Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!

"Are you sure it is okay to leave things as they are?" Fay asked, allowing her face to reflect her feelings for the first time since we set out for the negotiations.

Fay not only asked with her voice but also tugged on the edge of my shirt while averting her eyes away, as if ashamed of her need to ask in the first place.

"We were never going to make any real deal during our first meeting," I spoke back, personally pretty happy with the results of the meeting. And while it obviously could've gone better…

But all in all, things were relatively well. An oddity in a world where fate decided that I had no right to peace, only to end up burdened by all sorts of pressing matters to tend to.

From the first two groups of human scouts, through the skirmish with the mercenaries, and now negotiating with the leader of a massive force…

They were all nothing more but a cockblockers, a blue-balling agent that stopped me from fully enjoying the early stages of my relationship with Fay. Still, they were cockblockers annoying and persistent enough to constantly force me into a bigger and bigger mess.

'It's as if I'm a protagonist of some silly story where the author covers his inability by pushing more and more troubles at the main character to mask the shortcomings in other areas of their craft.

And as weird as it felt to consider myself the main hero of the story of my own life, - It was my first time doing so, after all - I still couldn't help but acknowledge just how well this strange conjecture would explain my current quandary.

While the first part of the negotiations was done, it was nothing more but an exchange of greetings and some early hints as to how each side pictured the possible cooperation.

'That princess is going to be a tough nut to crack,' I thought, my thoughts pulling away from my conversation with Fay and over to the topic of the golden princess.

"Didn't you want to avoid as much bloodshed as you could?" Fay asked, taking a step ahead only to lean her upper body forward and then look back and to the side only to give me a smile as adorable as it was playful.

"And it went quite well, didn't it?" I asked, raising my hand and giving her thumbs-up… only to raise it all the way over my shoulder and use said thumb to discretely point at Claudy walking a few paces behind us.

As when it came to the strange, noble leader of the mercenary guild…

'No matter how you look at it, he's directly related to the royalty of the one country that conquered most of the continent,' I thought, gulping my saliva down as the scale of what actually happened only now started to dawn on me.

"Is it true?" Claudy suddenly spoke out, breaking the vows of silence he made after exchanging a few, hrash words with Etaria.

"What is?" I asked, genuinely confused as to what the man could exactly mean.

"Are you going to let my people go?" The noble leader asked, staring at me with such intensity I couldn't help but start to low-key question my sexuality.

The man was simply too handsome! And as jealous as I felt about his refined appearance…

Just a single look at his tired and yet hopeful face…

"Eh…" Unable to resist, I gave in to my drive to bully the noble a little.

"You really should learn how stupid it is to believe a single word that comes out of a politician's mouth," I jeered… And after shaking my head, I got enough of the flash of desperation and hostility in Claudy's eyes.

'Ugh, how scary,' I thought, instinctively grabbing Fay closer to my chest and taking a step back.

"The problem is, I can't exactly tell when we will do it… But yeah, we are going to free all of your companions, as long as you promise they won't take part in this fight any longer."

In fact, I had no hopes for Claudy to acknowledge and accept my request. It was one thing to request Claudy to remain as a political hostage, but something else to expect him to rein all of his underlings and stop them from joining the imperial war effort.

They were all mercenaries, after all. Not soldiers united under a single and stable command but a bunch of different groups, brought together by a perspective of earning money through their craft.

"You know that it won't happen," Claudy muttered under his nose before averting his eyes to the extreme side. "The most I can do is ask them to leave you alone. Whether or not others will listen to my words…"

"Don't worry," I sighed. "I'm not going to ask you for more than you can do. And yes, as soon as I'm done with certain preparations, we will let you all go. Unharmed and without any added ploy to use your retreat as a cover for an attack or something," I spoke before sighing again and shrugging my shoulders.

"Your people will be free to do whatever they want, even join the empire's forces if they decide to ignore your request."

Claudy squinted his eyes. Find adventures at m v lem|p-yr

"Why are you letting us off so easily after making a great effort to claim us as hostages?"

Claudy's question… was valid. Or rather, it was perfectly correct to ask. And that made it somewhat challenging to answer.

"The only reason why I needed you to be my hostages, was to establish first contact with the commander of all of the approaching armies," I revealed with a sigh. "And now that's done, keeping you any longer will only put a strain on the number of supplies the forest has to offer."

As stupid as it was to reveal my true intentions to someone who could very well become my enemy the moment he returned some… I still felt good about doing so. For some unknown reason that I couldn't really explain, it simply felt natural for me to share it.

"I…" Claudy opened up his mouth in a clear attempt to say something… Only to end up dropping the idea and pursing his lips in a slightly uncomfortable grimace. "No, that's wrong," Claudy shook his head before raising it back up and looking first over my shoulder and then directly into my eyes. "For letting us off so easily… I will consider this a huge debt of gratitude!

"Don't worry about it," I replied with a small smirk on my lips. "We are all simply doing our part."

"And speaking of doing one's part…" A new, although familiar voice appeared from behind my back, forcing me to jump on the spot as I turned to face the potential threat.

And a threat it turned out to be, for it was Madam who approached as soon as Claudy turned on his heel and moved away.

"Isn't it time for you guys to go back?" Madam asked in a strangely flat tone, one that didn't fit her at all.

"You mean…" I hesitated for a second, too scared to even bring the name of the other world up while out in the open. And so, rather than spelling it out loud…

"Yeah, you are right on the money," Madam spoke before adding a lovely smile to her already happy grin. "And this time, I want to go with you guys."

This was…

One hell of an unexpected and unwelcome development.

But one that I could allow to happen.

"Aren't you necessary here to keep the princess in check?" I suggested, more than just eager to ditch the mother-in-law and just elope to earth with Fay.

Even the thought of enlisting Makary's help to deal with the human invasion made me feel anxious. For Makary's men to help, they had to come to this world, after all! And once even a single person would fess up and start some rumors…

I shook my head and took a breath.

"If it's just for a few hours…"

"Don't you remember?" I cut Madam off before she could start to push her agenda out. "It's not that easy to move between… places," I turned to a slightly cryptic language, not to give any hints to anyone who could potentially listen to this exchange.

And while the odds of that happening were low, I dared not to completely dismiss them.

"Oh… Right…" Madam muttered, clearly downtrodden by my rejection.

'Where did the graceful and dignified woman that never showed any interest in other world go?' I rolled my eyes and decided to ignore the whining of my mother-in-law.

"We don't exactly know how soon we will be back. And with how my portals are the only to communicate between worlds, what would happen if that princess suddenly realized your presence was no longer here, turning the moment into the greatest chance she could ever ask for? " I asked while imagining that very scenario.

"Then, be back as soon as you can," Madam muttered, turning her head away as she pouted.

'Oho,' I couldn't help but smile. 'It seems Fay's new manners are rubbing off on her mom!'

"Will do," I replied. "Don't worry, Madam. I will do my absolute best to keep Fay safe and entertained," I proclaimed while ignoring the pain and lowering my upper body in an elegant but extremely uncomfortable bow.

"Ekhem…" Madam averted her eyes, a small blush and a distant sense of longing emerging on her face.

"Well, we will be going, then," I announced before silently following Madam back into the forest.

For now, in this world, I did everything I could. But now…

Now was the time to move on and expand my operation to Earth!