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

"My… mandate?"

If Leon's face indicated a lack of surprise when Makary mentioned money, the same couldn't be said about his reaction to the second part of his request.

"That's right," Makary nodded his head. "In a sense, your mandate for us to spend our own money is even more important."

The two men stared at each other, each with a different expression on his face.

"My… mandate…?" Leon repeated himself, this time putting an even longer pause between his words.

"That's right." Makary nodded his head. A glint in his eyes hinted at how he was perfectly aware of what this conversation was currently stuck at, yet had no plans of resolving the issue.

"Would you care to enlighten me what the hell do you mean by my… mandate?"

Makary heaved a long sigh before turning his eyes to the side and giving me a long, meaningful look.

"It's only a matter of time before the attention of the whole fucking world will be on us," taking Makary's glance for a sign, I spoke out. "That's why, rather than having them look at us, we want everyone to look at you instead." Find adventures on empire

I took a deep breath before relaxing a bit further into the chair I was sitting at while rubbing my hand up and down the indent of Fay's soft waist.

"The city's magistrate suddenly investing in building materials, outdated technology or even ordering ten thousand tents can still be explained, be it with a project of sorts or something that a drug addict of the city's leader suddenly decided to be vital for the city's operation." I took a shallow breath.

"But the moment a group of former soldiers, currently acting as a tight group of mercenaries doing all of the above?"

I shook my head and closed my mouth, not seeing a point to speak any more directly.

"What in the world are you going to be buying for you to worry about what the world will think about it?" Leon asked, bringing his eyebrows together as he cast a long stare my way.

"Does it really matter?" I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "No matter what we will have to procure, it will always look bad if a mercenary group buys it. On the other hand, if the city does so, no one will bat an eye," I tried my best to give a general explanation of an idea. "A city buying a thousand tents means that the city's leader wants to help the homeless to survive a harsh winter.

A mercenary company ordering a thousand tents means they foresee a conflict that will warrant their use."

This was the simplest example yet one that showed the depth of the issue.

There was nothing wrong with a city ordering this or that. But every purchase made by a mercenary company would go through extensive scrutiny, where even the slightest issue would raise red flags all over the place.

"So, to put it simply, you want me to front all of your purchases?" Leon squinted his eyes while also making a slightly baffled expression. "But what for? I struggle to imagine a single item that would make others wary of you when bought," he added, gritting his teeth in open frustration…

Or, a lot more likely, putting up that kind of front while hoping to gain something by doing so in the conversation. Yet, what goals he might have, what reasons for acting the way he did, I simply couldn't fathom.

And quite frankly, after seeing what I did in the last few moments, I couldn't care less.

"It's not about the type of items we need to procure. Or rather, that's a whole separate issue that we will have to tackle once things grow to that point. What we cannot let others notice is the scale of our purchases."

Makary leaned his head over to the right and to the left, all the way to the point where the joints in his spine cracked.

"Isn't this how you noticed something was going on with my group?" Makary posed a simple question with a wide smile emerging on his face. "I fail to imagine why else would you throw that dumb investigation right into my face otherwise!"

Leon's face twitched, something I noticed only because I was already looking at the man.

"That's…" Leon averted his eyes. "Would you believe me if I told you… it wasn't me who put that thing into motion?"

This time, it was our turn to pause and take some time to process Leon's words.

'It wasn't him? But if it wasn't him, then who was it?'

In an instant, a young woman's face appeared before the eyes of my imagination… Only for me to nearly instantly discard the possibility.

'There's hardly any chance Irene has something to do with it. I shouldn't fall into the fallacy of blaming her for everything that's going on!'

"I somehow struggle to believe that to be the case," Makary cut the issue short, outright denying Leon's statement right in the young man's face.

"I mean, there's my signature on it… But it all happened when I was testing out the extent of that tea of yours, so I wasn't really in my right mind back then. And all in all, my signature sums up my contribution to the issue…" Leon shook his head while dangerous sparks danced in his eyes.

Sparks of anger… but one that didn't seem to be directed at us.

"Someone put the paper for you to sign, huh?" Makary raised his eyebrow. "You had no idea what it was about and ended up just signing it away, is that what you want us to believe?"

Makary didn't raise his voice nor did he make a scary face. Yet, as the tone of his words turned colder and colder, I could tell he wasn't willing to take that kind of crap from his partner in crime of sorts.

"You know it's never that simple," Leon rolled his eyes, revealing what I believed to be the very first sign of genuine annoyance on his face. "I was told there was some disturbance, people protesting, reports for kidnapping. And while the news of the situation sorting out arrived at the same time…" Leon shook his head before suddenly raising his chin and staring right into Makary's eyes.

"What else was I supposed to do? Ignore the possibility of a kidnapping ring running amock in my city?!"

For some reason, Leon grew quite agitated over the issue.

"We've curbed the issue by drowning it with blood. But there should be no need for me to remind you, don't you think? You were the one who killed all of those bastards back then, after all."

Before I could even take notice, the conversation already shifted from the issues of the present to the problems of the past. And as curious as I felt to learn more about those episodes of Makary's past, as interested I was in just what sort of relationship those two men had where they ended up working together despite obviously hating each other's guts…

This wasn't the time to discuss it. For with a single look at my phone's screen, I realized we were nearing the limit of how much time we could waste in here.

"Well, either way, I need you to drop the case," Makary noticed my slightly anxious look and finally brought this pointless reminiscence of the past to an end. "And most importantly of all, do we have a deal?" he asked while reaching out to the young man with his hand.

Leon stared at Makary's face for a short while before heaving a long sigh.

"We might hate each other, but I never caught you trying to break our agreement thus far. And after what happened seven years ago, I'm still in your debt," Leon summarised his own views on the situation before grabbing the edges of his chair and pushing himself up, standing up so he could match Makary.

"You can consider the investigation dropped. You can also feel free to forward all of the requests for whatever you might need, be it money, tolls, resources, or even men, to the magistrate and I will see to it that all of your demands shall be met, as long as they are within reason."

Leon took a deep breath before reaching out with his hand… Only to stop it merely two inches away from Makary's palm.

"But…"

Makary squinted his eyes.

"The investigation and fronting of your purchases I can do just to uphold our friendship and cooperation. But when it comes to sponsoring you…" Leon made a small pause while staring straight into Makary's eyes. "What is in it for me?"

Makary didn't respond right away. Yet, right as he opened his mouth, I decided to take things for a small spin.

"How about a percentage of profits we will get from our project?" I suggested the most obvious solution before twisting my lips in a wicked grin. "Or would you rather come with us and pay our small project a visit instead?"

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