"OOooohhhh! Ain't that the old coot that can't even lift his head from his toilet bowl!?"

I know this teacher! I can't believe the second group would be led by her! Our almighty Head blacksmith teacher! Teacher Sophie!! She is leading her lucky blacksmith students to the central island.

Hmm? Wait? Does that mean we would also be forced to help with their daily maintenance? It would finish early with our group's help but wouldn't that be extremely lucky on their part? We didn't have anyone to help us when we were travelling! They have teacher sophie as their teacher and would also get our help in their chores.

They also have 3 wagons and the same amount of guards escorting them. I guess this is the standard group formation for the graduation trip. The only thing different is the students from different courses and the fact that our wagons are upgraded, though I feel that theirs would be upgraded too since the first trip is always the trial run. They would progressively change things to suit the travel to the central island.

I would soon be an alumni in this school, so I won't see those changes but I wonder if they would let me hitch a ride with them. Joining a random caravan is risky, the protection would surely cost too much and it won't be at the level of the army's emblem too. I don't really want to hire my own protection detail. Actually, I'm sure I can get a good deal if I hitch a ride with chatterbox's family. Victor would probably be part of the protection detail, so I won't have to take chances with strangers.

"Ugh, you old wit--"

*Punch* *Crash*

"I see that you can never learn your lesson. Who are you calling old!?!"
"And you can call me old!?I'm only older than you by 20 years!"
"Don't you see this tight skin. This glistening bronze glow of mine. This amazingly sculpted muscle that emits a powerful aura. Do I look like a bag of bones like you?"
"This is the difference in our occupation. You swing a hammer all the time and your body is baked from being in front of the fire all the time. I spent most of the time observing reactions from various materials that could take a few days to happen. Do you think I'm like you who can finish their work in a day?"

You say all that but alchemists like you are practically bomb proof. Did you hear the sound you made as you hit the ground? It sounds like a wrecking ball crashing down on a building. Also, your skin isn't wrinkly at all. I'm not sure how old you are but I'm sure you made some potions to help conceal your age.

Well, compared to the alchemist head teacher who is said to be over 100 years old yet still retains a 20-30 year old physique, yours is still within reasonable. Unless, you are actually multiple times older than the alchemist head teacher? I'm not sure anymore, ever since the alchemist head teacher recreated that reinvigorating potion left by the hero, a lot of old timers started joining the alchemist course as teachers.

It was great since she was the only teacher on the course and became the default head teacher but when she recreated the potion, the student's trying to learn from her ballooned too much. The school still limited the number of alchemist students though, since they have to keep the school safe from too many explosions.

"You two, stop making a commotion. Go back to your wagons. Let's first find some spot to make our base. Since we are now a large group, somewhere beside the road will do. Army leaders, go and do your job."
"Yes, sir!"x2

That should be a minus for both leaders. When it was discussed that we will have an early camp for the day, they should have already sent out the scouts to find a place to stop.

"Scouts, find a flat place that could accomodate a group of our size!"
"Make sure it's easily accessible and a good view on the surroundings! The leader changed in your group, huh?"
"Go in groups of three and report back if something happened! Yeah, things happened."
"Teachers, please park the wagons on both sides of the road for now. It looks like I need to shape up or I'll be next."
"All teams form a perimeter around the two wagon groups and keep the road between the two groups clear! You'll be fine, our previous leader just became a little heated. You take the side towards the central island, I take the side towards the road back?"
"Good! We will discuss the rotation for tonight once we find a site."

I think it would be better to finish your work first before having casual conversation. However, to talk to someone at the same time as that person yells out an order, and understand each other, is amazing.

"Hey brill!"
"What?"
"Did you hear that? Was that blacksmith head sophie?"
"It sounds like it. Is something the matter victor?"
"There might be a good chance that my girlfriend is the one who is leading the army students for her caravan group."

Our wagon is still at the back of the group so we can't exactly see the other group. However, with how loud blacksmith head teacher sophie is, it's easy to recognize her.

Victor, I'm sorry to say this but your girlfriend isn't the one leading this group. The one I'm hearing doesn't sound like her.

"It looks like we might need to help them with their daily maintenance."
"What!? But we already did ours! How come we need to do their work too!?"
"Give it up, chatterbox. It's faster if we help and with the current environment as it is. The faster that we finish the work, the safer we all would be."
"We have more people to guard us now. It's plenty safe compared to when we only have a single group."
"Don't argue! The head teacher of the blacksmith course is here. We would be forced to show our skills regardless. You know she wants to see how far the skills of the students have reached. Just be glad that she can't prevent us from graduating anymore. At worst, she will lecture you as she asks our teacher to give you some homework while on the road back."
"This is why I don't like her!"

She has many fans and many haters. It's because she is strong, helpful to those who need it but blunt and strict. I guess she is fair as a teacher.

"Leader, there is a flat ground half an hour away from the road. It has a couple of hills in the distance."
"Did you tell this to the other group?"
"Their scout has gone to inform their leader."
"Good, and have you sent someone to check the hills?"
"We contacted another scout group to inspect the area. From their report, There are 4 small hills with no vegetation growing on it. The hills aren't that big and it could hide a group of 20 people at most, per hill, from the campsite we found."
"Any other places you found?"
"Most of the plains near here have rocky ground that isn't good for our cavalry and wagons. The other's are near huge mountains that make us susceptible to ambushes. The cave that we used last time has collapsed and even if we dig it out, it can't accommodate our combined size."
"Collapsed?"
"Yes, and from investigating the area, we found that a huge beast had lightly stood on top of the cave and the cave got crushed from its weight."
"...It must have been a dragon roaming around. Alright, I will talk to this with the other leader. Join the perimeter and wait for further orders."
"Yes sir!"

The cave was destroyed? That's a shame it was a fairly comfortable and easy to defend location. I might be biased on the comfort because I was kidnapped by the combat healers for an overnight, non-stop festival of the flesh.

"Teachers, please shape the wagons in the form of a circle. The three wagons heading toward the central island will face the front of their wagon to it while the returning group face the way back."

As advertised, this is a desolate plains. Other than the few hills in the distance, there aren't anything of note. No greenery near here too.

"Guard group shall encircle the outer side of the wagon while we plan for tonight. Trip group two leader, let's go and discuss the rotation for tonight."
"Follow what he said."

Okay, the blacksmith students are given since Head teacher sophie is part of the group, so let's see which other group are there.

They aren't carrying anything that could easily be used to distinguish them but I think one of the groups are from the enchanter class. Everything they are wearing has this special hue that is common for enchanted things. Enchanters?

The other one might be from the machine construction course. They have a lot of tools with them. If not that, then maybe from the sculptor course? I'm not sure since they both use the same tools. Both their classes are math and planning heavy.

"Combination or alternate for the group?"
"The alternate seems to be good since it's easier for our team members. They would be working with teams they know but as their leader, we can't really pamper them like that. In our line of work, they could be assigned to team up with different groups every month. I think it's better if they start adjusting to different groups of people early on."
"As a caravan protection escort, it would be risky but since we are from the same organization, it should be fine to mix up the members. We already graduated so it won't be beneficial with us that much but these juniors of ours could take these as added experience for them."
"It won't be that much different though. We have already mixed group combat and formation exercises."
"This is in the field with non-combatants present, so it would be different, mentally speaking. Can you tell me how the enemies are when you entered the dragon's road?"
"We met a single group of an all archer bandits. I don't know what happened but after they ran, we never met a single group again. They must have spread the world about us. The emblem has more weight than I thought."
"It might be because of our group. When we first came through this road, we had a lot of risk takers that tried to take us on. I guess news about us has finally spread and they now know that it isn't worth it to cause trouble with us."

Really? Not a single one after the initial group of bandits? I'm not expecting a huge reception like the ones outside the walls, though the bandits there are only good for their numbers, but there should at least be a few nosy curious bandits that want to try their luck with us.

The bandits outside the walled city are something else though. They are good at melee too since it's the difference between life and death for them. They can take on a group of bandits here one versus many, unless they have to take the target alive like in my case.

They are rubbish at magic and their gear quality is the lowest but it makes them rely on themselves rather than external tools. All in all, I guess they can only take on a group of bandits here if they aren't using magic. They could buy magic books when they enter the city but I doubt they would do something so expensive like that, and I doubt those who came inside the city would ever want to go back out again.

From what the kid described, the meals of those in charge of them are practically the same as what they eat, and what they eat has no taste. He also said that the portions were barely enough to keep them alive and have the strength to work. The bandits here don't need to resort to that since a lot of prey that passes through this road for them. There are also places nearby for them to liquidate their loot, albeit at a high price.

One side doesn't hold back for the sake of their life, while the other holds back for the sake of theirs. Even though they are in the same line of occupation, the bandits here hold back to avoid the wrath of the elders.

"Alright, now that I'm here. Let me see if you learned anything from this trip. This whole thing is useless if you didn't find anything to help you improve yourselves. Return group, help my students do tonight's maintenance. We will start with the gears for the army students."

I knew it! I know you will do this to us. I guess it alleviates the boredom a bit. We do have to work on our group's army equipment. We are dividing the work between two groups of graduated blacksmith students. Working a bit more isn't that big of a deal.