Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 191

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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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191. Reading is Fun (2)

In Search of the Lost Golden Statue.

Just from the title, it looks like a mystery novel or an adventure novel with mystery elements.

It was too simple a title to captivate a genius alchemist that the Empire boasted of and the continent envied, and a labyrinth explorer who must have accumulated quite a fortune.

‘Not enough clickbait?’

Rather, the book with a title that revealed everything up to the ending that Serena had seen was more provocative.

Why were these two discerning and intelligent people hooked by such a flimsy title that wouldn’t even reach 100 views for episode 1?

The reason was surprisingly simple.

“This isn’t a novel, but a memoir.”

“Princess, don’t you know about the cursed golden statue? Yo?”

It was because they knew a lot.

Serena only saw the title. But these two who knew much had inferred information beyond just the title.

Long ago. Not as long ago as before Heuji was founded, but moderately long ago, there lived a genius alchemist in some country.

This alchemist was living a happy life, scraping together gold with outstanding talent, commanding followers.

But his character, unworthy of his talent, brought disaster.

A mere human dared to insult a god.

Instead of punishing the alchemist directly, the insulted god complained to the God of Gold that the alchemist believed in.

The God of Gold acknowledged that his devotee had crossed the line and cursed the alchemist, turning him into gold.

Thereafter, the alchemist’s descendants passed down the ancestral golden statue through generations, teaching humility and modesty, or so the story goes.

If it were a previous life, this would be a story you’d only read in mythology collections, but this is a fantasy world where gods truly reside in heaven.

This story was true.

However, since it happened long ago, the whereabouts of the golden statue became unclear, leaving only the story to be passed down orally.

“Th-this book is a memoir written by a descendant when the golden statue disappeared!”

“It wasn’t sold because the family fortune declined, but it was stolen! Yo!”

“To report to the Golden Order, they detailed everything from several days before the golden statue was stolen until after it disappeared! This is not only important historical material but also a treasure of the Golden Order!”

“What’s more interesting is! Where the golden statue disappeared, a person who looked like the golden statue was found collapsed! That person claimed to be the golden statue whose curse was lifted! Kyaang, I’m so curious about what happens next! Yo!”

Was it really the ancestral golden statue, or was it a bastard who stole the golden statue and was committing fraud?

To confirm that, they had to read the memoir to the end.

Olive grumbled that she had read it in an instant but the alchemist read slowly so she couldn’t see it quickly.

“Ahem! This isn’t something to be viewed lightly like the entertainment-focused novels circulating in the market! According to the person claiming to be the golden statue, the Shining Gold didn’t lift the curse, but some alchemist used a potion to break the curse! That means, if we analyze the curse-breaking potion well, we might really be able to make an elixir that creates go-go-gold, huff! That’s possible! Hufff!”

Gold. The purest metal in this world and every alchemist’s long-cherished wish.

Count Randy couldn’t contain his excitement and gasped for breath, wheezing.

“It’s also suspicious that the guy who was the golden statue remembers why the curse was lifted! That means he was conscious while he was a gold lump! I’m curious! Yo! It’s interesting! Yo!”

In Olive’s case, she seemed to like gold itself and had glanced at it sideways, then got completely absorbed because the content was interesting.

‘It would be interesting.’

Is the person who resembles the ancestor really the ancestor? If so, who lifted the curse, and if he’s a fraud, who stole the golden statue and how?

‘If it’s a 1:1 ratio golden statue with a person, the weight wouldn’t be trivial.’

The God of Gold wouldn’t have petty made a hollow golden statue, so that golden statue must be solid gold.

To steal such a golden statue in one night, there must be an accomplice inside the house, but who could the traitor be?

Unlike the title that lacked clickbait power, the plot and material made dopamine burst, and all of this story was supposedly true.

Hearing Count Randy’s story, Serena was also curious about the ending.

‘Oh no, I shouldn’t do this.’

Even if she was curious about the ending, she shouldn’t be enchanted by the book. Serena barely came to her senses and scolded the two who were still enchanted by the book.

“As I told Count Ralph, you shouldn’t believe the contents of the books here. They could all be lies.”

“Lady Serena, surprisingly, there’s a sentence in the preface swearing to the great beings residing in heaven that all these stories are true!”

Serena barely suppressed the ‘Gah!’ sound that was about to come out.

The characteristic of this world was that she couldn’t argue whether they stupidly believed that.

‘Even the God of Magic randomizes attribute sequences while being mindful of other gods.’

Since they mentioned gods in their own handwriting, that memoir was likely genuine. But if she acknowledged that here, the two seemed like they wouldn’t give up until they finished reading the book, so she denied it.

“It could be the labyrinth’s deception. Don’t believe it.”

“If they did such a thing, wouldn’t the other gods complain to the Minotaur God? Yo?”

“They don’t complain.”

It wasn’t Serena who said that. The Archer, who had been quiet, suddenly spoke up, and the Guide asked him a question.

“How does Zero know that? Did you ask them or something?”

The Archer nodded without a moment’s hesitation.

Olive shrugged with a bored expression.

“Ah~ I see~ Since no lightning strikes even when Zero talks nonsense, it could be fake.”

Thanks to the absurd exchange with Ying, her enchantment with the book seemed to have lifted, and her eyes were clear.

Serena pressed her forehead and switched the combinations.

“Everyone, get your heads straight. Ying will go with Count Randy, and Count Ralph will also go with Count Alpha.”

If she paired the muscle-loving knights together, they might use books like dumbbells again. Serena changed her words.

“Count Ralph will go with Olive, and Count Alpha will follow me.”

“Yes~”

“I’m sorry.”

He said he was sorry, but the Count’s eyes were still fixed on the memoir.

“Get your head straight.”

The Archer grabbed his neck and delivered a cold remark. The alchemist came to his senses as if cold water had been poured on him.

“Ahem. Sorry.”

‘So he did something.’

Others couldn’t see it, but Serena clearly saw it with just one eye.

When the Archer grabbed the Count’s neck, his hand slightly darkened.

‘Our High Priest would be so good if only he didn’t hide his power.’

Serena swallowed her regretful feelings along with water and went to the bookshelf that the Imperial Knight had been investigating.

The Princess saw books with identical covers, identical thickness, and identical size, with only numbers changed from 1 kilogram to 100 kilograms, and laughed quietly.

She didn’t make a sound because the librarian was scary.

‘It’s so absurd I just have to laugh.’

What was more absurd was that the weight of those books would be exactly as written in their titles.

‘The labyrinth’s mystery is amazing.’

The books’ theme(?) was identical and the order they were shelved was neat from 1 kilogram to 100 kilograms, so there were no misplaced books on this shelf.

When Serena roughly looked around and moved to the next bookshelf, Count Alpha squeezed his eyes shut and bowed his head deeply.

He seemed ashamed that he not only failed to finish what should have been completed instantly, but also just did arm exercises with books.

‘Birds of a feather flock together.’

When Prince Willow first called him a friend, she wondered if Count Alpha had just one-sidedly gotten along with him, but that wasn’t the case.

‘They were well-matched.’

The master was enchanted by a Dryad, the knight was enchanted by dumbbells(?). They were truly a well-matched master and servant.

Serena was so busy holding back her emerging laughter that she didn’t see the book stirring above her head.

The book was pulled out and scattered sharp paper blades downward.

‘These bastards! They could attack from above and below too?’

Serena was startled and froze, unable to lower her head even in the crisis of her face being slashed, when Count Alpha pulled the Princess into his arms and covered her with his cloak.

The sharp paper blades couldn’t penetrate the cloak and fell onto the soft carpet.

The knight reached out his gauntleted hand to grab the labyrinth book, then applied a little force and tore it in half.

Serena rubbed the back of her head, which was slightly numb from hitting Count Alpha’s armor.

The Imperial Knight knelt before the Princess as if he was truly ashamed this time.

Serena gestured for him to get up, but perhaps because he was someone else’s knight, he didn’t listen well.

As the Princess was wondering whether she should pull him up, welcome news was heard.

“I think I found a misplaced book.”

Ralph stood in the center of the lounge and called the party together.

The party gathered in the lounge. Olive, who had discovered it with Ralph, added her words.

“It’s a different color by itself and has no number. Yo. I’m certain, but just in case, I didn’t touch it.”

Among the party members, only Count Randy was familiar with the library.

The alchemist and princess moved to the bookshelf the knight had discovered to verify it.

The bookshelf Ralph mentioned was occupied by books with unified colors and covers.

But there was exactly one book with the same cover design but a different color inserted there. Right in the very front of the first shelf.

-This is it, right? Yo?

Olive wrote what she wanted to say on paper and grinned widely.

The guide stood on tiptoes to pull out the differently colored book, but Count Randy blocked her small hand.

When Olive widened her eyes in protest, Count Randy narrowed his eyes and slowly shook his head.

-That’s not it? Yo?

For smooth conversation, the party returned to the lounge again.

“That book just now belongs in that spot.”

“Even though it was the only one with a different color?”

“Index books originally sometimes have slightly different cover colors to make books easier to find.”

“What’s an index book? Yo?”

Count Randy slightly furrowed his brow. He seemed troubled at having to explain from there.

“I’ll give an easy example to understand. Say there’s an herb dictionary with the names, appearance, habitat, and effects of herbs written in it. Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah. Yo.”

“Olive has a headache and wants to find herbs good for headaches. But it would take a long time to find good herbs by reading through all the herb effects one by one.”

“Yeah. Yo.”

“That’s what an index is for. There’s an index section at the back of the dictionary, and if you look up ‘headache’ there, it tells you the page numbers where herbs effective for headaches are written.”

“Oh! That’s great! Convenient! Yo!”

The guide’s face, who had been giving the strange response of “yeah yo,” brightened. She seemed to have finished understanding and organizing it in her head.

Count Randy pointed to the bookshelf where only one book with a different color was inserted.

“All the books on that shelf are history books. When there’s a lot of main content like that, the index gets long too. In such cases, they sometimes collect just the index into a book for easy reference, and that’s an index book.”

“Ahh~ I get it! I understand perfectly! Yo!”

It wasn’t empty words – Olive seemed to truly understand as she threw out an additional question.

“But what do you do when something’s not in the index? Yo?”

“In that case, you usually ask the librarian.”

The group’s gazes simultaneously turned toward the bell that summoned the librarian.

The thick fishy smell and the even thicker scent of blood.

Everyone seemed to recall the monster they’d be afraid to see in their dreams, as an awkward silence lingered.

The young knight’s voice, just past puberty, broke that silence.

“Then that was the right book after all.”

He thought he’d accomplished something, but it was a misunderstanding. Ralph lowered his head with a slightly dejected expression.

Serena shook her head.

“No. Count Ralph got the answer right.”

“What? Weren’t both the classification and arrangement correct?”

“You saw it too, Lady Serena.”

Count Randy seemed to have already found the answer as he smiled slightly.

Serena, who knew what an index book was, discovered the incorrectly placed book while scanning the spines with identical colors, covers, and titles but different subtitles.

“Heuji was founded a thousand years ago. Since it’s arranged from ancient to modern times chronologically, the book should be in the front section, but it was placed near the modern period.”

Ying seemed to have spotted it too, as she strode over with her long legs and pulled the problematic book from the shelf.

Rumble—.

The entire floor shook with a tremendous roar, and then something unbelievable happened before their eyes.

The bookshelf from which the book was pulled fell backward, touching the adjacent bookshelf, and the bookshelves began toppling like dominoes.

The party was shocked by the disaster that seemed like it would immediately summon the librarian, but only briefly.

Not a single book spilled from the bookshelves that fell like dominoes.

The bookshelves didn’t crash to the floor but maintained certain angles, tilting diagonally or floating in the air, creating a path to the upper floor.

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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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