“““Uoooo!”””
“Go ancient dragon and Ikaring! Kill the bastard that took our big sister!”
“Dammit! Why did I lose in the qualifiers!? If I made it to the main round I could’ve beaten that guy directly!”
Rough voices of cheers and abuse echo in the ocean.
We’re in special seats where we can see the races directly… But this isn’t like the proper colosseum that Wil made. We’re on big rocks watching the squids race at high speeds.
“Tiltue! Go!”
“Go for it Ikaring!”
Luna and Snow are doing their best to cheer them on, after Tiltue passed the qualifiers.
Ikaring is the name of Tiltue’s squid partner. It sounds like something I’d eat later…
By the way, Reina and I lost in the qualifiers.
The ones left from our group are Tiltue, Elga, and Levi.
There are eight participants in total in the main round. Tiltue and Elga are in the lead, with Levi behind them vying for the first place.
The other five are all after Elga, tackling him pretty hard.
He’s their sworn enemy that from their point of view, stole their precious Livia to the surface, so they’re pretty intense.
And after his squid is hit again and again, even Elga can’t help but lose his balance a few times.
“Elga is completely marked by them…”
“He’s been in the lead from the start, but didn’t he make a mistake with his pace? I don’t think he can maintain it to the end…”
“But if he didn’t escape at the start, the others would’ve blocked his way and it might’ve been over there.”
“The main round has ten laps. There’s vertical movement too, so if you conserve your stamina, can’t you break through in the second half?”
Reina and Merlin are analyzing the situation with serious expressions.
What they say sounds cool, but all I can hear is horse racing commentary.
Can’t they cheer them on with a bit more childish innocence?
“Ah…”
As I think that, Levi passes Elga and Tiltue after looking for an opportunity all this time.
Unlike their squids, hers has been conserving its energy, so she keeps going further away from them.
I think she said something to Elga too, so I guess that bad habit of hers is coming out again.
“Geez, that girl…”
Livia looks exasperated next to us.
Levi was taken by Livia before, carried by squids holding her limbs, and apparently told everything about how she’s been acting.
Even if Elga knew, I’m sure Levi’s face was red and tearful when she explained in front of him why she riled him up so much.
Well, in any case, if it led to the sisters staying friendly and Levi being friendly with Elga, I’m sure something good came of it, but…
“I think it’s already ingrained in her.”
Levi is slowing down her squid purposefully to make fun of Elga.
I can’t hear everything, but I can make out ‘passed you, lame!’.
“She’s calling him her brother-in-law, so there is progress.”
“Hahaha…”
I’m sure the day will come when she’s affectionate with Elga. Actually, you might say it’s already here.
“Ah! Tiltue…!”
“Oh.”
I look down again, as apparently something happened.
Tiltue brought out wings on her back, and is using them as propulsion.
“Is that okay?”
“No. This race is about the power of the squids and your ability to ride them.”
“Oh dear.”
Tiltue suddenly jumped to the lead, but it looks like she’s going to be disqualified.
As I think that this outcome is just like Tiltue, I enjoy the red-hot race to the end.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Why was I disqualified!?”
Yells Tiltue to the judges after the race.
“Now now.”
“You lost…”
“I didn’t lose, I was the first one to cross the goal!”
She says to Luna and Snow, but the rules are the rules.
Not far from this noise is Levi, who is hanging her head and looking exasperated.
“Ahh… I knew it… So why did I have to say those things…”
Sounds like she was riling up Elga even more than I thought during the race.
She’s more shocked by that than the result of the race.
Well, if she’s that upset about it, it just shows that she’s a good girl at heart.
She wants to stop but can’t, so all she can do is try her best.
“Congrats, Elga.”
“Ou. Then again, everyone else screwed themselves.”
Levi’s pace was ruined because she tried to compete with Tiltue’s mad charge, and she completely lost her speed in the second half.
Elga was disturbed along the way, but he kept his cool, and managed to leave her behind.
The others were so focused on screwing with Elga, that they couldn’t focus on the race and used too much stamina.
In the end, the distance between them kept getting bigger, and Elga passed the goal after the cheating Tiltue.
“Won’t this get you the respect of the marine divine beast people?”
“I dunno. Some of them called me bro after the race and congratulated me.”
“Ooh…”
The marine divine beast people call Hafgufa boss and feel like a mafia, but now they’re calling Elga that too.
Graham also calls me that, but I get the feeling it’s not quite the same.
Come to think of it, divine beast people on the surface feel like yakuza, so if that kind of culture existed, they’d use terms like underboss.
“Ah…”
Hafgufa approaches as Elga and I talk.
“You watched it too, Hafgufa?”
“Of course. Squid racing is a sacred tradition of the sea. I always watch.”
His ten tentacles shake, and I feel like he’s in a good mood.
That said, he’s twice the size of a regular person, so there’s definitely a feeling of pressure when he approaches…
“Well done, you two.”
“Ou, I managed to win somehow.”
“I lost in the preliminaries… But it was really fun!”
“I see I see.”
He brings a tentacle in front of me and pats my head.
His expression isn’t very soft, but he feels like a kind old man, so it’s not bad.
He was nice to the kids too before the race, so he looks stern, but he’s a nice person.
“That’s my son-in-law. You are a great warrior of the sea.”
“Your warriors of the sea played all sorts of tricks…”
“That is the art of war. And my daughter is a jewel of the sea. If you take her to the surface, you need to be able to overcome this much hardship, no?”
Despite how he puts it, it means he cares about him.
And like Elga says, more people are calling him bro, so I’m sure people will look at him differently from now on.
“And… Apparently you settled things with Levi.”
“More like Livia made her apologize… And I didn’t have a problem with her anyway.”
“I see I see. But being honest with how you feel is good.”
Elga looks troubled, but Hafgufa laughs.
“Livia’s judgment wasn’t wrong.”
“…Yes, I promise I’ll make her happy.”
The way he says that clearly is a strong point of Elga.
And now I’m being glared at.
I guess he knows what I’m thinking, so I look away.
“We are going to have a banquet to celebrate your victory. You look forward to it too.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you!”
“…”
Elga’s expression is stiff for some reason.
And I won’t know why until the banquet begins.
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Thanks for the treat.