Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!-Chapter 238: Not pressing at all?

If there was one thing in this world that I had to be extremely careful around, it was supremes. And even if it just so happened that my mother-in-law was one of the only two of them around, I still dared not to keep her waiting when called for.

"They could've left us alone for a little bit longer," Fay grumpily muttered, pinning her dissatisfied eyes on the ground while heavily hanging off my arm.

"It's hard to ask for privacy with thousands of men running around killing people."

We didn't really have the time for any longer exchange. From the moment we got out of the tent, walked up a few paces, and then rushed after Loraz back towards the camp, we arrived at our destination in less than half a minute.

'That alone should be the proof of my inhuman abilities,' I thought, calculating the distance over time only to come up with a speed a fair bit greater than the long-lasting record of a hundred-meter dash.

"Peter, Fay," Madam raised her head, looking up from a small circle gathered around a small fire. "Took you a while."

"I apologize for the delay," I said while slightly squinting my eyes and lowering my head in a restrained bow. "But since the matter is urgent, how about we skip the small talk and move to the main topic instead?"

The corners of my mouth twitched. It was one hell of a task keeping them still and stopping a cheeky smile from forming on my face.

Madam followed my example and squinted her own eyes, giving me a slightly antsy, dissatisfied look.

'Is that how will Fay look at me once we are older and I return home late from an outing with friends?'

This intrusive thought only made it harder to resist the urge to smile, although for a much different reason this time.

"I know that you are young, but to think you would have the guts to screw my daughter for hours while we have some really pressing problem at hand," Madam hissed through her lips as she tightened in a forced smile.

"Excuse me?" I leaned my head to the side, acting surprised, baffled, and… just tiny little bit amused. "What are those pressing problems that you speak of, if I may ask?"

Playing dumb, I locked my hands on my hips while giving Madam an innocent look.

"Isn't an army of humans overrunning my forest a cause of a pressing concern?" Madam raised her eyebrow. And if I were to use the same criteria for reading her face as I did with Fay…

Then, her mild annoyance just evolved into outright irritation.

And thinking about how it was about to evolve even further…

I finally allowed the cheeky smile from before to surface on my lips, leaning my head over my other shoulder.

"Is it?"

The expression froze on Madam's face. Even Fay was starting to get closer and closer to the line between slightly uncomfortable and straight-out concerned.

"Is it not?"

Madam overcame her surprise and countered with a short strike on her own.

"I don't see how it is."

None of the men and women gathered at Madam's fire dared to utter a word. Fay reached out and tugged on my sleeve, trying to physically hold me back from provoking her mother any further. Explore more at m,v l'e-novelbuddy.net

And slightly to the side of Madam's spot, Makary observed the situation with silent yet undying attention.

"Haaa…" Sensing that the moment beyond which my act would turn from tease to direct disrespect, I sighed and clasped my hands against my thighs.

"Right now, you have an entire army running around the forest, trying to do…" I once again leaned my head to the other side, "what exactly?"

Behind Madam's back, Makary lowered his eyelids as he focused his stare on me.

"They are doing what humans always did and will continue to do."

It was only by some miracle that Madam didn't snap by now.

Madam was the spitting image of… No, Fay was the spitting image of Madam. And in bed, with this degree of teasing, she would've long snapped and jumped me, putting an end to the cheeky behavior.

I didn't share the same bond with Madam that I did with her daughter, though. And I couldn't tell for sure just how much their physical similarity reflected their personal likeness.

Still, with that said, I've clearly toed the line even Fay knew I shouldn't.

But unless I left all the locals flabbergasted, Madam included, I had little to no hopes of convincing them with my extremely pragmatic rationale.

"You are right," I agreed with Madam's spiteful words while giving her a respectful nod. "Humans will do as humans do. And that's why, this battle couldn't be any easier for us."

Summing up my statement with a shrug of my shoulder, I glanced over at Makary, just to let him know I'd noticed his attention.

"What do you mean by that?" Between my irritating attitude and how I didn't seem to care about the obvious threat lurking all around… Madam still refused to let her emotions get the better of her. And even when a vein on her right temple pulsed aggressively, she held both her tone and her words out.

But the situation was tense enough to fit my purposes.

A single look at the nearby group proved that everyone pretty much forgot about the human army running around in the forest, now only desiring to know how this encounter would play out.

'It's a perfect moment to scam them a little bit,' I thought, gritting my teeth as I imagined the repercussions my plan was bound to bring in the near future.

"Humans will do as they always did," I repeated my earlier statement with another shrug of my shoulder. "Sent to the ancient forest where terrifying monsters lurk… First, they will gather together, hoping to overcome those terrors with their numbers, like they always do."

I smiled at my own thoughts.

"And secondly, tell me," I took a step forward before beaming a bright smile at Fay's mom. "How much food do you think they can drag around the forest, while dressed up in armor and with weapons weighing them down?"