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

Chapter 268: Shocking revelation (end of mass release)

"That's… quite an… admirable and confident statement to make," Etaria stated after taking a moment to digest all the meanings hidden in my words. She hesitated and stumbled with her words twice, but still managed to pass the meaning on.

"Admirable?" I raised my eyebrow while tightening my grasp over Fay's delicate hand. "Hardly. Devoted? I would agree. But I don't think there's anything admirable in that."

I took a deep breath before turning my head and raising my free hand, all for the sake of both caressing Fay's cheek as bit and watching her reaction as I did so. Experience new tales on mvl

"To a degree, you could say it's all just my selfishness," I added, hardly paying any attention to the princess by this point.

Still, she came here to have a talk… and we didn't even get to talk in a relatively private setting yet. So, I turned my eyes towards the princess right as my fingers finally played with Fay's soft skin for long enough.

"It is my selfish desire to create the world where my beloved can live the best of her life. And the only thing that's admirable in all of this, is my dearest herself!"

Raising my own hand and pulling Fay's arm along, I brought our joined hands high above our heads, as if to flaunt to the whole, wide world just what kind of lovely beauty I've got for a mate.

"Men really are simple, aren't you?" the princess muttered in an exasperated voice. Then, she turned to the man who carried the box with the duke's head all the way to here. "I will be fine. Take your leave."

Before the man could even react, Etaria turned her head back to me before giving her other retainer a quick glance.

"Judging by how your… dearest isn't going to leave, I assume it's fine for one of my men to stay by my side too," she stated.

"Only as long as you can talk freely around him," I pointed out the one necessary element that would make any sort of discussion that would follow worth my time.

For now, was the time for both of us to drop all the pretense and discuss the realm terms. And having anyone eager to write a report of what would be said between the two of us…

"I have no secrets before him," Etaria stated without even a second of hesitation.

"Fine," I agreed and nodded my head before turning my eyes north. "There are way too many people here, so how about we move over… there?" I asked, pointing my hand at the hill just a bit to the north of where we stood, rising from the ground just beyond the barrier of the trees.

A spot where both the princess army and my own allies could keep a close eye on the four of us while it would be impossible for anyone to approach us undetected.

And with no protest from the princess's side, we arrived at the top of the said hill mere moments later.

"Now then, forgive me the arrogance, but can we drop all of the small talk, pleasantries, and other useless elements of nothing more than decorum?"

Even though it was pretty much the same thing that the princess requested herself during our last encounter, for me to be the one to put this request forth felt extremely rude.

After all, the princess far outranked me on any sort of social ladder any sane person could come up with. In that kind of scenario, for me to suggest dropping the official courtesy… was simply preposterous.

"Fine with me," the princess replied, her voice already changing to accommodate my request.

"Then how about you tell me what's your actual reason to be here?" I asked, following my own request and wasting no time on useless small talk.

The princess' face didn't even twitch. Yet, judging by how she didn't reply right away…

"You see, in my culture, after all the slaughter, genocide, and war crimes, we finally figured out that it's often simpler and outright cheaper to just talk things through and make a deal," I explained. "But I can't offer you a good deal if I don't know what you are really after."

I turned my whole body so that I could face the princess with every fiber of my being.

"What is it that you yourself desire, then?" the princess came out with a pretty standard and thus weak counter to my words.

"I've already said it, to make her life as bright and interesting as possible," I stated while raising Fay's hand once again. "In more down-to-the-ground terms, though," I allowed the corners of my mouth to rise a bit…

"I don't really want much. Just your silent approval to establish a trading city right where your army stands as we speak. And then, the right to buy lands you likely consider worthless so that I can bring you more wealth than your entire economy provides with a fair share of value I can extract from said lands."

From the look on the princess's face, I've managed to take her by surprise. And her next words only served to confirm this guess of mine.

"I wasn't sure whether to take your threats from before seriously…" the princess mumbled under her nose before squinting her eyes and raising them to my face. "But you really believe you can defeat my army."

This wasn't a question, but more of a statement of a fact.

"Now then, I've revealed what I'm after. And I'm more than happy to give the empire a fair share of the spoils. But I've yet to learn what is it that you are after with this war."

For a moment, the princess turned silent. This time, she didn't bother trying to wittily come up with a response on the spot.

"What would you do if I were to say that I want most of my army to die here?"