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

It was only from the inside that anyone could notice the things that were amiss with the car.

\'Missing locks, missing knobs for the doors… I cannot even open the window myself…\'

It didn\'t take a genius to figure out what those measures were taken for. And yet, despite being stuffed in the back of this car with just Fay, Makary, and, surprise surprise, Madam, I didn\'t feel like a victim of a kidnapping.

Even though all the signs of how I\'ve got into this car pointed clearly of this being the case.

"Come on, it\'s going to be fun!"

In contrast to how she was back when we discussed the disturbing idea of me leaving her side, Fay was currently brimming with joy.

This wasn\'t the first ride she took on earth. It wasn\'t something she could still be astounded by… if it was only a matter of living through the experience of driving a car.

No.

The aspect of just driving around in a vehicle was a novelty only Madam, the only first-time guest to this world, could get truly amused by.

Again, no.

What made Fay so happy was a combination of the elements that Makary put together all for the sake of putting his words from before at the camp into reality in here, on earth.

"ETA, ten minutes," the driver\'s voice filled in the spacious cabin that looked more like a VIP room in some sort of a high-class establishment rather than the back of a moderately-sized car.

"So we have ten more minutes to enjoy ourselves!"

Paying no mind to how stressful the mere prospect of what was going to happen in those few minutes, Fay reached out from her seat by my side and grabbed one of the expensive bottles that decorated the cushioned table.

Fay popped the cap of the bottle with one, well-practiced move while making sure to keep the cork in her hand as opposed to letting it wreak havoc within the limousine\'s insides.

"Anyone?" Fay then asked, taking a quick look around the place. Yet, seeing her mom immersed in the views on the other side of the window and Makary rolling his eyes only to then lazily shake his head, she simply pulled back into the comfortable sofa.

Fay dropped her head to the back, resting it on the cushion of my arm before bringing the bottle\'s neck to her mouth and taking a hearty sip.

"You want some?" Pulling her lips off the bottle only once her throat moved a few times, Fay turned and passed the bottle over to me.

"An indirect kiss, huh?" I muttered, mildly amused as I accepted the bottle and took a modest swing before sneaking the cork out of Fay\'s hand, closing the bottle, and putting it back into the small bucket, back to where its place was.

"What\'s an indirect kiss?" Troubled by some words that I\'ve used, Fay leaned her head to the side, thus putting her cheek down on my shoulder.

With just a little bit of drink left in my mouth, I curved the corners of my lips up a bit before leaning over the girl\'s face and pressing my mouth against her lips.

Keeping the remaining wine at the bottom of my mouth, I then pried Fay\'s lips open before climbing a little bit higher on my seat, angling my head so that the wine spilled over and flew from my mouth directly into Fay\'s.

Initially taken aback, Fay finally adjusted herself to the motion, sliding a bit down her seat just to make it easier for me to feed her what wine was left in my mouth. And as I pulled back…

Fay gulped down all the wine I\'d fed her before licking her lips clean and giving me a look with her upturned eyes.

"It\'s really sweet," she whispered while barely moving her full, red lips.

For a moment, only the slight hum of the car\'s electric engine disturbed the otherwise perfect silence within the back of the car. And in that silence, Fay continued to stare directly at my lips, nervously licking her lips once and then twice.

She then started to lean forward, eager to drink a little bit more wine the same way as before even though she already knew there was nothing left in my mouth…

"Are you guys done flirting out in the open?" Makary suddenly asked, pulling both of us out of the state of romantic intoxication. "We are about to enter the zone."

The zone.

The infamous zone.

The hell of the slums… and the heaven of all those who led to the creation of the slum with their irresponsible policies unfit for the new, changed world.

A place where the important people got filthy rich beyond any reasonable belief… and a place where more imaginary wealth was wasted in a single minute than what was necessary to sustain everyone in the slum for a week if not a month.

A den of the devil for some, a paradise for others.

"You know," I muttered as I turned my attention away from Fay and looked over the window. Yet, just the sight of the buildings as impressive as they were beautiful, buildings that appeared to be made entirely out of glass that ever since the collapse was in an extremely short supply…

"I never thought a time would come I would step food in here," I whispered, more to myself than to anyone else. Still, with Fay sticking close to my side, I just couldn\'t help the desire to grab her hand and then give it a slight squeeze.

"So it\'s your first time in here?" both Madam and Fay spoke at the same time, taking me aback with their seemingly unwarranted reaction.

Yet, looking away from the window and at the two women… I couldn\'t help but think the reasons behind their surprise were as different as they could get.

When it came to Fay, it wasn\'t even a mystery, not with our bond, not with how hard I worked to learn how to read her moods and expressions.

Right now, Fay was simply overjoyed over the opportunity to discover something that would be new for both of us. A first that we could truly share with each other.

On the other hand, Madam\'s face indicated she was in a state of deep thought, greatly troubled by something that I couldn\'t quite figure out.

"Is there anything wrong?" I asked, turning my eyes over to Fay\'s mom while freeing my hand from Fay\'s fingers only to wrap it around her waist and bring her even closer to my side.

"It\'s just…"

The troubled look on Madam\'s face quickly gave way to an overwhelming sense of relief that radiated from every last fiber of the woman\'s presence.

"I was worried that this sight…" Madam nodded her head towards the window, "was common in this world."

"And that\'s because?" Suddenly curious, Makary interjected with a question of his own.

Madam turned her head and gave the man a long, calculated, and intense stare… Only to answer his question with just silence.

"Well, if you are relieved because you could read the power of this world from its architecture…"

Even though it was slight, I saw Madam twitch.

It was an extremely tiny movement, something I had no chance of noticing if not for my vastly improved perception. In fact, I couldn\'t tell whether I actually saw Madam move… or if it was the flow of air that was suddenly disturbed by movement I didn\'t even see, yet sort off instinctively calculated.

\'Is it something like how we can figure out where the source is coming from when just hearing it? A process that would take two microphones and quite a beefy processing unit to replicate that\'s integrated into nearly every example of the most complex biological computer known to a man, which is our brains?\'

Just like a sense of vertigo would allow humans to maintain their balance without any precise, conscious calculation on how to shift their weight to keep themselves upright.

"Then I have some bad news for you," Makary continued, blissfully unaware of Madam\'s slight reaction. "This city is on the lower, poorer, less developed end of the population centers that remain," Makary mentioned before heaving a long and already exhausted sigh.

"One minute!" the driver\'s voice filled the cabin once again.

"What do you want to say by that?" Madam asked, the excitement feeling her face, replaced by an empty, perfectly cold, and collected expression.

"The reason why we bother with the magistrate over just steamrolling them with your power or just the help of my men alone," Makary shrugged his shoulders as he turned his eyes towards the great view on the other end of the window.

"We are trying to deal with the magistrate not because we cannot fight and overcome them," Makary took a short breath as he averted his eyes from the window and relaxed himself on his seat.

"We are dealing with them so that we won\'t have to deal with all the others," I finished Makary\'s point before he could say those words out loud.

"Others? What others?" Madam asked, slightly leaning her head to the side as if to imply her question came out of mere curiosity rather than anxiety or worry.

"All the others," Makary silently replied, not bothering to lift his head as he spoke or even open his eyes. "This city, the Academy City, is a failed urbanization project that was projected to grow to roughly forty million population, only to never break past three million."

I squinted my eyes when Makary suddenly started to bring out seemingly random numbers.

\'Where is he going with it?\' I asked myself, momentarily puzzled by how he twisted the direction of the conversation.

"We are pulling up to the parking spot," the driver announced.

"As of now, there are only around two million people left in the city," Makary spoke, before finally giving the three of us the courtesy of not only opening up his eyes but also properly straightening his back and looking at our faces. Enjoy new adventures from empire

"That means, there should be two and three-quarters of a thousand more people living outside of this city than there are those who live in it," Makary gave out a rough number before his eyes focused on nothing but Madam\'s face alone.

"There\'s nearly three thousand humans outside for every human inside of this city. And quite a lot of them are a lot richer and more powerful than anyone in here," Makary continued with his lecture for a moment.

The car stopped. Rather than continuing his explanations, Makary took a shallow breath before jumping up from his seat and moving towards the car\'s doors.

"We can take this city in a day or two. But doing so would alert everyone outside of it that there\'s something important or valuable enough for us to make such a drastic move."

"And this would lead to the one scenario we wish to avoid," I added up my two cents.

"A scenario where it\'s everyone against us."