Chapter 48

Inside the patrol ship’s storage hold, Yoshioka and I stood facing each other, sweat budding on our foreheads from the tension. I had checked the clock only a few moments ago, but I couldn’t help glancing at it again. Why does time crawl so slowly when you’re waiting for a result?

We were currently in the middle of a very important experiment.

It all started when I discovered a single ladybug clinging to the blanket Yoshioka was using. Since it was winter and the Kingdom of Saxens was quite cold, this was the first insect I had seen here. It was black with two red spots. I’m no entomologist, but it looked just like the ladybugs I’d seen back in Japan.

I thought it might be dead, but when I placed it in my palm, it moved—weakly, but it moved. In that instant, it flashed through my mind: this was the perfect chance to test something that had been bothering me for a long time.

“Yoshioka, today I intend to use this insect to conduct an experiment.”

“Yes, Doctor, and what kind of experiment might that be?”

Since the journey on the patrol ship was becoming tedious, Yoshioka was more than happy to play along with the bit.

“I am going to put this ladybug into Spatial Storage and observe what happens.”

“Ooh… an insect trial instead of an animal trial, I see.”

The goal was to see what happens when a living creature is placed inside the Spatial Storage. I felt bad for the little ladybug, but sacrifice is part of the development of any skill… I won’t ask for forgiveness. Still, an insect is one thing—anything larger and I’m not sure I’d have the nerve to go through with it. Mentally, I think insects are the limit for this kind of thing. Mammals are a hard ‘no,’ and fish are probably right on the border.

I gently wrapped the ladybug—whom we dubbed Koike-kun—in a tissue, placed him in Spatial Storage, and waited fifteen minutes.

“Is it about time?”

“17 seconds left. …10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Time.”

With a bit of trepidation, I opened the Spatial Storage and checked inside the tissue…

“He’s alive! Koike-kun is alive!”

“Oh! You did great, Koike-kun!”

We shouted the name we’d randomly given him, rejoicing in his safety. Yoshioka immediately cast healing magic on the sluggish Koike-kun.

“A reward for you, Koike-kun. Use this to power up.”

“Next, we shall have Koike-kun attempt a one-hour stay in the Spatial Storage.”

This time, we would test a longer duration. However, the moment he received the healing magic, Koike-kun took flight from Yoshioka’s hand and vanished somewhere into the hold.

“…”

“The subject has escaped, Doctor.”

I can see that. Normally, I would have given up right then. But it’s human nature to want to see a project through to the end once you’ve started.

“We must acquire a new test subject.”

The two of us prowled around the ship. No matter where we looked, we couldn’t find another bug.

“Doctor, look…”

Yoshioka pointed toward a cat. It was a ginger cat named Shrek, kept on board to catch rats.

“Absolutely not.”

“Right, figured as much.”

Just because Koike-kun survived fifteen minutes didn’t mean I had the guts to throw a mammal in there immediately.

“Well then, how about that?”

This time he pointed to a large bird perched on the mast… some kind of heron?

“Isn’t that a bit too big?”

He’d probably put up a fight while being caught. It was a fierce-looking bird with a nasty glint in its eye. I could probably manage it with a combination of “Attraction” and “Paralysis,” but if possible, I wanted to test this on a creature in its natural state, not an unconscious one. Plus, it looked like it stank, so I wasn’t interested.

“Then, for a safer option, how about that?”

Fish… A fish the sailors called a Pike was shimmering silver in the thin winter light. Well, that’ll work. Perhaps because I’m a Japanese person used to eating sashimi, I felt less of a moral hurdle with fish than with other animals.

“Alright, let’s ask for his cooperation.”

“Right. I’ll go borrow a bucket.”

Using the “Attraction” skill, I plucked him right out of the river. To avoid injuring the thrashing fish, I cupped him in both hands and transferred him into a bucket filled with water.

“…Yoshioka-kun. At this size, I don’t think he’ll fit in the Spatial Storage.”

The bucket was easily over 32 centimeters tall. He’d get stuck.

“…Doctor, we must carry out the experiment by placing him in a wooden box and storing him without water.”

Wh-what a cold-blooded suggestion!

“B-but! That puts Matsui-kun’s life in grave danger!”

“I’ve heard that the flow of time within the Spatial Storage is incredibly sluggish. If that’s the case, Matsui-kun should be fine even without water. In fact, isn’t this experiment specifically to confirm that fact? Doctor, we’ve already taken the first step. There’s no turning back now.”

The logic was sound. But could such an inhumane experiment truly be permitted? If the hypothesis was wrong, Matsui-kun would die and be turned into a meunière for dinner.

“Will it make the storage smell like fish?”

“I have charcoal in there to absorb odors, so it should be fine.”

Right, charcoal is great for that. And if time doesn’t pass, the smell shouldn’t cling anyway. Alright, I’m bracing myself!

I placed Matsui-kun in a wooden box, closed the lid, and tucked him into the Spatial Storage without a drop of water. The timer was set for thirty minutes.

“Time’s up. Let’s open it.”

With bated breath, I removed the lid to find Matsui-kun flopping around energetically. Thank goodness, he was alive. We rejoiced at the safe return of our aquatic hero.

However…

“Oh, a Pike! Nice size. Leave this one to me!”

A ship’s cook happened to be passing by, grabbed Matsui-kun by the tail, and hauled him away.

“…”

Matsui-kun would likely become a meunière to grace the dinner table after all. He managed to survive the Spatial Storage, but it seemed he couldn’t change his destiny.

“Everything is going smoothly so far. Next…”

Yoshioka, you mean to tell me you’re still going?! Your thirst for knowledge truly knows no bounds. What a deeply obsessed man.

“What are you two doing? Let me join in!”

A cheerful voice rang out, and Fiene appeared. Yoshioka turned an intense gaze toward her.

Yoshioka? Stop.

“Akito, what is it? Don’t stare like that, it’s embarrassing.”

No, no, no, no—we are absolutely NOT doing human experimentation!! Besides, no matter how petite Fiene is, there’s no way she’s fitting into a 32.5 x 37 x 63 cm space.

“Fiene… you were keeping a rabbit, weren’t you?”

Ah, so that’s where he was going!

“I wouldn’t say ‘keeping’ it. I just caught one in a trap before we boarded.”

Fiene was a hunter by trade, so the habit of setting traps whenever she found a good spot was hard to break. Apparently, on the day we boarded the patrol ship, she checked her snares and found a rabbit.

“I was hoping to sell it in the next town, so I haven’t eaten it yet.”

A live wild rabbit could be sold for breeding purposes.

“We’d like to buy it from you.”

So, a rabbit this time… Rabbits are classic lab animals. I’ve heard they were used in the old Japanese military’s poison gas experiments; they truly are a pitiful species.

We gently placed the rabbit, tucked inside a large burlap sack, into the Spatial Storage. Having repeated the experiment with a ladybug and a fish, I figured it would be fine.

“I’m counting on you, Kawamura-kun.”

Inside the sack, Kawamura-kun remained surprisingly quiet. An hour later, when we opened the Spatial Storage again, Kawamura-kun appeared completely unchanged.

“It seems there’s no problem putting living creatures in the Spatial Storage.”

“Yes. While we can’t do human trials, it seems generally safe.”

“Should I try going in?” Fiene offered.

Fiene, you have way too much guts. Even so, I think it’s just too cramped for you. Unless you’re some kind of contortionist, it’s impossible. You can’t replace Ito-kun.

At today’s mooring point, we were sent back to Japan. It had been a while, but we didn’t have any specific errands this time. Since there were no new luxury goods to source, we planned to just pick up some gasoline and food and be summoned back in two hours. You could call it a trip purely to maintain our skills.

In the small room in the gap, we changed our clothes as usual.

“I wonder if a human really would be okay inside the Spatial Storage?”

“Yes. They would be fine.”

The one who answered Yoshioka’s question was the handsome man we hadn’t seen in a long time. His sudden appearance left us speechless with shock for a moment.

“I-I-It’s been a while.”

“Indeed. You both seem to be doing well.”

The handsome man spoke with downcast eyes, still draped in that same divine aura.

“I have come today to emphasize one point. Placing a living creature in the Spatial Storage will cause it no harm whatsoever. However… crossing between worlds while a human is inside the Spatial Storage is strictly forbidden.”

We nodded vigorously.

“If you break this command… there will be a penalty. Please keep your word.”

With that, the handsome man turned into a ribbon of light and vanished. As always, he possessed a quiet, overwhelming presence.

“That was exhausting…”

“Yeah… Let’s go get some unagi before the shops close.”

Dragging our bodies, heavy with the release of tension, we stepped through the red door.