Chapter 400: Despair

“Let’s begin the 3rd event of Gonkurrenz! We’re moving the stage to the water surface!”

Similar to the golem boat competition once held in Potlock, bird’s-eye view of Lake Tosmo was projected by utilizing the combination of Magic Eye and Magic Screen combination.

“I think we will win this time …”

Viscount Georg Randol murmured while worrying in his seat amongst the audience. Sitting next to him, Elsa silently thought, “That’s impossible”.

“Look, look at that …”

“That girl … Automata, is she going to swim in that?!”

“She’s still wearing her shoes, even …”

Two Automatas and three golems lined up on the pier outside the plaza. No other participants were fully dressed, except Reiko.

Marcus Grinwald’s Automata even put on something resembling a swimsuit with great difficulty.

“Lord Jin, are you sure she’s going to be all right?”

Referee Christoph was concerned about Reiko swimming in her dress and tried to obtain Jin’s confirmation. Jin simply nodded silently.

“A-all right then, let us begin the 3rd event: swimming competition. Below the watchtower on the opposite shore of Lake Tosmo, there are boards with the names of each participant. Please take the board with your respective name and swim back with it. Of course, the fastest one wins.”

Although the boards left at the base of the watchtower were not visible from here, with the watchtower serving as a landmark, the participants were to retrieve their respective boards and swim back. The rules were foolproof.

“Ready your position, … 3, 2, 1, start!”

Five bodies jumped in the lake all at once and swam at tremendous speeds, leaving trails of white foam behind.

It was a 10-km round trip swimming in Lake Tosmo. It would take one 30 minutes to swim a round trip lap at 20 kmph.

However, one Automata was swimming at an extraordinary speed.

Unquestionably, it was Reiko. Even though she was fully dressed with shoes on, her speed exceeded 50 kmph. That being said, it was not even her full speed.

Reiko once dived into the sea searching for Jin who went missing, while traveling to various parts of the world.

During that time, Reiko swam at over 100 kmph while carrying more than 20 kg of luggage. Now that the improvement of her efficiency had been more than doubled, Reiko was only using a slight amount of energy output.

“Woah?!”

“W-what is that …?”

“No way …!”

Once again, Reiko took the audience’s breath away. The Magic Screen showed everyone her swimming style.

She was practically diving. As an Automata, there was no need for her to emerge on the surface and take a breath.

Thoughtlessly imitating humans’ swimming style would produce waves. The waves would create the so-called wave drag, a significant resistance for the swimmer to overcome.

Except for Reiko, the other four participants were swimming on the surface, producing a track of white foam behind them as they kicked up waves with their movements.

Sometimes Reiko would appear on the surface to confirm direction, but otherwise, she would continue to plunge forward under the water like a submarine.

“W-what an incredible Automata!”

Hearing her father muttered in disbelief, Elsa could not help but feel sympathy.

(… That’s what you get for having known only your little world. I was able to know this wide world, thanks to Brother Rei and Brother Jin.)

Swiftly, Reiko had already reached the opposite shore. She took the board with Jin’s name from