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

"It seems like he didn't notice you," Madam whispered, not daring to raise her voice even the tiniest bit.

Stepping right into the middle of the camp her ex gathered to fight the humans off, I couldn't afford to be discovered.

So, just like many other celestials and divines that assumed much less cumbersome, human forms while they awaited orders, I appeared like just one of those who aligned themselves with Madam.

In the eyes of the beings crowding the edge of the forest, I was but one of them, silently walking to my fate along with the rest of Madam's and Karlan's group.

"Over there," I spoke out, raising my hand and pointing at a small rise nearby. This small hill reached as high as the upper layer of the canopies of the trees ahead and was currently occupied by a group of five protectors of the forest. "Clear that spot for me, and I should get a shot."

Karlan lowered its massive mouth and gave me a long look. He then raised his mouth and stole a quick glance at Madam before rolling its eyes and climbing up the hill with a single leap.

The trees shoot, and the leaves whisper in the air.

Karlan spoke.

Fay tightened her hold over my arm.

I could tell how anxious and distressed she was. She didn't want me to participate in whatever was about to happen here.

But, as stupid and insecure as it was from me, after seeing her awakened stats through our bond…

I just couldn't resist this opportunity to farm some nice amount of experience to power-level through my system!

So far, bringing my attributes up has been an easy but tedious task. It either involved solving puzzles of my quests or suffering in the starlight plain and misty valley… But after the recent fight, I found out that killing people was not only easy but also extremely beneficial to my growth!

And as weird as it felt… I felt no hint of regard for the lives of those who dared to invade Fay's home.

Fay's home… and the source of the herbs that gave me the edge and negotiating rights with Makary back home. This brings us to one of the three main reasons why I couldn't resist this opportunity.

'I can get stronger, build favors with locals of the forest, and secure the area.'

As cold-blooded as it might be, right now I wasn't ready to share the bounties of this forest with whoever dared to greed for them. I needed those herbs to keep dealing with Makary, so I could keep Fay entertained in perpetuity.

Building favor with locals by helping them defend their forest was of equally utmost importance, as it would announce my existence and force a favorability, something I desperately needed to shield Fay from any sort of inner strife.

And lastly…

The leaves rustled in the air. And the group of celestials that occupied the small hill turned and left, courtly following the request of the elder.

'If someone of his powers wants to take the hill, he most likely has a very specific reason for it,' I thought, forcing my thoughts back to reality. For now that Karlan cleaned the hill, Madam moved ahead, pulling me and Fay along.

"You can still go back if you stop it now," Fay's mom warned me once we reached the top of the hill.

Ignoring her, I pulled Fay just a single step ahead, taking a long look over the treetops of the forest's edge, staring down at the massive camp in the distance.

The storm was already raging. The fat drops of rain poured down on the grass, turning the plain around the camp into wetland.

'That's one hell of a nice idea to fortify the camp and stop any potential charge in its tracks,' I thought, slowly raising my eyes back to the camp.

And seeing what surrounded it, I had to fight off the desire to spit down on the ground in frustration.

'Stormy night on an open plain, and a camp surrounded by wagons,' I thought, pulling Fay down as I knelt on the ground.

While I doubted the humans in the camp could do anything at the considerable distance that separated us, there was no reason to leave it to a chance.

"Can you see it?" Most likely sensing she wouldn't be able to change my mind, Fay seemingly gave up and asked as she reoriented her focus on the situation ahead.

"The camp?" I asked, not exactly sure what Fay could mean.

"That aura…" Fay whispered, quickly cutting her words and pausing to give her mom a quick, intense look.

"Karlan," Madam called out without a second of hesitation, pointing with her eyes at a specific spot on the hill.

"…"

Karlan didn't use his voice of nature. Instead, he obediently rose up on its legs and walked up a bit before laying back down on the ground.

The moment he did so, sparks flashed all over Fay's skin before the air around her grew much tenser as a tail and a new set of fox's ears formed up from her long, fluffy hair.

"Allow me," Fay spoke softly as she let go of my arm and moved behind me, only to set her hands on my sides and rest her forehead against my back.

My vision… changed. But so did my perception of myself, now… now extending towards Fay, making me more aware of every detail of her body and soul than ever before. And yet, as I blinked my eyes, I couldn't help but focus on a huge pillar of dark yet strangely elegant current of causality rising high up to the skies, where it formed the very center of the storm.

"I see…" I muttered, shocked by the magnificent and at the same time terrifying sight… Only to instantly pull my attention back to what truly mattered.

The shaken state of Fay's soul, the grief that she forced deep inside her heart, the fear and worry that permeated every inch of her mind…

"Fay…" I swung around, causing Fay's forehead to drop off my back and sever the link. And as lonely as it felt not to feel Fay as intimately anymore, I already knew everything I should.

And so, I placed my hands on her small shoulders before giving her some time to raise her chin and look up all on her own.

"Just trust me this one time. If this won't work, I won't risk it any further," I spoke as softly as I could, moving one of my hands to wipe the tear forming in the corner of Fay's beautiful, vividly blue… eyes?

'I didn't even notice her eyes would change as she transforms,' I thought, moving my hand down to caress the slope of the girl's cheek, mesmerized by the enamored, defenseless look in her teary eyes.

Fay sniffed up a bit. Then, the look in her eyes steeled a bit, giving her the vibe of a puppy that just decided to try hard, eager to be up to the task.

My face followed my heart and melted as I resisted the desire to screw the war and screw Fay instead.

"Thank you," pulling on the reins of my self-control as hard as I could, I pressed my forehead against Fay's and took two breaths, getting myself high on the faint, familiar aroma I would sniff like a maniac during our intimate moments.

And so, with the memory of where that rising pillar of morphed causality rose up to the sky in my mind, I pulled the neugarand from my shoulder and laid down on the ground, taking a short moment to nest myself comfortably on the spot.

Then, I completed the extensive long of procedures that had to be completed to properly set up the gun for the task. After those few minutes passed, I invoked the memory of the camp again and overlapped it with what I could see through my long-range scope.

'That's gotta be it,' I thought, calming down my breath as I confirmed all the settings on the gun and the proper scaling for the scope for the last time. My finger moved down the firing guard of the trigger, gently caressing the protruding piece of metal as if it was Fay's nipple or clit.

"That should do it," I muttered once I zeroed myself in on the target. Yet, rather than pressing the trigger, I moved my finger up on the trigger guard. "Fay, could you do it again?" I then asked, making sure to compensate for all the tiny movements my speech brought to the gun.

"Huh?"

Fay, just like the rest of our small group turned out to be visibly tense, not sure how to act in the prolonged moment of curiosity, doubt, and uncertainty. No one saw my new weapon shoot yet, not even myself.

And now, after what had to feel like hours for them, I suddenly broke the stalemate and called Fay out.

"Ah, sure," Fay shook her adorable face and ran a bit closer. Then, she seated herself right up on my ass before lowering her upper body forward and resting her whole self against my back.

The familiar sparks cracked in the air as she assumed her ascended form. Strangely enough, rather than hurting me, those sparks caressed my flesh, filling it with weird, warm feelings.

As Fay snuggled her hands to lock herself in place, she pressed her cheek to my back, re-establishing our link.

For but a moment, everything made sense.

I could feel Fay's warmth shielding me from the cold winds that mercilessly struck the hill. Her soft breath tickled the skin of my neck, while my peripheral vision ended up blocked by the elegant curtain of her beautiful hair.

For a moment, all my senses sharpened, and my perception of time slowed down. All that was meaningless removed itself from my mind.

And at the very peak of this tunnel vision, when I felt like calculating the precise path of every drop of rain and how it would affect the trajectory of the bullet just for the thrill of the mental challenge, with one smooth movement, my finger moved down and steadily pulled the trigger.

//Check the Author's notes!//