Once training was over, Nobina had another simple dinner with Mimiki and returned to the inn. There, Pausers was sleeping, making Nobina happy to see they were doing well. As she sat down to write in her diary, she began looking around. She couldn’t help but be suspicious of her surroundings, unsure if someone or something was going to disrupt her. It was clear what was causing her paranoia though.

“The Gaze,” she muttered, turning her attention to her diary.

She had no idea when it would start doing things to her, but she had to at least be prepared. She knew she had to at least be wary of opening that bag. If she did, the bag could derail a situation or, in the worst case, turn a situation sour.

“Whatever… I’ll deal with that when it comes,” she nodded.

Eric had already forbidden her from opening the bag when she was working, so she had no worries there. Her worries were if the Gaze somehow forced the bag open itself. Hearing the laughs and seeing the hand take the egg they gave her made it clear the Gaze and its bag had far more power than she thought. For all she knew, the bag could just run away.

Not wanting to drive herself crazy, she began writing in her diary about the day to distract her. She made sure to detail everything the Gaze did in particular. After that, she recalled the diary and went to bed. Her mind was still thinking about the Gaze, but she had no intention of letting those thoughts disrupt her sleep.

The following day, Nobina awoke to Pausers sitting on her stomach. Her fluffy companion was snuggling against her, making Nobina happy to have such an affectionate bunny.

“I’m glad your normal Pausers,” she said.

With that, she packed her Special Bag with the flashlight, chair, sword, scabbard, and gloves. Despite everything she had received, she didn’t have much to put in the bag yet. Her magical butterfly item was in her pocket, the books and papers were recalled, and her Gaze Bag was empty.

At least for now.

She was just thankful the Special Bag negated the weight of everything in it. The items in it were basically weightless, making her wonder how expensive this bag would be. However, its limited nature meant selling it wasn’t even an option.

Nobina began heading out of the inn, saying hi to the innkeeper as she stepped out of the door. Making her way out of the inn, she caught a glimpse of a small adventuring party of adventurers younger than her. All of them looked excited, making Nobina remember how important her job was. It supported the guild, which supported all these adventurers who helped people.

Making her way to Mimiki’s house, she gave a knock. When Mimiki opened the door, she was surprised to see Nobina there.

“No work today?” asked Mimiki.

“Yeah. I have two days off due to the goblin incident,” she replied. “Hopefully you don’t mind me exercising here.”

“Should have told me yesterday,” she sighed. “I’d have smoothen the lesson out for two more days… Whatever. I’m glad you’re here. You have everything right? Including your sword?”

Nobina gave a nod, taking the sword out of her Special Bag. It was still in the nice scabbard she was provided with, which was perfectly fit for the sword. It also had a rare metal on it, making her wonder what the worth of platinum was.

“I never got a good chance to look at this. Do you mind?” she asked.

Nobina shook her head, stepping back after she handed Mimiki the sword. Her eyes were glued to it like a hawk as she examined every aspect of the sword.

“Hm… This sword is well balanced and refined. I believe this is quality steel as well? There’s no sign of imperfection and its currently extremely sharp… And it came from your Gaze bag…”

She nodded, though the mention of the Gaze made her look around a bit, seeing if something was going to react. When nothing happened, her attention turned back to Mimiki.

“And this scabbard is clearly high quality as well. The sword is perfect for it and… the symbolism is nice. A butterfly to represent hope, right?”

Nobina had no idea if that’s what it did represent, so she could only shrug.

“Anyway, I’ll help you get used to this sword tomorrow. Today, we’ll focus on reinforcing yesterday.”

With that, the two began the training. Nobina was still as focused as ever, but the thought of using that custom sword did distract her enough to get a bit of a scolding from Mimiki for too much daydreaming.

The day came and went, with the two only breaking for lunch and dinner. This time around, the topics were swords and what made a sword good or bad. Nobina was completely engrossed in the talk, trying to understand as much as possible. During dinner, Mimiki said something that gave Nobina pause.

“While there are limitations to swordsmanship, even without a swordsmanship ability or path relating to it, anyone can become a swordsman. Hence why a good sword is important. Since a sword is an extension of oneself, it’s best to have an extension you can completely depend on. The moment a sword fails, the swordsman will face consequences. In the worst case, that’s death.”

The words bothered Nobina, prompting Mimiki to ask what was wrong. When Nobina talked about what happened the previous day, she merely told Mimiki that Lare was right. Even if she feared death, the strength to protect someone at the risk of your own life was one not many had. That alone made Nobina better than most, even better than some with a relevant Path or skill.

“Be proud of yourself Nobina,” said Mimiki, finishing up her second bowl. “You’re doing great for someone without the ideal Path or ability for swordsmanship. I’ll be glad to see you supporting adventurers in the field soon.”

Nobina smiled, giving a nod.

The next day was similar to the previous, though the focus was now replicating everything but now using her sword. It was heavy, but Nobina had been working on her strength a bit, so it wasn’t too bad.

“A normal person will take months to be comfortable holding their own real sword. Someone with a Path or skill would only take a fraction of the time. However, hard work means everything. If you make those months of training meaningful, you’re way better off than someone with an easy route. Understand?” asked Mimiki.

“Yes teacher,” she responded, chuckling a bit afterward.

At those words, she was tapped by Mimiki’s wooden sword rather hard, causing a squeak.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Hey,” frowned Nobina, rubbing her side.

“Mimiki, remember,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Ok… Mimiki,” she chuckled.

With that, the training continued until the day was over. Nobina returned to the inn afterward, both excited and nervous. She would return to the guild the next day, and Mimiki was set to return as well. It would also be the day the adventurers were set to report the situation with the goblins. Due to everything happening, Nobina was nervous about how the day would go. She merely hoped things would be fine and that Mimiki would be ready to resolve the issues between her, Sarah, and Lare.

The next day, Nobina took her Special Bag and Gaze Bag with her as she headed to the guild. As she walked, she felt nervous despite not being directly involved in resolving the matter between Mimiki, Sarah, and Lare.

“Why am I nervous?” she asked herself.

Nobina stepped through the guild doors and saw Mimiki standing at the receptionist’s desk. She greeted Nobina kindly, prompting her to return the greeting as well.

“How does it feel being back,” asked Nobina.

“Well… feels like I’m wanted,” she sighed. “Lare told me Sarah is taking the day off and he didn’t say anything after that. I’ve been working the front but… I honestly still dislike the desk work of the job.”

“That’s alright,” responded Nobina. “Not everyone is meant for this kind of life. I would guess you’d have preferred being out in the field.”

“You know me well,” she said, her face showing her clear interest in the idea.

“I’ll ask Lare if I can assist in the front as well. With the Ledger project done, I think it’s better to help you out a bit.”

Mimiki nodded, appreciative of her assistance.

Going to Lare’s office, she entered and saw he was busy working on a document.

“Need something Nobina?” asked Lare, looking up.

“Can I assist Mimiki in the front?” she asked, unsure of how he’d answer.

“Sure,” he responded, going back to his document.

As Nobina left, she could tell that Lare was intentionally cutting the conversations short. She had an idea why this was the case.

Nobina and Mimiki began handling the front, with Nobina noticing the stark difference between how Sarah handled things and how Mimiki handled things.

On Sarah’s end, her approach was to be as welcoming as possible. Whether she was dealing with your average adventurer or a troubling case, she kept composed and acted professionally. Mimiki… was different.

For Mimiki, she was often very inquisitive with adventurers and loved chatting with them about the quests they were taking or about to complete. However, if a non-adventurer came to register a new quest, her enthusiasm was clearly gone as it became her merely going through the motions.

“Say Mimiki,” said Nobina as Mimiki was finishing taking a quest from a non-adventurer.

“What is it?” she asked with a smile.

“Why do… you treat non-adventurers so… poorly.”

Hearing that, Mimiki told her to step into the back with her. Nobina nodded, putting a closed temporary sign on the desk before heading to the back.

“Honestly… it’s a problem,” she told her bluntly as Nobina entered the room. “I… Don’t trust these people.”

Nobina wasn’t sure what to say. Such a comment demanded an explanation, but Nobina had an idea what she meant.

“You mean… You don’t trust them because a non-adventurer probably got rid of Eisa?”

Those words made Mimiki freeze before she nodded.

“I know my mindset is really bad, but it’s hard to trust people you don’t know,” Mimiki said, her face full of guilt. “When someone isn’t an adventurer and turns in a new quest, I feel… they want the job done cheaply. You know how our policy is we are required to approve overpayment? Well, unfortunately the same doesn’t apply to underpayment. Each quest rank has a minimum and so many people try to get as close to the minimum as possible to save a quick buck. I’m thankful for the generous people for doing what they can but… All the people today only paid the bare minimum. I can’t help but feel no joy in helping them.”

Nobina understood what she meant. Working a bit in the guild, she did notice the pattern of people not wanting to be generous. Of course, some of them had their circumstances, but others seemed interested in merely saving. It was a reality she knew was unavoidable.

“I understand the concern, but I bet this is a point of contention between you and Sarah. She loves helping everyone and treats people equally.”

“She does,” she said a bit loudly. “I’m sure if she was here, she’d be grilling me for everything I’ve done so far. It’s annoying. She should know I hate this stuff, yet she acts like I should love it. How can I love underpaying adventurers. If she even showed an ounce of appreciation for what I’ve endured…”

“Then it would change nothing,” said Lare, appearing at the doorway.

His voice shocked both of them, and neither said a word as Lare spoke.

“Listen Mimiki… I know you’re doing your best, but don’t lie to yourself in the end. You know deep down that it’ll be a long time before either of us forgive you, right? We will never forget what you almost did to Nobina. We know how you refused to change for the longest time. If not for Nobina, things would still be as horrible as usual.”

“I… know,” she said in a defeated tone.

“Mimiki,” said Nobina, grabbing Mimiki’s attention. “You’re not giving up, right?”

“Never,” she said with a fire in her voice. “I see my flaws… and I’m thankful for your help in helping me deal with them.”

Lare couldn’t help but chuckle, causing confusion once again.

“Treat this as a quest Mimiki and I’m sure you’ll earn our forgiveness in record time. At the very least, trust your party member Nobina.”

As Lare left, Mimiki turned to Nobina, who gave a nod.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to do this,” said Nobina.

Lare had basically indicated he was open to resolving things with Mimiki, and Nobina had an idea of how they could do it. This was all about proving that Mimiki had changed and Nobina would do what she could to resolve the issue.

“Oh,” said Lare, appearing again. “I need you two to come to my office really quick.”

The two nodded, following Lare into his office. Once there, he showed three reports from the scouting party.

“Each one of these parties was composed of E to C rank adventurers. The best scout we had was a D rank. Two E rank scouts joined as well. The reports indicate that this was likely a one-time incident. They went as far as the Goblin Nest itself and watched the entrance for a day. Nothing unusual came out and scouting around showed no signs of goblins wandering too far in the day.”

“Odd,” said Mimiki. “Should we dive the nest itself to confirm?”

Lare shook his head.

“As much as that would be the only absolute way to make sure that it’s safe, we need to be cautious about an early Goblin Nest clear. As you know, any entry into the Goblin Nest has a chance of triggering a Goblin Invasion, which is why we normally forbid people from exploring it. The Goblin Queen of the Northeast nest should still be in recovery, so if we clear it now then we risk the nest being attacked and destroyed.”

Nobina and Mimiki nodded, both aware of the situation involving the nest.

From what Nobina knew, a Goblin Nest had to be cleared every year to prevent it from becoming a serious threat. This was because a Goblin Nest was left alive because their existence was crucial for many reasons. One of those reasons was adventurer growth.

Training was the obvious way for one to develop a combat path. Whether it was alone, under a master, learning from a school, etc., one didn’t have to fight monsters to develop a combat path or skill. However, there was a good reason for people to fight monsters. When a monster died, their energy went into two places. It went into the environment and went into the person fighting the monster. This wasn’t necessarily the same thing as killing monsters for experience like in games. If you killed a monster in a way that doesn’t benefit your Path, it basically would result in all that energy just returning to nature.

“As you two should know, the Goblin Nests help the environment grow. It’s their link to the world that makes them important. Else, we’d have cleared all of them out completely a long time ago. Not to mention we are avoiding getting complacent. If the next generation of adventurers do not have experience fighting, who knows what would happen if a crisis occurred. It could end up being a slaughter.”

Both of them gave a nod again. Part of Nobina felt it was wrong to leave such a potentially dangerous threat around, but the effect of a nest being destroyed was also devastating.

“Anyway, we can’t investigate the nest at the moment. The only two people who can do it, you and Eric, aren’t suited for stealth. You might rile up the nest and in the worst case trigger a Goblin Invasion, forcing a Nest Culling. As you know with that, it’s a risky business as you basically have to deal with waves of goblins before the queen forces them to stop attacking. Any harm to the queen and the nest can be destroyed.”

Nobina’s bag glowed again, but she ignored it, planning to check it later.

“That’s all I wanted to report. You two can return to the front.”

“Yes sir,” they responded, heading to the front.

As Nobina headed to the front, she began wondering two things. What did the Gaze just give her, and was the goblin incident over? It felt like something was missing, but she didn’t want to say they should send Mimiki or Eric into the nest. At the very least, she needed proof that the nest was a danger.