Volume 2: Chapter 38 Dragon’s Road
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"It has been an eventful day. Why don't we eat dinner first before starting the maintenance. You need to check carefully since we went through some rocky terrain and situations today. Remember to keep it shiny and report if you find any problems you can't deal with. This business deal might be a new major source of income for the academy."

Today really was rocky. The others hit their head and got thrown off their seats, except me, victor and the five combat healers. We had training after all, different types of training but enough to have a good grasp on balance.

The scary part is when potions started falling off the alchemists' pockets. This is why you have storage bags! I know you people can't feel safe without it somewhere on your body but please strap it down where it won't break the moment something happens. Lucky for you, the combat healers are really dexterous.

I can't be that hard on them. The circumstances were like an action movie today. The caravan was speeding, the suspension could barely handle the rocky road and objects and people were being rag-dolled. The iron rhinos may look slow but they sure can pick up speed.

The first few days of the trip may seem so boring that I wished for some action but I didn't think the action would keep happening throughout the whole day. After the wolf pack, other kinds of monsters and golems attacked us. The attacks were so closely timed that I thought it was deliberate but victor said it was normal in this area. The last one was dangerous for the cargo so we had to run.

"Hey victor, what did we run away from back then?"
"That was an army of lava bull frogs. They are too small to eat and they are dangerous to battle without good equipment so we had to run away."
"I'm not always thinking about food. I'm asking why did it feel someone was shooting stones at us back then."
"Ah, those are the way lava bull frogs attack. They spit out molten balls of dirt to enemies. It's a good thing we ran fast enough or the carriages' defenses would get ruined."
"Hey, how come you are always asking victor when something comes up!"
"Victor travels from place to place fighting different monsters and beast. Of course I am going to ask him about the things we encounter on the road. Me and victor will ask you if the fruit we buy is overpriced when we arrive at the central island so don't sulk, just listen and maybe you will learn some stuff too."

So needy. I know you just suffered a shock that one of your friend is in a relationship but don't act all clingy like that. We are friends but after a week, we will all go our separate ways.

"I wonder what we have for dinner today."

Now, who is always thinking about food. I guess all the traveling you did made your stomach strong. I don't feel like eating after all that shaking. I could adjust in a couple of minutes.

"I heard we caught some pike boar today."

I heard the leader talk about it at the second attack we had today, after the wolves. They rotated and made the first years stand guard near the caravan and the seniors did the guard and clean up. I heard him say we would use it as dinner.

"Where did you hear that?"
"I heard some squealing after the second attack so I thought we would use it as dinner."

Don't ask too much since I don't have anymore excuses I could say.

"Why are you asking so many questions? Let's just go and see if I heard right. Guessing is a big part of expectations after all."
"You really go all out when it comes to food huh, brill. You might have imagined the squealing because you want to eat pork so much."

I'll take that over you suspecting I have a skill that can give me an edge over ambushers.

"Blacksmith graduates, come and eat already. The earlier you all finish, the faster we can finish the maintenance. I want to sleep a little earlier today."

If you want to sleep earlier then help us with the maintenance. You won't be able to sleep as long as we aren't done since you not only need to supervise us but also check if everything is all good at the end.

"It really was pork."
"I got lucky."

Pork barbecue and a simple pork stew. In videos of my past modern world, they always show how awful food rations are but it does make sense if you just need to fill your stomach to keep going as efficiently as possible. The only problem is how nutrition isn't a thing yet, at least from what I see since the hero propagated how burgers are the 'best'.

I'm just glad that there is salt and pepper here at the very least. Let's just finish this so we can move along. I'll take my time finding good food at the central island, they should have some fruits at least, right? Most of the fruits and vegetables in this earth mana infested continent are hard. I do miss grapes somewhat, I can easily get grapes at the village near my barn. I don't do it often but I did pretend to be some roman emperor eating grapes one by one while gazing at my domain. The forest isn't actually part of my domain but I have to look slightly down to see my farm so I just zone out on the far forest.

We must have been attacked by a large group of boars because we were actually allowed to eat seconds. For the past few days we had to ration the supplies in case we ever land in an emergency, the only moment we can eat extra is if we get food by ourselves, or times like these that the food come to us.

I want to prolong the night maintenance since I can fully use magic but my stomach is pretty full and I want to savor this feeling for a bit so I should do this quick and relax.

This is fine, need to polish it a bit.

This is good too.

"Brill"
"Concentrate on your work and don't bother me. If you don't know ask the teacher or he might fall asleep."
"What if this is some secret graduation test?"
"You should be smarter than this chatterbox. Remember, although we went through training and graduated, we are still newbies in this field. They expect a certain level of capability but they also expect us to know when to ask for help. If something is far outside of your reach don't stubbornly jump on a chair, you will not only fall but the chair will also get damaged."
"Who cares about the chair?"
"It is just an expression. Go and ask the teacher and don't bother me. I want to finish this quickly."

This has dirt and only needs a good wipe.

This sword has a ding on the blade. This is what you get for having a fine edge here in the continent of bluntness. I just heat up the whole blade with fire magic, add a bit of metal, then [Welding], [Shaping], [Heat treat], and finally [Sharpening].

I know this is like scrap metal here but since we are selling this at the central island, I want them to take care and hide this behind some armours and shields. Well, I do understand the point of using less important things as shield for the expensive products. The only problem I have is that I have to fix the weapon every time it gets damaged.

This armour is fine, since the sword took the brunt of the molten dirt. Why would frogs even eat dirt? or rather, how would they even melt dirt? I know everything has a more solid metal-like feel in this continent but I don't think the monsters here have other element type other than earth. Maybe its one of those that live in the volcanoes. Those are the only places where earth mana can't dominate, though earth and fire has a certain synergy so they blend rather than clash. Thanks to that, when a volcano explodes, it rains rocks like cannonballs. The insides are full of various ores so all gather to try and collect them.

This bracelet, looks bad. The enchanted gem core is scratched. I don't know if it will affect the function of it but I need an expert to look at it. I'll put this aside for now so I can bring all the things I can't do altogether. This would save me the effort of running to the teacher to and from.

This chainmail got melted through by the frog spit. I need to knit the chains together again. The size should be written at the tag.

Usually, I don't like doing a chainmail since I have to keep using the [Shaping] and fire magic together. I also have to suffer through the heat while making it too. However, since I can't go through my morning exercise and night time magic practice. This is the only way to waste mana and heat my bones up, though rather than a chainmail I am making something close to a short sleeve metal sweater.

Finally, the majority only needs cleaning and only the swords and rapiers needs to actually be repaired. Most of the enchanted and rune engraved items suffered some scratches, since they are hidden behind the shield, so I need the teacher to look at them but I am done with my part.

"Teacher, these suffered some scratches."
"Hmm, The scratches aren't a big deal. As long as the gem isn't cracked and the runes aren't changed then you can just clean them and be done with them. The accessories are too delicate so I told the school to carry it themselves. However, they are only delicate in the level of our continent. Those things are expensive and sturdy for the other continents so just hide them behind the shields and armours."
"Yes, teacher. Since I'm done I will go ahead and rest first."

I will just go ahead and sleep today, its already almost dawn but I will wake up before noon so that is fine. Today has been exciting, which is good for this week long journey of only sitting inside a carriage, but I hope we aren't always attacked. They might ask us to defend the caravan for extra protection if things get hectic after all.

"Good, get some rest since tomorrow we will reach the dragon's road."
"Dragon's road? We will encounter dragons?"
"Well, we might but the road is called that since its a land of earth dragons who attack other races that try to cross the only road connecting the central island to this continent. They only attack those from the other continent who try to trespass here so we won't have to worry about them. The only problem is that bandits gather at the road to ambush merchants loaded with goods to and from the central island."
"Why didn't anyone station guards there if its such a hot spot of bandits?"
"Why would they? If the bandits gather there then they won't bother other places. As long as they gather there, the chances to encounter bandits to other towns and cities would lessen. There are also some who don't want to interact with other races since it might empower them to attack us with our own weapons so they let the bandits do as they please at this part of the continent. We will get attacked and we have to show them we are strong enough that they can't mess with us or they will take all our goods."

Looks like the exciting days won't stop.

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