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

"Sir general, there's no use arguing about reality. We might dislike it, but things are what they are, regardless of our opinion on it."
Your next chapter is on empire

Hugo spoke those words while feeling as if his heart was about to break free from the cage of his ribs and fly off into the distance.

It took him great courage to not only open his mouth and then speak such audacious words…

But just like the general stated, he was here to advise. And if it was hit fate to die over pretty much asking the general to focus on reality rather than his delusions of what he wanted the current reality to be…

'Then so be it!'

Closing his eyes, Hugo took a deep breath and steeled himself for what was about to come.

"That's right. If those who are fighting are already in retreat, there's little we can do but to make it easier and more convenient for them to fall back."

Hugo slowly opened one, extremely suspicious eye, only to see Yvern note down a few words on a random scrap of paper he found before rolling it into a ball and tossing it towards the tent's entrance.

The ball wasn't heavy enough to break past the barrier of a loosely hanging cloth. Instead, it simply struck the cloth and fell down to the ground, only to then end up rolling outside, right at the feet of the tent's guards.

"Get this order and carry it out to the front!" Yvern shouted over right as he stopped in place and stared into the tent's entrance, judging by the shadow cast by the guards to see whether they fulfilled his order or not.

Only when one of the shadows on the entrance cloth vanished did Yvern turn his attention back to the room as he threw his eyes around and scanned each of his officers' faces.

"The youngest in rank and experience managed to find the guts to speak out, so why the hell are all of you lot still silent?"

'It's not fun to be used like that,' Hugo thought, gritting his teeth not to let his displeasure show on his face. 'But I can guess why he did so.'

Right now, the commanding general of the imperial expeditionary force was grasping at the straws.

The situation was simply too far out of the ordinary for him to come up with a clever plan or ploy on how to change the odds that were tilting out of their favor.

"Any decision we make right now would be nothing more than a guess," finally, a different officer spoke out. "If the soldiers are running, then so be it. What I believe we need to do, is gather all the information we can find and then think about what to do next."

Finally, with the second testimony from the headquarters officers arriving, the curse of silence broke, allowing all the others to speak as well.

"That's stupid! If we wait around to see, then forget about any further attack, we won't even be able to reorganize the retreating troops!"

"We know too little while the enemy keeps pulling out surprise after surprise every time we think they used up their hidden tricks," one of the generals finally joined the fray. "We've lost too many men. Unless we want to share the fate of the seventh legion, we should retreat, replenish our troops and supplies, and then, and only then, think about attacking again."

"That's…" Only those words managed to pull Yvern from his silent, detached mode and raise his head to look at whoever came up with this sound idea. "Sadly, it's impossible," the old general muttered as he shook his head. "The emperor's orders are clear. We are to break past this fortress and gain access to the barrier lands to the south."

Following this statement, even though it was something pretty much everyone was already aware of, the tent fell right back into silence.

They were sent here to do a job and there was no way they were going back home without completing it!

"We can't try to starve them now that we know our spies failed to destroy this damned patriarchate from within. We can't take the fortress, as proved by both the past and the current experiences," Yvern spoke out, summarizing the situation, more to kill the silence than to add anything else.

The old general then sighed and sat back down on his chair.

"The way I see it, men, is that there is very little for us to do."

Once again, silence filled every nook and cranny of the tent, making it hard for anyone to move out of fear that a rustle of their clothes would draw everyone's attention to them.

"That's why, rather than despairing over what we cannot do, let's focus on the things that are still within our power," Yvern decided, slapping down on his knee.

"Uzan, Leilo, you two are in charge of preparing the camp for the retreating troops. Have food, drinks, medicine, and women ready for when they return. Ilia, Otto, Bueno, you three are to head over to the fortress and try to calm the situation down. It will be all over for us if you can't get a grip on the mob and turn them back into the imperial soldiers they are.

Hugo, Fiona, I want you to head on over and figure out what exactly changed the situation so much."

A cold shiver moved down Hugo's spine.

'Right, I'm the youngest so it's only natural I will be the one to go meet the monster that slaughtered half a damned legion,' he thought, doing his absolute best not to show his dissatisfaction on his face.

'Still, for Fiona to go too…' he thought, looking over at the cold, silent officer that has long since moved from her role of a barrack bunny and assumed the position of the cold-hearted drill instructor for the officers.

In a sense, there was no one who would ever claim she reached her current rank by anything other than merit her own actions… Yet, if not for some of the recent policies introduced in the empire, Yvern would have long since gotten rid of this whore of a woman and devil of a human.

'Or maybe he's trying to get rid of her now?' Hugo thought, well aware of just how much noble blood turned sour over the authority this woman exerted at will. 'But if that's the case…'

"Yes, General!" both Hugo and Fiona screamed out in unison the very moment the other officers finished their shouts prior to them.

'If she's to die now, that means I won't be going back either, huh?'