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

Makary was a man of a few words. Someone who weighed nearly every word he spoke, thus making them bear a lot more weight than useless drivel the majority of people would partake in.

And yet, when he had nothing but silence to react to my reveal, it didn't take long for me to start worrying.

'Do I really need to pull out Fay to make him believe us?'

This question was far deeper than it appeared. Because if I ended up proving, in any way or form, that what I've spoken about wasn't just a figment of my imagination, I would be the loser of the exchange.

For Makary would keep his ability to decide for or against my request, while my hand would already be out in the open.

"I hope you understand how hard it is to believe… frankly, any of this," Makary finally spoke in a perfectly weighed, controlled manner.

"I'm aware," I said while nodding my head.

"And you don't happen to…" Makary raised his eyes a bit, "have proof to back what you said?"

I took a deep breath and lowered my eyes.

"Indeed, I do. In fact, I gave it to you… how long ago was it?" I pretended to think about the topic for a moment. "Two weeks ago? Three?" I kept acting as if I couldn't recall the exact date. "All the killing I've been up to made it pretty hard for me to keep count."

At this point, as much as I hated myself for it, Makary's mere presence was causing me to start rambling uselessly.

No matter how high my intelligence or wisdom was, they only allowed me to process more information and to process it faster. When it came to emotional intelligence, however, the ability to read and interact with people, those two attributes were of no use whatsoever.

Still, faced with my point regarding the herb I sold to him, Makary either couldn't or didn't want to counter it. And seeing how the silence between the two of us prolonged, I couldn't help growing restless.

"Did you seriously think that such a miraculous herb was just growing somewhere in the shade of a tree, side by side with a weed bush planted by some junkie?" I shook my head. "Two hundred years ago, something like this would be believable. A hundred years ago one could, after turning a blind eye to a lot of things, accept it as something within the realm of possibility. But today?"

I shook my head again. And quite frankly, I didn't really need to repeat my point.

In times of trouble, when things started to get really tough and bad, people always turned to miracles.

Back during the Second World War, germans believed that their war effort could be saved with the help of the mythical wunderwaffe. And in the years when the world started to spiral into the greatest economic collapse in written history, nearly every country that existed back then threw itself into searching for exactly that - a miracle.

A miraculous drug capable of healing all ailments that governments could use to pacify the general population. A new resource that could provide a shitload of energy, nutrients, or whatever else. A new political movement, religion, ideology…

With how driven the entire world was to find a miracle that would put the downfall of the entire civilization to a stop, there was no way an actual miracle herb could escape everyone's attention only to find its way to my hands.

'And even if it did, I'm not exactly someone capable of discerning the value of something that important either.'

"I will admit that the matter with this herb is… peculiar," Makary spoke with extreme caution, literally weighing every single word he used before he actually voiced it out. "But to believe in another world? Or rather, you have the ability to enter another world?"

Makary shook his head. Experience the best from m|v|l|e|mp|y|r

"I can't give you any proof before you commit to my request."

Rather than playing cat and mouse and running in circles around each other, I decided to be frank and put my reasons straight on the table.

"So how about it. You go call who you need to get things moving. And if all I've told turns out to be mere bullshit, you will get all the rights to my herbs for free."

I cupped my hands together while resting my elbows on my knees. Leaning over the coffee table, I looked Makary straight in the eyes, trying my absolute best to read into what was going through his head.

And as far as I could see beyond the man's mask, he was currently battling his own thoughts.

"Assuming I agree…" Makary spoke out, only to, once again, cut his words short. At the same time, his face twisted in disapproval of what he was about to say.

"To be frank, I'm not even sure if it will be possible to move a huge number of people or equipment over to the other world all that easily," I admitted even though this point wasn't on the agenda. "So, here's my suggestion that consists of three points."

I stood up from the chair and walked away from the main lounge area, moving over to the massive glass panel that made up one of the walls of the penthouse.

"First thing first, you need to start calling people. This point, I won't concede on. Secondly, I need you to fix a place with… literal frame for a gate?"

This point I wasn't exactly sure about. After all, it was merely my own guess that it was a physical anchor that I needed to fix this stable gate of mine in place.

Still, whether or not it was true, hardly mattered. After all, in the worst case scenario, who would stop me from exploiting the normal portal by having everyone form a line and grab each other hands as they walk into Fay's world?

"And lastly, once the first two demands are satisfied, I will give you your proof. And one that no one in their right mind will be able to deny," I announced as I turned around and looked at Makary with the backdrop of a night sky behind my back. "What say you?"