As everyone began trekking back through the path of the troll’s destruction, Nobina and her group were chatting with Mimiki’s group about what exactly had happened.

“Why were you captured? Was it by the troll?” asked Nobina, now showing worry as they had a moment to talk.

“It’s a long story,” said Mimiki, who looked both worn out and serious. “I’ll need to give this full report to Eric and everyone else when we get back, but this whole situation is not something we can handle as a small guild.”

Nobina wondered what that could possibly mean, but Mimiki began giving the full story.

“Things were fine initially. The moment we departed, we took the designated route towards the goblin nest. We were moving with a bit of haste due to the urgency of everything, but we were keeping an eye out in case we ran into the goblins. However, we didn’t see any signs of them. Instead, after traveling for a while, we encountered a wolf-troll,” said Mimiki, giving a pause for Nobina to respond.

“A wolf-troll? Is that what we fought?” asked Nobina.

“No. A wolf-troll is more like a wolf, only it has troll traits instead like regeneration, thick-skin and strength making it far stronger than your average wolf. Honestly, it’s not something a C-rank should ever face. Even I had difficulty fending it off before it ran.”

“Ran? So, it’s still out there?” said Nobina a bit too loudly.

“What ran?” asked Merrick, appearing upon hearing Nobina’s word.

“A wolf-troll,” said Mimiki. “I’m sure…”

Merrick’s face went pale upon hearing that.

“No way… Those shouldn’t be anywhere in our kingdom. Why is one here?” he asked, his face showing even more worry than Nobina’s.

“I believe… it was summoned,” said Mimiki.

Both of them looked at Mimiki, waiting for an explanation.

“Getting back to it, I say summoned because after more traveling, we eventually heard the sound of a lot of trees falling over. When we reached the location, there was the troll-wolf tearing up the area. The moment it saw us, we knew we were in for a battle. However, a few of us managed to catch a hooded figure behind it. At that point, we had to assume this figure was responsible. When we went to fight, however, the field suddenly had all these particles around it. Suddenly, everyone was getting sleepy and a few of us were killed by the troll-wolf. I thought it was over when I went unconscious, but then I woke up to you guys trying to free all of us.”

As she said that, Nobina noticed a glow in her bag. She turned to the two of them, who merely nodded. When she pulled out the object, she found a note saying it was a Ring of Lesser Presence, which made the wearer less noticed by any hostile threats.

“That’s pretty useful. I wonder how well it works in active combat,” said Nobina. She then told Mimiki what it did, prompting a nod from her.

“I’d imagine it’s only effective while you’re not noticed, so I’d be careful leaning on it,” said Mimiki. “Speaking of which, mind explaining that powerful sword-ability you got there, miss swordswoman?”

“Right,” chuckled Nobina nervously.

She began explaining to Mimiki how she gained a new ability called Pen Sword, which allowed her to create an ink blade for a limited amount of time. It was further boosted by her holding a book, which granted it an effect based on the book. However, it also increased the drain on her, so she couldn’t maintain it for long.

“I had to think quickly to free you, since my normal sword didn’t cut through. There was some magical enchantment on that rope,” said Nobina. “Though… I think I used most of my gold on that last slice.”

“All of this is so strange,” said Mimiki, now deep in thought. “What purpose would there be to capturing the raid group? If they wanted us dead, we’d be dead by now. Even me being an A-rank, being ambushed by a sleep spell would mean death. Especially since running against a troll-wolf and especially a wolf-troll isn’t an option.”

“That’s the big question. I don’t think this individual is related to the Goblin Invasions,” said Nobina as she was also in thought. “We think… it could have been a trap, but for who we don’t know. I mean… what reason is there to capture anyone in our town?”

The two of them thought about it a bit more before shaking their heads.

“We’ll need to investigate this matter later. For now, can you tell me why exactly you came to rescue us?” asked Mimiki, one of her hands against her hips. “I thought we were making sure you were safe. Not only that, but the town defense should have taken priority.”

“A lot has happened… let me fill you in,” said Nobina.

Nobina began telling Mimiki everything. She told her about how the goblins attacked and how it eventually led to them realizing something must have happened to Mimiki. Nobina was able to rally some adventurers to help rescue her and then they followed the trail of destruction to where they were.

“I see,” said Mimiki. “So, it seems that the town should be safe from a goblin attack, but we should make sure and check the likely goblin-attack route.”

“Agreed,” said Nobina. “We came here to also check the status of the goblins, so we should at least do that before heading back.”

Mimiki gathered everyone around, taking command and instructing them on their new mission.

“Everyone,” said Mimiki. “I want to thank everyone here, both from the culling group and the rescue group, for risking your lives for the sake of the town and its people. I know that everyone here is tired, but we still have one last job to do. We need to confirm the status of the goblins and confirm they are no longer a threat. Else, the town will have to live in worry of a follow up attack. Thanks to Nobina, I have enough information to say that a follow-up is unlikely, but we need to make sure. Does anyone have any questions?”

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“What about the mysterious figure?” asked one of the members of Mimiki’s party.

“We should keep watch for them, but other than that, there’s not much we can do. If they attack us again, then I swear to do whatever it takes to protect you all.”

No one said a word, but all of them had a smile on their face, including Nobina. With all of them seemingly on-board with the last part of the mission, Mimiki began arranging everyone into a new formation. At the center of the formation were Mimiki and Nobina, who would act as the core of the team.

With that, they continued their trek until they reached the clearing with the other adventurers. To their surprise, there were goblins at the location, looking through the empty bags of the slain adventurers.

Not needing to say anything, the adventurers attacked the goblins immediately, slaying them without mercy. Nobina could tell a lot of it was venting the ill feelings they all had towards the goblins for putting them in this mess. After the ten goblins there were slain, they turned to Mimiki, who merely nodded.

“The river isn’t too far from here. If the goblins still have their camps, one would be along the river. We’ll continue taking the designated path to it, travel west along the river, then head back on the main path. Of course, we need to be cautious of ambush, so we’ll have our scouts constantly looking out. Got it?”

All of them nodded in agreement. The group continued to the river, where they began following it. As they did, they saw no goblins. There were a few signs of a large camp previously being there though, indicating goblins were in the area at some point. It made Nobina a bit nervous, but there were so many adventurers in the group that she felt pretty safe. Eventually, they reached the main path, which had a shallow portion used to cross the river quickly. To their surprise, there were still no signs of goblins. There were tracks leading towards the town and caves.

“Hm,” said Mimiki. “It seems like they fully retreated, considering there are tracks heading back and there are no goblins in sight. You must have done a number on them for them to stop the raid. For now, I think we should be safe fully retreating back to town, but everyone should keep an eye out.”

“Got it,” they all responded.

The group began their trek back, with everyone more relaxed compared to before. The scouts around them were still working hard, but people were more open to chatting. As they did, Mimiki focused her conversation on Nobina’s future.

“With that new ability, we’ll have to re-invent your training schedule from the ground up,” said Mimiki. “A lot of training that was previously not effective will become effective much sooner. We need to make sure you’re constantly doing the most effective training to help you reach C-rank status as soon as possible.”

“That being said, my abilities are linked to me continuing to write,” replied back Nobina. “I’ll need to put more time on continuing my book, considering this resulted in my Pen Blade ability. Not only that, but now I’m certain the only way to improve it is to write, rather than train. That doesn’t mean I can ignore physical training, but I can’t put my full focus on it either.”

“As expected,” nodded Mimiki. “It is your dream to be a writer after all. Your Path and abilities being trained by doing writing makes sense. We’ll have to work this all out more when we get back, but… I’m excited that you have the path forward to becoming a first-class adventurer.”

“I… wouldn’t go so far as to say that,” said Nobina.

Hours passed and the lack of goblins made everyone more and more relaxed. It felt as if the whole situation was over, but everyone had a tiny part within them, doubting things were over. Things could always change at a moment’s notice, and the mysterious figure was still a serious threat to the town.

Eventually, they reached the end of the path, which led to the open field leading back to the town. Before anyone could say anything, the scouts called out the number five. Upon hearing that, Mimiki called out.

“Everyone engage,” she yelled, her sword drawn.

Her words echoed through the group as everyone took out their weapons. Nobina’s eyes became focused as she stared at their target. In front of them was a massive group of goblins numbering in the hundreds. Not only that, Nobina could tell they had archers amongst them.

“Damn those goblins,” said Merrick, standing on her side.

The goblins launched a follow-up attack on the town.

Nobina couldn’t tell the status of the adventurers and guards, but she knew that it wouldn’t be good. The fact the first attack caused so much death, even without archers, meant that this one was even more dangerous. Being in the day was a blessing, at least, since the whole field was visible.

None of the adventurers in their party wasted any time. They all began heading towards the goblin. In a flash, Mimiki was ahead of everyone else, her sword on her side. The goblins began to take notice to the new arrivals, splitting their army to deal with them. However, Mimiki began displaying why she was an A-rank adventurer. The moment she reached the army, she zipped through the lines, cutting down goblins like they were targets standing still. Not only that, but her passive allowed her to avoid attacks with ease.

The goblin archers turned to her, but the arrows and ranged abilities like fireballs, stone throws, and wind cuts forced them to turn to the party. When they did, Mimiki turned her focus toward them and began whittling down their numbers.

Nobina herself had her grenades still, but they wouldn’t help now that the close-range adventurers were starting to engage with the enemy. As much as she wanted to run in and assist with her sword, she was still tired from using her ability earlier. She was about to curse her inability to help, but she stopped herself immediately.

“I’ve done enough,” she told herself, watching as the other adventurers fought.

The battle lasted a good while before the goblins were dwindled down to the tens. Mimiki herself was moving to deal with the last goblins, and the other adventurers cut down any that tried to escape. Adventurers from both sides realized that Mimiki was the ace of the battlefield immediately as her kill count soared. It must have been close to half the goblins in the army alone.

Eventually, she landed the last slash on the last standing goblin, causing it to fall before her. At that moment, cheers went out to Mimiki.

“Cheers to the Hero Mimiki,” called one adventurer.

“Let all know our savior has come,” called another.

Nobina couldn’t help but be proud seeing Mimiki being recognized for her contributions. She knew that, unlike herself, Mimiki had trained for so long to reach her own strength. Nobina knew she still depended on her Gaze bag for everything, but one day, she wanted to be able to handle a situation without its help. Of course, if the help came, she’d still use it. However, she knew that there might be a moment where nothing it gave her would be useful and it would provide her nothing. At that moment, she wanted to handle the situation by herself.

As they all gathered together, Mimiki asked the town adventurers about what happened.

“They came not too long ago,” said one of the adventurers. “Hundreds of goblins attacking this defense point alone. Adventurers from the other three defense points came to support, but soon we realized how serious the attack was when a lot of arrows started hitting our ranged adventurers. We… did lose a good number of people and were starting to fear the town falling, but you guys came and saved us.”

As he said that, they all seemed to turn their focus to Nobina, who was confused.

“Everyone… let us cheer our other hero Nobina for bringing the other adventurers back safely to save us!”

She couldn’t say anything as the cheers started to rain out for her now. Even her own party and Mimiki couldn’t help but cheer for her, making her fully embarrassed. However, unlike the last cheers she received, Nobina was receiving this one a bit better. Deep down, she had accepted she had played her role and did the best she could. She couldn’t deny the lives she helped save.

“Everyone,” said Nobina, a bit tearful. “I… I might just be someone who wants to be a writer… But I’m glad even someone like me could play a role in helping others… like a true adventurer.”

“Cheers to that,” everyone roared.

Soon, everyone began returning to the town. The battle was over for now, but there were still two more raids to wait for before they could finally declare the goblin incident over.