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

"And that should cover everything," Makary raised his eyes from the long checklist he held in his hand and took a long look at the team assembled in front of him.

The team consisted of me, the guide capable of leading the entire group through the starlight plains, Claudy Moretto, a strange supreme of the empire that acted as Etaria's and imperial's envoy for the mission, and lastly… Fay.

As opposed as I was to the idea of bringing her through a massive area designed to keep her confined, the few days' worth of talks with Madam and analyzing our new situation born from our advancement to the supreme rank…

Well, while they did little to nothing to ease my worries, they still ended up with a conclusion that upon crushing her supreme trail, Fay achieved a form no other Celestial or Divine reached.

Was it because she defeated the test designed to see how long one could face their worst fears? Or was it because she was the fruit of a union between the two species, true proof of the two rival clans getting together?

Or maybe Fay reached that point because she was simply special in every possible way?

None of this was for me to judge. Yet, the few tests we conducted in the days prior confirmed that although Fay was unable to see the spots of the starlight falling upon the face of the plain, she was more than perfectly capable of withstanding the basic degradation etched into the plain's very atmosphere.

With all of that in mind, it was surprisingly Claudy, the one and only supreme of the team who attained his rank before actually getting selected for the mission. And while initially designed to be the bulk on which all the dangers that would come to the group would shatter, with me and Fay advancing, he pretty much got degraded to the position of the imperial observer.

A role that Etaria insisted on and for an easily understandable reason.

For even if we were able to open a trading path through the plain, if we kept the truth about the local prices or the prize of chai that Etaria so desperately needed, we could tax them hefty premiums on the exchange.

And that, even with Claudy to report on the events as they happened, was still going to happen. Neither Makary, Leon nor I myself were willing to tread such a dangerous path and possibly open what could easily become the most vital trading route not only for our camp but also for the empire as a whole… All just for the sake of giving it away to the princess.

No.

We were going to impose heavy tariffs and fees on every last item of value we hoped to bring over once my team would successfully complete the mission. And we were going to do so with full transparency, of every free, tax, gratuity, or any other fancily named way of increasing the end-quota.

We were going to milk the empire dry on the items we would bring over once we opened up the path… And the empire was going to be more than happy to pay for our premiums.

After all, what they lacked wasn't the money to purchase those objects, but the ability to actually source them.

Still, this was just the end goal of our mission. And all things considered, even when looking at all of the equipment we were bringing over, was still but a minor investment when compared to the scale of things back at the new camp.

It's been exactly a day over two weeks since the establishment of the new camp. And just earlier today, the officers promoted mostly from Kash and one other division easily split up the third batch of imperial prisoners of war and settled them in throughout the oldest of the housing projects.

With fifteen thousand men working hard to earn their right to the proper meal besides the one hot dinner that the camp guaranteed for everyone, the process of moving the workers to their designed camps was nearly complete. Even the freshly joining ten thousand workers ended up at the old camp just to make it easier to move them to their respective lodgings throughout the day!

In those two weeks, Makary's architects moved on from the barebone projects turning the camp from just an open space to a proto-city, and now started to focus more on setting up some basic industry.

And it was all to cut costs. For even with Leon's support, the bottomless abyss for resources that this world soon became pretty much sapped all of his material ability from back on earth.

The magistrate never had any plans of covering the material needs to build an entire, new city. And while both the city itself but also various powerful figures within the magistrate hoarded some limited supplies just in case, after clearing all of the easily accessible resources from the market… Only the option of importing from other cities was left.

An option that would singlehandedly add another digit if not two to the cost of anything we would want to procure. And that's all without even mentioning the risks of making other cities aware of our changing situation!

That's why, before Makary would even think about letting me go on this adventure, he ensured I was here, always ready to maintain the gate right the moment it was about to vanish. And it was thanks to sacrificing several long hours to convince Etaria to wait just those two weeks more, that by now, the new camp…

Pretty much grew to be self-sufficient.

Self-sufficient in terms of importing stuff from back on earth, that is.

All in all, with more manpower that we could make effective use of, projects that would take years to complete back on earth would be finished within days over here.

And thanks to the near complete lack of safety rules catered to the extremely stupid minority, by now there were a total of five factories working day and night, three quite some distance away and two smack dab in the middle of the proto-town.

A concrete factory, a sawmill, and a chemical plant slash chemical laboratory were located on the outskirts, quite some distance away from the housing projects. Yet, the implementation of a rudimentary tram system that operated right during the shift changes for those factories made the distance between the city and its factories not as annoying as it would otherwise be.

Then, there was the craftsmanship station where imperials, as they started to get some more free time during the day, could polish and test out their skills with the supervised use of modern tools.

It was hard to call this place a factory to begin with, given the lack of streamlined and repetitive processes. It was more of a warehouse where, on four different levels of the perfectly open and uncluttered areas, one could find a huge number of small, personal workshops outfitted with all the tools we could find back in Earth's home depot.

The last factory, which just like the previous one could hardly be called one, was a repair shop.

Located right in the middle of the entire new camp, it was a building split into four parts, each of them sitting comfortably at one of the corners of the most important crossing of the camp.

It was also the only factory devoid of any and all imperials, with only Makary's men and Leon's recruits being granted access to try to maintain heavily worn-down machines, vehicles, and tools from all over the camp.

With those five factories and the outside connections we were starting to cultivate, the camp finally reached the stage where it would grow all on its own, just due to the benefit of the momentum we built up for the last two weeks.

And that, in turn, made today to be a perfect moment for our small group of three to depart.

A small group of three… outfitted with one heavy but extremely agile rower and two self-steering, unmanned carriages, one and a half of which were stocked with nothing but fuel, with the remaining cargo space filled with supplies and stuff that should be generally easy to sell in any civilization we would hopefully find on the other end of the starlight plain.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"I guess we can get going, then?" I suggested, taking a long look at Makary before turning my eyes over to our small caravan.

The two autonomous vehicles powered by solar sails that we've already confirmed worked against the light of the stairs on the plain. Yet, those two were just for support and carrying over our supplies that we would have a hard time restocking, given the limited volume I could carry through my personal gate.

The main vehicle was a makeshift project frantically developed over the last two weeks by Leon's engineers back on Earth. It was a simple buggy… but created in two one scale, with added, enclosed compartments that could serve as secure sleeping pods along with enough room in its main area for the three of us to comfortably spend our travel time in.

'To be fully honest, calling it a buggy is a stretch. This is pretty much a damned house on wheels and stuck on an off-road frame…'

Yet, knowing just how long this mission could become… I wasn't going to complain about all the added comforts we could allow inside of this buggy thanks to its massive size.

"Just be careful, really careful," Makary sighed after giving me a prolonged stare. "This is going too great for us here for you to fuck it all over, so again," the man reached out and lowered his hand upon my shoulder.

By now, I've been in an entirely different league in terms of strength when compared to this middle-aged man. If so I desired, I could literally snap him in half…

And yet, his hand felt strangely heavy when it sat on my arm.

"Be careful. More careful than you were ever before in your life," Makary requested while looking me directly in the eyes.

And as someone who understood his worry perfectly well, I simply nodded my head in response.

"I won't say not to worry, because it will only make you worry more," I said before putting a small, relaxed smile on my face, only allowing my eyes to reflect the inner turmoil rising up whenever I thought about what I had ahead of me.

"I just want you to take into consideration that I'm taking Fay with me," I pointed out, looking over to the massive buggy where my beloved was relaxing down on the seats with her face covered by the rim of her straw hat.

"And that alone is the greatest proof I will be on edge for the entirety of this journey."

For a moment, we simply stared at each other, only for Makary to take the initiative and lower his hand off my arm… only to then offer it to me.

"Safe travels, kid," Makary muttered grumpily when I accepted the shake and grasped his hand back. Yet, before I could say anything in response, the man raised his face and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Seriously, may no harm come to you or your beloved and the path be safe and easy for your wheels," Makary spoke in a strangely celebrative tone, as if it was some sort of holistic celebration rather than a simple farewell.

"And for that, I shall pray until your safe return."