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

'Those guys are…'

Etaria walked across the open area of the plain.

Without reporting anything to her subordinates or giving them the order to stop, she waltzed right across the no man's land that she didn't dare to let her soldiers on.

'On how things have changed,' she thought, gritting her teeth in a sudden bout of irrational amusement.

Etaria's very goal was to sabotage her vassal armies to the point they wouldn't pose any real threat to the emperor's private guard. A precaution in the face of the inevitable dissolution and shattering of the empire.

And with the appearance of that strange, young man, she suddenly started to care for the life of even the weakest of the warriors under her.

'I guess between the threat of our empire collapsing and an invasion of some unknown, extremely powerful force…' Etaria took a deep breath and continued to march through the open area. 'Who knows? Maybe a threat like that is exactly what the empire needs?'

By now, the men out in the open have taken notice of her appearance.

Etaria's domain was still locked behind some sort of taboo, depriving her of the great majority of her power and sensibility. And yet, when she squinted her eyes and looked back at those foreigners…

'They are scared… Just a bit, though.'

Etaria could notice that much even in her current, extremely inefficient state. Instead of using the mana from the world around, she continued to burn through her own reserves, something she grew quite rusty at ever since her last promotion.

'I guess that means they know who I am, at the very least.'

Breathing out a heavy sigh, Etaria raised her chin and sped up her steps a bit while making sure not to approach too quickly. There was no need to spook those men.

The group of foreigners consisted of a total of four men, only two of whom appeared to carry any arms. The two soldiers made sure to stand to the back of the group, busying themselves fiddling with yet another unknown device.

The two at the front, though, both dressed differently but also had a different air around them.

Not aura, not the projection of one's soul burning through mana… just the air that their personality, confidence, and sharp looks gave off.

'I guess those are the officers…'

Taking a step and consistently getting closer to the group, Etaria nearly stumbled when a sudden thought appeared in her mind.

'Wait, what if their weapons are not the only thing beyond our knowledge and understanding…'

Now that she was getting closer, the princess could say for sure.

Those fearsome warriors that splattered close to half of her massive army in a single, short engagement… appeared to have no mana at all! Something she already noticed back during the battle, but disregarded as an improbable and insignificant detail.

After all, it was impossible for a human being to exist without the shadow of the mana burning in their soul. The great advancements of the imperial academics when it came to handling mana pretty much proved that point.

And yet, a sum-total of four living and breathing proofs against this founding thought of the imperial magic theory was just sitting there, waiting for the princess to approach.

'This is…'

As more and more dots appeared on Etaria's mental map of the situation, it would appear as if it was getting easier to guess the position of the lines that would connect all the aforementioned dots…

But it was only an illusion, a shadow of the truth. And no matter how much Etaria learned, the greater picture of what the hell was going on still eluded her.

"We bid you welcome, your highness."

Both of the officers clad in white, elegant uniforms rose up from their seats. They both offered the princess a slight, respectful nod of their foreheads, even if only one of them spoke out.

'Are those…'

Starving for information, Etaria gave both of the men a quick look, swiftly noticing the slight difference in the decorations mounted atop their shoulders.

The difference was slight and consisted of just two white, bars located below the two, white stars present on the shoulders of both of the men.

Looking slightly up, Etaria compared the officers to their soldiers. While their outfits were entirely different… they too wore similar distinctions on their shoulders, although one with just a single white line while the other one with a similar but angled, white line.

"I thank you for your welcome," realizing she stared for a bit too long, Etaria looked back toward the officers before replying to their slight bows with a leisurely curtsy. Yet, as she raised her head and looked back at the men…

The princess suddenly found her throat to be all tightened, unable to produce a single sound.

Or rather…

She simply had no idea what she was supposed to say.

'I'm not here to surrender… But there's no doubt I'm going to lose the moment they actually attack…'

Gritting her teeth, Etaria scanned the small group with her eyes again.

Suddenly, the strange yet comfortable image of that weird young man appeared before her eyes, only to dissipate the very next second.

"First off, we would like to thank you for minding the manner of your approach."

The man who initially greeted her has now spoken again.

"You wouldn't believe how nervous the gunners back there can be when seeing a fast-moving target," the man added again, this time ending it with a vicious smirk blossoming on his face as he glanced back, to the line of the metal monsters by the trees.

Following the man's eyes, Etaria looked at the line-up… Only to realize the enemy soldiers also started to dig into the ground!

Contrary to the imperial efforts, though, they didn't rely on a small number of ascenders with spell fitting for the task. Instead, each of the enemy soldiers appeared to carry around some sort of a small shovel that they now put to use.

They didn't bother digging deep trenches either. Instead, they only created shallow holes before packing all the dug-out earth into some sort of bags that they then stacked at the edge of the hole facing the imperials.

The unmoving monsters. The human outlines merge into the strange entrails of some of those monsters. The low hum of the floating yet perfectly still creatures of the kind Etaria faced back in the forest.

And the two perfectly clean officers, carrying themselves with the grace befitting the commanders of such an oppressive force.

"I apologize for my colleague's… harsh tongue," the other officer, the one with one more star decorating his shoulder, spoke out while lowering his head a little. "Still, we do appreciate the calm manner of your approach. Given the circumstances, it would be easy for even the slightest misunderstanding to bring about grave consequences."

Etaria squinted her eyes.

Contrary to the likely lower-ranking colleague, the man older both in rank and in age said those words without even a single hint of hostility in his voice.

Curious, the princess looked up into the man's solemn eyes, only to be met with a calm yet insidiously fierce gaze.

"With that said, we are not the ones to do the talking. We are here just to give you this," the older officer informed before turning sideways on his chair and beckoning at one of the soldiers who stood guard behind.

Without a second of hesitation, the green-covered man picked up a small bag before approaching the officers and placing it on the table.

"This here is a tool allowing you to communicate with mister Peter," the older officer explained as soon as the green-clad soldier retreated. He then pulled out two much smaller devices from one of the bag's compartments before presenting them on the table.

"In order to request contact, you need to press this button here," the man started his explanation by pressing one of the small, soft-looking caps erected from the strange tool.

The second the man's finger pressed the soft cap, both of the small devices suddenly flashed up and started to make an irritating noise while vibrating so strongly, that they started to slide all over the table's surface.

"In order to accept the contact attempt, you press this button here. If you want to speak to the other device, you need to do so while pressing this button here."

The explanation continued for the next few moments. And in every tiniest detail, it was extremely professional and to the point.

The officer didn't bother explaining the use of all the buttons on the device, opting to focus on elaborating on how to connect the small tool to its charger within the bag, how long the device could operate on its own, its limited range…

In the midst of all the explanations, Etaria just continued to stare at the man and listen to his lecture, too weirded out to put in even a single word.

Only when the officer finished his explanation, did a single question manage to form in the princess's head.

'What the actual fuck?!'

They were enemies who just slaughtered several tens of thousands of her men with seemingly hardly any effort… And yet here they were, explaining the use of some wondrous device allowing one's voice to effortlessly conquer great distance?!

'With just a few of those, we could connect even the most distant cities of the empire!'

Shocked by the insane value of the tool the other side so readily offered… Etaria's mind simply failed to construct a single, viable response.

"With that said, the official part of our mission ends, I do bear two messages though," the older of the two officers approached, only to catch a surprised glance from his colleague.

Contrary to the younger of the officers, the two soldiers at the back didn't seem to mind the apparent misalignment of the ideas of how this meeting was supposed to go.

"First, the message from our leader." The officer coughed into his fist to clear his throat. "Despite how it might look after the bloodbath in the forest, we are a reasonable bunch. And it's going to be a lot easier to simply make a deal than it will be if we have to kill you all to get what we want."

The face of the younger of the two officers twisted in a hint of a wicked smile.

"And my private message," the older officer continued, only to instantly cause his younger companion to give him a slightly startled look. "There's no need to spill all this blood. We might've started on the wrong foot, but our presence here can pretty much be a great opportunity rather than a dreadful threat."

The older officer sighed out, fully ignoring the angry gaze of his companion.

The two soldiers behind didn't seem to mind anything that was said at all. Just like the imperial guards who were only interested in completing their shift and going back to sleep.

"Mister Peter is going to contact you soon," the older of the officers informed before turning around and beckoning at his soldiers. "I urge you, once he does, to give my words a serious thought. I don't want to needlessly add even more nightmares to my sleeping routine."