Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 146

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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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146. 7th Street (1)

 

“Everyone, please be careful on your way.”

 

“Lady Serena, dear. Safety comes first!”

 

“Grey. I entrust the lobby’s safety to you. Even if we’re late, never act rashly and stay in the lobby.”

 

“Understood.”

 

Despite having a prince who was merely cursed but had all his limbs intact and could use sword and magic, no one found it strange that the princess entrusted the lobby’s safety to young Grey instead of the prince.

 

Lavenda trusted Princess Serena’s judgment, and Philia didn’t think much of it.

 

Serena caressed the ugly statue and moved to the teleportation room.

 

When she selected the 23rd floor, the party was teleported to the 23rd floor faster than the blink of an eye.

 

“No big boss maw here.”

 

If monsters had been blocking the path this time too, they wouldn’t have been able to avoid battle with the 6th floor’s formidable enemy.

 

Fortunately, no Treasure Box Abyss was visible.

 

The party slowly stepped down the stairs to the 24th floor.

 

“I’m curious what kind of place the 7th floor will be.”

 

“If it’s dirtier than the 6th floor, let’s go back immediately.”

 

The guide’s words weren’t a joke.

 

The archer and guide’s pendants had run out of mana, so their purification effects had disappeared.

 

If the 7th floor was also as filthy an environment as the 6th floor, they would need to craft new magical tools.

 

After descending all the stairs, they found a small stone chamber and a door.

 

Next to the door was a bulletin board with several sheets of paper attached.

 

“Oh, it’s a hint. Sometimes they give labyrinth strategy hints like this.”

 

The labyrinth was a merciless place that proved you must die if you don’t know.

 

However, just as Grey was decoding passwords, there could be hints scattered throughout that revealed easy strategies or hidden treasure chest locations.

 

The guide’s face hardened slightly after seeing the hint.

 

“What’s wrong, Miss Olive? Isn’t it good when hints appear?”

 

“Well~ In my experience, when they give hints this openly, it’s one of two things.”

 

Olive raised her index finger.

 

“One is when it’s damn difficult to clear even with hints. The other is.”

 

“What’s the other one?”

 

“When there’s an easier strategy, but they deliberately give misleading hints to interfere with quick and convenient clearing.”

 

Which of the two would the hint for Heuji’s Labyrinth 7th floor be?

 

Olive warned the party before reading the hint.

 

“Oh, right. Never read aloud any text you can read in the labyrinth. It could be words that curse you, summon monsters, or trigger traps. Everyone read silently! Promise! Silently!”

 

Serena took the valuable advice to heart and read the hint posted on the bulletin board.

 

‘If abnormal phenomena appear, turn back?’

 

The princess narrowed her eyes.

 

‘What does that mean?’

 

“Princess, do you feel any mana?”

 

“No. I don’t feel any.”

 

“Then it’s probably not a spell or curse. What does this mean? Abnormal phenomena?”

 

While all the party members were puzzled, Serena tilted her head for a different reason than the party.

 

‘What is this? I feel like I’ve heard it before?’

 

It was the first sentence she’d heard since reincarnating, yet it felt strangely familiar.

 

‘But I’ve never had occasion to hear such words in my life.’

 

When would a princess who grew up sheltered in the royal palace encounter such an unidentifiable sentence?

 

‘Did I hear it in my past life? My memory is hazy.’

 

While the princess searched through her hazy memories of her past life, the party members discussed the sentence’s content.

 

“I don’t know what abnormal phenomena means.”

 

“Literally abnormal phenomena, wouldn’t it be?”

 

“In a labyrinth, what’s not abnormal is abnormal, right?”

 

In a strange labyrinth, strange things are natural, and what’s not strange is strange.

 

Serena stopped the discussion before the party became confused about ‘abnormal.’

 

“Enough. The information is insufficient from just the notice, so let’s open the door and go out.”

 

“Wait a moment. Let me check something.”

 

The guide took out the labyrinth compass she had obtained as a reward on the 6th floor.

 

Since the stairs were right behind the party, the compass pointed toward other distant stairs.

 

“The direction is straight ahead. Then I’ll open the door.”

 

The guide checked for traps and carefully opened the door.

 

Olive’s round eyes widened when she opened the door and saw the 24th floor.

 

Olive unconsciously covered her mouth to prevent a loud sound from escaping and opened the door wide so the party could see the 24th floor.

 

Serena, who saw the 24th floor, also understood why the guide who had experienced everything in the labyrinth was surprised.

 

What Serena and the party witnessed on the 24th floor when they opened the door was.

 

‘Hujihen?’

 

It was the capital of the Kingdom of Heuji that had been swallowed by the labyrinth. More precisely, part of the city.

 

With a main road wide enough for carriages to pass through the center, sidewalks, street trees, and shop buildings lined up on both sides.

 

The sky was blue and the temperature was cool.

 

The street trees and plants in the flower beds were vivid, and not only the shop buildings, roads, and sidewalk stones, but even the carriages on the main road were clean as new.

 

Next to the door was a large sign that read “7th Street.”

 

It seemed like some shopping street from Hujihen had been moved here intact.

 

The party swallowed hard.

 

They wouldn’t have been this surprised if it was just the street that had been moved.

 

On the 24th floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth 7th floor, there were also citizens, an essential component of cities.

 

“Are those all dolls?”

 

Ralph pointed to the nearest citizen with a trembling voice.

 

The citizens of the 7th floor were none other than wooden dolls.

 

Human-sized wooden dolls dressed like humans, even equipped with shoes and hats, filled the streets in place of people.

 

Dolls walking the streets, dolls selling goods in shops, dolls browsing merchandise displayed on stalls.

 

Coachman dolls pulling carriages, passenger dolls riding in carriages, dolls walking dogs.

 

It wasn’t just the citizens that were dolls.

 

As if one shopping street from Hujihen had been photographed and recreated, wooden dolls had taken the place of all living beings.

 

The party instinctively felt disgust and fear at the sight of the city that looked as clean as if just built and the scene where inanimate objects seemed to have stolen the places of living beings.

 

“What on earth is this….”

 

“This clearly looks like abnormal phenomena. How about we go back?”

 

“Hmph. I was a bit surprised, but this much is nothing in a labyrinth.”

 

Unlike Serena, Count Randy, and Ralph, who were startled and lost some mental strength, Olive pouted her lips and walked forward.

 

“The stairs direction is still straight ahead. We can just follow the road.”

 

Thanks to the guide’s calm actions, the other party members escaped their anxious state.

 

Olive, who had been looking at the long straight road, moved toward a nearby doll.

 

“If we just strip off all the clothes these guys are wearing, we wouldn’t have to worry about clothes, right?”

 

Olive carefully observed the guard doll closest to the door.

 

“Knight. This is really a Security Force uniform, right?”

 

“Yes, yes! That’s right! I think it’s correct!”

 

Ralph’s complexion grew darker as he examined the guard doll’s equipment at Olive’s request.

 

“Co, could it be that people turned into dolls!”

 

“That’s too much of a leap. There’s no such magic or curse.”

 

“But curses that turn people to stone really exist! Haha!”

 

While Ralph was being scolded by the count that adventure stories differ from reality, the princess secretly sighed in relief.

 

‘I’m glad people didn’t turn into dolls.’

 

It’s such a common trope that she briefly considered the possibility.

 

“Hmm.”

 

Olive carefully touched the guard doll.

 

Serena’s heart raced with worry that the doll might move, but she watched without showing it.

 

Fortunately, the doll didn’t move.

 

Even when Olive took the spear the doll was holding, removed its helmet, changed its posture, or scribbled on its plain face that had no features, it didn’t move.

 

“I thought it would attack if I touched it, but it’s just staying still? Then I guess I can really strip its clothes off? Right?”

 

The guide’s olive-green eyes were tinted with greed.

 

Olive quickly surveyed the goods inside the shops.

 

“Let’s see. Accessory shop, clothing store, hat shop, shoe store. Lots of stuff to loot.”

 

“Olive. Don’t carelessly touch the merchandise. If something happens.”

 

Usually in situations like this, touching dolls or objects was taboo.

 

The guide shrugged her shoulders.

 

“But to get through here, we’ll inevitably have to touch the dolls anyway. Right. We’ll end up touching things anyway, so it’s better to find out what happens in advance. Right.”

 

The exit route was conveniently close.

 

Confident she could escape even if surrounded by wooden dolls, Olive shouted to the party.

 

“Everyone stay right there and don’t move, and if I run, run immediately!”

 

Novice labyrinth explorers become blinded by greed and neglect the safety of their companions and themselves.

 

But who was Olive?

 

She was a skilled labyrinth explorer with the impressive nickname “Winds of the Wilderness.”

 

Instead of heading straight to the shops, Olive darted between the dolls.

 

Even after moving a certain distance, the dolls didn’t move.

 

The same was true when she climbed onto a carriage standing in the street.

 

“Hmm.”

 

The guide punched the doll’s plain face with her fist.

 

Still, the doll didn’t move.

 

Even when she slashed the doll with her dagger, it remained still.

 

Breaking its fingers didn’t make a difference either.

 

“Oh, this doesn’t work either?”

 

Olive dusted off her hands and entered an easily accessible shop. It was a clothing store.

 

The guide picked up the nearest piece of clothing and waved it at the doll that appeared to be the shop owner.

 

“I’m taking this!”

 

The shop owner doll ignored the thief brazenly taking merchandise.

 

Olive frowned and gathered more clothes.

 

Even when the guide’s small feet crossed the shop’s threshold, the doll remained motionless.

 

“I thought this would make it move?”

 

It was docile when attacked, and docile even when she committed the taboo of unauthorized property transfer in such situations.

 

This was unexpected even for the experienced guide, leaving her flustered.

 

When Olive returned to the group with an armful of clothes, the party members sighed in relief. Except for Ying.

 

“I thought it would move if I hit it or stole things, but it just stays still? Right?”

 

“It’s scarier that it doesn’t move.”

 

“I agree, Sir Ralph.”

 

“Hmm. Among the doll-type monsters in labyrinths that my master told me about, there are monsters that only move when people aren’t watching. How about we test it?”

 

The group all closed their eyes and then opened them.

 

The dolls were still stuck in their places.

 

“That’s not it either.”

 

“Hmm. I really don’t know. Should we just go ahead? Right? The stairs should be along this path.”

 

The party except Olive had been waiting by the door the whole time.

 

The group cautiously moved forward.

 

Except for the dolls dressed like people and standing still, it really felt like walking through the shopping district of Huchien District 7.

 

Ralph seemed to have the same thought as he kept looking around.

 

He appeared to be searching for familiar buildings or shops.

 

“Princess, what do you think?”

 

“What are you curious about?”

 

Olive pointed to the street.

 

“This street here. Is it exactly like the real street? Right? Zero and I don’t know Huchien well~”

 

Huchien District 7.

 

New wealthy class and young people with some financial leeway but insufficient pocket money.

 

There were shops and restaurants selling reasonably priced goods (from the princess’s perspective) targeting them.

 

Unlike the traditional and historic shopping districts of Districts 2 and 3, it was also sensitive to trends.

 

Thanks to this, Serena occasionally visited District 7, and that’s how she discovered Lavenda’s massage parlor.

 

“I’m not sure. I always traveled by carriage.”

 

When your position changes, the scenery you see changes too.

 

Moreover, the wooden dolls were so out of place that they disrupted the scenery, making the street feel unfamiliar.

 

“What about you, Count? You’ve been in Huchien for several years. Right?”

 

“I don’t know either since I only go between home, the royal palace, and the library.”

 

Since his wife Philia was Serena’s constant companion, Count Randy’s range of activities was also narrow.

 

“Hmm. What about you, Sir Knight? You said you worked as a guard for two weeks.”

 

Ralph scratched his head under his helmet.

 

“I did memorize the patrol routes. But I learned them too hastily and had no rest time…”

 

During the National Foundation Day period lasting over a month, all the guards in Huchien were on the verge of collapse from exhaustion, unable to take shifts while protecting the capital.

 

There were no guards willing to kindly teach geography to Ralph, who had to stand guard in place of his despicable colleague.

 

Everyone wanted to be kind and wonderful seniors, but they lacked the energy.

 

“But I did learn how not to leave the patrol area! They said if the main road is green, it’s District 7!”

 

The floor the group was walking on happened to be green.

 

“Then this is really District 7, 7th Street? Would Miss Potpourri’s shop be here too? Right?”

 

“Miss Lavenda’s shop is on 6th Street. If you follow the road and turn left, you should see it.”

 

But the path to 6th Street was blocked by a massive wall.

 

As if reminding them this was a labyrinth, the paths to other districts were also blocked by massive walls.

 

“Shouldn’t we be able to see walls like this from far away? I definitely saw beyond the wall.”

 

“It must be a wall that appears when you get close.”

 

The wall leading to 6th Street was completely blocked, while the wall blocking the straight path had a door.

 

“Don’t tell me this is the end?”

 

“Too short.”

 

This was definitely a labyrinth, but having a door appear without any traps or monsters was very unsettling.

 

“No monsters and lots of stuff to take, I like it though. Right?”

 

Olive, who had thoroughly ransacked the accessory shop, grinned while enjoying the weight of her bag stuffed with precious metals.

 

“Let’s go through the door for now. Right. We need to find the stairs.”

 

The group, except for the guide, anxiously but inevitably opened the door.

 

‘It’s the only way, so we have to go.’

 

Opening the door and entering, they found a small room with a bulletin board and door, just like when they first arrived on the 24th floor.

 

The text on the bulletin board was identical.

 

‘If abnormal phenomena occur, please turn back.’

 

Serena, feeling déjà vu, was frantically searching her memory when Olive suddenly screamed.

 

“Aaaah!”

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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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