CHRONICLES of a PC Gamer Stuck Inside an RPG (Book One: Duelist)

Chapter 72 - The Training Blues

When I reached the pile, I grabbed the shovel and started attacking the dirt and rocks with a vengeance. However, when I held the shovel, now fully loaded with a scoop of the materials, in my hands, I realized that I forgot something important. Where was the bucket to dump this in? Was I supposed to carry the shovel across the courtyard to the pull cart? That can't be right! I looked at my shovel in befuddlement.

Suddenly, I heard a sound and turned toward it. I saw my young friend, Gendun, rolling a wheelbarrow toward me from the direction of the storage shed toward the back of the dojo. However, I noticed that he avoided looking directly at me. There were still many students milling about the courtyard. They were half-heartedly hitting each other with wooden swords. From the glances they kept sending in my direction, they were obviously watching me. When I saw the exchange of coins, I realized what was happening and became furious. They were betting on whether I would seek the wheelbarrow—before or after I started shoveling. I forgot about it until after I started shoveling, and evidently, I made a few students a ton of money.

When Amelica's son finally reached me with the barrow, he placed it near me but quickly turned around and ran off before I could even thank him for bringing it. Gee, was I embarrassing him that much? I was tempted to call out to my young friend, but I decided to save my breath for my laborious task instead. Still holding the loaded shovel, I walked over to the wheelbarrow and unloaded my scoopful of dirt and rocks into the bin.

I repeated this task with another twenty or so scoop of dirt and rocks before the wheelbarrow was full. Once that occurred, I stabbed my shovel into the remaining pile of materials and grabbed the wheelbarrow by the handles. Despite the heavy load, the large wheel was rolling properly. Thus, I was able to push the wheelbarrow across the courtyard until it reached the pull cart.

When I reached my destination, however, I noticed another problem. How was I supposed to transfer the load from the barrow to the cart? Normally, the transfer of cargo was made in a reverse order, from the cart to the barrow and then eventually to the ground. In order for me to transfer the load from the wheelbarrow to the pull cart, however, I would have to physically lift the barrow and dump its contents into the box. If I had the strength of Kalistra or Maisen, this would be an easy task. Alas, I wasn't that strong (yet) and this feat was beyond my capability.

I heard the snickers from the onlookers again, and I witnessed more coins being exchanged by them. I shot them dirty looks as I returned to the pile to retrieve the shovel. With the shovel in hand, I crisscrossed the courtyard again and started shoveling the materials from the wheelbarrow to the pull cart. Once I finished emptying the wheelbarrow, I placed the shovel into the now empty bin and then returned to the dirt pile at the western wall again.

I attacked the pile of rocks and dirt again with the shovel. Once the bin was full, I forcefully pushed the fully loaded wheelbarrow back to the pull cart. The thought of bringing the pull cart to the wall did cross my mind because then I would save some time and energy by shoveling directly into the cart. But I realized that I would be much better off having the pull cart located closer to the exit because I was certain that pulling a fully-loaded cart would be a back-breaking task that involved numerous breaks in between. Instead, by leaving the pull cart at its current location at the middle of the courtyard, I will be saving myself from some physical exertion when I was ready to pull the cart out of the dojo. Hence, I decided to leave the pull cart at its current location.

In the end, it took me five trips to empty out the pile at the wall. I was very surprised to find that everything was able to fit into the box. On the other hand, I shouldn't have been surprised because the bin of the wheelbarrow wasn't too big while the box for the pull cart was both wide and deep. However, by the time I finished packing the box I was already exhausted from my labor. My knees buckled and I had to sit on the ground and lean against a large, wooden wheel of the pull cart. Suddenly, the bell tolled ten times. Ouch. I had spent a good two and a half hour on this task. No wonder I was exhausted!