“B-But we could really use some man power right now, so don’t go putting him out of commission before we even get started.”
As the prince grabbed my arm, I finally realized I had been unconsciously performing harite on the strange wolf. Sorry.
It seemed we now had four. Could we do this...? Suddenly, I felt a gust of wind blow from the direction of Aryaka—Yes... We might get our fifth. Such a premonition flashed through the back of my mind.
“What about the fifth spot, milady? I’m not participating, of course.”
“We’ll proceed as four.”
“You and His Highness are the most promising contestants, milady. There’s no telling how well Mamiana and the wolf-man will do.”
“W-Well, for now let’s just do our best,” I replied.
“Hopefully the god of sumo will help you out...”
“Luck can be the deciding factor.”
“You’re at a pretty big disadvantage today, though.”
She was right, but we had no choice, since we were making our escape to Aryaka.
“In what order shall we field our rikishi?” asked Adela, her eyes those of a soldier.
Let’s see...
“Mamiana first, then the muscular wolf, then Prince Richie, no fourth, and me at the end. How does that sound?”
“The other side will probably field the minotaur first, Uta second, Kukuri third, Arima fourth, and the Demon Lord last.”
“I’m going against Kukuri? This is getting exciting.”
“You’ve brought Uta down before, Your Highness, so it would be an option to put you against her once more for a higher chance of victory...”
“No, she has probably come up with a countermeasure for the Maglev Triple Attack Force Out by now. And I have no doubt Kukuri would beat Mamiana and Barkus.”
“I agree, Your Highness.”
Still, regardless of whether they faced Uta or the minotaur, I couldn’t imagine Mamiana or the creep in the wolf mask winning at all. In any case, we would just have to see how this went. Woman up, Floortje!
A bridge was extended between the tail of the Trailblazer and the front of the Thunder. It even had handrails.
“Hm... Not bad for a demonic imitation of our train,” spoke Chief Jörd.
“Yeah, this goblin professor here knows his stuff. He made it,” replied the Demon Lord.
“N-N-Nice to gob-meet you! I used your Trailblazer as gob-reference!”
“Oh, a goblin made it? How interesting... It’s a job well done. Nice work,” said the chief.
The goblin professor looked bashful and happy.
“It was easy to gob-model it after yours since you made yours first.”
“Come on, you’re not giving yourself enough credit. Just knowing a train’s design and seeing one in action is hardly enough to make such a close copy. You should be proud of yourself, Professor.”
“Th-Thank you, gob. Y-You dwarves are the best at gob-making stuff. I have the utmost gob-respect for you.”
“So how did you design the engine? What lets you move faster than the Trailblazer?”
“I-It’s an autonomous triple-cylinder gob-engine operating on fire magic stones. It heats air and utilizes its gob-expansion, gob. It is, however, gob-inefficient.”
“Oh! I’d never thought of that. Would you let me take a look at your engine?”
“Gob-follow me. We’ve done a lot with the gob-design.”
“Can’t wait to see it. In exchange, I’ll tell you the obscure technical know-how behind the Trailblazer.”
“Y-You’d gob-do that for me?!”
“You can’t make amazing machinery by keeping knowledge to yourself. But mind that we’ll borrow any useful know-how of yours too!”
“Be my gob-guest!”
The two technology enthusiasts happily proceeded to the Thunder’s locomotive together. As silence permeated the surroundings, the Demon Lord and I looked at each other.
“W-Well, what can I say? Engineers sure love exchanging their tech,” said the demon.
“Looks like it. Never thought a goblin would be so capable with it,” I replied.
“Yeah, it’s because there’s so many of them. You get a lot of unique individuals.”
I wondered if goblins were like the humans of the demonic realm. Among all the races on the continent, humans lost to the elves in intelligence, to the dwarves in toughness, and to the halflings in the arts. However, there were a lot of us, so we had many unique outliers.
We stepped onto the dohyō car, silently bowing to the line of Dark Rikishi waiting for us. Arima lowered his head as though to apologize for his lord. Don’t let it get to you, I thought: enforcing rules of team competitions was a valid strategy. Arima was certainly an upright wrestler.
“So, we’re fielding Mamiana first, Barkus second, Prince Richie third, no fourth, and Lady Floortje fifth,” spoke Adela.
“No fourth, eh? That’s nice,” replied the Demon Lord.
“Have you ever heard of sportsmanship?”
“Hah hah hah, what a lively maid you’ve got here! You’re an amusing... Huh? Huuuh?!”
The Demon Lord stared at Adela in astonishment, his mouth agape. It was an odd sight, given his otherwise easygoing character.
“Wh-What’s the matter, Demon Lord?”
“I-I mean, you, you’re actually...”
Adela stomped on his foot. Faced with such a turn of events, the rest of us went silent.
“What. Is. The. Matter?!”
“Oh, n-nothing, sorry, I-I misunderstood...”
“Good. If I catch you saying something silly, you’ll be in for a divi...for a maid curse!”
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
W-Wow, Adela. She must’ve been the first maid in history to stomp on the foot of a Demon Lord. Also, what’s a “maid curse”?
We helped Mamiana and Barkus put on their mawashi. Thankfully, the prince and I had spares we could lend them. The one Barkus got was pretty gaudy, being adorned with various patterns.
“It’s a sample mawashi from an armorer I frequent. It suits him well, so it’s not a problem, is it?” said Adela.
“That’s true. But hurry up and return to being my adorable Barkus.”
“Yes, hurry up.”
“RUFF...” I could hear dejection in Barkus’s voice.
With Mamiana, I put a mawashi on top of her traditional Dwarven Sumo outfit.
“It’s pretty tight. You’re meant to be gripping this for the most part, I take it?”
“Yes. It might be difficult for you to adapt, coming from Dwarven Sumo which is focused on throws, but I know you can do it.”
“I’ll do my best!”
Mamiana had the basics down, which already put her above Boorman, but she would need more training before she could do proper sumo.
The minotaur Gogontes performed shiko. He looked to be a fine wrestler who would make for a tough opponent for Mamiana. He didn’t appear to have any special abilities, however, relying instead on raw muscle, and he’d probably be a real menace at the initial charge. Maybe I should tell Mamiana to perform a henka, sidestepping at the start to dodge him... On second thought, though, I decided a beginner shouldn’t even try such a move. It could only end with her getting simply pushed out in the aftermath.
“Mamiana, your opponent will come charging at you full force at the start, so be sure to endure as best you can.”
“Got it. I’ll show you how tough dwarves are!”
My team members made me nervous. Still, that was part of the fun of team sumo.
I raised my hand towards the black dohyō and cast the summoning spell for one of my own. White parts quickly spread on the black surface, finally settling in the shape of the yin-yang symbol. The translucent referee, too, became a gray one.
With the loud sound of a steam whistle, the two trains sped through the canyon.
“Now let us do sumo, yokozuna Floortje!”
“Yes, it is time, yokozuna Demon Lord!”
It was time for a Magic Train tournament!
“On the east, Mamiana, Mamiana... On the west, Gogontes, Gogontes...”
Spreading her white fan, Adela announced the participating rikishi from atop the dohyō. Good luck, Mamiana. Her opponent Gogontes was, well, massive. He was at least as big as the hellfire troll Aikio, and his muscles, resembling wires tied together in appearance, were intimidating.
“Heh heh heh. A beginner like you is no mino-match for me.”
“We’ll see about that, you big oaf!!!”
The two rikishi were already engaged in verbal warfare on the dohyō.
It must be noted that sumo done to the sound of a speeding train under a clear blue sky with a canyon around you was a blissful thing. Journeys didn’t get much better than that.
“Face each other.”
Gradually, the two wrestlers’ breathing synchronized. At last, they touched the ground with their fists, rose up at the same time, and loudly crashed into each other. Gogontes had put his back into it, slamming into Mamiana with incredible force. He appeared to be the type of sumo wrestler that focused on charging. Alas, there was so much difference between his three or so meters in height and Mamiana’s sub-one-and-a-half that his chest and forehead—the body parts of a charging wrestler carrying the most momentum—didn’t find their target. Mamiana, meanwhile, got close to Gogontes and headbutted his chest. Bam! With the sound of a firing cannon, the minotaur’s charge was stopped, allowing Mamiana to enter a deep double underarm grip. She attempted a major outer reap, using her leg to swipe at Gogontes’s weight-bearing leg from the outside, but he was still steady on his feet and simply rebounded her leg with his raw muscle. His brawn was no joke.