Nobina and Her Strange Journey Through Another World

The three of them arrived at the town of Agora not too long later. During this time, Fitz had been more open to talking with Nobina about the kingdom they were in.

Nobina learned that the Kingdom of Lumira was considered a “starting kingdom,” where people went to discover and train their abilities. It was also where people went when they realized they didn’t have any amazing abilities and wouldn’t make it big anywhere else.

“Lumira has been a home to me for the longest time,” he smiled. “Sure, it’s not like the other two major nations, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad place. Lumira offers a fresh start to many who feel like they aren’t getting anywhere. Especially people like me.”

As he said that, he turned to her.

“Perhaps that’s a bit short-sighted to say now that I think about it. I’ve been working hard, as you’ve said, and I think I might try to make the next step.”

She gave a nod.

“That’s all anyone can ask for,” she replied.

As they reached what appeared to be a rest stop for the horses, Fitz asked Nobina what her plans were.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I need to find a job, but I’d imagine you aren’t hiring.”

“Unfortunately not,” he sighed. “And I’m not really sticking around here that long. I can recommend you some places to start looking for a job, but its really up to you. After all, I don’t know your real path yet.”

“Sorry,” she sighed. “I wish I knew it as well.”

“You must have been raised in an isolated community,” said Fitz. “Only explanation is… Huh?”

Fitz turned to Nobina’s bag, looking at it with a confused expression. Nobina turned to it as well and noticed something inside. Opening it, she noticed what appeared to be a wooden fishing rod. As she pulled it out, she noticed it was one you put together. It was two sticks that were attached together, with a fishing line at the end and a hook at the end of the line.

“Did you… always have that?” he asked, curious about the object.

“Well… No,” she responded. “This bag is special. Sometimes random objects just appear.”

“Oh… Well… Hopefully you get a lot of gold random,” he began to laugh.

The two of them began to laugh before Alfar spoke out.

“It’s time to unload boss. We got a tight schedule with a departure tomorrow morning.”

“Sorry Alfar,” Fitz responded. “Anyway, thanks for the talk Nobina. It’s been great.”

“Same to you,” she nodded.

Nobina began walking away, taking in the city for the first time.

Her eyes turned to the various stores she saw, all lined up somewhat organized. Most of them were a mixture of wood and stone, with the stone looking a bit sleek. Some of the stores had signs on them clearly indicating what they were, while others were pretty vague in what they were selling. At least vague to her. She wasn’t familiar with the world at all, so some of these symbols that might have been common were foreign to her.

She decided to see if she could find a place looking to hire people. So far, everything had been in her language, so she was thankful for that. If she had appeared in a world where no one understood her or she couldn’t read, things would have been significantly harder. She couldn’t remember reading a story like that, but she always thought that’d be an interesting premise. As a writer, she was always looking out for interesting stories. There was only so much of the same thing one could read before seeking something new and exciting.

Eventually, she found what appeared to be a help-wanted sign in front of one of the stores. It appeared to be a general store, so it seemed like a good place to start.

Entering the store, she saw all sorts of general wares, with a rather bored person behind the counter. He was someone roughly in their thirties, bald, and wearing what she imagined was a common outfit for shop employees.

“Welcome,” he said. “Buying or selling.”

“I see your looking to hire,” she said, trying to be as confident as possible.”

“Path?”

“Uh… Writing…”

He looked at her weirdly before shaking his head.

“Haven’t heard about such a path, but I need a Merchant Path or any sort of selling path or even the Charisma Path. Sorry.”

She felt defeated and nodded, leaving the store. As she exited, she sighed, wondering whether this would be a common response.

“If they are looking for a specific path to hire people, they should have put it on the sign... Actually, how do pathless people get jobs. Is that even a thing?”

She thought about going back to Fitz to ask more questions, but she knew she couldn’t depend on him too much. They were friends, but not to the degree that she wanted to burden him. She knew she had to be able to be independent, especially in a world all about working hard to become better.

“I’ll find information. Always a good place to start.”

She began looking around for a library to get some information. Part of her wondered if this world had such a place, but she didn’t want to believe libraries here didn’t exist. It might have been a case where they existed, but only for the rich, but that was good enough for her.

Eventually, she got lucky and found a medium-sized building with adventurer-like people entering and exiting. The sign gave a good indication that this was a sort of adventuring guild.

She approached and entered, surprised by the shift in atmosphere. It felt a bit intimidating, mostly due to all the adventurers around her. Though, she didn’t need to be an expert to know why this was the case. Adventures in the stories she read were all strong, able to fight monsters normal people like her had no chance against. That wasn’t her path, or at least she thought it wasn’t her path. She had to figure out more about path stuff, so this seemed like the best place to start.

Her eye caught a rather bored looking receptionist, who seemed to be day dreaming. She had short, red hair and red eyes that looked fascinating to Nobina. When the receptionist's eyes turned to Nobina, she seemed to perk up a bit.

“Welcome,” she said, mustering a smile. “Can I help you?”

Nobina approached, giving a nod.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m here to ask if I can get information regarding Paths.”

“Oh… The information room is reserved for adventurers or employees unfortunately. You’ll have to ask somewhere else.”

The look of disappointment on Nobina’s face seemed to push the employee to speak more.

“Sorry. Let me introduce myself. The name is Sarah Airs. What’s your name?”

“Nobina,” she responded. “Oh, I guess I should ask if you know where someone with a Path of the Writer can find a job.”

Nobina didn’t know if such a path existed, given how Fitz and that store employee reacted when she said that, but the reaction of Sarah seemed to indicate a no.

“Never heard of such a path, but I can say we are looking for employees of a certain education and skill. We aren’t too concerned about the path either. What would you say your skills are?”

Nobina gave it some thought before responding.

“I can write, read and do mathematics. I’m not too much of a people person though, so hopefully you don’t mind that.”

“No worries,” she responded. “I think you should be good to hire, but I’ll need you to meet with the guild master first.”

Those words instantly put her on alert, as meeting with a guild master sounded scary yet exciting. From what she knew, guild masters were powerful people capable of stopping large armies of monsters. This might have been a relatively small adventuring guild and perhaps she was overestimating how strong one would actually be, but it was an adventuring guild regardless. They must be somewhat strong.

“Sure,” she responded, showing an excitement that Sarah clearly noticed.

“Hopefully you get the job,” she chuckled. “Always nice to have more people around here as interesting as you.”

With that, Nobina followed Sarah into the back of the building. They went up a step of stairs and eventually reached an office. Entering it, Nobina felt the air was even thicker than before. All of that was emanating from a single man sitting at the opposite end of the room, working on a document.

Looking at the man, he appeared to be in his fifties. There was a slight scar on his face, but beyond that he seemed perfectly fine. His outfit screamed guild master, being a nicer outfit compared to the one Sarah had. The last thing of note he had was a longsword that was to the side of his desk in a well designed scabbard.

“Hm?” he responded, looking up. “Who’s this?”

“Her name is Nobina,” said Sarah. “She’s a skilled individual with an unknown path called the Path of the Writer.”

“Oh?”

His curious gaze fell onto her, when he seemed to reach. It was very slight, but Nobina noticed it. He must have saw something that was serious enough to give him pause.

“Oh right, my apologies. I’m Guild Master Eric of the Seren Adventuring Guild. We are a branch office, so excuse the lack of excitement.”

“No worries,” she responded calmly. “I’m just excited to get the chance to work here.”

“I can see that,” he chuckled. “Anyways, take a seat. I’ll need to learn more about your origins and path if I’m to hire you. Hopefully you understand.”

Nobina nodded, taking a seat in front of him. At that time, Sarah took her leave, leaving the two alone. As for Nobina, her eyes turned to the bookshelves around him, making him curious.

“Do you have a love for books?”

“Oh yeah,” she responded. “I do love books and I’m hoping to be a writer one day.”

“Well with the Path of the Writer, that should be easy enough. Though, writing itself is such a rare profession and the Path of the Writer is something I’ve never heard of. Has someone confirmed that is your Path?”

Nobina felt his probing questions making her consider her next words. This was a powerful individual in her mind, and messing up here felt like a big mistake.

“Don’t worry too much Nobina,” said Eric. “Tell me the whole truth, since lying will not get you a job here. Nor will it help you in the future.”

She felt as if she was threatened, but Eric clarified shortly after.

“I’m saying this for your sake. People here are good at reading lies. Especially with how many people come and go. I’m just someone who wouldn’t hold it against you, but others might. For your sake, you’ll need to avoid lying as much as possible.”

“The thing is… I just lack knowledge of everything.”

“Oh?” he responded. “Why is that.”

“I’m… I’m from another world.”

His expression didn’t change in the slightest, surprising her. He merely offered a gentle smile.

“Hm… Perhaps that is why I noticed a rather strange gaze looking at me. I thought it was something weird but… If you are from another world then you must share an origin with the heroes of old.”

Hearing that, Nobina began wondering if she wasn’t the only person who had died and been given a second chance in this world. However, she also was now curious. Who else could notice the mysterious gaze that had been looking at her this whole time? It only stopped for a bit but came back not too long after. Was this Nonomo watching her or perhaps the entities involved with the bag. Did they also have any influence on those around her as well? Questions were rapidly appearing in her mind, but she had to leave them unanswered for now. She had to continue the interview, revealing the truth to Eric and hoping he had no malicious intentions.