"We meant no disrespect mr. army leader. To tell you the truth, every day our bandit group makes sun-dried vegetables using the road here."

Is this a roundabout sarcastic way to ask the people who pass through here for money?

"Our bandit group wants to quit this whole savage business. As preparation for that, we sell those sun-dry vegetables to travelers and sometimes to the central island."

This would go on for a while. This is the time to survey their formation and plan an appropriate way to destroy them. If that isn't possible, we find a way to run away.

"However, tsk, tsk, tsk. It's too bad. We recently got a commission for our sun-dry vegetables but now we can't do it because your caravan is blocking the road. After today's deal we were all planning to turn over a new leaf."

Let's see the situation.

"...Hey blacksmith student. Get back here. Take a seat and be quiet."

*Grab* *sit*

I couldn't take a good look because I got dragged back by the combat healer, but I saw the general formation. They have around 15 crossbows on both sides of the carriage and the crossbows are defended by 8 melee combatants using sword and shield. I didn't see clearly, but I saw a magician like hat behind the right group holding a cane with a fist sized jewel affixed to the tip. That must be the one who created the earth wall that blocked us. The leader was on top of the earth wall in front of our caravan by himself while carrying a spear.

We are riding on a carriage so we can't back up but if we go forward the leader is there. I assume he is confident in his fighting skills if he is standing there by himself. He is also standing on the high ground holding a spear, which cancels out our mounted army students.

Attacking the magician isn't that good since the leader would just charge the undefended side if they charge. Wait! Maybe the teacher could take on the leader while the escorts charge towards both sides. The iron rhino can't be damaged by simple crossbows so as long as they don't have poison bolts they could just tank it until they reach them. Either way, its the army leader's decision.

"We don't want to make it difficult for you Mr. army leader. How about compensating us for the sun-dry vegetables? You can also think of it as an investment for new citizens! Think about it, the lesser the bandit group, the easier your job will be! How about it?"
"I repeat, You are confronting a military unit assigned to escort an academy excursion! Clear the path or face the might of the Council!"

The military students haven't moved from their positions since the start. They have good nerves but I hear a few erratic heartbeats from a few people stationed on the roofs. They must be the first year military students.

"I understand but we don't want a fight dear council army. We just want a little help to change our situation. We might even surrender all our weapons to the government if we make have enough of a money to start a new life."
"Decompose the Earth wall, drop your weapons and let us through!"
"We can't do that mr. leader. These weapons are to defend ourselves. This place is dangerous after all. We can't just drop them, even holding them isn't enough to guarantee our life after all."

Are we still not fighting? If we want to run we need to destroy the earth wall, kill the leader and kill the magician. They might shoot at us from behind but unless we are hit in our vitals, we can survive their crossbows.

"Ha ha ha, it made me remember one of the bandit group of the past. They stopped a merchant but the merchant has strong escorts so they fought. The merchant won but that left their escorts battered from the fight so they met their demise with all their cargo getting stolen. How barbaric, this is why we want to quit this dangerous business. We just need a bit of money or goods to trade for money, just think of this as giving this group of misfits a new hope for the future."

Looks like the bandit leader is losing patience. That was clearly a threat warning us that the moment we bleed here, the sharks would come swooping in. I'm also getting tired of this, lets just destroy this bandit group and be on our way.

They have more numbers that outnumber our escorts almost 2 to 1 but I would like to think army training in the dwarf continent can make up the difference of something that small.

*kick* *slide*

Hmm? A huge wooden shield? I see, the army students are about to launch their counterattack and the combat healer leader wants me to use this shield to plug up the entrance to protect the others from the crossbows.

*look* *shakes head*

Is she signaling me to wait for the right time? I get it, leave it to me.

*slight nod*

I can't do a lot of extra movements since I am visible by the crossbows.

"This is the last time. Clear your roadblock and move aside. Troops at ready!!!"
"Woah, woah, woah. Cool it, we don't want a fight, you don't want a fight. We all just want to peacefully go on with our lives. We don't need much just some food, weapons, armour and maybe some gold. It doesn't have to be much, maybe a couple this and that to help us. How about it?"

*tap* *tap*

This is the ready signal? I know how to judge the situation so calm down and calm down.

"Charge!!!!!!"

*thump* *raise* *swish*x24 *tink* *tink* *tink* *tink*

We are holding up and they can't pierce the walls of our carriage either. This thing was used for practice by runesmith students. The frogs might have broken through but they were spitting molten earth near musket speeds. We were lucky they were targeting our food supply, which is on the cargo carriage.

"Graaah!!"
"Ugh!"
"Die!!"

The only problem is the lack of vision. I don't know if we are winning or losing. Four of the combat healers lept out the front entrance while leaving one to hold the shield for that opening, so we are basically in a box with no way to know who is winning.

"Everyone hold on tight! If they cleared the road then the teacher might suddenly charge the rhinos out. Don't worry, they can clean up a bandit group this size no problem but while we are bogged down by them another might appear so the priority in these situation is to clear a path for escape."

It is true that a repeated battle will do us no good. We might have healers in the group but even they will get tired on a prolonged battle.

*Crash*

That must be the sound of an earth wall being destroyed. Did the teacher take action or was it one of the military graduates? I hear the sound of metal tearing flesh as they scream in agony on both sides. The military students are taught not to rely on their high quality weapons and armour to win since they might be demoralized the moment it fails them, with that in mind other than the graduates, the rest of the military students are given normal quality gear. There might be some wounded but I'm sure the combat healer would patch them right up.

*Speed up* *fall* *fall* *fall* *fall* *fall*

Woah! The carriage suddenly moved, they must have cleared the way enough for us to escape.

*gallop*x5

I hear the rhino mounts behind us. They must be protecting the rear for us. Does that mean I can put the shield down now?

*tink* *tink*

Not yet it seems. Now that I thought of it, isn't this shield one of the merchandise we were supposed to sell? All this arrows might not damage it significantly to cause problems but no one wants to buy an obviously used weapon. There would be scratches all over now, I would have to flatten it down and polish it until it shines again. There is no skill for such a thing so I would need to do it by hand!!!

*knock* *knock* *tap* *tap* *knock* *gong*

"You can put the shield down now, that is a code from the third group's leader."

I know its one of the mounted army graduate since I hear the sound of the iron rhino galloping to catch up.

*step*x4

"Thank you for the lift. How is the situation inside here viola?"
"No projectiles penetrated the defense, no one got hurt due to an enemy and no enemy got onboard, maam!"
"Good, nice work viola."

It's the combat healers that left earlier. Looks like they hitched a ride back. That means they are part of the group that charged into the enemy. All four of them have blood splashed on them, it might be from healing the escort group but the blood on the knuckles of their gauntlets are sure to be blood of the bandits. Even if they are healers, I guess their focus is on combat.

"Looks like you all behaved during the first bandit battle or you are all too scared to move. Either way that is good, the less we have to mind you during battle, the better. This is only the start so you better prepare yourselves for the next, which in this road should be pretty soon. We wiped out a third of their forces, including the magician, before some of them started to run away. We made our escape at that time so I want you all to be careful during the night in case they come back for revenge. The leader is still alive too but the guard captain smashed his arm so that is one skilled fighter down. He might still scheme against us so don't feel relieved yet."

One of these days, the people in this carriage can look at their past selves and think 'Why didn't I graduate a year earlier!'. If they passed a year ago then they wouldn't have to go through this trip. Because of chatterbox, every student that graduates have to make this trip.

"Victor, stop looking at her. You have a girlfriend."
"I wasn't looking at her, I was just shocked at their skills."
"What skills? You didn't see them fight since we had to block the openings of the carriage with the shield!"
"You can tell their skills from the damage of their armour and weapons!"
"That is just you reacting to the blood. Cool down and polish your sword tonight if you can't calm down."
"ugh..."

This is what happens if you keep a fighting idiot cooped up inside a carriage all day. Considering the situation we have now, we can't have the guards exhausted from practicing in a hostile environment.

However, they let us talk and converse at night since the blacksmith group doing maintenance is noisy enough that they can't hide it. The camp fire is also visible from a couple of miles so there really is no way to hide our group during the night.

It's almost noon and we are already greeted by the bandits. From their numbers, they might be one of the small groups. A small group like that has a magician so every group bigger than that should have more than one magician. We might get stopped a lot of times during this part of our journey.

"Halt!"

A couple of hours after the last attack and here we go again. How many of them are there?