Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 129

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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129. A Rookie Adventurer Who Appeared Like a Comet (1)

The exploration team returned to the lobby once again looking like drowned rats that had fallen into the sewers.

They jumped into the hot spring fully clothed and completed an urgent wash.

While the exploration team changed clothes, Lavenda picked up the wet, foul-smelling garments with a gloomy expression.

‘The previous clothes still smell so we’ll have to throw them all away, but what if these clothes end up the same way?’

Trapped in the labyrinth, supplies were always scarce.

‘Even if I give my clothes and the Countess’s clothes to the exploration team members, if this continues we’ll run short of clothing.’

A helping hand reached out to the troubled Lavenda.

“Ah, Lavenda. If you need laundry detergent, you should have said so earlier. I’ll make more laundry detergent, dish soap, and extra soap for you. If you need anything else, please let me know.”

“Really, Count? You must be busy and tired from the exploration, so I wonder if I dare make such a request…”

“In a situation where we’re trapped in the labyrinth, the priority is for each person to do their best at what they can do. Making detergent is something only I can do, so you don’t need to decline. Serena probably prayed to God to meet me among so many people precisely to solve such problems.”

Even just the words were touching, but Ralph chimed in to help.

“I’ll help too! If you need manpower, please let me know anytime!”

Of course, if she believed only these words and asked for this and that, she’d become a tactless commoner.

Lavenda drew upon all her experience serving naked nobles and royalty to calculate the boundaries allowed to her.

‘Detergent and soap are okay to ask for, right? And if it’s work I can’t do alone, I can ask Sir Ralph for help.’

“This detergent is harsh, so use tools when handling it. You’ll need large tongs. I’ll make those too. And also.”

“Yes. Yes.”

Lavenda armed herself with the service industry smile she’d learned first when entering the massage business and listened attentively to Count Randy’s words.

“Mark.”

A voice that others might find pleasant to hear, but was utterly tiresome to Lavenda, interrupted.

Lavenda’s composure nearly cracked.

“If the detergent is that harsh, wouldn’t protective gloves also be necessary?”

“Ah, I forgot. Thank you for pointing that out, Lord Willow.”

“From what I can see, there aren’t enough laundry baskets or drying racks either. Since it’s difficult to travel back and forth to the herb garden, it would be good to have a cart that’s easy to use. I heard that cart over there belonged to the deceased, so people are reluctant to use it.”

“Indeed. I should have made a cart when making the baskets. With so many people, the laundry must be heavy too. I didn’t think of that.”

“While you’re at it, could you also make some ointment for rough skin?”

If skin gets rough, just apply a potion.

As Count Randy was about to respond with the mindset of an irreplaceable genius alchemist, Prince Willow quickly continued.

“Even if you tell them to use potions, they’ll just decline.”

“Hmm, I understand. Lord Willow, if you need anything, please let me know anytime.”

“Then may I ask for some tools? I tried making a chair as an experiment, but I was quite short on tools.”

“Now that we have plenty of wood and metal, it’s fine. I’ll make them for you.”

“Thank you.”

Prince Willow patted the Count’s shoulder while also winking at Lavenda.

Finally, Lavenda’s composure cracked.

Lavenda forced the most awkward smile of her life, then turned around and gritted her teeth.

‘Why does he keep interfering? He thinks I’m easy prey!’

Lavenda hurried off to the herb garden, intending to vent this frustration by beating the laundry.

Ralph and the Chicken Golem hurried after her.

Serena, who had heard this entire conversation while enjoying a maid’s touch drying her hair, raised one eyebrow.

‘That prince, could he possibly?’

She’d thought his constant meddling with Lavenda was just out of boredom, but maybe that wasn’t it?

‘No. There’s insufficient evidence to be certain. It could just be him trying to win people’s favor.’

Serena withheld judgment.

Hadn’t Prince Willow himself demonstrated that rushing to conclusions with insufficient information had a high probability of misjudgment?

Separately, she had planned to ask Lavenda for a massage once her hair was dry, but the masseuse had left.

‘I’ll have to ask when she returns.’

Serena postponed it for later.

Though soaking in the hot spring water had loosened her muscles slightly, she felt uneasy about leaving them unattended.

‘I’ll put the massage aside for later and handle other things first.’

Serena neatly arranged her dried hair and sat in the newly made chair in the lobby.

“Grey, Prince Willow. Come see me for a moment.”

The prince, who had been gazing wistfully in the direction Lavenda had gone, changed his expression and turned around at the sound of his name being called.

Grey was the same.

The smile disappeared from the child’s face, who had been trying to win favor by bringing fruit juice to the princess and maid drying her hair.

“Yes, Your Highness! What’s the matter?”

As if the smile had never left, Grey beamed with an innocent smile and scurried over to Serena.

“Heh, if you call, then naturally.”

Prince Willow also wasted his sweet voice while standing before Serena with a sickening smile.

In the royal palace, they would have started with weather talk, asked about each other’s circumstances, praised each other, then proceeded to indirect questioning, indirect criticism, and indirect complaints.

But this was the labyrinth. A battlefield where they needed to descend one more floor in the time it would take to speak indirectly.

Serena asked directly.

“How much does the Empire know about Duke Oren?”

At the solemn question from the Grand Princess of the Kingdom of Heuji, the two Empire lackeys lied without even wetting their lips.

“Duke Oren is a traitor, right? I was so scared hearing about what happened at the royal palace! I feel sorry for His Majesty the King!”

“I heard about the tragedy that occurred at the royal palace from Count Randy. Though I cannot dare imagine how frightened and devastated Your Highness Serena must feel, I will do my utmost to help.”

‘Look at those slick faces. They’re really good at lying.’

Serena had also thickened her skin somewhat from being caught up in the nobles’ political games at Heuji Royal Palace.

But perhaps because the Empire was larger in scale, or because the current emperor’s successor hadn’t been confirmed yet, it seemed to be even more of a den of demons than Heuji.

The shamelessness of Grey and the prince exceeded Serena’s imagination.

“I know the Empire investigated Duke Oren, so speak honestly.”

When Serena gave them another chance, the prince spoke shamelessly.

“Was that what you meant? Haha, though the mountain range blocks us, the Astrom Empire and the Kingdom of Heuji are neighboring countries. Investigating a royal who has a high possibility of becoming the ruler of a neighboring country is unavoidable, isn’t it?”

Grey chimed in agreement.

“Grandfather says that’s what diplomacy is! Really boring! Hahaha!”

The princess considered spitting in their smiling faces, but endured when she saw the guide behind the Empire lackeys holding a dagger with sparkling eyes.

“You know it’s not that kind of story, don’t you? Since you two don’t seem to realize it yet, let me explain my situation again. I’m currently trapped in the same labyrinth as the unfilial wretch who beheaded my grandfather and tried to kill me too. I hope you’ll answer obediently while I’m still asking nicely.”

The princess’s single eye sharply glared at the Empire’s prince and attendant.

Prince Willow looked down at his attendant with a troubled expression.

The attendant rolled his grey eyes, then nodded.

Prince Willow immediately opened his mouth as if he’d received permission to speak.

“How much do you know, Your Highness Serena?”

“You two are not in a position to say such things. I ask again. Tell me what you know about Duke Oren.”

The prince exchanged glances with his attendant once more.

As Prince Willow was about to give his report with a sigh, Grey stepped forward to stop the prince.

“I help grandfather with his work often, so I know better than His Highness Willow.”

“Speak.”

Grey boldly faced Serena sitting in her chair, then slightly adjusted his posture upon seeing her cold orange eyes.

The child looked up at the princess and began his report.

“First, it started when we received reports that a mysterious rookie adventurer was sweeping through the labyrinth.”

The labyrinth industry originally had many people with unclear pasts – criminals, fools dreaming of striking it rich, and drifters.

Therefore, they usually didn’t investigate an adventurer’s past unless the labyrinth adventurer caused major trouble.

But this newcomer was somewhat different.

Because he literally swept through the labyrinths.

Stratum bosses that had accumulated conquest failures, gained experience, and increased intelligence to the point where no one dared attempt to conquer them.

Labyrinths with such vicious traps that even experienced guides refused to enter.

Floors where monsters were so strong that they were waiting for skilled adventurers to gather.

Even labyrinths that everyone thought had been completely conquered because no one could find the stairs to the next floor, but turned out not to be.

This Mysterious Adventurer had conquered all the labyrinths known for their difficulty.

A mere commoner couldn’t possibly be this strong.

Questions arose about whether he was a warrior trained by some nation seeking labyrinth rewards, and just as the Empire was trying to approach the Mysterious Adventurer.

The Mysterious Adventurer entered an 8th-Level Dungeon that humanity had never conquered since labyrinths were first created.

And he successfully conquered it before a month had passed.

“We waited at the labyrinth entrance for the newcomer to emerge, but he never came out through the entrance. He probably escaped the labyrinth through some other method. We confirmed the labyrinth’s conquest belatedly and pursued the Mysterious Adventurer’s whereabouts, but we had no information except that he went west.”

This was an adventurer who had conquered an 8th-Level Dungeon. We had to find him and bring him into the Empire by any means.

If we couldn’t bring him in, we at least needed to obtain information about how he conquered the labyrinth.

The Imperial Intelligence lit fires in their eyes and scoured the continent searching for the vanished Mysterious Adventurer.

Then news of celebration from the nearby yet distant Kingdom of Heuji reached the Intelligence’s ears.

“It was news that the Crown Prince, who was thought dead in Heuji’s tragedy, had returned alive. It was good news, but we thought it had no connection to the Mysterious Labyrinth Adventurer. But that wasn’t the case.”

Platinum hair. One eye. Mysterious pupils. Swordsman.

That was all the information the Empire knew about the Mysterious Adventurer.

Platinum hair. One eye. Orange pupils that rarely appeared in the Heuji Royal Family. Huaim’s treasured sword that returned with the Crown Prince.

And that was also all the information about Heuji’s Crown Prince who had miraculously returned.

With so much overlapping information, the Intelligence had to establish an absurd hypothesis.

“The hypothesis that the Mysterious Adventurer who conquered the Empire’s labyrinths was Duke Oren, the Crown Prince of Heuji who returned alive.”

Grey shrugged his shoulders.

“The hypothesis was so preposterous that we didn’t dare send someone to Heuji to investigate. Then four years passed, and two years ago when Mark… Uncle was going to Heuji, I told him to look into it, but instead of investigating, he suddenly contacted us saying he got married. We were so shocked.”

When we sent another informant to investigate Duke Oren, an amazing fact was revealed.

The fact that the Duke’s whereabouts were completely blank from after Heuji’s tragedy until his return.

No one knew where or how the Duke, who went missing at a young age, had lived.

“We wanted to meet him openly rather than investigate from the shadows, but it was impossible because marriage talks were ongoing between Prince Willow and the Princess. Since Heuji is divided between the Crown Prince Faction and Duke Faction, it would create strange misunderstandings if the Empire approached both sides.”

Duke Oren seemed to be the Mysterious Adventurer, but we couldn’t approach him.

While we were anxiously waiting, an opportunity came for the Empire to send an envoy to Heuji.

The National Foundation Day commemorating a thousand years of founding was being held.

“Originally, direct imperial family members don’t leave the Empire, but this time it was unavoidable. Prince Willow was most suitable to visit Heuji since marriage talks were ongoing with the Princess. It was also appropriate to make excuses about wanting to meet someone who would become a relative of a survivor from Heuji’s tragedy, avoiding misunderstandings about interfering in another nation’s internal affairs.”

Grey let out a sigh.

“Though we never expected a labyrinth to be generated in Heuji City.”

Serena agreed with this statement.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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