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

"He's late, again," Makary muttered under his nose while taking a second to check the time on his phone for the umpteenth time. Yet, just like the last twenty or so times, the time has hardly moved.

"Is this the usual?" I asked, raising my eyes to the man from the comfortable seat where I ended up while enjoying the comfortable weight of Fay's soft body pressing down on my lap.

"He's a fucking drug addict," Makary rolled his eyes as he slapped his hand down on the table and heavily exhaled. "I thought with that herb of yours he would get slightly better at it, but…"

'My herb?'

It took me a second to figure out what Makary was talking about. The herb that I used to initially coax him into sponsoring my lavish lifestyle on earth. Or, to buy my way into his favor, given how money didn't appear to be an issue Makary would even bother considering.

"I wonder how it works on the long-time users," I muttered, more to myself than to prolong the conversation.

"Do you really have the time to worry about that, now?" Fay asked with a small smile as she tapped just the tip of her forefinger against the very middle of my chest.

Yet, as flirty as it might be… we were still within the top floor of the magistrate's high-rise, awaiting the arrival of the 'big dog' as Makary called him…

Or, as Makary also put it, while the group of officials we just met would shake nothing but their belts while walking around, Leon, with every step he took, would shake the entire governance of the city as a whole.

And from the looks of it, this very man cared not for just how pressed for time we were.

Bang!

Exhibiting the same disregard for the maintenance of the conference room door as he did for our time, the person in question walked into the room… Only to instantly make both me and the girls frown.

'Is that him?!' I thought, struggling not to let my surprise show on my face.

After Makary admitted the man was a heavy drug user, I dared not to offer even the tiniest thing that he could potentially consider to be an insult.

After all, only God knew how the brains of the drug addicts worked, even with the crutch of that anti-addictive herb.

"Makary, welcome!" the man in question didn't seem to mind our faces as he walked in with the biggest of smiles, already opening his arms out as in for a hug while he addressed Makary. "Still, this has to be the earliest hour that you've paid me a visit. What is it this time, you brought something even better than that accursed tea?"

Leon turned out to be nothing more… but likely an heir to the fortune that gave him the position he enjoyed. For, no matter how hard someone would try to convince me, I struggled to believe that this barely legal kid could've reached his current position with just his own abilities.

'So rather than a top dog, he's a top puppy of the town?' I thought, the corner of my lips raising just a tiny little bit at the thought.

"Leon, it's been a while," Makary spoke in a somber tone. From the looks of his face, there was a great disparity between how Leon and Makary approached this meeting. For the former, it was a joyous occasion on the level of getting a new toy as a kid. For Makary, however…

'This is going to be one hell of a chore, isn't it?' I thought, nearly instantly realizing and then sympathizing with what had to be going through Makary's mind.

"So?" Leon asked while throwing himself at one of the empty chairs, not paying me, Fay, or Madam even a single glance worth of attention. "What brings you here so early in the morning?"

Hearing those words, I couldn't help but squeeze one of my hands into fists.

'Early? We were waiting for you for three fucking hours!'

In addition to the time we spent moving through the magistrate's tower, the time we wasted dealing with the unsavory welcoming party on the ground floor, and the time we spent traveling from Makary's compound to the town's center, the total came up to a bit shy of five hours.

And that meant, we only had about three more hours before we would have no other choice but to drop everything in here and rush back to be on time for the big event back in Fay's world.

After all, there was no point in making Etaria feel as furious about us being late as we were right now about Leon disregarding our own time pressure!

"Do you want the long or the short story?" Makary asked while making sure to put a great emphasis on the latter of the two options.

"You know I can't handle long speeches," Leon rolled his eyes and stretched back in his chair. "Hit me with the short, simplified one."

Makary took a deep breath and spared a glance my way before standing up and moving over to where Leon sat down. He then stood over the young man's chair for a while, giving him a long and annoyed stare.

"We need money and means of using it," Makary revealed in the shortest way possible. "And if you won't be the one to give it to us, then in thirty minutes this city will have a new Magister."

While the city council was the unofficial but practical ruling body of the town, the official yet only titular power belonged to no one else but the Magister himself. Due to his less-than-hard-working habits, most of the power that his predecessors worked hard to rob from others has now found its way back to the hands of the rich families that used to hold it in the past.

Still, Makary's harsh words finally managed to force this drug junkie to wake up to reality. He went ahead and fixed his position on the chair before leaning forth and looking up, right into Makary's eyes.

Only at that point, I realized that all of his attitude, all of his annoying behavior… they were all just for show.

'I refuse to believe a mere puppet in the hands of the council would dare to look Makary straight in the eye…'

Over my lap, Fay tensed up a bit as well, most likely oversensing my own unsettled state.

"Those are some… big words you throw right in my face," Leon spoke calmly, even going as far as to put a small, mocking smile on my face. "And here I thought you came here to beg like the dog you are for the investigation to be lifted…"

Makary squinted his eyes.

"Try to insult me again, and you will learn the joys of flying through the air at high speed for… about…" Makary ceased his words and took a break to walk all the way to one of the massive windows that were in the place of the building's outer walls. He then took a long look all the way down before taking a step back and rubbing his chin for a few moments.

"I'm not that good with math… But I believe your flight is going to last a fewteen seconds tops."

With those words out in the air, Makary finally turned back and looked into Leon's face.

"You see, the only reason why this city is still yours is because I consider it too much of a hassle to take it from you. But if you are going to keep acting like a spoiled brat, then I will find someone else to negotiate with."

Now, this wasn't a threat. It was an open declaration of what would happen if the man refused to bend to Leon's will.

Leon squinted his eyes and stared right into Makary's face.

"You talk a lot of shit for someone smack-dab in the middle of my seat of power."

This time, despite the harshness of his words, the tone of his voice turned perfectly clear and composed. And for the very first time since he appeared, his position stabilized as, surprisingly, Makary's equal.

Discover stories with empire

Less than equal, as I soon came to realize when Leon broke his persona and allowed his eyes to skirt around the place, lingering for but a second on Madam's and my faces. Yet, the very moment his eyes moved towards Fay…

"I would advise you against even looking her way," Makary spoke as he stepped to the side, putting himself in the line of sight between the arrogant Magister and my dearest. "At worst, I will fuck your empire up. But he's going to outright kill you if you as much as look at his woman in a way he would dislike."

The air in the room grew tenser… yet my lips formed a small smile.

'What a lovely feeling,' I thought, squeezing Fay's waist a bit in my unending desire to bring her closer and closer to me. 'To see Makary finally understands that when it comes to her, I mean every fucking word I said.'

"I see…" The behavior of Leon changed once again, as he hastily averted his eyes, allowing Makary to return to the spot he was in just before. "So, let's stop throwing empty threats around and get to the business. I can tell you are in a hurry. Money, was it?" Leon asked before relaxing back in the chair. "How much do you need? And what was the second part?"

"All the money you have and then more," Makary shrugged his shoulders. "We can keep going with just my funds for two, maybe three more weeks. But after that…" he shook his head. "What we need both in the future but also now, though, is your mandate for us to spend it."