The ride back to the guild was relatively quiet. Neither Nobina nor Carina were saying anything the whole time, their eyes staring out into the nightlife of the city. It wasn’t until they were halfway into their trip that Carina spoke up.

“It’s going to be interesting to see what happens,” said Carina, her gaze still distant. “I have no doubt that Immana will be unbiased, but I am worried that we might not be able to hunt down this dragon even with this team Aunai is assembling.”

“Would this whole thing be separate from the dragon hunting team Aunai is assembling or will we be joining them?” asked Nobina.

“It should be fine for you to join them, but you’d likely not play a major role,” sighed Carina. “My main concern in all of this is that your judge as either an insignificant factor or, the worst case, a liability to the actual dragon hunting squad. It isn’t enough just to be there and defeat it.”

Carina had a point. If she didn’t contribute much to the test, it would likely reflect poorly on her. She’d either need to be a major contributor to the team or play a major role in its inception.

“So… there’s a reason for me not being a part of that team huh? I guess forming my own team might be a choice…” said Nobina, shaking her head. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do it, but we’ll speak more with Aunai about this.”

Carina turned to Nobina, seeing a concerned look on her face.

“We got this,” said Carina, giving a reassuring nod.

The two arrived back at the guild, where Nobina stepped out.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Carina, smiling at the fact they finally go through the day.

“Yeah… I’ll see you tomorrow, Carina,” Nobina replied back.

Once Carina was gone, Nobina made her way into the guild. It was the middle of night-time operations, so the staff there was much lower than in the daytime. Not to mention that there were all new faces, as Nobina was generally not there during the night. As she made her way into the back, she began wondering if perhaps a night-time search party would be a good idea. She’d imagine the main squad would be moving through the day, so having more time covered didn’t see like a bad idea.

“I’ll have to run it by Aunai tomorrow,” said Nobina, stepping out of the back of the guild.

She made her way into the inn and all the way up to her room. Once she was there, she took a seat on her bed and began filing out her diary. During that time, both Hammy and Speck made their appearance known, playing around her now that they were free from the bag.

“Do you guys enjoy the bag travelling more or would perhaps staying in the room be better?” asked Nobina.

The two of them stopped before standing on the bag, giving their versions of affirmation. At least, that’s what it appeared to be for Nobina.

As she filled in her entry for the day, she took a step and looked out her room window. It was facing the north side of the guild, looking over a vast cityscape. The lights kept the city visible, but from her view, there were a lot of dark rooftops. Besides that, there was the view of the streets below her window. That was a much better view, revealing a well-lit road with people and guards appearing occasionally. Seeing this just reminded Nobina that the world was already ready to move on to the next day. There was no point in stalling the inevitable and letting her worries eat away at her.

“Hopefully tomorrow goes smoothly,” said Nobina as she stepped away from the window.

She went to bed shortly after, closing her eyes as she tried not to let the day’s events get to her.

The next day, Nobina found herself waking up to a gentle sunlight piecing into her room. Things felt rather calm as Nobina stood up to stretch. It was only when she found herself a bit more awake that she could see the outside seemed rather active. The streets were full of carriages, far more than she was used to. Not only that but there were tons of people, seemingly all walking in one direction, making Nobina wonder what was going on.

She quickly got ready and departed downstairs. Once she was at the receptionist’s desk, she was stopped immediately.

“Ah Nobina,” said the receptionist. “Aunai has issued an emergency order for all guild officials to report to the guild. The town is dealing with an influx of refugees. Not only that, but there’s a large number of requests for escorts out of the city to other towns. I believe Aunai wishes to speak to you directly regarding this.”

“Thanks,” nodded Nobina, quickly heading off to the guild.

Once inside, Nobina was shocked by the sheer number of civilians speaking to receptionists at the present moment. The crowd of people was significantly larger than usual. It was a mixture of both adventurers and civilians, with a few nobles in the mix. It didn’t take long for Nobina to overhear the majority of the talk.

“I need an escort immediately. I can’t wait a few days,” said one civilian.

“My family is willing to pay big money, just approve my request,” yelled another.

The guild officials were doing their best to handle the sheer number of requests, but Nobina knew that the guild wasn’t meant to deal with such a large influx. It was very likely the guild would have to issue an emergency declaration, as this was clearly a crisis at this point.

“Nobina,” called Carina, who had appeared in front of the stairs leading to the second floor. “I was just about to get you. Aunai wishes to speak to the three of us immediately.”

“Right,” said Nobina.

The two of them made their way to Aunai’s office, where she was talking with other managers and supervisors. Inside was also Mustan, who was sitting on the couch waiting. The moment Aunai noticed the two of them, she quickly warped up her conversation, and the other guild officials left.

“Ah good, you’re awake,” said Aunai.

“What’s going on Aunai?” asked Nobina, sitting on the couch across from Mustan. Carina took her seat next to Nobina, awaiting Aunai’s response.

“The worst case,” she responded. “The refugees from the town are flocking in, but there’s a growing concern that the dragon might attack the city itself. A lot of people are fortunately not panicking, but we are dealing with a huge influx of requests for an escort out of the city. It was being mixed with requests to house the refugees, making the whole situation far too difficult for the guild to handle alone.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“What about assistance from the nobility and city government?” asked Nobina. “Surely they aren’t just leaving us out to dry.”

“That’s where the issue lies,” responded Carina, a clear look of frustration on her face. “The nobility and city government are doing their best to handle the situation, but under their own terms.”

“What exactly does that mean?” asked Nobina.

“It means that they are securing their own people before the rest of the town,” said Aunai, seemingly frustrated as well. “As it stands, they care more about making sure the nobility and rich from the town are settled in first and care not for the civilians who are scared of leaving.”

“It’s a mixture of politics and greed, which is honestly disgusting,” said Mustan, who was also frustrated.

Nobina could see all of them were understandably frustrated with everything going on. She couldn’t blame them either since this was likely going to interfere with the dragon hunting plans as well.

“What will happen with the…”

A knock came on the door, with Aunai inviting the person knocking inside the room. To their surprise, they all stood when they saw it was Lady Immana. She was wearing a nice blue and white dress that had elements of a noble’s attire. On her side was her rapier as well.

“Hello there everyone,” she said in a friendly tone. “Hopefully I’m not intruding.”

“We were discussing the current crisis,” responded Aunai, standing then giving a respectful bow.

“I see!” she said in a fake-sounding surprise. “Well, it’s certainly crazy downstairs. If was some average person, I could have imagined myself crushed in the crowd of cowards trying to feel our territory. It’s truly… Sad.”

There was clear spite in her voice, but the odd friendliness of the tone helped hide it. She was still smiling, but all of them could tell she was rather unhappy with how things were unfolding.

“Regardless, it shouldn’t interfere with your test of stopping the rogue dragon, yes?” said Immana directly to Nobina.

“It shouldn’t,” Nobina responded back immediately, trying to show some confidence.

Immana’s smile seemed to grow immediately upon hearing that.

“Pure confidence… but can you back it up,” said Immana, her eyes turning to Aunai. “Tell me Aunai, how goes the hunt for the dragon? Is your team coming along?”

“We have… unfortunately, postponed the team formation for now,” Aunai reluctantly replied.

All of them except Immana looked shocked at her answer.

“What do you mean?” asked Nobina. “What’s going on at that front.”

“Well,” said Aunai. “Half of the adventurers of the original squad have opted not to participate. The main reason for that is that many are being paid a fortune to escort some of the high-profile individuals and their whole wealth out of town. That or they are being paid as guards for those nobles choosing to stay in town. After all, mot all adventurers are in it to help people alone.”

Immana merely shook her head upon hearing the last line Aunai spoke.

“It is rather unfortunate,” said Immana, looking genuinely disappointed. “It’s a showing how not many have the makings of an ideal adventurer. Regardless, I believe you can still hunt it down with Nobina’s assistance. Unless you have other plans Nobina.”

Nobina shook her head. She wasn’t the strongest person, but she was certainly someone who could help out. She did possess tools that could help swing things to her advantage as well. However, whether the Gaze offers more assistance was left to be seen.

“I’ll be working to get the team ready in the meantime,” said Nobina.

“Fantastic,” said Immana excitingly. “I can’t wait to see how capable you truly are.”

Immana then turned to Carina, who had been keeping quiet.

“That reminds me,” smiled Immana. “I believe that your family has its own problems, isn’t that right Carina?”

Carina gritted her teeth, giving a nod.

“I will be unable to assist you with your test Nobina,” said Carina. “My family is… focusing on assisting the refugee effort under the orders of Lord Kasanta.”

Nobina could tell this was likely Immana pulling strings, but she was basically powerless to stop the effort. Not only that, but the crisis was making it so that Aunai couldn’t focus on helping her either.

“I’m curious how things will go now that is just you working at it alone,” smiled Immana. “Hopefully you have no issue. After all, this is a dragon we are talking about.”

“I should be able to handle this,” said Nobina, unable to completely high the doubt she was feeling. “But what about you Lady Immana? Don’t you have a lot of responsibilities due to the matter at hand?”

“I do, but the test must be completed and cannot be stalled. My father was ‘so moved’ by your words yesterday he told me that he trusted that you could stop this dragon,” said Immana, her sweet words unable to hide the pure delight she was feeling.

“Of course, you can choose to give up the test right now and free me from my own obligations. Or… you could take my sponsorship and agree to my demands. That should also suffice. If you leave this to me, I can offer so much assistance that you wouldn’t need to stress.”

Nobina couldn’t answer right away, having to think about what the right choice was really. However, Aunai threw her a bone by responding in her stead.

“Nobina is far more capable than you know, Lady Immana,” she responded back in her own calm voice. “You can say Nobina has the support of powerful entities far beyond our understanding. Even the ones we understand are truly ones that have no equal. Even if she were to go at it alone, she’d come out on top.

There was a thankfulness for Aunai’s reassurance, but it seemed that it was going to backfire.

“Oh? Nobina can take it on alone? Is that true?” asked Immana.

“Well… The odds are rather lower, but with enough assistance I can do it,” she nodded.

“I see… I’ll be excited to see that happen. Anyways, will we all keep standing around here wasting time? I’d imagine we all have a role to play,” said Immana.

All of them nodded, with Aunai giving her orders.

“Continue to monitor the financial situation Carina and Mustan. As for you Nobina, please take over the recruitment of party members for the dragon hunt. I have the current list of people that are on the team, but I’d say we’d want at least two more S-ranks on the team. Three is a lot, but we are dealing with a dragon here.”

Nobina walked over and took the list. She wasn’t too surprised seeing Lila and Mimiki on it, but there were certain names she was unfamiliar with.

“I’ll do my best,” said Nobina.

“You got a week till the squad should head out, but the sooner the better,” said Aunai. “Dismissed.”

All of them stepped out except for Immana, who told Nobina to wait for her outside the room.

“Oh right,” said Nobina before stepping out of the room. Will Vert join us at some point?”

Immana gave another smile, shaking her head.

“I believe my brother is pre-occupied with a task from my father. He’ll join us if he can on the actual hunt, but… It is unnecessary if you ask me.”

Nobina could see that things were all falling into place for Immana. She could do nothing about that but do the best she could to pass the test.

“If you excuse me,” bowed Nobina before she finally stepped out of the room.

Once they were alone, Aunai’s attitude shifted to one showing her true feelings of annoyance.

“Damn it,” she sighed.

“I do pity you Aunai,” said Immana, her smile shifting to a more neutral expression. “Such a big retreat spreading so fast… it feels a bit… unnatural, yes?”

“Are you implying…” spoke Aunai, her eyes narrowing.

“Oh… I have no evidence of it, but you know a certain major nation is almost certainly getting involved in major matters. I’ve seen the report regarding Agora and considering the demon hasn’t been found… It makes you wonder if this demon is really rogue.”

“Finding a demon can be as difficult as searching for a needle in a haystack Immana,” she said, clicking her tong right afterward. “I have no doubt that there is something unnatural happening, but my hands are far too busy.”

“You can always make a deal with me you know,” she smiled. “If Nobina isn’t taking my assistance, I can certainly offer it to you.”

“What? And then become the equivalent of your toy to manipulate? No thanks,” she snapped back.

“Well, I never expect you to fold, but we’ll have to see how strong willed Nobina is,” chuckled Immana. “Though if both of you fail… it would be bad for father. Though we’ll have to see.”

“You wait Immana,” replied Aunai. “She’ll surprise you.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not. It’s more likely her Gaze bag does something far more significant. Anyway, I shall not keep the test taker waiting. Good day,” she said, leaving the room. As she was gone, Aunai merely shook her head.

“This can’t get any worse, right?” asked Aunai to herself, trying to suppress her growing headache.