POV Luana

I was so relieved everything went so well, but I had so many questions to ask Rich. However, the others were correct; this wasn't the place or time to do so, and we would have quite a long time to spend together inside the dungeon.

We were all quite happy at the moment, and he seemed to be really strong, which would give us an excellent chance in the dungeon. Not only that, his equipment seemed to be of excellent quality, which meant that we wouldn't have to spend the little money we had on getting him the gear needed for this dungeon.

We watched as Rich easily passed the basic tests. But it was quite obvious to us and everyone else looking that he wasn't putting everything into his tests and only did enough to pass, which started to piss off the evaluator. Adam and I looked at each other at the same time, and we both saw worry in each other's faces.

As Academy students, we were expected to perform to the best of our abilities, even while taking basic tests. "Should we have told something to Rich?" I asked my companion, but Horus shook his head. "It wouldn't have changed anything. He doesn't seem the person to show everything he has, and it's actually quite reasonable as he’s not a part of this Academy."

Rich’s face had already morphed from his pleasant look into a more neutral one, but after the last test, the evaluator started to chew him out about not performing the best he could. That made his face go cold, and I did not like that at all. This was really bad.

And only a moment later, the evaluator screamed loud enough that everyone could hear, "If you do not do exactly what I tell you to do, you will fail." But Rich wasn’t backing down. "I am not your joker, and I’m not here to jump through hoops. I was invited to join a party to delve a dangerous dungeon. I do not give a flying shit about your needs. I will pass the test however I choose do."

Then Rich then looked towards us. "You wanted me to be here, but I will not play stupid games." That made me swallow hard as he was completely correct, but I couldn’t do anything. If I did, I would be risking being kicked out.

Luckily, I wasn’t alone as I was reminded of that when Horus and Adam rushed towards the evaluator, who looked like he was about to explode from rage. I was still a bit stunned about the whole situation, and I did hear them mentioning their family names, which quite quickly cooled down the evaluator. Eventually, all three of them came back with the token that showed that Rich had passed the individual evaluation.

"I haven’t met a bootlicker who was so full of himself in a long time. But the good news is that our party evaluation will basically just be us showing up and him giving us the token we need. I didn’t want to use my family name like that, but honestly, at least it's good for dealing with people like him," Adam said with a disgusted face.

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I was just glad that this was over as my hand was shaking a bit. I’m never afraid of a fight, but social fighting is something else, and I just don’t have the background to even qualify as someone worthy of fighting people like that.

Rich, to my surprise, seemed to be incredibly pleased about the situation. It seems that he was quite glad that others came to deal with the situation, and he seemed to be a lot more comfortable around us. We continued to small talk, and it was quite interesting to also find out that Rich actually was a farmer.

At first, I thought that he was just joking, but it seems like he truly enjoyed it, and Horus was quickly educated on why farming was important when he mentioned that he didn't think it was worth his time thinking about.

The lecture Rich gave was incredibly interesting, and it kind of felt like an old man telling children how the world actually worked. I never actually thought about how important farming is and how it could be used to control a population by manipulating the price of basic food.

I made a mental note to read more about what the books in the Academy library said about this topic. After the discussion, it only took a bit longer until I saw our last party member walking into the arena.

POV Arabella

Dealing with cancelling the rental agreement was more troublesome than I thought. Why do they have to be so annoying about not just letting you cancel it? I would have been even fine with paying a few extra months just to have it done with in 5 minutes, but no, the two weeks notice wasn’t enough. They still spend hours trying to convince me to stay or make it so annoying that I didn’t want to continue handling the rental agreement. At least I was now done with that place and had my own home.

Sandra was quite pleased with our new home, and thanks to there being quite a lot of work needing to be done there, she wasn't too mad that I was about to leave her for two months. It would also not be good for my career in the arena, and I would have made more if I stayed and fought duels. But I just made it to the next stat block, and this dungeon should help me level up quite a few times, so I wouldn’t have to be fighting people who had hundreds of stat points more than me.

The carriage was moving stupidly slowly; I guess morning traffic was picking up. I had hoped to be done with this part of my travel, but I would have to suffer through it. I wonder who the last member of the party is. I do hope that he’s strong enough as it's so much easier to fight with a good tank. There are simply so many more opportunities like that to do real damage, and constantly having to run away from monsters is quite annoying. The small mage is also quite good, and she seemed to have a wide range of spells to use for different encounters.

The healer, I’m still not sure about, but I guess we will see when we are in a real fight how he will perform. Horus is impressive, but I would expect it from his family. Having a guard or a bodyguard from his family is not just a good idea to keep yourself safe, but it's also a status symbol to show that you are truly connected and wealthy enough to afford their services. Making a connection with the next generation was truly good fortune and one of the other main reasons I chose to join them.

After the carriage ride, I still needed to walk, and I did so as fast as possible without looking like I was running. I once again showed the guards the paper that allowed me to go inside, and I was so glad this was going to be the last time I needed to do that.

When I finally reached my destination, I found quite a few people inside, but I noticed Luana the same time she noticed me. I didn’t need to be shown who our last party member was. He was a mountain of a man wearing armour that covered him from head to toe, but currently, his helmet was removed, revealing a handsome face.

He had a beard, something quite uncommon. He has a large shield, and in his other hand, he was holding his helmet. His armour had heraldry, but I didn’t recognise it. I got the feeling of danger from him, but it wasn't directed towards me or the people around here, which was good news. It seems that they might have actually found someone who could keep up with the rest of us, but I would be the judge of that.

I approached them and was quickly greeted by Luana and the others, and then introduced to Rich Dirt. It was a peculiar name, but I kind of liked it. ‘What more would the nation want than rich dirt as it will feeds and support its nation and people’ I remember my grandfather's saying and wished that I could speak to him once again.

Rich was even larger close up, and his hand completely encompassed mine when he shook it. It was kind of weird as even amongst other Duelists, they usually give me the courtly greeting of kissing the back of my hand.