"Congratulations to you all, none have failed this months test. Also, congratulations to you five who achieved a great quality, we will leave for the auction after class so stay behind. Too bad no one got an excellent quality so no portion of money for all of you."

I think the knife I made measures up to an excellent quality product. I saw him flinch when I gave him my knife so I am sure of it. Cheapskate.

"I never thought you would also make the cut chatterbox."
"Eh, well I used a lot of money to make a knife for the duel. Also, now that my illusion broke I needed somewhere to vent."
"Condolence, your love life is but a short one. At least you became better in smithing because of it."
"Yeah, yeah, he shifted his love for smithing, that is good an all. The question is how did you make a great quality knife?"

He spends most of the time fighting, even during the week that chatterbox rented a workshop to make a knife all he did was spar with people from the army course.

"It's not that hard, I muscled my way through. Nothing you can't solved with guts and these muscles!"

He got lucky, you got lucky. I saw you making that knife since I finished making mine early. You vented your frustration on the metal because it's not moving the way you want to, and by the end of it, you made a plain but effective knife shape.

"It's a good thing I carve wooden blocks to past the time when traveling too."

Yeah, that handle you made, I must admit, is good. The contour is perfect for gripping and it has a dragon carving as a pommel. I need to learn how to do that, it seems like a perfect way to pass the time without using a lot of money.

"I thought you only know how to swing a weapon if you aren't doing anything?"
"Chatterbox is right. I never saw you do anything but spar or train during free time."

Granted I never really pay attention to anyone during free time but I do hear him and a couple of others fight and being loud at the grounds behind the school. The mountain overshadows the grounds in the afternoon so it is perfect to space out and do nothing. I usually speed home but sometimes I need a couple of hours to relax and unwind, if only mentally.

"When you are travelling, there are times when nothing is happening but you still need to keep your guard up in case there is something that would happen, in times like these carving a block of wood is perfect to ease boredom and keep your concentration up. You can also use it as a throwing weapon. It's much better than tiring yourself training, not to mention it would attract all sorts of things."
"So you are self taught? If you do that during travels then what did you do with the completed works?"
"I mostly escort merchants and when they notice, they usually buy it off me. I earned a bit of cash with that."

'A bit of cash'? They probably severely short change you, merchants pfft. Maybe I can pick up wood carving, it seems like a good hobby and a bit profitable too. Most of the hobby I have are staring at the stars or staring at space. My main job is a blacksmith but I can't exactly have that as a hobby since I need hours to finish a single work.

"Can you teach me?"
"How about we enter a partnership? You make some art and I will use my connections to sell them. How about it?"
"Sure, and sure. I rarely do it these days though, mostly during laundry day when waiting for my things to dry or digesting food. I can't teach you much because I didn't really learn formally, I mostly grab a thick piece of branch and slice off bits and pieces until it looks like something. I mostly do monsters I see in the wild, I did have a 'creatures of the wild' book that a merchant gave me. She gave me a lot of money to do couple of head sized dragon, hydra, and gryphons."

Yup, the top fantasy creatures. She must have sold it for a lot of money, since the choices are those then she must have sold it to the humans. Humans or elves are the only races that likes those kind of things, maybe even demons but only the nobility. I think all nobility would be interested in things of vanity like those.

"We will solidify the contract later. I feel the scent of money again."
"It's better than the scent of drug induced hypnotic affection."
"or the scent of despair you had for the last couple of weeks."
"I hate you two."

It is true and you were bawling like a baby so don't blame us for what you did.

"I still have a couple of carvings I did in my room, do you want to sell them for me now? I need some coins to use in the auction."
"Let me see first and I can directly give you the gold. I hear my father is trying to start a business at center island, my grandfather finally gave in. Your sculptures could fetch a lot from human merchants."

I don't have anything I particularly need to buy, it's not like I can afford much with only 10 or so gold coins. I checked the properties around the city but it needs around 100 for properties with a forge workshop. I don't think I would buy my own shop at the start but I think it's better to start saving up. It would get expensive to buy the tools and materials too.

"Okay, I will bring it bring it to you on our way to the auction. I wanted to buy a few things. Hey, you're a merchant. Do people really look down on you because you're a student? Do they really sneer at you because you have simple clothes? Do they really send assassins because you bid on something they like? If you won a bid against powerful people, do they send someone to you and intimidate you to sell it at a really low price or they will erase you?"
"What idiotic thing are you saying? Rich people would outbid you since they have a lot of money. There are a lot of people in the crowd and I doubt they would specifically pick on you just for being there. Also, even if I did sell your sculptures. It wouldn't be enough to bid on the items those high-class people would want so there would be no clash."
"I though you are some kind of fighting idiot. You are actually scared of something?"

Wait, now that I think of it. This guy has a huge stage fright.

"Calm down, idiot. You won't be in the spotlight and you don't have to say anything. If you want something you only need to raise your hand, or maybe they give you a paddle."
"Ah, I forgot your stage fright. You did freak out before in my duel before. Yeah, don't worry about it. It's not like we need to climb up on the stage."
"Ok, fine. Let me breathe a couple of times. Let's just do this quick, the sooner it starts, the sooner it would end."

"Alright, everyone but the five I am taking to the auction, dismissed!"

Finally, I was starting to get bored trying to carve a cake. I don't have time to make a knife with the time left so I got lessons from victor but it's hard to control my strength, the fine tuning in slicing a block of wood is surprisingly hard. I should get another few lessons, maybe it has some kind of trick to it.

"You five come here, gather together. Now, all of you will meet me at the front gate of the academy, bring your money if you want to participate but leave everything else. Don't try to sell some of your stuff in the auction since they won't be sold in the current one, if your stuff are worthy to be auctioned, but the next one."

We are first year students, I don't think anyone here has anything worthy enough to be fought over by a large crowd. If someone here does have something of that level, they would have sold it before the auction and the auction house would have sent an invitation to them, instead of trying to get in by the reward of the teacher.

"Don't bid for anything if you don't have enough money. They won't allow credit sale if you put yourself as the guarantor. If you have a bank account or rich backer then they would allow it but nameless student's won't be given a free item so they can run."

So there are banks here, I wonder if they have an interest rate for deposits. I already have a rich backer though, or specifically a sponsor with the nickname bomb alchemist. I earn about 5-10 silver coins from him sometimes a gold coin too.

"Don't start a fight that you can't handle alone. If you drag us, your fellow students or the academy then I would knock you out and leave you tied up inside a bar's toilet."

That is disgusting. A town with a lot of drinkers, rowdy bars, and people who try to out drink just about everyone, you tied up at the place where they barf and pee frequently is a nightmare.

The auction house looks exactly like a huge opera house. The only difference is that this place doesn't have a section for the instruments on the front of the stage.

"This is our booth, come in. I sit at the center you find some place comfortable and plop down. Don't disturb other people or they will throw us out. If you want something then raise these numbered paddle. Don't break them since the auction house will collect them as we go out. If you won a bid, they will use that paddle as reference. Don't try to steal someone else's paddle, even though they use it as a reference people that work in the auction house have good face and voice memory. They know who bid for what."

This is a small booth, The rich people must be those at the second floor booths with a balcony. We have a booth but it's more of a cordoned off chairs near the side of the hall.

"What kind of items are you looking out for chatterbox?"
"I'm aiming for unpopular cheap items. I'm going to send them to my father to sell to the other races. He said to aim for those that has a 'unique' look. It would be best if those items are something that is unusual to other races."

He plans to overcharge them a lot for the supposedly 'unique' artifacts huh. Easy money, I won't be able to copy that. That kind of work needs a silver tounge to seduce the other party in buyin a piece of junk. I don't have much skills in communication so I should just stick to hammering metal.

"What about you victor?"
"I'm looking for weapons or armours. I don't think I would win but seeing good weapons is still exciting as a combatant, and now as a blacksmith."

True, that is my main purpose here too. Let me see what they have to offer.