Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Despite their guerilla marketing style, there was a staggering number of clients. Even when the 3000 Rils price tag was quite high compared to the other restaurants nearby, no one hesitated to buy the lunchboxes.

Half of the lunchboxes had already been sold mere moments after they opened the booth.

“Me…me too…me too!”

As the crowd around her became more dense, Mira finally reacted and stepped forward, not wanting to lose out.

“Phew…I bought them too.”

It all came and went like a storm. Not even five minutes after their arrival, the booth sold out and they closed up and left just as swiftly as when they opened.

Left behind on the street was Mira, holding two bags in her hands. Even with the throngs of people moving around her, she had managed to snatch a pair of the Restaurant Feeriebranche’s lunchboxes for herself. One of each type.

“…Wait, why did I buy these?”

Once everything began to calm down around her, Mira questioned her previous actions, incited by the crowd’s movements.

She had not even made up her mind on what to have for lunch yet, and yet she rushed ahead to buy two lunchboxes out of the blue. Not to mention that they were both expensive ones priced at 3000 Rils each.

She had gotten carried away and fallen victim to mass psychology, on top of being dragged around by the crowds around her.

It was true that the price tag was steep, but the contents more than warranted it. On top of that, they had been flying off the shelves, making her fear missing out despite being so close, so she moved almost instinctively.

And before she realized, she even bought one of each kind, just like everyone else did.

(And strangely…I don’t regret it.)

Mira looked into the bags she held and smiled to herself. They might have been expensive lunchboxes, but they had been prepared by the Restaurant Feeriebranche, making them high class lunchboxes.

In a way, she had gotten an extremely good deal on them, so even though she had gotten carried away and spent more money than she wanted, she felt satisfied with her purchase.

And there was another factor other than price.

It was scarcity. The Restaurant Feeriebranche was running that special campaign exclusively for the tournament, something the booth staff made sure to announce loud and clear.

On top of that, she had overheard various comments from the people in the crowd. Apparently that carriage would travel randomly through Ratnatraya, opening for business out of nowhere.

So even if one had the money for it, there was no guarantee they would be able to buy the lunchboxes. There was no point waiting in one spot for them either. Just catching a glimpse of them was considered rare, and being able to buy a lunchbox was like a super rare event. That was why the crowd rushed so quickly to the booth once it opened.

Even now, roughly a minute after the carriage left, there were still people running to that spot in the street after hearing that the carriage had opened, then looking around before lamenting, “I was too lateee!”

There were very few people who were lucky enough to buy the lunchboxes, and it was happening less frequently by the day.

(Well, let’s just head back and feast on this in a better spot!)

After processing everything that had happened in front of her, Mira stored the lunchboxes in her Item Box, climbed on Pegasus’ back while glancing at the poor souls who arrived too late, and flew away dashingly, filled with a sense of superiority.

“Welcome back! I’m starving!”

When Mira reached the palace’s office, Alma greeted her in a confusing way.

“Hm? Why’s that? You haven’t eaten yet?”

It was a good while past noon, and no matter how much work Alma had piled up, that would never be a reason to withhold her from having lunch. So while Mira looked at her confused, she gave an unexpected answer.

“You’ll be meeting Iris for the first time today, so I was planning on having all of us have lunch together to build up trust faster! We were supposed to go to her room together when you returned, have lunch, talk about how good it is, all to show her you’re a good person! That’s why I haven’t eaten yet!”

Alma angrily shouted the reason why she had not eaten yet. She had been planning to have Mira and the oracle eat together as a way to break the ice between them.

But then Mira did not show up by noon, and Alma did not want to waste all of the effort she had already put into that plan, so she had no option but to drown herself in work to somehow ignore her hunger while she waited.

That also meant that Iris was in the same position. Alma had no doubt that she was hungrily waiting for her new bodyguard.

“You should’ve told me that before I left…”

Mira would have tried to return sooner if she had known about all that. Probably. The lengthy remote summoning lesson loomed in the back of Mira’s mind as she reprimanded Alma for not saying anything earlier.

“I mean, I didn’t think it’d take you this long to come back.”

Alma pouted and looked away while sulking. She had thought that it would be as simple as getting to the branch, calling the headquarters, and letting Kagura know they needed her help. Now she was under the impression that there were all sorts of rigorous checks at the branch that delayed Mira.

All of Mira’s synapses began firing rapidly as she noticed that.

“Ah, well, sorry for that. You know, not just anyone can talk to their leader, so a lot happened.”

Mira began muddying the truth, not really explaining what had actually happened. The truth was that almost all of her time away had been spent on a phone call about summoning, while leaving the message only took five minutes. If she had solely focused on her main task, she would have been back at least an hour prior, and all three of them would have their bellies full and a friendship kindled.

“Finee, I get it… Anyway, how did it go? Is Kagura going to come?”

All of this had only been possible thanks to Mira’s connections, so Alma stopped complaining about her empty stomach and instead asked how it went, and if she could expect to get anything from Jorg soon.

“It went really well. They get in contact with Kagura every three days, and they should have a call tonight, so I asked them to pass the message when that happens. She might even arrive sometime tomorrow.”

Knowing Kagura, once she heard the message, she would send out Piisuke as soon as possible. If she did it right after their call, then she could even be arriving at Ratnatraya the next day.

She would be especially quick since it was a request from Alma. And knowing all of that, Mira also reported on the measures she took for Kagura’s arrival. The director of the Fifty Bells’ branch in Ratnatraya would bring Piisuke to the palace, and Mira made sure to mention that he was a man with a rather intimidating appearance.

“So I’d appreciate it if you could let your gatekeepers know that. Just call for me if a man called Claus arrives.”

Mira would have to personally verify that it was Claus at the gates, and take Piisuke from him. That meant she would have to leave the oracle’s side for some time, but that was no issue for the continent’s best summoner. She had plenty of ways to keep the oracle secure even if she had to leave.

“Alright, when Piisuke gets here just bring him to me. I’ll explain everything to Kagura myself after that.”

Alma was on board with everything as well. After letting out a breath of relief, she stamped her seal on a stack of papers and rose up exclaiming, “All done!” followed by a cynical, “I got so much done thanks to you!”

Mira’s lengthy absence had allowed Alma to tackle a lot of documents she had fallen behind on, so after stretching a bit she laughed a little.

Which was interrupted by her stomach groaning, so after an embarrassed look around, she glared at Mira again.

Mira averted her gaze and just turned around to leave the office, not wanting to delay things anymore. At the same time, she decided it was best to keep the lunchboxes she bought on her way back a secret.

At first, she had been planning on gloating to Alma about the rare lunchboxes she had obtained. But showing off fancy lunchboxes to someone who had been waiting famished was not a wise decision, and that much was as plain as daylight.