The sun rays from the outside hit Nobina’s eyes, awakening her to a nice early morning. As she got up, she immediately took her bag and headed out of the room. As she went downstairs, the innkeeper wished her a good day.

“Oh,” said Nobina. “My name's Nobina. Good to meet you.”

She found herself bowing instinctively, scolding herself a bit for making that mistake again.

“Oh… Right. My name is Harris. Glad to meet you Nobina,” said the innkeeper, going back to pouring more drinks for others.

With that, she headed out towards the stable where she guessed Fitz and Alfar were. Once she was close enough, she saw the two of them. They seemed already ready to go, merely standing around waiting for something. When Fitz’s gaze fell onto her, his face lit up, waving towards Nobina.

“Oh Nobina,” said Fitz. “I had a feeling you’d show up, so I waited a bit before leaving.”

Nobina was about to bow but immediately stopped herself before speaking.

“Sorry about that Fitz,” said Nobina. “I didn’t actually tell you I wanted to meet before you left, so it would have been sad if you waited for nothing.”

“No worries. Anyway, it seems you got everything sorted out. Got anything special in that bag of yours?” he spoke as his eyes turned to Nobina’s sack, which was now empty.

Nobina shook her head.

“Got soup yesterday, but that’s already finished.”

“Bummer,” he sighed. “But I’m glad you came to say goodbye.”

Looking at Fitz’s face, Nobina couldn’t help but smile. They only knew each other for a day, but Nobina felt comfortable calling him a friend. At the very least, she still had Sarah and Eric assisting her so she felt comfortable saying goodbye for now.

“I am as well,” she replied.

With that, Fitz began heading out with Alfar. Seeing them leave, Nobina felt a bit sad. She had no idea when she would see them next, but she had to trust they wouldn’t be separated for too long. As the two left, Fitz called out at the last second.

“Till we meet again Nobina,” he yelled.

“Same to you,” she yelled back.

With that, the two were slowly moving out of view. For Nobina, this was only a temporary goodbye. She had a feeling the three would meet again one way or another.

She headed to the guild, where she expected to see Sarah at the front. Instead, she caught a glimpse of another bored person. Looking her over, she was about Nobina’s age, had short brown hair, and wore what seemed to be a mixture of the guild outfit of Sarah and an adventuring outfit. Thinking about it, she was likely Mimiki, the last guild officer she hadn’t met. As she thought that, she saw the guild officers gaze turned to herself, their eyes a bit suspicious.

“How can I help you,” said the guild officer.

Nobina headed over, offering a smile.

“Are you Mimiki, by chance?”

She nodded, keeping her eye on her.

“My name’s Nobina. I’m a new guild officer.”

Mimiki seemed distrusting of Nobina, looking her over before shaking her head.

“You don’t look the part. I guess a uniform still has to be made, right?”

Nobina gave a nod once again.

“Well then… You better speak with Lare instead of wasting my time.”

She seemed awfully rude, but Nobina didn’t particularly care. As she went into the back, Mimiki gave what was akin to a threat.

“Oh. And you better be telling the truth. I’m not kind to those who lie,” she spoke, not even looking her way.

Nobina, feeling a bit ticked off, commented back without turning.

“Of course I am Mimiki,” Nobina said, sounding annoyed. “You should be more trustworthy, you know? Not that you’d return the same courtesy.”

Those words seemed to trigger Mimiki, as Nobina found her collar grabbed by her and then tossed against the wall. It hurt being slammed against it, but Nobina was managing to keep her cool.

“Listen here,” said Mimiki, her voice full of spite. “You don’t just tell someone you just met to ‘trust them,’ got it? You may be a guild officer, but don’t act buddy-buddy with me. And think before you try to back talk someone like that as well.”

She released Nobina, allowing her to give a calm nod before heading to the back of the guild. Normally, she’d have been scared if someone grabbed her like that, but in her mind, she felt as if there was no risk that the guild officer would seriously hurt her. It was more likely that her irritation with Mimiki prevented her from thinking more logically. For now, she’d merely report this to Lare and have him resolve it. The professional way to handle it. Once there, Nobina met with Lare, who asked her why she looked a bit roughed up.

“It was Mimiki,” she sighed.

“Ah,” he responded. “Mimiki. Yeah, she’s a pickier person to get along with. Hopefully you don’t mind her attitude.”

“Well slamming someone against the wall isn’t really something you can ignore,” said Nobina with a frown.

The expression on Lare’s face changed from calm to pure shock.

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“What?”

Lare was trying to figure out what to say next, displaying expressions of both shock and a bit of irritation.

“Ugh… I’ll speak with Mimiki. Anyway, you can feel free to begin working on that money project. I don’t have any training for you right now.”

“Actually, is Guild Master Eric in?” asked Nobina. “I have a few questions for him.”

He looked surprised upon hearing her question.

“Hm? Something you can’t ask me?” he responded.

“It’s a bit… personal,” she replied, looking down.

Lare could tell she was hiding something, but he merely gave a nod.

“He’s in. Go upstairs. Don’t worry about Mimiki though. I’ll speak with her.”

With that, Nobina left and headed back up to where the guild master was.

Once she was upstairs, she arrived at the guild master’s office, where the guild master greeted her kindly.

“Ah. Nobina. Good to see you settling in,” he spoke, offering her a seat.

“Thanks Guild Master,” she responded.

Nobina took a seat across from him, with Eric waiting for her to speak.

She relayed what happened, with her suddenly gaining her ability last night and what it was. As Eric listened, he seemed to have a big smile on his face.

“Glad it ended up being that you really did have the Path of the Writer. Well, that’s good you’re working towards your Path at least.”

“It is,” said Nobina. “I can only use it once in succession, but I need to limit test it more. It might be a ‘limit to one’ thing that I have to deal with. Or it could be a daily cooldown.”

“Might I see a demonstration of it?” asked Eric, giving a curious look.

Nobina placed her palm facing down on the desk, speaking the words “Summon.”

Immediately, her diary appeared, prompting Eric to pick it up. She was about to tell him not to open it, but he seemed to have no intention of doing so. He examined the book, seemingly testing it by tapping against it.

“Seems normal. Doesn’t feel magical in nature either. Let’s try some things…”

Eric took another book and placed it next to the diary.

“Please try recalling this book.”

Nobina nodded, holding her hand over it and saying, “Recall.”

When nothing happened, Eric asked her to do the same with her diary.

“Recall,” she spoke again.

This time, the book disappeared, with a smile on Eric’s face.”

“Seems it might be linked with books you’ve written. There’s a lot of things that you should test, but for now I think I’ve kept you a bit too long. You have a task to perform, right?”

Nobina gave a nod.

“We have a lot of documentation on abilities and Paths you can read up on. But congratulations on discovering your path.”

“Thanks,” she replied. “I’ll get to work on the money stuff and work on learning more about Paths later.”

“Sounds good. Was that the only reason you came up?” he asked.

“Well…”

With the meeting with Mimiki still on her mind, Nobina told Eric about the encounter. As she spoke, Eric seemed to merely nod, agreeing with what she said.

“That’s Mimiki for you. I rather not get to involved in guild officer conflict, as I’d be obligated to support Mimiki as long as what she does isn’t unfounded.”

“Like slamming me against a wall?” she responded a bit loudly and annoyed.

Seeing her reaction prompted a twitch in Eric’s eye before he spoke calmly.

“Oh that’s not acceptable. Lare is handling it as far as you said, so I won’t intervene. However, try to get along with Mimiki. She’s been here for years and tends to not be that aggressive towards anyone. Do you think you said something offensive?”

Nobina thought about it, and the only thing she could recall was her slight back-talk about trust. As she said it, she suddenly felt as if she was downplaying her provocation and caused the incident. However, she felt she didn’t deserve to get slammed against the wall for it, at the very least.

“I did say she should be more trusting,” she replied. “I do apologize for that. If I didn’t say anything then she wouldn’t have slammed me against the wall.”

Eric merely nodded.

“Well… That must be it then.”

Nobina expected him to say more about it, but he seemed to want to remain silent on the matter.

“Sorry I somehow offended her,” said Nobina.

It felt unlike her to be annoyed by someone, but if Mimiki was going to be her co-worker for the duration, she had to either get along or, in the worst case, get another job. She didn’t want to be here if they couldn’t work out their difference. Deep down, she hoped Sarah could assist her with dealing with Mimiki.

“Listen,” said Eric. “Work on your money project and speak with Lare about it. I’m sure you can come to way to resolve this.”

Nobina nodded before posing her next question.

“Oh, wait. Where’s Sarah by the way?”

“She’s off today,” responded Eric. “She’ll be back tomorrow. However, I suggest not trying to lean on her too much to resolve this. Those two are water and oil, if you get my drift.”

Nobina sighed, realizing this really was her problem to deal with.

“Thanks for the advice, Guild Master,” she said, standing up.

As she left, Eric called her.

“Oh Nobina. One last thing. Try to earn her trust. I’m sure you can do that.”

She nodded, closing the door and leaving the office. Eric sighed, standing and looking out of the window.

“I rather not get involved and let you form this friendship Nobina,” he said, looking out the window. “Else… I might have to fire Mimiki depending on what the Path Specialist says about your Path. It’s so unknown, but that Gaze is still there. It seems ready to act, but for now, it’s merely a silent observer.”

Eric stared out the window a bit more before sitting back down.

Heading back down, Nobina overheard Lare speaking with Mimiki in his office. Part of her told her she shouldn’t listen in, but she couldn’t help hearing a bit of what they were talking about.

“Lare,” said Mimiki. “She looks like a toothpick. If she looks like that, she definitely won’t be a combat guild officer.”

“I can’t tell you what she will do, but it isn’t your role to mistreat a fellow guild officer,” said Lare. “You’re not someone who just beats people up for mere taunts, right?”

Mimiki looked away, causing Lare to sigh.

“Listen. Hold your tongue with her for now if you really don’t want to talk to her, but at least try to be open to a non-hostile discussion.”

“Fine,” said Mimiki.

Soon, she stepped out, and her gaze fell onto Nobina. She gave a “hmph” before heading to the front. Seeing that, she decided to check in with Lare about what happened.

As he entered, Lare looked a bit roughed up himself. Nobina began wondering if Mimiki was just a violent person considering the office looked a bit messy. Though, part of her though it looked the same as always.

“Are you ok,” asked Nobina.

“I’m fine,” he responded, dusting himself off. “It’s Mimiki being herself. Anyway, I think things should be ok for now, but I’d recommend speaking with her to resolve this matter.”

“I want to, but I feel it will only go badly,” Nobina sighed. “Got any advice?”

Lare shook his head.

“You two need to work this out eventually. Though, I guess you’re still settling in. For now, you can go in the back and focus on your money project. Let me know if she does anything unfounded again.”

She began wondering if talking about Mimiki was a sensitive topic, though she knew that it was likely a matter of respect. If someone talked behind her own back, it would bother her as well.

“Will do,” said Nobina.

She found herself entering the guild library and feeling relieved. Surrounded by books, she felt at home, wanting to read everything. However, she quickly gathered her focus and went to find the guild financial documents. As she gathered them, she began thinking about how her old work never had co-workers like this. Everyone was always professional, and Mimiki screamed non-professional. She found herself thinking how annoying it would be to resolve the issue.

“If only I could sit down and just write without a care in the world,” Nobina thought.

She had her goals, and as far as she was concerned, she didn’t want to waste any time dealing with Mimiki. However, she knew she shouldn’t just give up on resolving things between them. People didn’t act aggressively toward each other without a reason. Whatever that reason was would be the key to resolving things between them.

After finishing gathering the documents, she began laying everything out. Economics was something she spent so long in the other world studying. When she entered the workforce, she put her degree to good use. She wasn’t a top student by any metric, but she was at least average. Whether her old-world logic would apply was left to be seen, but for now she had a job to do.