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

"I need you to bring out the heavy stock to the old hangar," Makary spoke to the phone he held between his left ear and left shoulder. With his left hand, he controlled the steering wheel while actively shifting gears with his right.

"Yes, I need it done for yesterday."

"I will be waiting."

Since the call wasn't on a loudspeaker, I couldn't really tell what the conversation was about. All I managed to figure out was that the phrase Makary opened the call with had to be some sort of code…

Because after ending the call and starting another, he used the exact same words.

"I need you to bring out the heavy stock to the old hangar."
Continue the saga at m v l e mpyr

In the end, Makary made a total of seven calls, four of which started with the sentence mentioned while the last three started with "I'm really hungry, what would you say about getting a proper barbecue?"

After the last call, Makary let go of the car's wheel for a second only to grab the phone and throw it down on his lap.

"It's done," he then announced while putting his focus back on the road.

"Good," I replied from the backseat of the car, not even bothering to look away from the window. "How long will it take?'

Makary tapped the wheel with his fingers for a few moments.

"Equipment should arrive within a few hours. Safely breaking the seals on our warehouses will take a while and moving that many arms and supplies…"

Makary didn't finish his sentence. And quite frankly, he didn't need to.

Right now, Makary wasn't a general or even a commanding officer of a military unit. He was just a leader of a quasi-gang who controlled parts of the academy town that its government hardly cared about.

'The moment he starts moving his real pawns around, everyone on his level is bound to get nervous.'

Makary wasn't the only one with special standing in the area. He just happened to be the one in control of the area where my dearest of aunts rented a shack for me to live in.

All in all, the entire city was divided between the government of old in control of the city center and the richest districts while every other part of the town belonged to a different gang, warlord, or other form of organization that had both will and means to control it.

The only reason why this fragile balance of power remained within the status quo was the fact that it was in no one's interest to break it. With how things were below the surface level, any sort of squabble or territorial war would only accelerate the decay of not only the areas involved but for everyone else in the city and its suburbs.

That's why, for Makary to move the bulk of his power around…

"Don't worry, I understand," I muttered silently, too busy staring through the window to even look to the front at the back of Makary's head.

"To be honest, I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to hope for," Makary muttered once the silence started to grow a bit too long for anyone's comfort. "If you are wrong, I will have a hell to pay for this stunt. But if you are right…"

"If I'm right, then it means the world is about to drastically change," I tuned in to Makary's words, finishing his point for him. "Infinitely cheap resources that are all up for grabs. Endless manpower so cheap it can be borderline slavery. New technology, herbs, physics… Or scratch all that and replace it with magic…"

After listing out all sorts of things that came to my mind, I heaved a long, exhausted sigh.

"To be honest, I'm scared of how my ability will change the world. That's why I asked only for people that can disappear. For it will take only three days before everyone will be able to go back… But it might take years before we will be able to afford to let anyone back to earth."

Makary didn't comment on my point.

And in all honesty, there wasn't all that much that he could say.

Just like I mentioned, the ability to open a gate to another world, especially with much worse technology than Earth…

As history taught, there are only three ways to stop a massive, economic crisis.

Going colonial to gain access to cheap goods and expand one's market was the easiest option but one that was no longer possible since the sixteenth century. Massive government projects were another option, one that worked surprisingly well if one were to ignore all the drawbacks of this solution.

Ultimately, though, only war and arms race provided the economy with enough flow of money and the population with enough determination to put an end to an economic crisis.

And my ability to open a portal to another world… pretty much satisfied all three of those options.

It gave access to a fresh, new world with its untapped resources up for grabs. Any attempt at establishing power within that world would require one hell of an investment, between all the technology that had to be built from scratch, armies that had to be brought over and maintained, and the investments in the infrastructure necessary to properly mine and then process the local resources.

Ultimately, anyone who wanted to claim the riches of this new world would have to do so by standing at the front of a massive army necessary to grind all the local resistance to dust.

'I don't have the men to go colonial. Even with Makary's help, I don't think we have the money or even the means to go through with any real investment either…'

Thinking to myself, I continued to stare through the window at the streets sparsely illuminated by the few street lights that were still in a working state.

'And in the end, saving the forest from the invasion is the most I can do without any ability to upkeep any serious supply lines. Modern army turns useless without a steady flow of ammunition for the guns and food for the hungry mouths, after all.'

I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to figure out what would be my next step once the whole mess with the invasion came to an end.

Sadly, no matter how hard I tried, the answer to my troubles continued to elude me.

"We are almost…"

"Stop the car!"

Before Makary could finish his heads-up, Fay suddenly screamed out while reaching out and tugging at my shirt. And as I looked over, I saw maybe not the impossible, but definitely the improbable.

For outside of the car, past the window on Fay's side…

Her clone was walking the street in the company of Cassie's friend whom I knew about.

'Wait, that's not right,' I thought, taking a moment to realize that it wasn't Fay's clone… But it's an inferior version, the imperfect original that Fay's dreamy form improved upon and perfected.

Or, in other words, it wasn't Fay's clone but Cassie herself!

"Can you see it?" Fay asked, ignoring Makary's startled look and the shaking of the rapidly decelerating car.

And as I looked at the two women walking the street…

I couldn't help but gulp my saliva down.

Even with all the distance that separated us, I could tell one thing for sure.

The thickness of the dark aura that permeated the air around the two was comparable…

No.

The aura around them was of a level beyond what I saw Madam or Etaria control!

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