The Fox Empress Su Yaya fell silent.
This time she was silent for several minutes.
It was the first time this empress had been silent so long since entering this private room.
"Though my lord speaks very directly. This is indeed the reality! The Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth's old order has developed enormous problems; even the Dragon-folk tribe are attempting to overthrow the old order and establish a unified Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth. But the Dragon-folk tribe have one enormous problem: though they can overthrow the old order, because their own Dragon-folk noble class exists, and because they have no few dealings of interest with the upper ranks of other tribes— if a new Warhammer headed by the Dragon-folk tribe truly is established then, it will very likely be no more than a half-finished piece of work. The outside changed, the lining still as it was. To change it thoroughly requires reform from the bottom upward! And the Hundred Beasts Alliance exists for precisely that." Chieftainess Hu Ya looked to the Fox Empress Su Yaya and urged it upon her earnestly.
"Do you truly trust this man so, and the Owl Dragon Legion behind him?" The Fox Empress Su Yaya looked to Chieftainess Hu Ya.
Chieftainess Hu Ya said, unshakably, "I do trust him. Over this stretch I have used every channel of mine to learn about the Owl Dragon, including from General Charlotte and Chieftain Ted; and were it not that the business here will not let me get free— I would even wish to visit the Owl Dragon domain in person. You may not know, but there are—"
Coming to this point Chieftainess Hu Ya's words checked, and she looked hesitantly toward Zhao Chen.
Because what she had been about to say without thinking was at present classified matter.
"You mean the Spider Queen tribe and the Harpy tribe. It is no matter; say it straight out," Zhao Chen said calmly.
The Fox-folk tribe were the key to Charlotte's governing the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth in time to come; though without the Fox-folk tribe's help Charlotte could accomplish that goal as well.
It would take more time and effort.
Whereas the Fox-folk tribe's support amounted to shortening that process enormously.
And could in future even feed back into the Owl Dragon Legion.
Having Lord Zhao Chen's leave, Chieftainess Hu Ya went on, "Spider Queen Iris and the harpy Avina have both privately gone over to the Owl Dragon Legion. And not long ago, at my lord's invitation, they went to visit the Owl Dragon star system. Those two, on the very first day of going to the Owl Dragon star system, submitted to the Owl Dragon Legion of their own free hearts. Not joined the Hundred Beasts Alliance, but submitted to the Owl Dragon Legion — the two of them declared that their tribes would voluntarily become vassal tribes of the Owl Dragon Legion."
Chieftainess Hu Ya's words brought a look of astonishment to the Fox Empress Su Yaya's face.
"The harpy Avina actually made a decision so quickly?" What astonished the Fox Empress Su Yaya was Avina, and not Spider Queen Iris.
Because she understood Spider Queen Iris's character clearly.
Which was that of a morbid engineer.
Set those excellent interstellar warships the Owl Dragon Legion had now produced before Spider Queen Iris, and the Fox Empress Su Yaya knew she would certainly go over to Charlotte's side; only she had not thought it would be to become an Owl Dragon Legion vassal tribe outright.
But it might be reckoned within expectation all the same.
Because of the Spider Queen tribe's special character, even if the Dragon-folk tribe won in future, the Dragon-folk tribe would not impose any great punishment upon the Spider Queen people.
These being industrial talents, after all; the thing then would likely be a scolding, some punishment or other at random, and then the Spider Queen tribe would be brought into the Dragon-folk tribe's new order.
But the Harpy tribe was another matter.
They were a cheaper existence, and so the Harpy tribe had all along survived by walking carefully.
Even with the Golden Eagle tribe, who lived in the same star region, making difficulties for them in a hundred ways, they had borne the humiliation and shouldered the burden.
So they very rarely did anything like taking a side, and honestly and plainly went about their own business — not seeking merit, but seeking to avoid fault.
And now they had chosen outright to become an Owl Dragon Legion vassal tribe.
This was too hard to credit.
What manner of stake had the Owl Dragon Legion produced, to persuade two of the twenty great tribes all at once?
"And so, for the Fox-folk tribe's future. You ought to make the right choice!" Chieftainess Hu Ya looked at the Fox Empress Su Yaya in entreaty.
"You are truly very like your mother — both of you so stubborn. Once a road is chosen, you will walk it to the end unshakably, even if a price must be paid for it." The Fox Empress Su Yaya gazed at Chieftainess Hu Ya.
Chieftainess Hu Ya clenched her fists and said, "Is that not precisely our fox race's way of survival? We have no strong power of breeding, nor any strong physical qualities, nor any racial gift in industry or in fighting. The one thing we possess is our minds. And that our fox race has flourished to this day, we owe to every right choice we have made."
Zhao Chen watched the two of them.
Were others to see this scene, they would without question be astonished.
That the leaders of the Black Fox tribe and the Fox-folk tribe should be sitting here talking and laughing at ease.
Because by report in the wider world, the Black Fox tribe was a people driven out by the fox race, driven even from their own territory, and become a wandering tribe.
Who afterward joined the rebel army, and thereafter had come all this way as the rebel army's brain trust.
Before this Black Tiger Star Region campaign began, Chieftainess Hu Ya had come to Zhao Chen's office; and the content of those several hours' talk had to do with the fox race.
Chieftainess Hu Ya had applied to Zhao Chen for leave to invite a special guest to visit the Owl Dragon Legion.
And that guest was the Fox Empress Su Yaya.
It was in those several hours of talk, too, that Zhao Chen learned the secret behind the fox race.
In those days it was not that the fox race had expelled the Black Fox line at all; rather it was that the then chieftainess of the Black Fox line — Chieftainess Hu Ya's mother, Hu Xin'er's grandmother—
the old Black Fox chieftainess had scented the unstable elements within the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth.
And considering the Fox-folk tribe's future.
Had decided therefore to leave the fox race and join the rebel army.
To put it simply, it was that common saying: do not put your eggs in one basket.
By the Black Fox tribe's subsequent development within the rebel army, whichever side might win or lose in future, the fox race would at least go on being handed down.
And Chieftainess Hu Ya over this stretch had judged that the Owl Dragon Legion would be the victor to come, and prepared to stake everything upon the Owl Dragon Legion.
Though it would be possible to have the fox race come over in submission later on.
Chieftainess Hu Ya understood one principle clearly as well.
Sending charcoal in the snow and adding flowers to the brocade are wholly different things.
Though in the present situation, the fox race's joining the Hundred Beasts Alliance and the Owl Dragon Legion could not be called sending charcoal in the snow, it was at least more than adding flowers to the brocade.
And by that time the standing the fox race held would naturally be different too.
"Su Yaya, it is time to make your choice." Chieftainess Hu Ya clenched her fists and looked at her urgently, even speaking her name outright.
The Fox Empress Su Yaya let out a sigh, and her lovely eyes went to Zhao Chen. "I have one question. How do you mean to deal with this land of the Warhammer in time to come?"