Nobina made her way back to the entrance of the household, following behind one of the maids that had accompanied her and Lord Kasanta earlier. As they walked, the maid kept quiet for the most part, merely guiding her through the house. It was only when they were at the main entrance that the maid spoke up.

“Please let me know if you need more assistance. Else, I shall be standing by,” said the maid, giving a bow and moving to the nearest wall.

“Actually, can you bring me to Carina?” asked Nobina.

“Of course,” responded the maid, separating herself from the wall.

She began bringing Nobina down the corridor right from the entrance of the house. It was quite spacious, giving enough room for four people to walk side by side. To make up for it, every few feet they walked had either a fancy-looking plant, a nice piece of artwork, or a doorway to another room. There was the occasional hallway here and there, but it was mostly a straight line until they reached a t-section of the hall.

They traveled to the right, continuing to find a hallway now snaking until they reached a set of double doors. Before even opening the doors, Nobina could hear Carina speaking loudly, worrying Nobina about what was going on.

“Oh god,” said Nobina.

The maid gave a knock, and the door opened moments later. Once inside, Nobina could see Carina was standing on the right side of a rather long table, with Vert on the left side and Immana at the very end. The room itself was mostly taken up by the long table with a few paintings in the room to give it color. Besides that, and the lighting on the wall, the room was pretty minimal.

“Miss Nobina,” announced the maid, taking a step back.

Before she could say anything, her bag glowed once again, an all-too-familiar action that Nobina had experienced time and time again. She thanked the gods that it didn’t happen when she was meeting Lord Kasanta, as that would have likely derailed the whole thing. However, now she had to deal with the fact it flashed in front of both Vert and Immana, neither of whom had seen the glow first-hand.

“Ah,” said Carina, her eyes moving to both Vert and Immana.

Nobina eyed the two to see if they’d point it out or ask about it, but she was surprised when they didn’t acknowledge it.

“Welcome Nobina,” smiled Immana. “We were just having a nice chat with Carina regarding your sponsorship. I do apologize that you didn’t get a chance to talk about it before meeting my father. How did that go by the way?”

“Oh… It was very pleasant. Your father has given me my first task, which is to slay the dragon. I’m allowed any assistance except from him,” replied Nobina.

Immana gave a bright smile and nodded.

“I’m certain that we can do it together. Of course, I still want you to pass my test, but even if you fail, you’ll have the full support of my faction behind you. That is… If you decide to ignore such a stupid decision to ‘decline both of us’ as Carina has informed both of us earlier.”

Nobina could see it in Immana’s face. She was basically telling her that she was aware of everything, and she’d be foolish to decline her sponsorship. Given everything that had happened, there was no doubt in her mind that picking Immana wasn’t a bad idea. However, her gaze couldn’t help but focus on Vert, who had been holding in his response. He might have been waiting for Nobina to answer rather than try to convince her to join his side.

“Well,” said Nobina, trying to find the right words. “I’m not so sure. Your father has told me you’d be the one judging me for the test, so if you were to be my sponsor… wouldn’t it make it a bit bias?”

Immana put a hand to her chin, thinking about Nobina’s answer.

“In a sense… yes,” responded Immana, her smile becoming warm. “I would be expected to be as unbiased as possible for the sake of fairness. However… It is definitely impossible to avoid being even a tiny bit biased. Whether you believe me or not is up to you, but understand that I, above everyone else, knows what my father wants and doesn’t want in a noble. My testing will be based on what’s best for him, not for myself.”

Nobina could tell there was no lie in her words. Immana would do her best to ensure that she was the right choice for her father. If Nobina had a poor showing, even with Immana as a sponsor, she’d likely score poorly. Even if her life wasn’t on the line, Carina’s was.

Her gaze turned to Carina, who remained silent. She then turned back to Immana to give her response.

“If I can be honest with you Immana… I do not believe it’s in my best interest to gain your sponsorship or Verts. I feel capable of getting it done with Carina and Aunai by my side,” said Nobina, hoping her answer was the correct one.

Immana’s warmth didn’t disappear as she gave a nod.

“I shall respect your decision for now. Then… I will be taking my leave. I wish you three a good day,” said Immana, heading out one of the doors into the nearest hallway. Nobina could tell she was heading in the direction of Lord Kasanta, likely going to get her assignment from her father.

“It is good to see you again Vert,” said Nobina, hoping the casual address was still what Vert desired.

“Yes… Well… perhaps for you at least,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. “I didn’t expect you to decline Immana given you’re thinking about your best interest, but I guess you think that picking a side is the best choice, right?”

“I do,” nodded Nobina.

“Well… We’ll have to see,” he smiled back. “Note that most of Lord Kasanta’s sons and daughters are on either my faction or Immana’s faction. There are a few smaller ones like Jims and Aleti, but both of them… well… are out of the territory currently.”

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Nobina tried to recall who both of them were. Jim was the youngest son of Lord Kasanta, the 6th son. As for Aleti, she was the heir of another branch family like Carina. It was even smaller than Carina’s family, so it was hard to say her faction had any teeth if Carina’s already had barely any.

Without another word, Vert left the room, heading in the same direction as Carina. Once he was gone, Nobina gave a sigh in relief.

“Oh thank god,” she said, looking at her Gaze bag. “I’m honestly shocked that they didn’t press me about the Gaze bag. Any idea why Carina?”

“Because they have more pressing matters,” replied Carina, who was now sitting with her face in her hands. “They are likely going to speak with Lord Kasanta to get their tasks.”

“Yeah… that makes sense,” nodded Nobina.

As Nobina stood there, Carina gave a sigh as she leaned back into her chair.

“My god being grilled by those two was horrible.”

Nobina took a seat next to Carina, asking what had happened.

“Well… They first lambasted me for using the test as a means to defend you. I barely managed to reduce the punishment, but it’s going to be rough regardless,” she sighed.

It was understandable that Immana might have spoken to Carina harshly, but she was shocked that Vert was also harsh. He seemed like a laid-back person, making Nobina realize that there was more to the two of them than meets the eyes. Immana had revealed to her a rather scary side already, while Vert likely had another face that Nobina had yet to see.

“Oh,” said Nobina, taking out her Gaze back. “I wonder what I got.”

Nobina checked quickly and saw she had a pair of boots with a note on them.

“Boots of Cat Walking… A pair of boots that heavily dampen the sound of the wearer’s footsteps”

She smiled, placing the boots in her special bag. There were a decent number of usages Nobina could think about for the boots, though it was mostly centered around doing adventuring work. If she got a chance, she hoped to do some exploring and make use of the many items she had received so far.

“Sounds useful,” said Carina, who was finally sitting straight. Her eyes weren’t on Nobina, merely looking at the door the two left.

“Is that all?” asked Nobina, curious if that really was enough to cause Carina to yell.

“Oh, there was one other thing. The two were very adamant I pick a side and stop saying neutral. However, I basically laid it out to them that for the sake of my position in the guild I had to remain neutral. Both of them seemingly understand my position, but they did indicate that I’d feel some consequence for it. It was then I blew up on the two of them, not caring a bit about any repercussions. Of course, I was fully expecting blowback, but then you stepped in and… the rest his history.”

“Well glad my timing was good,” nodded Nobina. “But yeah, I need to slay that rogue dragon that’s causing issues. Do you think you can help?”

“This is out of my paygrade, but perhaps,” responded Carina. “Since this means protecting my life, I’ll allocate as much resources as I can.”

Nobina gave a nod. It seemed that despite how uncertain things were, Nobina was going to have the support she needed. Deep down, all she really wanted to see was Fay at that moment. She was extremely dependable and way more skilled than Nobina. She was even an S-rank adventurer, giving her full confidence that she’d be able to deal with the rogue dragon if she was there.

“I guess before we go, I should ask you a few questions,” said Nobina. “Do you think… Immana will really try to keep as unbiased as possible?”

“Absolutely,” nodded Carina. “Immana is not a liar. She might be a whole slew of things, mostly bad, but a liar isn’t one of them. She’ll grade you mostly unbiased at least.”

It gave Nobina some relief, but she still had a few more questions.

“How is this going to work anyway? Will she follow me around as I try to assemble another dragon hunting team? What if I join the planned one from Aunai?” asked Nobina.

“I believe that Immana will be basically following you around until the conclusion of the test,” said Carina, her hands crossed on the table. “It might seem insane given how she’s the leader of a major faction, but this is a rather important test. Not to mention she has every incentive to ensure the dragon falls. Whether it’s due to you or due to her own actions doesn’t likely matter. What matters is she wants to do the best for the territories and civilians of them.”

It was even more relief, but Nobina wasn’t convinced that it would be that simple. This was a serious test after all, and Nobina had no intentions of failing because she wasn’t diligent enough.

“Then that should be good for today,” said Nobina. “Shall we head back?”

“Of course,” said Carina.

The two of them headed back to the front of the mansion. However, they were stopped by another maid. This one looked to be in a higher position, one given a badge on their attire.

“Please wait here Miss Nobina and Lady Carina. Lord Kasanta wants to speak with the two of you before you go.”

Both of them stood nearby against the wall as they waited. After roughly twenty minutes, Lord Kasanta appeared with both Vert and Immana by his side. They immediately got on their knees, showing respect to Lord Kasanta. As he saw this, his gaze moved onto Carina first, with his voice sounding more commanding than anything.

“Carina,” said Lord Kasanta. “I want to remind you that your task at the guild takes priority over helping Nobina. Even if your life is on the line, you must prioritize the people over your own. It is the way of the noble.”

Carina gave a bowing even lower.

“As you wish my lord,” she said humbly.

He then turned to Nobina, giving a grin.

“It seems like the ball is already rolling Nobina,” nodded Lord Kasanta. “As discussed earlier, Immana will be by your side to score you for the test. My son Vert has requested that he also gets to test you as well to keep the score rather fair. Immana has no objections, so I’m allowing him as well to test you. Both can decide when to be with you, but they will have to see the dragon being taken out.”

“Lord Kasanta,” said Nobina. “It’s quite risky having both your first son and daughter being involved with a dragon, right?”

He gave a hardy laugh, nodding his head.

“You aren’t wrong. There’s a good chance we will lose not only your life, but theirs as well. However, they both accept the task and believe they can survive even a rogue dragon attack. If they believe that, then I will not doubt them.”

Nobina’s gaze turned to both of them. Both seem to be smiling, indicating that they were both accepting of the task.

“Anyway, I shall let you two depart for the night. Don’t let me keep you,” he said, allowing both to stand up.

They both stood up, giving a bow before departing. As they left, Lord Kasanta shook his head. “I really hope I’m not wasting my time having you grade her. Make sure you do it as fairly as possible,” said Lord Kasanta to Immana.

“Of course, father,” she bowed.

Lord Kasanta nodded and retreated back to his quarters for the night. That left Immana and Vert to speak freely without their father’s watchful gaze.

“I’m curious,” said Immana. “Will you really be watching Nobina this whole time brother? It’s far more work than you often do.”

“I’ll be there for the final battle, but I leave it to you for the rest,” said Vert, giving a sigh. “Though I’ll try to stop by during the prep stage to make sure everything is turning out well.”

“You never change brother,” smiled Immana, giving a smile that seemed even more gentle than the one she gave to Nobina.

“Well… You really want her to become yours, Immana,” replied Vert. “Do you really think she’d be a perfect servant?”

“Well, there is no such thing,” she giggled. “If she was qualified, she’d be a lord and a fellow ally. If she was anything lower… She’d be a peasant undeserving of anything but doing everything for my sake. Hero or not, someone who isn’t an asset to father… Well… Should meet my desires instead. Perhaps after that she’d be ready to take the test and pass it with flying colors.”

Vert was all too familiar with the look he was seeing. Immana, deep down, wanted Nobina to be undeserving of the title of noble but good enough to meet Immana’s desires. Whatever it took, Immana wanted Nobina to be a loyal servant or a willing follower. After all, she had the blood of Lord Kasanta. She was someone who also wanted dependable people under her.

“God speed Nobina,” said Vert, his gaze on the door leading to the chilly night.