“Hey, Jin!”
Marcia’s voice rang out across the harbor, which was quiet now that the fishermen had all set out.
“Not there! A little further that way!”
Following her directions, Jin moved along the pier. Moored at his destination was a small boat, just big enough for two.
“Yeah, that’s the one. You can use that!” Marcia called from offshore.
Jin untied the mooring line and stepped aboard, followed by Reiko. As the boat was typically used for helping with the catch, it smelled a bit like fish.
“Go on ahead! We’ll catch up in a bit!” Jin called back to Marcia. Then, he whispered, “Deodorant.”
He used a spell from his Craft Magic, Deodorant, to strip away the stench. Next, Jin began processing the bronze block he’d had Reiko carry.
“Forming. Hardening…”
The bronze reshaped itself as if invisible hands were kneading clay. He produced two small paddle wheels, each with a crank-shaped handle.
“Now for the bearings.”
Ball bearings were out of his reach for the moment, so he settled for standard plain bearings. They were finished in no time.
“Alright, let’s get these installed.”
Essentially, Jin had constructed a paddle-wheel boat. He mounted a wheel on each side of the hull, designed to be driven independently by the handles. Of course, Jin wasn’t the one who would be driving it. It would be Reiko.
“Okay, Reiko, sorry to ask this of you, but could you turn these to move the boat?”
Jin explained the mechanism to her. The reason he’d made the wheels independent was to eliminate the need for a rudder. By varying the rotation speed of each wheel, they could steer the boat with perfect precision.
This was only a viable option because Reiko was the pilot; it would have been far too inefficient for an ordinary golem. Even for a golem, leg strength usually far exceeded arm strength.
“Yes, Father. Please leave it to me.”
As a Super Automata, Reiko could generate more than enough thrust simply by turning the cranks with her hands. The ability to change direction without a rudder by adjusting the rotation on each side was a distinct advantage.
Slowly at first, then picking up speed as she grew accustomed to the rhythm, Reiko skillfully maneuvered the small boat out toward the open sea.
There were several designated practice areas; Marcia’s group was located in the eastern area of the port. The local seas were calm this time of year, which was exactly why they held the competition here. On the tranquil waters, several boats were darting about. Among them was the Cygnus.
“Whoa, Jin, you made it!…Wait, what is that thing?” Marcia asked, her eyes widening at the sight of the paddle-wheel boat.
“Oh, I figured this would be better than oars. It’s less efficient than a pedal system, but it’s plenty for Reiko.”
Marcia frowned at Jin’s explanation.
“Listen, Jin, maybe it’s not my place to say, but no matter how much Reiko acts as your assistant or how good she is at Reinforce magic, working her like a draft horse isn’t exactly something you should be proud of, you know?”
“Eh?”
Jin was confused for a moment, but he quickly realized what she meant.
“Ah, right. I guess I haven’t told you yet, Marcia.”
“Told me what?”
“Reiko is an Automata I built.”
“Wait, what?”
Now it was Marcia’s turn to be stunned.
“I kept quiet about it when we first met, but I figured I should tell you. We’re teammates, after all.”
“……”
“Marcia?”
“You’re too late, you idiot!” she snapped, clearly annoyed.
“I’m sorry. I just thought things would get complicated if I told the truth the moment we met.”
It took Jin quite a bit of effort to soothe Marcia after that.
“...Well, I guess since I’ve seen what you can do, I’m not as shocked as I could have been. I understand why you were worried,” Marcia finally said. She took a deep breath. “Anyway, I’m only in this race because of you, Jin. Let’s just drop it.”
She decided to focus on the competition with a positive attitude. Jin breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he decided to keep the fact that Marcia might be being targeted to himself until the race was over. It wasn’t certain yet, and he wanted her to be able to focus entirely on the competition. Instead, he resolved to keep a very close eye on her safety.
(If only we could have interrogated that intruder from last night, we might have learned something,) he thought.
But Reiko had already disposed of him.
From that point on, they devoted themselves to preparing for the race. In a golem boat race, the coordination between the golem responsible for propulsion and the pilot was critical. It was much like the relationship between a carriage driver and their horse.
The coordination between the golem Arrow and Marcia improved by the hour. Jin watched them closely, checking for any issues and making fine adjustments during every break. The morning passed in this productive cycle.
“I’m going to go pick up my competition swimsuit after lunch,” Marcia said.
“Competition swimsuit?” Jin asked.
“Yeah. The registration fee covers the cost of one.”
It seemed the steep 10,000 Toll entry fee—roughly 100,000 yen—covered more than just the race’s operating costs.
“Got it. While you're doing that, I’ll perform maintenance on Arrow.”
“Thanks, I’m counting on you.”
After lunch, Marcia headed to the competition desk at the town hall. Jin, meanwhile, got to work on what he called an inspection, but was actually a full-blown Tune-up for Arrow.
“As I thought, moving this much wears down the joints if they’re just bronze with Hardening applied.”
He used adamantite he had brought from Hourai Island to coat the sliding parts of the joints. It wasn't technically against the rules.
“The magi-crystal is starting to degrade slightly too, so I’ll swap it for a new one.”
He continued his work.
“Bronze is naturally resistant to corrosion, so I’ll just give the surface a thin mithril plating.”
He was indulging in his own hobbies now, but there was no one there to stop him. By the time the Tune-up was complete, Marcia had returned.
“...Jin, I’m back.”
When Jin turned to look at her, he nearly burst out laughing.
“Wh—!”
Marcia was wearing a navy-blue one-piece swimsuit. What’s more, it looked exactly like the one on the figure Jin had made during the registration screening. In fact, the committee chairman had decided on the official design after seeing that very figure.
“Apparently, this became the design for this year.…Well, Jin? Anything to say?”
“Uh… sorry about that.”
Jin apologized immediately.
“B-but it looks great on you! Really!”
Marcia gave him a flat look.
“That sounds like a line you just pulled out of thin air…”
“N-no, I mean it! You have a great figure, Marcia. It really does suit you.”
Marcia’s cheeks flushed slightly.
“You think so?…Well, if you say so, Jin, I guess it’s fine.”
Since Marcia was well-curved in all the right places, every man in the vicinity of the harbor was currently staring at her in that swimsuit. Marcia herself simply found the attention annoying.
“Alright then, let’s get back to practice!”
With that, she climbed back into the Cygnus.
They spent the rest of the day repeating their drills and making adjustments until evening. All that was left now was to wait for tomorrow’s preliminaries.
“Crap! I just remembered, I need to extend our stay at the inn!” Jin shouted as they walked back to the Sea Roar Pavilion.
“It is quite alright, Father. I extended our stay by three nights when we left this morning.”
Reiko truly was a helpful assistant.