Chapter 63 – One Piece
「Hey, Jin!」
Marcia’s voice sounded through the deserted fishermen’s harbor.
「Not there, a little more to the other side.」
It’s moved according to the directions.
A small 2 seater boat was moored at the pier that was becoming misty.
「Okay, that’s it, you can get in now.」
Marcia was saying from the sh.o.r.e, so Jin untied the rope and boarded the ship followed by Reiko, too. Because it was used to help with fishing ,it smelled of young dried fish.
「You go first, and I’ll go slowly later.」
Jin calls out to Marcia,
「《Deodorant》」
The smell was killed by 1 and of engineering magic.
Then Jin processed a lump of bronze which he gave to Reiko.
「|Transformation 《Forming》, 《Hardening》」
He then began forming the bronze by hand as though he were kneading clay.
He had completed 2 water wheels and a crank like steering wheel.
「Later, a bearing huh?」
Because the ball bearing was impossible now, it was completed immediately with a plain bearing.
「Ok, attach this, and, tto.」
In brief, Jin made a side-wheel steamer. He attached the waterwheels to both sides of the hull. The steering wheels operate the right and left separately.
It’s been driven by Jin of course, so far Reiko hadn’t though.
「Ok, Reiko, please turn this and move the ship.」
Jin then explains to Reiko, the reason the waterwheels on the right and left were made independent was to omit the rudder. The ship can be controlled at will by changing the rotary speed of the waterwheels.
Unfortunately, it is too inefficient for an ordinary golem, but they’re able to do this because it’s Reiko. It’s because it’s natural for the power of the legs to be stronger than the power of the arm for a golem.
「Yes, leave it to me.」
However, it can get enough thrust by hand thanks to Reiko who is a super golem. It is an advantage that the direction can be changed without a rudder.
First, she familiarizes herself with it. She starts slow and gradually gets faster. Reiko handled the small boat freely and went out to the sh.o.r.e.
There were several areas of the sea for practice, and Marcia and others were to the east of the harbor.
During this season, the local sea is calm. This is why the compet.i.tion is carried out now.
On the sea which had calmed down, several ships were sailing around. One ship was the Cygnus.
「Oh, Jin came… what’s that?」
Marcia saw the side-wheel steamer and asked in surprise.
「Yes, this is better than an oar. To row it, the legs have worse efficiency, but Reiko can handle it.」
When Jin says so, Marcia frowned,
「You know, it may be Jin and an unnecessary thing, but even if Reiko is an a.s.sistant and can use physical reinforcement magic, how can you be praised for something that is so hard to drive?」
「Eh?」
Jin didn’t understand what she said for an instant, but understood what she was saying shortly after.
「Is that so? What were you saying Marcia?」
「What?」
「Reiko is a golem I made.」
「Eh?」
It was Marcia’s turn to be astonished this time.
「When we just met, I decided to stay silent, but I must confess. We’re teammates.」
「…………」
「Marcia?」
「Slow down, idiot!」
She appeared to somehow get angry.
「I’m sorry, but when we just met it seemed too complex of a thing to talk about.」
Then Jin worked hard to pacify Marcia for a while.
「……well, because of the degree of surprise this time, now that I really know about your ability, I can understand your anxiety.」
Marcia says,
「A-ah, well, it’s also because of Jin’s contribution’s that I can partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion… I’ll do this talk here.」
Marcia said positively as she prepared for the compet.i.tion, which relieved Jin.
The fact that Marcia was being targeted was a story that Jin was determined to stay silent about until after the compet.i.tion was over.
It was uncertain whether she was specifically targeted, but he wanted her to focus on the compet.i.tion for now. Other than that, he decided to pay as much attention as possible to Marcia’s security.
（If I could interrogate yesterday’s intruder, maybe I could figure something out.）
But Reiko had already thrown out the trash.
After that, he resumed preparation for the compet.i.tion.
Promoting the cooperation of the golem and the operator is important. If compared, it’s something like the relation between the coachman and the horse of a carriage?
Marcia and the golem Arrow improved their cooperation whenever they had time while Jin observes closely for malfunctions and makes modifications during every break.
The morning ended with this cycle.
「After I eat lunch, I’ll go get the swimsuit for the compet.i.tion.」
Marcia says, while Jin says
「Swimsuit for the compet.i.tion?」
「Yes, the partic.i.p.ation fee also includes that part.」
10,000 torrs, a high partic.i.p.ation fee of approximately 100,000 yen seemed to contain not only the budget but also the share of such a thing.
「I see, then I will work on Arrow in the meantime.」
「Yes, please.」
After lunch, Marcia left for the compet.i.tion office in the town hall.
Jin is addicted to remodeling Arrow in the name of tuning up.
「Well, it moves as expected, but the bronze joint wears out when it moves so much.」
As he said that, he gave it a coating of adamant that he brought from Hourai island. It isn’t really a violation of the rules.
「|Because the Magic Crystal deteriorated a little, I will exchange it for a new one.」
In addition,
「Will the bronze resist corrosion if I put a thin layer of mithril on it?」
It is the world of his hobby, but no one is stopping it.
When addict tuning up (remodeling) was over
「……Jin, I’m back.」
Marcia came back… but when Jin saw her appearance he nearly spouted out.
「Wha……!」
Marcia was wearing a navy blue one piece swimsuit. Besides, it looked just like the figure that Jin had made during the registration examination. The chairperson who saw the figure had decided to use it.
「Some design they have this year, and… Jin, do you have something to say?」
「A-ah… I’m sorry, what is it?」
At first, Jin wanted to apologize
「We, well, it looks great!」
Marcia stared at him with jiiii eyes.
「That sounded unnatural……」
「N-no, not at all! It’s because Marcia’s style is good, it looks good, really!」
When that was said, Marcia’s cheeks began to redden.
「Is that so? Well, if Jin says so.」
Because Marcia went out in public in the swimsuit, all of the men at the harbor was staring at her swimsuit form. But she herself thought it was bothersome.
「Well then, let’s start the afternoon training session!」
Saying so, she got in Cygnus.
After repeating practice and adjustment until the evening, all that was left was to wait for the preliminary the next day.
＊ ＊ ＊
「Not good! That reminds me, I have to extend the stay at the hotel!」
Jin cried when he remembered on his way back to the Sea Pavilion.
「It’s ok Father, when we left this morning I had it extended for 3 more nights.」
Reiko was helpful.