape, since an interstellar cruiser had to put speed and maneuverability first.
So in the starship's outline and shape, it could not be as free as the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought.
And once the researchers broke through these hard problems,
they could naturally develop a new quasi-T7-grade interstellar cruiser.
Besides, the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire had the accumulated technology of every type of interstellar warship.
For quasi-T7 interstellar cruiser technology, for instance, they had T6-grade interstellar cruisers to draw on.
"Now please give this quasi-T7 interstellar cruiser its name, Your Majesty." Chief Engineer Nana looked at Zhao Chen excitedly, waiting eagerly for His Majesty the Emperor to name this interstellar warship she had designed and developed.
Zhao Chen gazed at this interstellar cruiser.
He looked at Chief Engineer Nana beside him and said, "If I remember right, you were chiefly responsible for the design work on this interstellar cruiser. Since you were responsible for designing this interstellar warship, its naming should naturally be left to you."
"Huh? Wouldn't… wouldn't that be rather improper?" Chief Engineer Nana looked at the Owl Dragon Emperor, not having expected it.
Zhao Chen said with a smile, "It's all right; this is a right you've earned. Just think: an interstellar warship you were responsible for designing and building, racing across interstellar battlefields under the name you gave it."
"Then… then…" Chief Engineer Nana put on a thoughtful look.
"If you haven't thought of one yet, you can settle it after you've gone back and thought it over," Zhao Chen said.
Chief Engineer Nana blurted out just then, "The Golden-Holy-Angel-class Light Interstellar Cruiser!"
"Golden Holy Angel? How did you come up with a name like that?" Zhao Chen asked with interest.
Chief Engineer Nana explained, "Because it's more or less the same type as the Golden Scarab, it inherits the prefix 'Golden.' And considering what a light interstellar cruiser is like, I think it's very like the angel race. I hope they can sail the universe freely, like angels. So I got this name ready for it."
Zhao Chen nodded and said, "Then we'll use that name: Golden Holy Angel."
Chief Engineer Nana nodded happily.
Zhao Chen looked at a figure on the data panel and said, somewhat surprised, "I see it says here that a single Golden-Holy-Angel-class Light Interstellar Cruiser costs only a hundred trillion star coins? That building cost… isn't it rather too low? Mind you, the first batch of our T6 Lord-of-Thunder-class Heavy Interstellar Destroyers cost a hundred trillion star coins apiece to build, and even now they need about sixty to seventy trillion. And this quasi-T7-grade light interstellar cruiser of yours costs a mere hundred trillion star coins."
Of this Golden Holy Angel's features, the most striking was its cost per ship.
One could put it this way:
in other respects this light interstellar cruiser was not very striking; at most it could count as an interstellar cruiser using quasi-T7-grade technology, merely middling in every respect.
But this cost of a hundred trillion star coins made this interstellar cruiser rather out of the ordinary.
When Chief Engineer Nana heard the Owl Dragon Emperor mention this, she explained at once, "In fact, when I was designing a quasi-T7-grade interstellar cruiser, I took into account how our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire stands at present. We have under thirty months before the fight with the Devourer Civilization. That means what we need isn't a powerful quasi-T7 interstellar cruiser, but quasi-T7 interstellar cruisers that can be built up to a certain scale of numbers in a short time. So that means this interstellar cruiser's cost has to be very low, and its building time very short. So when we first began designing, we thought of that. The materials used are as cheap as possible too. And the crucial reason for it is still the Golden Scarab. Because before this, in producing and building a quasi-T7 Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought, the production of every part in fact has a certain rate of failing the standard. And those substandard parts go back to be melted down and remade. But those substandard parts can, to some degree, meet the Golden Holy Angel's building needs. So we can take some parts and materials that can't be used on the quasi-T7 Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought and use them directly in producing the quasi-T7 Golden-Holy-Angel-class Light Interstellar Cruiser. That way, building time and building cost both drop sharply. From that we've projected that a quasi-T7 Golden-Holy-Angel-class Light Interstellar Cruiser can be built for only a hundred trillion star coins!"
Zhao Chen looked at the figures.
A hundred trillion star coins per ship; using the T6 Steel Star Cities the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire now had, producing one of these Golden-Holy-Angel-class Light Interstellar Cruisers would take less than ten months.
"Such a short building time; this is simply wonderful! With our present production capacity, in thirty months, on our industrial strength, with this quasi-T7 Golden-Holy-Angel-class Light Interstellar Cruiser alone, we may be able to build and put into service at least a hundred-odd in a short time. And if our production capacity expands further in future, we may be able to raise the number to over a thousand!" Zhao Chen's tone grew excited now.
Mind you, what over a thousand quasi-T7-grade interstellar warships would mean!
That force alone could easily wipe out any lower civilization's universe.
Had Zhao Chen had such a fleet of quasi-T7 interstellar cruisers in hand in the second campaign against the Devourer Civilization, the final result could have been a good deal better.
After all, such a force of interstellar cruisers on an interstellar battlefield would be an interstellar light cavalry, coming and going without a trace, not only with very fast maneuvering speed, but even with speed no less than most T6-grade interstellar warships'.
Chief Engineer Nana nodded excitedly too.
Compared with her gifted big sister Annie, Chief Engineer Nana had more of a grasp of the big picture, so it was Chief Engineer Nana who now set the direction in industrial production.
And Chief Engineer Nana kept up with current affairs.
Chief Engineer Annie, for the most part, paid no attention to anything outside work, unless it was something with the fire at her eyebrows.
But Chief Engineer Nana knew about basically every major event concerning the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire; indeed, after this grasp of the big picture in Chief Engineer Nana was discovered,
Secretary Lilith had made a special arrangement for a copy of some intelligence material on events to be sent to Chief Engineer Nana every day.
"So it seems the Empire's starship-building plan for the next thirty months needs updating yet again," Zhao Chen said teasingly with a laugh.
The starship-building plan for these thirty months, settled long before under the lead of the Secretariat and the army, would, with this interstellar warship soon to come off the line and enter service in earnest,
have to be updated.
For the Secretariat and the army, this was beyond doubt pain and pleasure both.
Chief Engineer Nana added a remark beside him that poured cold water on it: "The quasi-T7 Golden-Holy-Angel-class Light Interstellar Cruiser is very cheap to build taken on its own. But at a hundred trillion star coins a ship, piled up, it's no small building cost either. With our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's finances as they stand, adding a building plan for this quasi-T7 Golden-Holy-Angel-class Light Interstellar Cruiser means either raising present income or cutting spending elsewhere."
Zhao Chen nodded.
He had learned a good deal about this from Secretary Lilith too.
It was not only the Devourer Civilization that would be expanding its forces and arming on a large scale in this period.
The Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire too had begun such a stage.
The military budget was rising month by month into the future.
But compared with the Devourer Civilization's unrestrained increases, the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire naturally could not do such a thing as killing the hen to get the eggs.
On the people's livelihood Zhao Chen had drawn a red line that was not to be crossed whatever happened.
Once that line was crossed, it would surely lower the prestige of the Owl Dragon imperial power and harm the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's stability.
So, short of the last moment of danger, Zhao Chen would not allow such a thing to happen.
That left only one road to choose: "opening new sources."
"That isn't something you technical people need to think or worry about. Lilith, the Secretariat, the Ministry of Commerce and I will handle it properly," Zhao Chen said, looking at Chief Engineer Nana with a smile.
Chief Engineer Nana nodded; naturally she trusted His Majesty the Emperor without condition.
——————
When Zhao Chen had finished the trial voyage ceremony and the naming of this test ship of the new quasi-T7 interstellar cruiser, he wound up his work here.
He contacted Secretary Lilith directly
and told Secretary Lilith everything on his side.
Lilith was now the secretary-officer, a post that did not sound very important.
But in fact Lilith's standing and power in the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire had in some degree even surpassed Charlotte's.
Lilith was now as good as a nation's chief minister, a chancellor-type figure.
What she was responsible for was far greater,
and what she carried on her shoulders was greater too.
So Charlotte often felt, facing Lilith, that she could not match her.
Apart from relieving the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's and the Owl Dragon Emperor's worries in war, she could only hand everything else to Lilith.
Even when she was fighting at the front, it was Lilith who kept the logistics and transport secure; otherwise she might not even have been able to carry on a proper fight.
Such was Lilith's standing now.
"A quasi-T7 Golden-Holy-Angel-class Light Interstellar Cruiser… only a hundred trillion star coins a ship, and a short building time besides. This really is the top interstellar warship best suited to our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire right now. So long as it can be built, we're bound to build it on a large scale in future, and if we can, at least six hundred or more. Six hundred, without affecting our original building plan, means we need to put in another 60,000 trillion star coins of resources." Secretary Lilith frowned slightly.
That was no small outlay; it was not something that could be squeezed out simply by scraping together bits from here and there.
"It seems the plan we settled before will have to be brought forward." Zhao Chen looked at Secretary Lilith across from him.
Secretary Lilith thought for a moment and said, "Bringing it forward is no problem. I've already arranged all the preparatory steps for that matter on my side. Everyone who should be contacted has been contacted, and everything that should be laid out has been laid out. It was meant to go ahead in three months. But as things stand now, we can consider pushing the matter forward early. Since that's what you think, I'll tell the Secretariat and the Ministry of Commerce to speed things up on this front. But because of how important it is, you'll need to step in yourself."
Zhao Chen nodded and said with a laugh, "No problem on my side. If we're talking about who in our Empire is idlest right now, it's probably me."
Lilith looked at the look on Zhao Chen's face and said, "It's only a pity this leave of yours is coming to an end. The three children will probably miss you terribly. These past months, with you keeping them company, the three children have all been very happy. When I talk with them, they often bring up things they did with you."
At the mention of the three children,
Zhao Chen's gaze paused.
These few months he had spent most of his time within the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire.
Apart from occasions that needed him, like attending the quasi-T7 Golden-Holy-Angel-class Light Interstellar Cruiser test ship's launch and trial voyage ceremony, he had basically stayed by the children's side.
It was the rare time since the children were born that Zhao Chen had had the chance to stay so long, so relaxed, by their side.
Zhao Chen said with a smile, "The children are a bit bigger now, and very sensible, all of them. Annie found their gifts before, and lately I've arranged some teachers for them especially. I didn't mean at first to let them get near such things so early, but since it's the children's own choice, we parents should naturally give them the best conditions we can."
Lilith nodded; she knew about the three children each showing their gifts too, and of these three children only one was her own,
but like Charlotte, she had long since thought of all three children as her own.
As a mother, to see her children show their gifts and achieve something was naturally a very happy thing.
"After all, their father is the Owl Dragon Emperor; their future is bound to be dazzling!" Lilith said without a doubt.
But Zhao Chen said now, his gaze gentle, "Honestly, rather than their being like me, I'd rather see them live their whole lives in peace, without a care. To others we may seem to sit high above, enjoying far too much that others don't know of. But what they don't know is that while we enjoy all this, we also bear some things that others don't know of."