Around a month before, Theresa’s boss had somehow found the picture she took of Mira, and began wondering if that was actually the Spirit Queen.
That made Theresa’s boss become obsessed with the idea of utilizing Theresa’s familiarity with the Spirit Queen to turn her into one of their cover girls. It was all for Lyrical Knights, the magazine published by Magical Knights.
“Even though I’m just a public relations manager…”
Theresa grumbled and then looked at Mira, her eyes seeking salvation.
“That’s rough.”
Mira had to think about it for a bit, then replied, “I’ll give you ten minutes.” She felt like it was going to be a hassle, but she also felt bad for Theresa and wanted to help.
“Thank you, Mira!”
That made Theresa jump with joy.
Magical Knights already had an area reserved for photoshoots of models near there, so Theresa led the way and took Mira with her. Mira followed behind, shaking her head in disbelief.
There was someone not too far away who had overheard their conversation. That person smugly told a friend about it, saying that the Spirit Queen had just passed by them.
“Thank you so much Mira! My boss might actually be happy with me now.”
The photo session took around ten minutes, after which she made a call, and then smiled happily at Mira, while also looking relieved.
From that, it was easy to glean that she had just informed her boss that the shoot had been a success. And she also received confirmation that Mira would become the front page gravure of the next monthly issue of Lyrical Knights.
It seemed like her boss had been really insistent about the matter, as she was unnaturally happy to have accomplished that.
A front page gravure was also another sign that the culture of former players was permeating into this world. Theresa had also said it without much importance, showing just how commonplace magazines were now.
But Mira was still unsure of how to feel about being depicted in gravure shots when usually she only looked at them.
“Well, I’m happy for you then.”
At least Mira’s old acquaintance was happy, so that was enough. Now she wanted to resume looking around the festivities outside, or rather continue searching for Meilin, but she was not able to say anything.
“Ah, I almost forgot!”
Theresa raised her voice first, sounding alarmed about something.
“Hm? What is it? Were there more angles you wanted to capture?”
Mira asked that, her mind filled with vain thoughts that ten minutes were not enough to capture all of her cuteness. But it was a completely different issue.
“It completely passed my mind since I got so excited to see you again, but we didn’t even discuss your payment for the pictures…”
While Mira had been fully ready to do the shoot for free, Theresa offered her the quite handsome sum of half a million Rils.
“We always process payments through the Union when we work with adventurers, does that work for you?”
After Theresa explained that, Mira put on airs as if she had done that plenty of times before, confidently saying, “Yes, of course.”
Theresa added that the payment should be processed in a week.
As they talked about that, Mira noticed a lot of noise behind her, as preparations began for the next fashion show and the models began to change.
“That’s everything then. We’ll be here for the entire duration of the tournament, so drop by if you have the chance. I hope we can meet again soon, Mira.”
“Mhm, I’ll keep that in mind.”
The shooting set was also used as a changing room, and the two were surrounded by women changing clothes as they said goodbye. Which meant that it would be strange for Mira to stay there after that.
So with her heart filled with regret, she had no choice but to leave.
(I feel like everyone is watching me.)
Around fifteen minutes after she left the Magical Knights’ show area, as she resumed her search for Meilin, Mira felt a strange sensation and looked around her. For some reason, a lot of people were turning to look at her after the photoshoot.
But soon enough, everything was cleared up, as a small girl accompanied by her parents ran up to Mira, her eyes twinkling as she asked, “Are you the Spirit Queen?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
Mira replied with a warm smile and patted the girl’s head. When she said that, there was a clear reaction from everyone around them.
So far, the only description of the Spirit Queen everyone knew was that she was a silver haired girl with blue eyes wearing Magical Girl style clothes.
Those features were not uncommon in this world, so it did not narrow down her appearance too much. There had not been any pictures of her published at a large scale either, so oftentimes she would not be recognized in public.
But now that word had spread that the Spirit Queen had been sighted around that area, everyone was on the hunt for a girl with those features, wondering if it was or not the Spirit Queen.
Even the little girl had thought the same.
Mira noticed how excited that girl was to meet the Spirit Queen, and decided to make her even happier by letting her ride on Pegasus and so on. Then, when it was time for the girl to leave, Mira did not forget to preach about summoners by saying, “Summons are incredible, right?”
All of that had the side effect of making Mira explode in notoriety, with more and more people trying to talk with her, and slowing her down considerably.
(I guess it’s about time I try out the disguise.)
She did not mind improving the perception of summoners like that, but soon, she would be overwhelmed and unable to move, impeding her search for Meilin.
So she began scouting her surroundings, thinking of disguising herself, all the while grinning and playfully grumbling about how troublesome being famous was. At least she was already prepared for such a situation, thanks to Solomon and the hair dye he had provided her with. But then she noticed her own shortsightedness.
“Hrm…”
She could not think of any suitable places to change in.
The first thought she had was a public toilet. But those were just that, toilets, facilities to take care of certain business, without proper changing and washing rooms.
Then she thought of the fitting room in a clothing store, but that also did not feel right. Those were meant for clients, something she was not.
So she thought of a place of her own, her wagon, a far more reasonable and realistic option compared to the others. Except that it also had a shortcoming.
Everyone was already looking at her, so they would notice her going into her wagon and someone else coming out, quickly making everything useless as they would realize she had disguised herself.
After some deliberating about it, she turned around and headed to the one place she saw as the best in her position.