Nobina headed downstairs, where Lare and Sarah were.

“Oh,” said Nobina, looking around. “Where’s Mimiki? Is she out on a mission?”

Lare gave a nod.

“Yeah. One of the groups needed a placement done. With everything that’s happen, Mimiki said that took priority over some dinner. Plus, she didn’t feel right sitting at a table with so many S-ranks. She said she’d feel out of place.”

“And we wouldn’t?” sighed Sarah. “Well, it doesn’t matter to me whether it’s high ranks, nobility, or just an average civilian. I love chatting with people.”

Nobina couldn’t deny that. She began remembering one day when Sarah was chatting up a storm with one of the merchants who brought goods from Arrin. The merchant in question had repeatedly asked her to stop, but she really wanted to know more about what doing business in that place was like. It gave Nobina the vibes of her early days with Sarah and chatting about her stories. Even to this day, she occasionally had Sarah asking questions about her past stories she’d never released.

“Anyways, let’s go shopping Nobina. Unless you intend to treat your everyday outfit as formal wear,” smiled Sarah.

Nobina could tell that Sarah had started to get annoyed that Nobina wasn’t even buying new clothes. It was one of Sarah’s favorite things to do, and she always seemed a bit disappointed when Nobina told her something new wasn’t necessary. For Nobina, it was merely a matter of saving time by keeping an outfit that was magical and never needed to be cleaned or repaired. If it did that itself, then why would you need anything else?

“Alright,” replied Nobina, causing Sarah to jump up and down with joy.

“You two enjoy yourself,” said Lare. “Dinner isn’t too far, so please don’t take long.”

Both of them nodded.

Sarah began leading Nobina out of the guild, pulling her along with a surprising amount of force. They were doing a short jog, which Nobina was used to doing thanks to her training. However, she couldn’t remember the last time she saw Sarah jogging anywhere. She usually enjoyed walking and talking about either herself or questioning the other person.

The two of them drew eyes, but many people were more focused on Nobina. There were constant greetings that Nobina returned, growing ever so slightly accustomed to them. Eventually, they reached a store called Kara’s Threads. It had a sign that showed a blue dress, while on the window display was a nice yellow and orange dress for the summertime. Next to the door was a male employee sweeping the entrance, keeping it clean for any potential customers. He was wearing a nice white dress shirt and long tan pants.

“Oh. Hello there Nobina and Sarah,” said the employee.

“Fred. It’s good to see you,” smiled Sarah. “I finally managed to convince Nobina to get something nice to wear!”

Hearing that, Fred showed a sense of joy that Sarah often displayed. He moved to grab Sarah’s hands, who smiled as he did.

“My god. We spent so many days trying to plan an outfit together. Finally glad we can have our hero wear it,” he smiled.

“Uh,” said Nobina, giving an innocent smile. “Do you two… know each other?”

Sarah gave a nod.

“Fred’s someone I got to know a lot when I came to town. We usually chat about outfits and stuff whenever I come over. Of course, being a guild officer has kept me busy, but I always enjoy the chance to see him.”

Fred nodded as well.

“Sarah’s joy for clothing has probably rubbed off on me. Before she came here, selling felt like a means to an end, but now me and her are close friends who share a love of clothes.”

Nobina couldn’t help but be happy for the both of them. Seeing them happy together started to remind Nobina of her past and Fay.

At the start of college, Nobina didn’t know Fay at all. She was just another student who was taking classes in communication. It was only due to an accident that they ran into each other. Fay had apologized profusely, but Nobina quickly forgave her. After that, the two decided to chat a bit and soon found themselves wanting to become friends.

Fay was someone who was very outgoing. It surprised Nobina Fay didn’t have too many friends. Fay’s response was that she never really found any common interest with most of the people she met. As for Nobina, she didn’t have many friends either, but that's because she never tried to make friends. They either came to her or not.

After that, the two shared interests, and Nobina learned of a game that Fay loved. It was a fantasy game that had a cool female protagonist who had a large number of outfits. Fay’s choice was a black outfit with a lot of belts, which made Nobina think about the perfect gift for Fay.

“Nobina,” called Sarah, tapping her shoulder.

“What?” asked Nobina, realizing she had been lost in thought.

“Shall we try some outfits on now?” Sarah smiled.

“Oh right. Of course,” nodded Nobina, feeling a bit embarrassed for losing focus.

The three of them entered the store, where Fred told another female employee something in a whisper.

“Oh my,” she chuckled, walking over to Nobina. “Our hero wanting an outfit. I have a perfect one for every occasion.”

“I just need a formal dress for now,” responded Nobina.

She immediately noticed all three of them frowning, causing her to panic a bit and wave her hands.

“It’s just for now! I’ll… I’ll pick more outfits later.”

The moment she said that all of them began high fiving each other, making Nobina disappointed in herself that she folded immediately.

From that moment on, Sarah and the female employee named Gatuna began helping Nobina. She began with getting her measurements for her dress. It was a long process, as Sarah demanded perfection with the dress. She wanted it to be one she’d use awhile, so there was an effort to make it high quality as well. The rising budget caused Nobina some worry, but Sarah swore she’d never let a friend pay for something like this. She lived for these outfits and would make sure that Nobina’s was perfect without flaw.

“You remind me of my old friend Fay,” chuckled Nobina.

Hearing that, Sarah stopped and tilted her head.

“Fay? I don’t think you’ve mentioned her before.”

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“She’s a friend from back in my homeland,” said Nobina, causing Sarah to realize what she meant.

“Ah… Of course you had friends back at home. I bet you were some popular girl who would attract everyone,” said Sarah with the biggest grin.

Nobina shook her head as fast as she could.

“Oh definitely not,” she replied. “I was just your average quiet girl who did schoolwork. I did have a few friends, but we only hung out a few times. That’s why Fay would be considered by best friend back then since we hanged out way more.”

Hearing that seemed to put Sarah in deep thought. After a bit, she asked something that caught Nobina off guard.

“If that’s the case, why have you never mentioned them before,” said Sarah.

Nobina could sense all eyes were on her, making her very uncomfortable. At that point, Sarah’s eyes widened as she waved her hands.

“Oh I’m so sorry Nobina. This must be something personal. I didn’t mean to bring back any bad memories if…”

“Don’t worry about it,” smiled Nobina.

Sarah could instantly tell Nobina wanted the topic dropped and began changing the topic back to her new outfit.

For the rest of the session, Nobina and Sarah tried on different outfits each. Nobina ended up picking a nice yellow and orange dress. It was more decorative than the one on the front, and for good reason. It seemed that Sarah had been giving as much creative input as she could to design a dress that would suit Nobina well.

“Wait a second,” said Nobina, hearing that. “Are you telling me this is a custom dress for me? No wonder you kept pushing it.”

“Whoops,” said Sarah, rubbing the back of her head. “I wasn’t sure you’d like it, so I asked them to put it amongst the other dresses. Of course, that means…”

“… You had my measurements already, huh…” said Nobina, shaking her head.

“Not the exact ones,” she said. “I had to guess them and thankfully it turned out right. I’m so sorry Nobina for being a bit sneaky with this gift. I wanted to make sure the first one was as good as possible and…”

“Sarah,” said Nobina, taking her hand. “I really appreciate it. Even if this dress didn’t fit or wasn’t my type, I’d accept it regardless because it came from your heart.”

Hearing that, Sarah gave Nobina a strong hug, prompting her to hug her back. Both of the employees were in awe as they watched this nice moment between Nobina and Sarah.

After that, Sarah showed off the outfit she picked, which was a nice green and pink outfit with flowers similar to roses adorning the bottom. She gave a twirl, reveling in the beauty of her pick. Once that was done, she paid for both of their outfits and the two were out of there.

Heading to Sarah’s house, both of them were drawing far more eyes than usual. For Sarah, it seemed many people saw her as a beacon of fashion, while they saw Nobina as some sort of princess. It made her far too embarrassed, as she wasn’t expecting such a strong reaction to a simple dress change.

“I guess simple is the best after all,” she thought to herself, wishing she was wearing her old clothes for now.

Once the two reached Sarah’s house, Sarah helped Nobina prepare to be presentable for the dinner. She had a dedicated room for cleaning, which was nice since the inn had one that was shared among the residents. They all had planned times to use it, and Nobina’s was in the dead of night on the third day of the week of the month. However, due to the training with Mimiki, she’d often had to get clean at Mimiki’s before returning home. Mimiki’s washing place was more for a basic “wash off the dirt” style of cleaning. It made her miss the shampoos and soaps of her old world, but she was aware that the rich did have something similar. It was something Sarah envied having.

After they got done cleaning, both looked over each other, making sure they were presentable for the dinner. Nobina was feeling a rising sense of nervousness, but Sarah’s composure brought her back to reality.

“Nobina,” said Sarah. “You shouldn’t be nervous about anything. People see you as a hero. People have respect for you. Don’t’ worry about making a tiny slip up or anything. This is just a nice dinner between fellow guild officers and adventurers.”

Hearing that, Nobina gave a nod.

“Right… Thanks Sarah.”

The two headed off to the restaurant, which was Bara’s Fine Foods. Nobina had never been there because Bara’s was way pricier than the nicest restaurant she had been to so far in this world. She almost fainted seeing the prices the last time she visited. Even the offer of a discount from the manager wasn’t enough for her to feel comfortable buying food there, so the two never went.

Arriving at Bara’s, Nobina was impressed with the nice two stone statues in the front. It was the statue of two people, one male and one woman, both wearing nice dress attire. Both had respectful faces, showing people of high class. It made Nobina wonder if her dress was appropriate, but she knew it didn’t matter. It was a dress from a friend, and she’d never let anyone harm it.

“Fay would say the same,” she thought to herself.

The two entered the establishment, which had three groups there. One was a set of merchants talking about their business. Another was a couple who Nobina didn’t recognize. They could have been traveling nobility since it wasn’t too uncommon to see people of status come and go in their town. She did remember seeing a carriage in the morning as well, so it was possible they were staying the day before heading off to the border town, which was another three days away to the east.

Nobility in this world had different levels to it. Some nobility had significant power and controlled estates, while others were merely individuals a part of said families that merely had the title “nobility” as a formality. However, they were still required to act on their part to keep it. Hence, the term “travelling nobility” was developed to denote nobility with no obligation to stay in one place or have an escort.

The last table had Eric, Lare, Aunai, Line, and Lila. Nobina also noticed that Exuten and Harden were also there. All of them were wearing their normal attire, making Nobina stare at Sarah.

“Whoops,” she said. “I guess normal attire was the dress code.”

Upon seeing them, the hostess greeted them.

“Welcome Nobina and Sarah. Please take a seat with the others. Thank you for wearing appropriate attire to our establishment.”

Nobina was shocked that she basically said that the others were wearing inappropriate attire, but she didn’t say anything. It seemed unprofessional to slightly influential customers like high-rank adventurers and guild officers, but Sarah’s next words explained everything.

“Oh Vai. You shouldn’t be so openly rude to them. Though, I agree. They should respect the rules of this place.”

“Glad you get me Sarah,” smiled Vai. “Now. Please go ahead and join the rest of them.”

As soon as she said that, the hostess called over an employee and whispered something in their ears. He nodded and headed straight to the back, making Nobina wonder if that was the sign to start bringing the food.

When the two of them got close enough, Aunai gave a rather strong smile as she spoke to them.

“You do know our hearing is excellent for S-ranks and A-ranks, right… Sarah I believe?”

“Well, that’s to be expected,” replied Sarah. “After all, I would think our betters should set good examples.”

Aunai laughed and nodded.

“I like you Sarah. Say, would you like to join my guild.”

The audible groan from Eric caused Nobina to laugh, shaking her head.

“Do you try this with other officers Aunai?”

“Well, only the really good ones. Speaking of that…”

Before she could say anything, three employees came out with plates of food. They began setting everything down, drawing Nobina’s attention. The sheer smell of all the high-quality food made Nobina’s nose move closer and closer to each plate.

“Hm… it smells like… but it could also be…”

Nobina had an idea of the comparable foods, but she didn’t actually say their names. Most of them still didn’t know she was from another world. It caused a few chuckles from Aunai and Eric while Sarah tried her best to stop Nobina from being unprofessional as well. Even if this wasn’t a formal meeting, they still represented the guild. The fact that Eric and Aunai were wearing the guild master attire further solidified the need for proper etiquette.

“Food time?” asked Lila, her eyes staring at the largest plate of high-quality meat.

Nobina was sure it was steak, but the color and texture looked too off. She wouldn’t have been surprised if it was magical.

“Not yet,” said Aunai. “I want to take this moment to thank everyone here for coming. While this isn’t a formal event, I feel it right to acknowledge the success of the operations. Thank you Exuten and Harden for culling the South Goblin Nest.”

Both of them gave a nod.

“Piece of cake,” said Exuten.

“Nothing hammer worthy,” laughed Harden.

“Next,” said Aunai. “Thank you Line for assisting me in clearing the North-West Goblin Nest.”

Line gave a respectful bow.

“It was a pleasure.”

Aunai’s gaze turned to Eric, who merely nodded.

“While it might be an obligation, thank you Eric regardless for clearing the North-East Goblin Nest.”

“Lastly, thank you Lila and Nobina for handling the investigation. While the demon was not caught, we have enough to begin a hunt for the demon. Once we return to Navira, we’ll being the process of hunting it down.”

“Glad I got a decent fight at least,” said Lila. “I still want to fight Eric, but…”

“Give it a rest Lila,” said Exuten. “We are still on task, so keep yourself in check.”

“Whatever,” she said, pouting.

With that done, Aunai then turned to Nobina directly.

“With all that being said, I hope working together goes smoothly as we handle the evaluation of the resources of this town’s guild. I’ll be working closely with Nobina to ensure a fair amount is given. Not to mention I hope her future cooperation will help us catch the demon.”

Nobina noticed Aunai’s smile was a bit suspicious, making her wonder if there was some ulterior motive behind her plans.