Fairy Tail: Sun Eater - Part 1

50. Grand Magic Prix

2 months later, the racing tournament is held. Ben & the girls go to the Capital to join it. Ben has registered last week and today is the racing day of this Grand Magic Prix.

Ben has modified his car to suit the race better. He remove the front weapons because it's too low and will make it hard for off-road tracks. He also used air suspension now and he also add a booster like NOS.

He doesn't change too many parts and just changed some. This is his first race, so he just wants to know how the race worked. This racing tournament is free, so he can just join it again next year.

Team Ben goes to meet with Joseph. The girls will watch the race with Joseph while Ben will race alone. Racing is dangerous, so he can't bring the girls with him.

Bella was whining to join the race, but Ben doesn't change his mind. Joseph has told him that some racers died because of 'accidents' in the past. His survival chance will be higher if he's alone.

Bella finally agreed yesterday after Ben bribed her with a lot of milk from Capital. Ben asked Joseph to buy all types of milk in Capital. With Joseph's power as a big merchant, he can get all kinds of milk for Bella.

So now, Ben can race without any disturbance. He goes to his paddock garage to do his final preparation before the race starts. Every racer gets their own garage to park their vehicles before racing.

Ben walks past other garages where many racers prepare their vehicles. Many of them are from guilds or have a professional team. Only a few who came alone like Ben.

Ben registered in this race as an independent racer, not a guild. Roubaul doesn't allow him to join as a guild, so Ben joins as an independent racer.

Ben enters his garage and does a little check on his car. The other racers & teams are looking at him because he is still a kid. They wonder why a kid like him joins this race.

But there's no rule for age, so they can't complain. Besides, they also start to learn about racing at a young age. It's just that Ben is alone, and doesn't have a team.

"Oi kid, where's your team?" asks a racer that has a garage beside Ben. This racer is a man who has a professional team in his garage.

"There's no team, I'm alone," answers Ben.

"Alone? But you seem to be from a guild," asks the racer while looking at Ben's guild insignia on his forearm.

"My guild master doesn't allow us to participate, so I join independently. Besides, this is my car, so I can do what I want," says Ben lightly.

"You are quite a rebel, I like it. I'm Raymond Seina, from Bolt racing team," the man introduces himself while offering a handshake.

'Raymond from Bolt racing team? That sounds familiar,' thinks Ben.

"I'm Ben Cooper, a new racer," Ben shakes Raymond's hand.

"How old are you little guy?" asks Raymond.

"I'm 12 and a half now," answers Ben.

"12 y.o!? I've just started to learn about the magic vehicle at 12 y.o. I couldn't even drive it because my MP was low back then. You must've got a lot of MP to drive a magic vehicle at your age," Raymond praises Ben.

"You can say it like that," says Ben.

"Have you raced before?" asks Raymond.

"No, this is my first time," answers Ben.

"Oh. Well, what should I say? Enjoy the race and be careful," says Raymond.

"Yeah, thanks for the reminder," Ben thanks Raymond.

Raymond return to his garage and let Ben continue his work. Ben just does some small checks on his car to make sure it's ready for the race. He finished his checking after 10 minutes.

Then Ben wears his safety gear like clothes, shoes, gloves, and a helmet. He really put safety as a priority, so he designed and made these things. He even made some safety mechanisms in his car like airbags and fire extinguishers.

The other teams are looking at Ben strangely because of his safety gear. They have never seen those things and the designs are strange for them. They also have safety gear, but it's not as strange as Ben's.

Well, their standards are different. Ben has watched racers on Earth and their safety gears are like what he wears. So Ben doesn't see it as a strange thing, and it looks cool instead.

The race finally started after an hour. The racers go to the starting grid with their vehicles. Now Ben can see the various vehicles, mainly cars & bikes. Their designs and sizes are various too.

Some racers also have a navigator in their vehicles. Their tracks will be a little difficult, so they need a navigator's help. But Ben doesn't have any navigator. It will just make him worry about his navigator's safety.

There's no qualification round to decide the starting position. It is based on their registration number. Ben gets number 24 from 33 racers, so he is on the back row.

The host announces the racers' names to the audience. Then when he announce Raymond's name, the crowd starts to cheer. The MC then says that Raymond has won this tournament for 5 years consecutively.

Now Ben remembers about Raymond. He has won 5 consecutive races and won some other racing tournaments. Well, it doesn't matter to Ben, because he knows other racers here have more experience for him.

After the host finished introducing all racers, the race will start. The host starts a countdown and the racers get ready. Ben also shift his car's gear to the first gear to start the race.

"3! 2! 1! Start!" the host starts the race.

Ben immediately hits the gas and so are the other racers. The starting track is still normal with a long straight line. This is an advantage for Ben because his car is really fast.

He drives fast and overtakes many racers in front of him. When the long straight line end after 1 km, Ben has reached 5th position. His car's engine is the best among all these vehicles, so he is the fastest in a straight line.

The track now follows the city's narrow road with many curves and intersections. Here, the racers' skills are the most useful things. So now some racers behind Ben start to overtake him.

When they leave the city road, Ben becomes 8th. He has succeeded to overtake some racers who overtook him too. Now the race track is on the highway that has wide size, but the ground is soil.

"So it's a rally time," says Ben.

Ben runs his car fast and moves forward in position. He overtakes some racers and becomes 4th. But the 3 racers in front of him are really fast. They use an old model but still can run that fast. It means that their MPs are high and their vehicles are special.

Among those 3 racers is Raymond, who is in 1st position. Ben keeps his 4th position from his competitors. 3 people can keep up with his car's speed on this highway.

"They're really good," says Ben.

The track then moves to the open area without any road. The track is on rocky ground with many areas of sand, like a desert. There are no people here, and the racers are watched through a lacrima vision that is held by a tamed flying wyvern.

On this rocky track, the race starts to become barbaric. Some racers use their vehicles to hit the others' vehicles. Some weak vehicles get destroyed and those racers lose. This is not against the rules at all, so it's legal.

"So this is the 'accidents', huh? Interesting," says Ben while smirking.

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