Chapter 7

Yoshioka, who was right in front of me, suddenly peered into my face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Senpai, you look… kind of exhausted, don’t you?”

Well, of course I do.

To Yoshioka, this was just an ordinary lunch break, but I had just stepped out of this world’s timeline to fight Goblins in another world. Of course I was tired.

Let me organize how the flow of time works for a moment.

No matter how many days I spend in the other world after being summoned, I always return to the exact moment I was taken. However, time in the other world seems to flow continuously regardless of when I return to Earth. In short, the flow of time I experience personally is synchronized with the timeline of the other world.

The only exception is the “room in the gap”—that place is independent of both timelines. No matter how long I stay there, time doesn’t advance in either world. Well, I guess that’s just the great power of the God of Space-Time at work!

The next summons was set for three days from now, in the morning. To be precise, it was 62 hours, 27 minutes, and 32 seconds away. Since it was currently 12:42 PM, I was scheduled to be summoned at 3:09 AM on the third night, Earth time.

The reason I knew this so accurately was because I had given Clara-sama my watch after setting it to timer mode.

Since I had entered a master-servant contract with Clara Ansbach, we had agreed to call each other “Clara-sama” and “Kota.” Once summoned, I had one week to learn the duties of an attendant. After that week, the journey to the Royal Capital would begin. I needed to make sure my preparations were solid by then.

After finishing work and returning home, I headed to the apartment’s underground parking garage. My off-road bike was parked here. Even though I call it an off-road bike, it’s just a small 125cc model. It lacks power and doesn’t go very fast, but its ability to handle rough terrain isn’t bad. I figured it would prove its worth even on the rural roads of the other world.

The fuel efficiency was decent, too—it got about 44 kilometers per liter. With a 7-liter tank, it could travel over 300 kilometers on a full tank. Naturally, I intended to take this with me to the other world. If I didn’t, I’d end up walking the roughly 1,400-kilometer trek to the Royal Capital on foot!

I only learned that fact after I had already signed the contract to become Clara-sama’s attendant. If I wanted to buy a horse, it would apparently cost around 100,000 Marques (100,000 yen), but I wasn’t about to shell out that kind of money. My year-end bonus was about the same as usual, but a horse isn’t exactly a casual purchase.

Since the time of the summons was fixed, I was hoping that if I was holding onto this thing at that exact moment, it would be summoned along with me. By the way, the vehicle weighed 112 kilograms.

…I’ll lift it through sheer willpower!

…Wait, is that impossible? If only the capacity of my Spatial Storage were a bit larger…

I started the engine for the first time in a month, but the bike didn’t seem to have any notable issues.

For the first time in a while, I had dinner with Emi. Since I had gotten home first, I made the meal. I thought the miso soup with Japanese mustard spinach and fried tofu turned out quite well.

However, the conversation didn’t really take off. As expected, there was no intimacy between us tonight, either. Emi genuinely looked tired, and it wasn’t something I could force, anyway.

It was lonely, but I was going to be busy tonight regardless. Yes, today was the day I would be summoned to that other world.

I had already crammed my belongings into my Spatial Storage until it was bursting. All that was left was to lift the bike.

At 3:00 AM in the garage, I prepared to hoist the motorcycle. No matter how you looked at it, I looked exactly like a vehicle thief.

I’d better pray that no one comes by.

I felt like I wouldn’t be able to lift it as is, so I tried tying the bike up with a climbing rope and strapping it to my body. It should at least offer a bit of support.

The time was 3:03 AM.

I gave the bike a test lift, and it worked. I kept it off the ground for ten seconds before setting it back down.

“Huff… puff… huff…”

My breathing was ragged. I really wanted to get some kind of physical reinforcement or super-strength skill as soon as possible.

The alarm on my smartphone rang out through the midnight parking garage. Feeling a bit flustered, I switched off the timer.

The signal for the summons was only five minutes away.

I wasn’t doing anything wrong, but I was still on edge. I really didn’t want any neighbors to see me strapped to a motorcycle with climbing rope. Actually, I didn’t want anyone to see me like this!

If the police caught me, I’d definitely be subjected to a professional questioning, and I had no idea how I’d even begin to explain myself. Honestly, people would probably be more likely to believe I had a fetish for tying up bikes than the truth—that I was taking it to another world.

Three minutes left.

I really should have gone to the bathroom…

But the bike and I were tightly bound together by the rope. If I tried to untie the knots and run to the toilet now, there was a high chance I’d be summoned mid-stream. If that happened, the room in the gap would be a total disaster. The handsome god might actually get mad at me.

It wasn’t like I was bursting, so I decided to just wait it out.

Two minutes left.

What on earth am I doing at this hour, in the freezing cold?

…For a second, I looked at myself objectively. Stooped over, hugging a motorcycle, wrapped in rope. I looked like a complete idiot.

One minute left.

Time to lift the bike. There might be a slight margin of error, so just to be safe, I decided to start lifting ten seconds early.

I put all my strength into my legs and back and hoisted the bike up. Bracing my wobbling legs, I focused on maintaining the lift.

Clara-san… hurry up!

The scheduled time of 3:09 AM passed, but I still hadn’t been summoned.

Thirteen seconds elapsed.

I swayed back and forth, struggling for balance.

Fifteen seconds.

I wanted to put the bike down so badly. But… I absolutely refused to walk 1,400 kilometers!

Twenty seconds.

Clara-sama, hurry… please… just…

Just as I thought the tires were going to touch the ground, I was transported to the room in the gap.

“Phew!”

I let out a huge breath and set the bike down. I thought I was going to die. But I had successfully brought the motorcycle this far. Thank god. If I had gone through all that struggle only for it to fail, the mental damage would have been too much to bear.

Now then, it was time for the usual skill acquisition. So far, I had “Sowing (Intermediate)” and “Paralysis (Beginner).” I wondered what would pop up next. I was hoping for something that would boost my survival rate, even if only by a little.

Alright, time to draw a card.

I just installed a new weather app, too…

Well, smartphones are useless in another world anyway. As an option, it wasn’t a bad ability, but I’d been hoping for something a bit cooler. That said, I’d probably use Weather Prediction quite often. Everyone cares about the weather, after all. I’ll just tell myself it isn’t a “trash skill.”

Man, I’d love to try something like time manipulation!! Or maybe some production or healing magic.

But there was no need to rush. My contract with Clara stated that she would summon me once every six days. Apparently, she could technically do it more often, but since she needs mana for combat and other things, she wanted to keep her MP reserves high. Still, gaining one skill every six days wasn’t bad. I’d probably hit a rare skill eventually.

Until a moment ago, it had been 3:00 AM. I was wide awake from the excitement, but if I went to the other world like this, I’d be suffering from sleep deprivation. I decided to take a nap as planned.

I pulled an insulation mat and a sleeping bag out of my Spatial Storage and spread them on the floor. With the mat down, the stone floor wouldn’t sap my body heat. I had brought this mat and sleeping bag specifically to set them up here in the room in the gap. I also planned to leave some magazines, manga, and snacks behind.

I’d likely be doing this kind of time adjustment in this room many times from now on. I had only brought the mat and sleeping bag today because of the weight limit, but I wanted to bring a proper futon when I had more room. I was basically planning to turn this place into my private room—I hoped that was okay. If not, I’m sure the handsome god will give me a warning.

As I crawled into the sleeping bag, the previous tension melted away like it had all been a lie, and I grew drowsy. I think I can get some sleep.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll be a knight’s attendant. I wonder what kind of life is waiting for me.