"We don't want to waste too much of your time."

We don't want our time wasted either. Please, just let us through. His voice is quite deep and loud. They are blocking the way, and they are assembled on the front so I can't see them.

"As long as you surrender a few sets of equipment, some weapons and half of your food, we won't need to fight."

This group seems like the blunt type. Are they that strong that they don't need to scheme against their targets or are they that dumb that they don't know the concept of an ambush?

"It only takes three days from here to travel to the central island. Even if you have half the food, you have more than enough to last you until you reach it. The few sets of armour and weapons won't hurt your profit either. I'm sure it is better than both sides getting hurt. Even if no one dies, the cost of recovery would hurt both sides more."

I understand what you are saying but if you get a proper job, though you might not earn more, you can get a steady income without having to risk your life!

"This is a government approved business caravan of an academy. I am the leader of the army escort for this trip. If you understand the consequences then disperse and let us through, otherwise we will have to fight regardless of the consequence."
"I know, I saw the insignia of the mithril academy on the side. Every academy is supported by the government according to the reforms of the hero, of course I would know."

Since you know then let us through peacefully. The other bandit group might catch up to us. I don't know their current state but if the remnants are the impulsive type, they would rush up to us with reckless abandon.

"However, I won't let you pass without giving something up. Your cargo or your blood. Choose!"
"I repeat, you are about to attack the army division of mithril academy. Make a path and let us pass, otherwise even if we fall here, the council shall wash this lands."
"I know, every bandit knows. I'm an ex-captain of the army stationed at the gold mine so I know very well and a little bit more."

An ex-solder? Is this why they are blocking us from the front without any kind of barrier or long ranged support from the sides? He would know the strategies of his time but I hope our academy doesn't only follow a manual for defense. You can use it as a basis but using something that the enemy already knows is like playing poker where the other players know what your cards.

The gold mine thing is interesting too since all goldmines are controlled by the council. Gold is the main form of currency so all gold mines are controlled by the council. The mines here aren't normal since the land is so blessed with earth magic. The mine slowly regrows which makes all our ore supply almost endless. Mines usually have a main type of ore but there are others too though not as much as the main. Our mine has mithril as the main ore taking 40% of it while the other are iron, bronze, and other crystals. You can start a settlement near these mines and the quantity of the ores that can be mined will determine if your small hamlet will be a town or a city.

However, Gold, Silver, and even copper are managed by the council of elder dwarfs. All mines that can produce these three types of metal are controlled by them. Most mines won't produce gold or silver so there won't be a problem most of the time. There are cases where the council let's you manage the mine even if you have some copper veins but they give a quota to be delivered to them, the quota is about 3/4 of the vein so the manager of the mine can't earn much from it, or so I heard. I wanted to make a golden knife and sell it to some idiot noble for many times over the value but melting gold coins is illegal so I tried to search for gold vein, so much for my get rich quick scheme.

The council has a complete hold on the main currency and they isolate the mine so much that the miners have to travel there when the ores have regrown. Only the guards that are stationed there making it something like a fortress. However, desperate and greedy people still target it since it is free money. The guards stationed there have to be ready for an attack against enemies multiple times larger than their own. They are tough, strong and loyal, or so I thought.

This one is a defector who ran from that life to be a bandit. If its true then he should have enough strength to overcome our army students. I don't know how much he could take down but they should overwhelm him if they all charge at him. The only problem is if the others with him are also defectors, even if they aren't I am sure he trained them to something on that level.

This should be a tricky fight.

"I also know the council won't know who to target if there are no witnesses, and they also won't know you are missing until the end of your schedule. If you are defeated, we can always scatter and wait for the council to finish sweeping. Now, do you want to surrender a couple of cargo or be wiped out here in this land. You are a guard in charge of the well being of this group, do you really want to endanger them because of your stubbornness."
"This is the last warning, disperse or be prepared for battle!"
"Stubborn and inflexible as always."

This might be the reason this guy ran away. He does make a good point, if we can't be sure of victory, taking a step back is always an option.

"...There are 20 of them maam. From their gear and formation, they look like elites."
"...Are there healers?"
"...According to the third captain, there aren't any."
"...Everyone, get ready to act, all of us have to come up front. We need to finish this swiftly."

I'm impressed they can communicate like that all of a sudden. Sign language? It looks different from the one I saw in my former world. I only saw the sign language for letters so I can't be sure but I am sure you can't do the normal sign language with one hand.

"...You production class graduates, when we leave just stay here and be quiet. If someone comes then do your best to repel them."

That is a careless plan, at the very least let one healer stay with us.

"Have you finished communicating with the healers on that back carriage over there? Its about time we start, no?"

He caught onto that, huh? The most possible explanation is that he knows the formations and plans of military escort in cases like these. Wait, he may be familiar with the team composition but maybe he doesn't know how much of a support we have. Also if it ever comes into a long battle, we who has healers can win through sheer perseverance.

"Go!!!"

*Charge!*

Three of the five army graduates on mounts are charging them, the other two are on both sides of the cargo wagon. I can see them holding there along with the team leader of a senior student with its subordinates. Except them everyone charged to the enemy, along with all the combat healers. Do we just have to wait here until the battle is over?

Since there aren't of the combat healers here so I can peek at the battle without them telling me to just sit quietly.

*climb*

"Brill! What are you doing, sit down or you might get their attention. I don't want them to attack us."
"Don't worry chatterbox, from what we heard, there aren't that many of them and they should be too focused on fighting the military students."
"Really? Scoot over and let me see."
"I also want to see!"
"Its not fair to only let you blacksmith student watch let us watch too."

Argh! All of the students are now trying to push each other to get a glimpse of the battle.

"Hey! I know all of you are eager and all but the enemies have archers so if a stray arrow hits you then its on you for not dodging."
"E-eh? I-It seems crowded over there so I will just watch from over here."
"Its bad to disobey the orders of your superiors you know. I will stay here and follow orders like so I won't trouble the combat healers more."
"I-I'll stay down too brill, I don't think I can handle arrows heading for my head. You can go ahead and enjoy."
"Look, look, things are starting to heat up."

Good choice chatterbox, only me, victor and a couple of other blacksmith students are left. I can't remember their name, even though I am their classmate for four years, but I am still friendly with them. Even though I am friendly, I very much want them to give me a bit more room to breathe. All the alchemist chose to stay put and some miners chose to watch at the front entrance. It's hard to see from there since not only is the cargo wagon blocking the way, the two army graduates with their mounts are there too. It is safer since they could block incoming projectiles but I can dodge an arrow heading toward me from that far away.

Let's see how they handle this kind of enemy.

The enemy only has 20 well armoured group all holding pole arms. That is an unusual weapon in this continent. The sword is barely acceptable but a pike, even if they have a metal shaft, is still a long weapon that could easily bend on enemies here. It might not even work against people with good armour unless they are precise on where to hit.

*Dismount*

Wait! Why are you dismounting?!?!? I know lance and the like are good against mounts but iron rhinos have a solid head so they can even charge into a formation of lances. Their weapons aren't even enchanted so they can't pierce into the thick plates of the iron rhino!

I can even see the enemy leader smirking because of what you did! Is this part of the manual or something? Hero, are you the one who made this manual!? I know its common sense for mounts to be defeated by lances but its different depending on the mount! They really are inflexible. I hope they learn from this experience.

"Fire!"

Ah, the enemy started firing their arrows aiming at us here in the passenger carriage.

"Hey the miners over there, go and grab the shield under the combat healers' bench. Use it to block the entrance, we have arrows incoming."
"Eh? ah!?"
"Tsk"

*Run* *Grab* *Tink* *Tink* *Tink* *Tink* *Tink*

Please be more alert and decisive when things like this happen. Don't make me rush to your rescue since I am also a graduate wanting to enjoy this trip. I'm not getting paid to defend you all like this. I am defending my life too but you all need to pitch in and help too since your lives are in the line too.

"Here! Hold onto this and be ready if you still want to watch. If you change your mind and don't want to watch anymore then just hold onto this to protect everyone."
"Ah, thanks."

I imagine if someone died here then the next few battles would get more aggressive. If the other bandits know someone died then they would do their all to eliminate us and loot everything we have since the council would clear this place if even one of us died. They would take everything they can, run away and wait until the problem cools down.

What are they doing now?

It is a stalemate right now, the leader got into a passive situation since they attacked us. They started to back down near the caravan to better protect us. I know you can see the big shield so please go ahead and charge them since we can handle ourselves.

"Do you really think you can escape us!"

Oh great! The sun-dry vegetables bandit group caught up to us.