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

"Well then," I brought up a napkin and wiped my mouth, "I will be off to deal with my tasks for the day," I announced before turning my head to the side. "Can I count on you to deal with the paperwork?"

Fay swallowed a sizeable gulp of a mix of herbal teas from Earth and some fragrant herbs Leinei provided.

"Back in the old headquarters?" she asked as she brought down the cup.

"Unless we finish the new ones sometime soon, then yeah, sorry for that."

As necessary as it was, the paperwork job was never an entertaining one.

'Truly, the best way to stop people from fighting for power is to make it as undesirable as possible…'

One could wish for power if they imagined it as staying seated on the throne, having maids pleasure you while others stuff your mouth with all sorts of delicacies, all the while a single wave of your hand can dictate someone's fate.

But that was the level of some figurehead acting out, not how the real power looked like, especially not in a modern world or, as it was the case with the camp, modern enterprise.

Here, there was a proper hierarchy and departmentalization of authority that left everyone with tasks just below their ability and authority just above their ambition.

In the end, by sitting at the desk and toiling away to sort, scan, and then either sign or discard all sorts of papers, Fay would receive more power over the camp than an average king of the pre-absolutism era would have over their own kingdom!

"But it's boring…" Fay whined, as happy to get bogged down under tons of papers as I was to act like a clown at a children's birthday party.

Fay gritted her teeth and took a deep breath before lowering her head and then shaking it.

"But since you are the one asking, I will do it."

I allowed a gentle smile on my lips before reaching out and patting Fay on the soft globe of hair that protected her head.

"Thank you," I said with a loving smile. "I really appreciate it and I will come to help you as soon as I'm free."

Fay smiled back at me before grabbing her cup of herbal tea and finishing it off with just two more gulps.

"Well then, I better get going," Fay announced as she stood up before looking over the sizeable area nearby where all sorts of furniture and electrical equipment sat underneath a massive cover of a hung tarp.

It was an extremely primitive and imperfect protection from the elements. With a side-winds and rain strong enough, there would be a great chance the rain would shortcircuit parts if not the entire area, leading to some costly and hard-to-replace failures.

And that's why, setting up the new headquarters was almost at the very top of the list of our priorities for the day. For while the day appeared to be quite sunny, no one could predict when the weather would turn fickle.

"Oh right, if you don't mind, can I follow you around for a while?" Etaria asked right as Fay was about to leave. And judging from the hurried expression that appeared on her face as she spoke, she didn't really want to ask this without Fay present.

"What for?" confused by Etaria's sudden willingness to follow me on my boring tasks, I asked.

"I just want to see a little bit more about how you guys handle things."

I raised one of my eyebrows a tiny bit.

'Did the food scheme leave that big of an impression on her?' I thought, only to shake my head and look over to the side.

"Fay, dearest, do you mind?"

Acting as a guide for the princess was the highest level of task I could perform. As someone only serving as a bureaucratic support and an investment overseer of sorts, entertaining high-profile guests was the next most important task after my job of maintaining and possibly moving the gate that connected the worlds.

And just like I would entertain Etaria now, I was likely to do so once Leon would pay the visit that Selene announced to happen later today.

Still, if Fay were to be anxious over me being with Etaria alone, there was no way I would dare to humor the princess.

After all, everything that was happening around me was just a side quest I took on in order to give Fay a better, more comfortable, and more interesting life. As such, doing things that wouldn't sit well with her for her sake… defeated the very founding purpose of all I did here, wouldn't it?

Experience new stories on empire

"Seeing how you both asked, I don't really mind," Fay replied with a small smile, only for her lips to widen as her smile turned into a cunning smirk. "But you will both owe me a can of condensed milk. And you will both bring me once as soon as you can!"

My eyebrows moved up on my forehead… only for my face to then melt as I laughed out a little.

"Sure thing," I smiled before grinning myself. "And you just wait till I show you what happens to it once you boil the hell out of it."

To this day, the taste of the milky caramel my mom used to make with the condensed milk was something I couldn't forget. The sweetness incarnate and the treat of extremely high fat and sugar content. A dream of a gym coach and the greatest curse of all those who were on a diet…

But also a treat I was dead set on feeding to Fay, especially given how its sticky, thick form made it quite perfect for all sorts of more than just creative and far less than innocent play.

"It's a deal then! And no backing out on it later!" Fay threw as she turned around and left for the nearby, open-air office.

"I guess that means we need to get going too," I announced, reluctantly rising from the table after opting not to take just one more piece of this perfectly seasoned chicken.

'Thinking about food, isn't it supposed to have some wondrous effects on those who consume it in this world? Just like it happened back when I first met Fay?' I thought, surprised by the lack of notions of this topic.

Sure, the herbs of this world worked their magic back on earth but it seemed like… the food somehow lost its perks?

'Well, I guess that's another topic for me to investigate later on,' I thought, shelving the entire thing in the backseat of my memory.

"Right, while we walk, can you tell me one thing?" Etaria asked in a strangely polite, restrained manner.

"What is it?" I asked, cleaning my mouth again and finally leaving the table with food behind as I directed my steps towards where the future center of the whole camp was supposed to be.

"You mention money a lot. And from what I can see," Etaria looked around as if to point out with her eyes all sorts of crates full of equipment and supplies or the heavy machinery that was already making its rounds around the camp. "You don't really lack anything, do you?"

I squinted my eyes a bit and looked over.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Where are you going with it?" I asked.

For some reason, I could tell this wasn't the question the princess had in mind but a mere lead-up to it.

"IF you guys have everything and are, from what I can see, richer beyond any standards known in the empire… Then how do you expect to make money out of the simple labor of my men? And why does it seem as if you were to be about to get a visit from someone even richer than you?"

I turned my head to the side, giving Etaria a serious look.

The degree of information she managed to not only gather but then also logically connect… was respectable. The level of detail set in advance of her question rendered me unable to just throw her off with some bullshit answer.

"I will simplify it to the point it will be no different from an outright lie, but it will serve to highlight the concept," I spoke in the same manner as the princess, setting up the foundation of my position before actually speaking my mind about the topic.

"Let's say it costs one coin a day to feed those rations to just one of your men. And for the sake of simplicity, we will assume that all the medicines, tools, or advisory services will be included within that coin."

I took a deep breath and walked a few paces ahead.

"Then, my cost of supplying one of your workers would amount to one coin. With that comparison, do you want to know how much each of our soldiers earns in a day? While keeping in mind they get food, lodging, and all sorts of help beyond just their wage."

Rather than answering immediately, Etaria lowered her eyes and rubbed her chin as she tried to mentally work the answer.

"Five coins?" The princess produced an answer after a short while. "Five coins plus all the other benefits you mentioned?"

I smiled, charmed by such an adorable answer that betrayed just how much the princess lacked an understanding of how the finances worked on Earth.

"Five coins would be just the base pay. Add the combat-readiness bonus, danger bonus, separation bonus…" I shook my head. "You see, if someone asked me two days ago, I would have no idea what the answer is.

But yesterday, while chatting to kill the boredom of paperwork, I actually asked Makary about it," I smiled at my own thoughts while trying not to cringe at how I just revealed the division of authority within my own camp.

"And between all the stipends, bonuses, and exceptional pay, each of our soldiers earns between twenty to thirty coins a day."

Etaria froze on her spot, shocked by the answer.

"But let's get even further with this. With this analogy, our initial budget for this operation, a budget that we are about to fully burn through any moment now, is around two million coins of the same value," I continued.

Despite revealing a rough value to the princess, I didn't have to worry about her using this information against me.

After all, I was still using those vague coins that didn't exist anywhere in the world… And Etaria had no way of knowing anything about the market prices back on earth, to estimate the actual worth of those coins.

No.

All my explanation did, was give her the projection of what the situation looked like.

"And that important person that's about to visit today?" Still not satisfied with my answers, Etaria continued to push for more. "How much do you want to have him… invest?"

The corner of my mouth trembled a little, for it was a question even I wasn't sure about.

And while I was sure that Leon wouldn't hold back a single cent of his overwhelming wealth over this project…

Just how was I supposed to estimate his net worth?

"This will be pretty much a random number, a mere guess…" I started, only to have Etaria shake her head and heave an exhausted sigh.

"I know, I know, it's just an estimate, a guess so random it's no different from a lie," she threw my own words back at me before locking her eyes on my face again. "But if you were to guess, seriously, just guess," she asked again before taking a step closer and looking up at my face from up close.

"If you were to guess, how many coins can that man bring?"

Seeing how much the princess insisted on the topic, I couldn't help but start to wonder what did she want to learn from my answer.

And so, just like she wanted, I decided to give her a totally random number straight out of my ass that I was still sure to at least encroach upon the realm of an actual, correct answer.

"A hundred billion? Two hundred? Five hundred?" I spread my arms out and shook them. "To be honest, I have no clue. But I wouldn't be surprised if even those estimates were a mere fraction of what he might invest in this place."