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

Chapter 264: Night counsel

"Tsk..."

Hidden within her private tent, Etaria bit down on the nail of her thumb.

"Don't tell me you are still thinking about that kid," Zanba asked before dropping the empty bucket to the ground and wiping the sweat off his forehead.

Filling up the bath for the princess was no easy task. Yet, as close to the only luxury she ever demanded during the campaigns, he was more than happy to keep heating the water behind the tent before hauling it inside. A task that took him an hour and that could be completed by a mere hand-servant...

And yet, here he was, an officer of a ranking higher than any commoner should ever be allowed to gain, toiling for close to an hour every day just so the princess could relax in her beloved bath.

"I just can't get this out of my head," Etaria complained, leaning forth on the simple stool she sat on and pressing her hands against her temples. "It's common knowledge that leaving corpses behind might cause plague... But why was he so insanely concerned about it?"

The princess shook her head before releasing a groan only a few other officers of her golden legion ever heard with their own ears.

"The bath is ready," Zanba announced, cleverly timing the news for when Etaria started showing signs of getting stuck on the problem.

"Right, the bath..."

Shaking her head, Etaria stood up from her stool and stretched out her arms to the side.

"Come help me," the princess requested, keeping her arms stretched out while turning her back to the man.

"It's been a while since I last saw you so demanding," Zanba jeered a little, positioning himself behind the princess's back before undoing several zips, knots, and buttons that held her outwardly simple yet elegant outfit together.

A moment of the princess' uniform rustling as it slid down her beautiful body later, and Etaria stood bare before him.

Neither of the two blushed.

Zanba was merely an officer of common roots. The fact that he was offered a noble title in exchange for all of his merits thus far didn't change the fact, especially when he ended up refusing the nobilitation.

For all sakes and purposes, their current relationship never had any right to exist.

"Is that a bad thing?" Etaria asked back, only to roll over in the barrel and rest her back against the edge she was pressing her boobs against just a moment earlier. "It's not like we are here to do him any good. In fact, his audacity to stand against the empire..."

Etaria shook her head.

"What, am I not enough now?" Zanba appeared right before the supreme, easily moving faster than she could perceive.

This was the one and only reason why he could allow himself the attitude that would otherwise put him on the shortest trail for the high treason in the history of the empire. For a while, he wasn't a supreme like the princess...

Not one person knowing of his true accomplishment would dare to consider him to be any less than a supreme. In some circles, in fact, his status was that of the emperor's equal...

If not the old man's superior.

"I'm interested in him, but not like that," Etaria laughed out, only to reach out with her hand slightly behind her head, pressing her fingers against the cheek of her childhood friend.

A commoner who refused the imperial nobility he could receive directly from the emperor's hand. A mere officer in the golden legion of an upbringing as humble as one could imagine.

And a successor to one of the few surviving schools of ancient art of the sword.

One of the remaining seven swordmasters who, with their bodies alone, reached a realm beyond what the world deemed possible.

A realm that remained a mystery even to supremes.

"So there's no need for you to be jealous, 'key?"

Etaria grinned lightly when she felt Zanba lower his head down under as little as the slight caress of her fingers.

"I'm not jealous. I'm worried," Zanba said, his face once again taking on a darker hue. He then shook his head and bit down on his lips. "He is just too different. Too unpredictable to rest easy with him around," the officer pressed his lips together before lowering his eyes down and gracing his brain with the sights he formerly tried to avoid.

"He is too confident for..."

"My princess!" A voice from outside the tent stopped Zanba from finishing his opinion. "The imperial majesty is calling!"