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

Not when just walking up to the edge of the camp was enough to force me to swallow an extremely sour pill.

Our group of emissaries consisted of only three people, yours truly, Fay, and…

And surprisingly, Claudy.

In the few moments, it took me and Fay to move from the edge of the mercenary camp to where we wanted to intercept the imperial emissaries, Claudy somehow proved to not only be in the camp… but also to insist on joining us.

\'He might want to explain his situation to the princess in person,\' I thought before ultimately just nodding my head and moving on from the topic before it could stall us for too long.

And my hurry soon proved to be well placed, when the rank and file of the human legion parted, giving way for a small group of twenty, maybe thirty men to pass through.

It was one hell of a peculiar group.

At its head, two knights in gold-adorned, full-plate armors walked forth at a steady pace, massive banners raising up from their hands and to the sky, causing what had to be either the imperial banner or the princess\'s personal emblem to dance on the light winds of the late morning.

Behind them, an entourage of eight more knights donning the same kind of armor followed. Those eight, however, walked with their hands busy with their bare, two-handed swords with their blades pointed up and perfectly aligned with their spines.

And as they walked, their swords remained perfectly still, as if allowing them to sway was a crime worthy of the death penalty and eternal damnation.

The first ten men in the princess\'s entourage presented themselves with silent and imposing dignity. The gold adorning their armor wasn\'t there to show off wealth, but the dignity of the position they had as personal servants and warriors of the princess.

It was the group of unarmed musicians that followed behind the well-armed knights. Contrary to the banners and swords, those carried simple flutes and belt-strapped, handy drums.

The most peculiar thing of all, however, was that while it was a princess\' entourage… The princess herself was nowhere to be seen.

And when the musicians at the back of the group struck their drums and blew air into their flutes…

\'Shit…\' I cursed under my breath while nervously gulping down my saliva.

The rhythm struck off the drums perfectly matched the pace of the knights\' steps. The high-pitched, reverberating cries of the flutes introduced a new vibe of tension, and anticipation into the already thick air around.

And when the music started to pick up and neared its climax only for a whole bunch of golden sparks to appear right at the very front of the emissary formation…

I sighed.

\'I\'m starting to wonder, who the real main character of this story is.\'

Golden sparks burst out of nothing, roughly a meter above the ground and two to three steps ahead of the two bannermen of the princess\'s entourage.

Every spark rushed in a different direction, shooting a small distance through the air, leaving a golden trail, and then disappearing into nothingness, only for ten more to take its place.

*Thud*

The drums spoke right as the knights took a step forward. And the invisible source of all those golden sparks pushed a step ahead as well, growing bigger and richer with every passing instant.

*Thud*

The number of sparks grew so high, that it started to coalesce into a cloud of constantly changing, constantly growing, and evolving golden light. Straight from the golden light, the golden princess stepped out, taking her rightful place right at the very head of the emissary group.

\'What a show-off,\' I thought, gritting my teeth at this display of sheer showmanship.

If it took place on a stage somewhere, I would be greatly impressed. But right now, impressed I was not.

"So that\'s the girl," I commented under my nose, locking my eyes on the woman basking in the afterglow of the explosion of golden sparks that she came out of.

The golden princess… was far younger than one would assume from the magnitude of what even people of the forest knew about her. And when one took the longevity of divines and celestials into account along with how hard it was for news to spread to them…

The princess\'s seemingly young age became even more impressive.

The princess herself appeared to be somewhere between twenty-five and thirty years of age, putting her at the very end of the "young" bracket within human understanding. Yet, judging by the standards of this world…

\'As if I could do that without knowing them,\' I corrected myself before I even formed this extremely stupid thought.

Everything I saw within the mercenary camp or during the battle indicated this world was, more or less, on the late-medieval level of technological development. And that made it easy for me to assume other aspects of late-medieval life would apply here.

But was that really true?

How could I expect the underdeveloped world to have the same mortality world as Earth, when one had the magic of aura and herbs that put even the greatest earth\'s scientists into frenzy, while the Earth… only had a few, basic herbs and hopeful prayers for its sick to offer.

\'I wonder if she\'s young or middle-aged by this world\'s standards,\' I thought before my attention inevitably shifted to a much more important aspect of the princess. And without even a shred of doubt…

She was a bombshell.

She wasn\'t adorable like Fay, elegant like Madam, or even dignified as Loraz from before his balls deprivation. In fact, it was extremely challenging to figure out a single word that could describe her.

The princess had long, straight, golden hair that covered her back all the way to her ass. Her eyes were calm, focused on the single point ahead of her. And just like her name and all the decorum around her suggested, her eyes were of the same color as her hair. Contrary to her hair, though, the princess\' eyes appeared to shine with their own light, rather than simply reflecting the light of the sun.

All in all, it was only the princess outfit that broke the immersion of authority, dignity, and outright presence. Rather than donning some impressive clothes, she walked around in nothing more but simple shorts that exposed her long, alluring legs.

That, coupled with a simple, white shirt and a strange type of long dress cut in half all the way from its bottom to just above her belt, allowed for rapid and unrestrained movement while keeping most of the princess\' exposed skin hidden.

As a result, whenever the princess took a step, for but a second, the folds of the cloth of her white skirt would part, momentarily displaying her legs, only to cover them again and repeat the process for another step she took.

\'There\'s no way I can match this kind of showmanship,\' I thought, patiently waiting for the princess group to approach just a little bit closer. \'So, I need to take a different approach.\'

Maybe, just maybe, if I gathered all the defenders of the forest and pooled all the resources I could gather both in this world and back from Earth… Then maybe, just maybe, I would have a shot at matching the level of the vibes the princess introduced with her entrance.

And quite frankly, it was way too much effort for way too little reward.

"Let\'s go," I spoke softly once I judged the princess was just the right distance away. And, without further word, I started to slowly walk forward while making sure to look as relaxed as possible.

Now that the princess showed up in the way she did, there was no room for a discussion between equals. But that didn\'t mean I was left without a role to play.

"That was one interesting entrance," I spoke once my group of three reached the edge of the battlefield marked by the spot where the blood marks on the ground grew thin and sparse, as opposed to the ground just a few feet to our backs. "I\'m not going to lie, I was mildly impressed," I added, resting my hands on my hips and giving the princess a cheeky, outright disrespectful smile.

\'Perception is everything. With all those soldiers standing on the ridge, she\'s sending a message. By appearing in such a showy way, she\'s sending a message.\'

I took a deep breath and blinked my eyes before focusing on the princess\'s golden eyes.

"I\'m Peter Von Ziaq and I\'m a representative of the forestfolk," I introduced myself just as the princess\' mouth twitched, indicating she was about to speak up. "And out of moral obligation, I\'m here to discuss the terms of your surrender."