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

Ever since the entire car caravan picked up and left the alley when I asked them to wait, not a single word fell within the cabin on Leon's limousine.

And in all honesty, I couldn't care less whether they were shocked by the display of my powers, busy analyzing them, or simply too confused to form a single thought.

What mattered, was the warmth of Fay's body pressed against my side, the comforting touch of her hands wrapping around my waist, and the soothing presence of her soul that I could feel through our bond.

And it was only within those circumstances that I managed to calm myself down and focus on the point of my discussion with Irene again.

"Peter, I'm sorry," Makary spoke out after what could be two minutes as much as it could be an entire hour.

Raising my face, I met with Makary's stare.

"Now that I know what happened, I've realized I came on to you way too strong," Makary admitted and lowered his head. "So, I would like to apologize."

Hearing those words, I involuntarily raised my eyebrows.

If anything, Makary was the last person I expected to utter the words of apology.

Was it because there were only four of us in the cabin that he allowed himself to reveal this unknown side of himself? Or maybe….

'Or maybe I'm overthinking it?'

I closed my eyes and sighed.

"I'm sorry as well. For the very same thing, I apologize."

Thinking back, there was no denying the fact that I overreacted. Maybe it was the moment when all the stress that built up during my encounter with Irene finally boiled over my limits? Or maybe I was too focused on the questions she left me with that I would overreact to any attempt at striking up a conversation?

Whatever the reason, I couldn't deny that I reacted way too strongly to Makary's nagging. And thankfully enough, I was mature enough to admit it, not only to others… but most importantly, to myself.

"Let's just say we were both in the wrong," Makary suggested, eager to bury the hatched and move on. "And just to make sure, should we be worried about that girl you've met with?"

I raised my eyes to the man and stared at his face for a moment before finally looking down and sighing.

"In all honesty, I have no idea. She's someone that I cannot measure with the common sense of this world or of Fay's world. But, if I were to trust what she said, then no," I shook my head, "even though she might be related to our project, she doesn't seem to be interested in it whatsoever."

"That's good," Makary muttered… Only to cut his words short when the car came to a sudden stop, in a location that for sure wasn't the city's magistrate.

"Leon?" Makary turned his head to the side, right as Fay tightened her hold over my waist a bit.

"It's my private warehouse," Leon revealed, most likely seeing through our worries. "There are a few things that I want you to take a look at."

I looked over at Makary, but seeing how he didn't seem to know any more than I did, I simply shrugged my shoulders and patted Fay's hand to make her relax her hold before following Leon's example and getting out of the car.

Our path to a simple, residential building that didn't appear as a warehouse whatsoever went through in silence, the silence broken only by the small noise made by Leon's escorts as they left their cars and joined our small parade.

The insides of the building didn't appear like a part of a warehouse either, making me start to slightly worry whether or not this was all just a clever trap…

But no.

After the reception part of the apartment block, we entered the lift. Yet, rather than going up to any of the floors that we could see from the outside, the lift started to go down.

As it continued further and further down, I soon came to realize that the part of the building that was above… was actually nothing more but a clever way of disguising the truly important part of it hidden below the ground.

"Just before we go," Leon turned around within the lift right as it stopped yet refused to open the doors. "Don't judge me too much for what you see inside."

Both me and Fay instantly riled up, ready to fight for our dear lives and, hopefully, be quick and powerful enough when dealing with whatever awaited us beyond the doors to maybe, just maybe, keep Makary safe too.

The twitch of Makary's eyebrow proved he noticed the change in the two of us. On the other hand, Leon didn't seem to mind or even notice, as he turned back towards the lift's main panel before pressing his hand roughly an inch to the left of it.

"Identity confirmed"

A robotic voice filled the cube of the lift.

"Welcome, quartermaster."

With a whooshing sound, the doors to the lift opened up… Only to reveal a massive, vault-like gate hidden behind.

Thankfully, though, it had to be wired up to some sort of system, given how its massive wheel was already turning by the time the lift's door opened up, allowing me to witness what had to be the second thickest gate I've seen in my entire life, only a finger's-width thinner than the gate to the underground bunker where Makary stowed away the very weapons that I put to use back in Fay's world.

"Quartermaster?" Making use of the moment before the gate would fully open, Makary turned to the side and gave Leon a slightly mocking look.

"I asked you not to judge," Leon commented while rolling his eyes before stepping ahead, right as the massive gate swung fully open, revealing the enormous insides of the warehouse chamber hidden deep, deep under the city's ground.

Now, Leon's name for the place finally started to make sense. The area was easily three times as massive as the insides of the hangar back at Makary's place. And in contrast to the insides of the bunker, he once showed me, it was filled to the brim with all sorts of technology, resources, and, more importantly, weapons.

"When you first invited me over to that world, I still wasn't sure whether or not should I show it to you," Leon admitted as he walked down the main alley of the warehouse, looking around the massive stockpile that could easily supply an entire army for months. "But now that you've shown me your abilities," Leon turned to face me, "there's just one thing I want to test if you will allow it."

Shutting his mouth, Leon turned silent and followed a fewteen more meters down the path, only to stop at a place where the warehousing shelves were filled with nothing but car-sized steel boxes.

"Wait, those are…" Makary muttered while his face twisted with disbelief.

"That's right," Leon smiled upon seeing Makary's reaction.

And as he turned to face me, he announced with a smile, "Each of those boxes contains a power armor of fourth generation and above," he explained, failing to realize he could very well speak in another language given my lack of knowledge that power armors actually existed, not to speak about the ability to discern the value of each of their generations.

"And I would love to test how they would fare against someone with abilities never seen before in this world."