"Sister Mira, we want to take this mission." Reby handed over a request sheet. The Lane Engine Squad was gearing up for action again.
Due to Jet's injury, they hadn't gone out in quite a while.
A few days ago, Reby took the newcomer Tono for some simple jobs and earned a bit, but Troy truly couldn't hold on much longer.
Jet, with the added hospital expenses, was even more anxious to make some money now that his leg was healed.
"Let me take a look." Mira carefully examined the request. It was a mission to investigate a library theft,
"The risk is low, but since it's an incident from two weeks ago, it's quite challenging. Are you sure you want to choose this?"
"Because it's related to books, I wanted to give it a try," Reby said, "and the reward is decent too."
Jet confidently declared, "No problem, I'll show what I can do this time!"
Troy was quick to dampen his spirits, "You said the same thing last time, and ended up in the hospital."
"Can you stop bringing that up!" Jet grumbled in frustration, "This time it's just catching a thief, nobody can outrun me!"
Troy retorted, "Idiot, have you even figured out what's important? Compared to catching him, the key is being able to find him."
"You two, stop arguing already..." Reby looked helplessly at Mira, "Please, Sister Mira, if we don't work soon, we'll be worrying about rent in a few days."
"Alright then, Rhode?"
"Right away." Rhode scribbled swiftly in the ledger and found two documents, which he handed over.
Mira glanced down at them and handed them along with the request sheet to Reby. "Here is the information provided by the client. You can check it out on the way, good luck."
"Alright~" Reby took it, not in a hurry to leave, and instead, stared at the two people behind the counter.
"What's up?" Mira asked, "Is there anything else you need to know?"
Rhode also asked, "Need any backup? But if we add another person, the reward will be a bit low."
He had just checked, the reward was only 100,000 J, although teaming up with Reby and their squad would be nice, it was too little.
Rhode thought he might be getting a bit full of himself, after taking on two high-difficulty missions, he started looking down on rewards of 25,000 J.
He needed to reconsider if he should adjust his mindset.
"That's not the issue." Reby waved her hands, looking at Mira somewhat inquisitively,
"It just suddenly feels like you two have great chemistry... hey, Sister Mira, did something happen without us knowing?"
Faced with such questions, Mira had already gotten used to maintaining a straight face: "Nothing happened, maybe Rhode just got more skillful."
Reby then looked at Rhode: "Is that so?"
Rhode nodded with a grin, "Yes, nothing happened."
"Weird..." Reby muttered as she left, clearly not fully convinced.
Rhode finished his current tasks and checked the time: "It's about time, I need to head to the backyard."
Mira nodded: "Okay."
Rhode didn't move: "I'm heading to the backyard."
"Okay..." Mira looked at Rhode, and upon meeting his gaze full of laughter, she playfully scolded, "Go already!"
Only then did Rhode sneak off to the backyard.
After warming up with push-ups, crunching on the bar, and hitting the punching bag for a while, Rhode suddenly stopped and summoned Warm.
"Hoo~" Warm looked at him expectantly, was the feast finally happening?
Rhode crouched down and patted its head, pondering as he asked, "Tell me, am I getting dumber, and more childish?"
"Grr?" Did he even need to ask that? Warm thought Rhode might as well ask if it was hungry.
"All you know is eating." Rhode placed a large bill on Warm's head, "Eat whatever you like."
Warm dashed off with the bill, afraid Rhode might change his mind.
Soon the bill was in Mira's hands: "Did he give this to you?"
"Hoo~" Warm nodded with effort.
"Waste of money," Mira muttered softly, then patted Warm's head, smiling, "How about I ask Mr. Cook to make you a grand meal?"
"Woohoo~" Warm was so happy it rolled around, falling off the counter.
It got up and continued bouncing around, with its excellent cushioning, not feeling any pain from the fall.
...
"Here you go."
During lunch, Mira returned the large bill to Rhode.
"This was for Warm's meal..."
Mira said, "I treated Warm to something, so we don't need that much."
In a regular restaurant, four to five thousand J is enough for a very sumptuous meal for two or three people.
Rhode handing out ten thousand was extravagant.
"Oh..." Rhode pondered as he grasped the bill, "Then how about I treat you to dinner tonight?"
"No." Mira noticed the disappointed look across from her, glanced away, "In a few days."
Going today would feel like they were skimping on Warm's meal money, maybe over the next few days, they'd pamper it a bit more.
"Alright." Rhode was in a pretty good mood, turning to look at the two spectators, "I say, why do you two have more expressive faces than us speakers?"
The ones sharing the employee meal were, of course, Laki and Sally, who were on today's shift.
The two of them had been whispering since morning, and by noon they seemed ready to express everything with their faces.
Laki said, "How can you blame us? We thought Rhode was finally going to get rejected by Sister Mira once."
"Exactly, exactly."
"And since this morning you both have been acting strange, it feels like you're becoming like Alzack and Bisca."
"Exactly, exactly."
Alzack and Bisca had been spending a lot of time together lately, teaming up for missions, sitting at the same table for meals, blushing every time they spoke a few words, and when someone commented how close they were, they would blush even more.
But neither one would confess, and the spectators were getting anxious.
It looked like these two were heading in that direction as well now.
Rhode glanced at Mira, objecting, "We're not like them at all."
Laki was about to ask how they were different when the guild door was kicked open: "We're back!"
"We're back, aye!"
Mira put down her bowl and chopsticks, smiled, "Welcome back Natsu and Hapi, don't kick the door."
Natsu hurriedly said, "It doesn't matter, Mira, help me find the next job!"
"Alright..." Mira was about to stand up when Rhode pressed her shoulder down.
"Natsu, let Mira finish her meal first, she hasn't really had..."
Hapi peeked from behind Natsu's shoulder: "Involved (tongue click)."
Rhode ignored him and continued to ask, "You just got back, why the rush to find a new job?"
"Because we don't have enough money for food!" Natsu was frantic, "I must complete a job today!"
"Aye! It's because Natsu, while breaking ice for the merchant ship, accidentally set the mast on fire, and the whole reward went to compensating for it."
Hapi said pitifully, "If we don't get work soon, we'll have to catch fish from the frozen river ourselves."