Chapter 76: Inside the Carriage That Stopped Running

"This is bad. He must've struck his head when 'Dragon Wind (M)' buffeted us."

Remembering the loud sound from the driver’s seat, I grimaced.

The coachman hadn’t known the pursuers were attacking or that I would suddenly unleash a powerful skill.

If an unexpected blast rocked his carriage, it wasn’t impossible that he’d hit his head and lost consciousness.

No, normally that still wouldn’t happen. We’d enjoyed too much good luck—finding a carriage before the village and discovering the coachman knew nothing about us. This accident felt like the universe balancing the scales.

No, this wasn’t the time for such thoughts!

“L-Lilina, Alisha! Have either of you ever driven a carriage?”

“No. I have not.”

“Neither have I!”

I’d asked because there was a chance, but both shook their heads.

Naturally. The anime had never shown them doing it.

“I’ve never seen Lloyd drive one either, so I can’t… Wait. Perhaps…”

An idea struck me. I displayed my status and scanned the long list of skills Lloyd had stolen.

He’d taken people’s skills as a form of harassment.

If he’d ever targeted a coachman, perhaps he possessed a skill for controlling a carriage.

“…There it is. A skill that might work.”

Among Lloyd's stolen skills was one named 'Ride'.

It sounded like a skill for riding monsters, and its level had reached the maximum.

Whether he'd stolen it from one veteran coachman or used 'Steal' every time a driver annoyed him, the act was reprehensible either way.

…The old Lloyd had harassed people even more widely than I’d imagined.

“Lloyd-sama?”

Alisha looked up at me.

There was no point dwelling on Lloyd’s crimes now. We needed to escape immediately.

“I think I can move the carriage. I’ll take the coachman’s place.”

Alisha’s eyes widened.

“Lloyd-sama, you can even drive a carriage?”

“Lloyd-sama, that’s amazing!”

Lilina, looking in from the driver’s seat, gazed at me with sparkling eyes.

Their straightforward respect made me uncomfortable.

“No. The reason I can do this isn’t exactly praiseworthy.”

The skill had been stolen from someone, after all.

“Hey! They’ve stopped!”

“Drag them out while we’ve got the chance!”

Hostile voices came from outside. Looking through the window, I saw rough men disembarking from the disabled carriages and running toward us.

"We have to move! Alisha, delay the pursuers! Lilina, sit beside me and use 'Presence Detection'. Tell me how to evade their attacks!"

I hurried to the driver's seat and gripped the reins. I'd never so much as held a carriage's reins before, much less driven one.

All I could do was trust the skill Lloyd had stolen.

“I’m counting on you… Ride!”

When I activated it, my hands tightened on the reins by themselves. I pulled hard, and the horse drawing the carriage responded as though understanding my will, charging forward.

“Controlling it so easily… As expected of Lloyd-sama.”

“I’m telling you, it isn’t praiseworthy.”

Even while saying that, I couldn't hide my astonishment at how freely 'Ride' let me control the carriage.

Just how skilled was the coachman from whom Lloyd had stolen this?

“W-wait, damn you!”

The men’s voices outside rapidly receded. After a short run, we could no longer hear them.

Lilina sat beside me, ears twitching, and pointed diagonally behind us to the right.

“Lloyd-sama! I hear a carriage from that direction!”

“They won’t let us escape easily.”

With that mutter, I urged our carriage onward and fled once more.

It seemed we wouldn’t be able to lower our guard for quite some time.