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

Chapter 434 Foggy awakening

'Where the hell am I?'

Isera's thoughts lazily coursed through her mind, obstructed by the strange exhaustion, and tiredness that was clearly born out of the sleep she was slowly waking up from.

Sleep-induced exhaustion was not something the girl ever expected to experience, yet there it was, a half-tangible barrier that stopped her mind from working at its usual speed.

"She's waking up."

'What?'

Just by hearing someone's voice, Isera's entire switched to a battle mode.

But this oppressive mist of exhaustion was still there, not only blocking her thoughts but now, also her body.

'Where the hell am I? What the hell is going on?!'

Unable to move and struggling to think, Isera opted not to let whoever captured her know that she was alive and kicking.

Even if they pointed out between each other she was waking up, as long as she…

"Oh shit, hang on!"

'Huh?'

This sentence made no sense.

Was the danger of stepping into a piece of turd enough to cause such a ruckus? But why else would the unknown voice sound so concerned about…

Isera's world suddenly faded, when her body powerlessly hung in the air, pulled by some great force to the side.

It was at this moment that Isera managed to feel the exact shape and location of all of her restraints now that they dug into her skin, refusing to let her body go in the moment of great change of inertia.

'Again, what the hell…'

Whatever vessel she was on, moved at speeds much greater than anything the ear of the patriarchate was used to. Speeds that she could never hope to reach, even if she were to push her supreme body to its absolute limits!

'Wait, this direction…'

It was just a single thought, a single idea that managed to get past the fog of the woman's brain, that forced her to open her eyes…

Only to see an unfamiliar ceiling outfitted with a dozen or so candles emitting strangely perfect, still light.

With her eyes now open, Isera cast a hurried look around, turning her head as far as she could within her bounds…

First, she saw a white-faced man, clutching with his hands at some kind of restraint that kept him pressed down to a huge, luxurious chair. His hands were squeezing at the black belts so hard, Isera could see the whites of his bones showing underneath the skin of his knuckles.

'What is he so damn scared of?'

As an ear of the patriarch, the ability to read one's emotions was one of the most basic skills Isera had to learn and develop. A skill that went to a complete waste given how little effort this white-faced man put into hiding the absolute terror that reigned over his mind.

'Wait, isn't he a supreme?'

Despite the interference of the starlight aura that permeated every last bit of this damned trap, she could easily notice the marks only a supreme would leave in their wake.

'What am I even talking about, no one below the supreme rank would be able to survive in this deadly plain. But as a supreme…'

Isera gulped down, only for her body to suddenly find itself suspended in the air, before the black restraints holding it dug into the woman's flesh at a different angle, indicating the change in the direction they were all going.

With her eyes on the white-faced man, Isera quickly confirmed her instinctive understanding of her motion when she saw that man's body swivel to the side, only to be kept in place by what looked like the very same type of restraint that the girl could feel on her own flesh.

'But why doesn't it look like restraints? Isn't it more like… those ropes some merchants would secure their wares to prevent storms from stealing the cargo away from the open carriages?'

The strange vessel Isera found herself in continued to change its direction over and over again for quite a bit longer.

And then, the same voice that warned everyone to hold on finally came with another message.

"I think we left the worst of it behind us, now." Stay updated through empire

This voice… didn't come from the white-faced man. And with a new clue to follow, Isera turned her eyes… And she finally saw the front part of the impossibly weird vehicle she found herself in.

'Oh, right, there was this strange, flying donut…'

It was a weird experience, to only see that magical vehicle from the outside and now suddenly wake up in its bellows.

But it wasn't in the job description of the patriarchate's ears to judge things they saw and heard or to decide whether or not they could believe whatever information they gathered.

And so, forcing herself to accept whatever she could see without making any judgment over it, Isera looked over…

Only to see the two figures at the front of this strange, air ship visibly relax.

"Yeah, we should be out of its clutches by now. But just for the safety sake, I will keep watch for now, until I can confirm we are really out."

'What could he be talking about?' Isera pondered… Before realizing that the changes in the ship's direction, the rapid rate of acceleration, the words she heard thus far…

They all pointed out towards the impossible!

But what could be impossible in the eyes of those who somehow learned how to ignore the natural tendency of things in the air to… well, fall down to the ground?

'If they can ignore this law, maybe they could ignore the restraint of the trap too?'

For a second, a single spark of hope returned to Isera's soul. And then, like a hazardous fire in a dried-out forest, it exploded with the intensity she hadn't experienced in years.

"Fay, dearest, could you go and check up on our guest?" The voice of what had to be the leader of this ship reached Isera's ears again.

"Wouldn't Claudy do just fine?" a feminine voice replied to the suggestion.

'A leader's woman, I bet,' Isera made a mental note, not missing the way in which the leader referred to the woman.

"I think it would be a good way for him to take his mind off… well, you know…" the feminine voice grew slightly awkward as if she wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry, or feel pity for the white-faced man.

'So his name is Claudy…' Isera thought, only now realizing that for a while already, she was casting curious glances all over the place. Yet, the very moment she turned her eyes back towards the man she noticed at the very beginning…

"I don't want to scare our guest with his dignified mug," the leader of the ship sighed. "I think it would be better if what she is to see first was cute rather than… oppressively handsome."

'Why do I sense spite in the last of that man's words?' Isera thought, easily resisting the desire to turn her head over to cast another look to the front of the ship. 'Wait, no, that's not it…'

There was something weird in the way in which this conversation flowed.

It had all the traits of a normal conversation that could easily happen within the bounds of the situation Isera found herself in…

And yet, there was something unnatural in it, a weird, odd element that the woman couldn't really put her finger on yet couldn't ignore either.

"Fine by me," the woman replied to the leader before a slight, clicking sound reached Isera's ears right before the sounds of steps followed.

"Oh right, Fay, before you start," the leader called out again with a voice so perfectly natural, it had to be acted out. "Since she still tries her best to pretend she's asleep and can't understand us…"

Isera gulped her saliva down, realizing that her attempts at staying unnoticed all fell through.

"Try not to kill her if she attacks. For better or worse," the leader sighed in a tired manner, "she's the only source of the information we have about the other side."

This time, it wasn't the leader but the woman who sighed, a fact Isera reasoned out from the much softer nature of the sound.

"Don't underestimate women, dear," the woman replied to the leader after releasing her equally as exhausted sigh.

"If she was smart enough to try pretending to be still asleep, she won't be stupid enough to attack those who saved her from that damned trap," she stated, only for the sound of her steps to stop right as a beauty of ungodly grace suddenly appeared within Isera's vision with a light, relaxed smile on her gloriously and perfectly red, full lips that adorned her otherwise youthful, innocent and unblemished face.

"Am I right, sister?"

The smile of this goddess was simply entrancing as if inviting Isera to simply lose herself in its natural beauty and somewhat motherly warmth.

'It's a smile of someone truly kind,' she thought, before gulping down her saliva, 'or a wretched psychopath.'

And so, after gulping her salvia again, Isera took a short breath and opened up her mouth... Only to find herself unable to actually speak out.

There was a great tightness on her chest as if the weight of the entire world was pressing her solar plexus down, pushing her lungs so hard she could no longer squeeze a single bit of air out of them.

"Oh, that's my bad," the beautiful goddess's smile wavered before taking on a slightly awkward undertone. "Those safety belts are not really comfortable, especially when tensed up like that," she spoke and reached out towards Isera's chest...

Only to stop her hand just before reaching something and glancing over at Isera's face with those perfectly blue, vivid eyes of hers.

"Can I trust that you will not snap at me the moment I set you free?"