The carriage moved slowly along the winding road, the creak of its axles intertwining with the rhythm of hooves striking the dirt.
Kadir sat in the driver's seat, his brow slightly furrowed, a trace of barely noticeable worry in his eyes. He was still concerned about Irina's condition. A whole night had passed, yet she still had not woken up.
"Hey! Can I catch a ride?" A shout from the road pulled Kadir from his thoughts. He saw that someone had appeared ahead of them without him noticing, and he hurriedly pulled on the reins, trying to bring the horse to a stop.
However, the carriage was moving quite fast. Though Kadir had pulled the reins as tightly as he could, the carriage was still going to hit the person standing in the middle of the road.
"Move!" Kadir shouted anxiously.
The person standing in the road was agile and nimble. He sprang aside and avoided it.
After inertia carried the carriage more than ten meters before it stopped, Kadir jumped down uneasily and went to check whether he had hurt anyone.
When Kadir saw the man slowly walking toward the carriage, he sighed in relief. It seemed the other party had not been injured.
As he drew closer, Kadir saw the man clearly—he was tall and muscular, with short, wavy red hair. He wore a red segmented sword guard and a red robe, with a knightly longsword at his waist and a roll-top backpack on his back. It was a common ranger's outfit.
"Hey, hey! Even if you didn't want to give me a ride, you didn't have to run me down!" the red-haired man shouted, his voice deep, full, and powerful.
Kadir scratched the back of his head and said apologetically, "Sorry, I didn't see you clearly. By