Magi Craft Meister - Volume 3 - Chapter 21

03-21　Awards Ceremony, and…

Just outside of Port Rock a small boat arrived, but there was no one to catch a glimpse of it. Everyone had gone to the finish line to watch the winner of the race.
「Ok, it’s all right now Reiko.」
A naked Reiko got on the ship and put on her clothes quickly without worry.
「Father, we should take these golems to the meet officials soon.」
「Ah, yes, please.」
「Yes.」
Reiko lifted the golems and began to carry them since they couldn’t move. Jin did the same as well.
「Hm? What, what is it?」
「What is that? huh?」
Most of the residents were paying attention to eh competition, but we still stood out.
Because Jin intended to leave this town soon, he began to look serious.
At the finish line, a thunderous cheer could be heard.
「Athlete number 35, now, GOOOOOOOOAL!」
Jin was reminded by the especially big announcement that Marcia had taken first place.
「Well done, Marcia.」
Jin thought while watching through the crowd who was pushing and shoving to catch a glimpse of this years queen, Marcia who had a tearful face.
「Congratulations, father. Well, it’s natural since it’s father.」
Reiko said, slightly joyfully.

「Ah, if it isn’t Jin. Congratulations n your victory. By the way, what is Miss Reiko carrying?」
Jin met Reinhardt who came down from the VIP seats to thank Elsa for her service. Fortunately for Jin,
「Oh, Reinhardt. About these two golems, it seems some guy who was plotting to interfere with the competition sent them.」
「What? Is the Control Core safe?」
「Of course. Even though I can check it, I’d like a meet official to be present.」
「I’ll never forgive anyone that defiles the competition that should be fair. Hey, official!」
Although Jin was an uninvited guest, because of Reinhardt’s influence and position as an aristocrat in another country, a meet committee vice chairman came over immediately. It seems the chairperson was busy with the awards ceremony.
「There is someone who tried to cheat with these golems.」
「What!」
「When we check the control core, the evidence should be understood. Watch, READ!」
Reinhardt works his magic on the control core. Not Decompilation, it is the easy to understand and amateur Read.
「This is….!」
Light flows out and forms letters in a line. When read,
「This part “interfere with all ships except for athlete number 1’s” can be read.」
「This says “Destroy athlete number 35 and ****”. **** is not readable, but they want it destroyed. What is this thing?!」
This thing was damaged so the reading wasn’t perfect, but it’s enough because the important parts were understood.
「In other words, this golem was sent out for…!」
The complexion of the vice-chairman changed, but Reinhardt remained calm.
「No, the earlier don’t, it could also be an excessive supporter.」
「Anyway, we’ll bring this up in the meet governing committee!」
He said so and gave a subordinate an order and made them carry the golem to evidence.
「Oh? In such a place.」
When Jin relaxed his shoulders and murmured, Reinhardt is in high spirits.
「I saw Jin and Miss Reiko row out and leave. This is increasingly making me want to invite you to our country more and more. When I go back home, do you want to go together?」
Because it’s not a bad argument, Jin then said
「Because the competition is over, you don’t have to give an immediate reply, unfortunately. I need to travel around elsewhere, but how about we drink about it in Elias Kingdom in about 10 days?」 (TL:I’m a little confused with this line, but I think I got the gist of it. Raw: この競技が終わったからすぐ、というわけにはいかないんだ、残念ながら。他の地域も回る必要があってな、エリアス王国を経つのは何だかんだで１０日後くらいになるだろうな)
Because he thought Jin would give him inspiration, he gave a grace period of 10 days for convenience.
「If that’s the case, I’d be happy to go together.」
「Oh, I see! My Randall family will definitely welcome you to our country. Then how about I send someone to meet you here in 10 days?」
When Jin said he’d like to go, Reinhardt was pleasantly surprised.
「I that case, that’ll help. Oh, how much baggage can I bring?」
「If it’s 1 carriage, it doesn’t matter.」
There didn’t seem to be a problem, so Jin thanked him.
They decided on the meeting place as the central harbor and Jin received a handkerchief with the crest of the Randall house on it.
This will allow the person who’s going to pick up Jin to identify him.
At that time, remarkably loud cheers came from the direction of the competition venue.
「Oh, is the rewards ceremony going to start soon?」
So Jin and Reinhardt went to the venue together.

On the podium are three extremely beautiful women.
Marcia who wore a blue swimsuit was on the highest platform marked 1. Because her narrow figure was emphasized, it appeared to attract the gazes of almost all of the male visitors.
Elsa was wearing a yellow swimsuit and was in second place. Because of her modest figure in spite of being 16 year sold, and her being a viscounts daughter, people were cheering for her less openly. (TL: I think they’re trying to say that people didn’t want to look like pedophiles, so they weren’t paying as much attention to her and using her status as an excuse for not doing so.)
In third place and a red swimsuit was Riche. Although she was petite, she had a glamorous figure which divided the popularity and attention between her and Marcia in two.

＊　　　＊　　

The awards ceremony was over and Jin and Reiko were talking to Marcia in the waiting room. She had already taken off her swimsuit and was wearing her casual clothes.
「Jin, thank you, it’s thanks to you that I could win the championship. Thanks to you, I should be able to get along as a shipwright.」
While saying so, she placed the bag with the 1 million torr prize money on the table.
「I was able to get the 100,000 torr prize for the design of the ship.」 (TL: I think that the last one was supposed to be 100,000 as well, but there was an extra 0, it was １００万 vs １０万 which showed in this line, so I think it’s a typo, but I’ll leave it at that)
Marcia seems happy that the catamaran Cygnus was evaluated well and appears slightly more gentle.
「Because of that, I got an award for uniqueness. This is your share, Jin.」
She put the bag of 100,000 torr in front of Jin. The waterwheel drive was evaluated highly.
「Because of that, the division of the championship prize money will be equally divided according to our contract.」
「Um, I….」
「Ah, I understand. Because Jin contributed the most to our victory, I want to give you 3/4ths.」
「No, that’s not it, I….」
Jin started to say that it was a joke, but decided to stay quiet about it, because his modesty could appear as excessive and devalue the victory for being too reserved.
「Well then, half, if you please.」
Saying so, he opened the bag with gold coins and counted out 50 and left it to Reiko. Reiko then put it in a pocket of her apron.
「That was refreshing. What will you do now, Jin?」
Marcia asked with relief on her face.
「I was originally planning to go sightseeing in this country see the different towns. Reinhardt invited me to visit too…」
「Is that so? Though I am disappointed, the contract is over and Jin is not from this country. Although it was short, it was fun.」
Saying so, Marcia held out her right hand and Jin grasped it in return.
「I was also happy that I could team up with Marcia.」
After saying so and smiling, Jin and Marcia left the waiting room.

They were then promptly mobbed by people who wanted to hire the two of them.

＊　　　＊　　

「Excuse me, is it true?」
「Yes, Reinhardt a VIP checked it in front of me.」
「Go investigate this immediately.」
The female feudal lord, Dominique de Firentsiano was angry at the news that there was a person who plotted sabotage with the golems and commanded that it be investigated immediately.

On that day, the fact that an aide to the feudal lord bought a large quantity of Magic Stones and a magic formation of magic movement interference was discovered in the desk of a meet official.
Furthermore, a merchant who used some materials and more moenty made poor quality bronze statues of a specific visitor (they didn’t say it was Marcia) and was reported. (TL: The part in the (they didn’t say it was Marcia) was actually in the raw)
Another thing that was discovered was that one person who was arrested was a member of the garrison who had snuck into the docks where the ships in the finals were kept and failed to steal it. As a result of interrogation, they found out he was after ship number 35.
Further inquiry also found that Velntino had been persistently trying to make Marcia, the champion, into his mistress.
The final evidence was that they were able to identify the Magic Craftsman who programmed the golems that Reiko had captured. Naturally, the person who hired him became clear shortly after.
Although most of the evidence was circumstantial, the program contents of the Golems were definitive.
Valentino was cornered by the evidence. Lord Valerio who made the golem was also suspicious, and a written protest was going to be sent to the Celuria Kingdom.

Although he was cornered, Valentino still had a fearless laugh.

Meet governing board announcement.
「This is a very regrettable thing, but there was movement which tried to interfere in the competition that should have been fair.
It performed in favoritism of Number 1 Elias’s Glory.
The position of third place is revoked from Elias’s Glory’s team and given to team 28, team Seabird is now raised to 3rd place.
Therefore, as a result of this, we await those concerned eagerly.」