The two of them arrived back at the adventuring guild, where they saw Lare speaking with a group of four adventurers. Nobina felt they were all familiar, but they were a bit too far for her to make sure. Lare eventually took notice of the two and waved them over.

“Mimiki. Nobina. Great timing.”

When they got closer, the adventurers turned to both of them to see who it was. One was a very familiar face, considering she helped save them not too long ago. The three were also familiar, as Nobina recalled Sarah chewing out their leader earlier. It was a red-haired kid with messy hair. They wore leather armor and had a sword, showing they likely had a swordsman Path. The other two were his party members. One was a girl with short, brown hair and a wand on her side, while the other was a boy with black hair that was messy as well. They had a bow on their back as well as a quiver.

“Nobina,” said Merick excitingly. “It’s good to see you again.”

The rest of Merick’s party turned to Merick, surprised.

“See her again? Are you two close?” asked the red-haired boy.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” he chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. The clear guilty look on his face made Nobina realize that he must have felt he was screwing up.

“We’ve met before,” said Nobina. “Actually, I think I’ve met the three of you before, but you’ve never properly introduced yourselves.”

As she said that, her Gaze bag glowed. Nobina began wondering what was in it, but knew it wasn’t the time nor place to open it just yet. She’d need a private moment to check the contents though to make sure it wasn’t important.

“Right,” said the red-haired boy. “I think the whole incident with Sarah might have put a bad image of me and my party in your mind. Please believe me when I say we are far more cautious and learned from our mistakes.”

He gave a bow, with the rest of his party following suit. Nobina could only smile and nod.

“Of course. I would hope that was the case.”

The red-haired kid nodded.

“My name is Jonathan. I’m the leader of our small party. We don’t have a name yet, but when we do something of note, we’ll name ourselves after that,” he smiled brightly.

Next to speak was the girl with short, brown hair. She gave a nice smile before introducing herself.

“My name is Herrita. I’m the group’s fire mage.”

After her was the boy with messy black hair. He seemed very shy, not speaking for a few seconds before finally building the courage to speak.

“My name is… Noct. I’m the group’s archer and scout.”

Last to speak was Merick, who seemed very excited to re-introduce himself.

“My name’s Merick as you know,” he said with a grin. “I’m a swordsman like Jonathan. My role right now is rear guard. Thank you for joining us.”

“Glad to be here,” Nobina replied.

“Ok then,” said Lare. “I’ll give the full briefing now that the whole group is here.”

“Wait,” said Mimiki, who looked a bit annoyed. “You’re not telling me these party of four and Nobina are going to do an investigation mission alone, right? I know their ranks and all of them are either F or E.”

“Please,” sighed Lare. “Darrias. Can you come over.”

Hearing that name, Mimiki turned around to see a man in all black walking over. She had the biggest grin on her face seeing him approach.

“Darrias! It’s been too long,” she laughed.

“Likewise, Mimiki,” he nodded, reaching the group.

“Let me introduce him Nobina. Darrias is a C rank dagger user. His Path is the Path of Shadows, meaning he specializes in anything related to shadows. It might sound scary, and he can be very scary, but he considers himself a protector. I trust him completely to protect the five of you.”

Darrias shook his head.

“You give me too much praise Mimiki. But yes, I’ll make sure they all get home safe.”

Nobina was happy that there was someone very experienced amongst the group at the very least. The goblin stuff had her nervous, but knowing the party was sizable and there was someone Mimiki trusted there gave her all the relief she needed.

“Alright,” said Lare. “The mission is simple. The South Goblin Nest is about two days away. We want to make sure that nothing suspicious is happening with it, so we want you to travel to the nest. Of course, I wouldn’t send a party of newer adventurers to something risky, so we are having you check out a location called Goblin’s Pond, which is much closer. It’s a water source that the nest usually uses that’s about half a day away from the nest itself. Your task is to watch the area between the nest and pond in the day and make sure no unexpected goblins approach the pond. Before night, you are to retreat and rest up. The next day, you’ll do one last check before heading back. This mission shouldn’t take longer than a week, and if you all succeed, it’ll be a major boost to your progression as adventurers. Any questions?”

Nobina’s bag glowed once again. A few of them knew what it meant, but for those who didn’t, their curiosity forced the question.

“Hey,” said Jonathan. “What’s with the glowing bag.”

With everyone turning to Nobina, Mimiki took the heat off of her by speaking.

“Nobina has a special bag that glows occasionally. Please remember it’s rude to inquire about an adventurer’s items unless they mention them first.”

“Of course,” said Jonathan, backing off.

The rest of them seemed to have taken her words to heart as well since they didn’t say anything either.

“One question,” said Darrias. “Despite the distance from the nest, there is still some danger in bringing so many newer adventurers. Are you sure it isn’t wise to bring more veteran adventurers? Perhaps another D or C?”

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“I thought about it, but we are currently stretched thin,” said Lare. “More and more C-ranks are leaving sooner, and the rest are taking the more difficult quests. An investigation quest is usually one that benefits newer adventurers but doesn’t do much for more experienced ones unless the expected danger matches. This one should be relatively low risk as parties usually go to that location to train anyway. It’s common for weaker goblin parties to be in the area between the pond and nest in the day. It’s only at night where larger goblin parties appear to secure the water source.”

Darrias seemed unconvinced, but he merely nodded.

“Don’t worry Darrias,” said Mimiki. “From what I recall, the South Goblin Nest is the weakest of the three anyway. At most you guys should be dealing with groups of five goblins during the daytime and that’s probably an hour or so away from the pond. Just retreat well before nightfall and you’ll be fine.”

“Of course,” they all responded.

Lare nodded, hearing their response.

“If there’s no further questions, then feel free to depart. There is technically no time limit for this to be done, but preferably get it done as soon as possible unless there’s a reason not to. Got it?”

They all nodded again, prompting Lare to hand the quest to Nobina.

“Oh. Considering you’re a guild officer Nobina, please be sure that you prioritize your safety. This is partly an escort mission, and I don’t want you in unnecessary danger.”

“Of course, Lare,” she smiled.

With that, Lare headed into the back. As for Mimiki, she and Darrias separated from the group and began having their own conversation with each other.

“Mid rankers,” sighed Jonathan. “I swear, as you climb in rank you think less and less of us little guys.”

“Shh…” said Herrita. “That’s very rude, remember?”

Despite her saying that, Nobina could tell they all shared the sentiment. All except Merick, as he spoke up against them.

“Guys,” said Merick, trying to break the tension. “Come on. I’ve met a high rank before, and they were the kindest and sweetest person I’ve ever met. Not all of them share such attitudes.”

Nobina knew he was clearly referring to her, but she merely sighed without saying a word.

“If you say so Merrick,” said Jonathan. “Anyway, let’s make sure we got everything before heading out. By the looks of things though, you seem pretty prepared.”

“Yeah,” chuckled Nobina. “I bought everything I needed earlier with Mimiki, so I should be mostly good to go. I do want to check the guild resources a bit to make sure we aren’t missing any details. Unless you have everything down already Jonathan.”

He gave a nod.

“Wouldn’t be a good leader if I didn’t. You’re free to spend some time checking though. We plan to depart whenever we are completely ready. Not sooner.”

Nobina gave it some thought and shook her head.

“I have a lot of information available to me, so you don’t need to worry. Actually…”

She summoned a few copies of her adventuring guidebook and handed it to them.

“These should provide some useful information.”

All of them looked in awe as they held the books.

“You can summon stuff?” said Jonathan in awe. “What else can you summon?”

“Maps… papers… financial documents… a lot of paper-based stuff. It’s conditional though so I can’t summon a whole library nor any document I see.”

“So cool…”

Nobina, hearing Jonathan’s words, had the biggest grin in the world. This was the first time she heard someone call her ability cool, making her feel so much joy. To her, it felt as if she had something special, even if she knew her Path was special. It was the recognition of having something cool that was truly great to hear.

“Thank you,” she said, unable to hide her joy in his words.

With that, the rest of them began reading through the books, all seemingly in awe at what they were reading. At the same time, Mimiki and Darrias returned, both wondering what was going on.

“Oh, I just gave them a book that gives the basics in adventuring,” said Nobina, handing one over.

“I’ve never heard of this before,” said Mimiki, reading through it. Her eyes lit up reading its content, with her expressing her joy in the book as she read it.

“Did you write this Nobina? This is a fantastic book for adventurers,” said Mimiki, her own excitement evident.

“Let me see,” said Darrias, moving to Mimiki’s side. When he took a short look, he nodded.

“This is an excellent guild resource. Why have I never seen this before?”

Both of them turned to Nobina, who merely rubbed the back of her head nervously.

“These books are kind of linked with my ability, so… they kind of stick with me. Only recently have I gained the ability to have multiple out. And I’m not sure if there’s a distance limit for these things. I’m worried they could fade away if I get too far, for example.”

“Ability testing,” chuckled Mimiki. “Such a fun thing. Hm… I guess that is a fine explanation. But I’d love a permanent copy of these things. You think it’s ok making a real version of it?”

Hearing the word ‘real version’ made Nobina feel a bit hurt. Seeing that, Mimiki instantly began trying to correct what she said.

“I didn’t mean to say your book isn’t real. It’s just… you know…”

“I know what you’re saying Mimiki,” said Nobina, her voice more stern than usual. “The fear is to lose all this knowledge if someone was to happen to me. However… I refused to believe that anything I write and bind to myself no longer becomes real. Everything I write means something. Everything that I receive, and I bind to my ability doesn’t lose value. Until the very end, I want to believe my work will survive well beyond my life. Understand?”

Hearing the seriousness in Nobina’s voice, Mimiki gave a nod.

“Of course, Nobina. I’m sorry for saying something so rude.”

Nobina took a deep breath and nodded.

“Tell you what Mimiki,” said Nobina. “If you truly value this book, read it again and again and burn it into your memory. So that, should it actually disappear, you can write it again and ensure it lives on. Or, at the very least, use what you learn to teach others. Got it?”

Mimiki nodded.

With that, the three of them began discussing the mission and what Nobina’s role would be. For Nobina, she was technically more of an escort target rather than a party member. However, she would still be credited as an adventurer. If there was a case where she needed to fight, Mimiki told her to not hesitate to use her sword to fight. She was as capable as an E rank in terms of fighting now, but she didn’t have any fighting abilities, so that was her main drawback.

“Combat wise, you’ve seen a goblin fight before so it shouldn’t be too surprising, but I want you to observe the fights initially at least. Once you have a good sense of how people fight goblins, you can assist,” said Mimiki.

“Worst case, I’ll be in the shadows protecting everyone and watching out for serious threats,” said Darrias. “One of my abilities is a passive called Shadow Shift, which lets me notice changes in shadows that others couldn’t see. Even at night, as long as it’s not pitch black, my awareness is pretty good. Even without the ability, I make sure I’m fully aware no matter the time of day.”

“Amazing,” said Nobina, her face in awe. “You sound so cool Darrias.”

The compliment made him feel a bit embarrassed before Mimiki’s laugh shook him out of it.

“Come on Darrias. You can’t be easily phased by some woman’s compliment.”

“Right,” he sighed. “Anyway. Feel free to relax. I’m keeping watch over the group in the background. For the most part, you five will be operating as a group, while I’ll operate as a watcher unless I need to be directly involved.”

Nobina gave a nod.

“Glad I can count on you.”

A few minutes later, the others were done reading the books. Of course, they wanted to spend more time reading them, but there was a mission at hand. Jonathan looked at everyone, asking around if there was anything left to do.

Nobina saw they all had everything packed, so they were good on their ends. She was ready as well, so as far as she knew, they were all ready to head out.

“Right,” said Jonathan. “Let’s discuss our roles. I shall take the lead. Herrita shall watch the left side. Noct shall watch the right side, but also occasionally scout ahead. Merick shall watch the rear and protect Nobina. As for you Nobina… I was told this was also partly an escort mission so, unless your involvement is absolutely necessary, I want you in the center. Got it?”

She gave a nod. Despite wanting to try out her training, she had no intention of risking her own life or others by doing something reckless. She’d merely observe for now and then act if necessary.

“Lastly, Darrias will act as our protector in the shadows. He’ll watch over us and make sure we are safe or warn us of danger. Anyone have any questions?”

None of them did, prompting Jonathan to smile.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

With that, the party began to depart. Nobina began following, with Mimiki waving to her.

“Good luck Nobina! Show them the strength of a Combat Guild Officer!”

Nobina nodded, smiling as she followed the rest of the party out. She didn’t know how the adventure would go, but the feeling of excitement was all over her. This was her first step in getting first-hand experience for the book she was going to write, and she had no plans of wasting this chance. All she had to do was put everything she learned into practice, and she had no doubt this mission would go fine.