Happy Merchant

Rebecca had set the match in motion and been interested in how it would play out. She had a feeling that Jien would grip victory once again, likely in a rougher manner than the past few rounds given his unit's exhaustion. After watching them face off, first against herself and then against Carmichael's unit she was sure that even if tired they would be able to beat the overconfident bandits in a fight based on training alone.What she did not expect was that the bandits would use such a strategy, watching wind kick up sand into a sandstorm that spun around the arena in a howling, light brown dome. She lost track of everything visually from that point, having to dig into her bag and draw out a simple looking telescope that looked to be made of normal bronze. She looked though it and stared at the wall of sand not far from her with her own unit members looking at her curiously.Through the lens of the small telescope she saw the sand in as if it were directly in front of her, but through the sand she was able to spot blurs of different colors. This was one of the few tools she had received from her family, used to see heat signatures in harsh conditions. Its use was more for scouting for bandits while along trade routes, but it worked well here to see the activities within the miniature sandstorm.She watched as the blurs of color started to move, unable to tell who was who other than guesses based on the size of the group of colors. One was particularly tall and thin, she assumed that this was Bennet, the tall bandit. She watched as despite the sand he seemed to beeline for a smaller bundle of color, causing a smirk to appear on her lips. It was really obvious who he was chasing after. Why he couldn't just accept his defeat at the hands of the spear wielding girl Julie, she couldn't fathom, but the boy's head was as thick as a boulder in her mind.She watched the following round of different fights, seeing Jien's team being separated and then ganged up on. Apparently, Bennet had been smarter in his approach this time, aiming for a divide and conquer strategy. The girl with her blue ribbons woven in her hair seemed to ponder for a bit before filing this knowledge back for later use. The strategy was simple in concept but seemed like with a little refinement could be handy when up against groups like Carmichael's as long as they used ranged tactics.What she didn't expect was that though Jien's unit was struggling, or in the case of what she assumed was the shy healer were taken down, was that the fight would end after only minutes. It wasn't even that it ended so quickly or what she saw with her telescope. She watched as one of the blobs of color moved only ever so slightly and then over the next few minutes many of the others seemed to drop like flies. Once the wind died down and the arena was visible once again Jien was shown standing with several other of his unit members while all the others were laying on the sandy ground, sprawled out.Rebecca wasn't sure what strategy was used to clinch the victory, but she was fascinated. She quickly stood, announcing the victory before starting her way down to the arena. Jien and the others that were awake still looked at the girl warily, wondering if the merchant girl would also challenge them. It was what they had planned to do at first today but after their morning training, the two matches almost back-to-back left the majority of them completed worn out. Perhaps the only one who still had a decent amount of energy left was Barret, and only because despite the burn on his mana he didn't tend to have to engage in anything more than a finishing strike.As if to assuage their wariness of her the merchant girl smiled brightly. "Congratulations on your second victory! How did you do it and who came up with the plan?" Her tone was so cheery that it almost grated on their ears. They couldn't tell why the girl was so happy, but the members of Jien's unit turned their gaze to him without hesitation, as if to throw him to the wolves. They were truly exhausted at this point, having dealt with so much on the first real day of training was rough on their minds and bodies.Rebecca didn't hesitate to nearly skip up to Jien and take his arm in her own and almost drag him off to the side for a talk while the others worked to wake up Bennet and his unit. When they were finally in a corner of the arena to themselves, she eyed Jien with an almost predatory gleam in her eyes. "Your tactics are interesting; I hope that you will be willing to work with my unit to refine some of those. I will make sure it is worth your time!"