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

"That's…"

Hearing how I understood the peculiar situation we found ourselves in, Fay hesitated.

Her eyes turned a bit wider only for her to then turn them down as if to avoid the scrutiny of my sight.

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Her hand moved up to rest upon her stomach again, slightly caressing it up and down in spite of her clothes getting in the way.

"You know, even after I checked myself up… I might be tired, but I'm in a really bad state yet," Fay muttered, refusing to look me in the eye as she did so, even going as far as to put a chokehold on our connection.

Yet, rather than trying to hide something from me… I could tell she was so on the edge when it came to making her decision, she simply didn't want my worry for her to factor in on that.

"So you want to stay?" I asked, even though I pretty much already knew the answer.

"If it means our child will grow stronger?" Fay replied with a question on her own, only to then raise her face and nod it. "Yes. That's why, rather than leaving right away, I would like to keep observing it for a little bit longer."

Squinting my eyes, I simply stared at the girl for a long while, battling my own thoughts in the privacy of my mind.

Turning my eyes to the side, I checked the buggy's onboard clock, confirming we still had about thirty hours left before our scheduled return to Earth via my personal portal which would leave us with an hour window to reach Makary's compound, go through the stable gate and prepare everything I needed to reinforce it again.

'But if that's how much she weakened in just the few hours since I've noticed it, how much worse will she get if we stay for yet another day?'

Not knowing when the conception happened, we couldn't really judge how much of an effect the light of the stars brought forth. And from what I saw so far, Fay's condition wasn't permanent.

What's more, there was a chance that just feeding her several times her usual rations would be enough to make up for the biological exhaustion caused by the fetus desperately feeding on whatever it could to match the growth rate of its aura weave…

"One day, twenty-four hours from now," I announced. "Inner and outer check every hour, both by yourself and by me. And while driving, I will keep feeding you high-nutrient and calorie food."

There were quite a lot of things that I had to balance out.

From how high the priority list the mission of crossing the starlight plain was, now that it was the only and main request put forth by Etaria and, by extension, the empire.

Through the ability to spread the influence of our project onto new lands with different political structures from the place, we found ourselves in, allowing for much greater flexibility in how we would conduct our politics.

Then there was the matter of just how quickly the seemingly slow build-up of starlight in our bodies continued to accumulate within us. And that, in turn, affected not only our personalities as we grew closer to our true selves based on the paradigms that our characters grew from… But also how that starlight both put a strain on our aura weave yet also actively nourished it.

To put it in easier, more earthly terms, it was like a body-builder somehow working his brains out while, at the same time, letting his muscles rest. A perfect cycle of damage and repair that led to the reinforcement of the affected tissue.

And sure, aura weave had nothing to do with biology, muscles, or tissues for as far as I knew… but from what I saw thus far, it still obeyed the same principles.

'When in Rome, you speak Roman I guess,' I thought, pulling back a step to gauge Fay's reaction to my offer.

"I mean…" Fay looked down as she immersed herself in her thoughts, taking her time to analyze all the ins and outs of the suggestion. And by the time she brought her head back up and finally dared to look me in the eyes, there were no more doubts or hesitations visible anywhere on her face.

"That works," she replied, only for her expression to soften right when she reached out with her hand for my face.

"And you don't have to worry as much as you do right now," Fay breathed softly while lowering her head over my cheek and caressing it with her gentle, delicate fingers. "The moment my state starts rapidly deteriorating, the moment I feel bad or even have a feeling something might go wrong, I won't hesitate to raise an alarm."

I stared right into Fay's face. As she stared right back into my eyes, I couldn't help but simply gulp my saliva before heavily breathing out as I lowered my head and retreated a step.

"That's settled, then," I announced, only to turn my head over to where Claudy was silently observing our quick and hard-to-understand exchange. "Do you have any input over this plan?"

Claudy first raised his left eyebrow before leaning his head over his left shoulder while keeping his eyes, or rather - his expression, locked on me.

"So I do get a say in this?" the stoic man asked while giving me an ironically overreacted surprise.

"Just tell us what you think and whether you agree with it or not," I requested, allowing the hint of my internal exhaustion to reveal itself through my voice.

Claudy's right eyebrow joined its twin in its movement up the man's face. Still, even though I could tell he was slightly irritated by something, ultimately, he decided not to act upon his feelings.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Every second I spend in this place is greatly beneficial to my control over the aura," Claudy admitted before shrugging his shoulders. "So I'm all for staying here as long as possible. But that doesn't mean I'm not curious about the place you guys come from that you've mentioned.

So, if it's a choice between leaving now and seeing your home or leaving later and not seeing it, I would definitely choose the former," Claudy reveals, only to finally reveal a small smile on his lips that quickly evolved into a proper smirk.

"Beggars can't be choosers, and being as much at your mercy as I'm here, I'm pretty much just a beggar. A hoodlum hired to keep petty thieves and stupid youths away," Claudy stated, his words quickly turning dark as if to oppose the bright smirk on his lips.

"But from what I see, we are not in a situation where we actually need to choose. So, I say," Claudy's smile grew slightly wicked, "why decide between staying and visiting your place, if we can safely do both?"

I squinted my eyes, staring at the man as I reconsidered for the unkempt time whether it was the right call to bring him over to earth, even if it was only for the sake of keeping him safe from the scenario when the nearest spot of direct starlight would move and scorch the man's brain with its near endless intensity.

Still, he was right.

Save for the added burden of Fay's physique, something that we could try to offset by just making her rest and eat more, there was no real benefit to leaving our mission on hold any sooner than originally planned.

In all honesty, the more I thought about it… the clearer it became that if not for my Fay-oriented worry, there would be no question of whether to stay or leave to begin with. And with Fay herself telling me not to worry all that much…

"I guess it's decided," I sighed, before allowing the corner of my lips to curve up in a small, slightly devious smile.

"We are not going to stay here, though," I announced, grabbing Fay's hand as I already started to pull her towards the Buggy's driver's seat, a place that was left abandoned ever since we stopped the vehicle all those days ago. "Since the pressure of the light grows the deeper into the plain we go, then how about we make the most of the time we have left in here?"