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

For some reason, Loraz, as Fay's father was apparently called, didn't deny my request outright.

Maybe it was some sort of aura, a leadership vibe that surrounded me when I posed my request? Maybe it was my manly face?

Or maybe Madam compelled him to shut up and listen to me? But if that really was the case, for Madam to so freely compel the alleged leader of the forest defenders to follow her directions…

In the end, I decided against thinking about this too much, opting to just focus on the situation at hand as it was, rather than wasting my time and brainpower on situations that could be.

"Welcome, everyone," I spoke out loud in front of a nearly arranged row of ten humanized protectors.

Some kept the features that allowed them to recognize their proper form at a glance like the mister celestial salamander keeping the texture of his skin and the shape of his eyes in their lizard forms. On the other hand, it was impossible to ignore or even miss the three divines present in the group of ten that Loraz gathered, given how each of them nearly shined with all sorts of different colors.

"Before we begin, a question," I spoke out before turning my face towards the three of Loraz's kin. "Can you do something about that shine of yours? We won't have any chance at approaching the camp silently if you announce our arrival an hour in advance."

The three divines looked at each other before turning their eyes to Loraz.

'A complete lack of operative initiative,' I took a note in my mind, suddenly feeling like acting like a sergeant like in the movies I watched.

I abandoned the idea as quickly as it appeared, though. The moment I started to follow movie tropes and implement them into actual strategy, I would be unfit to come up with any kind of plan!

In the meantime, Loraz lightly nodded his head, causing the middle, silver-shined divine to raise his head.

"We can. Either with effort," he lowered his eyelids and after a short moment, his shine greatly decreased, turning him into just a brighter shadow among many. An equally short moment later, though, his silver vibrance returned.

"Alternatively, we can use special clothes or simply cover our skin with something," the divine explained before shrugging off his shoulders as if annoyed that he had to explain such basics.

'Well, it's not my fault today is my first… no, second time meeting a divine being,' I thought, almost forgetting how Leinei was supposed to be a divine herself.

'But she doesn't have the shine, though?' I thought, baffled by the realization. And even further shocked when the two possible meanings appeared in my head. 'Either she can control it much easier than the others… or her shine is outside of the range of a visible light…'

I shook my head.

'Or maybe it's within, but for some reason, I can't see it?' My lips pressed together, turning into a thin line that perfectly showcased my momentary frustration.

"Well, it's great that covering it up is enough, for we will all be taking a deep, relaxing bath in mud quite soon," I muttered off-handedly before shaking my head and getting my thoughts back to where the sudden problem of divine's shine derailed my presentation.

"Before anything else, I need you all to understand three things," I spoke out once I regained my momentum. "First, we are not going to bathe ourselves in glory by slaying countless opponents while fighting an overwhelming force of their numbers," I crossed my arms on my chest and shook my head. "Secondly, we will need to stay on the move.

And lastly," I made a short pause, both to let my listeners absorb what I've said and to let them prepare for the most important part.

"And as we are going to be constantly on the move, I forbid you all from killing anyone unless absolutely necessary."

Expecting some sort of rowdy reaction, I took a step back to put some distance between myself and the potential threat…

But none of the celestials or the divines bothered to move a muscle. And while the divines took a glance over at Loraz, the celestials ignored their current leader who arrived when I wasn't looking, and turned their eyes to Madam.

"You've been killing scores of them yourself just now. What's with this sudden bout of mercy?" Loraz asked, ignoring the stares of his men.. Or maybe making use of them?

Either way, it was fun to see his face light up when he managed to deal with what he likely considered to be a major blow to my rhetoric.

"Could it be, when it comes to facing those who you wish to kill, you are not nearly as courageous as when picking them off from the distance?"

Loraz's face brightened… at the exact same, hurried rate as Fay's face darkened. But with the attention of his triumphant eyes fully focused on me and my reaction, the poor man couldn't be any wiser over how he only antagonized his daughter by trying to go against me.

"I wouldn't be leading this deployment if I was scared of other humans," I shrugged my shoulders, trying to just ignore Loraz's attempts at poking holes in my plan. "It's actually an extension of the second rule. If we waste time-fighting with everyone who will stand in our way, we will never retain the mobility that's an absolute key for this plan.

And to be frank, killing people would be actually counterproductive," I spoke before heaving a deep sigh.

"Just like I said before, we are not going to kill people. We are going to burn as much of their supplies as we can and bring as much chaos to their camp as possible, without losing a single man… protector," I corrected my way of referring to the celestials and the divines at the very last moment.

Who knew whether they wouldn't consider calling them men for an insult!

"If someone stands or charges your way, feel free to deal with them. But if someone's running around, running away, simply standing by the side, then you cannot waste time trying to chase or even cut them down," I repeated the last point of the three I made, now in greater detail. "A swing of your arm to cut them down means one less step that you will make!

And unless we stay sufficiently fast, they won't take long to gather enough people to force us into a losing battle."

The very idea of the sortie was simple. Strike at the attackers where they were the weakest. And since I couldn't really see any outright weak points of the camp from the vantage point on the top of my hill, I could only hope Fay's shooting would be enough of a diversion to stop them from reacting to our raid in time to affect its progress.

"And what good will that do?" Loraz asked. And despite the clear hostility that brimmed in his eyes… he appeared to be actually curious.

As if he was happy to learn more about conducting warfare, even if it meant learning from someone he abhorred with all his soul.

"Have you ever thought how much food that number of humans needs every single day? How much water? How many tools to keep their equipment working?" I pointed out at the camp while slightly raising my voice.

I also gave up on the idea of addressing Loraz's men, opting to skip the proxy and direct my words straight at the man.

"Do you know how much fodder the horses they used to bring all those carriages need? How many different tools there are necessary to keep all those carriages operating?"

I shook my head.

If there was anything that I've learned from studying history, it was the value, importance, and critically, the weight of the war logistics. And just from my memory alone, I could name at least three different countries with modern infrastructure… constructed on the footprint of the roads and paths the country's ancestors built to allow a swift movement of cargo and supplies.

"I will repeat this again. We are not going to their camp to kill some men, bathe ourselves in the glory of the fight, and then die when crushed by the overwhelming weight of their numbers," I spoke, softening my voice and turning my face to the camp before allowing a small smile to emerge on my lips.

"We are going there to kick them in the balls as they sleep, burn their food, set fire to their tents, and leave before they even figure out what's happening."