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

"Wha…?!" the golden man stumbled when he climbed high up the hill enough to come face to face with Madam. "It's you? But… Why? How?"

Despite seeing the man for the very first time, my opinion of him instantly took a massive dive.

'Is this how a leader of the army on the brink of a battle should act?'

I squinted my eyes and turned around, hooking my hands on the gun that I held on my back. And with this disrespectful, relaxed pose, I stared at the man as his eyes moved from Madam to Karlan… and then, to me.

"You? Who are you?" the golden being squinted its eyes, only for them to expand under the exploding wrath. "HUMAN?!"

"Calm down," Madam spoke out and even reached out with her hand… But she underestimated her ex's outcry. The man shrouded in a golden aura simply stepped past her hand and then past Madam herself.

"STAY!"

Before the man could make another step and force me to lower my hands to the neu-shottie hanging on a belt down my neck, Madam turned around and reached out, this time putting her back behind her grab. And to my actual surprise, she managed to hold the man down, stopping him in his tracks.

"You…" the man turned his face to look at Madam, the fury at spotting a human amid his camp replaced by the holy fury of his ex opposing him…

'Even though Fay claimed her Madam gave up her spot as the leader of celestials, she is standing up to the leader of divines…' I shook my head and took a step forward.

The worst thing I could do right now was to show any fear. Did I do anything to incur it? Or did I just slaughter scores of people who were obviously aiming to attack the forest?

"I didn't give a command to attack! How do you know if they didn't want to just create a camp here?! You've provoked a damn war!" the golden man shouted out right in Madam's face. "And you even brought human here?! Have you openly sided with them?! Or are you that set on taking revenge on me you are willing to let this forest burn down…"

"Shut it."

Madam's voice was silent. And yet, just like everything around her, I froze in place.

The man shrouded in the golden aura was no different, unable to utter another word, not to speak about moving around.

Under the weight of Madam's command, he couldn't even twitch.

"Don't forget your place, boy!"

Madam's figure appeared to grow, regardless of how she continued to look human at all times. Her aura permeated the entire hill and everything and everyone on it, disallowing any action that she didn't openly approve of.

"Burn down our forest? Isn't this what you did by allowing them to set up and reinforce the camp?" Madam lashed out, heavily pulling the hand she held the golden man with and throwing him on the ground in a fit of rage.

"The only reason why you have any power now is because I didn't want Fay to witness what a joke of a man you are!"

From what was supposed to be a simple stalling action, Madam turned into an intense episode of a family drama.

And if not for my inability to move, I would kill to get a Coke and popcorn to watch those developments.

'So she gave up her power willingly, rather than being forced to do so,' I thought, carefully processing every sword that Madam or the golden man would say. 'Wait, doesn't that make Fay… a princess?'

For but a second, I imagined Fay dressed in one of those period costumes, all too happy to jump in my arms as I would carry her across our royal palace, to the royal bed, where on top of royal pillows we would…

"Don't you dare bring her up in this!" the golden man groaned, struggling to resist Madam's word of charm. He even managed to move, something I couldn't even conceive doing when locked by Madam's seemingly infinite lock.

The man's arm twitched. And then moved. And then, he slowly rose up from his knees.

The veins bulked under the thin layer of cloth of his tunic, showcasing just how heavy Madam's word was.

And yet, he resisted it and stood up.

"You've betrayed your kin and sided with a filthy human…" the golden man uttered, standing up but still struggling to precisely control his muscles.

"A human who killed the mage responsible for this storm and then scores of others while you were sitting back and doing nothing," Madam coldly countered. Then, her eyes flashed as the air around her face tensed. "KNEEL!"

Overpowered in an instant, the golden man fell back down to his knees.

"It's been so many years since I last saw you, yet you still managed to even further disappoint me."

'Ugh…'

Even though I wasn't the recipient of those words, I could tell how much they had to sting.

Especially when spoke to a man who obtained his current standing not by the merit of hits wits or power, but thanks to Madam willingly giving up on her authority for Fay's sake.

"Madam…" I managed to utter a single word, weakly calling for Fay's mom.

Turning her eyes, the elegant woman waved her head and instantaneously lifted the pressure of her words, freeing me from the aura binds.

"I think you've lectured him enough," I spoke, baffled by how the situation evolved.

When I first spotted the golden man, I thought his appearance meant great trouble. After all… I was a human who infiltrated his warcamp and even pushed certain developments in the conflict with the army in the camp outside of the forest!

And yet, here I was, feeling sympathetic to the man's cause as Madam coldly scolded him.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way, but let me take just a moment to set some things straight," I spoke, turning directly to the golden man and stopping just a few steps away from his face. "I have nothing to do with the humans outside of the forest. I'm not here as an invader but a, hopefully," I stole a quick glance at Madam's face, "hopefully a well-welcomed guest. And…"

Despite apparently listening to my words, both the golden man and Madam, turned their heads to the side, away from me.

"We are back!" Fay called out as she dropped one end of the huge freezer on the soft soil of the forest, not sparing a single look at the hill while she rushed to open it before pulling out two bags marked with the same sign that I had engraved on my neugarand.

Fay, paying absolutely no mind to the tense air all over the hill ran up before passing me the bags.

"How are you holding up?" she asked, before finally taking a glance to the side, to where her father kneeled under the pressure of her mom's words.

Her eyes widened before her face twisted in an annoyed grimace.

Sparing no word for her father, Fay turned around and reached out for my arms while I was too stunned by the development to even react, only to wrap herself around my shoulder and pull me ahead, back to the topmost point of the hill.

"Can you show me again," Fay asked, her face a mix of strange, almost vile satisfaction and… some sort of uncertainty? "Can you show me again how you slaughter those who are out for my blood?" she asked with a smile as conflicted as her expression.

And strangely enough, even though it was a first for me to see her like that… I could somewhat guess the reasons behind her troubled expression.

The annoyed look she gave her father, ostentatious show of affection towards me, request for me to show my power and ability…

'Isn't she trying to brag about me to poke her father's side?'

Not exactly sure of how far I was willing to take this guess, I simply heaved a short sigh before raising my free hand and using it to gently pat the top of Fay's head.

"Of course," I assured before smiling at Fay with the brightest smile my face could produce. "For you, my dear, everything."

With a few steps, we reached the top of the hill while I continued to race with my thoughts to figure out what would best serve Fay's goals for the moment.

And arriving at a certain conclusion, I swiftly replaced the barrel in my gun before making sure that the electric sockets were properly aligned and connected. Then, I sat down cross-legged on the ground, positioned sideways to the camp.

Raising my eyes, I patted my thigh and smiled at Fay, secretly worried beyond any reason about whether or not I nailed what she might desire from me at the moment.

"Come here...?"ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom