I soon found out where Froggy and his new teammates were training.
The other Witches told me that they were at the grass patch, and since most of the place was covered in sluggish water there was only one place that could be considered a patch of grass.
I arrived there soon where I saw some cows in a caged area with chickens not too far away.
But on the rest of the grass, there were six people doing exercises and getting ready for the mission of tomorrow.
I sat down far away where they couldn't see me but close enough that I could see them.
I didn't want to disturb their training, only a small break from my constant work and some free entertainment.
Unfortunately, I didn't have popcorn on me, so I had to improvise my snacks with some classic bread and milk.
After a few minutes, they stopped their exercise and went to practice shooting.
It wasn't something that I was used to like crossbows or bows with arrows.
Instead, they threw potions filled with water at the red target. Those potion bottles were very sturdy, and unless you brewed specifically for a splash potion, it couldn't be broken that easily.
So it was good ammunition that didn't need to be replaced.
After the stationary target was done, they moved to a nonstationary target, aka one of the team members that walked and tried to dodge all the potions.
They all took turns being the target, even though I saw that Froggy was chosen more often than the others.
I didn't feel like it was fair, but Froggy is indeed a rookie and he needs to earn their respect before they're going to treat him as an equal.
There's a chance they're going to lose their life, so trust is a major factor in their teamwork.
After all the training was done for the day, I decided to reveal myself to my future teammates and give them some food to forge a relationship.
"Hey guys! You're doing some great work, keep it up!"
They all looked at me, but only Froggy seemed to be happy to see me while the others looked with curiosity.
"I saw you training hard so I thought you'd want some food to recuperate your strength."
Most of them smiled at me mentioning the food except for the leader who didn't seem too happy to see me.
I gave everyone bread and milk, and everyone thanked me for my generosity.
Except for the leader, who only took the bread but left me with the milk.
"Trader, from what I've heard you'll be joining us on this mission."
"Yes, but don't worry, I won't get in your way. I don't know your team or how you work together, so I'll only be there if things get bad."
"Are you saying that you are more capable than a team of six people?"
The leader seemed to be insulted by what I said, and I didn't realize that it sounded that bad.
"I didn't want t-"
"I don't care what you say, I want to see your skills, I challenge you to a duel. If you win, you can stay with us, if you lose you will leave us to do our work, no supervision needed."
He pointed his iron sword at me, which I didn't appreciate at all.
"The Elders won't be happy about this."
"Oh, I'm sure Elder Brutus won't have any problems with my method of recruiting people in my team."
So he was in that team...
I could see that he wouldn't be backing down on this challenge even if I didn't want to.
But if I wanted to join the team I had to go through this.
"Ok, let's do it."
Everyone got curious about the upcoming fight, only Froggy seemed to be concerned about my safety, but he didn't stop us.
I went on one side of the grass patch while the leader was on the opposite side.
We looked at each other intensely with no armor just swords and a shield.
One of the witches that was watching started to count down.
"3, 2, 1 Go!"
I quickly took a speed potion from my inventory and chugged it down, time was slowing down around me.
The empty bottles went back into my inventory and I ran towards the leader, who didn't quite get what I just did, but his instincts were good, and blocked my sword with his shield.
"I didn't expect you to use the same method as us. I'll have to fight with you more seriously now."
He backed away slowly with his shield where I couldn't see his next action, but soon I realizing what he's done as I could see blue particles rise around him.
He drank a speed potion as well.
We both went at each other with our shields and swords, but since were both under the effect of a potion, the one with better swordsmanship would win it all.
I was not good with the sword, so it was clear that I was about to lose.
But this is not how I fought, I don't like to play fair.
So once he pushed me back with one of his attacks, instead of going back to attack once again I instead opted to build a tower four blocks tall, out of reach of any sword swings.
"How did you build so fast?!"
The leader stopped in shock at my ability to build so fast.
I didn't give him the satisfaction of an answer, Instead I started to load my crossbow and shot him.
Since he was under the speed influence he quickly raised his shield and bearly blocked the arrow.
He didn't stay in one place, he moved in a zigzag trying to get to me, but I was too far for him to reach.
In the end, he chose to stay in one place and raised his shield.
I kept shooting at him but only a few scratches appeared.
And while I tried to get a better angle to shoot him, he started to put a block down not too far from my tower.
His placing speed was way slower than mine, and it was clear that he couldn't use the same strategy as me, he had to build a staircase instead.
I kept my shots consistent making his job harder, but after a few awkward minutes, he finally managed to build a two-block high staircase where he could jump at me.
I could've just built my tower higher, but that wouldn't accomplish much, instead, I loaded my crossbow once again but this time with a surprise.
He started to sprint towards the newly made staircase with great speed.
But when he was about to jump, the sounds of a fuse being lit made him stop followed by a loud shriek that ended up with an explosion.
The fireworks exploded into the shield, but the blast was too powerful to be blocked by such simple items.
He was lying on his back before hitting the ground with force.
The damage was done and what followed was a scream of pain where the leader was trying to figure out what just happened.
I didn't let him get up, instead I jumped off my wooden tower on his staircase and stopped my sword not too far from his neck.
"I think this is my win."
"What was that!"
"A secret weapon of mine."
"You cheated!"
"Would your enemy care to fight the right way in a life-or-death situation?"
He sat down for a while trying to gather his thoughts that were blasted by my firework.
"You're right, it doesn't matter how you fight as long as you win. I'm sorry about my outburst, you won fair and square, only a loser will find excuses."
The sudden change in tone took me by surprise, I didn't expect him to be so forgiving.
I helped him to get up and gave him some bread to speed up his regeneration, and this time he took it without giving me dirty looks.
The others were shocked with how the fight turned out, they had never seen something like this, and soon I was bombarded by questions.
"Shut up everyone! My ears are still ringing."
Remembering that someone was injured between them, they all backed off and left me alone as well.
We all sat down and continued to eat the meal, everyone was full of energy but we were considered enough to not yell right beside the leader.
As for the leader himself, he was getting better already.
He spoke with me normally this time, with no smirk, bad comments, or any angry glances.
This made me change his opinion about him.
While he was from Brutus party, the leader wasn't Brutus himself. He was a competent leader who was worried about his team being 'supervised' by an unknown party.
I didn't fight fairly with him, but this kind of fight would help the others get out of a pinch, which was more than enough for him to accept me.
As I talked with the other I slowly found their name.
Sara, the only girl in the group was a simple farmer before being struck by lightning. Luckily her family still cared about her but encouraged her to get here in the Clan since it was safer for her. She still keeps contact with her family through letters, and they even help the Clan with any news of new witches.
Danis was lucky enough to get the alchemist job, which was a great deal in the small village. With hugs from his family and friends, he went to the academy to learn and hopefully become a noble. But on the way there, he was cursed by lightning and became a witch.
He was too ashamed to get back to his family, so they all think he's dead. After a few months of living in the wilderness, a witch spotted him and brought him to the Clan where he lives now.
Brian was a crafter in a small town before becoming a witch, from what the others told me he could craft iron items, but he charged unreasonable prices, so he managed to drive away most of the customers he could have in this Clan.
That's why he works with this team, he doesn't have any other way of making good money.
Walter is a little bigger than the others
, he has good muscles since he was a hunter in his past life.
He hunted animals, monsters, people you name it, he can do it, and I can see why a person like him would be essential to this group.
Finally, Ellen was the leader of the group. While he was more open with me now after the duel, he didn't want to share too much about himself, and the others respected his wishes and didn't say anything either.
They were a united team, and it was visible.
I'm relieved that Froggy is in competent hands, he only needs to be a good friend with them as well and it will all be set.
After the break was over they got back to training, this time it was on how to handle horses in extreme situations, how to handle a horse oif its panicking, and how to turn correctly.
I watched them from the sidelines learning from their experiences as well.
It felt like a well-deserved break.
After everything was done, we all went to our own homes to get some rest, tomorrow is the big day so there's no reason to continue training until the exposition.
I also was back at my home and started to prepare for the journey, I sold some of the ores that I had in excess to get some emeralds from some Witches and I bought some raw materials to craft more fireworks.
My armor was ready and enchanted, the sword as well, while the diamond pickaxe was the most powerful tool that I had on me at the moment.
Brew a few potions, get some extra food and water, and never forget a bucket.
With everything done, I went to sleep as well.
The next day I was in front of the gate with everyone from the team, some elders came to say goodbye, and some friends of Sara were there as well wishing us good luck.
The gates were opened, we got on our horses and left the safety of the Clan.
It was time to hunt a Witch.