Nobina and Her Strange Journey Through Another World

After the duel, Nobina noticed a slight change in attitude from both Aunai and Lila. On Lila’s end, she seemed less attached to Nobina. Instead of seeing if she was fine when she took notice of Nobina, Lila continued her chat with Mimiki regarding her swordsmanship. Mimiki was enjoying the talk, and Nobina had to admit it felt better that Lila was no longer concerned about her all the time. Part of Nobina felt this was a reminder that honesty was the best policy, and it was important to set expectations as early as possible. If she had convinced Lila she wasn’t some strong person earlier, perhaps Mimiki and Lila would have been friends sooner. However, Nobina had no doubt in her mind that her position regarding Pausers would still lead to Lila keeping a sense of protectiveness towards Nobina. If not just for her sake but also for the sake of everyone.

As for Aunai, she was keeping an even closer distance between herself and Nobina. During the dinner at the village, she would ask Nobina how everything was and try to learn more about her. Nobina had already noticed Aunai doing this even before mentioning Pausers, but now Aunai’s actions were amplified. Once dinner concluded, they all headed to their room for the night. All except Lila and Mimiki, who wanted to train a bit more before heading to bed.

“Just my luck,” she sighed, sitting in her room.

She was sharing a room with Lila and Mimiki, but both were out doing nighttime training. She was invited by Mimiki, but Nobina declined, as she wanted to get a chance to fill out her diary. There was a clear look of disappointment in Lila when Nobina told her that, but she seemed to swap her focus on enjoying training with Mimiki.

“Hope those two become good friends,” nodded Nobina, continuing to fill in her diary.

It had been a while since she had written something in her diary. Their journey had only been going on for a few days, but she had seen a lot of new sights that she knew her diary wouldn’t be able to hold. It had limited space, and as much as Nobina wanted to write every single detail, she knew the time was better spent on her book.

“Speaking of book…”

Nobina took out her book on adventuring. She hadn’t managed to get another chapter in, but that was to be expected. A lot was happening and her time working on it was somewhat limited due to her training and work. Not to mention she often enjoyed spending free time with Mimiki and Sarah.

“I wonder how Sarah’s doing,” asked Nobina to herself as she finished writing her diary for the day.

Once she recalled it, she summoned a piece of paper and decided to write a letter to her, Lare, Eric, and her companions. She focused on asking how they were all doing and whether there were any new developments. She then talked about how her own trip was going and the few things that happened on the trip. It was a simple letter, yet Nobina appreciated they had a means of communicating.

As she finished it up and recalled it, the door opened to her room. First to enter was Lila, who had the most satisfied look on her face.

“Man… You’re so great to train with Mimiki. Sure, you aren’t nearly on my level, but you got me to use the first stage of my ultimate ability. Props to you.”

“Thanks,” panted Mimiki, appearing right behind Lila.

Lila’s gaze turned to Nobina, her eyes falling onto the book in front of her.

“A book about… adventuring?” asked Lila, her curiosity peaking.

“Yeah,” smiled Nobina, moving back a bit. “I’m writing a book about adventuring. It’s my dream to publish a book, so I thought one about adventuring would be fun to write.”

Lila seemed to go into thought a bit before nodding.

“Cool,” she said, moving to her bed right after.

Once Lila was next to her bed, she patted it down a bit and laid down, closing her eyes right after.

“Night Mimiki. Night Nobina.”

“Good night,” they both replied.

Lila was out shortly after, leaving Nobina and Mimiki to chat.

“So how was training?” asked Nobina, recalling her book. She then headed to her bed to sit and waited for Mimiki to regale her with their training.

“Oh, it was so fun,” smiled Mimiki. “Training with the strong is something that is near and dear to my heart. I’m sure you would have enjoyed it.”

Nobina gave a chuckle, shaking her head.

“Perhaps, but it sounds a bit too intense for me.”

“Nonsense,” replied Mimiki as she lay down in her own bed. “I’m sure you’d have gotten a lot out of it. Plus, more intense training would help you develop your Path more.”

She couldn’t deny that. Nobina was aware how the intensity of training helped play a keep role in development. As far as she understood, hard work and dedication towards ones path were rewarded generously. If Nobina intended to become an S-rank one day, she’d have to do more intense training, take on risky missions, and do meaningful work on the adventuring side. All of it would eventually wind up making her strong enough to stand amongst the other S-ranks.

“Yeah… Though I still plan to focus on writing,” she told Mimiki.

“That’s fine, but remember we are on duty Nobina,” said Mimiki as she stretched a bit. “You never know how often you’ll get to leave town, so you should enjoy the adventure.”

As soon as Mimiki said that Nobina began wondering if that was the best thing to do.

“Thanks for the…”

Nobina chuckled the moment she noticed Mimiki had just fallen asleep. It seemed their training had taken everything out of them, making Nobina happy it was successful.

“Guess its time to call it a night,” nodded Nobina, heading to bed herself. It didn’t take long before she was out herself.

The next day, the group was out of the town and once again on a trip through dense forest. This time around, there were rather strange, yet tough monsters along the path they were taking. According to Mimiki, the main monsters on the path were Ambush Slimes, which were monsters that often tried to ambush unsuspecting monsters or people.

For anyone who was E rank or lower, these slimes could be fatal if one was swarmed. However, there were constant warnings regarding the slimes, and the slimes generally avoided trying to ambush those of D-rank or of equivalent strength.

“There’s not much we need to worry about,” said Mimiki. “It would have been great practice to try to fight them, but we do lack time.”

“Perhaps when we get to the city and I have some time, I can take a quest or two,” said Nobina, her eyes looking toward where they were going.

“Oh that’s a great idea,” nodded Mimiki. “You need to rise your rank up eventually, so its good to get more quests under your belt.”

Beyond that, Nobina had sent out Hammy to deliver the letter when they left the village. Nobina wasn’t sure if Hammy would know how to get back to the village, but them heading in the right direction made Nobina a bit more confident they’d get there without issue.

Midway through the forest, Nobina’s Gaze bag glowed once more. Opening it up, she saw a big sign with a slime on it. Under the slime was a warning saying, “Bewaring of Slime Swarms.”

“Oh neat,” said Nobina. “This might help more people avoid slime swarms.”

“We can put it at the end of the forest on the west side,” said Aunai, who overheard Nobina. “It should be helpful in preventing more adventurers and civilians being ambushed.

Nobina felt happy the Gaze sometimes had great ideas like this. It was one of the few times that the Gaze’s actions seemed for the sake of others rather than being something that directly affected Nobina. She began wondering if she’d receive more gifts like this, but she knew the Gaze had all sorts of entities behind it. It was only a matter of time before one of them took action like this.

At the same moment, she thought that the bag glowed again. This time, a spyglass was peeking out of the Gaze bag, seemingly looking for something before the spyglass fell to the carriage floor. Picking it up, Nobina began wondering what its purpose was since it wasn’t as clear as the sign.

“I wonder if this is a sign? I already have binoculars, so perhaps it’s an indication from the Gaze that I’ll need to look out for something? Or maybe… Hm…”

Nobina spent the rest of the day thinking more about what the spyglass could be an indication of. Nothing came to mind, so she decided to merely keep it on her person in case it became important to use. Plus, she liked using it to look around since it seemed more appropriate to use versus binoculars.

Eventually, they were out of the forest and now passing through a small bunch of hills that seemed to lead toward a small mountain range. At this moment, Line took the chance to chat with Nobina about the rest of the trip.

“We’ll be passing through the Hawk-Hunter Mountains after these hills. Normally, you’d need to wait at the entrance for the designated guide to escort you, but those of A rank or higher can pass through the range without a designated guide.”

“Oh,” said Nobina. “Why do they call it the Hawk-Hunter Mountains?”

“It’s because the mountains have the Cowana Hawk, which is a chicken-like hawk that flies around the mountains and lives there. They number in the thousands and often attract more dangerous flying creatures like Griffins, Hawkin Hunters, which are hawks that hunt the Cowana Hawk, and other bird monsters and animals.”

Nobina’s eyes widened, surprised by the ecosystem she was hearing about. It always fascinated her learning about the inner workings of an area, so this was right up her alley in things she wanted to know.

“Too bad there aren’t any dragons or wyverns,” sighed Lila. “I’d love being here more if there was something at least more deadly than the Viper-Griffin.”

“Viper-Griffins?” asked Nobina.

Lila began explaining how Viper-Griffins were the sole reason a guide was required to pass through the area. They were large-winged creatures that had poisonous claws, spit venom, and had a rather long body compared to normal Griffins.

“Just keep yourself in the carriage and we’ll protect you,” said Aunai. “Our sheer presence should deter any of the more senior monsters from attacking, but the young ones you never really know about.”

“Got it,” responded Nobina.

The group eventually reached the end of the hills and the entrance into the mountain pass. There was a guide waiting there already, as well as several adventuring parties. Looking at a nearby sign, it indicated that the guide could only escort twenty people max. Any larger parties needed additional guides or individuals who were able to deter the Viper-Griffin.

“Oh,” said the guide, seeing Aunai. “How was your trip Guild Master Aunai?”

“It was pretty productive. We’ve completed the mission and are heading back.”

“Great,” he smiled. “Safe travels through the pass.”

Aunai gave a nod. Soon, the carriage was moving through the pass. Nobina was in awe at the sight of the mountains they were moving through. Their elevation was slowly rising as they traveled through the natural terrain. It made Nobina wonder if one day this world would have the equivalent of roads like her own. The whole trip was a good example of what life was like before the advent of modern technology. She was unaware if this world would grow faster or slower than her own world technology-wise. However, she was sure it’d become more and more advanced over time.

“Maybe I’ll see a spaceship here if I’m lucky,” she chuckled to herself.

The trip through the pass was half a day long. There was absolutely no stopping in the pass due to the danger. It was why there was an adventurer base camp at both ends for people to sleep as they waited for the daytime and guides.

“We shouldn’t have too much…”

As Aunai said that, a shiver went down her spine. Lila’s reaction of pure excitement could only draw worry from Nobina.

“What is…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Lila hopped off her horse, screaming a single word out loud.

“Dragon!” she yelled in pure enjoyment.

A powerful roar echoed throughout the mountains, causing all the horses to panic. Immediately, Line moved to secure all of them to prevent them from running away. He spoke a word into each of their eyes and they all fell asleep.

Nobina had no time to think about what Line did as a massive shadow appeared over them. Her eyes turned to the sky to see something classic yet extremely scary. Using her spyglass, she had a better picture of the beast. It was a large-winged creature that was now over them, flying in a circle formation. It looked to be red and covered in scales. The head itself looked as classic as possible to a dragon’s head, confirming Nobina’s fears. Nobina felt a shiver down her spine as she noticed its eyes looking directly at her, forcing her to put down the spyglass.

“My god,” said Mimiki, pulling her sword out.

Aunai ordered them out of the carriage, which they listened to without hesitation. As they left it, the dragon began its descent towards them. They all prepared to move, but the dragon itself landed in front of them. It’s large eyes turned towards them as it opened its mouth. To Nobina’s surprise, she heard it speak their language.

“Humans,” it spoke in a deep yet authoritative voice. “Why do you have such a divine entity watching me as I travel?”

“Divine entity?” asked Aunai. “We are merely adventurers.”

“Yes… but a divine entity has its eye on me. It is right next to that girl with long black hair.”

They all turned to Nobina, who shook her head vigorously.

“I don’t know why the Gaze is focusing on you,” spoke Nobina, seeing no other choice but to mention the Gaze.

The dragon’s eyes narrowed, but soon, it seemed to shiver a bit.

“Hm… I see that this divine entity is a protector. Then I shall leave you unless you attempt harm me or my belongings,” it roared back.

Soon, powerful gusts of winds began flowing at them. They all managed to avoid being swept away as the dragon left them.

As soon as it was gone, all of them gave a sigh of relief.

“What’s going on Nobina,” asked Aunai. “Do you have a divine entity watching you?”

“It’s a long story,” she replied back.

All of them continued to look at Nobina as Aunai responded.

“We got time. Let’s continue as you explain everything to us,” said Aunai, her focus now on getting them to the city.

As they traveled through the mountain pass, Nobina explained the Gaze and the Gaze bag to all of them. She left off the part of it being given to her by Nonomo since she didn’t want anyone to know about the entity that brought her there. Hearing the story, Aunai seemed to accept it without much issue.

“I see…” nodded Aunai. “So you’ve received a bag from some divine entity and have to carry it around. It does explain a lot of the story you gave earlier. There were a lot of holes, but I didn’t press it for Eric’s sake. He’d have told me if he wanted me to know.”

“Sorry for keeping it a secret,” said Nobina. “This is something not everyone should know.”

“Secrecy for these things is important,” responded Line. “Reveal the information when you need to, else its better less people know. Else, it leaves you open to being used or worse.”

Nobina knew of the dangers of her secret, but now she was realizing how much more problematic her situation was. She didn’t know if the Gaze intentionally drew the dragon in, but it was clear that it did draw its attention. Nobina was worried that perhaps any powerful entity would be drawn in by the Gaze. In the worst case, some entity that merely wanted to kill could take notice of the Gaze and then strike her down immediately.

“Yeah… I’ll just keep keeping it a secret then,” said Nobina.

Soon, all their attention turned forward as they continued their journey through the pass.

“Too bad I couldn’t fight the dragon,” sighed Lila.

“You’d have been destroyed or someone else would have gotten hurt,” sighed Aunai.

Nobina gave a chuckle, but deep down, she knew Aunai was right. If they were unlucky, all of them could have gotten hurt or worse. She was far from being able to deal with threats like a dragon, and she needed to deal with even greater threats eventually. So long as her Path sent danger her way, she’d have to be able to repel it.

“It is strange though,” said Aunai. “We haven’t had a dragon sighting in years. We’ll have to send teams to investigate the reason for one appearing, since the mountain pass is far away from Darunka Mountains, their primary home.”

She didn’t say anything, but Nobina suspected it was related to her path. For now, she kept quiet, but she knew what she had to do.

“I have to get stronger,” Nobina told herself as the group continued through the pass.

At the same time, Aunai was in deep thought.

“The puzzle is solving itself," she thought to herself. “I’ll have to keep observing to make sure though.”