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

'Which might be slightly problematic a bit later, once we get to the topic of crossing the starlight plains…' I thought, gritting my teeth at the mere thought of the conflict we were about to have.

Fay twitched a little, sensing my unrest. Yet, as her curiosity made her probe deeper into my soul, I made sure to think about the questions I had for Madam instead.

'We will tackle this issue when we get to it, no use creating drama right now.'

In the end, with yet another thing on my mind that I couldn't really pay attention to for now, I continued to move deeper and deeper into the forest, as if in search of a perfectly secluded place.

'As if I could find one,' I thought to myself, fighting off the desire to roll my eyes.

Any attempts at hiding what I wanted to ask Madam about would only make Irene more likely to follow up. Since she likely believed we had no idea she was here, this would be like a prime invitation to eavesdrop.

And all of that perfectly established what was the range of topics I was allowed, or even encouraged, to bring up.

"Just how deep is this forest?" I suddenly asked upon realizing that despite walking for quite some time, the forest didn't seem to end.

Coming from an industrialized world, I have yet to visit a forest bigger than what one could find in a park. That is, excluding the very forest we were in right now.

"The area where our kin lives continue for roughly fifty to a hundred kilometers due west," Madam explained, likely taking my question for the start of our debate. "Beyond that, there's a realm of true monsters, each of which can wipe the ground with a supreme's face. Beyond that, there's unknown land where not even our mighty ancestors dared to venture. And beyond that…"

Despite no one stopping or interrupting her, Madam decided to pause her words.

She then sighed and looked over her shoulder to give me a glance.

"The forbidden land, huh?" I guessed, recalling what little I'd already learned on the topic.

"Don't tell me, are you interested…"

"No, he is not," Fay replied before I could even utter a single word of response. "This isn't anywhere near the things he wants to talk about," she added in a strangely defeatist voice.

Did she fail to do something? Or maybe she realized that whatever made my mind distressed was something I intentionally hid from the eyes of her soul?

For one more moment, we continued to walk in silence, Fay retreating back to her shell while Madam simply fell in line in the somber mood between all three of us.

"This place should be good enough," Fay muttered a mere moment later, pointing out a small clearing nearby.

"Huh?" Turning my eyes, I looked in the direction Fay pointed at… But only after walking several more steps over there, I managed to see the first hints of the sunlight getting past the barrier of the thick treetops all around.

By now, I had grown aware of just how thick this forest was, making it impossible for even the tiniest bit of pure sunlight to reach the ground, limiting the growth of the undergrowth to what it could achieve with some bits of light reflecting through the thick tree crowns.

The presence of direct sunlight could only indicate that the area ahead was just another feeding ground for some herb hidden likely quite some distance away. Or, in terms of what interested me for now, it was an area where we would have someplace to sit down and talk in peace.

"Damn, Fay, how did you notice it so soon?" I turned my head and looked at the girl, hoping that some words of honest praise would, at the very least, put a dent into her foul mood.

By now, I could not only see it on her face but also feel her dissatisfaction through our bond.

"Also, the thing I hid… I'm going to bring it up by the end of this talk. But since, knowing you, I believe we will disagree over it, I didn't want to poison the air by bringing it up right off the bat."

It was one thing to hide a topic that might be unpleasant to talk about. But if the fact of me hiding it was going to cause Fay grief or make her feel, in any sense of the word, insecure?

Then the game wasn't worth its price.

"You promise?" Fay raised her eyes a bit while keeping her chin low.

"I don't need to," I spoke, reaching out with my hand and gently placing it on Fay's cheek. Then, with just a hint of strength, I prompted her head up so I could look her directly in the eyes. "I don't need to promise you anything, because everything I say or indicate towards you always comes from the very bottom of my heart."

I rubbed my fingers against the delicate skin of Fay's cheek.

Just the feeling of the warm softness below my fingers was enough to fill my soul with enough comfort to get me slightly sleepy.

"In a sense, every word I say to you could be taken as a promise," I concluded, moving over from using fancy words to more direct speech, just to make my point as clear as possible. "For I would never dare to sadden you by lying."

For a moment, Fay locked her eyes on mine.

"So when you call me your future wife and all…" Fay cut her words short and raised her eyes, giving me a look full of excited anticipation.

"Of course!" I beamed. "If you so desire, we can do it right here and now! I just thought that waiting until we are done here and throwing the greatest wedding that either of our two worlds has seen would be in order to both honor your beauty but also to showcase just how much I value you!"

The foul mood at the bottom of Fay's eyes finally started to fully thaw out.

"Could you give it to me straight?" Fay pleaded lightly, with a small smile dancing in the corner of her twitching mouth. And as she looked straight at me while waiting for my answer, Fay even raised her hand to her mouth, as if to hide just how much happiness she was getting from this simple interaction.

"Dearest Fay, the sun on my life," I spoke out while falling down on one knee and reaching out to grab Fay's hands. "As soon as we are out of here, I'm going to…"

Right as I was about to finish my words, a bad premonition made my soul shiver.

'Wait for just one, fucking second,' I lectured myself while slowly closing my mouth, all to the sadness if not even panic rapidly growing in Fay's eyes.

She not only saw me hesitate and then stop when I was about to ask her to be my wife in the near future… but she could also clearly feel the turmoil in my head that directly preceded my hesitation.

"I'm sorry dear, for how much I wish to say those words…" I hesitated again, not exactly sure if the words that perfectly described my worry were popular enough for Fay to already know them. "I just don't want to raise any death flags. And saying what you want to hear and what I want to voice out…"

"One moment…" Fay, with a look on her face as confused as it was focused, raised her free hand while hiding her mouth her lowered her with just the fingers of her other hand. "Raising the flag… what do you mean by that?"

Following those words, two sets of eyes dug right into my face.

And a quick, nearly routine check of the fleeting, dark dimension proved that it was actually three pairs of eyes that focused on me.

"You know, back in our world, we have an entire industry focused on crafting and telling stories. Some do it by writing down what they lived through, others let go of the reins of their creativity and come up with fictional stories.

There are even some who write about the worlds where the main character is the perfected version of who they imagine themselves to be, allowing them to somewhat live through the life they were never willing to put enough effort to achieve the normal way…"

As I delved into the topic, I quickly realized my explanation was pretty much getting off the rails. So, I shook my head to gather my thoughts before opening my mouth again.

"There are those who tell stories through sounds, others create images of reality before using various tricks to augment them. There are even those who record so many pictures one after the other when shown fast enough, they are no different to one's eyes from reality…"

Once again, I failed to keep myself on the point, getting off the track just to put the ideas of photos or videos into words that not only I myself and maybe Fay could understand, but in words that even Madam would be familiar with.

"All in all, though, even though my kind was crafting stories like that for thousands of years, there are certain common… ways in which the events of those stories go. And if certain elements of the story appear often enough, it grows into something that all of my people often try to take into account.

All those stories are just an evolved version of how in the times of the old, the old would pass the wisdom of their life to their young ones."

Madam, with her eyes squinted to their limits, leaned her head over to the side.

"You are talking and talking, but I still didn't hear the explanation of what it means to raise a flag. Is it something to do with…" Fay's mother thought for a second, "a heroic act of raising the banner even when all is lost?"

The corner of my mouth twitched.

"That's certainly one thing, but not what raising the flag means," I replied while shaking my head. "From its origins, raising the flag meant fulfilling a condition. If you do this, that will happen. If you do that, this will happen, and so on. And in this particular situation, if I say the words that my dearest asked for…"

I shook my head.

"For me, it would mean putting her at risk of fate trying to show me my place and killing her off for that end. And so…"

There was no way I would break the taboo of raising the flag for someone I loved so dearly. I wasn't a superstitious person… but was I going to let my private beliefs potentially raise the risk over Fay's health and wellbeing?

Of course not!

"Since I cannot say the words you want me, even if only out of my worry for your fate…" I spoke softly as I stood up and approached Fay… Only to end up by taking her in my arms and hugging her with all my might while opening our bond as far as possible, all just to show Fay directly through our souls how much I loved her.

'In a sense, we are already married, even if only in spiritual terms,' I thought, recalling the original meaning of the "marriage" word.

"Okay…" Fay muttered softly, more than happy to just hide her face in my chest and allow my arms to cradle her in my tight embrace. "I believe you."

I took a deep breath, taking a few seconds just to enjoy the warmth and softness of Fay's body within my arms. And then, after calming my thoughts enough, I turned my eyes towards Madam.

"Now then, would you be as kind as to tell me everything you know about ascenders, promoted ascenders, and supremes? Are there any other ranks to one's power? How does one climb to the higher ranks? Why there are only so few supremes around?"

I quickly blurted out a list of pretty much random questions out of the pool that I decided on during the silent parts of our walk.

"Wait, slow down," Madam raised her hands in a defensive gesture, taken aback and, at least slightly, overwhelmed by my intensity. "What exactly do you want to know about it?" she asked after taking a deep breath, finding some fallen tree's stump to sit at, and then leaning forward as she cupped her hands together.

"Everything," I replied in the simplest way possible.

I saw no need to look for something to sit at. Just keeping Fay in my hug already made me the most comfortable man in the two worlds. There was no need to be wary either, for this entire situation was yet another play aimed at throwing sand into Irene's eyes, obscuring her view of what I really knew and was thus capable of.

A plan that I could only ever share with Fay, and only ever through our soul bond, for every other means of communication were likely for Irene to tap into.

So, I gulped down my saliva before reaffirming my stance by giving Madam a look into the steeled resolve burning at the bottom of my eyes.

"I want to know everything there is to know about this topic!"