arc2 · 071-ch71

Chapter 71: Delivery Was Harder Than I Thought

My level grinding—disguised as "helping Himehana"—had ended, and after getting home, I summoned Hayate to run some tests I couldn't do inside the dungeon.

"First up, let's check if time passes inside Storage."

In light novels, time stops inside storage spaces. But does mine work the same way?

I poured boiling water into a teacup and had Hayate store it. Then, since my physical abilities had improved again from leveling up, I did some light exercise to get used to my body.

I jumped around, tried lifting heavy stuff—my physical abilities had clearly gone up from before. I might actually be stronger than your average fighter now.

No wonder explorers are so desperate to level up. If even I—with a non-combat job like Drone Pilot—can get this strong, then people with actual combat jobs must be even more so. Makes sense how Nishikyo-san and Kitora-san can take down those intimidating monsters so easily.

My MP, though, feels abnormally high. I don't know what's considered normal, but having 900 at Level 10 is a lot. Maybe I'll get skills down the line that consume a ton of MP. I'm looking forward to it!

While I was thinking about all that, about ten minutes seemed to have passed. I took out the cup I'd stored earlier.

"Ow, hot!"

Some hot water splashed on my hand when I was putting the thermometer in. It stung a bit, but when I saw the displayed temperature, a grin spread across my face. It was exactly the same as when I'd put it in.

Next, I was going to try storing Asahi inside Hayate's Storage, but right as I was about to do it, something occurred to me.

(What happens if my connection to Asahi gets cut the moment it goes into Storage?)

My skill lets me remotely operate drones even from outside a dungeon. But can I really maintain a connection inside Storage—a place where even time stops?

If the connection gets cut, Hayate vanishes. But even if Hayate vanishes, items inside Storage remain. What if I can't connect to Asahi inside Storage? What if I can never summon Hayate again?

I thought that far and decided to cancel this test. Even if Asahi became unsummonable, maybe I could connect to a different drone. But I had no proof of that either. My skill can't connect to two regular drones simultaneously. If I call this a "contract," I have no idea whether I can transfer that contract from Asahi to another drone.

I should've tested this before Hayate became summonable. Even if I could connect to another drone, there's no guarantee that Hayate summoned through it would be the same Hayate I have now. In the worst case, a completely different drone could get summoned, and all the upgrades I put into Hayate would be wasted.

If it came down to Asahi being completely unusable, I'd have no choice but to try. But until then, I'll hold off on taking that risk.

Having come to that conclusion, I shook it off and started thinking about what I could do with Storage. Since I can deliver supplies to all sorts of places, just a bit of brainstorming gave me plenty of ideas.

For example, I could deliver supplies to isolated villages during disasters. Or conversely, I could clear a road blocked by a landslide by storing away the rocks and mud. I don't even want to think about it, but if used in war, it could achieve terrifying results. Just store a bomb and drop it right over an enemy base—that's all it would take.

But if I ever used it that way, I'd probably never be able to do any of the things I actually want to do. I'm not saying I'd ignore something happening right in front of me, but I resolved not to actively get involved in matters like that.

So then, what should I use it for? I came up with one idea. Being able to transport cold things cold and hot things hot—that's perfect for delivery! I might even be able to sell food inside dungeons. That's right—I thought about having Mom cook and selling her food inside a dungeon.

If I added potion sales and food sales as filming options, there might actually be decent demand. Carrying drop items for people could work too. Though for that one, I might need to build up some trust before anyone would take me up on it.

I figured Mom could earn some pocket money until she finds a proper job. Let me ask her right away. I headed to the living room where Mom was in the middle of looking through job ads.

"Mom, wanna earn a little pocket money?"

Mom looked up from the job listings she'd been holding and blinked at me in surprise at my sudden proposal. Next to her, Umi looked up from her phone too, wondering what was going on.

"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

I pitched the idea to Mom—still trying to process the situation—about selling her home cooking inside a dungeon.

"Sounds great! You should totally do it, Mom! I'll help out too!"

Oh, supporting fire from Umi while Mom was hesitating. Nice one, Umi, keep it coming!

"You know, starting with something low-pressure like that might not be a bad idea. So, what would I need to do?"

Umi's push must have done the trick—Mom was on board now. Alright, just one more push. So I explained my Storage skill to her. Mom looked puzzled at first, but she got it when I told her it was like a four-dimensional pocket.

"Basically, all you'd need to do is cook, Mom. It seems like time stops inside Storage, so you could make a bunch whenever I don't have work. My schedule is kind of irregular, but I'll give you my schedule and you can cook around that."

"I get the general idea. I just need to cook according to your schedule, right? But making food here might be a bit tricky. Opening a food business requires approval from the public health center. If we're using this kitchen, we'd probably have to renovate it. Plus, we're on the thirtieth floor of a condo building. Security is tight, so bringing in ingredients would be a hassle."

Hrm, so selling food isn't as simple as I thought.

"Really? I thought it'd be a lot simpler."

"Yeah. If there's a possibility, it might be finding an empty storefront near this condo that used to be a restaurant. Hehe, a food truck might work too."

I see, so either way this isn't something I can do right away. Alright, since this seems tough to pull off immediately, I'll keep it as a long-term goal. For now, I can at least look around for any vacant storefronts nearby.

Also, if I get the chance, I should ask Arihara-san whether selling things inside dungeons is allowed. Well, it's not urgent, so I'll ask next time I see him.

Organizing my thoughts, I went ahead and prepared for tomorrow's filming job.