It must have been hours, but Nobina found herself talking as much as she could about her whole story. From her life in her previous world to her time in this world, Nobina found herself lost in conversation as she talked about everything bothering her. During this, Sarah was listening intently, not doing anything to show clear discomfort with what she was talking about. Nobina was secretly worried that she would say something that would bother Sarah, but seeing no clear reaction made her feel more comfortable talking about her own problems.

Eventually, she finally stopped talking, giving Sarah a moment to talk.

“Wow… that’s… really a lot to take in,” said Sarah, showing a bit of relief.

“Are you… ok with everything I’ve told you?” asked Nobina hesitantly. “Even the… Path stuff?”

Sarah nodded her head.

“I understand why all of these things were eating away at you Nobina,” said Sarah. “Such a Path causing our current mess… That is something scary to tell people. Not everyone would keep a clear mind and understand that what you’re saying isn’t necessarily fact. This whole thing might have happened regardless of your involvement, but a lot of evidence supports that you’re playing a part in it. That itself would make anyone hesitant to share that secret.”

Nobina wanted to deny that last part, but she knew it was true. The fact she had a unique Path and one that confirmed she would play a part in changing the world meant that it was likely she was involved with the recent incident.

“I honestly don’t know what to do,” said Nobina. “Like I told Eric, if I could I’d hide away in the forest so no one else would be affected, but… he tells me he has to be with me to make sure I’m always safe.”

“Well… he must not mean literally be next you at all times,” said Sarah. “Else, wouldn’t he be with you right now?”

“I guess that’s probably true,” Nobina sighed.

As the two went silent, Nobina decided to swap the topic of discussion.

“Alright… so I guess we should talk about today’s objects, right?”

Nobina turned to her left, which had everything she received today. Taking inventory earlier, she had received a picnic basket of Filipino food according to the note left with it. To be more specific, it was a plate of something called Bicol Express, rice, some food called Lechon, and lastly, something called Sisig. Bicol Express was a stew-like dish made from long chili peppers, coconut milk, shrimp paste, pork, and a few other ingredients. Lechon was pig that was spit-roasted over charcoal and flavored with oil and spices. Lastly, Sisig was a dish made of various pork parts and a few chicken parts, seasoned with lime, onions, and chili peppers.

“Why… are all these dishes pork based? Also, why Filipino food specifically?” asked Nobina.

“Clearly one of the Gaze entities wants us to try food from another culture in your old world,” said Sarah as if this was something easily explained.

“Right… I guess I shouldn’t question it considering the situation.”

Nobina wondered if this was a hint behind the entities themselves. After all, some were starting to show individuality. However, there wasn’t much time to think more about the matter. The two of them were starving, so they ate it all for a late lunch. They took a bite of everything, showing surprise with each bite. Even being from her own world, Nobina hadn’t tried most of those plates before. Getting a chance to try them now was amazing in itself, but the food itself was amazingly cooked. It made her wonder if she’d have ever gotten a chance to try the foods if she remained in her world.

“Man… I could definitely eat more dishes like this,” smiled Nobina.

“Oh you know it,” laughed Sarah.

After that, Nobina looked towards a set of twenty grenades that came with a note explaining they were “fragmentation grenades” and to be only used on monsters. It also came with a set of instructions on how to use them as well.

Apparently, one of the Gazes was a fan of explosives since the amount they received was excessive. She felt they could be used to help deal with the goblins, but she knew that using them would put so many eyes on her. For now, she had to keep them all in her bag. She also wasn’t sure about keeping grenades on her person. It felt a bit dangerous, yet she felt better with them all in her Special Bag since they would all be in one place at least.

Last were the sets of three clothing. All of them felt slightly different from the clothes Nobina had seen in her old world. It was likely they were all the newest fashion sets from her old world. Two of them were for Nobina, and the Gaze was kind enough to give Sarah a set that fit her perfectly.

“How does the Gaze know my measurements anyway?” asked Sarah, her eyes sparkling as she held her clothes.

“I wouldn’t know,” said Nobina, her own eyes looking at the set she had.

All three sets of clothing had a bee symbol, making Nobina think all three were from the same person. She had seen the symbol on her other stuff as well, like her sword, making her wonder if the Gaze entity responsible was trying to show individuality by linking items with symbols. Considering some of the other items didn’t come with the symbol, she’d have to assume whoever sent her these specific ones was the same person.

“It’s still a big mystery how my Gaze bag works,” said Nobina, looking over everything. “What are the conditions for someone to send me items? What are the limits? Who are these entities and why are they sending these specific things… Hopefully I can solve this mystery one day.”

“I’m sure we will be able to solve it,” smiled Sarah.

With that, she began putting the grenades into her Special Bag. As they sat there for a good while, Nobina realized the two had been away from the guild way past their lunch break.

“We are so going to be chewed out for this,” sighed Nobina.

“Hey… it’s better that we all work with a calm mind than you work in that horrible state you were in earlier,” smiled Sarah.

“Yeah…”

As the two entered silence once more, Nobina found herself basking in the freedom she felt she had. She knew there was so much to talk with Sarah about, both things regarding this world and her previous world, but they had a job to do.

“Let’s head back,” said Nobina, standing first.

“Right,” nodded Sarah.

Before they could leave, the Gaze bag glowed once more. Opening it, Nobina smiled reading the note that was in it, recalling it right afterward. She then took out a miniature top hat that was inside and placed it on top of Pausers head.

“What’s with the hat?” asked Sarah.

“Oh… just the Gaze telling me they are supporting me no matter what happens,” smiled Nobina.

“Good to hear,” chuckled Sarah.

With that, the two headed downstairs. Once they were there, they were met by Harris, who asked Nobina if she was fine.

“Yeah… I’m much better. Sorry about earlier Harris,” said Nobina.

“Eh… people can be stressed sometimes. Just glad you’re good now.”

Nobina gave a nod.

The two headed to the guild, where they found Lare was handling the front. The look of annoyance he had when the two appeared prompted a look of apology from both of them.

“It’s not easy handling things when three people are out,” said Lare.

“Three? Is Mimiki not back?” asked Nobina.

“No… she told me she needed a day off. I was going to tell her we needed her here now more than ever, but the expression she gave really told me that she needed the time off.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Nobina became worried, but Sarah patted her back.

“We’ll talk to her later. I’m sure she must have realized something serious and is letting those feelings sit before confronting them.”

Thinking about it, Nobina realized there was one possibility she hoped wasn’t true. Instead of letting that start taking over her thoughts, she refocused on the conversation the three were having.

“Sarah. Please handle the front. Nobina, please continue to research the town defense and set up a plan. We’ll need to have it ready once the reports about the two goblin nests arrive.”

“Got it,” both responded.

With that, the two went to work. Both were in focus and, for the rest of the day, managed to focus on their tasks. During this whole time, Nobina learned a lot about their town layout and defensive strategy. Thanks to all the reading she had done, it wasn’t too hard to read through all the books. However, she knew that this reading didn’t make her an expert in the matter. She’d have to talk to Eric and Mimiki more regarding the plan she came up with involving the barbed wiring.

As the day ended, the two reported to Lare, who gave a nod.

“Good job today you two. We hopefully should get the report information back the day of the raid, so until then continue to prepare people for the raid. Now go get some rest.”

With that, the two of them left the guild, heading straight for Mimiki’s. Giving a knock, they realized she wasn’t there, making Nobina confused.

“Where could she be…”

Nobina only had one more place to check, so she decided to head to the training grounds with Sarah. Once the two were there, Nobina felt relieved to see Mimiki there. However, she looked like she was venting her anger as she was practicing her sword swings rather aggressively.

As the two watched, Mimiki stopped and turned in their direction.

“Don’t just hide. Come out you two,” she said, trying to hide how annoyed she sounded. However, both knew that she was definitely mad.

The two of them stepped out of the trees and met Mimiki on the open field.

“What is it,” Mimiki asked impatiently.

Sarah said nothing, letting Nobina handle the matter.

“Mimiki. Tell me the truth. What did you find out that made you leave,” asked Nobina, being forward with her question.

“Did you do something horrible Nobina?” asked Mimiki.

Nobina didn’t know what to say, but Sarah began trying to cover for her.

“Mimiki…”

“This is between me and Nobina Sarah. Stay out of it,” Mimiki barked.

“Sarah,” said Nobina. “Don’t take this out on Sarah. This has nothing to do with her.”

Mimiki seemed to want to yell at Nobina, but she took a breath to calm down a bit.

“Fine,” said Mimiki. “Tell me the truth. What did you do?”

Nobina felt the pressure to tell Mimiki the truth as well. However, she had a bad feeling about telling her. Unlike Sarah, Nobina realized there was a tiny bit of reluctance to completely trust that Mimiki would not react with hostility to what she was going to say.

Mimiki was clearly getting impatient, but Sarah spoke out again to calm her.

“Mimiki,” said Sarah.

“Sarah! I told you…”

Before she could say anything else, Sarah spoke out.

“Listen to me Mimiki,” said Sarah in a loud voice. “Nobina is having a hard time telling you the truth because she’s worried about losing you as a friend. Can’t you see her expression right now?”

Mimiki, turning to Nobina, saw the pain expression on Nobina’s face. She immediately went from annoyed to apologetic.

“I’m such an idiot again,” said Mimiki, grabbing her head. “I’m sorry Nobina. I don’t want you to feel forced to tell me anything… Please just feel free to keep silent. I will never hold that against you.”

Nobina expression relaxed a bit, but she could now tell that Mimiki was holding in her own emotions for Nobina’s sake. Mimiki really wanted to know the truth about the secret between Eric and Nobina.

“I have to apologize as well… Mimiki… I really… really don’t want what I’m going to tell you… to affect things between us…”

Nobina was struggling immensely to speak the truth. However, Sarah’s words managed to get to Nobina.

“Despite your worries Nobina… You must believe Mimiki will understand…”

“How can I know that for sure Sarah?” asked Nobina. “I… I desperately want to believe Mimiki will take it the same way you have, but… but…”

“Nobina,” said Mimiki, drawing their attention. “You’ve done so much for me despite everything I’ve done towards you. I won’t repay your kindness with fury, even if you did do something unforgivable… I swear to you that at the very least.”

Hearing that, Nobina sighed.

“Alright…”

Nobina told Mimiki everything as well. How Eric believed she was the cause of everything due to having a Path meant to influence the world. How it was likely that her existence might bring forth more disasters. Even how Eric advised her to keep these facts a secret, else she might be targeted in hopes her death would prevent further disasters.

As she spoke, Nobina could tell Mimiki was really taking the implications of what she was saying to heart.

“Are you… alright Mimiki?” asked Nobina.

“Oh… I… I need time to take what you said in… Can you… two leave me?” asked Mimiki.

“Of course,” they replied.

As the two left, Sarah could see Nobina was worried.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” said Sarah. “Mimiki… she’ll keep her word and not let what you just told her affect your friendship.”

“But it feels wrong,” said Nobina. “A friendship should never be forced. If she truly does not want to be friends anymore… I'd rather we stop being friends...”

“If she manages to look past what you said… I’m sure you’ll be able to truly call her a friend," smiled Sarah.

Nobina shook her head.

“A friend isn’t someone who will mindlessly look past the bad stuff you’ve done. Rather, they will understand it and help you atone.”

Sarah couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You’re acting like you did something bad. If someone curses you and then people around you get cursed, you don’t have to atone for merely being put in those circumstances. Nobina. I think the thing you need to understand is that you can’t let yourself be blamed as the middleman. You didn’t give yourself this Path. Remember that.”

Hearing those words gave her some comfort, but then it made her wonder if she really should be blaming someone. Was Nonomo the one to blame for giving her this second chance? Was she to blame for accepting it? Would all of this happen regardless of what she did? Not to mention that it was hard to say she didn’t give herself the Path she had, considering she always wanted to be a writer. Perhaps by getting a second chance, she had put so many others at risk.

“Ow,” said Nobina, feeling Sarah hit the back of her head.

“Don’t let this stuff eat away at you Nobina. We still need to be calm and collected for tomorrow.”

“Right,” she replied back.

The two headed to the inn to enjoy a nice dinner. Afterwards, Nobina wished Sarah goodbye and headed to her room.

Once in her room, Nobina gave Pausers a few pats before writing in her diary. So much had happened today that Nobina found herself lost in thought as she wrote. When she finished up, she was surprised to hear a knock on her door.

“Coming,” said Nobina, going to open it. When she did, she saw Mimiki standing there.

“Oh Mimiki,” said Nobina.

“Do you… mind if we have a walk?” asked Mimiki.

“I don’t.”

The two of them headed out, with Nobina following behind Mimiki. They headed past Mimiki’s house and towards the direction of the training grounds. As the two walked, neither of them was saying a word. Nobina felt that Mimiki had something important to say, but she wanted to do it in a private setting.

Eventually, the two reached the training grounds, where the moonlight was shining beautifully to illuminate it completely. There, Nobina found herself asking Mimiki why she brought her all the way out here.

“Nobina,” said Mimiki, turning to Nobina. “Do you… trust me?”

Nobina noticed Mimiki’s hand move to her sword, making Nobina smile.

“Yes… I trust you Mimiki.”

In a quick motion, Mimiki drew her sword and charged at Nobina. Thanks to her training, Nobina’s instincts were telling her how to react, but she was doing everything in her power to suppress every urge.

Block.

Step back.

Speak.

Anything she could be doing now was being canceled out by her mind telling her to trust Mimiki.

When Mimiki’s sword was close enough that she could tell it’d reach her in a single moment, her mind betrayed her.

Fear.

She closed her eyes, preventing her from seeing the end result of Mimiki’s charge. A few seconds passed, and soon, Nobina suddenly felt the blade against her neck. It wasn’t pushing into it, but she could clearly tell that if Mimiki moved it even a bit towards her, it’d leave a cut or worse.

Nobina felt herself breathing heavily as fear had won out. She still wasn’t moving, but it was no longer purely from trust, but now fear of actually dying if she did something. Her life was in Mimiki’s hands at that very moment.

“I’m sorry,” said Nobina, her voice being as apologetic as possible. “I couldn’t… absolutely trust you.”

Mimiki put her sword away and sighed. The moment it stopped making contact with Nobina allowed her to unfreeze and fall to the ground, exhausted by the sheer stress of the moment.

“It was unfair of me to even test you like that,” said Mimiki. “Of course, you’d never run or even try to fight back. Even if you believed I was going to kill you then and there, you’d probably have accepted it instead of resisting, right?”

Nobina nodded her head.

“I know your fully capable of killing me Mimiki, but… why the test Mimiki? What purpose did it serve if you knew what the results were going to be?”

“It… wasn’t just to test you Nobina… That I must apologize for…”

Mimiki went to Nobina and stood by her side.

“Nobina… The reason I did that was to ask myself if I really could be friends with you Nobina. After everything you did for me… If I ended up hurting you in any way with my sword, then …. I would have failed to keep my promise.”

Nobina listened intently as Mimiki began explaining herself.

“Sure… it’s possible you’re not going to bring disasters wherever you go. Like you said, it’s possible all these things would have happened regardless… But if I was willing to not believe that… If I was willing to run my sword through you in the hopes it’d prevent future incidents… I don’t know if I could trust myself anymore to have a friend… No. I don’t know if I could live with myself. I’d become someone untrustworthy. Someone I’d detest with all my heart.”

Hearing that, Nobina gave Mimiki a hug.

“Mimiki… I truly appreciate… that you’re my friend.”

She gave a nod.

“I might not ever be able to become close to a best friend as Sarah is to you Nobina, but… hopefully you consider me a good teacher at least.”

Nobina chuckled.

“Well you are my only swordsmanship teacher so…”

Mimiki took a few steps forward and turned towards Nobina.

“I’ll do everything in my power to support you Nobina. Perhaps these incidents are your fault. Or perhaps you’re merely a victim of circumstance. Regardless, I feel it is my job as your teacher to ensure your strong enough to resolve all of them before anyone suffers.”

Hearing those words brought Nobina unexpected comfort. It was true she had a dream about writing. It was true that she didn’t want any of these disasters to happen, especially because she was merely working towards her dream. However, if the reality was that these disasters were unavoidable, she had a responsibility to help resolve them. If she could resolve any disaster as they came, she felt she could continue to work towards her dream.

“Mimiki,” said Nobina. “I will do my best to continue to learn from you and help resolve these disaster. It’s the least I can do for having this Path.”

With that, the two headed back to their homes for the night, both hoping that good news awaited them in the days to come.