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

Chapter 304: It was never going to be that easy

"I knew you were going to call shortly but I thought you would give me some more time!"

The annoyed voice of Etaria was the very first thing we all heard when the ringing of the walkie-talkie came to an end, signifying she picked up the call.

I raised my eyes and looked over at the considerable number of onlookers before breathing a long sigh.

"First thing first, shut up and listen. One very important thing has changed," I pressed the button and announced.

"What, you are changing the terms now?!" Etaria replied right away, quickly turning from annoyed to outraged.

"That's not it," I shook my head to the sides, only to recall that the princess, with nothing but another walkie-talkie, couldn't really see my gestures. "I just wanted you to know that contrary to our last talk, right now you are not talking with me alone. Right now, every person of importance to our group is nearby, so we can get this over with."

"Oh…"

The tone of Etaria's voice changed, making it easy to imagine the changes happening on her face.

'Realizing that she went quite far with her assumptions must've stung her quite a bit,' I thought, fighting my own facial muscles not to let a smirk appear on my face.

Just like I could somewhat read into Etaria's voice, I had no doubt she, a damned supreme, was more than capable of doing the same. Even if the difference would be tiny, I believed that speaking out while smiling, grinning, crying, or fuming with anger would all cause one's voice to change.

And someone with the attributes high enough to claim the rank of a supreme should have no problem reading into those small hints.

"Allow me to introduce you to everyone here who has any say on the matter. First, the leader of the forest kin, the supreme celestial fox, Madam. And I believe you've already had the chance to meet her, back during… our skirmish back in the woods."

Even though the negotiations had yet to properly start, I already had to mind my words as much as I could, not to needlessly antagonize the princess.

Sure, Makary's forces were more than capable of annihilating Etaria's troops, all the more so once his men would bring the gas bombs over. But this was the path I really didn't want to go down, even if I strangely had no sense of remorse or guilt when it came to the humans of this world.

Still, guilty conscience or not, bearing the burden of many thousands of lives claimed over something that could be solved with just words wasn't something I wanted. Then, I still didn't consider myself ready to go through another rebirth, something that was bound to happen if the battle were to actually take place.

Finally, there was the topic of the cheap labor that we desperately needed, given how every single human brought over from Earth continued to raise the odds of someone catching up on what was going on.

Even with the collapse of globalization, if a long list of humans were to suddenly disappear into thin air while Makary's men would be the last people they were seen contacting…

'If that were to happen and get investigated, the magistrate would likely claim we've either kidnapped or outright killed them all.'

I took a deep breath, sinking down into my thoughts… Only for Fay to pull on my sleeve, forcing my attention to focus on her and upon noticing her reprimanding looks, back on the topic at hand.

"Yeah, I recall her. And since she's over there…" the princess hesitated for a bit… while receiving my silent thanks for speaking up and thus burying my blunder of letting my thoughts get the better of me at such a crucial timing. "Would you mind telling me when will that thing be over?"

'That thing?'

With my curiosity peaking, I took a quick glance over to my mother-in-law-to-be, only to see her put on a small smirk.

"The invocation comes at a price. And until the said prize is paid in blood, the cost will continue to burden all those involved," Madam replied out loud while relying on me to hold the trigger of the walkie-talkie pressed. "Or, in simpler words, until a supreme dies and washes the invocation with their blood, its effects will continue to persist."

As many clues as Madam threw regarding the topic… it still wasn't enough for me to figure out what the hell she was talking about.

'Judging how the princess raised this topic at such timing, though, it has to be something important,' I took notice and made a mental note… before disregarding the topic in its entirety.

There was only a limited list of things I could keep on my mind at any given moment. Trying to figure out what the hell was Madam talking about with the princess was far from the list of things I was willing to prioritize.

Especially when I could learn about it by simply asking Madam once this discussion would be over.

"So one of us has to die?" Etaria asked, her voice growing tenser… but not to the point to give me an impression of her getting nervous.

"For the invocation to be lifted, a supreme involved in it has to die," Madam replied by repeating and rephrasing her earlier words a little. "And since it was the two of us and that friend of yours when the invocation happened, one of the three of us has to pay its prize."

The air around the table tensed up a little.

No one wanted to hear something like that. To learn that there was a feud that simply wouldn't end before someone's untimely death… was a tough nut to crack on the spot. Especially

"Moving on," I interjected before the talk between the two supremes could take over what was supposed to be the actual negotiations over the armistice. "Next we have Makary, who is the military commander of our group and is here with the assistance of his two highest-ranking officers. And lastly, there's me and my dearest fiancee, Madam's daughter, here to supervise the entire thing."

Even though this was only supposed to be an introduction, I just couldn't stop myself from making a small use of it to further reinforce my position within our group.

'Is this my insecurities acting up, I wonder?' I thought, only to have Fay raise up from her chair a bit, push it closer to my side, and then sit back while reaching out underneath the table and grabbing my free hand.

Feeling Fay's fingers squeeze down on my hand, I took a deep breath and pushed my focus back to the ongoing discussion.

"I believe the circumstances disallow me from claiming it's a great fortune to meet you all," Etaria replied. Then, following some rustling noise, she continued, "I'm Etaria, the first daughter of the golden emperor, the heiress of the golden lineage, and the leader of the combined expeditionary force."

The rustling that came before Etaria's self-introduction was likely her standing up and performing a small curtsy.

'Is she doing the same thing as me, I wonder?' I thought, realizing that I likely wasn't the only one actively controlling my own behavior and mimics to influence the very sound and mannerisms of my voice.

"I'm here with two of my highest-ranking officers…" Etaria continued, only to make a short pause and follow with: "And I'm well within my rights to make binding statements regarding the issue at hand."

Tap, tap.

I raised my eyes and followed them to where Makary tried to catch my attention by heavily tapping his finger against the desk.

Upon noticing my eyes landing on his face, he stared back for a second… before nodding his head.

"That's great because we too are in a position to settle the terms with the people we've gathered," I replied, reading into Makary's suggestion.

"Great," Etaria's voice came as soon as I finished my reply. "Then, I'm willing to agree to the terms we've discussed before, but…"

I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what was likely about to turn into a battle as vicious as the bloody skirmish back in the forest.

"First, I need strict details. If you want to take my men captive, for how long will they have to work to earn back their freedom? Or do you wish to outright turn them all into slaves? What are your guarantees that they won't be met with any premeditated harm?"

The more Etaria spoke, the more my eyebrows moved up on my face.

And to be frank, it wasn't just me.

While Madam and Fay listened in to Etaria's words with a calm, pretty much stoic attitude, both Makary and the two of his men could hardly contain how ridiculous Etaria's demands sounded.

"Don't worry, slavery is a concept that's scorned in the society we come from," I replied, only to notice Makary give me a quick, sharp look… before rolling his eyes and sitting back in his chair as if to signify he wasn't planning to get involved with this particular issue. "And I was thinking something like…"

I paused my words and looked up at Makary. In response, though, all the man did was raise his hand and point two fingers out… only to then change his mind and quickly raise a third one.

"I believe three years of forced labor will suffice. Once that term comes to an end, though, I will have them all freely decide whether to go back to their homes or quite the opposite, bring their families over and stay in the land they themselves built up from scratch."

Judging from the long period of silence that followed my statement, my generous offer had to be as shocking to the princess as her outrageous expectations of our desired terms were shocking to us.

Still, this short pause in the discussion allowed me to raise my eyes and look at Makary again, all to confirm from the expression on his face whether or not I'd read his intentions and gestures correctly.

"That's…" even when Etaria finally spoke, she still hesitated and left her words hanging for a second. "That's a generous offer that I both greatly appreciate and happily accept, as long it only involves the rank and file. As long as all from the officer and above go home free, we can shake on this point."

'So they do have something like shaking one's hand in their culture too?' I took a small notice before raising my eyes to Makary… again.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible," the man decided it was his cue to speak up. "Not for free, that is," he then added, before Etaria could misunderstand his intention. "Before we can all properly meet to shake on the terms, we will have a list prepared according to which all of your officers may buy their freedom in exchange for goods, services, and the like."

For a moment, there was no response.

"I can accept that, as long as the prize of their freedom will be reasonable, adjusted to their personal and military value."

"That we can agree on," Makary concluded before sliding deeper into his chair to imply he was done talking for the moment.

Yet, right as I opened my mouth to continue… Etaria actually beat me to it.

"It's great that we can already agree on something, it really is. But there is one thing that absolutely has to happen for those negotiations to have any value."

The air in the tent tensed up.

My feeling from before was right. Things were too damn easy, too predictable, too perfectly aligned with our own desires.

And in the real world, a jackpot like that hardly happened, all the more if it was other humans one was dealing with.

"What is it?" I asked, gritting my teeth as I, once again, steeled my resolve.

"My authority within the empire is massive, but my father needs but a single word to overturn whatever decision I make. That's why, the goal of this entire campaign is something I cannot give up. Something that you cannot refuse if you don't want the golden emperor gathering the whole might of the empire just to prove the point of being an absolute ruler."

Strangely enough, this time I couldn't really see through Etaria's voice.

There was an emotion hidden in her words and plain for me to notice… But when it came to actually discerning it, I just simply didn't have enough clues to figure it out!

Still, the mere presence of this unknown emotion alone was somehow enough to convince me that Etaria's words rang true to what she believed in.

"And that goal is…?"

This time, Madam was the one to take on the initiative and ask.

"A safe passage through the forest for our merchants to exploit," the princess revealed without even a single hint of prior hesitation. "For this is a quest that is vital both to the imperial treasury, but also pertains to our patriots' pride."