Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 178

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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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178. Even Pickpocketing is Fun

The bread tree on the 25th floor of the 7th layer of Heuji’s Labyrinth. This was the meeting place predetermined by the pickpocketing expedition.

Under the bread tree, which had only lush leaves since the bread hadn’t been restored yet, Ying was standing.

The Taciturn Archer, who saw Serena and the Count, only nodded his head slightly.

“Didn’t you say you would act as a lookout?”

Ying shrugged her shoulders and pointed toward the crowd.

In the direction Ying pointed, Low was standing blankly. Being large in build, he stood two heads taller than the dolls, making him easy to spot.

The fact that large people are easy to find is consistent with the saying that small people are hard to find.

Serena rolled her single eye for a while before finally discovering the Guide weaving freely among the dolls.

This was only possible because the Guide waved her hand to greet Serena; otherwise, she would never have been found.

‘Like a fish in water.’

Though not visible, she could roughly guess the situation.

Olive and Hana. These two thieves were doing such an excellent job picking wallets that they didn’t need a lookout.

It seemed they only used Low to hide when things got dangerous or to store stolen money in Low’s bag.

The Guide’s face was overflowing with vitality, like when she discovered a magic-grade treasure chest.

‘That’s also labor when you think about it.’

To be able to work so joyfully like that. Is this why job aptitude is important?

The Princess, who didn’t want to work, found it fascinating to watch the pickpocket working with a smile and sent a signal to stop working.

Olive sent a response signal indicating she understood, then after some time passed, came under the bread tree with Hana and Low.

“Compass was hiding too well among the dolls, so we had trouble finding her and were late. Hey, how do you get lost but still pickpocket well?”

“Hehehe, it’s nothing special. I thought you were just a smooth-talking con artist, but I see you differently now.”

“Hey now. Treasure hunter. A professional who handles everything from vaults to traps.”

It was good that their friendship was deepening as companions exploring the labyrinth together, but it was scary to think that if thieves became close, they might plot something together later.

Serena raised her hand to stop both thieves from talking and brought up the main point.

“Let’s return to the lobby now.”

“Why? Hey? Are you sad because you couldn’t rob the vault? Hey?”

“I opened three vaults.”

Olive’s round eyes became even rounder.

“No way. I was just asking, but you really opened them? Hey? How did you know the passwords? Wow~ As expected, truly learned people are different in every way.”

“This isn’t the time to be leisurely. The 24th floor is strange.”

“Strange? An anomaly?”

Olive tilted her head. Her face was smiling, but her eyes were serious, so she wasn’t teasing.

“When we were looking for anomalies, didn’t the 24th floor become night as time passed?”

“Yes.”

“Similar to that time, time is flowing on the 24th floor. When we came out of the shop, the sky was getting dark and the sunset was setting.”

While Olive and Low listened seriously to the Count’s words, Hana expressed doubt.

“Really? My siblings and I stayed there for a long time, but it was always daytime.”

For Hana, who had stayed on the 24th floor for at least a week, the story that the 24th floor suddenly became evening was hard to believe.

“We were also surprised, so we stopped opening vaults and came to the 25th floor.”

“Good job. Hey. When strange things like that happen, running away immediately is the way to survive.”

Olive looked around the 25th floor, which had no changes except for the dolls’ wallets becoming lighter, and snapped her fingers.

“Let’s close up shop and go back. Hey.”

“Aw, I couldn’t use it all up, what a shame.”

“In the labyrinth, if something seems strange, you always run. If you get careless trusting your abilities, you’re done for.”

Olive drew her finger across her throat to warn Hana. Hana nodded earnestly.

To return to the lobby, they had to use the 6th layer transfer room.

The Guide, who opened the door to the 24th floor after passing through the room that now only had a bulletin board without stairs, stopped abruptly.

Her green olive-colored eyes quickly swept over the entire 24th floor.

The 24th floor of the 7th layer of Heuji’s Labyrinth was exactly as it was when Serena and Count Randy left the floor.

The sky was somewhat dark and the sunset was setting in the west.

Serena, who had secretly hoped the 24th floor would return to its original state when they re-entered, was slightly disappointed.

‘The change is being maintained. That’s dangerous.’

“Whoa, this is my first time seeing something like this.”

Hana, who had stayed on the 24th floor for several days, seemed more affected by the change and looked up at the sky while hunching her shoulders.

“This is really suspicious. Let’s hurry back. Hey.”

The Guide walked briskly toward the door with stairs. The party quickly followed.

“Did you touch anything besides the vaults? Hey?”

“No.”

“We did search through dolls to find password hints, but there was nothing suspicious.”

“What about the vaults? Did you open them all? Hey?”

“We opened three.”

“When did the sky start being strange? Hey?”

“When we opened the vault in the first shop and moved to the next shop, we didn’t notice anything strange. It was the same when we returned from the second shop to the first. We noticed the change after opening the third vault and leaving the shop.”

“Why did you go back to the first shop? Hey?”

“There was a hidden vault.”

“Was that perhaps what was strange?”

“It wasn’t. It was a secret vault, but ultimately it was still a vault.”

All the items in the vault were perfectly fine too. Both Serena and Count Randy could detect magic, but there were no strange items.

“Compass! There was never anything like this when you were there, right?”

“Yes, never! I searched all the shops and even broke vaults, but nothing like this ever happened!”

“You broke vaults?”

Hana shook her head left and right along with her hands.

“N-no, I never broke them anywhere else! This was the first time I did it here!”

“I’m not trying to prosecute your crimes to increase your sentence. Have you ever broken vaults on the 24th floor?”

“Yes. I had Duri break one. But it was damn hard to break and nothing came out, so we only broke one and stopped.”

“I see.”

A deep adult male voice was heard from the rear of the party.

Serena immediately turned her head to look at the owner of the voice.

Low, perhaps burdened by the party’s attention focused on him, tightly closed his mouth that he had finally opened.

“Do you have any guesses?”

“Radish! If you know something, speak up quickly!”

“Well, you see.”

The Mysterious Stranger struggled under the focused gazes and looked for someone who wasn’t shy and could relay his words for him.

Unfortunately, that person happened to be the most taciturn archer in the labyrinth.

Ying, who listened to all of Low’s whispers with an expressionless face, nodded.

“I understand.”

“Hey! Don’t just keep it between yourselves, tell us properly!”

“Ying. Please inform us in detail what Low said.”

The archer who loved the virtue of silence seemed displeased with the Princess’s request, narrowing her eyes before opening her pretty mouth.

“There are layers that change when you open treasure chests. Paths change, monsters become stronger and more are added, or in severe cases, stairs get blocked. Low thinks the 7th layer is that type.”

‘Ah. If the vaults are treasure chests, then that would happen.’

If the 24th floor changed because Serena and Count Randy opened three treasure chests, it made sense.

“Ah~ I’ve heard of that too! I only heard rumors that it’s typical to open all the chests and get wiped out. That’s exactly it.”

“Then if we return the items we took from the vaults, will it become daytime again?”

Low whispered so quietly in Ying’s ear that even sharp-eared Olive couldn’t hear.

“I don’t know that. However, it’s dangerous to open all the vaults.”

The archer drank water as if her throat hurt from talking so much.

“We’ll have to stop opening vaults on the 24th floor here.”

Everyone agreed with the Princess’s words.

“So if we touch the vaults on the 25th Floor, would that be dangerous too? I was tempted since there are more expensive shops there~”

“It’s scary because it’s dark. Just picking the dolls’ pockets is enough, isn’t it?”

“We did steal enough to make Radish’s bag burst~ But what matters isn’t the weight, it’s the amount!”

Very unfortunately, Low’s bag was not a subspace bag.

Originally the brothers had shared one subspace bag, but when they split up, Low took the spear while his brother took the subspace bag.

The culprit who had torn apart the twin brothers who had been close enough to share their wealth was now dancing with joy at the thought of counting money.

“Pickpocketing seems fine, so let’s not touch the vaults and just take the dolls’ wealth. We can’t invite unnecessary danger.”

“That’s true~ Unless we’re going for a perfect clear!”

The party had not discovered the secret room, sealed door, or floor boss on the 7th Floor.

Now that they knew they could change the 7th Floor’s environment by opening vaults, they could use this knowledge when going for a perfect clear as Olive suggested.

‘It’s a shame we can’t open more vaults.’

To have to stop just when she’d discovered the joy of vault robbing. Life was truly cruel.

***

Surprisingly, the profits earned by the pickpocketing duo were similar to those of the vault-robbing duo.

This was just the profit in Labyrinth Coins, excluding gold bars, silver bars, gems, and accessories, but Serena was shocked.

‘How is this possible?’

Do people—no, dolls—really carry around that much money?

When the Princess showed considerable surprise, Hana, a professional thief, began explaining.

“It was during a festival. Everyone’s wallets were heavy. And it was a neighborhood where rich people live.”

Unlike her previous life where both cash and wallets were disappearing, the reincarnated world was dominated by cash.

Though this world also used checks and promissory notes, the festival setting was particularly important.

“There were dolls set as foreign travelers too. Those were the jackpot.”

Travelers also try to counter pickpockets by distributing their money or hiding it deep in bags and clothes, but what do they know?

Before the nobility of the thief world, the finger artists, all such precautions were meaningless.

“Despite being directionally challenged, your finger skills are first-rate? I kept my bag in a vault because I was scared of finger artists like this.”

“Right. You had good reason to be scared.”

In a world where people could split rocks with swords and arm-wrestle bulls if they tried hard enough.

The skills of a pickpocket who had honed only pickpocketing techniques their entire life were enough to frighten even experienced Labyrinth Explorers.

‘Olive wasn’t exaggerating.’

Rather, because she knew well the terror of pickpockets, she had stored her luggage in a vault altogether.

If only the Labyrinth hadn’t appeared, it would have ended well for both Olive and Ying. What a pity.

The money earned by pickpocketing and vault robbing would all go to the common fund, leaving only a few copper coins.

Since Serena was confident that both Olive and Hana had probably skimmed some off the top, she collected the Labyrinth Coins without ceremony.

“It felt good to relieve stress after so long~”

“Hehe, please leave it to me in the future too.”

Through the cumbersome but necessary procedure of the Princess handing the common fund pouch to Lavenda, Lavenda taking Labyrinth Coins from the pouch and giving them to the Count, Count Randy purchased 5 high-grade magic stones.

“Are you not buying them all?”

“Wouldn’t it be troublesome if supreme-grade magic stones appeared as tomorrow’s merchandise?”

Prince Willow admired the alchemist’s prudence in preparing for an uncertain future.

“Mark, I envy your wisdom and prudence.”

“Don’t just envy it, learn from it!”

“Ow! It hurts! That hurts!”

Grey jabbed the Prince’s ribs harshly. Count Alpha’s eyes widened in surprise, but since the Prince was obediently taking it, he didn’t intervene.

***

Night had deepened. Neet was dozing off, clinging to her sisters whom she’d met after several days.

“Aren’t you tired from exploring the Labyrinth? Hana must be especially tired, so go to sleep now.”

“I’ll sleep after seeing the vending machine products change!”

“I can’t stand not knowing! For real!”

“Kuul. Uung.”

Whether only Hana and Sesi were curious, Duri was already asleep holding Neet.

Everyone seemed to have similar thoughts to the Number Siblings, as they were all awake.

Even the Young Knight, who usually went to bed early and woke up early, was forcing his half-closed eyes wide open.

Beep.

After a long wait, the product change button on the vending machine lit up.

“Me! Me! I pressed it and magic stones came out! This time too, me!”

Unable to resist Olive’s pleading, Count Randy stepped aside.

The Guide excitedly pressed the product change button.

Flash!

Light filled the product display case as the product lineup changed.

What appeared this time was something Serena had never seen before.

‘It looks like rice cake.’

Not as an insult, but it really looked like dried mugwort rice cake from her previous life, displayed in the vending machine.

Serena observed other people’s reactions.

Everyone was tilting their heads, not knowing what the product was, but only the Labyrinth Explorers looked displeased.

“Ugh. Of all things, this?”

“Blegh.”

“Do you know what this is?”

“It’s emergency rations we take when entering the Labyrinth. We only eat it when we really don’t want to die.”

It was made by kneading grains, oil, dried meat, fruits, and seeds with honey, then steaming and hardening it.

It somewhat guaranteed nutrition and had a long shelf life, but it didn’t guarantee taste.

Apparently it was the staple food of adventurers entering the deep layers of the Labyrinth.

“Hmm. If it’s easy to store and carry, it wouldn’t be bad to buy some.”

“No! Don’t buy it!”

“I have some with me!”

Low took out a similar lump from his luggage and presented it to Serena. This one was in powder form.

Serena brought the emergency ration powder to her mouth and immediately spat it out.

It wasn’t because she was a Princess who had only enjoyed fine dining since reincarnation. Even with her palate that had become tolerant after two months of hardship in the Labyrinth, she couldn’t endure the terrible taste and smell.

It was fishy, bitter, sweet, salty, greasy, stale, and though it was powder, it was hard. Her mouth and tongue stung, and it was strangely spicy too.

“Ugh. You eat this?”

“The spicy part is from spicy herbs added to prevent spoilage!”

“What kind of taste is that to make you react like— urgh!”

“Is it really that terrible? That stench is quite bear— blegh!”

“Hehe. You’ve all only eaten delicious food so you don’t know how precious food is. I know the taste of tear-soaked, moldy bread— uegh!”

“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever eaten. I’d rather eat dirt. For real.”

Whether out of curiosity or wanting to share the Princess’s suffering, there were quite a few who volunteered for unnecessary hardship.

Duri, who had been dozing while holding Neet, twitched her nose.

“Kueoong!”

The bear, enraged by the stench that woke her up, swung her front paw and struck the sack containing the emergency ration powder!

Since the sack was placed on the ground, there were no injuries.

“Kueong! Kueong! Kuwaaaaang!”

“Uwah, Duri is angry!”

“Sister Duri! Calm down! It’s not poop!”

“Kueoeoong!”

“Sesi, calm Duri down and go to sleep now.”

When Sesi soothed Duri, Duri grabbed Neet’s collar with her teeth and went into the Capsule Bed.

‘Is it okay to carry a coughing child like that?’

Serena watched worriedly, but Neet didn’t wake up until she entered the Capsule.

“I endured for nothing. I feel like I lost out.”

Hana was right. The Princess entered her own Capsule and lay down on the cozy bed.

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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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