Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 184

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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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184. Library Etiquette

Get lost.

As soon as Olive heard what the young knight said, she covered her mouth with both hands and made a fuss.

“Gasp. Did the knight just tell the princess to get lost?”

Unfortunately, Serena was positioned directly in front of Ralph.

Ralph jumped in place, startled. He didn’t raise his voice, perhaps because he was afraid of the librarian.

“I wasn’t speaking to the princess! I was reading what’s written here.”

Ralph held out a crumpled piece of paper to the group, even though he had unfolded it.

Besides the problematic “get lost,” there were dense lines drawn as if something had been written and erased.

Serena narrowed her one eye upon seeing the very familiar handwriting.

The familiar handwriting, the voice-supported note content, and the gold glinting from the upper floor railing.

Clues to deduce the culprit who threw the paper were overflowing.

‘So he wasn’t a brave and noble mysterious stranger after all.’

Rather than a brave mysterious stranger, he was closer to a fool who couldn’t distinguish between recklessness and courage.

The princess couldn’t hold back the rising sigh and let it out.

“This looks like Lord Seraph’s handwriting.”

Count Randy recognized the owner of the handwriting with his excellent mind.

“Is the prince here?”

“Yes. This is definitely Lord Seraph’s handwriting.”

“Then the prince saw we were in danger and set off fireworks!”

“That bratty prince saved us? Olive’s pride is hurt! Yo!”

Count Alpha slightly frowned at Olive’s manner of speaking, but immediately smoothed his expression, perhaps considering it unnecessary emotional expenditure during labyrinth exploration.

Olive glared at the paper, then made a mysterious expression like someone who had to appraise an unfamiliar artwork.

“What’s wrong?”

“The prince unexpectedly has good handwriting? Yo? Looking at what he does, I thought he’d have terrible handwriting.”

“Seraph is destined to ascend to Heuji’s throne. He’s been trained to write properly since childhood, so it’s become second nature.”

While the guide was critiquing the prince’s handwriting, Ralph picked up all the fallen papers.

‘I hope there’s useful content in them.’

Seraph and the priest’s party were on the upper floor of the library, which Serena’s party still didn’t know how to reach.

She hoped the papers her sibling threw contained useful information, but unfortunately, all the sentences written on the papers were identical.

“Get lost, get lost, this one says get lost too. They all say get lost? Yo?”

“It seems he still has no intention of joining us.”

“It would be nice if both the prince and the priest came to the lobby.”

“The priests have good hearts~ What’s so good about that unlucky prince that they’re looking after him?”

“How about stopping the insults toward His Highness the Grand Prince? More importantly, isn’t there a way to convey our opinion to the upper floor?”

The main point was a gentle warning not to insult royalty, that she was listening to everything, but both the main point and the additional comment were sound arguments.

Olive stopped insulting the prince and tilted her head upward.

“Hmm. It would be convenient if we could throw papers too.”

But what’s more convenient than written communication?

Speaking face to face directly.

Olive tied a rope to a hook and threw it aiming at the upper floor railing.

The hook flew well but was blocked by a transparent wall and tumbled down.

“Going up is blocked. Zero.”

Ying aimed at the railing with her crossbow. The bolt was also blocked by an invisible wall and fell down.

“It seems the upper floor can interfere with the lower floor, but not the reverse.”

‘What a shame.’

Olive scratched her head vigorously.

“Or maybe we’re blocked because we haven’t found the way to the next floor yet. Yo. Anyway, what a waste.”

The guide clicked her tongue repeatedly, very disappointed that the method of going up with hooks and rope was blocked.

“I wanted to ask about the usage rules since the way to the next floor is fine~”

“Indeed. Among the library usage rules, we only know two.”

Serena thought she had nothing to lose and put strength in her lower abdomen to shout.

“I’m curious about library usage rules 3, 4, and 5! Really curious!”

She put strength in her lower abdomen, but perhaps because she was afraid the librarian might come again, her voice didn’t come out as much as she thought.

‘Did it fail?’

There was no guarantee that her sibling’s party was within range of Serena’s voice to begin with.

‘They might have moved after just throwing the paper.’

Still, just in case, she was putting strength in her lower abdomen to retry when a paper fell from above.

“Ooh!”

The guide tried to catch the falling paper but was pushed aside by Ying due to insufficient height and arm length.

The archer ignored Olive’s protests and unfolded the neatly folded (not crumpled) paper, handing it to Serena.

Serena deliberately kept her distance so the group could see the paper together.

It was a short letter. The neat yet powerful handwriting and the first sentence asking about Serena’s well-being conveyed the writer’s caring nature.

What mattered wasn’t the writer’s feelings but the library’s usage rules.

The princess’s single eye moved to the center of the letter.

“It says the information board was at the fireplace when the priests arrived too.”

“It says rules 2 and 3 weren’t there. It’s a labyrinth gimmick.”

It was fortunate that it wasn’t intentional trolling by someone with Lucas-like personality.

Very unfortunately, the letter didn’t contain the contents of library usage rules 3, 4, and 5.

“It says he wants to tell us but his hand gets blocked when he tries to write. The labyrinth’s mysterious power seems to be at work here too.”

To even block information transmission to others. The labyrinth’s mysterious power was formidable.

Fortunately, the writer bypassed the labyrinth’s gimmick to deliver hints.

“It says there are usage rule boards on other floors too.”

Not revealing all the rules from the start but adding rules floor by floor was the 8th layer’s gimmick.

“What if we accidentally break a rule on the way there? Yo?”

“It says we’ll be fine if we just follow library etiquette.”

Serena was about to say that seemed easy when Olive spoke bluntly.

“What library etiquette is there? Yo? I’ve never been to a library.”

Olive declared she had never once entered a library in her life.

“I know libraries are places where you can read books for free, but I don’t know the etiquette there. Yo.”

“Hmm. Actually, library usage rules vary slightly from library to library. For example, in the Empire’s imperial archives, those with His Majesty’s permission can use the reading room, but since it’s a closed-stack library, you have to ask the librarian for books—”

Count Randy, who had the deepest connection to libraries among the six members of Heuji’s Labyrinth 1st squad, began sharing stories about libraries he had visited.

He knew a lot, so he had a lot to say. Serena quickly covered the alchemist’s mouth.

“Stop. It won’t be such unusual rules. Probably ordinary rules.”

“That’s why I’m saying I don’t know what those ordinary rules are. Yo. I have no clue. Yo.”

Ask a decent, good person what gangster etiquette is. They’ll naturally be flustered, unable to get a clue.

Olive’s manner of speaking was impudent, but the content of her impudent words was valid.

Serena was about to step forward to explain kindly when.

‘Wait. Wasn’t that a library?’

She recalled that the place where she had earnestly chosen books during her protagonist syndrome days was not a library but the House of Huaim’s archive.

‘I didn’t read books there either. I had servants bring them and read in my room.’

In the end, Serena had never visited a library in this world after her reincarnation.

Even if people live similarly everywhere, one cannot pretend to know about something never experienced.

The princess quietly closed her mouth.

‘Sorry, I don’t know either.’

To begin with, both Serena and Count Randy had the status to easily ignore library usage rules.

Even with library experience, there was no guarantee they would know the rules and etiquette.

Instead, Serena focused on Ralph.

This young knight liked heroic tales and adventure stories, so wouldn’t he have read many books?

Count Ralph, noticing the Princess’s gaze, awkwardly avoided her eyes with an embarrassed expression.

“There was a library next to the Lordly Castle, but I didn’t go there often. I preferred to buy books to read.”

“You buy books to read? Your family must be well-off, Knight? I had a feeling when you said your brother’s a Capital Guard and you’re a Knight.”

Ralph’s family was certainly wealthy farmers, but saying such things in front of the Princess and Count Landriole would be like showing off in front of royalty.

Ralph just laughed awkwardly, feeling embarrassed.

“Why didn’t you go to the library?”

“I like reading books while eating snacks, but the librarian wouldn’t let me eat anything in the library.”

“That’s it! No eating allowed! Most libraries prohibit that!”

Count Randy snapped his fingers, pleased to have figured out one rule. Serena nodded as well, since libraries in her previous life had the same rule.

“Hey! Why can’t we eat? Huh?”

“Because it could damage the books.”

“Then wouldn’t that fall under the no book damage rule? Huh?”

“Count Ralph, can’t you think of anything else? What else did the librarian prohibit?”

“Ugh. I’m not sure.”

“Think carefully.”

Since Ralph was the only one in the Party who had experienced a normal library, Count Randy demanded he rack his memory.

Serena looked at Ying just in case. Ying shook her head as if to say don’t expect anything.

When she looked at Count Alpha, amusingly, this gorgeously handsome Imperial Knight also avoided the Princess’s gaze like Ralph.

When Serena fixed her gaze on him, Count Alpha’s cheeks turned slightly red.

“Shamefully, I prioritized physical training over scholarly pursuits.”

The Imperial Knight’s physique was so excellent that it was convincing enough to not be ashamed of neglecting academics.

“Hmm~ There’s no way we can catch up to the Prince and the Priests~”

The letter stated that Seraph and the Priest Party had been marked by a powerful enemy due to the fireworks, but fortunately discovered stairs leading to the next layer, and would proceed to the 9th Layer right after sending this letter.

‘P.S. Beware of traps?’

It seemed the seemingly peaceful and quiet library hid terrifying traps worthy of the High Priest’s warning.

“Should we go back to the 1st Floor for now? Huh?”

The Party members all looked puzzled at the Guide’s unexpected suggestion.

“What do you mean? If it’s about library usage rules, I don’t think we need to worry too much?”

“We still don’t know how to get to the next floor.”

The only achievements the Party had gained since reaching the 8th Layer were Labyrinth book byproducts and identifying the powerful enemy.

Shouldn’t they at least get a clue about how to reach the next floor?

While the entire Party reacted skeptically, the Guide didn’t back down from her withdrawal opinion.

“Princess. I have something to tell only the leader.”

Olive moved her face exaggeratedly as if pondering, then called Serena.

Serena and Olive went to the edge of the Lounge and whispered.

“Earlier when the Labyrinth book crawled on the floor to attack. That was quite dangerous, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. Fortunately Count Alpha noticed and protected us.”

“These things will keep pretending to be books stuck in bookshelves and ambush us. We can’t be lucky every time, right?”

Since it was a serious conversation, Serena listened seriously as well.

“Compass happens to be able to detect Monster and trap locations. Seven people seems dangerous, so let’s replace one person?”

While Serena couldn’t react immediately to this unexpected suggestion, Olive started pointing out the irreplaceable Party members.

“First, Zero. You saw the books flying around, right? Zero is essential, and there are lots of books here, right? We can’t remove the Count either. You and I obviously stay. Since there happen to be two Knights, we can swap one of them.”

‘Is she trying to remove Count Alpha from the Party this time? He hasn’t explored much, but would he agree if we tell him to leave?’

Olive disliked the Empire, and Olive and Ralph got along well. The Guide was very fond of the young, sincere Young Knight who was still naive about the world.

She would naturally suggest replacing Count Alpha with Hana. Expecting this, Serena’s remaining eye widened when she heard the name that came from the Guide’s mouth.

“Let’s send out the Young Knight and bring in Compass.”

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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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