The next day, I used the golden key again in the salon. The door leading to that chamber appeared, and the number had changed back from 00 to 02.
Emily and Erza were there with me. Since they’d helped me with the test, they got excited about this development.
“Ooh, it’s back to normal.”
“That must mean that it reverts daily, right?”
“Looks like it,” I replied. “The number of keys is how many people can go in daily. And when you go in…”
“A day passes in there.”
“There was a clock inside. We couldn’t leave until a full day had passed.”
I nodded along with their explanation. I hadn’t gone in yet, myself, but combining their testimony with Alice’s, it seemed that you could go in there for a whole day but could not leave until that day had passed. Furthermore…
“And a day inside is about a minute outside, huh?” I mused. “This seems useful.”
“It could help when a deadline or other time limit is approaching,” Erza suggested. I had to agree.
It was then that I remembered something. She was an employee of Swallow’s Returned Favor, dispatched to work for us, and the manager of the branch office connected to our magic carts.
“What about magic cart teleportation? Can things go in and out of there using that?” I asked.
“Let’s try it,” Emily suggested.
“Good idea. Let’s.”
“Okay. I’ll go in.”
“You sure?”
“There’s something I want to do, too.”
“I see.” I didn’t know what she wanted to do, but if that was what she wanted, then so it would be. I handed Emily a key.
“I’ll go get my magic cart.” After taking it, she ran out of the salon, her slippers slapping the floor with each step.
I waited for a while, and yet…
“She’s not coming back, is she?” Erza said.
“Doesn’t seem like it…” I agreed. “Oh, I think she’s already gone in.”
“Huh? Oh, she has! The number went down to one.”
We looked at the door together. The 02 from before had become 01.
“I see… I guess you can go in from anywhere as long as you have the key. Are they connected on the inside?” I asked.
“They were. I found her as soon as I went in yesterday.”
“Hmm… Okay. One key per person, then.”
After gathering so much information on how it worked, I came to a conclusion.
It’d be best to collect keys until we had one for everyone─so that everybody could use the chamber, so that they could enter from anywhere they wanted, and so that we could assemble at a moment’s notice if needed.
While I thought about that, I heard a distant crash.
“That came from…” Erza began.
“Your office. Well, if she’s not coming back, then there’s no reason to wait for her. Let’s go see what happened.”
“Okay!”
The two of us rushed over to her branch office.
There, we found Emily’s hammer. It had come out of her magic cart’s warp point and fallen to the floor.
Right after we went in there─no, at the same time─she arrived. “I’m back.”
“That was fast… Has it been a minute already?”
“Yes. I was there for a day. It feels weird…”
She went into the office and easily lifted up her hammer. Her power was as impressive as ever, especially given her 4’3” height.
“Yeah. It’s only been a minute since we last saw you, but to you, it’s been a day.”
“Yep.”
“Were you not able to leave via the cart?”
“No. Only objects could go through.”
“I see…” I’d hoped that she would be able to go in and out freely, but alas.
Wait.
An idea came to mind.
“I’m gonna do some testing,” I announced. “You two stay here and watch.”
“Okay.”
“Understood.”
I left the office, grabbed my own magic cart, and used the other key to summon a door labeled 01. Then, I opened the door and pushed my cart inside.
“Whoa!”
There, I was so surprised that I almost fell over. Behind the door was an empty space, but it had the vibe of a temple.
✦ ✦ ✦
Bright, warm. A truly relaxing space.
I know this sensation!
“Emily… She cleaned it, didn’t she?”
Our first shabby apartment, our two-bedroom, our mansion today. Whenever Emily took charge of a home, it became a soothing place. This place was no exception.
Huh. So what she wanted to do was clean it.
“Still… You’re something else, Emily.” I was a little moved by what I saw.
Whoops. Now isn’t the time to be moved. It’s testing time.
I stopped pushing my cart and dropped a bunch of normal bullets nearby. Then, I stepped away and waited.
Before long, a slime spawned.
Normal bullets made from bean sprouts would turn back into slimes. It attacked, so I shot it down with my growth round.
The slime dropped a normal round again─along with a crystal. This was thanks to the ring on my right hand, which came from Nihonium’s dungeon master. When equipped, it would turn leftover experience points after level cap into crystals worth the same amount.
I could use this to bank EXP to give to other people.
I threw the bullet into the distant pile, put the crystal into my magic cart, and warped it out. More slimes spawned, and I killed them to turn them into normal bullets and crystals. Each time, I returned the bullets to the pile, put the crystals into the cart, and warped them off.
“…This is gonna be a long haul.” I chuckled to myself, refocused, and aimed again.
☆
Emily and Erza were left in the branch office after Ryota’s departure.
They watched as crystals shot out of the warp device attached to his magic cart. One, two, three─they flew out at an astounding pace.
“Wow, that’s amazing!” Emily exclaimed.
“Ryota must be mass-producing them in the chamber,” Erza added.
“I see… An endless loop of slimes and normal bullets.”
“Oh, I see. He doesn’t get any bullets out of it, but he can earn endless experience points!”
“Yeah! Only he would come up with that idea so quickly.”
For the next minute, they waited and marveled at his judgment and speedy creativity.