Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 170

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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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170. The Prince’s Request (4)

It might be an excessive assumption, but Serena asked Low just in case.

“You. Did you perhaps infiltrate the Royal Palace?”

“Ahaha, Princess, really. You think this guy is crazy enough to infiltrate the Royal Palace? Yo?”

“Kugh. H-h-how did you know?”

“This crazy bastard.”

Olive, who had been defending Low saying he was a former lover despite not remembering his name or face, turned serious and distanced herself.

“Did you go crazy after I dumped you? It’s the death penalty, death penalty! This won’t end with just a flick to the forehead!”

Low couldn’t even think of making excuses at the unexpected question and immediately knelt down and pressed his forehead to the ground.

“Please kill me painlessly if you’re going to do it!”

As he bowed his head, Low’s hood slipped forward, revealing his shiny bald head.

The hood that fell off and the exposed bald head stimulated Serena’s sense of humor. The Princess had to endure not to laugh.

The Princess didn’t react immediately and remained quiet.

Ralph fell into confusion, not knowing how to punish a foreigner who dared infiltrate the Royal Palace, and Count Randy suspected Low might be a spy from another country.

Then Ying stepped forward.

“More trustworthy than Olive.”

“Hey, Zero! How can you compare me to a death row inmate?”

Olive’s eyes, which had been wildly flailing, became sharp. Olive sent a sinister smile to Ying and Low.

“Don’t tell me Zero, you like this guy.”

Ying firmly cut off the Guide’s words in the middle.

“I hate bald guys.”

“I told you it’s shaved!”

“Everyone be quiet! What’s this commotion when Lady Serena is interrogating a criminal!”

Serena, who barely held back her laughter and maintained a solemn and dignified princess expression, decided to hear the criminal’s excuse.

“If you have an excuse, let’s hear it. Why did you infiltrate Heuji Royal Palace? Don’t tell me you’re a spy who infiltrated under orders from another country?”

“No! Actually…”

Perhaps thinking there was no point in hiding since he had already admitted to the crime, Low confessed honestly.

“It was because of the Crimson Key.”

“The Crimson Key should have already been awarded to the winner of Heuji’s First Ball Tournament, shouldn’t it?”

“I thought there was no way they’d give out such a precious item as just a festival competition prize. Since Heuji is a mysterious country with deep history, I thought there would be many Crimson Keys…”

He actually infiltrated the Royal Palace thinking there might be more of the item he wanted.

Serena felt dizzy and confused, pressing her forehead.

‘I think I understand why Grey treats Labyrinth Explorers like drifters, good-for-nothings, and potential criminals.’

Perhaps because they made the deadly Labyrinth their workplace, those with power were bold and had good execution skills, but they didn’t know to fear the law.

“Ugh! Princess, you’re thinking all Labyrinth Explorers are criminals right now! No, yo! This guy is the weird one! Everyone targeted the ball tournament winner, but nobody targeted the Royal Palace! Yo!”

‘Either way, you were planning to steal.’

Olive’s excuse didn’t help improve perceptions and only deepened the prejudice.

“I-I really had no intention of going in! The security was tight, so I was just circling around the Royal Palace when suddenly the security had a gap!”

“There was a gap in the security?”

“Yes! I thought it was strange, so I entered the Royal Palace, and I don’t know what was happening, but soldiers and knights were gathered, and people were running around as if there was a war. I thought I should leave before causing any misunderstanding, but the ground shook and when I woke up, it was the Labyrinth.”

Something big like a war did happen. The King was assassinated in the Royal Palace, after all.

“I see. Was there anything else strange?”

“Nothing! I absolutely never thought about maybe taking advantage of the chaos to sneak some Royal Family items!”

‘He did think about it.’

Serena doubted Ying’s judgment in saying such a person was more trustworthy than Olive.

‘Isn’t she defending him because she’s grown fond of him?’

Even when the Princess sent suspicious glances, Ying maintained her expressionless face and arbitrarily searched through Low’s luggage.

After checking if Low’s bolts were compatible with her crossbow and finding they didn’t match, she handed the bag to Olive without regret.

Olive gleefully rummaged through the bag, taking out valuable items and moving them to her own pocket.

‘Are all Labyrinth Explorers thieves?’

Noticing the Princess’s gaze, Olive grinned and said.

“Oh, this? I’m inspecting for dangerous items. Yo. But don’t you have pigeons or escape tools?”

“If you’re going to make such excuses, you should have confiscated this man’s weapons first.”

Low, who was kneeling and prostrating before the Princess, was still armed. Since he was prostrating, the spear strapped to his back was very visible.

He could have killed the Princess just by using his kneeling position as momentum to swing a dagger.

“I-I-I absolutely don’t think such things! And stop searching! If I had escape tools, I would have used them already!”

“Raise your head.”

“I-if you’re going to cut my neck, couldn’t you leave it to Olive to cut my throat?”

Serena couldn’t hold back her sigh and let it out heavily.

“Though Heuji’s laws are strict, this is currently a disaster situation. Use your talents and experience honed as a Labyrinth Explorer to help me and the citizens escape the Labyrinth. Then I will reduce your crime.”

“I-is that really all it takes?”

“Yes.”

To think he could end this without losing a single body part after being caught by the Princess for infiltrating the Royal Palace!

Low was suspicious of the overly lenient punishment first.

“Are you planning to work me to death?”

‘Has he lived being deceived? Ah, he was betrayed by family and lover.’

Serena wrote up a document on the spot for Low, who had become unable to trust people.

Low realized the Princess was sincere and trembled at her generosity and mercy, repeatedly banging his forehead on the ground.

If it hadn’t been grass-covered dirt, he would have died from cracking his skull from hitting it so hard.

‘To think I’d get to use a Labyrinth Explorer with similar experience to Olive and Ying for free.’

Though his infiltration of the Royal Palace was very annoying, the four brilliantly shining stars diluted that annoyance.

‘We were just short on ranged attackers.’

It was a situation where ranged attackers were lacking to operate the 2nd Assault Team.

With a 4-star archer joining, they could operate the 2nd team more stably.

‘Besides, he’s an experienced Labyrinth Explorer. He’ll make up for the Number Siblings’ lack of experience.’

Though someone other than Count Alpha was drawn instead of who she wanted, Low Sol was more useful to Serena.

‘Hmm. Were my desires reflected in the draw?’

Serena’s desire not to draw Count Alpha and wanting a ranged attacker might have been reflected in the draw.

“We’re planning to go to the 4th Layer to find Count Alpha. Can you manage? Is your stamina okay?”

Low approached Olive, who was still searching through his bag, and whispered in her ear.

“He says he’s fine. Yo. Ah, my bag!”

“It’s mine now.”

Low snatched the bag from Olive, shouldered it, and walked with big strides toward the direction of the stairs.

Count Randy approached Serena and asked in a small voice.

“How did you realize that man had infiltrated the Royal Palace?”

“It’s nothing special. People who fell into the Labyrinth didn’t fall on the same layer as those who were close to them just before, right? I was curious why a Labyrinth Explorer fell on the same layer as people who were in the Royal Palace garden and their Labyrinths overlapped, so I just asked.”

“Truly befitting of Lady Serena. You are brilliant.”

“As expected, the Princess sees through everything! Amazing!”

Serena listened to the pouring praise with one ear and let it out the other while walking, then realized something strange.

The fake bald guy was walking at the very front of the group.

It wasn’t something to dismiss just by saying it was natural since he was tall and had long strides.

The front of Serena’s group was always Olive’s fixed position.

Olive, who as a Guide always walked ahead of the party at a slight distance, was allowing Low to walk ahead of her.

Perhaps noticing the Princess’s question, Olive shrugged her shoulders.

“Those guys are inferior to me, but they found paths together~ The brothers were 0.5 each, making one full Guide~”

Hearing that, Serena became anxious and asked.

“Then Low isn’t an archer?”

‘My ranged attacker!’

“Of course? He’s not an archer but a spearman.”

“Radish?”

“Your face turns as red as your head, so I called you Red Radish! Yo!”

Low protested in a low voice, apparently having heard everything.

“Don’t call me that!”

“I don’t want to. I’m going to keep calling you that.”

“More than that, when you say spear wielder. Does that mean you’re not a ranged attacker?”

“I am in charge of ranged attacks.”

Low picked up a short spear and threw it with all his might. The short spear flew far and fast with Low’s muscular strength and stuck into the plant wall.

He had thrown it so hard that the short spear was deeply embedded in the wall, with only a little bit of the end visible.

‘If he does that, he can only throw it once.’

The moment Serena had this perfectly reasonable doubt, Low spoke quietly.

“Come back.”

Then the short spear that had been stuck in the wall disappeared, and the short spear appeared in the Mysterious Stranger’s empty hand.

“Wow!”

Ralph’s mouth fell wide open. Serena was also quite surprised, though not as much as Ralph.

‘That’s a good weapon!’

“Is it a magic spear?”

“…I, I, I got it from the labyrinth.”

Same age and younger. Low seemed to regard Ralph a bit more favorably, overcoming his shyness to speak with his own mouth.

Olive and Ying didn’t seem very surprised, as if they already knew about the weapon.

Instead, they showed interest in other equipment.

“What’s that crossbow? It looks good.”

“Heh. I had quite a hard time learning how to handle it.”

“If it’s good enough that you use it yourself instead of selling it or giving it to someone else, it must be good! What kind of function does it have? Tell me tell me!”

When Olive acted friendly and clung to him, Low’s face turned as red as a carrot, just as Olive had said.

‘Oh dear.’

Wind of the Wilderness had completely forgotten about the Sol Brothers, but Red Radish apparently still had lingering feelings for Wind of the Wilderness.

“Heh. Curious?”

“Yeah! I’m curious! I want to see it!”

“If you say it like that, I’d like to show you, but I have to save the bolts. If a strong monster appears and I need to use this thing, I might be able to show you.”

Thinking it was an opportunity, Low played a bit hard to get.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have good luck with companions.

“Just use it. Count Randy will make bolts for you.”

“Count Randy?”

“Don’t be surprised! This is amazing amazing amazing!”

Olive spun around in place and jumped up, then pointed at Count Randy with both hands.

“This person is none other than Count Landriole of the Empire!”

“Landriole? The Landriole I know?”

“That’s right!”

“Ohhh! Count! I’m a fan! If it weren’t for your potions, I would already be dead!”

Low was ten times more surprised than when he heard that Serena was a princess. He was so surprised that he forgot about being shy.

“It’s too early to be surprised by just that. Count Randy is a real alchemist, so if you have money, magic stones, and materials, he’ll make anything for you.”

“Really?”

The Mysterious Stranger’s eyes looking at the alchemist became even more sparkling.

Count Randy seemed burdened by receiving such a gaze from a muscular man nearly 2 meters tall, so he changed the subject.

“Is that crossbow also magical equipment?”

“Yes, yes. If you insert a magic stone, it can shoot explosive arrows.”

Just then, a swarm of labyrinth bees approached, having heard the party’s chatter.

Since Serena and her party had exterminated them with insecticide, they appeared late despite the noisy conversation.

Low shot a bolt at the swarm of labyrinth bees.

The bolt that hit one labyrinth bee exploded with a loud roar.

The labyrinth bees that had been flying around busily nearby were wiped out in one strike.

‘This is also a good weapon.’

It was an excellent weapon that compensated for both the bow’s weaknesses of single-target attacks and lack of destructive power.

Of course, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Since one magic stone was consumed each time an explosive bolt was used, it had to be used only in situations where it was absolutely necessary.

But even considering that, it was a good weapon.

‘Even Low, who has less fame than Olive and Ying, carries around such good weapons.’

Serena looked at the Taciturn Archer just in case.

“Ying. Do you perhaps have a separate main weapon?”

The archer nodded while staring at Low’s crossbow with eyes full of desire.

“Then is your main weapon perhaps in the vault?”

Ying bit her lips as if very sorrowful and nodded.

Serena sighed without realizing it.

“Olive. You’re lucky to be alive.”

“Haha. I told you it wasn’t on purpose.”

Olive winked and stuck out her tongue.

“Right. If it had been on purpose, Ying would have already killed you.”

“This is why people! Should live as they’ve always lived, you shouldn’t suddenly try to be kind! Huhuhu, my bag!”

Listening to the guide’s lament about finding her bag, the party moved to the 15th Floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth 4th Layer.

***

As soon as Serena reached the 4th Layer, she pressed the draw button.

The Princess strongly wished in her heart.

‘Knight! Definitely a knight! Not Crown Prince Kipan! Absolutely not!’

Grandfather was dead, and Seraph had fallen into the labyrinth with the priests.

Then there was only one person left for the knights of the Royal House of Heuji to escort.

Kipan, who was first in line for succession to Heuji’s throne and the crown prince.

‘That person is absolutely not allowed!’

Serena didn’t want to conquer the labyrinth with a drug addict who was uselessly high in status (he was her superior).

You might say she could just leave him in the lobby, but she didn’t like that either. She didn’t even want to breathe in the same space as him.

Just as smokers exhale breath with high nicotine content, drug addicts exhaled breath containing drugs.

‘Preferably, he should quietly die in the labyrinth this time. No wait, that’s not right, Serena. Get a grip. They say curse resistance drops if you curse in the labyrinth.’

Unfortunately, Serena and Crown Prince Kipan were bound by the sticky connection of blood relations.

If Serena drew a person without thinking in the 4th Layer where Crown Prince Kipan was presumed to be, there was a high probability of drawing the crown prince.

‘Definitely a knight!’

Rather than trying to draw Sir Sirius Alpha, whom she didn’t know well, and ending up drawing the wrong person, it was better to specifically decide on the profession of knight and strongly wish for it.

Perhaps because she had clenched both fists and made a wish, the Princess and the assault team discovered a knight on the 14th Floor who was eating raw labyrinth chicken meat.

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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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