They encountered an angry harpy. But instead of being unhappy or worried, Aurora smiled. That's because she had planned to do something to make the harpies interested in her. They only had a little time, and there was no way she could find Uta in a normal way.

Still, she didn't expect Ruby's random comment to get them attention from a big fish like her. Aurora might be unfamiliar with the game "Speed Freak Uta," but she had seen the cover of the game a few times. And this girl was one of the characters on the cover. She might not have known her name, but she must have been one of the playable characters, not just a random NPC. She must have a direct connection with Uta.

"So what?" Ruby said fearlessly. "I'm just telling you the truth! Aurora can beat your speed with her eyes closed!"

"Um, that might not be true, Ruby," Aurora said.

"Ha! Look, even your friend doesn't agree with you!" the harpy said.

"Unless... maybe when the track is straight?" Aurora continued.

"See?" Ruby said proudly. "She can do it!"

"Both of you, brats!" the bird girl snorted in disgust. "You'd better back up that big mouth of yours with actual speed! Let's have a race!"

"Of course!" Ruby said. "I guess a simple fact can't get inside your stupid bird brain unless you see it for yourself, huh?"

"That's it, stupid human!" the bird girl said. "Don't think I'll forgive you even if you beg me to!"

"Yeah, yeah, do that after you win," Ruby said. "And you better not cheat by using a race track where flying will make you faster reaching the goal."

"Don't look down on me, human," the harpy stomped her legs. "Why would I use such a pathetic dirty trick? It's not the first time other races think they're faster than us. We have prepared several race tracks that are better suited to your silly legs."

"Oh... I guess I can respect your fairness then," Ruby said, kind of surprised.

Aurora nodded. "But if we're going to do this," she said, "I won't do it with just random people. Or harpies. Bring someone that's worth the effort. I want someone with the best speed you have."

"Don't joke around! There's no way I will let you race with our Uta--"

"What's going on here? Why the ruckus?" a tall harpy asked as she walked toward them. Her eyes were sharp and her hair was green.

That was Uta. Aurora remembered her as the most dominant character on the cover art of the game. But what surprised her the most was a small harpy girl that followed her. She wore big circled glasses and had short braided pink hair. Aurora was sure that she was supposed to be the rival character, the antagonist Hina Clockwinder, in other words, the transmigrator.

Yet they were obviously on the same team. Were they friends? Partners? What was going on here?

Aurora could ask her directly. If she revealed that she was a transmigrator too, Hina would most likely be willing to talk. But Aurora didn't feel like taking such an unnecessary risk. She had a guess of what might have happened. In a racing game, the normal one at least, there was usually no risk of dying. If you lost the race, you just lost. There was no danger of being killed by the winner. So ending up being friendly didn't really surprise Aurora when she thought about it this way.

The temperamental harpy from before tried to explain the situation. Uta nodded her head, starting to understand what had happened.

"So she wants the fastest of us?" Uta smiled. "Interesting. I won't back down from a challenge."

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"But Uta, they're not on your level--"

"Enough, I said I accept the challenge," Uta said, as she shifted her gaze to Aurora and Ruby, and walked over to them.

"Hey, Hina! Stop her!" the temperamental harpy said to the small harpy.

The small harpy, Hina, sighed. "There's no way I can. She has been bored for a whole week now. No way she's willing to back down from a race."

Uta observed Aurora and Ruby. "So both of you, who is going to race with me?" she asked.

"Me, I guess," Aurora said.

"Oh, cool. What's your name? I'm Uta, by the way," she said.

Aurora nodded. "I'm Aurora."

"Alright, follow me!" the tall harpy said.

They reached the race track. It was straight, with a smooth track, without any obstacles. The length was approximately around 500 meters.

"What happened here?" some random harpy asked.

"A human challenged us to a race."

"Oh, another one of those kinds of fools, huh? Wait-- isn't that Uta?"

"Wait, really? She's going to race with a human? What a waste."

"Everyone, shut up!" the temperamental harpy from before said, silencing everyone.

Uta ignored them and talked to Aurora. "The first one to reach the goal wins. It's simple enough, right?" the tall harpy said.

"Okay," Aurora said.

"Hina, give the signal!" Uta said.

"A-alright, on the count of three," the small harpy said.

Aurora and Uta stood on the starting line.

"LightSpeed," Aurora murmured.

Uta blinked. "What's that? A magic chant?" she asked.

Aurora smiled. "Maybe."

"One!" Hina yelled. "Two. Three. Begin!"

Aurora ran, and she reached the finish line. Everyone was freezing, unable to comprehend what had happened.

The first one to react was Ruby. "Amazing speed as usual, Aurora!" she cheered.

That's when the harpies started to react too.

"What...?" some said.

"What happened?" the others said.

Even Uta was in confusion. "What's up with that speed...?" she said.

She was stunned in place. She was lost, yet Uta didn't seem upset. In fact, she looked excited.

"So it exists," she said, her smile getting wider. "Speed that's far better than mine..."

"You must be cheating!" the temperamental harpy yelled at Aurora. "There's no way you were that fast!"

"Are you an idiot?" Ruby said. "She cleared my winning, fair and square. Like I said from the beginning."

"Shut up!" the harpy yelled back. "I don't believe--"

"Stop it," Uta said. "I can only see it vaguely, but her speed was genuine. If you keep that up, you will just embarrass me and disrespect speed itself."

The temperamental bird girl gasped. "I-I'm sorry."

"All of you, too," Uta addressed all the harpies that were watching. "I lost. That's it. Don't dare to make up stories besides that."

"Yes, of course," they all nodded in unison.

Meanwhile, Ruby ran towards Aurora and hugged her. "I knew you would obviously win, but congrats anyway!" she said.

Aurora smiled. "Thank you."

Uta walked towards them. "Anyway, your name was Aurora, right? I apologize," Uta said. "I guess we became a little arrogant just because we were getting a little faster. Even me. With such speed, ours must be like child's play to you."

"No, it's fine," Aurora said.

Uta nodded and smiled. "Anyway, can I make a request?" she said. "Please race with me once again."

Aurora actually didn't mind. Her 5-minute limit was still not up yet, but she felt it was a waste to just agree like that. "I'm not sure," Aurora said. "That was quite tiring for me, you know?"

"Please!" Uta said. "I beg you. Just once more."

"Hm... Alright, how about if we do it like this?" Aurora said. "If I win, I want you to do one thing for me."

"Eh? She already knows how fast you are," Ruby said. "She won't just accept it--"

"Sure," Uta said. "Let's do that."

"What? You know you will lose again, right?" Ruby asked, confused.

Uta smiled. "I know. This wasn't a bet, it was a payment. I am willing to do anything to see that speed again."

Aurora nodded. "So you get it."

As expected of someone that even in a game called 'speed freak', Uta's eyes were twinkling with excitement. Of course, she will be obsessed with Aurora's skill.

Aurora then once again ran back to the starting line, stopped for a moment, and then went back to the finish line. Uta didn't even try to move this time. She just watched.

"Ah... Even after I prepared myself, my eyes still can barely keep up..." Uta said as she trembled with excitement. Her face flushed red, and she even drooled a little, no longer trying to hide her actual feelings.

"Probably she wasn't just obsessed, probably she was a pervert," Ruby whispered to Aurora.

Well, probably, Aurora thought.

After calming herself down, Uta looked at Aurora.

"That was a beautiful run," she said.

"Thank you," Aurora replied.

"So what are you going to ask me?" Uta asked.

"I wonder if you will agree with this," Aurora said, doubtful.

"A promise is a promise. I will do what I can. So just tell me already," Uta said.

Aurora nodded. "I want you to bring at least 30 harpies to our kingdom, Avalonera, and help us in future fights with... certain enemies."

"Fight? What do you mean?" Uta asked.

"In the future, we will fight with certain creatures," Aurora said. "It's a little bit hard to explain. But I want you to help me against them. Well, if you don't want to, I won't force you."

Uta was confused and seemed to be against the idea. "Look," she said. "We like competition. We like physical activity, but fighting was a bit..."

"But of course, if you come, I'm willing to race against you as much as you want," Aurora continued, betting on their love of speed.

That's immediately sparked a light in Uta's eyes. "Alright, deal!" she said.

"That's... a quick change of mind," Ruby said, distrusting. "Do you even really mean it?"

"Well, I'm planning to follow you anyway the moment I saw your speed," Uta admitted. "There's no way I will let go of a source of amazing speed like that. So if you're giving me the chance to formally continue racing with you like that, of course I won't say no!"

"Wait, you're planning to stalk us?" Ruby said, grabbing Aurora's hand and getting defensive.

"No, no, that was...a slip of the tongue? I didn't really mean it," Uta laughed it off.

"We can't trust her, Aurora," Ruby said.

"Oh, come on, everyone makes a mistake," Uta said. "Anyway, I don't know what fight you're talking about, but you won't regret having me on your side!"

"Alright then, I'm looking forward to working with you," Aurora said.

"Aurora!" Ruby exclaimed.

"It's fine," Aurora said. "Oh, and I want you to take her too."

The small harpy was shocked when Aurora pointed at her.

"M-me?" Hina said, her face pale.

***