It did not seem like there were cards based on the Nine Elders.
Feeling somewhat depressed after being unable to find a card of herself, Mira left the last shelf and headed to the counter. The packs sold there were made of paper envelopes. There was also a sign indicating that they cost 200 Rils, and the envelopes that had colorful designs on them. They were also placed in a way that invited one to pick them up.
「Hoh, let’s see.」
Mira took one of the packs and on the front, it had a drawing of the leaders of the Three Gods’ Countries which she remembered. There was also the name of the game printed in large letters: Legend of Astelia, below it there was also the caption: The Three Gods’ Heroes.
As she looked along the counter, the other packs had the same Legend of Astelia title, but there was a lot of variation in the subtitles. They were commonly known as booster packs, and they looked quite similar to those she was once familiar with and used to buy, so she began smiling again as she remembered those times.
(It seems to be really popular.)
She turned the pack around, seeing some simple text written there: Become a god and compose a new legend with the world’s heroes in your deck. The writing was large and exaggerated, and below it there was an indicator stating that the cards contained in the pack had an average rarity of seven.
Then again, it was the kind of thing that would get children excited and Mira knew that very well. With a calm expression, Mira returned the pack to the counter, but then the pack that was beside it caught her eye. It had the subtitle: The Nova Spellcasters.
The drawing was of a woman with long crimson hair, a bountiful chest and seductive red eyes. It was clearly Luminaria.
(It’s her without a doubt! In that case there should be a card for me as well!)
If Luminaria, one of the Nine Elders, had a card, then Mira ought to have one as well. Thinking that, she took the pack and spoke to the clerk behind the counter.
「Hey, can I ask you something real quick?」
The clerk was shuffling through a book and sitting on a chair behind the counter filled with game mats, cases and other merchandise. When she heard Mira, she lifted her face. She had somewhat ashen hair and rather attractive features, but the bags under her eyes as if she had stayed up all night dulled them.
「What do you need?」
After placing a bookmark on her book, she looked straight at Mira. Her languid eyes looked as sleepy as earlier, but her lips curved upwards somewhat, so at least she looked ready to attend a customer.
「Well, I wanted to know if Danbulf is included in this pack?」
Saying that, Mira placed the pack on the counter.
If the card game had been invented by other players like she thought, then the cards inside each booster pack would vary depending on the series, while also being somewhat random inside a series. So if she wanted to get a certain card, she would have to just keep buying the correct type of packs.
「Danbulf? He’s one of the Nine elders, so he should be in there. These other two should also have him.」
The clerk had looked a bit unreliable, sitting idly behind the counter, but she was knowledgeable about the game and replied to Mira instantly. Afterwards, she also picked out two other packs from behind the counter and lay them in front for Mira to see.
They had the subtitles 『A Lively Wind』 and 『A Tumultuous Epoch』. Mira quickly glanced at them before saying:
「Then can you give me fifty of each?」
Mira asked nonchalantly as she fished through her waist pouch for something. The clerk was taken aback just from hearing that. 200 Rils for each pack multiplied by fifty, then multiplied by three for the different series gave a total of 30,000 Rils. That was much higher than the allowance a child would receive.
As far as the clerk recalled, the only people who made those kinds of purchases were adults who got too invested in the game, or more older people who wanted to flaunt in front of their grandchildren.
However, the clerk still told Mira to wait a moment and began counting the packs one after another and piling them up on the counter. After all, as long as Mira paid, there was no problem for the store to sell that many.
The mountain of fifty packs from three different series looked out of place in a store aimed mostly at children. Multiple people looked at the counter wide eyed when they noticed it.
In more colloquial terms, that was known as being a “whale”.1
「That’ll be a total of 30,000 Rils.」
When the clerk uttered those words, a wave of exclamations came from the children. Yet Mira was oblivious to the fact that she had been the source of that noise. She thought it was just their usual liveliness and high spirits.
After a quick nod to the clerk, Mira took out a gold coin which was worth 50,000 Rils.
「Ah, let me get 20,000 Rils for change then.」
After a short moment, the clerk gave her two mithril coins. She continued looking at Mira, her eyes both admiring and examining as they went over Mira’s features again.
In the end, she arrived at the vague conclusion that she had to be the daughter of some rich personage, but she did not press the matter any further.
「Thank you for your patronage.」
She just said that line in a robotic tone.
Holding the paper bag containing all 150 packs in her arms, Mira surveyed the zone with the tables wanting to quickly check the cards. There was an empty table near one of the corners of the room, so she headed in that direction.
In her way to the table, a childish sense of superiority filled her as the children looked at her with envy and curiosity, some even saying things like 「That’s so cool…」. When she arrived there, she let the bag fall on the table and took a seat.
(Now to see if I can find myself.)
A feeling of wishfulness filled her, as well as a vague certainty, like the nervousness and expectation one felt moments before a lottery was drawn, an exciting feeling she had not felt since she was a child.
She began taking the packs out of the bag, just like a lottery, and checked their contents after breaking their seals.
It was a rare occurrence for someone to buy such a large amount of packs, so a lively crowd of children had already formed around Mira, raising their voices like in a festival with Ohh’s and Ahh’s every time she took a card out.
150 packs was a considerable amount, so it took her around half an hour to open all of them.
(Hmm, that’s quite the disappointing conclusion.)
Using the experience from her former days, she laid down all of the 750 cards cleanly divided by rarity level on the table. And on the right side of all of that was the single rarest card she had gotten.
(Who is this? I’ve never heard of this person!)
The card was the triple rare Phantom Thief Fuzzy Dice card. It’s rarity was in third place from the top, but she still had not found her aim, Danbulf, or any of the Nine Elders for that matter, not even their aides.
Comments