Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 147

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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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147. 7th Street (2)

 

“Aaahhh!”

 

The guide screamed.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“What happened?”

 

Startled, Serena stepped back while Ralph rushed forward.

 

The guide showed the party her empty hands and bag with a tearful expression.

 

“All the clothes and accessories I collected are gone! Yo!”

 

“What? Is that even possible?”

 

“Ugh, this is ridiculous. Give me back my diamond necklace~”

 

Olive, who had turned around to go back with a tearful face, froze in place.

 

The guide, as if she hadn’t just been crying and whining, spoke with cold eyes.

 

“The stairs are here, yo?”

 

“We didn’t pass through a room with stairs. There are stairs here.”

 

Shocked by Olive’s words, the party turned around and stiffened.

 

They had clearly opened a door from the room with stairs, passed through the shopping district, opened another door, and entered a different room.

 

But inside the room, the door they had entered through was nowhere to be found, and only the stairs they had come down existed.

 

“It could be stairs leading to another location on the 23rd floor.”

 

Serena quickly pulled out her magic map to determine the party’s current location.

 

The map showed that the Princess and her party were right in front of the stairs they had descended from the 23rd floor.

 

Olive opened the door immediately after checking the map.

 

“Well, look at this?”

 

Olive crossed her arms and sneered at the scene outside the door.

 

Serena’s heart pounded roughly.

 

Outside the door, 7th Street that the party had just passed through was spread out exactly as before.

 

Only one thing was different.

 

Just the number on the sign next to the door.

 

6th Street.

 

Looking at the labyrinth’s 6th Street, completely different from the real 6th Street of District 7 in Heuji City, Serena furrowed her brow.

 

‘What is this? I feel like I’ve seen a similar situation before?’

 

It definitely wasn’t from her reincarnated life.

 

Then it must have been experienced in her previous life, but no matter how much she searched her mind, she couldn’t recall any experience that would cause this sense of déjà vu.

 

While Serena earnestly searched through her memories from 18 years ago, the party looked at the street with surprised eyes.

 

“Have we returned to our starting position?”

 

“The number on the sign has changed. It must have meaning…”

 

“Everyone pay attention! This time I’ll open the door without touching anything. Yo. Be careful not to touch the dolls either!”

 

The party carefully approached the wall that could only be seen up close, being cautious not to let their bodies touch the many crowds—no, the many wooden dolls, merchandise, or even the street trees.

 

“Opening the door. Yo. I’ll keep the door open, so Zero, don’t come in and just hold the door.”

 

The archer nodded at the guide’s instruction.

 

Olive opened the door.

 

The street visible through the open door was exactly the same as before.

 

The guide went out alone to check the sign.

 

“This time it’s 7th Street.”

 

From 6th to 7th. They had returned to the very beginning.

 

Olive closed the door with a serious expression and looked at the door that Ying was holding open.

 

“Going back. Yo.”

 

The party retraced their steps and looked at the number written on the sign.

 

7th Street.

 

When they opened the door, the room with stairs appeared.

 

The guide sighed and rubbed her face.

 

“Wow, what is this.”

 

Unable to think of anything despite her rich experience, Olive looked at the other labyrinth explorer.

 

“Zero. Do you know anything?”

 

Ying shook her head vigorously.

 

“You don’t know either. Princess and Count. Is this kind of thing possible with magic? Yo?”

 

“Illusion magic using barriers can deceive what we see. However, if that were the case, our position would change on the magic map. I don’t sense any magical power either.”

 

Since the party kept returning to the same place, it wasn’t a barrier or illusion magic.

 

Serena, who was more sensitive to magical power than the Count, closed her eyes and sensed the flow of magic.

 

It was easier than feeling the flow of air by wetting her finger with saliva, but there were no suspicious parts.

 

“It doesn’t seem to be magic.”

 

“It’s a gimmick caused by the labyrinth’s mystery. We need to look at the hints and find the way.”

 

The hint written on the bulletin board.

 

If abnormal phenomena occur, turn back.

 

Olive looked at the hint and spat fire from her mouth.

 

“If continuously returning to the same place isn’t an abnormal phenomenon, then what is! Even if we want to turn back, there’s no door!”

 

Just in case, they went up to the 23rd floor and came back down, but the 24th floor hadn’t changed at all.

 

The direction the compass pointed was the same.

 

The guide led the party through the shopping district and opened the door again.

 

A small room appeared, and when they opened the door in the room, the shopping district emerged.

 

The sign next to the door read 6th Street.

 

“Don’t touch anything this time either. Yo. Straight ahead.”

 

The party walked quickly through the shopping district and opened the door.

 

The same room with a bulletin board appeared, and when they opened the door, the shopping district emerged.

 

But this time something was different.

 

The sign read 5th Street!

 

“The number has changed!”

 

“7, 6, 5… The numbers are decreasing. Maybe these numbers need to keep decreasing? What do you think? Yo?”

 

Decreasing numbers. The same street. The strange phenomenon of constantly returning to the beginning.

 

‘Something feels vaguely familiar.’

 

Serena clicked her tongue and agreed with Olive’s opinion.

 

“Reducing the numbers seems right.”

 

“What is the criterion for the numbers decreasing?”

 

“How would I know. Yo. Maybe we touched something at first without realizing it. Let’s go without touching anything this time either. Yo.”

 

The party quickly went to the end of the road and opened the door.

 

Since we didn’t touch anything, the number must have decreased!

 

The guide, who opened the door with anticipation, looked at the number on the sign and despaired.

 

“Aaahhhhh! Why!”

 

7th Street.

 

Not 6th or 5th, but back to 7th again, Olive grabbed her head and fell to her knees on the ground.

 

“Why! Why! Why! We didn’t touch anything! What’s the reason! Tell me!”

 

All the party members were confused and surprised, but none compared to the guide.

 

Olive tore at her hair and raged like Serena looking at household accounts that couldn’t escape deficit no matter how much she saved and tightened her belt.

 

“Why is this happening!”

 

Then she exercised tremendous patience to suppress her anger and ground her teeth.

 

“Every labyrinth has rules and conditions. We just need to know them. There are rules. There must be. Pull yourself together, Olive. There’s an escape route too. We just need to find it calmly.”

 

Olive slapped her own cheeks with both hands and then stood up abruptly.

 

“Since we confirmed it’s okay to touch the dolls and objects, let’s thoroughly search the street this time. Yo.”

 

‘Unexpected.’

 

Serena was impressed seeing the guide who had regained her cool rationality.

 

‘I thought she’d ask if I received any hints from the Minotaur God.’

 

I never expected her to try figuring out the rules on her own.

 

‘She wasn’t a renowned labyrinth explorer for nothing.’

 

Though she was greedy, selfish, loved dirty jokes, was disrespectful to nobles and royalty, and even hid paths from the party to take easier routes, she was definitely an excellent guide.

 

As Serena was upgrading her evaluation of Olive, the guide who had been investigating near the door shouted.

 

“Princess! If the god gives you any hints, tell me right away!”

 

The Princess immediately readjusted her evaluation of the guide.

 

***

 

A shopping district targeting Heuji City’s nouveau riche as customers.

 

Olive, who was searching the jewelry shop not to collect precious metals but to find hidden paths or rooms, muttered to herself.

 

“Heuji really lives well.”

 

The knight searching the shop alongside the guide picked up her muttering.

 

“Is that so?”

 

“Yeah. Because all the shops here use large glass windows. In other countries, even the capital’s high-end shopping districts have many stores without glass.”

 

“If there’s no glass, you can’t see the products, right?”

 

“Usually they use bars so you can see inside. Glass is expensive and makes it easy to break and steal things. To think a jewelry store would let customers see products through glass. They can only do this because security is good and there are few thieves.”

 

“I see.”

 

The young knight who had never been abroad opened his mouth in wonder.

 

“Without the mountain range, the Empire would have ransacked this place immediately, right?”

 

“That’s not true! Heuji’s soldiers would have fought bravely to protect the country!”

 

Ralph denied it, but Serena agreed with Olive’s words.

 

Being isolated like an island on the continent thanks to the mountain range had brought many benefits.

 

They thoroughly searched the streets and accessible building interiors, but no hidden rooms or paths were visible.

 

The party returned to the stairwell room to rest while glaring at the innocent bulletin board.

 

“Abnormal phenomenon. Go back. Damn, what is this?”

 

Olive scrunched up her face and chewed bread thoughtfully.

 

“Sigh, I have no idea at all.”

 

Count Randy let out a deep sigh.

 

“If we keep going, won’t a path eventually appear?”

 

Ralph said they should just advance since he couldn’t figure out the rule for the decreasing numbers.

 

“….”

 

Ying said nothing. As always, she quietly maintained her bow and crossbow.

 

“Princess~ Did the god tell you anything?”

 

Unable to find the rules, Olive pleaded with Serena.

 

Serena raised her hand to catch hold of the déjà vu that kept seeming familiar yet elusive.

 

“Be quiet for a moment. There’s something I want to think about carefully.”

 

“Oh. I’ll be quiet.”

 

“Do you have a guess?”

 

“Count, shh! Be quiet!”

 

Olive covered her own mouth with both hands, then reached out one hand to cover Count Randy’s mouth.

 

Serena stared at the bulletin board with one eye while thinking.

 

‘Familiar text. Abnormal phenomenon. Decreasing numbers. Repeating streets. Go back.’

 

She was certain. Serena had seen something similar to this in her previous life.

 

But she couldn’t quite grasp it.

 

‘No. You can’t experience something like this living an ordinary life. In my previous life, all I did was work and play games…’

 

The Princess’s eyes widened.

 

She had recalled the source of the déjà vu that kept bothering Serena.

 

Serena snapped her fingers.

 

‘It’s a game!’

 

The so-called “Exit n” type. A game type similar to spot-the-difference.

 

First you explore a space that serves as the original, then continuously explore identical or slightly different spaces to find the changed parts.

 

When you discover a different part, you go back, and if there are no changed parts, you advance.

 

This was the general game rule.

 

Players could tell whether they got the answer right or wrong by the number of the newly arrived location.

 

The constantly repeating 7th Street and numbers that changed for unknown reasons or returned to 7.

 

Even the bulletin board’s hint to go back when abnormal phenomena appear.

 

‘It was a game!’

 

That’s why she felt déjà vu but couldn’t immediately recall it.

 

Since it was indirectly experienced through a game, it wasn’t an important or shocking memory.

 

“I got it!”

 

“Yay! I believed in you, Princess!”

 

“Did you figure out the rules?”

 

Serena hurriedly explained the rules she had guessed to her companions.

 

“It’s spot-the-difference.”

 

“Spot-the-difference, you say?”

 

“Right. 7th Street is the original. After memorizing the scene of 7th Street, we go to 6th Street and look for differences from 7th Street. If there are changes, we go back, and if there are no changes, we advance.”

 

“What about when we opened the door and went to 7th or 5th Street?”

 

“If you get the rules wrong, you restart from the very beginning at 7th Street.”

 

“Ah! Then 5th Street appeared because there were no changes on 6th Street!”

 

Count Randy quickly understood the rules and exclaimed.

 

“Exactly. And we got 7th Street again because there were changes on 5th Street that we failed to notice and advanced anyway.”

 

Olive wiggled her bottom as if excited.

 

“I think the Princess is right! Let’s quickly memorize 7th Street and go to 6th Street to find the abnormal phenomenon!”

 

The blocked path was cleared!

 

The guide turned around excitedly, then saw the messy 7th Street that the party had turned upside down and closed the door they had left open.

 

“If we open the door again~ Ta-da!”

 

When she opened and closed the door, the chaotically messy 7th Street returned to its neat original appearance.

 

“What are you doing? Hurry up and memorize it!”

 

Excited that they had found a breakthrough, Olive laughed cheerfully and ran out the door.

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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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