The following morning, Nobina found herself awake far earlier than normal. The excitement of trying out her newfound powers almost made her forget about the emergency they were facing. However, as she grabbed her bags and gave Pausers a pat, her new companion greeted her by flying in front of her face. It was the flying hammerhead shark, which had been with her since it came out of the Gaze bag yesterday.

“What do I call you,” Nobina pondered.

She wanted to make sure it had a name fitting what it was. It was a cool creature in her mind and one deserving of a name that exemplified its coolness.

“Hammy sounds too… pet like. But would a proper name be better…. Hm…”

Eventually, she sighed, merely giving it a pet on its tiny head.

“I’ll figure it out soon little guy. For now, I need to head to the office. You can sit on my shoulder though, since I don’t need to worry about people freaking out with you unlike with Pausers.”

Pausers, hearing her words, gave a sad expression, making Nobina feel bad.

“Sorry Pausers. One day, we’ll be able to make it so you can travel freely with me without people potentially freaking out.”

With that, Nobina departed to the guild with her bags and flying companion.

The town streets were far quieter than she was used to, but this was the first time she was out this early in the morning. The townsfolk that were awake were as energetic as always, preparing to open their shops or go to work once the day officially began.

Arriving in front of the guild, Nobina noted there were a few adventurers awake as well. While the order to stand by led to many treating this as time off due to the suspension of questing, Nobina recognized that there were a few groups that wanted to be ready at all times. In fact, she was aware some even swapped their operation time to the night to be available should the goblins strike in the dead of night. While the guild didn’t have any night operations, Lare himself was sleeping in the guild during the emergency, ready to ring the emergency bell should something happen.

As Nobina entered the guild, the few adventurers there greeted her kindly, with her returning the greeting. At the receptionist desk was Lare, who took over early in the morning until Sarah arrived.

“Nobina,” he called, motioning for her to come over. “You’re up early.”

“Morning Lare,” she replied.

As she joined him behind the receptionist area, she began explaining why she was up so early.

“Oh… I… I learned a new ability last night,” she said excitedly, feeling herself unable to hold back her feelings.

“Really,” Lare replied back, his face showing his surprise. “If I recall, you only learned your first ability not too long ago, right? It’s pretty rare to learn new abilities within a month of each other. Though, I guess everyone’s Path is different right?”

She gave a nod.

“I’m just excited it’s one I can use in combat. I’d love to show you and Sarah during the break.”

“I’d love to see it,” he chuckled. “Mind taking over? I need to continue reviewing the plans and then speak to the town garrison and stationed adventurers.”

“Go ahead. I’ll hold down the fort till Sarah gets in,” Nobina responded.

Lare nodded and headed back to his office. Nobina was very tempted to try using her ability right then and there, but she knew it had a significant drain to using the blade portion and book portion. She wasn’t sure if merely having it out as a pen would drain her, but she guessed that the drain would be minimal if it did. She also wondered if she could summon multiple pens.

“Dual wielding pens sounds fun… though that just might kill my energy completely,” she chuckled.

Not even an hour went by before Sarah arrived. Nobina had helped a few adventurers without issue, so she was feeling good about the day so far. Seeing Sarah, she invited her over. When she told Sarah about her ability, she expressed her own excitement as well.

“Amazing,” Sarah said, her eyes lighting up. “I’d be over the moon to receive a third and here you are ‘miss talented’ receiving two. I’m so jealous.”

“Stop it,” Nobina said, feeling embarrassed. “Sure… You two are making it sound amazing and it kinda is… but I don’t deserve such praise yet. At least let me learn more about the ability first.”

Sarah laughed, giving a nod.

“Of course.”

With that, Sarah took over handling the front, and Nobina joined Lare in planning the defense of the town. Looking over the defensive planning, there was a focus on the major entrances to the town. Most of it was focused on the north-west and north-east due to those sides being the ones that had the highest potential for goblin attacks. As for the south, it was the least likely to be attacked due to the sheer number of adventurers that were sent in that direction. While it didn’t mean the odds of a south attack on the town were zero, they had to smartly allocate the adventurers they had on hand.

Besides that, it was a matter of deploying her barb wiring in ways to funnel the goblins into key defensive chokepoints in the town. The worst case would be if a side got overrun and the barbed wiring became a liability, so a lot of planning was done to prevent that. Not to mention that there were mostly E and F-rank adventurers in town. If not for the town guard, which was much more armored and had more suitable defensive weapons, they’d struggle immensely to hold a defensive line against a goblin attack.

As they finished up the planning, Lare asked Nobina if there was anything else to note.

“Hm,” said Nobina, her hand to her chin. “I’d say this is solid, but I’m not familiar with goblin attacks of large scale to say this will definitely work. Have you experienced a goblin attack of this scale?”

He gave a laugh.

“I’m sure barely anyone in this generation or the previous few have experienced any such large monster attack. Goblin Invasions or even Monster Invasions are usually prevented long before they happen. If we get through this, it’d be many people’s first.”

“We will get through this,” Nobina said confidently. “We are all working hard, and I refuse to believe that we’ll be defeated.”

With that, Lare took the plans and told Nobina she’d likely join the council for lunch to discuss this more. The two of them were on their own until he got back.

Once Lare left the office, Nobina once again joined Sarah in the front to assist her. Time passed by, and soon it was lunch time. The two went out, this time to the usual restaurant they visited. As they entered, the restaurant staff pointed out how her flying hammerhead wasn’t allowed there. Nobina frowned, but she understood.

“Sorry buddy… Can you enter my bag for now?” she asked.

The moment she said that, it flew into her Special Bag without issue. With that done, the two ordered food and began chatting.

“So, what is this ability you’ve gained Nobina?” asked Sarah. “I’ve held in my excitement, but it’s reaching a boiling point.”

Nobina thought about it for a bit and decided it wouldn’t hurt to show Sarah the base ability.

“Pen,” said Nobina.

When a pen appeared in Nobina’s hand, Sarah’s excitement skyrocketed.

“You can summon non-paper objects now?” she said, mouth wide open.

“Well… Only a pen right now,” she chuckled. “But… wait till after work. I’ll show both of you something amazing.”

“I’ll hold you to it,” she nodded.

The two had a nice, savory lunch. Despite everything that was happening, the town atmosphere felt like business as usual. The civilians showed no signs of dread compared to the adventurers, but Nobina knew that most of them were likely unaware of the fact two more raids were sent out. It would have been a bad idea to have such fanfare again since, unlike last time, they felt that there would be far too much worry about sending out both Eric and Mimiki.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Eventually, they finished their lunch and headed back, where they continued to be at the front desk helping people out. Nobina took a break here and there to stretch and practice her swordsmanship. Due to everything that was happening, she had limited her out of work training to avoid draining herself. It was a good idea, but it made her crave practicing even more.

As she practiced in the back, Nobina felt a notable change. Each swing she did felt more effective. Not that she was swinging any faster or harder than usual. She could tell each swing was basically the same, maybe very slightly better than the last. It was more so that she felt as if she was getting more training benefits than usual.

In her mind, she had noticed her improvement with each training day she did with Mimiki. Whether it was learning something new, getting her swings into muscle memory, or just generally getting stronger or faster, Nobina noted down her improvements mentally. That was why she noticed that today, in particular, each swing she did felt more and more natural. It felt like it was slowly becoming something she’d be able to do with ease.

“Maybe… a few months of this?” she told herself, taking a breath.

She found it crazy to say that, but previously, she felt it’d take her maybe half a year to a year to feel confident in calling herself a decent swordsman. Now, she felt like she could do it in half the time. There was no way Nobina could tell if that was accurate, but the moment she trained with Mimiki again, she’d hoped she could confirm it.

“This… this must be what it’s like to train something you have aptitude for,” smiled Nobina.

With that, she continued to practice for the rest of the hour before heading back in. Despite her training being more effective, it was still tiring all the same. When she reached the receptionist’s desk, Sarah asked if she was fine, seeing her panting a bit.

“Training is still rough even if I have some aptitude towards swordsmanship,” said Nobina, taking a seat.

“So… Your pen somehow makes you a better swordsman?” chuckled Sarah.

“I’ll… show you after work,” she smiled.

The two continued to work from that point on. Soon, Lare came back and was back at work as well. The three of them were a well-oiled machine, keeping the guild afloat despite how serious things were. Nobina had asked Lare about how the meeting with the council and guards went, to which he responded they were already adapting to the plan.

“They should have everything set up at the end of the day,” he told Nobina.

“That’s good news,” said Sarah. “I just hope everything is good with the raids. It’s… kind of nerve-racking thinking about how we are safe here while everyone’s risking their lives.”

Sarah’s words made Nobina remember her earlier concerns, but Nobina managed to calm herself down and reply.

“Yeah… but that doesn’t make our job any less important. We are the last line of defense of everyone,” said Nobina with a nod.

They all nodded in agreement.

With that, they continued with their work until the day was over. The adventurers began leaving the guild, but some were sticking around the entrance just in case the call came in. As for the three of them, they headed to the back. Nobina stood in the middle of the training ground while Lare and Sarah stood nearby.

“Let’s see what you got Nobina,” said Lare, his arms crossed as he waited for Nobina to display her ability.

“You got this Nobina. Wow us!” yelled Sarah, excited to see the big secret.

Nobina nodded, taking a deep breath. She held out her hand, ready to show her ability.

“Pen.”

A pen appeared in Nobina’s hand, which she immediately began holding in the same fashion as a one-handed sword. The eyes of both Lare and Sarah were on her pen, waiting to see what would happen.

“Blade,” she said, her voice more assertive.

In response, black ink began streaming out of the pen tip, forming a pure black ink blade that eventually turned grey as it seemingly hardened.

“Amazing,” said Lare. “How strong is that blade?”

“I haven’t tested it,” replied Nobina. “Let’s head over to this tree?”

The three of them relocated to the edge of the field, where they approached the nearest tree. Nobina turned her grip into a two-handed one, which was her normal style of holding a sword.

“Hah!”

She swung her blade without much effort. It was significantly lighter than her actual sword, so Nobina was caught a bit off guard by the swing speed. When it collided with the tree, however, she felt the resistance as her blade made a deep cut into it. Looking at where the cut was, it showed black ink all over, which was likely parts of the blade.

Looking at her own blade, she noticed that part of it was missing. She was concerned about its durability, considering how it looked, but the blade slowly reformed as more black ink shot out of the pen. At the same time, Nobina felt the drain increase until the blade was completely formed, which made the drain more manageable.

“I see,” said Nobina. “It seems like I spend energy to fully summon the blade or fix it. However, it doesn’t require too much to merely keep the blade out.”

“Interesting,” said Lare. “So I’m guessing you can’t keep this thing out for too long. It’s a really cool ability, but that limit means you’ll likely still need to depend on an actual sword. However, that cut looks effective and could be critical in serious battles. Not to mention the black ink could have some usage. Perhaps poisoning someone considering it might put ink into their…”

“Yeah,” said Sarah, cutting him off. “Very effective. Let’s not… think about the applications of that for now.”

Lare merely nodded, while Nobina was wondering if Sarah was perhaps more sensitive to such a graphic topic. Nobina was somewhat fine with it since she had written more serious and graphic topics before in her writing drafts, but she could understand another person’s sensitivity. At the end of the day, as long as she thought about the application of her skills, others didn’t need to know the details unless necessary.

“Sorry for giving you such a graphic image Sarah,” said Nobina.

“Don’t worry about it. Don’t let my… sensitivity… hold you back when the time comes. Do whatever it takes to protect people. Got it?”

Nobina gave a nod.

“Oh, that’s only part of the ability as well. Check this out.”

Nobina swapped to a one-handed hold once again.

“Summon.”

In her left hand appeared a copy of the ledger, which caught Sarah and Lare’s eyes. Then, her blade began emanating a gold aura, surprising the two even more. The drain was notable to Nobina, and she knew she only had maybe a minute of keeping both summoned. Wasting no time, she swung her blade, cutting significantly deeper into the tree. There was no resistance as the blade went through the tree. Nor was there any black ink as well.

A ding sound could be heard the moment the swing was complete. This time, the blade didn’t even break, causing Nobina to stare in awe. She noted the golden aura appeared dimmer, making her wonder what had caused it to dime.

Before she did anything else, she recalled her book and blade. As she did, she began panting hard. She realized how insanely strong she was. She also began wondering what that ding was because it sounded like it came from her pocket.

Nobina approached the tree and could tell the cut went halfway through it. The trunk was pretty sizable, being around half a meter in diameter, so that fact excited her. She wondered if her writing would allow her to one day cut through a tree.

“That was amazing,” said Sarah. “That ability has to be rare or something. I’m sure barely anyone has it.”

“I doubt it,” said Lare, dampening the mood initially. “It might be uniquely related to her Path, so it could be new.”

The excitement in Nobina’s face could be seen miles away. Sarah and Lare also expressed smiles of excitement. All of them knew it might have been a sign of a good change for Nobina. No one was saying anything, but Nobina knew it likely meant she really did have the potential to become a decent adventurer. Perhaps not at Mimiki or Eric’s level, but someone strong at the very least.

“What was that ding though,” said Sarah. “It happened after you swung that blade.”

“I’m not sure,” said Nobina. “Let me check my pockets.”

Nobina went into her pocket, where her coin pouch was. As she lifted it out, it felt a bit lighter for some reason. Opening it up, Nobina fell to the ground, her face in despair.

“No…”

“What’s wrong,” asked Lare and Sarah, running to her side.

“I lost…. Ten gold coins with that swing,” she sighed.

She poured her coin pouch content onto the ground next to her and began counting. She sighed again when she confirmed how much money was spent.

“So… that’s why you summoned a ledger,” said Lare, nodding your head. “You can increase your blades strength, but it costs money to swing. I commend you for spending money for the demonstration.”

“I didn’t know it was so expensive though,” said Nobina, saddened by the money she lost. “Ten gold is a lot, remember? Our guild budget…”

Nobina grabbed her head immediately, coming to a realization.

“My god, we are poor as well as a guild! How will we financially recover after this raid is done.”

Lare and Sarah looked at each other, laughing.

Nobina looked at them confusingly, with Lare speaking first.

“Nobina… We are glad someone cares about finances. More importantly… we are glad you care about the guild.”

“Yeah,” said Sarah. “It really shows that we are all a team, right?”

Nobina couldn’t deny that. She cared a lot about the guild as if it were a family home. While it couldn’t ever replace her family back at home, it was a home that she would be happy spending her life in. At least if she never had a family of her own.

As she gathered her money, the three of them headed out for dinner. This time, Lare was covering the cost of the restaurant, and the two were free to indulge in the more expensive foods. All of them were having a good time as they enjoyed bite after bite of the town’s best.

Eventually, they all finished and were on their way back to their respective homes.

“See you tomorrow Sarah,” said Nobina as she split off first.

“See you tomorrow Nobina,” the two replied as they headed away.

Nobina found herself heading towards her inn. Once she was in front of it though, she continued past it and walked further away. Eventually, she found herself in front of Mimiki’s house before walking past it. Soon, she reached the training grounds, where she took out her normal sword and began swinging it. As she did, the moonlight hit her blade in a way that made it shine beautifully. She stopped swinging and began panting due to how tired she was from earlier. She began to examine it, giving her own smile.

“Despite my own ability to summon my own blade… I’m thankful to those watching… for supporting me this whole time.”

Her words were directed towards the Gaze itself, which was still ever-present and ever-watching. Nobina had grown completely accustomed to its presence and would instantly notice the moments it was gone. Despite her saying it was ever-watching, it seemed to disappear here and there. The longest it was gone was for days, but it eventually came back. Despite that, even while it was gone, she felt it would be there when she needed it the most.

“Thank you for this blade… and thank you for everything you’ve given me.”

With that, Nobina sheathed her blade and returned it to her Special Bag. As she began leaving, a loud bell began ringing through town, draining Nobina’s face of all color.

“No…”

Nobina knew what that bell was. It was the guild emergency bell, likely signaling a goblin attack.