Exploring Technology in a Wizard World
Chapter 455 - 454: Richard Being Protected

Chapter 455: Chapter 454: Richard Being Protected

"Snap!"

A hand stabilized itself against the inner wall of the carriage, and Harvey regained his balance, taking a moment to process Richard’s words, his expression slightly solemn, "Are we suspecting an ambush by a Thief Group? Then we really need to be careful..."

The next moment, Harvey seemed to remember something, looking at Richard, he valiantly said, "But you don’t need to be afraid, I will protect you—I have promised you before, and I’ll keep my word."

Richard smiled and said, "Well, thank you."

"It’s no trouble. Just wait and see my strength. I’ll easily slaughter all the thieves, leaving none alive, and show them what I’m capable of." Harvey said as he slowly drew his Iron Sword from its sheath and lifted the carriage’s curtain, looking out intently, scrutinizing the surroundings. Richard did the same on the other side.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."

Outside, the entire caravan was making its way through a forest at high speed. Soon, a withering tree appeared by the road, the one mentioned earlier by the Merchant Group Leader—It clearly hadn’t fallen naturally but seemed deliberately placed there; now, it had been moved to the roadside by the Mercenary Team.

The appearance of the withering tree indicated a high likelihood of an ambush set by the Thief Group, a quite common trick in that world. However, after quickly passing the withering tree, no thieves rushed out from the woodlands on both sides of the road, and after traveling several miles further, there were still no signs of trouble.

The caravan’s speed did not decrease, but everyone inevitably breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it had been a false alarm.

At the back of the caravan, in the four-wheeled carriage, Hade let the curtain fall and withdrew his gaze. He sheathed the Iron Sword bit by bit and turned to Richard, saying, "Strange, we didn’t see any Thief Group. Maybe they got scared off, realizing there were too many people in our merchant group and deciding not to rob us."

"Perhaps," Richard responded noncommittally.

...

The caravan continued, but just as they had covered a few hundred meters more, suddenly a rope stretched across the road appeared, pulled tight. The lead carriage had no time to react and crashed right into it.

With a "snap," the rope broke under the huge impact, but the horses stumbled, causing the carriage behind them to lose balance and overturn by the roadside.

Many shadows emerged from the woods, brandishing weapons and shouting toward the people of the caravan, "Stop, everyone stop! Anyone who disobeys will die!"

At this!

Everyone was startled!

Apparently, after multiple robberies, the Thief Group had completely figured out the mindset of passing merchant groups, knowing that overly obvious traps would be guarded against, so they hadn’t ambushed near the withering tree but a bit further down the road. The cautiously alert merchant group had just relaxed, making them easy to catch off guard.

Indeed, just as suspected. For the people in the merchant group, the appearance of the thieves was so unexpected that they froze, staring wide-eyed and bewildered.

Fortunately, the Mercenary Team hired by the Merchant Group were not pushovers. Despite charging a high price, they proved their worth at this moment. The captain of the Mercenary Team stood on the roof of a carriage amidst the caravan and shouted to the people, "Don’t stop, don’t stop! Charge, break through! Keep all the carriages moving, keep advancing forward; once we’re safe out here, obeying the thieves will only get us killed!"

Everyone shook off their shock, quickly speeding up the carriages.

Although the leading carriage had flipped onto its side, blocking only half of the road, the rest of the carriages charged past on the remaining half.

The thieves, seeing this, became desparate, fiercely shouting, "Don’t run, stop running, everyone stop, or you’ll regret it! You’ll definitely regret it!"

The caravan paid them no heed.

Seeing no alternative, the thieves hurriedly tried to pull up another rope across the road, hoping to block a few carriages.

"Drive, drive, drive!"

"Pull up the rope, block them!"

"Charge through!"

"Trip them!"

"Speed up!"

"Tighten it!"

"Tap, tap, tap!"

"Snap!"

Suddenly, everyone went crazy, their screams piercing the sky.

The result, under the command of the Mercenary Team leader, was that most of the carriages broke through the Thief Group’s encirclement, though a few unfortunate ones were left behind.

Regrettably, the four-wheeled carriage Richard was in was among those left behind.

There was really no helping it; Richard’s four-wheeled carriage was large and always at the back of the convoy. Usually, this wasn’t an issue, but in this type of life-threatening situation, it was extremely disadvantageous.

Several carriages ahead were overturned by ropes pulled taut, and it was only with desperate maneuvers that the coachman of the four-wheeled carriage managed to dodge them. Just when it seemed they would escape this calamity, two carriages ahead, in a bid to flee more swiftly, headed towards an already narrow path and collided, completely blocking the road.

Thus, the four-wheeled carriage was left behind.

The escaping carriages showed no signs of returning to help, moving farther and farther away until they were out of sight. The entire road was now left with only the abandoned carriages, the injured members of the Merchant Group in them, and numerous ferocious Thieves.

Inside the carriage, Richard maintained a basic calm, while Harvey clenched his teeth, hammered the wooden panel of the carriage, and cursed, "Damn it, the people from the Merchant Group are so heartless, just running off like that! If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have given them a single silver coin, maybe just a handful of copper coins."

Richard: "..."

Clearly emotional, Harvey was about to vent further when he saw Thieves approaching the carriages left on the road and started attacking the coachmen and other workers injured from the overturned carriages.

Perhaps because there were too few carriages left, the Thieves were furious and showed no intent of sparing anyone, killing everyone.

"Ah, ah, ah!"

Screams echoed continuously.

In the four-wheeled carriage, Harvey fell silent, his hand tight on his Iron Sword, eyes beginning to redden.

The next instant, as the footsteps of the Thieves neared, heading for their carriage, a scream indicated the coachman outside was killed, and Harvey’s eyes turned bloodshot in an instant.

"Hoo—"

Taking a deep breath and gripping the Iron Sword, Harvey said in a low voice to Richard, "I’m going to teach these Thieves a lesson soon! You just follow behind me, but keep your distance—if you’re too far, I can’t protect you, got it!"

"Uh."

Then, the Thief who killed the coachman tried to open the carriage door, making a "creak, creak" sound. Hearing this, Harvey, holding the Iron Sword, mercilessly stabbed through.

"Puff!"

The Longsword pierced through the wooden door of the carriage, entering the unfortunate Thief.

"Ah!"

A scream.

Harvey quickly withdrew the sword, and outside, with a "thud," the Thief’s body hit the ground.

"Bang!"

Harvey kicked open the broken carriage door and jumped down from the carriage, Richard following suit.

Jumping off, Richard turned around and saw the entire road in disarray, many of the overturned carriages broken apart, their goods spilled out everywhere.

Containers filled with Red Dye shattered on the ground, staining the area red like flowing lava. Bags filled with high-grade Salt Powder burst open, the salt crystals spread all over the ground like tiny icy paths. Boxes stuffed with duck feathers shattered, feathers floating in the air like heavy snowfall. Among these, there were also numerous glass mirrors, Ink Bottles, Papyrus Scrolls, dried fruits...

Among all this cargo, there were the bodies of coachmen and workers, without exception, all killed.

Now, of the entire Merchant Group, only Richard and Harvey were left. Seeing their comrade killed by Hade, the Thieves started to gather around, their gazes filled with immense danger.