［Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience!]

An announcement rang out. <

［The 155th Golem Competition will now begin!

The audience cheers.

"155th? ...... is amazing!"

Jin is also frankly impressed.

［Let me give you a brief description of the competition. ......There are a total of 51 Golems participating. All are autonomous.]

Jin and the others had not been told of the details, so they listened closely.

［The contestants will run a designated course of approximately 100 kilometers to reach the goal, and compete for the fastest time. However!]

The announcer paused for a breath here.

［You will be at a disadvantage if you do not have the markers at the five checkpoints along the way, because 10 points will be awarded for each one!]

"Oh."

Jin and the others had not heard of the calculation method.

［In case you are wondering, the ranking points are 50 for 1st place, 49 for 2nd place, 4 for 3rd place, and 8 for 50th place. 8 points...... and 1 point for 50th place and 0 point for 51st place.]

"...... I see."

Jin calculates the points in his head.

［For an extreme example, 1st place with 0 markers is 50 points. For example, with 5 markers, the 51st place gets 50 points. ......This is an extreme example, but 5th place with 5 markers is a higher score than 1st place with 4 markers.]

In other words, it is important to secure markers.

［Markers are made of magi crystals of different colors for each point, so it is not possible to have 5 markers from one place. It will result in immediate disqualification.]

Jin nodded his head and said, "Of course.

［Each golem is expected to have its own storage space to hold the markers.]

Some had a storage space in their abdomen, some swallowed them through their mouths, and some wore some kind of belt pouch.

［When the course reaches around one-third of the way to the end, the battle ban will be lifted, and the act of grabbing markers held by others will be permitted!]

This was new to Jin and the others, but it was understandable that this was done to liven up the competition.

［The competition will be filmed by the magic eyes installed at each location, and by a special golem equipped with a magic eye.

At this point, there was another round of applause.

［Now, finally, the players' golems have assembled!]

Below us is a ground-like area that has been leveled.

There, 51 Golems are lined up in a horizontal line. It seems that the start line = the goal line.

Since they are golems, their number is painted directly on their backs.

（It looks like a baseball player.)

Jin thought to himself, "This looks like a baseball player.

［...... Number 1 is the number of the Minister of Magical Arts and Technology, the Honorable LeGrey Gibbs von Vesuvius, <>!　The winner of the competition!]

"Oh, it looks very well balanced."

"He's very good looking."

<

The next three aircraft were introduced, numbered 2, 3, and 4, but none of them caught the attention of the group. And then...

［The number 13 is Gusleg Mivas, Golem <, who is participating for the first time this time!]

"Oh, that's pretty good. But I don't know... ......"

"It's very big."

"It's very big."

Two and a half meters tall, about the same width. He is 2.5 meters tall and about the same in width.

However, his strength and the quality of the materials used in his construction were so apparent just by looking at him.

And again, there was no golem in particular.

［The special entry this time was made by the Royal Factory of the Kingdom of Egelea, <>!

"The Royal Factory was founded about 400 years ago by His Royal Highness Prince Ernest, the third prince at that time.

Rhodes tells me secretly.

"That Ernest is ......."

Jin remembered with nostalgia the young prince's love of golems.

This also had a well-balanced figure.

"This time, instead of a guest of honor, the guest of honor in the royal family is the third prince and honorary CEO of the Royal Factory, His Royal Highness Ernest XVII," he said. His Royal Highness King Ernest XVII, the third Prince of Wales and Honorary CEO of the Royal Factory.

The Honorary CEO of the Royal Factory has been named Ernest for generations.

I turned around to look at him and saw that the current Ernest XVII was, oddly enough, a 14-year-old boy.

Ernest XVII waved his hand in a small gesture, as if he noticed that Jin thought that he had some resemblance to the Ernest.

Jin was surprised to see a golem standing behind him.

(Lotte ......?)

It was Lotte, a maid golem in the image of Bina, Rubina's ancestor.

(You look well. (You look well. ...... It seems that your current master is taking good care of you. (Good).

Lotte's exterior has not a scratch or rust on her, she is shining and polished, and she is dressed in her maidens' clothes. This shows that the Lotte has been well taken care of.

Jin felt a warmth in his heart.

[......] Now, the competition is about to begin. The countdown begins. 10,9,8,7,6,5......]

The venue was as quiet as if it had been hit by water.

［......3,2......]

I thought I heard the sound of someone's spit.

［Here we go!]

The silence was replaced by a loud cheer, and 51 golems began to run, the earth shaking.

［They all started running at once!　Ah, in the confusion immediately after the start, three ...... or rather four of them fell over!　Two more fell down due to the confusion right after the start!]

As I thought, the dangling condition right after the start was the worst, and a total of 7 fell down, making us behind.

However, one minute of time in a race over the total length of 100 kilometers can be recovered as much as possible in the future.

The five golems, apparently thinking so, did not make a dash at the start of the race, but ran at their own pace. The seven that had fallen down chased after them.

Then, the screen changes. The leading group is made up of seven Golems.

Numbers 1,3,13,31,40,4 9,51.

［The lead group is approaching the mountain path!]

This is a mountain trail leading to the summit of Mount Baksa.

It is not a straight climb but a zigzag path. There are two checkpoints marked in the middle of the trail.

It is about 10 km to the first checkpoint. For the Golems, who are traveling at about 30 kilometers per hour, it would take them about 20 minutes to reach the first checkpoint.

"Oh, Aaron's fast, too.

Heavyweights are at a disadvantage on mountain roads because of their physique. On the other hand, and , who should be considered middle-weight, were running up the mountain path with a light touch.

［They arrived at the first checkpoint with number 1 in the lead!　They have the red marker in their hands!　Oddly enough, the smallest and the largest numbers are in first and second place!]

After that, 13,49,31,3,40 in that order. The remaining markers are 13. There are 13 markers left.

With the second group behind them, the seven golems ran down the mountain path.

"This simply isn't interesting, is it?　Isn't there some kind of trick?"

Jin muttered.

"Jin-sama, what do you mean?"

Rubina heard his words and asked him a question.

"Hmm?　I have a feeling that the top team is going to be able to run away with the competition. So I was wondering if there is something that could make it a little more crowded."

"Well, Mr. Jin. How about ...... here?"

Rhodes overheard the conversation.

There was a map of the course of the tournament on the box seat.

"Uh, what's ......?"

"Well, it's the route from this 4th checkpoint to the 5th checkpoint.

"Oh, I see."

The route to the 5th checkpoint and the route back were the same.

In other words, it was a section where the lead and the followers were mixed up, and it was an area where battles were allowed.

"This is certainly a confusing area."

This is the perfect area to take away the marker that you got at the 5th checkpoint.

Jin agreed with the Road Toss, saying that there would surely be a disturbance there.