Bearing their unquiet hearts with them, Blanche and Leona crossed the glass-like gangway between and came before the central platform of the bridge.
"We pay our respects to the Owl Dragon lord." Princess Blanche, without the least hesitation, made the Dragon-folk tribe's highest obeisance: one knee to the deck, hand laid upon her breast, tail pressed close to her body and to the floor, dragon-wings pressed close to her back, head turned toward the ground.
When Leona saw Blanche make this obeisance, her heart gave a shock.
But very soon she followed and made her own.
Zhao Chen himself was rather surprised that these two Dragon-folk princesses should be so ceremonious — going down on one knee the moment they met.
Secretary Lilith beside him lifted the corners of her mouth slightly; she held, on the contrary, that this conduct of the two princesses was exceedingly wise.
With this one kneeling, the two women had preserved the Dragon-folk tribe's seed for the future.
"Rise and speak." Zhao Chen sat upon a specially made sofa.
Though not far off stood the captain's chair of this T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought, Zhao Chen still found the sofa the more comfortable to sit in.
For so far as Zhao Chen went, whatever was comfortable was the way of it.
Whoever sat there, it came to the same thing.
The two princesses straightened.
"Then let us begin our talk directly. Your two fleets should by now have the casualties of this war clearly reckoned." Zhao Chen came straight to the point and asked it outright.
Princess Blanche answered, "The fleets we sent to their support this time, since the Owl Dragon Legion carried the task of the chief attack, took very few casualties; we lost 5,000 interstellar warships only."
This report — indeed, Blanche's report was from the first not the point at issue.
Zhao Chen's gaze fell upon Leona.
Leona hung her head low. She bit lightly at her red lips and said, in a tone that carried her remorse, "Because of my former arrogant conduct, in leading 300,000 Warhammer interstellar warships to open an attack upon the Demon Race fleet on my own authority. I brought it about that we met with… the ambush of other Demon Race fleets. If… if… it had not been for the Owl Dragon Legion's timely support, the end of our 300,000 interstellar warships is past imagining. Here, on behalf of my fleets' soldiers, I once more express to my lord the Owl Dragon lord our gratitude…"
Seeing Princess Leona, while speaking, make ready to kneel again.
Zhao Chen said helplessly, "We are speaking of serious business now. Do not kneel here at every turn. And say no more of those words of thanks. I wish only to know your battlefield report. Do you understand?"
The plain words of this man before her left Leona somewhat astonished.
She had supposed that this man, on account of this rescue operation, would carry the air of a savior toward her and her fleets.
But by the look of it now, this man held on the contrary that this rescue operation counted for nothing whatever — sketched it in light strokes, as though it were a thing very near to ordinary.
"Leona, whatever the Owl Dragon lord asks, that is what you answer." Blanche enjoined her quietly at her side.
Leona set her own mood to rights, and then set out the state of her fleets' losses one item at a time.
Among the 300,000 interstellar warships Leona had led.
There were the 200,000 of the Dragon-folk fleet groups, and the hundred thousand of the other tribes' fleets.
The 200,000 Dragon-folk fleet groups had a combat-loss rate above 50%: 100,000 interstellar warships destroyed; and of the hundred thousand Dragon-folk interstellar warships remaining, three parts in 10 had suffered grievous damage, whose repair would be difficult in the extreme and cost great time.
And the remaining seven parts were, more or less, in a damaged state as well.
The other hundred thousand tribal fleets had a combat-loss rate above a terrible 80%; for these tribal fleets were themselves an assortment of uneven combat power.
And when the Demon Race fleets ambushed them, they threw their own array into confusion outright.
Set against the Dragon-folk fleet groups, whose combat quality was somewhat higher, a great many of their losses were in fact entirely unnecessary.
But it was a pity; this had become a fact accomplished.
The final upshot was that of the 300,000 interstellar warships Leona had commanded this time, 180,000 interstellar warships were lost outright, and above 50,000 more were gravely damaged.
The interstellar soldiers who fell numbered above 80 million.
And among the interstellar warships lost there were besides 123 T4-grade interstellar warships — these figures taking in as well the two quasi-T4-grade classes.
Having said all this, Leona lowered that formerly proud head of hers once more in her mortification.
"Which is to say that in this campaign. Your Dragon-folk tribe has lost the equivalent of one third of its total fleet." Zhao Chen said it mildly.
"It may be put so." Blanche nodded beside her.
Zhao Chen said with a slight knitting of his brows, "In which case. The Dragon-folk fleets garrisoning those several frontier territories in your Dragon-folk tribe's northern lands will shrink greatly in number. And the Demon Race fleets that have passed through this battle, though they may not open an attack again in any short time. Once they open a second attack, their combat power will of necessity go far beyond the fighting of this time."
Blanche nodded. This was the very problem that filled her with care at present.
By what she knew, in this campaign the Owl Dragon Legion had brought out very nearly the whole of its trump cards.
Even that T5 super-starship had come on stage.
And having learned the Owl Dragon Legion's combat power, the Demon Race would hereafter of necessity make their assessment against it, and send out a Demon Race fleet they judged sufficient to destroy the Owl Dragon Legion.
That scene, Blanche was unwilling even now to imagine.
This was a great crisis destined to come.
"I shall find means to have the military-industrial works within the Dragon-folk tribe's territory throw themselves into production with everything they have. And make good these deficiencies in the shortest time possible!" Leona promised it outright.
She wished urgently to redeem her own fault.
But Zhao Chen suddenly turned the point of his words, and said coldly, "Interstellar warships such as those of your Warhammer — what use is building more of them? To trade another hundred and fifty thousand interstellar warships for 3,000 of the Demon Race's?"
These words, past dispute, pressed once more upon the Dragon-folk tribe's scar.
Had it been before, Leona would assuredly have glared at Zhao Chen and fallen to quarreling with him.
But now the cast of her eyes was lost as well.
In the fighting against the Demon Race she too had felt the gap between the two sides' starship technology.
Even at the same grade of interstellar warship, it commonly took several times the number thrown in to have a chance of trading for the loss of one enemy ship.
Which gave Leona a sense of powerlessness at heart.
Zhao Chen watched the change in the cast of Leona's eyes, and knew the fish was already in his arms.
"In the fighting just now. Our Owl Dragon interstellar warships crossing hands with the Demon Race's interstellar warships. You saw it too, did you not?"
Zhao Chen raised a hand, and holographic projections of interstellar warship after interstellar warship appeared before the two princesses' eyes.
And among them there were even T4-grade interstellar warships.
"And what if I said I were willing to help you produce these interstellar warships?"