The following day, Nobina headed to the guild to chat more with Tia. Harton was already there as well, talking to Tia regarding gathering information about the situation in Arren.


    “Do you think waiting in Nitu would be a better option?” asked Harton. “Once Fay finishes the mission, we’d like to be able to cross the border as soon as possible.”


    Tia gave a nod.


    “The situation in Nitu should be stable enough for you three to head over,” replied Tia. “Though as for waiting there, there is still some caution to be exercised verses waiting here in Lumira. You are aware of the situation regarding Lumira and Nitu, right Nobina?”


    Nobina, who had joined the two, gave a nod. From what she knew, Lumira and Nitu had a souring relationship at the present moment due to a recent trade dispute. She wasn’t too knowledgeable about the details, but apparently, the nobles of Lumira were diverting trade towards the Federation of the Great Gar Gar instead of Arren.


    “People are saying Nitu might very well shut the border between the two nations should Lumira continue to hurt its economy, though that itself would cause an issue,” said Tia. “For now, just be aware that those of Lumira aren’t being seen in a good light.”


    “Such petty issues,” sighed Harton. “Well. We’ll deal with it when it comes to it.”


    Tia gave a nod, turning to Nobina moments later.


    “Ah Nobina,” said Tia. “I know you are no longer training with those adventurers from yesterday, so I wanted to ask if you could potentially help us out with something.”


    “Sure,” Nobina smiled. “What do you need help with?”


    As she said that, Hammy flew out of Nobina’s special bag, holding something other than the usual scroll in its mouth. Instead, it was a small bag that glowed red for a second before turning white. Nobina instinctively froze in fear, with Harton prepared to act. However, out of the bag Hammy carried came a bookmark and a ragged piece of paper that seemed to be tossed out by something. Once the two items were out, the bag seemed to fade into dust, leaving Nobina perplexed.


    She moved to pick up one of the items, the ragged piece of paper. To her surprise, it seemed something was actively being written on it as she read it.


    “Hm… The Keeper’s Margin is a bookmark that let’s its...”


    Nobina went quiet, reading the rest silently to avoid saying anything.


    “… Let’s its holder step into the ‘margins’ of time, granting momentary sanctuary. When placed within a book, the user is temporarily removed from the current moment, as if slipping into the space between pages. They may observe but not interfere with reality during this time.  The longer one remains in the margins, the more one risk forgetting their place in the… story… potentially becoming a Margin Walker… signed… S.”


    Immediately, Nobina wondered about the potential of this powerful, yet dangerous item. It seemed clear it was perfect for defensive purposes, yet she had no idea what would be too long within the margins. For now, she’d merely keep it on her person just in case.


    As Nobina recalled the note, Harton appeared next to her, asking what was on the note.


    “Just instructions on how to use this bookmark,” said Nobina, picking it up from the group. “It’s strange though… Normally items like this come from the Gaze Bag, but I can only recall two times the items have come to me from alternative ways. Giggles was delivered by a delivery man, and this bookmark was delivered by Hammy,” said Nobina, looking at Hammy as it flew in circles.


    After a bit, Hammy flew back into Nobina’s special bag, their role complete for now.


    “Interesting,” said Harton, looking at her bookmark. “Well… what exactly does it do?”


    “I can tell you about it later,” she replied, noticing the new stares forming around her.


    Tia, who was amongst those staring, shook herself out of it before calling Nobina back over.


    “As I was saying,” said Tia. “We have a few promotions that have been requested. Normally, we’ve allowed the adventurers from Arren to handle the promotion tests due to their qualifications, but we currently don’t have anyone besides the guild master. None of us are combat officer unfortunately.”


    Nobina hadn’t tagged along on a promotion test before, but she was aware of how it worked. Mimiki wanted her to do one in Agora, but there had never been time for it. However, Nobina had confidence she could perform one for at least D-rank and potentially C-rank.


    “What’s the test?” asked Nobina.


    “Two people prompting to D-Rank and one person to C-Rank,” replied Tia. “Do you think you can handle it?”


    Nobina gave a nod.


    “I should be able to do it if it’s really needed,” she replied.


    “Excellent,” smiled Tia. “I’ll let the adventurers know. Does after lunch sound good with you?”


    “Perfectly good with me,” she replied back. “I need to do a quick refresher anyway, so it gives me enough time.”


    Tia gave a nod, heading to the back to talk to one of the other guild officers. As for Nobina, she headed behind the receptionist’s desk and headed to the guild’s library. It was a bit smaller than the one in Agora but still had a decent number of books. Organization was also similar to Agora’s guild as well, making it easy for her to find the book she needed.


    “Let’s see,” said Nobina, her finger moving row to row as she tried to find the right book.


    Eventually, her eyes lit up as she picked out the book she was looking for. Reading the cover, she nodded as she opened up the book and began reading the contents.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Nobina found herself lost in the book as Tia tapped her back, drawing her attention.


    “The adventurers are ready for the test,” said Tia, handing her the scroll.


    Opening it up, Nobina saw the examination quest and nodded, closing it after reading through it a second time.


    “Lead the way,” she said, following Tia to the front.


    Once she was there, she saw three other adventurers standing in front of the receptionist’s desk. One of them was a young girl who had a bow on her back. She had short brown hair and a rather shy look on her face as she avoided eye contact with Nobina. Next was a boy with short black hair and a mace on his side. Unlike the girl, he seemed rather confident as he looked at Nobina. Last was a boy with messy brown hair that was a bit longer than the black hair boy. He also had a bow on his back, giving off a look of indifference.


    “Are these three a party or are they individuals?” asked Nobina.


    “Individuals,” responded Tia. “We generally let them take these tests separately so they can show competence without the aid of fellow friends.”


    Nobina gave a nod. Back in Agora, they did allow groups that knew each other to take the test together. Despite the advantage it gave over adventurers who generally ran solo, it was preferable that people made life-long friendships in the adventuring world. Teams that were created that way had a higher likelihood of advancing and completing missions.


    “Please introduce yourselves,” said Tia to the group.


    “My name is Lily,” said the young girl. “I’m an E-Rank hoping to advance to D-Rank.”


    “Parcen. A proud D-Rank hoping to advance to C-Rank,” smiled the black-haired boy, putting one thumb to his chest.


    “Denvaun,” replied the brown-haired boy, merely giving a short nod. “E-Rank hoping to move to D-Rank.”


    “Glad to meet you three,” said Nobina. “I’m Nobina, one of the guild officers from Agora. I will be conducting your promotion test today. Before we begin though, do any of you have questions?”


    Denvaun raised his head, Nobina nodding in response.


    “I wanted to confirm that taking this test will allow us to promote without completely the normal quest amount requirements,” he asked.


    “Yes,” replied Nobina. “Normally, one would need to complete a certain number of quests to promote to D-Rank. However, exceptions can be made to promote someone sooner. One of those is taking the E-Rank promotion test, which will allow you to promote upon completion. As for the D-Rank promotion test, that one is required regardless.”


    “I know,” said Parcen. “Don’t need to repeat the obvious.”


    Nobina merely smiled, mentally noting down Parcen’s behavior.


    “Do you have any questions then Parcen and Lily?” asked Nobina, giving a nice smile.


    “No…” Lily quietly replied.


    “Good to go here,” said Parcen. “Let’s do this thing.”


    Nobina gave a nod, turning to Harton moments later.


    “Will you be joining us Harton?” she asked, wondering what he planned to do.


    “Mm… might as well,” he smiled. “Never know what could happen if I left you alone.”


    “Is that man here to protection you?” laughed Parcen, thinking it ridiculous to have multiple people there.


    “Oh kid… she’s more than capable of doing this mission without me,” smiled Harton. “I’m just here to keep her from getting bored watching over some kids.”


    Hearing that, Parcen stomped forward, standing right in front of Harton. Tia, who was watching this whole thing, merely shook her head as Parcen began talking to Harton.


    “Listen here,” said Parcen. “I’m going to become an S-Rank. The fastest S-Rank in history, I might add. I’m going to show Nobina that I can be double-promoted to B-Rank.”


    Nobina wanted to tell him it was against guild protocol to do such a thing, but she merely kept quiet. Seeing Parcen being so confident was a bit funny to her, as he seemed absolutely confident in himself. Of course, depending on his Path, his confidence could be justified. However, being here wasn’t a good sign of that. Someone who was on the path to rapid advancement would be in Arren, where one could face monsters that could get one to A or even S-Rank.


    “I like the confidence,” smiled Harton. “I’m hoping you do prove yourself interesting.”


    Parcen, who was staring at Harton intensely, turned around and headed back to where he was standing.


    “Now then,” said Nobina, clapping her hands together. “Let me go over the mission details.”


    Nobina opened the scroll and began to read its contents.


    “Your mission will be to slay five goblins, two wolves, and two wolf-chickens. The mission will be considered successful if all nine are slayed. More can be killed but are not required. The mission will be considered a failure if these creatures are not killed by the following day at the same time. It will also be considered failed if the party requires intervention from the guild examiner or another individual not within the party. Any questions?” asked Nobina, looking at the three.


    “Nope,” they all responded.


    With that settled, Nobina grabbed the guild supply bag that Tia handed to her. It was a backpack filled with enough supplies for a few days. Besides that, Nobina looked over her special bag’s supplies. Seeing everything was in order, she gave a nod to the group.


    “I shall be following behind you three. Who leads is up to you and if you need my assistance, please let me know,” she smiled.


    “Won’t be necessary at all,” laughed Parcen. “Let’s go!”


    Parcen was the first out of the guild, with Lily running right after him. As for Denvaun, he merely walked out of the guild instead, feeling no rush to follow the group.


    “I wish you luck, Nobina,” waved Tia, who was feeling relieved that she did not have to do the examination herself.


    “Thanks,” nodded Nobina, walking after the group. Things were already on a rough start, considering they had basically rushed off without her. She was hopeful they wouldn’t actually abandon her since if they got the kills without her nearby, those kills would not count.


    “Not the brightest humans,” said Harton, joining Nobina as they walked out of the guild.


    As both Nobina and Harton left the guild, they gave a sigh as they saw Parcen running back to the group.


    “Come on! I know where all these monsters are! We can hunt them down today if we go quick enough,” said Parcen, looking rather impatient.


    “Perhaps,” said Nobina. “Though are you telling me you can take on these three without your party members?”


    “Of course,” nodded Parcen. “I told you I could potentially double promote. If I take them all out without help, then you’d do that for me, right?”


    Nobina gave a sigh, shaking her head.


    “As much as I admire the enthusiasm, the test for C-Rank promotion is significantly more difficult. If you’d like to take that afterwards, I’d advise you look up the targets and tell me honestly if you can take them out,” said Nobina.


    “No problem,” said Parcen. “Now let’s go!”


    As he said that, both Lily and Denvaun had caught it.


    “Stop being stupid,” yelled Lily, drawing surprise from all of them. “We are supposed to be a team, yet you are running off like an idiot.”


    To Nobina’s surprise, Parcen’s confidence seemed to evaporate as he waved his hand.


    “Listen! I’m… I’m just excited… I didn’t mean to… make things hard for you.”


    The sudden change in Parcen drew a few laughs from both Nobina and Harton, who both shook their heads.


    “She is right though,” said Nobina. “Even if you could do this quest alone Parcen, the test was designed with the three of you in mind. You’d be taking on most of the monsters, but having both Lily and Denvaun as support will help lighten the load and help cover in case of an emergency. Situations can change in a flash, and an adventurer operating alone is more likely to deal with the change. Hence, this is why I suggest you calm yourself down and communicate with your team. You have a day to complete the quest, remember?”


    Hearing that, Parcen gave a nod.


    “I… understand,” he sighed. “Let’s discuss the plan together, then Lily and Denvaun.


    “Ok,” said Lily, calming herself down.


    “Works for me,” responded Devaun.


    The three of them began discussing strategy amongst themselves, with Nobina smiling as she saw this. Part of this made her wonder if this is how Darrias felt when he was watching her from the shadows. It felt like it had been a long time since the scouting mission, yet she knew that the whole goblin incident didn’t happen too long ago.


    “Time flies huh,” she told herself as she thought back to the past.