The trek back to the town was relatively calm. Merick had begun opening up to Nobina, asking her about her journey and whether she had any stories to tell. Part of Nobina felt she could easily make stuff up to keep the appearance of a legendary adventurer, but the other part of her wanted her to keep it as honest as possible.

“I can’t say there’s much I can tell you about my journey,” said Nobina.

“No worries,” nodded Merick. “I’m sure there’s some secrets you know that could change the world.”

She chuckled, nodding in agreement.

“I did want to ask if you’re planning to visit the town’s medical office,” said Nobina as her focus turned back to the road.

Hearing those words, he shook his head.

“If I had money, sure. However, I’m still not making much, and I have a limited amount of funds. I’ll just… walk it off.”

Nobina, overlooking Merick, saw that he didn’t have any obvious cuts anywhere at least. Perhaps it wasn’t worth the visit, but Nobina wasn’t someone who’d just abandon someone who needed a bit of help.

“I’ll speak to the medical office and see if I can get you at least a check. Never know, right?” she smiled.

Hearing that, he bowed his head.

“I’m grateful that someone in your position is willing to even show me the time of day. Thank you.”

Nobina had a feeling he wasn’t referring to her role as a guild officer but didn’t say a word.

When the two arrived in the town, Nobina first stopped by her inn room to drop off her Special Bag and Pausers. She didn’t want to drag Pausers along everywhere, considering she didn’t want to freak people out with a potentially dangerous bunny. Not that there was anything to worry about. Pausers was just your average bunny. She then stepped out of her room and headed back to the front of the inn.

“Hopefully you didn’t mind the detour,” said Nobina, walking out of the inn to see Merick against the wall.

“Is that even a question?” he chuckled. “Feel free to do what you please without concern for me.”

Nobina wanted to say something but felt it wasn’t worth the effort.

She then led the way to the medical office. At the receptionist desk was Witmi, who was reviewing a book when they walked in.

“Oh. Nobina. How’s it going. Oh… and who is this with you?” asked Witmi, curious about the adventurer right behind her.

“His name’s Merick. He’s an F-rank adventurer who had to fight two goblins alone. I’m sure he’s fine, but can I get a discount on a check-up?”

Witmi thought about it for a bit before nodding.

“Yeah. I can give you a free one,” she smiled.

“Really?” Nobina responded, surprised.

“Of course. Checking for injuries shouldn’t really be charged in my opinion. We do need money, but the guild has done so much for us already. A personal favor to a guild officer shouldn’t be an issue.”

Nobina was thankful for it, and Witmi soon led Merick into the back.

As Nobina sat down in the lobby to wait, she summoned the book she had gotten earlier.

“Idiots Guide to Surviving: Adventuring Edition… Huh…”

A quick read of the first page made it clear what the book was about. It was meant to be a basic guide for anyone to be able to read and understand the life of an adventurer. Considering the book she was writing, this book felt useful as a reference.

“Hm… I see…”

The book began by talking about the basic history of being an adventurer. How the first adventurer appeared in the world. How the guild system was established. Basic history that she hadn’t gotten a chance to look at. After that, it began talking about the profession, the role they played, and what to do and not to do. Skimming deeper into the book, she found information regarding locations, what monsters to fight and avoid, and information on the most common monsters.

“Wow…”

She wanted to take a deeper look at the book, but for now, she was content with the brief amount of information she had a chance to check.

As she recalled her book, Merick walked out, looking better than before. Right behind him was Medical Mage Kim, who smiled upon seeing Nobina.

“Good to see you again Nobina. Though I was hoping it would have been under more casual circumstances,” she chuckled.

“Sorry… I’ll plan something for the future,” she responded, giving a bow.

Kim shook her head.

“Please don’t feel obligated to do so. Anyway, I took a look at Merick and applied a basic level of first aid medical items. Cost a bit, but better than using costly healing magic at least.”

Hearing that, Nobina was a bit curious about how it worked.

“Are you saying that it’s better not to use healing magic if possible? Wouldn’t it just exert energy to use it?” Nobina said curiously.

Kim couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple. See, Healing abilities often don’t reset as frequently as other types of abilities. I can probably only heal twenty people a month. More if it’s used partially. Less if I concentrate to heal serious wounds. Example, those bruises I healed for you only took one usage. When you were knocked out, that was also one. However, it would have been two if not for Eric’s healing potion, since I’d have to assume you were less stable. I would have concentrated and increased the healing potency as a result.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Hearing that put into perspective the reason healing costs so much. The less she had on hand, the worse it’d be if her services were required, but she couldn’t do anything.

“Don’t think about it too much,” said Kim. “My normal medical skills were all I had in the beginning. Healing people traditionally is something I’m capable of doing so don’t feel bad about me using my magic on you.”

“Ok…” was all she could say in response.

With that, Merick went to Nobina and bowed before her.

“Thank you Nobina. If you need anything from me, don’t hesitate to ask.”

She nodded, with Merick taking a step out.

“Oh wait,” said Nobina.

Merick turned to her, curious about what she was going to say.

“Uh… Be careful out there.”

He laughed, nodding his head.

“I’ll have a party next time. Don’t worry.”

With that, he headed towards the guild, likely to find a party like he said.

“Kids these days,” said Kim, now standing next to Nobina. “They’ll one day grow up to understand to be properly prepared.”

“It is strange though,” said Nobina. “The goblins shouldn’t have been that close to the river this early in the day… I wonder…”

Her stomach growled, causing Kim to laugh.

“It’s about that time, right? Shall we have lunch together?”

Nobina nodded, happy to have someone to enjoy lunch with.

“Oh, don’t leave me out of this,” said Witmi, now joining Kim’s side.

With that, the two of them headed out to enjoy a nice casual lunch together.

During lunch, Witmi talked about a few patients who had come in and the interactions she had with them. From her perspective, many of them were rather boring. By that, she meant that they only came to the medical office to get healed and not to chat.

“I swear, they seem so focused on one thing,” sighed Witmi.

“I’d imagine that’s to be expected of people going to a medical office,” chuckled Nobina.

“Yeah, but everyone has a story, right? At least tell it,” said Witmi, shaking her head.

“Don’t let it bother you too much,” said Kim, enjoying her Rar-Gen Meat, which was apparently meat from a wolf-like monster. “When I worked as a medical mage in the bigger city, I cannot tell you how much those rich folks just spoke constantly about their success and riches. I felt like removing my own ears sometimes with how arrogant people got.”

“But now the both of you are here helping more common folk,” smiled Nobina.

The two nodded, agreeing that their work here was far more meaningful.

Time came and went and soon the three went their separate ways. Nobina was satisfied with the nice Chizen she had, which was becoming more of a staple for her. The chicken-like taste was something that reminded her of the chicken back in her old world. It wasn’t the same, but the similarities gave it a nostalgic feeling.

Before departing, Kim told Nobina one thing to make her think.

“Oh. One last thing. Nobina. Don’t feel too hesitant about potentially getting hurt if it means doing something important. I prefer seeing you under good circumstances, but I am happier you are helping people get the treatment they need.”

She gave a nod.

“I won’t hesitate to bring them to you Kim. Don’t worry.”

With that, the last stop of the day was training with Mimiki. Her muscles and bones seemed to react to the thought of training, but her mind and heart were far too excited to let them hold her back.

“Let’s do our best today,” said Nobina.

Arriving at Mimiki’s home, she saw she was waiting for her outside with two training swords.

“Your late,” she said in a disappointed voice.

“Sorry… A lot happened on the trip and then I had lunch so…”

Mimiki shook her head.

“You’ll have to work off all of it. You know that, right?”

Nobina smiled, nodding her head in agreement. The reaction of Nobina didn’t escape Mimiki, who seemed happy to see her reaction.

With that, the two headed out of town into the nearby forest. They arrived at an open spot about ten minutes away, clear of obstacles and with ground that looked specifically flattened for training. As the two stood there, Mimiki handed her a sword.

“You know the drill,” said Mimiki, crossing her hands as she waited for Nobina to respond.

“Right,” nodded Nobina.

With the sword in hand, she began her run into the forest and around the grounds.

Nobina’s training was meant to get her accustomed to holding a sword while working on her general fitness. Mimiki advised her that she could do this stuff without her, but she was willing to watch her to help correct any bad form she had or to give words of support if she needed it. For the most part, it was her telling her to keep focus on keeping a good sword grip. Even if she was dead tired, Mimiki would tell her to never let her condition weaken her grip. A swordsman had to be able to keep their grip, even if they were going to fall over.

“You hit the ground before the sword,” she yelled as Nobina was showing exhaustion.

“Right,” Nobina yelled back.

Normally, she would have stopped sooner, but she wanted to push past her limits. After ten more minutes of running around the grounds, she finally fell over from exhaustion. Mimiki ran to her side, looking both proud and disappointed.

“I know you want to work hard on this, but if you get hurt, you’d just be wasting time,” she said, helping Nobina up.

“Sorry,” she sighed, checking herself over.

“What’s with the extra motivation today?” asked Mimiki as she leaned against a nearby tree after helping her up. “Didn’t want to disappoint me?”

“No… Well…”

Nobina began telling Mimiki about the trip. When she got to the goblin part, she began hesitating to speak. Mimiki, who knew this well, put her hand on Nobina’s shoulder.

“If you don’t want to say what exactly you did, don’t,” said Mimiki. “I rather you not lie to me.”

She shook her head.

“I received a special weapon from my bag. The one I carry around,” she said, pointing to the Gaze bag back in the center. “It disappeared after using it, but it was something I never expected to get. It was… powerful, yet conditional and if it failed… The goblin would have been on me. And you know… I don’t have a weapon or the training yet.”

Mimiki nodded, understanding why she didn’t tell her that information immediately.

“I know you carry that thing around all the time and that it’s special, but to do something like that… I can see why you don’t tell people what it does.”

“The thing is,” said Nobina, looking down. “I don’t know exactly what it can do either. It was given to me by someone I didn’t know. Someone that has to remain secret.”

“If that’s the case, don’t worry,” smiled Mimiki. “I rather you not get hurt for telling me a secret that should remain a secret. As for that incident… I can accelerate your training. I know you should still work on exercising, but it’d be prudent to learn basic swordsmanship now at least. Then you can carry around a sword and be prepared. Depending on the unknown can only get you so far.”

Nobina’s eyes lit up brightly upon hearing that.

“Thank you so much Mimiki,” she said, giving her a strong hug.

Mimiki froze upon receiving it but smiled as she returned the hug.

“I’m just… doing what’s right,” smiled Mimiki. “I still need to earn everyone else’s forgiveness, but once I earn yours… I hope that it would show I’m serious.”

“It better,” said Nobina, separating from her. “Soon, I’ll become stronger, and I’ll be able to feel proud of the book I’m writing.”

Mimiki’s surprised expression wasn’t unexpected. She seemed to be thinking about what she said.

“Are you writing an adventuring book or something?” she asked, throwing a shot in the dark.

Nobina’s nod made Mimiki return her own hug. Nobina was caught off guard but accepted it as well.

“I’m so glad… that everything between us working out,” said Mimiki.

“Me two,” she smiled back.

It was hard to say whether all of this made up for everything that happened earlier. Was she still being too forgiving towards Mimiki for everything she did?

No.

In her mind, she was convinced that Mimiki was being good on her word and either would repay her debt or had already done so. That itself was a step in the right direction and something she couldn’t dismiss. She had no intention of ever holding what she did against her. After all, it seemed Mimiki was trying her hardest to make up for everything. If Sarah and Lare could eventually forgive Mimiki, then things would have been truly resolved.