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Chapter 375: Budding, and Cooperation.

(Author note: as it got too long, I split it into two chapters. 1/2)

I can hear the arguing voices of the two in front of the garages. They’re fighting fiercely against each other; it doesn’t seem like they noticed my presence.

“Why did you crash into me back there!? Was there a need for you to expressly wreck your own vehicle along with mine for no reason!?”

“So you’re saying you’re fine with falling down the cliff and retiring like that back there!? I would never accept such a conclusion!”

“But…! At this rate, you would be retired together…!”

Princess Berlietta’s face was colored in sadness as she gradually looked down.

“Not yet. There’s still a possibility. Fortunately, you and I are both driver and technician. It’s not impossible for us to go back and fix our vehicles on the course itself before time’s up. While first place may be impossible now, you’d like to at least finish the race, no?”

True, going by the rules, as long as you don’t announce your own retirement from the race, and if it’s still within the course’s time limit, then it’s possible to fix your vehicle on the course and finish with that. Of course, if anyone other than the driver for that team enters the course area, that team would be disqualified.

Crown Prince Rupheus threw some tools into a large clunky toolbox besides him before standing up.

Princess Berlietta was still standing there while looking down. Taking her hand, the crown prince pulled her along half-forcefully.

“For now, let’s head back first. It’s not too late to think about this then.”

“… Un.”

The two of them transferred themselves back to the obstacle course using the gate at the pit stop.

Crown Prince Rupheus is pretty proactive, isn’t he? That reminds me, back when they were going to arrest his oba-san fiancée, he was leading that effort from the front too. Well, that one was probably more due to his personal grudge, if I have to guess.

It’d be good if they can make it in time to finish the race. Since the time limit of this final course is longer than the rest, it’s very much possible.

When I went to my own garage to take a look—since I came here, why not—the mini robots were diligently repairing the [Brunhild]. Eh, they’re fixing it faster than I expected. Was the damage not as bad as I thought?

Come to think of it, there aren’t any burn marks on the chassis. Don’t tell me… Was that explosion illusion magic? And the thing that blew me up was actually wind-attribute magic?

Kuh… I was tricked. If it was only damaged to this degree, I might’ve been able to continue the race. Retiring back then was a hasty decision.

Also, I think I’m under evaluating the worth of the mini robots. If you think about it, they are also the crystallization of the technologies of an ancient civilization. There’s no way they would be anything short of excellent; I mean, they’re also helping out in Frame Gear maintenance and other things, too.

“And now, the [Ferzen] charges straight into the birdlime area-nya! It’s trying to push through by force but… It’s not working! Those are some strong birdlimes-nya! Nyanya!? The Ferzen king alighted and raised his own vehicle up into the air-nya!?”

On the small monitor installed in the garage, the figure of the Ferzen king raising his birdlime- covered vehicle up was shown. What is he doing, this person…

He then tried to carry his vehicle out of the birdlime area just like that, but well, obviously, the result is his own feet getting stuck to the ground by birdlime.

On the screen, the Ferzen king finally realized his mistake and had an “Oh crap!” expression on. Nononono, you’re supposed to realize that much earlier, ok!?

He tried to move his feet somehow, but as the melted cheese-looking birdlime strands kept sticking to him, it’s hard to muster any strength, and eventually his balance is broken and he falls over together with the vehicle he’s still carrying.

“Nuooo!”

Still, he tried hard to move with wriggling motions. That figure was almost like a certain something, caught by a trap on the kitchen floor… I’ll not mention what that something is.

With this, the [Ferzen] is practically retired, I suppose.

Since Crown Prince Rupheus and Princess Berlietta are not likely contenders for first place any longer, the ones that are still completely in the race are Lapis-san’s [White Bird], Rosetta & Monica’s [Silver Star] and Nia’s [Red Cat].

All three are ether vehicles made by Rosetta and Monica, so I don’t think there would be a lot of difference in specs. Which would mean that driver skills would be the deciding factor here.

The [White Bird] and the [Silver Star] both cleared the birdlime area beautifully; in comparison, the way Nia cleared it made me feel like I was watching a tightrope act. Is she alright?

On a sub screen placed at one corner of the monitor, the Ferzen king was still trying to get out of the birdlime. Just retire already.

And on another sub screen in the same corner, I can see Crown Prince Rupheus and Princess Berlietta, who had made it to the straights course and were heading to their own vehicles. I’m worried about their repair work.

Since I was concerned, I decided to head to the location myself using [Gate]. Since I’m already retired, and am completely clueless about ether vehicles, I’m not going to be of any help though.

“How is it? Think it’s fixable?”

“Your Majesty the Sovereign King?”

The crown prince, who was looking into the opened bonnet and checking on something, looked up in response to my voice.

“The activation seal for the magic engine as well as the ether lines are completely burnt away. It’s been used to accelerate quite unreasonably, after all. I was too focused on strengthening the main body of the vehicle, and neglected to do the same for the magic engine; this is the result.”

The crown prince squeezed out his voice in regret. Looking at his vehicle, the body can’t be said to be in good shape either. One of the rear wheels is twisted in a weird direction, for starters.

“And over there?”

I called out to Princess Berlietta, who had just finished removing a wheel. With both of its front wheels removed, the [Strain] looked a bit like a cart.

“Since one of the front wheels dropped into the ocean, it won’t be able to move like this. I was thinking to attach the leftover front wheel to the center-forward position and make do with a three-wheeled drive…”

So she was planning to make it a tricycle.

If she’s going with that, then it should work… Was what I was thinking, when she showed me something that had fallen below the driver’s seat. When I saw that, I unintentionally let out an “Achaa…”.

Yeah, no matter how I see it, that’s the steering wheel isn’t it.

“It broke off. Since I wasn’t exactly paying attention to the durability of my vehicle, and only sought more speed…”

Like this, there’d be no meaning even if she manages to convert her vehicle into a three- wheeled one; not being able to steer properly is…

… Nn?

I looked alternately at the two vehicles in front of me. Sensing my looks, the two drivers also looked at their vehicles and then the other’s, before eventually exchanging looks with each other.

Ah.

“Um… Is it possible for you guys to exchange parts with each—”

““That’s it!””

I swallowed back the last “other” that couldn’t leave my throat in time. Seems like it’s possible. It’s true that the rules never stated that two participants can’t cooperate with each other.

“Is the magic engine on the [Strain] the type used in Eisengard’s Kieris carriages?”

“Un. Made by Terion. It’s quite the high-class article among those used by golem carriages, you know.”

“Alright, then it should be fine. I’ll work on the magic engine exchange.”

“I’ll switch out the twisted tire on the [Trihalan] with one of the [Strain]’s. Ah, you have to remove that blue pin first or the ether liquid would leak out, so be careful.”

“Got it.”

Before my eyes, the two of them gave out instructions I can’t understand to each other rapidly, then began working with great speed.

“I see… The activation seal is a bit shifted. I was wondering how it dealt with the interference…”

“Hee… So by using this part to strengthen this spot, it raised the durability. Here too…”

Even though they’re in a pretty serious situation, the two of them had smiles on their faces and were enjoying this. What’s gotten into them now…?

“There’s the first event-no yo. With this, the distance between the two has been shortened instantly-no yo.”

“… There you are, you god of rampant curiosity.”

“That hurts! Onee-chan is the Love God-nano yo!”

I let out a small sigh when I heard the expected voice from behind me. At this point, I’m not surprised when she appears all of a sudden anymore.

“They’re beginning to acknowledge each other-no yo. While it’s still slight, there’s definitely a budding love there-no yo.”

“Is that so.”

I’m not really sure, but since the god in charge of that aspect is saying it, it’s probably right? Still, they’ve been shouting at each other until just now, so how did they become close to each other so quickly?

Well, they had the same hobby to begin with, and it’s not like their personalities are completely incompatible. It might just be due to the right opportunity, I guess.

“Ohh! In front of the first place [White Bird], suddenly, a family of cats appeared on the road- nya!”

Ha? As I heard some incomprehensible words from Nyantaro who’s doing the live coverage, I synched my eyesight with the Valkyrie who’s doing the camera work for the race to confirm what’s going on.

When I did that, I can see the sight of a whole line of cats blocking the road in front of the [White Bird], which had stopped. That line is long! How many kittens are there in this family!?

Is something like this also part of the obstacles in this course!? It’s true that nobody would dare to break through that by force…

The vehicle in second, [Silver Star], caught up to where the [White Bird] is and stopped in front of the cats as well. Arya. The ones behind caught up.

The kitten blockade continued with no end in sight. Lapis-san and Rosetta only had troubled faces on, but Monica was starting to look a bit annoyed. Well, I can understand her feelings somewhat.

At this rate, Nia’s going to catch up too, you know—ah, see, there she is coming from the back.

Nia too pushed down on the brakes when she saw the kitten blockade. As a result, the three remaining vehicles in the race all lined up there in one spot.

It’s quite a fearsome trap, in some ways. Even though it’s kinda heartwarming.

“Nyanya… To comment on this obstacle is very complicated given my situation-nya…”

Well yeah. Nyantaro’s a Cait Sith, after all.

All the while, the kitty blockade is still ongoing accompanied by nonstop “nyan”s. There might actually be 101 of them in there…

Ah, Monica jumped out of her vehicle. Seems like she’s reached the end of her patience; she’s going to move the kittens to the other side herself.

As Monica reached down and tried to gently lift up one of the kittens—

“Nyanya!? The kitten slipped through her hands-nya!?”

The projection of what we thought was an actual kitten swayed. Illusion magic! Monica then tried to touch the other kittens, but none of them were real either.

Nia’s [Red Cat] jumped out first. Following that, Lapis-san’s [White Bird] also started accelerating. After Monica returned to it, the [Silver Star] also chased after them.

Basically, that illusion trap was made to stall the frontrunners. What a nasty design.

*Vrrrrrrrr*, *vrrrrrrr*…

The ether vehicle Crown Prince Rupheus and Princess Berlietta finished working on was six- wheeled; they had taken the [Strain] with only two rear wheels and attached it to the rear hook of the [Trihalan].

While I understand that if the [Trihalan] ran by itself, the [Strain] would’ve been retired automatically, the finished product looked substantially reckless…

Back to the [Trihalan]… Wait, since it combined with the [Strain], is it [Trirain] now or something? Anyways, from a while ago, its magic engine had been letting out the sounds from earlier, but it kept refusing to start up. The magic power inside is probably not circulating properly.

“Come on, please move…!”

“Move… I beg you!”

Crown Prince Rupheus was in the driver’s seat and passing magic power into the magic engine, trying to start it. Princess Berlietta was looking at that from the passenger seat, almost as if praying.

N? Wait, just now…

“It’s running!”

“We did it!”

With a sudden loud roar, the magic engine which had stayed silent until now finally started running. Residual light particles from the ether liquid used in the engine began blowing out of the muffler.

“Let’s go!”

“Yes!”

The [Trirain], reborn after having been converted to a six-wheeled hybrid, rushed down the straights course with great speed. It became smaller and smaller and, within moments, disappeared from view.

“Ohh, how fast. They’re already beyond the horizon-no yo.”

“… Karen nee-san, you used a bit of your power just now, didn’t you?”

“Really? I have no idea what you’re talking about-nano yo.”

She’s playing it dumb, but I’m sure the magic engine working was due to nee-san having done something to it. Although it was slight, I sensed some divinity. I don’t know what exactly it was that she did, though.

“The prayer of a girl in love can cause miracles-no yo~”

Karen nee-san smiled with joy while winking.

- Pixel