"Only thirteen days? I don't know what prices are like here, but we definitely got ripped off."
Annie puffed up her cheeks in indignation. Andrew laughed. "It's fine. That was a cursed diamond called the Blood Tears of Constantinople. Everyone who gets it dies a horrible death."
"Huh?"
Annie stared in shock. She was angry at that crooked merchant, but wasn't killing him outright a little excessive?
"Just kidding. I'm one of the good guys. How could I do something like that?"
Andrew laughed, and Annie punched him. He had fooled her again. And was he really sure he was one of the good guys? Good guys weren't as nasty as him, nor did they get up to so many wild tricks.
Annie asked, "Andrew, what do we do next?"
"Rent a room and wait. I want to see how things develop first."
Something occurred to Andrew as he spoke, and he held out his hand to Annie. "Oh, right. Let's try the transfer function first and see exactly how it works."
"Okay."
Annie nodded and took Andrew's hand. The time on Andrew's arm rapidly transferred to her.
This was a voluntary transaction, but it could also be forced—in other words, robbery. This world had a famous activity called arm wrestling, where both sides tried to steal each other's time. Whoever was stronger and forced the other person's wrist down could take their time.
"This time is practically like data. Interesting."
Andrew's eyes flickered. The way this world handled time was fascinating, and he was very interested.
Andrew said nothing more and took Annie to rent a room. Since they didn't have enough money, he only rented a cheap hotel room. One day of time paid for three days' lodging, with one breakfast included.
With nothing else to do, Andrew