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

**Ten minutes earlier**

'As cruel as it might be, I hope it will all end soon.'

Looking over the edge of the small encampment closing off the access to the third wall tunnels, Banjay stared at the massacre going on down below.

Tonight the imperial forces pushed much harder than before. Hard enough not to let Salicious and the men he led have any rest. Caring not for the casualty rate, the legion continued to roll forward, successively establishing breach after breach and gradually settling their presence atop the second wall.

The distance between the encampment and the battle wasn't that great, yet the difference in elevation made the noise act weird as if the height itself was enough to somewhat mute it down.

Right as Banjay enjoyed one of the very last few tranquil moments of his life, a small commotion behind the man forced the poor man back into action.

"Sir, everyone's ready," Oxxy reported after scrambling out of the ladder hole of the jokingly small, one-story-high tower.

Following the report, Banjay looked down his tiny, observation tower at the massive army gathered below.

If the first floor of the fortress was a relatively narrow space between two different stretches of the walls, then the space between

second and third sets of walls were fairly different.

It was a massive basin formed from solidified and dried-out sediment, making it one of the absolutely best spots to farm within the entire patriarchate. Just like the lands of the imperial colony deep down the eastern route of Haela's mountains, it was fertile enough to birth seeds twice a year, as opposed to just a single harvest on ordinary soil.

Each of those harvests would bear a lot heavier, juicier fruits too…

The tactical importance of this basin, however, was clear to the Patriarch's ancestors when they decided to ignore this divinely fertile soil and cover it all with gravel and stones.

As a field, this massive basin would produce as much as five if not ten villages worth of crops. Due to its location right at the chokepoint of one of the most important passages of the region, this place lost its chance to give birth to crops the very moment human sight first fell on it.

And right now, on this very castrated field, Banjay gathered the biggest army in the patriarchate's history.

'They don't even look that bad,' the middle-aged man thought as he spared the crowd a glance before ensuring the right banners were already making their way to the front of the unorganized horde.

When it came to numbers, without a doubt, it was the biggest army assembled in the history of the kingdom. Yet, when it came to its power…

'Let's pray the imperials will be too busy trying to get a proper look,' Banjay thought before his lips twisted in reaction to this rare exhibit of personal humor. 'And by pray, I mean, do everything I fucking can!'

Banjay has long since learned the lesson of just how bloody this world was.

Thrown to a hostile court as a mere child, he had to watch how the sixth division worked out his family, tore it into pieces, and then fed on the scraps.

Being nothing but a powerless kid, he could do nothing but attend the imperial academy, pretending not to be aware of the things happening all around him.

The four years in the empire… Were as glorious as they were bloody and hateful. It was during those four years of relentless slaughter and scheming that Banjay managed to claw his way back to the patriarchate, selling more of himself than he would ever admit before anyone to make the escape happen.

The sixth imperial division broke his family. Half of his blood relatives who joined the main family on this diplomatic mission never returned, hailed as traitors, cowards, and the whole package upon the return of those… who endured.

Or so, that's how the sixth division made Banjay's parents spin the narrative in, to cover how those who returned, all did so as loyal cooperators of the sixth division.

For everyone in the Patriarch's court, the return of Banjay's family was something to celebrate. None of them knew, though, how all those who resisted the sixth division to the end… Already met their end. All those who returned did so with a mission.

Banjay included.

And all the way until the day when he secured all the loose ends, he kept up the act of the good little spy, a filthy informant, a devious saboteur, or a raunchy noble. Whatever his masters at the sixth division required of him, he did, quickly raising within the bounds of the blindfolded society of the patriarchate while also proving with worth and valor to the division.

The day Banjay killed pretty much all of his blood relatives before covering the entire event up was his first Magnus opum, a promotion exam that turned him from a disposable pawn to the role of one of the players.

A move that came at a great cost of the division sending in more operatives to secure their interests… But a move that not only allowed him to finally contact the Patriarch's ears to work with his own people again but also put himself in a position where the division, as reluctant to do so as they were, had no other choice but to acknowledge his newfound position and work with him as opposed to working him down.

Banjay's second masterpiece came on the day when he finally went against the sixth division, removing all of their networks and operatives with the staged coup. Knowing the scale of damages that those people were responsible for, Banjay never questioned whether it was the cup or the breaking of the Lunagar fortress siege that was his greatest

achievment of the time.

Today, however, he would either seal his fate as the greatest traitor and villain of the short-lived patriarchate… Or a devious genius who saved the state against all the odds.

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And for the sake of his third and last magnus opum, Banjay pulled all stops.

The legion pushed against the walls… Forced by the

high-ranking officers and elite units of cutthroat mercenaries, hacking away at anyone who dared to question the cause… or show insufficient passion for the ultimate victory. Behind them, three units of Emperor's guards core were sure to cut down all those who dared to take even a single step back.

With those measures, the imperials managed to push the crowd of their men into the slaughter, overwhelming the defenders of the second wall with the sheer might of bodies they threw at them.

An extremely bloody and ruthless tactic… But upon closer inspection, it was a result of a cold and somber calculation.

Due to the layout of the second wall, for how bloody it might be, this was the easiest and least costly way to conquer the obstacle. When taking into account the costs of logistics, supplies, random illnesses claiming lives left and right… Every day of a siege came at a lethal cost.

Cost that one couldn't see as easily as staring down into an ongoing battle. And upon a closer look, a single day, one long and bloody push…

It was quite likely then/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

casualties of such a reckless charge would be smaller than the deaths that would come as a result of

attrition and lacking supplies in the scenario of the siege delaying.

That's why, rather than

with looking at the imperials throwing more and more men at the second wall with glee over how easy

they made it for patriarchate soldiers to kill them…

Banjay looked down with a somber look on his face.

"At this point, there is nothing more I can do…" Banjay muttered before even realizing his mouth moved on its own.

The crowd below him… had little to no fighting ability. Save for the few units of elite forces that Banjay spared no effort to save for the last phase of his plan, everyone else was just a stand-in.

A body that was to bear the armor and weapons of the patriarchate army, so make up the numbers from behind the backs of the elites at

front.

Banjay's greatest masterpiece, his life's magnum opus… Was nothing more but a simple lie, a deception aimed at a simple imperial soldier and breaking his spirits so thoroughly, the last phase of the siege would become much scarier than the perspective of the punishment from their officers.

For that reason, Banjay wasted nearly half of his elites in an idiotic, suicide attack on the first floor of the fortress. And while all of those brave warriors gave their lives to sow the first seeds of terror into the imperial shared consciousness… He made sure to insert some of his men into the imperial ranks, all for the sake of reinforcing the harrowing image of the fortress.

Some of them ended up dying at the hands of the fortress defenders when the imperial officers herded the soldiers into yet another mindless attack. Some of them, Banjay saw dying with his own eyes.

But even with the extreme turnover of this crowded battle, ever since the imperials first breached the first wall, the rumors continued to grow.

Rumors that the defenders of the imperial fortress reinforced with all the selfless acts of great bravery and unwavering spirit when they set out for their suicide missions.

It was all for the sake of one, single moment.

When the imperials breach the second wall, cross the obstacle course constructed between the second wall's gate and the third-floor basin… And then stand face to face with an army matching their numbers. Army led by the elites the determination and skill of which they've already experienced.

In that, single moment, Banjay saw the path to a successful defense. The only path for how the events could play out ended up in the patriarchate's favor.

Then, a strange, round object suddenly floated through the air only to stop right above the hottest spot of the battle, putting a sudden stop to most of the fighting as everyone looked up to the unknown. And then, right as the perfectly circular object suddenly opened its massive mouth, all of Banjay's schemes became unnecessary.

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