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

There was hardly any point in a doorbell in my current penthouse. With how one needed not only a private access card but also the approval of the security to get the lift to reach the upper floors, there was hardly any point in entrance doors, to begin with.

The doorbell was just an added redundancy. And yet, right now, I was glad this traditional way of building persisted, even in a penthouse so luxurious it was supposed to break all the covenants.

"For now, dress up while I go and greet him," I instructed Fay before moving outside of the bedroom and carefully closing the doors.

No matter how tall my request for Makary was, I wasn't going to give him even the remotest chance at glancing upon Fay's nakedness.

That privilege was for me and me alone and I couldn't care less whether this made me a greedy or a jealous man.

*Ding Ding!*

Right as I reached for the entrance doors, the doorbell rang again. And even though I have yet to see Makary, it allowed me some insight into how impatient he was at the moment.

'Well, I pulled him out of the bed in the dead middle of the night,' I thought, glancing through at the display of the security system mounted by the entrance before pressing the button and pulling the doors open.

"Do you even know what time it is?" Makary started ranting the very moment he could see my face.

"I know," I cut the man short. And even though openly berating my rude behavior was bound to, at least partially, fix the man's mood, I hardly had the time to waste on this type of small talk. "I wouldn't have called if it wasn't urgent."

I pulled the doors open as wide as I could before stepping to the side and inviting the man in. Once he came inside, I made sure to close the door myself rather than relying on its automated closing system.

The topic we were going to discuss was simply too important for me to ignore the minuscule chance that the closing mechanism of the doors would fail, leaving them slightly open and thus allowing someone to listen in on what we were going to talk about.

It was a minuscule chance… but one that was greater than zero. And given the near complete lack of effort necessary to take care of the issue, I would have to be stupid not to do so.

Turning back towards the insides of the penthouse, I saw Makary walk towards the main lounge area and drop down on the sofa.

"I understand that you are in a hurry, but I need coffee to think," Makary called out as he got himself comfortable to the point of stretching his legs out and resting them down on the coffee table adjacent to the main sofa in the lounge.

"I will take care of it," Fay spoke as she came out from our bedroom.

She didn't have the time or reason to dress up nicely, opting to pick her favorite sweatpants and a slightly oversized hoodie over anything more proper or elegant.

"Thanks," I nodded my head to the girl, passing by her as I moved to join Makary in the lounge area. "Can you get me one too?" I asked before Fay could escape to the kitchen.

"Three coffees it is, then."

Contrary to my expectations, Fay didn't head for the kitchen but opted to make way for the open bar instead.

'I guess she's going to concoct something that health and safety officials would happily classify as a drug, isn't she?'

After my experiences in Fay's world, I grew to appreciate just how massive of a difference the skill of a drink-maker could bring. And between all the various herbs I saw her collect in her free time and the ingredients she had on hand in the bar…

"On a side note," I spoke as I reached the lounge and seated myself on the other end of the table before swatting Makary's hand aside without a second thought, "you can really look forward to the coffee."

Makary squinted his eyes, either at me swatting his legs away or at my slight teasing. Either way, though, he didn't bother to comment. He brought his legs down before leaning over the coffee table himself, mirroring my position.

"You want an army," Makary spoke once only the sounds of Fay concocting some sort of potion intruded upon the silence of the night. "What for?"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a second.

'How exactly should I bite it?' I asked myself.

Should I go all in and start with requesting a nuke or battle gases and then negotiate my demands down to just a standard army? Or maybe keep everything hushed, only revealing enough for Makary to properly prepare?

I opened my eyes and stared into the man's face, searching for something that would help me decide the right approach.

"First off, most of what I will say will sound like a fantastical story, a novella only a manchild with a drug-abused brain could come up with," I started.

"Cease the preambles," Makary cut my opening statements short. "I need details. Aren't you in a hurry?"

I squinted my eyes a little, staring even deeper into the man's eyes.

'Should I keep things hidden? But he's going to learn about everything anyway… assuming he agrees to help…'

A deep breath later, I finally made my decision.

"The place where I source all my goods from is under siege. Right now, the enemies are waiting for all their reinforcements to arrive. Once they all gather, I will be up against nearly eighty-thousand troops with less than fifteen hundred on my side."

As weird as this might sound… I actually made sure to start with things that would be easier to swallow. After all, while my enemies boasted one hell of a massive number of soldiers…

This kind of thing still fell within the framework of what Makary could accept as a possibility.

"If you classified an average human with one, an athlete with a number up to three, and an absolute master of one's craft as six through nine…"

I took a short pause to estimate the general structure of both the forest and the human forces.

"Then, most of the guys on my side are around fifteen to twenty, while our enemies can be classified between five to ten, maybe five to fifteen," I explained before raising my eyes and looking right into Makary's pupils with only a few inches separating our faces.

"With me and Fay counted, there should be about twenty powerhouses within my forces and I estimate about the same to fight for the other side. In fact, I've already killed a master on this level, and let me tell you this…"

Recalling the memory of the tough fight towards the end of the battle with the imperial reinforcements, I shook my head and breathed out a long sigh.

"The guy I fought ate one… No, two rounds from neugarand. I even showered him with a cloud from neu-p90… And it was still a tough fight."

I gulped down my saliva.

For some reason, going through a near-death experience didn't affect me all that much back then. And yet, as soon as I recalled it for the very first time… Get the latest stories on m_vl_em_p_yr

My face turned cold as all the colors drew away from my cheeks.

"Thankfully, when it comes to people beyond the level I can gauge or understand, it's one for each side, so we can count them off from the fight."

Concluding the list of the threats, I took a moment to gather my thoughts before moving my eyes and hands to the table and tapping my fingers against it.

"Ah, and before I forget." My face twitched when I realized I had yet to reveal what might be the most important detail out of them all. "Those soldiers I mentioned," I raised my eyes back to Makary's face and smiled, right as Fay appeared in the corner of my vision while carrying three cups of steaming-hot coffee. "They are armed with spears, swords, bows… I bet they have some crossbows too."

With my eyes locked on Makary's face… I couldn't see a single emotion appear in his eyes.

'Welp, I more or less expected him not to believe me,' I thought, forcefully stopping my face from revealing an ugly grimace.

"Assuming you are not pulling my leg, why would you need an army to fight this…" Makary hesitated, not exactly sure how to phrase the next part of what he wanted to say. "Why would you need an army to fight this…"

In the end, the man simply cut his words short and turned silent, taking some more time to think through what he actually wanted to say.

And a mere moment later, something about his face changed. Did it grow more… serious?

"No, sorry, but I'm not going to play along with this skit," Makary sighed, grabbing the cup of coffee as soon as Fay placed it down on the table.

He then pulled himself to the back of the sofa before taking a sizeable sip of the drink.

Once again, his face twitched and his expression slightly changed. This time, however, with his eyes shooting down towards the drink in his cup, it was obviously the achievement of Fay's fancy drink rather than my words or his thoughts.

Still, Makary took a sip before lowering his cup and raising his eyes back to my face.

"I refuse to believe you could find that many idiots, gather them all up, keep them fed… and all for what? To conquer some sort of forest?" Makary shook his head. "If someone was worried about setting in on fire or destroying too much vegetation, there are hundreds of better, more efficient ways to wage warfare than using ancient weapons."

"You are right," I admitted and nodded my head. "There aren't enough idiots that would gather up for such an idiotic endeavor in this world."

I breathed out and prepared myself to drop the biggest bombs of all that I'd prepared for this conversation.

"But I never claimed we are talking about this world to begin with."