Next, Zhao Chen and the Radiant Elf King drained the wine in their cups at one go, which counted as reaching an understanding.
Next, in view of how pressed Zhao Chen was over this matter,
the Radiant Elf King took the lead in calling an emergency session of the High Council.
That was also why Zhao Chen had gone first to see the Radiant Elf King.
Mind you, that the Radiant Elf King happened to be on Moon-God Planet, and happened to go along with Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, to meet Zhao Chen,
was no mere coincidence.
And had Zhao Chen only asked Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, to handle the matter, it would very probably not have succeeded.
For though Zhao Chen's lending a Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought to the Flame Elf Queen before had steadied things for Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, to a degree,
so that she was not punished,
some of her powers were still held in check, above all over moving legion fleets: apart from the legion fleets promised to the Flame Elf Queen before,
every other Holy Elf legion fleet group had now received orders that, without a deployment order from the High Council and more than three Elf Sovereigns, none was to make any rash move.
So Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, had still less chance of calling a session of the High Elf Council.
Hence this welcome banquet, which looked like a banquet two Elf Sovereigns had laid on for Zhao Chen,
but was in fact a stepping stone Zhao Chen had found for himself.
If it went well, the trip to the Holy Elf Empire would be half a success already.
And if it did not go well, it would at least save time, and not waste too much time here for nothing.
For what Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, had said at the table before was not wrong.
The authority of Gustav, the Radiant Elf King, in the Holy Elf Empire was still very great; whatever he agreed to was seldom blocked in the High Elf Council.
So, as the saying goes, whoever tied the bell must untie it: so long as Zhao Chen could win over Gustav, the Radiant Elf King, everything else would be easy to talk through.
Three hours after the welcome banquet ended,
on Moon-God Planet, in the hall of the High Council,
a top-level meeting had been called in haste because the Radiant Elf King had stepped in.
And everyone noticed the guest present: the Owl Dragon Emperor.
It was only the second time Zhao Chen had appeared here.
For an emperor from another interstellar civilization's universe to appear twice within a short time in the Holy Elf Empire's High Council hall was a very rare thing.
In a way, it also showed how special the Owl Dragon Emperor now was.
And because the session had been called in haste, some could not come in person, so holographic projection was used.
In the meeting place, column after column of light lit up, each meaning that someone had joined this meeting by holographic projection.
And on the five Elf Sovereigns' thrones beside Zhao Chen, at first only two were present in person:
Gustav, the Radiant Elf King, and Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen.
The other three Elf Sovereigns all joined this meeting by hologram.
And of these, Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, was in fact right there in the Sacred Tree System.
But because he was now obsessed with studying that Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought, he had no wish at all to waste time coming all that way to attend the meeting.
Though it was in the same star system, and there and back would perhaps take less than a day,
Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, still did not want to waste that day.
Indeed, had Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, not told Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, that it was the Owl Dragon Emperor who had come this time,
Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, would simply have missed the meeting.
So one could see that Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, still looked absent-minded now, his eyes turned all the while in one direction.
Zhao Chen knew at a glance that Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, was doing two things at once; his hologram was here, but in his own view he was probably still looking at several other windows,
most likely studying material on the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought.
Perhaps sensing Zhao Chen's gaze, the Emerald Elf King looked over, and their eyes met.
The Emerald Elf King nodded slightly.
This seemingly slight gesture, had anyone attentive noticed it, would certainly have astonished them.
To outsiders the Emerald Elf King had always seemed cold and unsociable; sometimes, when he was thinking about his own affairs, he did not even greet the other Elf Sovereigns when they appeared before him.
That he should now greet Zhao Chen of his own accord showed well enough how high Zhao Chen stood with the Emerald Elf King.
Zhao Chen naturally nodded back.
Very soon the five Elf Sovereigns and every high-elf councilor were present.
And the several Elf Sovereigns' looks differed.
Only Mansfield, the Emerald Elf King, still wore that look of a mind wandering beyond the heavens.
Onias, the Nightglow Elf King, looked somewhat hesitant; one could see he was probably thinking something over now, and was troubled by it, with no answer for the moment.
Marietis, the Bluewater Elf Queen, looked at Zhao Chen with interest, a glimmer of rosy light in her lovely eyes.
Before the meeting they had already learned its purpose from the Radiant Elf King.
And next, the Radiant Elf King set out the heart of this meeting:
the Owl Dragon Emperor, on behalf of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, meant to join with the Holy Elf Empire in setting up a universe trade alliance.
On hearing this, the high-elf councilors present all put on thoughtful looks, and some began discussing it privately.
Unlike the several Elf Sovereigns, most of the high-elf councilors, apart from a very few of special standing among them, were only now learning of it.
So most of their faces showed surprise.
Very soon Gustav, the Radiant Elf King, had finished setting the matter out,
and looked at Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen raised his hand and opened a huge page.
It was the brief Minister Li Yaqi and the others had prepared long before.
"Everything I have to say is in here. Rather than talk a fine tale, I prefer to set the real things before everyone and let everyone weigh them and decide for themselves," Zhao Chen said frankly.
"Very well. We will now adjourn for fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes, the first vote on this motion will be held; as is customary, if more than three Elf Sovereigns agree, and over sixty percent of the high councilors' votes agree, the motion passes outright," the Radiant Elf King said.
As the bell rang,
a light curtain came down on the dais as well,
separating Zhao Chen and the several Elf Sovereigns from the high-elf councilors outside.
At this point, the first to step forward
was Marietis, the Bluewater Elf Queen; she walked straight up to Zhao Chen.
Her lovely eyes narrowed slightly. "Something this important: why did Your Excellency the Owl Dragon Emperor go to Salaman and Gustav, and not come to me? Mind you, forty percent of the interstellar trade inside the Holy Elf Empire now is under my management. And over seventy percent of its cross-universe trade abroad is under my management. Shouldn't this matter more fittingly have been talked over with me first?"
Marietis, the Bluewater Elf Queen, had the air of a wife who has caught her husband keeping a mistress.
As for how the work was divided among the Holy Elf Empire's several Elf Sovereigns,
Zhao Chen in fact knew it well enough.
Apart from managing foreign affairs, Marietis, the Bluewater Elf Queen, also dealt with foreign commerce.
So normally Zhao Chen ought to have gone first to Marietis, the Bluewater Elf Queen, to talk such a thing over.
But he had first got in touch with Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, and Gustav, the Radiant Elf King.
Going about it that way, no wonder Marietis, the Bluewater Elf Queen, came here to call him to account.
Zhao Chen answered with a smile, "Please don't be angry, Your Excellency the Bluewater Elf Queen; there was indeed something wrong with how this was done. But I had no choice. Because on this matter we're rather pressed for time. We had meant to push it forward three months from now. But because of certain changes in our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, we've had to push it forward early. That's why I, the Owl Dragon Emperor, came in person to meet you, so as to reach this alliance as fast as possible. And only after I reached the Holy Elf Empire did I learn that the only ones in the Sacred Tree System were Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, and His Excellency Gustav, the Radiant Elf King. So naturally I could only talk with these two face to face first; after all, something this important is awkward to talk over by remote communication."
"Excuses, all of them." Marietis, the Bluewater Elf Queen, folded her arms, with the air of one very cross indeed.
Zhao Chen was puzzled: Why is this Elf Queen's temper so strange?
She wasn't like this when I met and talked with her before.
Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, came over just then to get Zhao Chen out of the spot: "Marietis, drop the play-acting. If there's something you want to say, just say it; hiding it and making people guess is too much bother."
"Oho, Sister Salaman really does think a lot of the Owl Dragon Emperor, doesn't she?" Marietis, the Bluewater Elf Queen, teased.
Marietis, the Bluewater Elf Queen, stopped there too, and teased Salaman no further.
For she had already seen Salaman's cheeks turn a little red; she knew Salaman was rather thin-skinned.
A little teasing and she would blush.
Had she teased her a couple more times, the girl might really have come to blows.
Marietis, the Bluewater Elf Queen, fixed her eyes on Zhao Chen, folded her arms, and said with a smile, "I think there's no problem with the universe trade alliance plan the Owl Dragon Emperor has put forward. But with a cake this big, cutting only this little slice for our Holy Elf Empire: isn't that rather too little?"
So the girl means to shake me down!
But Zhao Chen, and Li Yaqi and the others behind him, had foreseen this long before.
Room for bargaining had been left in the proposals from the start.
"Then may I ask, Miss Marietis, what it is you want?" Zhao Chen asked back with a smile.