I Became the Savior of the Academy’s Villains

Chapter 109

It goes without saying, but modern cars and the auto-carriages of this world are different.

While both use engines to move their wheels, here, by using magic power, you can move the vehicle's body however you wish.

This makes driving them completely different from modern cars.

That's what led to the auto-carriage races.

Because you can perform outrageous maneuvers that violate the laws of physics, you can see all sorts of amazing scenes that would be impossible in the modern world.

But, of course, those outrageous maneuvers are also extremely difficult.

You have to fully understand the principles of the auto-carriage and be able to control each part at will.

"Huaaaaaaah!"

First, you whip the wheel into a drift to slow down as much as possible, then turn it again to reverse the car completely.

Naturally, the inertia flips the vehicle over backward.

But as it flips back, you eject magic power from the rear to launch the vehicle into the air.

You keep spinning midair to reduce the inertia, then land it back on the ground.

At this moment, you spin the wheels to eliminate whatever inertia is left.

In auto-carriage races, this is called the "Somersault Emergency Stop."

Of course, only a veteran racer with more than ten years of experience could pull this off.

Even among veterans, only a few can do this perfectly and exactly when they want.

Yet right now, the boy next to Luca was managing this with less than a month of driving experience.

"...?!"

Even Luca couldn't hide his astonishment.

Even being right next to him, he didn't properly understand what had just happened.

"Haa... haa... How was that...?"

Perhaps due to his excitement, Ottbo was breathing heavily but grinning brightly.

His smile was more than cool—it was downright sexy.

"... Impressive."

Impressive—no other words would do.

"Hehe... ugh."

At the compliment, Ottbo chuckled and gave a thumbs-up, then flopped his head onto the steering wheel.

It clearly took a lot out of him.

"M-Master, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry."

Bella asked worriedly, but Luca answered flatly and got out of the auto-carriage.

He looked at the cargo auto-carriage up ahead.

"Master, there were two auto-carriages. That one and one other."

"Tsk. I guess the one in front is buying time for the other."

Luca clicked his tongue and drew his sword.

As if they'd been waiting, two people emerged from the rear of the cargo carriage.

They had soot smeared on their clothes.

"Nobody's getting past here."

"Huh. Says who?"

Luca's eyes were fierce, but the two didn't budge.

"You two are from Potro village, right?"

"Did you fight Montana?"

"So what if I did?"

At their words, Luca curled his lips and coated his sword with magic power.

After a moment of silence, they spoke.

"Is Montana dead?"

"What if I killed him? Do you think you two can stop someone who killed that man?"

Luca smiled chillingly.

A threatening aura radiated from his body.

But the two just chuckled.

"No way."

"But we can buy some time."

"Tsk."

Luca clicked his tongue and pointed his sword at them.

"We don't have time to waste. Come at me."

"No. We're not moving."

"You'll have to come to us."

Doing whatever they could to delay things.

Luca curled his lips and gripped his sword with both hands.

"Master, be careful. I think they're up to something."

Bella stopped him then.

She had sensed, from their calmness, that they had something planned.

Of course, Luca knew that, too.

But he couldn't afford to waste any more time.

Luca immediately charged at Montana's henchmen.

They drew their swords and countered.

But the fight was over almost instantly.

Slash!

"Kuh!"

"Not much, after all."

In an instant, Montana's subordinates went down.

Luca nonchalantly wiped the blood from his sword.

"Keh keh keh. Of course. We're the weakest here."

One of Montana's henchmen let out a laugh and raised his head.

He pulled out what looked like a detonator.

"Come with us, handsome young master."

"!"

*Beep.*

*Boom! Crash!*

The moment he hit the detonator, the cargo auto-carriage exploded.

"Master!"

Bella started rushing forward in alarm, but halted when she saw the explosion's flames quickly die down.

–Cloud Barrier

"Tricks like this don't work anymore."

But right in front of the blast, Luca stayed calm.

After fighting with Miros, he had mastered the power of clouds to a certain extent—not perfectly, but enough for basic defense.

He couldn't freely use otherworldly techniques just yet, but defending like this was possible.

But Luca soon realized their goal hadn't been to kill him.

"Tsk. Maybe I should've blocked it all."

The exploding cargo carriage had wrecked the whole road.

The odd thing was, the road wasn't just blown up—it kept burning.

A quick sniff revealed that something flammable had been poured out.

'... No wonder there was soot on them. They must have poured something on the road.'

Luca wasn't sure why there was flammable material in the cargo carriage, but in that short time, they had dumped as much explosive as possible, then set it off to destroy as much of the road as they could.

"Luca! Are you okay?"

Just then, Ottbo recovered and stepped out.

Seeing the burning cargo carriage and the road behind, he gasped.

"Wha-what happened here?"

"The road's a mess. We have to keep moving, but this is trouble."

Watching Luca click his tongue, Ottbo tilted his head.

"Isn't it fine?"

"Can the current auto-carriage punch through that with its defenses?"

Luca looked at the burning road with a puzzled expression.

It didn't look like they could simply drive through with the auto-carriage.

"We can just go around."

"Around? With the auto-carriage?"

They had used the auto-carriage to drive through forest paths to get here before.

But that was only because Potro was a slash-and-burn village, with few trees in the forest and some paths cut through for transportation to Baron Max's estate.

But here, unless you took the road, the forest was way too dense to get through.

"No, we'll have to walk for this stretch."

"?"

Luca made a sour face as Ottbo stored the auto-carriage away in his bracelet.

"Like this."

"... Ah."

Ottbo's auto-carriage was foldable and could be put away.

"But... can we really catch up to them?"

At that, Bella looked worried.

Luca signaled Ottbo with his eyes.

"With a future racing champion like him? Of course we can."

"But the people ahead know we're chasing. And those two only stalled for a short time—they must realize it wouldn't have delayed us much. So they're probably moving way faster now, and with how much time this cost us, can we really catch up?"

"Hm..."

No matter how short the delay, the gap must be widening.

Besides, only Ottbo could drive on their side, so they'd need to rest at night, while the enemy likely had multiple drivers to keep going nonstop.

"Maybe instead of rushing after them, we should prepare thoroughly and attack instead."

"Thoroughly prepare..."

He was running low on life force, and couldn't even get proper help from Whistle.

Even just restoring his life force with Bern's help would give him a much better shot in battle.

But a few concerns nagged at him.

"I think, no matter how well we prepare, if Albino's main force arrives, we're doomed."

"Is that... true?"

"Montana was one of Albino's top officers. If someone stronger comes next time, we're in serious trouble."

Even if an officer stronger than Montana didn't come, someone from a larger force surely would.

"Montana lost because he fought alone. Next time, they'll bring a force that makes Baron Max's private troops look tiny."

"Oh, no..."

Bella looked worried.

She seemed like she wanted to say something.

'Should we abandon Potro and run, master?'

It was obvious that's where her thoughts were heading.

That was logical.

Dying just to save Potro would be a waste.

'But if I do that, I'll lose Bern Doyner's hint.'

Luca didn't want to miss Bern Doyner's hint.

And that wasn't the only reason.

'Since I'm already entangled with Albino, I can't just ignore them now. And if my theory about the hint's rules is correct, then surely...'

Luca finished putting his thoughts in order.

He couldn't just abandon Bern.

"I see only one way. Recover my life force in Potro as fast as possible, then infiltrate Albino's base, hit them hard, and escape. That way I'll draw Albino's attention to me instead."

"But Master, that's too dangerous."

"You think Albino can threaten the Traverse family?"

The truth was, Albino was a formidable organization, nothing to scoff at.

But, after fighting one of their key officers, and seeing their stalling tactics during the escape, Luca judged Albino was still at a manageable level for now.

At the timeline of the original story, even a duke's family wouldn't get involved.

But now?

Not yet.

They wouldn't dare go to war with the Traverse family just to target Luca.

Neither Albino nor the Empire wanted that.

"Albino still doesn't know about me. And the ones who've gone ahead are just looking for something in Potro—they don't know who I am. If it just gets out that I'm the ringleader, Potro will be safe."

"But Master, forgive me for saying so, but... I can't accept you risking your life for a mere village. My duty is to protect you, master. That's my responsibility."

This time, Bella was especially adamant.

She knew how dangerous Albino truly was.

It was true that the Traverse family wouldn't be crushed by such a group, but it was smart to avoid danger as much as possible.

"If Potro were unrelated to me, I'd agree."

"... What?"

Bella made a sour face.

Luca walked over and threw his arm over Ottbo's shoulder.

"Ottbo and I decided to form an organization. Our first members are Hav, Moula, and Bern Doyner."

"L-Luca?!"

Ottbo was startled by the sudden talk of an "organization"—but also didn't seem entirely against it.

"Organization... Oh, right! We agreed, Luca would form a group with himself as boss!"

He recalled what they'd discussed during their stay in the mining city, Bizen.

Luca replied calmly.

"Potro, by itself, isn't that valuable. But the people who care about it—Hav, Moula, and Bern Doyner—are very valuable."

"That may be true, but..."

Even Bella couldn't flat out say those people were useless.

Whatever one thinks of Hav, Moula's magic power beam cannon and Bern's alchemy were impressive even in her eyes.

"And besides, having my secret base out at the edge of the continent sounds entertaining, doesn't it? I don't want to miss this chance."

"... I understand, but still, master..."

She seemed a bit convinced, but was clearly still opposed.

Luca held up a finger.

"And one more thing. We have a way to turn this situation around."

"A way to turn it around?"

He pointed that finger at her.

"... Me?"

Bella made a sour face.

Luca smiled wryly at her.

"Bella. If it's you, you can turn this situation around."