Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 148

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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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148. 7th Street (3)

 

Learning the rules of the 7th floor was good, but a new problem arose.

 

The 24th floor had recreated what looked like a perfect replica of Hujichen’s shopping district.

 

It wasn’t even the usual shopping district, but the shopping district during festival season.

 

The streets were lined with wooden dolls replacing people, and various flags and decorations fluttered in the sky despite there being no wind.

 

The shops welcoming the busy season had their stalls packed with goods, and the buildings were covered with all sorts of decorations.

 

Many people and many things.

 

In short.

 

‘There’s too much to memorize!’

 

The game was designed for one person to play, so the space was small and there weren’t many things to memorize.

 

But the 24th floor was vast and there was far too much to memorize.

 

‘Besides, this isn’t a game.’

 

Unlike games designed with strategy guides in mind, the labyrinth’s purpose is to make adventurers get lost.

 

‘Games arrange anomalies to be easily noticed. But here, it might be difficult to tell.’

 

In the worst-case scenario, they could change the number of pearls on a pearl necklace and insist something had changed.

 

‘Surely it wouldn’t be that extreme. If it is, I’ll complain to the gods.’

 

Anyway, since there was too much to memorize, the Princess divided it into sections.

 

“Let’s divide into zones and memorize them.”

 

“Me! I want to memorize the jewelry stores!”

 

“The jewelry stores are scattered sparsely, aren’t they? Count Randy, I know you’re confident in your memory.”

 

“Yes, please leave it to me.”

 

“Then Count Randy, please take charge of this densely packed shop area.”

 

Count Randy, with his good memory, was assigned the densely packed shop area with many small items.

 

“Olive, do you have any other areas of interest?”

 

“Hmm~ Jewelry or people?”

 

“Then you memorize this area with many dolls.”

 

Olive, being a thief who could carefully observe people’s clothing, was assigned the area crowded with people.

 

“Sir Ralph, do you have any areas of interest?”

 

“I’m not sure, but I’ll do my best!”

 

Since Ralph and Ying, including Serena, had no particular specialties, they decided to divide the remaining areas by size.

 

The party did their best to take in the scenery of 7th Street.

 

A considerable amount of time seemed to pass.

 

The Princess pretended to seriously memorize the street on the outside while inwardly groaning.

 

‘I have bad memory! I’m not smart! I hate mental labor!’

 

She hated working most in the world, and thinking was the second thing she hated, so why did she keep having to work and think?

 

Still, she couldn’t become a burden, so Serena gritted her teeth and glared at the street.

 

How long would they have to keep this street in their heads?

 

There are people in the world with excellent memory who can remember what they see like taking photographs, so why was her memory so bad?

 

Just as the Princess’s concentration was not just wavering but about to scatter like dust in the wind.

 

“Aaaah! I can’t memorize anymore!”

 

The guide was the first to raise the white flag.

 

“I’ve really looked until I’m sick of it! Let’s stop and proceed! Hey!”

 

Those were welcome words to hear.

 

Serena quickly put on a dignified expression and nodded.

 

“Right. Since our retreat isn’t blocked, let’s proceed for now.”

 

The others hadn’t said anything, but they seemed equally tired of it, turning their heads with bright faces.

 

“…Going.”

 

Even the serious archer, who seemed quite bored, walked ahead.

 

The party headed to 6th Street like that.

 

As soon as Serena reached 6th Street, she scanned the area she was responsible for.

 

‘This is bad.’

 

Cold sweat ran down the Princess’s back.

 

‘It all looks the same? I can’t tell anything apart.’

 

Even if something had changed, it all looked the same to Serena’s eyes, to the point where she wouldn’t notice.

 

It was possible that nothing had really changed, but if something had, it would be a disaster.

 

The Princess was pressing her eyes and trying to observe earnestly when.

 

“Found it!”

 

Count Randy loudly called the party together.

 

“Lady Serena! I found an anomaly!”

 

The alchemist pointed to a shop sign in his assigned area.

 

Since it was a hat shop, there was a drawing of a wooden doll wearing a pretty hat.

 

“That picture! Originally it had a person drawn, not a doll!”

 

“Really?”

 

“I’m certain!”

 

“If there’s a change like this, we should go back, right?”

 

“Yeah. That’s what was written on the bulletin board. Hey.”

 

The party exchanged glances and retraced their steps.

 

They opened the door and entered the room.

 

Before opening the door again, they took a deep breath and went outside.

 

5th Street.

 

The sign read 5th Street.

 

The party cheered without anyone taking the lead.

 

“Yes! Count, you’re a genius!”

 

“Count, you’re amazing!”

 

“Count Randy. Well done.”

 

“I’m embarrassed to be praised for something like this.”

 

“Now I know how to do it! Let’s keep going!”

 

Encouraged by the guide’s spirited cheer, the party scattered to their assigned areas.

 

Not long after, Olive’s cheerful voice was heard.

 

“Found it! Hey!”

 

Serena quickly went to where the guide was.

 

Olive pointed triumphantly at passenger dolls in a carriage.

 

“Here in the carriage, originally there was a family of two children and two adults, but it changed to just two adults, and their clothes changed from outing clothes to gloomy black clothes! Hey! It looks just like mourning clothes… it is mourning clothes, isn’t it?”

 

Olive, who had been excitedly explaining the anomaly she discovered, frowned.

 

“This makes it look like the two children died and they’re returning from the funeral. How unlucky.”

 

Anyway, it was true that she had discovered an anomaly.

 

The party retraced their steps again.

 

The number written on the sign was 4.

 

Serena and the assault team had reached 4th Street on the 24th floor of the 7th circle of Heuji’s Labyrinth for the first time.

 

“Hehe. As expected, once you figure out the rules, it becomes manageable.”

 

Olive was right.

 

“Found it! Here, there’s a skull entangled in tree roots!”

 

“Discovery. Blood-soaked cloth is hanging instead of a flag.”

 

“Found it. The rings are fitted on real severed fingers.”

 

The party reached 1st Street with unstoppable momentum.

 

Olive kept her mouth shut and only hummed, trying not to say the forbidden phrases like ‘it’s nothing much’ or ‘it’s easy’.

 

“If it’s 1st Street, is this the end?”

 

“Who knows. There might be 0th Street, so don’t let your guard down.”

 

This was either the last one or there was one more left.

 

The party carefully observed 1st Street.

 

Serena, who had never discovered any anomalies, paid even more attention as she examined her assigned area.

 

‘I’ve made it to 1st Street. I need to do well.’

 

But no matter how much she looked around, she couldn’t find any changed parts.

 

Hoping for a hint, she secretly lifted her eyepatch and opened her left eye, but it was the same.

 

It wasn’t just Serena; the others also failed to discover any anomalies.

 

Count Randy’s brow furrowed, and Olive walked around actually touching the dolls.

 

Ralph kept tilting his head and tapping his own head, while Ying closed her eyes and earnestly compared the street in her memory with the street before her eyes.

 

About 30 minutes seemed to pass by feel.

 

Count Randy approached Serena while maintaining his furrowed brow.

 

“Lady Serena. I’ve looked around my assigned area and other areas as well, but I can’t tell if there are any anomalies.”

 

“Me too, me too!”

 

“I’m not sure either.”

 

“Maybe there are no anomalies? Right? Didn’t they say we should move forward in that case?”

 

Serena nodded at Olive’s words.

 

“Just in case, let’s look one more time.”

 

“No. We’re going now.”

 

The archer stopped the Princess who was trying to proceed cautiously.

 

“Hey, Zero! What if we just go and we’re wrong!”

 

“Time limit.”

 

“What?”

 

Ying suddenly looked up at the sky, so the party all raised their heads in unison.

 

Like the sun setting and evening coming, the blue sky gradually darkened and reddened.

 

The speed of the color change was fast, so it seemed like it would quickly become dark and night would fall.

 

“Time limit.”

 

“That’s not the anomaly, is it?”

 

At Olive’s words, Ying firmly shook her head.

 

“Time limit.”

 

At this rate, the veil of night would soon descend.

 

Indeed, the street was gradually getting darker.

 

If night came, what would happen?

 

“Enduring until night.”

 

Olive looked at the wooden dolls filling the street and raised one corner of her mouth.

 

“Would be stupid. Right.”

 

“We should hurry and move before night comes, Lady Serena.”

 

“Forward or backward?”

 

The Young Knight’s eyes shook anxiously, craving an answer.

 

Move forward assuming no anomalies?

 

Or consider there were anomalies we failed to detect and retreat?

 

The Princess also couldn’t make a decision and trembled her single orange eye slightly.

 

The Guide pointed ahead into the deepening darkness.

 

“I don’t know! If we can’t find it after searching this much, there probably isn’t any! Right! Let’s go forward!”

 

The group hurriedly opened the door and entered the room before night fell.

 

The Guide opened the door and shouted.

 

“Come out, 0th Street!”

 

7th Street written on the sign greeted the party.

 

“Ah why! What changed!”

 

Olive knelt in despair before the sign as if it were her family’s tombstone.

 

They had finally moved to 1st Street, but now they were back at the beginning.

 

The group’s disappointed voices pierced Serena’s heart like daggers.

 

‘Damn it.’

 

All the other party members had found anomalies at least once.

 

Count Randy had discovered two.

 

But Serena hadn’t found a single one.

 

What if the anomaly on 1st Street had been in her assigned area?

 

‘Ugh. We’re starting over because of me.’

 

No one blamed Serena, but was that really the case?

 

Weren’t they secretly cursing that the Princess was too stupid to notice what had changed?

 

Her mind worked well only for bad things, and her suspicious nature was ignited.

 

‘No! Positive mindset!’

 

Serena regulated her breathing and stood up straight.

 

“Since we’re back at the beginning, let’s memorize everything well again. If anyone has spare capacity, memorize other areas too.”

 

“7th Street seems to have no time limit even if we stay long, so don’t be hasty and memorize carefully.”

 

“Ugh, this is boring. Right.”

 

Olive glared at the wooden dolls with a sullen expression.

 

“Wasn’t the sky darkening the anomaly after all?”

 

“No.”

 

“How does Zero know?”

 

“I felt killing intent from that darkness.”

 

If the faithful servant of darkness said so, then it must be so.

 

Olive seemed to trust the experienced archer’s intuition and said no more.

 

Instead, she snapped her fingers.

 

“The 7th Floor monsters look like dolls. How about we just smash all the dolls and wait for night? What do you think? Right?”

 

“Honestly, I think the broken dolls would instantly become intact and attack.”

 

“Knight’s answer is correct~”

 

The Guide grumbled while diligently memorizing 7th Street.

 

As for what Serena did.

 

“Count Randy. If you have spare capacity, would you also look at my area?”

 

Not trusting her own head, she requested help from the owner of a reliable brain.

 

“Actually, I’m not confident in what I’ve memorized either.”

 

“The Count would be better than me.”

 

“Lady Serena is truly wise and possesses outstanding intelligence, so how can you think such things?”

 

Serena looked at her retainer with a sour expression.

 

Wise and outstanding intelligence?

 

She didn’t know what nonsense he was spouting to someone who hated studying second most in the world.

 

‘Even flattery should be done at the right time and place.’

 

The Princess envied Count Randy’s truly outstanding intelligence and glared at the Count.

 

The alchemist noticed his lord’s discomfort and quickly added.

 

“Of course, I’m not saying I won’t memorize it. I’ll do my best to memorize the area Lady Serena is in charge of as well.”

 

Thus, the conquest of the 24th Floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth began again.

 

This time too, Serena failed to discover any anomalies, but thanks to Count Randy’s brilliant performance—who literally did his best—the group passed 5th, 4th, and 3rd Streets and arrived at 1st Street.

 

“Found it! Those guys were holding hands on a date, but now one of them is killing the other! Right!”

 

The anomaly on 1st Street was easy enough for even Serena to spot immediately.

 

The party prayed this would be the last time as they turned back and opened the door.

 

The room’s structure was the same as usual.

 

However, one thing. The text written on the bulletin board was different.

 

‘If there are no anomalies, turn back.’

 

At the same time, a notification appeared in the world seen through Serena’s left eye.

 

[You have discovered the stairs to the next floor. Shop 1 coins will be awarded.]

 

“It seems we’ve conquered the 24th Floor.”

 

“Really? Really? Awesome!”

 

She had been uncertain since only the bulletin board text had changed, but if the Minotaur God’s apostle said so, it must be certain!

 

How exciting!

 

Olive raised both arms and cheered.

 

Ralph also joined in cheering.

 

The Young Knight had also been dying inside – physical pain was bearable, but mental anguish was unbearable.

 

“It’s good that we cleared it, but thinking we have to do the same thing on the 25th Floor makes me sad. The 24th Floor is.”

 

The Guide glared at the detestable 7th Street.

 

“Don’t tell me we have to repeat this every time we pass through the 24th Floor?”

 

If that were the case, how terrible would that be.

 

Olive muttered in a dispirited voice.

 

“I really can’t believe it either. I miss the Sewers.”

 

“I believe it. I miss the 6th Floor too.”

 

How easy the 6th Floor had been to clear – you just had to endure some suffering to your nose and body!

 

“No, seriously! No magic stones, no Treasure Chests! My head hurts like hell! What kind of damn floor is this?”

 

The Guide, who had been venting his anger while opening the Door leading to the 25th Floor, froze.

 

All the Party Members who saw the 25th Floor through the open Door also froze like stone.

 

“Th-th-th-this!”

 

“This can’t be!”

 

The 25th Floor of 7th Layer of Heuji’s Labyrinth was what could be called the center of Huchien District 7.

 

“It’s the Town Square! It’s damn huge!”

 

They had brought the Town Square as is.

 

“There’s even a festival going on!”

 

Because there was a festival happening, with food stalls, theater troupes, and damn crowds of people, the difficulty had increased dozens of times.

—————
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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