Time seemed to fly by as Nobina’s thoughts went away from fishing and into her book. She had a good chance to think about what topic she wanted to write about. Part of her told her she could write anything, but another part of her told her that if she was going to pick a topic, it should be one that would sell well.

“Do I really care though?”

Nobina was mixed in her thoughts of selling for profit verses selling just to become well known. It was a topic that she imagined many writers coped with when deciding what kind of book to write. After all, each writer was different in their goal.

Some merely enjoyed writing and would be satisfied even if no one read their books. Others cared about writing something that was meaningful to many. Some merely cared about profits, and if a book made none, it was a failure. It didn’t matter if it was good or not. What mattered to them was people were willing to pay for it.

“I think… I’m more of the first kind of person.”

Profits and fame were good and all, but her dream was to become a writer. She could write something that only mattered to her and be fine with it. So long as she wrote something good and something from her own heart, that’s all that mattered. That was why she enjoyed writing in her diary so much. The writing mattered only to her, and she was completely fine with it. It was also why she enjoyed writing the Ledger. It might have been mostly numbers, but it was numbers that mattered not only to her but to the guild as well. It represented something that made the guild better.

“Back to the topic at hand…”

Fantasy or nonfiction. What topic she wanted to branch into was being debated in her mind. As she thought about this, the sound of the river reminded her she wasn’t just there to think about a topic. She was there to relax and enjoy herself.

Her attention now went back to the river, and Nobina began to think about whether she had cast her line right. The book was clear on how to cast it, though the rod she was using was not exactly the same. Nothing had bitten yet, but she assumed something would eventually come. An impatient person would never be able to resist pulling their line back, but she had built up a lot of patience thanks to her previous line of work and having to show patience as a writer.

“Any second now,” she muttered.

Just then, Nobina’s eyes immediately noticed a bush move on the other side of the river. She immediately stood up, looking in the direction to see what it was. By instinct, she went into her Special bag and grabbed the flashlight, the best object she had. She had contemplated for a second running into the forest, but she wanted to be sure it wasn’t just a small animal. Soon, she confirmed her worries were unfounded as a single person stepped out. She gave a sigh of relief, but soon she noticed the person seemed to have been through a battle recently.

It was someone about a foot shorter than her. They had brown, messy hair and wore leather armor, which appeared partially scratched and had a purple stain on it. They looked tired as they looked around, eventually catching sight of her.

“Hey,” he yelled.

“Hi,” she yelled back.

“You got to get away from here,” he continued to yell.

Nobina, surprised by his words, was confused by what he said.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

As she said that, the adventurer stepped out of the bush and headed towards the river. Moments later, Nobina noticed a second figure right behind him. This one was green and looked scary. It wasn’t human, making it clear to Nobina what it was.

“Goblin,” she said.

The goblin was half the height of the adventurer, making it rather tiny. Despite that, it was clearly a threat that Nobina didn’t feel she could take alone. However, the adventurer was in danger himself, and she could not just leave him.

The goblin and adventurer stared at each other as he turned towards it with his sword. The goblin, with a sword of its own, turned to the adventurer and began to attack. Their two swords clashed as the adventurer attempted to strike the goblin down in a single stroke. The goblin itself was taking advantage of the height and going for the adventurer’s legs. A good move, but not enough to take down this tired adventurer. The adventurer blocked its sword and went for it again. In response, the goblin took a step back to dodge.

“Wow, these things are strong and smart,” said Nobina.

There was a sense of fear in her due to how threatening the goblin was, but there was also awe. This was the first fight she had seen between a monster and person. She knew that this was serious, yet it didn’t prevent her from being excited.

“Yet… I can’t do anything…”

Nobina had no weapons and hadn’t received proper combat training from Mimiki. She would be more of a hindrance at the moment, with only a few potential tools at her disposal. She needed something more.

Suddenly, she saw her Gaze bag flash and went inside. Immediately, she recognized a weapon she could use to immediately help. But also, she was horrified by the second object.

“What the,” she said, feeling disgusted.

She immediately took out the dead goblin and tossed it away, sickened by whoever put that in there. It was surprisingly easy to pull out but the moment it left the bag it suddenly became heavy. As much as she wanted to question how it fit, her attention was drawn to the weapon in the bag. She took the flintlock pistol and began approaching the adventurer. She had no weapon experience, but she had watched pirate movies and played a few pirate games, if that was any consolation. When she cocked the pistol. A realization came over her. If she missed, would that put her in danger? As she debated what to do, Pausers squeaked at the goblin, making Nobina realize she couldn’t hesitate. That adventurer’s life was in danger.

“I can’t be powerless here,” she told herself.

Nobina continued to approach, but the adventurer called to her as they fought the goblin.

“Stay back,” he yelled.

Nobina ignored his words and got close to the edge of the river.

“Can you get closer,” she yelled back.

He didn’t know whether to call her an idiot for suggesting bringing the goblin closer, but the fight was too close for him to argue.

“Fine,” he yelled, taking a step back to avoid a swing. “But you better have a plan.”

He ran towards her and stood guard at the edge of the river. The goblin itself saw this as a retreat and went after him.

Nobina reached into her pocket and took the pink butterfly item she had. It felt hefty enough to throw directly at the adventurer, but she had no idea if it would trigger. If not, she’d have to take the chance of hitting them while unprotected with her pistol shot.

“Please work,” she spoke softly.

She threw it directly at the adventurer. To her surprise, it was finding its way directly to them, flapping its wings like an actual butterfly. The moment it made contact, the adventurer seemed to freeze. The goblin went for an easy attack, but their sword bounced off their skin, causing the goblin to be confused.

Nobina aimed the pistol and shot the goblin. It was close enough that the shot had no trouble hitting and piercing the goblin’s head, sending it down immediately.

“Oh my god. It worked,” she sighed.

As she said that, the flintlock pistol faded away, making her confused. She had never seen any of the objects fade away before, making her wonder if it was a condition for having it. Besides that, she felt the Gaze flicker as well. It made her wonder what exactly was happening.

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Her own gaze turned to the adventurer, snapping her back to reality.

Nobina began crossing the shallow part of the river and headed to the adventurer. She was happy to see they seemed fine, but they were still frozen.

“Uh… How do I… unfreeze you…”

She looked for the butterfly and noticed it was attached to the adventurer. When she took it off, she was shocked to see them unfreeze.

“What the…”

The adventurer was looking around in shock, both at Nobina and the goblin.

“What was that? Was that your magic? What about that weapon? What…”

He began piling question after question, making Nobina awkwardly smile as she let him air out all his questions. As he was doing that, Nobina noticed her Gaze bag flash again. Opening it, she saw something she couldn’t recognize.

“What is…”

“Oh my god,” said the adventurer. “A living legend in the flesh!”

Nobina was shocked to hear him say that, as she had no idea what would make him draw such a conclusion. She had an adventurer card with the symbol L on it. She had never seen such a card before, and the highest card she knew was SSS. For all she knew, this was a fake. The fact that it said Unknown as well made it so that it wasn’t even linked to her.

When she turned to him to ask about it, the adventurer was bowing before her, his head to the ground.

“I’m not worthy to be saved by a legend,” he said, his voice trembling.

“Calm down please,” she said, trying to get control of the situation.

“I’m not a living legend. I’m… Nobina.”

“Nobina… I shall never forget your name,” he said, not raising his head once. “May I tell you my name so you might remember me one day if I even become a fraction of your power?”

“Sure, but please stop making me feel so important,” she said, still trying to control the situation.

“My name is Merick. I’m a lowly F-rank adventurer. I was going out solo to try to kill a single goblin but was caught off guard by a second one. I must have gone too far into goblin territory. I thought it was much farther and the goblins didn’t wander this far this early, but I was foolish to assume such a thing. Anyway, I did kill one but the second chased me all the way here. It was then that you came from the heavens and protected me with a god-tier protection spell and then you killed the goblin without breaking a sweat. Your weapon must be of a legendary caliber, considering it died in one hit. Not to mention it seemed you could recall and summon the weapon at will, considering its now gone.”

Nobina opened her mouth, but no words came out. She had completely lost control of the situation and decided to just go with it for now. She’d have to explain everything to Guild Master Eric later, since this card clearly didn’t belong to her. As a guild employee, it was her responsibility to ensure chaos didn’t happen, which would be exactly what would happen if she ever used this card in a guild or around anyone who could recognize it.

“Ok Merick. Can you… do me a favor.”

“Yes… Uh… God?”

“Don’t call me that,” yelled Nobina.

Her words immediately caused him to cry as he bowed his head.

“My apologize God… I mean… What… I don’t know what to call you,” he cried.

Nobina felt horrible, realizing he must have thought he’d be struck down.

“Call me Nobina, please,” she begged. “And I’m not going to strike you down or anything. I’m friendly. I’m actually a guild officer, so please!”

Hearing that, he slowly got up, desperately composing himself.

“Of course,” he said, tears making a mess of his face. “Oh… I’m sorry about that horrible display. I…”

“Enough,” said Nobina, her voice firm yet not aggressive at all.

By instinct, Merick wanted to cower, but he held strong due to her request.

“Please speak to me like a normal person. That’s all I’m asking, ok?” said Nobina as calmly as possible.

Merick, seeing her kind expression, was able to relax a tiny bit.

“Ok…”

With that, Nobina and Merick made their way across the river where her special bag was and her fishing rod. The adventurer, seeing the dead goblin child, had a look of horror.

“You must… really hate goblins.”

“I… No comment,” she sighed.

Moments like this made Nobina really question what those behind the Gaze were thinking. Was this some sort of game to them? They did help her though, so she couldn’t help but be grateful. With that, she and Merick sat down, finally giving them both a chance to relax.

“Are you hurt?” asked Nobina, looking over the adventurer.

“I’m fine, but pretty exhausted,” he responded. “I guess I really should have come here with a party.”

Nobina gave a nod, understanding how dangerous being alone was. It was moments like this that made her realize she should bring along someone next time.

As they continued to sit there, Merick didn’t say a word while Nobina continued to think about what to ask.

“So… You’re an adventurer, right?” asked Nobina.

“Yeah… I’m a new adventurer. Just started a few days ago.”

Nobina wasn’t handling the receptionist desk a few days ago, so her not seeing him made sense. Her job was mostly in the back, so she didn’t interact much with adventurers. Most of them not recognizing her made sense, but she knew she’d one day be more in the front helping Sarah out or out in the field helping Mimiki out. Whatever the case was, she was only getting started.

As she was about to say something, another object appeared in her bag. She took it out and immediately recognized what it was.

“I’m… not an idiot,” she said softly, recalling the book with her power.

It was a book called Idiots Guide to Surviving: Adventuring Edition. She had to guess it was a specialized book meant to help her survive as an adventurer. While she wanted to read it, she had to finish her conversation with Merick first.

“Anyway…”

Before she could say anything, her bag glowed again.

“What now,” she said, a bit irritated.

She opened her bag and saw not one but two mahjong sets.

“Mahjong… But… But… I don’t know how to play…”

It was two sets of a game called Mahjong. However, there was a tiny problem. She had never played it. She felt disappointed that she never had a chance to do it, but she was mainly a loner in her old life. She played a few games with her brother, but never Mahjong. It was times like this that made her regret not exploring more games like it, but there was no time to regret her past decisions.

“Are you alright Nobina?” asked Merick.

“Yeah… I’m ok,” said Nobina.

She took the two sets of Mahjong and placed them in her special bag. When her bag glowed again, she looked inside and thanked god for what she saw.

“A book called Totally Legit Way to Play Mahjong. I’ll make sure to study it well.”

At this point, she wasn’t surprised the book had a weird name. It made it sound like it was going to trick her into playing the game completely wrong, but on the off chance it didn’t, it was a godsend.

She recalled the book and shook her head.

“Ok. No more opening this Gaze bag. I’m really off track here,” she spoke out loud.

Nobina was grateful for the Gaze, but at some point, she wanted to know if it was there just to mess with her, helpful or not.

“Sorry Merick,” said Nobina.

“No need to apologize,” he said, vigorously shaking his head. “You must be consulting with a higher power or something considering you were talking about some sort of Gaze.”

Nobina felt as if she might have said and shown too much, but this whole fiasco had her flustered.

“Anyway… We should get you back,” smiled Nobina. “I can put this fishing trip on hold for now.”

“Please don’t let me impose,” he replied.

Nobina shook her head as she made sure everything was packed.

“It’s fine. My bag is filling up faster than I want so I need to drop stuff off.”

Pausers, looking at the bag, shook its head as it hopped next to Nobina.

“Guess you can’t fit anymore buddy,” sighed Nobina.

With that, the three of them headed back towards the town. Nobina knew that Merick was being quiet out of respect, but she really wanted to clear the air between them. As she thought that, a lightbulb went off in her head.

“Oh, I have a rather odd question.”

“Sure,” he said, keeping his focus on her.

“Say… you were looking for a book to read. Just for the sake of relaxing… What kind of book would you read?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” he smiled. “A book about adventurers!”

Nobina chuckled, not surprised by the answer in the slightest.

“Like one about real living legends?” she asked.

“Yeah! If I had a book about you, I’d be ecstatic. I’d love to know who you were and the amazing things you’ve done.”

Nobina shook her head.

“Listen… I’m glad you think highly of me… but can you swear never to tell anyone who I truly am?”

“Of course… I would never risk the ire of a legend by revealing their secret identity. That’s why those cards are never shown unless a legend wants to exert absolute authority. At least, that’s what I read about in a book,” he smiled innocently.

“Right,” she smiled back.

Nobina began wondering if showing Eric the card was even a good idea. She decided to try one last thing before making a decision.

“Recall.”

The card immediately disappeared, causing her to relax. It was better that no one knew she had this thing, but if it became important, she’d have it. She had no way to confirm its authenticity but from what she saw the card seemed in the same style as the other guild card. It was of a far higher quality though compared to the other guild cards she had seen.

“Thanks for the honest answer, by the way,” said Nobina.

“Happy to help,” he replied.

Merick still looked roughed up, but the lack of bleeding was a good thing. Once they were back, she’d help him heal up, put everything back, train with Mimiki, and call it a day.

For her, so much had happened, and she had a lot of new things to check out. However, she all knew this was linked to one of the great mysteries she had.

The Gaze.

What was the Gaze trying to do to her? Was there a point in trying to make sense of it, or would she have to deal with it her whole life? One day, it could give her something completely crazy, and she’d have no idea what to do. All she could do was trust herself to handle everything.

She looked at her bag for a bit before going back into thought.

Part of her felt like it could one day just throw her life in a completely new direction, but she had to trust it wouldn’t ultimately ruin the life she had right now. The calm, cozy lifestyle where she could write and be with the people who she considered her friends.

“At the very least… I have a topic,” she thought.

She decided to write a book about adventurers. She knew two already, Eric and Mimiki, so that was a good basis. However, she also wanted to experience life as an adventurer for a bit. It would allow her to have her own perspective on the adventuring life. As this was going to be a nonfiction book, she’d have a slew of perspectives on it.

Her face lit up as ideas and thoughts began swarming her mind, giving her an excited look. Whether the book did well or not, she was ready to see this book written to the best of her ability.

“My first step,” she nodded.