The dawn of the next day. Fine weather. The day of the preliminaries for the golem boat race.
The harbor was wrapped in a vibrant energy all morning. As for each of the participants,
「Aaaah, I’m a little nervous.」
「I couldn’t sleep well last night.」
「Fufufu, I’ll win today!」
「Everyone seems so great, I feel like renouncing.」
A tense person, a determined person, an uneasy person. They are showing various faces. Meanwhile, Jin was as usual.
「Well, there are a lot of ships. There are alos a lot of golems. But physical strength specialized types, well, it’s a poor idea, isn’t it?」
「Isn’t it unreasonable to compare them with father/Otou-sama?」
While Jin and Reiko’s exchange was heard, Marcia was becoming eager, too.
「Hey, Jin!」
「Oh, Reinhardt!」
Reinhardt rushed up with a girl in a yellow one-piece swimsuit behind him.
「This is Jin’s first time, this is Elsa, the operator of my ship and my cousin.」
「Elsa Randall, best regards.」
Although similar to Reinhardt, her semi-short platinum blonde hair and light-blue pupils are clearly those of a beautiful girl.She has a fair complexion and is not tanning.
「I’m Jin. This is Marcia who is the ship operator and my teammate, and this is Reiko.」
「I’m Marcia.」
「Best regards.」
The ship operators shake hands. Reinhardt interrupted at this point.
「Hahahaha, Elsa, your chest already lost… OUCH!」
Reinhardt who spoke out with sexual harassment accidentally fell into the sea after Elsa paid out a kick in silence.
「Good grief, Rai-nii should learn some delicacy.」
As they are talking, another person approaches them.
「Hi, Mr. Reinhardt and Ms. Elsa. This must be Marcia, and this is?」
It was the pompous man, Valentino.
「This is Mr. Valentino. He’s Mr. Jin.」
Reinhardt who has climbed up from the sea calls out to Jin while he is still dripping wet.
「Ah, so he had such a name, excuse me. Well, Ms. Elsa, Marcia, how’s your condition today?」
As though he couldn’t care about a man, Valentino focuses his attention only on Elsa and Marcia. Reiko is too young and doesn’t seem to have caught his eyes.
Marcia seems depressed to be looked at in such a manner.
「I am excelletn. It’s pleasant weather so it would be fun to start the qualifier early.」
And, as if Elsa doesn’t feel his eyes,
「A decent finish, … for Mr. Valentino.」
After Valentino bows with his thin chest that has no muscle,
「Perfect! I will take first in the preliminary.」
He talked big, and then someone appeared from behind Valentino.
「Mr. Valentino, the preliminaries will start soon.」
It was a small beauty who put on a red one-piece swimsuit. She was glamorous.
「Is it Riche? I see, I will go now.」
And with a pompous bow,
「Well then, I wish you luck.」
And then walked out as he said so.
「As usual, Mr. Valentino.」
Elsa who was half disgusted.
「Yes, but that confidence also isn’t groundless.」
Unusually, Reinhardt said this with a serious tone.
And voice by sounds through harbor.
「Now then, we will soon start the 10th Golem Boat race preliminaries, participants board promptly and get ready.」
「Well then, I’m off」
Marcia calls out to Jin.
「Let’s each do our best.」
Reinhardt said as he left together with Elsa.
Jin saw the three of them off.
「When the competition starts, there will be nothing for me to do anymore. I believe Marcia is an arrow that can only be watched.」
「Yes, and I am your arm Father.」
And Jin and Reiko went to the dedicated staff seating.
＊ ＊ ＊
「Now, the 10th annual golem boat race will begin, and we have a record high number of participants and even many from out of town too, it’s an unprecedented upsurge.」
The live coverage uses 《loudspeaker》, so the voice sounds to every corner of the harbor that is the meeting place.
「We have invited a young Magic Craftsman, Bernardo, whom is the pride of our country for commentary.」
「I’m Bernard and it’s a pleasure to be here today and see so many different golem boats.」
「Now, Bernard, could you explain the competition in a way that a visitor who came sightseeing from a foreign territory could understand?」
Of the spectators, who were in the pay seats in the harbor, more than half were tourists and the rest were of the local populace.
「Let me see, to put it briefly, it is a competition of speed, but the special parts are where a golem propels the ship and a woman steers it.」
「In this case it means that performance of the golem means a lot.」
「Yes, that’s also true, but the operations also cannot be ignored. Today’s preliminary is just a competition of simple speed, but for tomorrow’s competition they will have to go through several checkpoints which also requires navigation.」
「I see, then cooperation between the ship operator and the golem is important?」
「That’s right, just as it’s important for a coachman and a horse the ship operator also needs to control the golem.」
「Thank you very much. Now, the participants and their ships seem ready to start soon in the harbor.」
As this was said, the ships were lining up in their participation application order and slowly went around the harbor following the guide ship.
Before the chairman floats a large magic screen so the audience can get a good look at it.
「This year, ship operators are wearing a customized swimsuit showing off their limbs to the audience without regret.」
「The swimsuit has a very unique design, right?」
Jin didn’t think that the figurine he made for the test would be this popular, either.
「Bernard, can you tell us about some of the teams?」
「Well, first, the team that stands at number one “Elias’s Glory”. This is the team of Mr. Valentino who is one of the 3 aides of Marquis Hudson, he has Miss Riche who was a runner up last time as a ship operator, and the golem is a product of Sir Valerio. It can be said it has cornered the position of favorite.」
「That’s right, I can imagine the strength just by seeing the huge upper body of that golem. If an oar is used by that arm, it should be able to achieve terrible speeds.」
The picture reflected in the 《magic screen》 changes.
「In the third is the Blue Marine team which is an invitation team and Reinhardt’s team of four men of the Randall count family and are also excellent magic craftsmen so they can’t be overlooked can they?」
The ship fills a large part of the magic screen.
「Are you promoting the mermaid type golem “Lorelei” and the boat with a shallow hull?」
The emcee explains while examining the documents on hand.
「The ship operator is Elsa, Reinhardts cousin and hte daughter of the viscount. Elsa is also a mage like you.」
An especially big shout of joy broke out when I explained so it.
「Really, Reinhardt was from a count family.」
「You have a relation to the status with a count, huh?」
Then the introduction of the player continues, but there is not the thing which is particularly new for Jin either. But,
「Oh? What is that?」
It is athlete’s number 27. What are those huge wings that grow at the back of the golem?
「Bernard, it’s an interesting golem, isn’t it?」
「Let me see. When a waterfowl flies out, it flies on the surface of the water, did you reference that?」
「The width of the ship was defined as four meters or less, but there’s no limits on the golem.」
「Yes, but with those wings the weight will be considerable.」
When seeing the golem and the whole metal ship, it sank fairly well into the water and its weight could be imagined.
「Hm? What’s that?」
Jin looked slightly interesting.
Athlete number 28, team “Sea Bird”. The hull was a slim canoe type, but a supporting hull called the outrigger was attached to both sids.
「It’s the fascinating shape, isn’t it?」
Reiko says
「No, if a wave is calm, that is good, but the weight of the hull of the middle hangs over the roof truss and may compromise when a large enough wave lifts one of the outriggers.」
Jin explains.
「I see, you don’t have the worry by a catamaran of my team, right? 」
Reiko says as she consents.
「Oh. But it will be effective in this calm sea. In addition, that golem…」
Jin was worried about the golem that had four arms. Naturally, it has four oars. The pattern of the short oar was seen clearly.
「It may be the desperate plan in which you can’t have a long oar by the one with an outrigger, but it isn’t bad.」
「Now then, the dark horse, a unique team who’s athlete number is 35, “MJR”.」
Jin’s and others team is introduced at the end.
「The shape of the ship is different, isn’t it?」
「That’s right. The shape is that of 2 thin ships that were lined up. It can be said that this emphasized stability. And what you should pay attention to is the propulsion system.」
「What is it? It seems to be a water mill.」
It greatly resembles . With it’s strange shape it puts the audience in a buzz.
「It’s a water mill that water flows around, but this is the reverse, isn’t it? The reason which is turning a water mill and is kicking water. This seems fascinating.」
The introduction of the participating teams ended with the 35th Cygnus team at the end. The preliminaries are starting shortly.