Nobina began walking through the town with purpose as she headed towards the merchant guild. Luckily, Mustan was with her, so she was being led directly there. Eventually, they arrived at their destination. The guild itself was massive, being a size comparable to that of the adventuring guild. However, there were merchants instead of adventurers and carriages loaded with goods all around. Once she was at its entrance, Mustan gave a bow.
“I shall return to the adventuring guild and begin my own task Nobina. Remember, you do not need to secure the funds. Merely do your best and get a sense of the stance of the merchant guild.”
“Right,” she nodded.
When Mustan was finally gone, Nobina went into her bag and grabbed one particular item. It was a feather that she had received that was apparently a good luck charm in social situations if she rubbed it. Considering the importance of the meeting, she had to trust that it would work as she thought it would.
She gave the feather a rub, put it in her pocket, and stepped inside.
Once she was inside the guild, she saw it was a bustling place of activity that rivaled the adventuring guild. Nobina could tell there were a lot of negotiations happening, even at the entrance. It was very overwhelming, but not enough to distract her from her task.
“Nobina?” called a familiar voice.
Nobina turned to her right and saw a familiar face approach her.
“Fitz? Is that you?” she asked.
Fitz, the merchant she had met at the start of her journey, was standing right before her.
“It’s been a while,” he nodded. “I was honestly getting an order that would let me pass through Agora, but I guess we get our chance meeting much sooner.”
Nobina gave a nod, giving the biggest smile she could.
“I’m happy to get to see you again,” she smiled. “So much has happened and is happening that seeing you really is brightening my day.”
“Really? Well glad it is,” he nodded. “Want to get something to eat later? Dinner isn’t too far off, and I’d love to show you a really nice restaurant to eat. I can even get a discount and save you a decent amount.”
Nobina laughed, shaking her head.
“I’d love that. As soon as I’m done meeting with the merchant guild leader, then we’ll head out.”
Hearing that caused Fitz’s face to widen in surprise.
“Speaking to the big honcho himself? You’ve really moved up in the world, huh.”
Nobina waved her hands, trying to downplay herself.
“Totally not. Circumstances dictate I need to meet him, but I doubt I’m the best one for the job.”
Fitz gave his own laugh, shaking his head.
“Be a bit more confident Nobina. That’s the key. Anyway, best not to keep Merchant Leader Asteron waiting. Good luck!”
She gave a nod, making her way to the nearest receptionist’s desk. The reception look was less than warm when she saw Nobina, merely asking her what she wanted. When she said she was there to see Asteron under Aunai’s authority, the female receptionist immediately straightened up and nodded.
“Of course. Please follow me miss.”
Nobina was led to an office that was pretty close to the receptionist desk. Looking at it, she could see it was a far different style of office. It had three walls, but a single open one that anyone could walk in. The lack of door was surprising as well, making Nobina wonder if this really was the office of the Merchant Leader.
“Mr. Asteron. A representative of the Navira Adventuring Guild,” she spoke.
“Got it,” said Asteron,” appearing from behind his desk. Taking a look at him, Asteron appeared as unassuming as you can get, having a rather skinny demeanor and a rather timid look. However, Nobina wasn’t fooled by this sight. This man likely had a huge influence that let him dress in such casual attire.
“Please, take a seat miss….”
“Please call me Nobina,” she smiled.
He gave a nod, taking a seat on his own desk. Looking at it, it appeared rather messy, which made sense for someone as busy as the merchant leader. As he straightened himself up, he turned to Nobina with a smile.
“Now. What can I do for the representative of the adventuring guild?”
Nobina worried about telling him something important with the lack of privacy, but it seemed that he caught on to her expression.
“You seem rather new for the financial representative. I’m guessing you’re either a new hire or a guest, but a guest seems more likely.”
She gave a nod.
“My name is Nobina and I’m technically a financial officer of the Agora Adventuring Guild.”
Asteron gave a nod.
“Ah… Agora… a rather quiet town. But please, you must be here for an urgent matter considering how you’re looking a bit impatient.”
Nobina wondered if she’d keep encountering people who could easily read her. It was likely a fault she had to fix, but she had a laundry list of things she had to do already.
“Right… The… town of Wistern was completely destroyed. Aunai has requested I get fundings to pay for both the bolstering of the towns defenses and the group meant to hunt the dragon.”
Asteron gave a nod.
“You have our support. Please give us the numbers of what you exactly need on our end after the nobility, and we’ll cover it. Anything else?”
Nobina stared for a bit, showing her confusion about him instantly agreeing.
“Ah,” he laughed. “You must be confused as to why I just agreed without asking anything in return. See, this is an emergency and many lives were lost, so there is no time for me to try to get as much out of the adventuring guild as possible. Perhaps it’s not for the benefit of the merchant guild, but we have a policy of putting the needs of the people as a priority. It is what has granted us their trust and thus I’m fulfilling their obligation. I won’t need anything until this matter is resolved and will do what I can to assist.”
Nobina gave a nod. Asteron was quickly showing himself to be a good leader and Nobina had so much respect for him. It allowed her to relax as she leaned back in her chair.
“Thank you so much Asteron. I shall report back.”
He gave a nod, leading Nobina to stand up and leave. Once she was gone, he smiled, shaking his head.
“She certainly is new to this. Well… Aunai will likely cover for her mistake, but at the very least we’ll be able to take advantage of this situation.”
Nobina found herself satisfied, leaving Asteron’s office, happy that negotiations went well. She didn’t know how much the magical item she had was playing a role, but she felt it did help a bit.
“It’s really neat having all of these things,” Nobina said as she looked at the feather she was holding.
She came back to the lobby to find Fitz waiting around. When he saw her, he waved her over.
“Oh, how did it go?” he asked.
“It went great honestly,” she smiled, giving the biggest grin. “I’m sure he’ll give as much support as possible, considering he really seemed like someone who cared for others.”
“Oh yeah,” nodded Fitz. “He’s considered a man of the people, so I have no doubt he’ll keep his word. Anyway, let’s meet at the front of the adventuring guild later for dinner.”
“Sounds good to me,” she smiled.
Nobina waved goodbye to Fitz as she left the merchant’s guild. Stepping into the streets, she felt a sense of pride come over her. Despite the pressure she was feeling earlier, successes like this still made her feel like she was making progress. There were still many problems she had to resolve, but, at the very least, the merchant guild’s support wasn’t one of them.
As she began walking back to the adventuring guild, she had another headache. It didn’t last long, and once it was done, the Gaze that was gone was back to normal.
“Huh,” said Nobina, wondering what had caused it to weaken. It was something to look into later, but she had to report the status of her task.
It didn’t take long before Nobina arrived back at the adventuring guild. It was still a hive of activity with adventurers coming and going. Some of them were strong and intimidating, while others gave off an aura of wisdom and magical prowess. It made Nobina a bit envious that all those adventurers had the freedom to take jobs to travel and help others. However, Nobina did cherish the stability that came with being a guild officer. After being told how much Paths mattered for jobs a long time ago, she knew she’d have a rough time if she lost her job as a guild officer. Who else would need the Path of the Writer? It was a relatively unknown, rare path, after all.
“Alright, let’s get this report in,” Nobina nodded to herself.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
She entered the guild and headed straight upstairs. Once upstairs, she headed straight to Aunai’s office, giving a knock on the door.
“Come in,” came Aunai’s voice.
Nobina entered the room, seeing Aunai have a surprised expression on her face.
“Oh Nobina. Back so soon? How did negotiations go?” said Aunai with an inquisitive look on her face.
“They went great. He promised to support the adventuring guild as much as possible.”
When Nobin said those words, she saw Aunai flash a rather concerned look on her face.
“Oh… He did? Well… did he write that in the contract?”
Nobina’s eyes widened when she heard the word “contract” mentioned. It didn’t occur to her to obtain something in writing because she trusted the words of Asteron were good enough for any agreement.
“Well…” said Nobina, a flash of guilt appearing on her face. “I… didn’t get a written contract. Only… his verbal promise.”
Aunai merely shook her head in response.
“Unfortunate, but don’t worry too much about it Nobina. If you’re wondering why I asked about the contract, it’s because this gives Asteron the power to determine how much funds will ultimately go to the relief effort. Of course, Asteron isn’t someone who would let innocent people suffer, so he’ll no doubt still offer support now that he’s aware of what’s happening. However, he’ll likely expect compensation for his effort, and we’ll be obliged to give it.”
Hearing that, Nobina felt as if she had just messed up something important, but Aunai continued to speak.
“That being said, it is good that you’ve gotten his verbal promise to support us. He didn’t mention anything about compensation, right?” asked Aunai.
“He did not,” replied Nobina immediately.
“Then… good job Nobina,” she smiled.
Nobina took joy in completing the task returned upon hearing that. The mess up no longer seemed like a mess up and she was happy to have done her part.
“With that done and all the other financial officers busy, there’s not much I want you to do. Not that there isn’t anything that you can’t help with, but you still are our guest and me burdening you with tons of work wouldn’t be right.”
“But I want to continue to help,” she said in a bit of a protest.
“Well,” said Aunai, thinking about it a bit. “Tomorrow, I’ll have some assignments for you. Of course, if Carina or Mustan have something for you, please assist them. However, if you find a moment free, I’ll give you some tasks. For now, please take a day off. After earlier… I think you should have some time to relax.”
Once again, she wanted to protest, but this time she merely nodded. That temporary breakdown earlier really revealed to herself how fragile she could be. It felt pathetic, but she remembered that she was only human. There was a lot she blamed herself for, and it was bound to boil over if the pressure mounted. That was why she appreciated everyone’s help in returning her to a calm self.
“Thank you Aunai… for everything,” nodded Nobina.
“Thank you as well Nobina,” smiled Aunai. “Your service to the guild is appreciated.”
With that, Nobina left Aunai’s office and headed back to the financial office. Once there, she saw Mustan was reviewing a ton of documents.
“Oh Nobina,” said Mustan. “Done completing your task?”
“Yeah,” she replied back. “Aunai told me to take the day off, but I wanted to make sure you guys were ok.”
He chuckled, nodding his head.
“I’m glad you’re thinking of us Nobina. We should be fine without your assistance for the rest of the day. After all, it was just the two of us before you came here. Both Carina and I are a force to be reckoned with in terms of how efficient we are, so don’t worry about us being overwhelmed. This pales to the famine we had to deal with five years earlier.”
“Famine?” asked Nobina, giving a curious look.
“Ah… yeah, a story for another time. It’ll likely take me an hour to fully tell it and…”
His glance moved over his books, causing Nobina to shake her head.
“Please don’t let me trouble you. I’ll see you tomorrow Mustan.”
“Alright,” he smiled, getting back to his work.
Nobina headed back downstairs, finding herself looking at the large crowd of adventurers. She was tempted to talk a bit with them to learn more about adventuring for her book, but she felt being in the guild officer uniform would make her feel unprofessional. After all, she felt a guild officer shouldn’t be acting as if they didn’t know what it was like to be an adventurer, even if they weren’t adventurers themselves.
At least most of them.
Instead, Nobina headed out of the guild and decided to check out a few places. The first location she went to was a general store she had seen going between the adventuring guild and the merchant guild. Entering the store, she was amazed by the large selection of goods compared to the general store back in Agora.
“Greeting guild officer,” said the man behind the counter. He had a rather large profile and a short, brown beard. His hair looked a bit messy, and he had a brown apron covering his front. On his side was a rather small coin pouch.
“Hello there sir,” she smiled. “I was just browsing since I haven’t checked out this store before.”
“Alright,” he smiled. “Anything you need specifically? Names Barmort.”
“Oh. My names Nobina,” she smiled. “Uh… Do you have… books?”
He shook his head.
“Sorry. Afraid we don’t have any. There’s a bookstore not too far with a lady with red hair, but she doesn’t really… sell books.”
“Oh. I did visit that place. I was just asking because I was wondering if there were any stores that sold them.”
“Afraid you won’t find one in this town. At least dedicated ones,” he sighed. “But there is a library you can check out.”
Hearing that, Nobina’s eyes widened.
“Please give me the details,” she said, finding herself excited at the potential new location to visit.
Once she learned of the details, she nodded, heading out of the store. It was close to dinner, so Nobina headed back to the guild to wait for Fitz.
As she did, Nobina noticed something odd about her Gaze bag. Instead of the usual flash, the bag began faintly glowing. It didn’t seem that different from how it usually was, but then it created a short-lived shining burst. A white twig began growing out of the Gaze bag, slithering almost toward Nobina in a zigzag pattern. On its tip was a thin string with a gem and paper attached.
“Woah,” said Nobina, staring at the gem and paper.
As Nobina took the items, the figure of a fairy, white skin, dark hair and green eyes with horns in the shape of the twig, appeared, giving a bow before dispersing into white particles that resembled white sparkles.
“Pretty,” Nobina said in awe.
Nobina found herself about to open the note, but soon she realized she was still in front of the adventuring guild, drawing all sorts of attention and comments. She was about to run off when she heard a familiar voice.
“Nobina,” called Fitz, appearing nearby.
“Fitz!” she exclaimed, running over to hug him. Fitz immediately found himself panicking as he was caught off guard.
“Nobina. What are you doing,” he stammered, trying to figure out what was happening.
“Oh,” she said, releasing him immediately. “Let’s get out of here.”
She immediately took his hand and began running off, with Fitz still flustered by Nobina’s sudden actions.
“The restaurant’s the other way,” he barely managed to say.
“Oh right,” she said, stopping. “Lead the way.”
Nobina soon let Fitz lead the way, happy that she was out of the problematic situation from earlier. It didn’t help that earlier she noticed the bag glow twice after the fairy disappeared.
“Thank you so much Fitz,” said Nobina once they reached the restaurant. The restaurant was called the Coridan. It looked high end considering the décor was way fancier than what Nobina had seen from all other restaurants she had been in besides the best restaurant in Agora. There was an aura of wealth about it, reminding her a bit of the café’s exclusive section that Carina brought her to.
“You’re welcome? Nobina… what happened earlier. Why did you hug me all of a sudden?”
Nobina went immediately red, realizing what she had done.
“Oh my god. I’m so sorry Fitz… I was just so thankful that you were there to get me out of such an embarrassing situation that…”
She found herself burning in embarrassment as she realized how much trouble she might have given Fitz.
“Got it,” he nodded, giving a smile. “Well… Glad I could help.”
She gave a nod back.
The two of them entered the high-end restaurant, where the hostess greeted them.
“Welcome sir and guild officer,” she said, giving a respectful bow. “Reservations?”
Fitz gave her a card, which she quickly reviewed and then placed behind the podium she was at.
“Table for two,” called the hostess.
Soon, another gentleman appeared, escorting the two to the back of the restaurant. The spot was pretty far from the center, but it did offer a nice, private place to talk.
“Oh, this is nice,” said Nobina, looking at the décor of the restaurant. Nobina noticed the artistry of the restaurant gave off a fantasy nobility vibe. An example of this was the occasional artwork of kings helping others or queens giving speeches. Besides that, there was also the artwork of dragons that these rulers were on. It was an interesting design choice, and certainly, one Nobina found appealing.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Some people don’t like how much the artwork is of nobility, but this is a high-end restaurant after all. Nobility comes here often and many of them appreciate the artwork showing what it’s like to be a noble.”
Nobina chuckled, hearing Fitz mention the purpose of nobility.
“So,” said Fitz, looking directly at Nobina. “How have you been? I’d imagine a lot has happened since we’ve last met.”
“Oh… I got a long tale for you.”
Nobina began telling Fitz about everything that had happened since they last met. She started with her bond with Sarah and Mimiki, the two closest people to her. Then, she took on the role of financial officer of the Agora guild before embarking on her journey as an adventurer. Afterward, she began talking about the goblin crisis and the visit from Aunai and her adventurers. Lastly, she then talked about her journey to Navira.
During this time, tea was brought to them and Fitz had ordered a full-course meal for the two of them. The soup they had was a nice onion soup, making Nobina think of the French Onion soup she had enjoyed a few years back.
“Wow,” said Fitz, his expression just full of surprise. “So much has happened to you Nobina.
“I know,” said Nobina, taking a sip of her tea. “I’m honestly surprised that so much has happened in such a short time.”
“Well… life works in mysterious ways they say,” he chuckled. “Sometimes we have normal, mundane lives. Other times we are fighting off the goblin armies.”
“Just another day in the life of Nobina,” she replied, taking a sip of her soup.
As soon as she did that, the waiter came with their main course. It was a fresh fish fillet with vegetables on the side. With it was a nice bread roll with cheese, which helped complement the food well. Nobina took a bite of the fish and found herself instantly satisfied by the slightly salty yet savory flavoring of it.
“Amazing,” said Nobina. “Hopefully this isn’t draining your bank. As a friend, I’d hate to burden you like that.”
“Of course it’s not a burden,” chuckled Fitz. “I have a decent amount saved up for occasions and meeting a friend is certainly one of them. Plus, I know one of the chef’s here, so I got a good discount.”
Nobina gave a nod.
“Then I guess we’ll need to visit here more often,” she smiled.
“If you actually want to drain my funds, sure,” he responded back.
Both of them gave a laugh, causing Nobina to relax even more as she enjoyed her dinner. As she said that, Nobina heard Fitz say something that caught her off guard.
“You’re honestly amazing Nobina. I’m glad I’m friends with someone like you.”
“Amazing,” she replied back softly to herself. “I… don’t know if that’s the right word. I’m just doing what I can to help, that’s all. I don’t think I’m doing enough really...”
Fitz gave a chuckle.
“Nobina… You’ve done so much for people and a lot of people respect you. You should take pride in what you’ve done and not downplay how much you’ve helped others.”
Hearing that, Nobina couldn’t help but nod.
“You’re right,” she nodded. “I’ve done a lot, but I don’t want that to go to my head. Helping people is just the right thing to do and I… wish I didn’t let my doubts get to me as often.”
Fitz gave a nod.
“If you have any concerns, remember to depend on others. We are only human after all and despite how amazing we can be at times, there are times when we need to work together to accomplish great things. Anyway… I’m sure no matter what trouble comes your way, you’ll get through it. I believe in you, and you always have my support.”
Nobina smiled, giving a nod.
“Thank you, Fitz… you really are a good friend.”
As Nobina continued to enjoy her food, she remembered that her Gaze bag had glowed earlier. Not wanting to forget to check, she excused herself and headed to the bathroom. Once there, she opened it up and found a large, compact, heavy-duty tent was inside the bag. Nobina face was full of shock upon realizing what she had.
“Why the… I guess adventuring will be a bit easier with this,” she chuckled.
Next was the gem she had received earlier. Reading the letter that came with it, the letter said, “Offensively charged jewel. Exclaim the following for spells. ‘Fire’ – Fireball, ‘Ice’ – Ice storm, ‘Wind’ – Razer Blade, ‘Earth’ – Rock Throw.” At the very end of the note were the words “three charges.”
“Hm… I guess I’ll have to use this in an emergency. I have no idea if this is a one-time thing. But… I’m receiving a lot of cool stuff recently. I wonder if it’s a sign…”
Nobina knew that every time she received things, it was usually a precursor for something in the future. The fact that a dragon was sighted near a town was a scary enough sign. Not only that, but Nobina couldn’t help but think about the demon as well.
“I wonder what’s happening with both of those,” said Nobina, packing everything in her special bag before heading back to eat.