8 Otherworld Truck Stop 1 (1/2)

”Hey Boss, got any more service assignments?” Diesel radioed Kami-sama.

He had been lounging around the garage all day. Normally, Kami-sama would notify him of an assignment soon after he had completed the previous one, but for some reason, there had been nothing today.

Therefore, he had spent his idle time surfing the internet and playing games. He was rather amused that he could access and interact without the need of fingers. All that was accomplished purely through mental control, as was done when he did a live chat on a blog. When he asked Kami-sama if he could stream a movie, he was told that access to online features consumed his karma, so it probably wasn't worth it. In that case, Diesel had to be careful. Caps on karma usage didn't exist, and he couldn't set any notifications.

Of course, he could request to be sent somewhere for sightseeing, but he had already been doing that quite a bit already in between jobs. And it wasn't quite as fun traveling to new locations alone.

Rather, he was anxious to gather more karma and get closer to his eventual goal – reincarnating into a human again. Though it wasn't as bad as he thought living as a truck, there were several things that he missed.

One was delicious food. Even if he could travel the world, there was no way for him to sample the local cuisine. Seeing all the different dishes advertised only served to annoy him, as none of it was appropriate for consumption. Yet, the allure of appetizing aromas still made its way to him, despite the lack of a nose. This just became torture, making him wish that he didn't have some of the human senses and memories that he had before.

The only thing that he tasted were the different grades of gasoline during fill-up. Strangely, the reality of consuming liquid combustible fuels wasn't as repulsive as he thought it would be. Though he preferred a blend that didn't include ethanol; it just tasted a bit watered down.

Another thing was social connections. Being a magical truck, Diesel hardly spoke to anyone besides clients and Kami-sama. He understood that it was unnatural for a truck to be talking in the first place, but couldn't he be paired up with a rider or something? If he had to choose, then a gunslinger who didn't mind being chatty with vehicles and could protect him from danger would be nice. If that were the case, maybe being a 'motorrad' would suit him more.

After dwelling in the lulls of boredom, Kami-sama finally responded.

”Nope, all dried up for the moment. Come to think of it, I forgot to graduate you from your trial period…”

”There was a trial period? What would've happened if I failed?” Diesel didn't like were this was headed.

”Then, you would've likely been sent to the vast, open countryside of the U.S. of A, where you'd spend the rest of your days being sat on by some obese, overworked driver until he falls asleep and sends you both crashing off a bridge.”

”That's…oddly specific.” A chill ran down Diesel's frame. Could Kami-sama see that far into the future?

”That was a joke.” A stifled chuckled was heard in the background.

”Oh.” Should've expected as such, coming from him. ”Anyways, how is it any different now?”

”Just one sec.”

A portal opened with Kami-sama jumping out. Brushing himself off, he walked over to Diesel.

”Congratulations, you are now a full-fledged employee of the Otherworld Isekai Service.”

”Thanks…I guess.”

”You don't sound too thrilled, but I guess you just want to know the perks,” Kami-sama said, as he patted the front grill of Diesel. ”Head outside.”

The two of them exited the garage, where there was endless white space all around.

”Okay…what am I looking for?” Diesel mumbled anxiously. Hopefully, it would be something interesting to stave off the boredom.

Kami-sama raised his hand and snapped his fingers. A pulse of magic was sent into the air, and moments later, a structure materialized in the distance.

It was like those RPGs where one's next destination magically became accessible on the map once the protagonist had reached a certain point. However, he wasn't some hero in a story going on an adventure; he was a truck.