"Then what is it you mean, my lord?" Nana gulped, looking at Commander Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen held up a single finger.
100?
Nana knit her brows faintly.
But Zhao Chen paused a moment, and then held up two fingers.
"300!" The shy-natured Nana could not, at this point, help but shriek the words aloud, drawing the notice of no small number of the personnel round about.
Nana, red in the face, looked at the Commander, and said, careful and cautious, "Expand to 300 T3 Furnaces… that number's a bit too large. Though this way we can produce more T3 interstellar warships, the demand it puts on raw-material resources will increase as well. Take just producing the T3 Blizzard, as you exampled a moment ago: the single-ship build-cost is 13 million star coins, and 300 T3 Furnaces could produce 1,500 T3 Blizzards in a single month! That would mean that the raw-material consumption alone would need a full 20 billion star coins!"
20 billion star coins consumed in a single month came, over a year, to upward of 240 billion star coins.
This figure was very nearly the equal of an ordinary star region's yearly armaments budget.
"20 billion a month?" Zhao Chen wore a thinking expression.
Off to the side, Nana supposed the Commander would, at this, know the difficulty and beat a retreat — that he'd likely shrink it back to 100.
"Lilith, I recall our controlled Morton Star System — if fully developed, it can yield a single-month income of 10 billion star coins in ore raw materials, isn't that so?" Zhao Chen inquired.
"That's right." Lilith nodded.
"Then, relying further on some of the starship-order income the Northern Goose side provides, and on the bit of family stores we've saved up out of the little Princess's orders — to just barely keep it going for a stretch of time is still no problem, surely." Zhao Chen, his reckoning done, looked toward Lilith, that housekeeper of his.
Lilith was silent a few seconds, then answered, "Within one year there'll be no financial problem whatever. After a year, situations of raw-material shortage may begin to appear one after another. And should certain uncertain factors arise, these incomes, too, might be affected. War, for instance."
"Our mass-producing interstellar warships is precisely to guard against war." Zhao Chen looked toward Nana beside him, his gaze firm.
"Then let's settle it thus. Afterward, have a word with Annie: from here on, expand the T3 Furnaces with all our strength; you can have the Northern Goose Group's 3,000 T2 Iron Hammers assist in the production. Have Annie give me a report on how long it will take to complete this batch of the expansion plan," Zhao Chen said.
"This… I can work that out too," Nana said in a small voice.
Zhao Chen's eyes lit up; he looked at this dwarf before him, so like Annie in outward appearance but far more reserved in temperament.
"Oh? Then how long do you need?"
"Please give me 10 minutes." No sooner had Nana said it than she at once conjured up, then and there, several holographic-projection operation interfaces, laid her hands upon the virtual keyboard, and tapped away at speed.
Before Nana there appeared, again, one virtual window after another without cease.
Zhao Chen watched this Nana in the midst of her work — utterly unlike that shy temperament of hers: swift and decisive, a whirlwind of action!
It was for all the world as though Zhao Chen were seeing Annie in her working state.
In under 10 minutes' time, Nana's work was finished.
She looked toward the Commander, and reported, "If, without producing other interstellar warships, we expand the T3 Furnaces with all our strength from now on, and add to it the Northern Goose Group's cooperation — the raw-material resources required coming to 15 billion star coins — it will take only under three months' time; that is, before the end of March next year, we can expand to a count of 300 T3 Furnaces."
The end of March next year?
Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes.
Were he to start up that 10-month production aura, then in all likelihood the task could be finished before the end of February.
And by then, he could throw efficiency wide open and produce the combat-type interstellar warships he needed, forging for Zhao Chen a vast fleet-group of interstellar warships enough to stand against the Prince Faction!
"Lilith, how much in the way of resources do we have on the books that we can mobilize now?" Zhao Chen looked toward Lilith.
Lilith at once called up the Owl Dragon Legion's financial data.
"Counting the balance the little Princess delivered, and the orders to come, along with that last starship-technology licensing fee delivered from Chu Xuan's side, and the like — up to now, our Owl Dragon Legion still has close to 20 billion star coins on the books."
"20 billion? Then that's enough." Zhao Chen looked at Nana.
"Then do it just as you've said — assist Annie in completing this build plan. If this build plan is completed, I'll confer on you the post of top starship chief engineer; and by then you'll be able to lead a team of your own, and take charge of build plans."
Up to now, Nana's performance had been, all of it, excellent.
And in what came next — so long as Nana could bring the build plan to consummate completion, that would prove that Nana beyond doubt possessed the ability to hold down a post single-handed.
To go on having Nana serve as Annie's assistant-secretary would be too great a waste of her talent.
"Thank you, Lord Commander! Nana will surely work hard!" Nana said in her excitement.
She'd all along looked upon her own sister as the goal she strove for; of course she, too, hoped that one day she might stand on her own, holding down her own post — rather than standing behind her sister.
She clenched her fist tight: she would, without fail, guarantee the consummate completion of this build plan!
"I think very highly of you. Give it your all." Zhao Chen clapped Nana on the shoulder, and thereafter took his leave along with Lilith.
Nana watched the Commander's departing back, waving her hand in her excitement.
Over and over her mind called back the words the Commander had just spoken.
I think very highly of you…
At this moment Nana was for all the world as though she'd been given a shot of chicken-blood[1].
A good long while later.
"Big beef-leg… Annie's big beef-leg…" Annie stretched out a hand to grasp at something; her eyes cracked faintly open, not yet fully clear of sleep.
And when she saw a figure standing beside her, she was startled straight awake.
"Nana, what are you doing standing there beside me!" Seeing it was her own sister, Annie only then let out a breath of relief.
Thereafter she lay right back down.
She wanted, still, to go into her dream and eat her big beef-leg; half-consciously she gave a tug at the "quilt" on her body — there was, besides, a familiar scent to it, though for the moment she couldn't call to mind what it was.
Never mind that; the big beef-leg was the more important thing.
"Sister, the Lord Commander came by just now. He said to expand to 300 T3 Furnaces," Nana said at her side.
"Oh, 300…"
Swish.
Annie shot straight up; her originally muddled little head was, at this, all at once perfectly clear.
"What did you say? Expand to 300 T3 Furnaces!"
"Yes. I've already drawn up the build plan, and the Lord Commander is very satisfied with it. He wants you, sister, to look it over, and afterward the production work can get under way," Nana said in her excitement.
Annie looked at the familiar military-uniform "quilt" before her, then looked, again, at her naive sister before her.
She clutched at her own head.
"I… I just took a nap… how… how did I nap out 300 T3 Furnaces? This must be a dream… this must be a dream…"
Annie curled up on the floor-bed — but by now she hadn't the least trace of sleepiness left.
She knew full well that expanding these 300 T3 Furnaces was no hard thing; but it meant, too, that the workload to come would be greatly increased.
This nap she'd taken… was just like a dream.