"That fight really keeps my blood pumping! I can't wait to fight on a big stage like that."
"Give it a rest already, victor! That fight was days ago. I don't understand why you are this excited. The fight wasn't even that long. It wasn't even flashy in the lightest."
"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, This is why amateurs are so problematic, they only want to see big moves. Listen here, chatterbox. The fight might look plain but it was forced to be that way. Lily controlled the match from the very beginning."

Oh goody, here comes another explanation of the match. This one is on you chatterbox. You know that victor keeps finding an excuse to talk about it. Don't let him find an opportunity.

"Lily uses a spear and she hid herself under the shield at the start. She basically fortified herself. James was a fire offensive fighter with a heavy weapon. He can't just charge in and swing on the shield knowing he will be deflected and countered, so he also stood his ground and waited for an opportunity! Lily gave it to him and that is where he fell for the trap."
"Why couldn't he just use magic to force her out of the shield though?"
"It's because he can't use magic without giving an opening! You need one hand free when you want to use a projectile spell, right? If he puts down his sword just to cast magic, then he would be open for a split second! Lily is from the leopard race known for their burst of speed. Once she dodge that spell, he needs to defend himself from the charge next. Either way, they would dodge the charge the same way but with more of an injury because of the opening! Also--"
"Alright! You three, stop goofing off and get your luggage ready. We are returning soon. Buy some provisions, buy some souvenirs and finish everything you need to. We leave in two hours! Get your act together, or you might get left behind! Especially you victor! Save the tale of the title match for when you get home!"

I already prepared everything I needed. I even have some 'special' items stored in my [Soul Memory]. It's mostly the books and special materials. I have a ton of them inside storage bags bought by the saintess but I will transfer them in my [Soul Storage] once I'm back on the dwarf continent. The fact that storage bags degrade overtime aside, I don't want the materials to be wasted in case the bags get damaged or stolen.

They contacted me yesterday as a final farewell along with a bag of coins, so I don't think they will see me off. I know there are also other classmates of mine who got similar deals from them, others getting more money and benefits too, so they won't appear on our departure to avoid showing favour to one of us specifically.

A so-called professional distance in case we all failed to reach an acceptable height in our craft. I guess it's their version of respectful distance, to make them seem less clingy.

The kid should be fine. Last I heard, he is already at chatterbox's care. He should be learning from the caretakers that chatterbox hired.

I bought all I needed to buy. Every business I have in this place is done.

"I finished everything I needed to do. Do you two have anything else to do?"
"I don't have any money left, so I can't go anywhere even if I wanted to. I can't even go to the arena since I don't want to get injured. I need to be prepared in case something happened on the way back. How about you chatterbox? You have a lot of money. Don't you have a ton of things to buy before you return?"
"The house for my family business is being taken cared of by the supervisors I hired. The souvenirs are all with me. I bought extra potions, bombs and other self defence accessories in case we get ambushed again, and I have some food for the trip back. I'm good to go."
"If all three of us are done with our business, shouldn't we wait in the wagon? I want to take the spot at the end of the wagon near the entrance. The view is better."

The front of the wagon is near the wagon driver, which happens to be the teacher. Even if the setting is casual, you can't help but behave when you are near them. Besides, the view is better at the back. You might get sniped with an arrow but I'm skilled enough to catch them and endure the damage if I'm not hit on the vitals.

"Why don't we eat before we go? I doubt the others would arrive early at the wagons."
"I'm not particularly hungry and it's a bad idea to eat before a ride back."
"Brill is right chatterbox. This isn't like your own personalized carriage. The suspension isn't good enough to eliminate all the shaking. You'll get motion sickness like that."
"Then what else am I supposed to do? It's boring to just wait."
"I'm going to warm up a bit for the ride home. I don't want to have a cramp in the middle of an ambush."
"I'll warm up too. I expect the trip back to be more active. Why don't you sleep on the way back, chatterbox? We will wake you up when something happens."

We caused a bit of a scene on the way here. I expect some revenge from them as we go through the road.

We should meet the next group on our way back. That would help bolster our forces in case something happened.

"Oh, you guys are early! Go and waste time like the others. There's nothing for you three to do here."
"There's nothing for us to do outside either. Anyway, me and victor would just prepare our gear here while chatterbox will go and sleep."
"Is it alright to board the wagon now? I'll just take a nap until we reach the first rest stop."

It looks like teacher is checking the wagon. He must be doing maintenance for the long ride home. It seems like he changed the wood material. I don't recognize the type but it should be a countermeasure against being showered by arrows. We didn't take much damage thanks to the shields but those are all sold now. I guess this is the replacement for that. He seems happy, I guess the school made enough profit that the complete overhaul of the wagon made the trip here worth it.

The army students are already here too performing maintenance on their own gear and weapon. They have enough time to do it by themselves, so they don't need us blacksmith students to do it for them. Smiths like us won't be with them on every excursion after all, so they need to know how to do the basics themselves.

Ah, the guy who tried to argue with me is also here. He didn't bother me anymore and didn't even pay attention to me. It looks like he is over what happened on our way here. It seems the outburst was the combination of his jealousy of me with his crush, the combat healer captain, the pressure from being the leader and frustration built up while on the road. Either way, as long as he does his duty and doesn't bother us, I won't have any problems with him.

"Go ahead! I'm done with this one. I still have to work on the other wagons so don't expect a quiet environment for your nap."
"I have ear plugs!"
"Let's also get started with our stuff brill."
"Okay!"

I thought for sure that victor would go straight to his warm-ups but he is also taking care of his gear too. Time-wise it makes sense to start with the warm-ups since he will be using his gear for that, so after he finishes, he could repair and clean it. It would also serve as a down time before our trip back.

*Scrub* *Scrub* *Scratch* Scratch*

Removing the blood is tedious! I did a quick cleaning when I went back days ago but to think I missed a couple of spots. I better dismantle all of my gear and thoroughly clean them or it might rust.

*Scritch* *Scratch*

Looks like it already started to rust. It's only a little spot, so I can just buff that out. I might need to make some spare armour for the future. It's a good thing I have a lot of high quality materials now but I won't use them for now. I already graduated but most of my skills are still around fledgeling rank. I should get comfortable using the common metals first before I switch. Even though I have passive stats to boost my crafting skills, and actual skills to assist me, nothing beats good old fashioned hard work.

And Done! Cleaned, maintained, and ready to be used again.

"Are you done brill?"
"Yeah, how did you finish faster than me, victor?"
"I do this every morning and evening. I didn't need to do much."

Forgot this is someone who is actually putting his life on the line with what his gear. I guess you need to be this diligent or the consequences, in his line of work, could be fatal.

"Are you going for your warm up now, victor?"
"Yeah, want to join? It's been a while since we did combat?"

Hmm, I guess we still have some time until we need to go but I just cleaned my gear.

"Don't worry about your stuff. These are things that are meant to be used after all. We have plenty of time and it's not like we will go at full force."
"Fine! I could use a little coaching in CQC. Weapons or none?"
"Which do you want?"

Hmm, Using a weapon is more convenient but I already have a somewhat sufficient way of using a weapon from my time at the academy. It's not something to brag about but I don't need to be overly good at it. I guess unarmed combat should be my priority. My type of weapon might change but I would alway have hands. Well, not always but I should have all limbs when I go through rebirth at the very least.

"I'm ready!"
"That's more like it!! I will show you everything I learned from fighting and watching at the arena so far."

Ah, we are attracting a crowd. A friendly match like this is more of a training session not like angry combat, so we shouldn't attract the kraken, right?