Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 20

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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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20. The One in a Hundred Thousand Man (3)

When an escort knight leaves their charge and returns, they should naturally report first. But Sir Lucas didn’t do that.

“What’s in the cart?”

“Things I sell. Children’s toys and decorations and…”

“What else besides that?”

“Just a few things for camping.”

“Take out everything useful. Everyone else too, if you have any useful items or food, take them all out.”

‘Oh, look at that guy.’

Serena was surprised to see Sir Lucas arbitrarily taking people’s belongings.

Actually, Serena had wanted to tell Krom to take out everything in the cart every time he kept pulling something out.

‘I couldn’t because I was afraid of getting stabbed with a pitchfork.’

Was this the difference between someone confident in their martial prowess during emergencies and someone who wasn’t?

Sir Lucas freely violated the property rights that Serena had respected.

‘But this is a bit too much.’

Separately, Sir Lucas’s attitude continued to rub Serena the wrong way. She especially didn’t like how he treated Krom.

Fine, he could be wary of Lavenda since she was a foreigner, and treat Ralph like a subordinate since he was a soldier.

Krom was just an ordinary commoner. He was even the eldest and weakest of the group, so he deserved consideration.

Serena couldn’t provide that consideration due to her lack of ability, but wasn’t Sir Lucas capable? Yet Sir Lucas treated Krom too roughly.

‘Hmm. Is this a medieval fantasy world thing? I can’t tell if that’s normal or excessive.’

The royal family was already small in number. Among them, she was the only woman.

Serena had been raised being pampered even by high nobles. Even nobles who looked down on her because of her parents still treated Serena as someone to be overprotected.

Being a hothouse flower, she hadn’t even heard rumors about what it was like outside the greenhouse. The common knowledge she had mostly came from her previous life.

She had moved around freely after becoming an adult, but still lacked social experience. She knew noble society and a bit about commoners’ lives, but didn’t know how nobles treated commoners.

‘I’ve seen knights arbitrarily taking things in novels, but was that real? Still, they should at least respect the elderly. Krom is such a capable grandmother.’

Since Krom had been so protective of the cart, Serena expected him to grumble behind their backs. But unlike with Serena, Krom earnestly bent his stiff back and bowed without making a peep.

“Oh my, we must do as the knight says.”

‘He had some cunning sides to him.’

It might be wisdom gained from living fifty years.

Sir Lucas turned Krom’s cart upside down and took all the food. Even the candy that Ralph’s sister-in-law had packed telling him to stop eating so much. Even the notebook he took from Lavenda without giving her time to hide customer information.

“What’s this?”

“Aroma incense! It’s a luxury product for noble customers. There’s an ingredient list too!”

‘Ah, so that was it.’

Serena realized the identity of the sweet, familiar scent she had smelled when she woke from that strange dream.

The aroma incense package said 2 hours. It meant one would burn for 2 hours.

‘They were going to burn that and take 2-hour shifts.’

What good did it do? Everyone fell fast asleep anyway.

Sir Lucas found the incense useful and took it.

Then trouble erupted while he was checking Ralph’s equipment.

“Soldier. Where are your shield and dagger?”

“I will correct this!”

“Maintaining equipment is a soldier’s duty! I ask again. Where are your shield and dagger? Signal flares and whistle should be basic equipment too?”

‘Oh no, Ralph.’

If he had made an excuse about dropping them during the earthquake, that would have been reasonable, but Ralph recycled the same excuse he had given Serena.

“I’m sorry! Working around the clock! Without breaks! I left them at home!”

Smack!

“You call that an excuse!”

Serena’s one eye widened. Sir Lucas had hit Ralph. Without even removing his gauntlet!

Ralph staggered but stood at attention again. Blood was on his lips.

“I’m sorry!”

Right now, Ralph’s head was probably filled with nothing but the thought that they mustn’t be found out. If discovered, the moment they got outside, the Hanson brothers would face execution and the entire District 7 Security Force would be punished.

Perhaps because of that, Ralph didn’t make more excuses and consistently stuck to just apologizing.

“You are a proud member of Heuji City’s Security Force! You’re serving royalty now, so get your act together!”

“Yes! Understood!”

‘That royalty is right here watching with wide eyes?’

Having finished establishing discipline, Sir Lucas approached the fountain where Serena and Philia were. Serena deliberately stared at him. Sir Lucas bowed his head at a slight distance from Serena.

“I apologize for showing you an unpleasant sight. However, given the situation, I had to teach those who don’t understand the importance of their duties.”

“I understand. But please refrain from violence.”

“Princess, you may not know this, but.”

‘Why start with that phrase?’

“Such people don’t listen immediately when you just talk to them. If it’s unpleasant to watch, I’ll teach them where you can’t see.”

‘This medieval knight mindset is really driving me crazy. Usually when knights like this appear, the protagonist treats commoners kindly with modern common sense and the commoners are moved – that’s the cliché…’

Those novel protagonists were monsters who could punch bears to death. It was impossible for Serena, who would become a bear’s snack.

‘Let’s wait. Once he learns this is a labyrinth, not a mausoleum, he’ll restrain himself. He’ll need the manpower.’

“How did your inspection of the mausoleum go?”

“It will take a bit more time. Don’t worry. Princess, Countess. I will definitely protect you both.”

“Did you happen to see anything strange?”

“What kind of thing do you mean?”

“Rats about this big.”

When Serena roughly sketched the size of a Labyrinth Rat, Sir Lucas was flustered.

“Don’t tell me those rats appeared here too? Are you unharmed?”

“Rats? There were rats here, Lady Serena?”

“I only saw one running that way. Anyway, you’ve seen rats this big?”

“Yes. I’m truly sorry to tell you this, but…”

Sir Lucas looked troubled. Knowing this was supposed to be a mausoleum, it would be awkward to tell the tomb’s descendant that rats were running around.

“Rats the size you saw, Princess, several of them are wandering around. Fortunately, the inside of the mausoleum is clean. It seems the earthquake connected it to a nearby rat den.”

“Did you see anything else besides that?”

Like treasure chests or herb gardens.

“I did discover some traps, but I didn’t find anything else notable.”

If only he had found treasure chests, it would have been easy to tell him this was a labyrinth, but unfortunately Sir Lucas had only seen Labyrinth Rats and traps before returning.

“You must be very anxious, but please trust me and wait.”

Sir Lucas said this and handed Serena and Philia each a piece of candy. It was the candy he had taken from Ralph.

‘This isn’t comforting crying children. What is this? If you’re going to give some, give it all, not one piece each? Are you kidding?’

Serena didn’t eat the candy and put it in Philia’s pocket. Fortunately, it was individually wrapped.

***

As time passed, the lobby gradually grew darker. Evening had come.

“Isn’t it getting a bit dim?”

“It’s gotten dark.”

People who didn’t know the lobby’s lighting changed with day and night were confused. Sir Lucas hurriedly ordered them to light a fire. Serena created light with magic to prevent wasting firewood.

“I can create light, so don’t worry. For drinking water, use this instead of the fountain water.”

Serena instructed Krom to put ice in the pot.

“You can use magic?”

Sir Lucas’s eyes showed interest. Serena said nothing, but Philia cleared her throat and stepped forward.

“Didn’t you know? Our Lady Serena was famous among the royal mages as a magical genius. Everyone guaranteed she would achieve greatness if she seriously pursued the path of magic. If she hadn’t lost interest in magic, she would have become a great mage with renown like the Empire’s Archmage.”

“The Countess exaggerates. I can only use those two – light orb creation and ice generation.”

“What? Light orb aside, isn’t ice generation a 3rd-tier spell?”

“If you don’t use magic often, your skills deteriorate. Since learning ice magic, I’ve had no occasion to use anything else.”

“3rd-tier at your age, Princess. That’s remarkable.”

“Don’t be surprised by just this. Lady Serena learned this magic.”

Actually, she had learned it when she was even younger. Serena elbowed Philia in the side to stop her from revealing information to boast about her master.

When the master touches her side, she should keep her mouth shut. Philia, who hadn’t forgotten the rules she memorized to become Serena’s maid, mumbled her words.

“Hmm. You use it very well.”

***

Krom broke sculptures and toys to make firewood, just like before. This time he didn’t receive any gold coins.

Since Lucas didn’t bring back any rat carcasses, their entire food supply consisted of the small amount of dried provisions and grain Krom had been carrying, plus Ralph’s jerky snacks.

Krom agonized over the insufficient ingredients, then put them in a pot and boiled them thoroughly. His intention was to increase the quantity by making them swell.

The oat porridge he made this way was only given to Serena, Philia, and Lucas. There were no portions for Krom who made the porridge, Lavenda who helped beside him, or Ralph who stood guard.

‘They want only us to eat? How could I swallow this food?’

Serena stirred the thin porridge with the wooden spoon Krom had carved.

“It may be difficult for Your Highness to eat, but there’s no choice. Please bear with it a little.”

Somehow understanding Serena’s uncomfortable mood, Lucas spoke. He had completely misunderstood.

Or perhaps he saw Serena as that type of person.

“Are they fine not eating?”

“They ate dried provisions with me while searching the mausoleum.”

“Really? That’s a relief. But Lavenda stayed here with me and couldn’t eat anything.”

“I’m fine!”

Called by name, Lavenda startled and waved her hands frantically. Her face looked so desperate that Serena didn’t say more on this topic.

“Lucas. About the mausoleum.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Though this place has grown dark, the interior is equally bright, so we plan to explore again after a brief rest.”

“As I know, there are mausoleums where the lighting is synchronized with the sun’s position. This place seems to be like that, so it must be night now.”

Lucas took a moment to gauge the time. Unfortunately, this person also didn’t have a watch. Serena wondered if there might be a clock in the shop or gacha window and opened only her left eye.

There wasn’t one.

‘How petty. They could at least include a clock.’

Lucas, having finished his rough time calculation, answered.

“The time matches. You’re right, Your Highness.”

“Everyone must be shocked and tired, so it would be better to rest and move tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, since Your Highness must be tired, we’ll do that.”

“Also, if this is a mausoleum, there’s a high possibility of communication devices in the antechamber. Even if there aren’t any, since Countess Randy has a communication device, we should be able to use it once we reach the antechamber.”

“That’s right! There was a communication device!”

Philia, who had completely forgotten about the communication device in her worry about Serena’s sudden strangeness, brightened up. She hurriedly took out the communication device, but as expected, it didn’t work.

Serena explained that, like before, mausoleums blocked communication device connections except in the antechamber.

“We can get out?”

The eyes of the people who had been listless from hunger sparkled. The hope that they could escape breathed life into them.

Lucas also brightened up. He reached out his hand toward Philia.

“If you give me the communication device, I’ll find the antechamber and contact the outside.”

“This is exclusively for Countess Randy, so others can’t use it.”

Serena blocked Philia and lied. Actually, others could use it too, but what did it matter if they knew?

As long as Philia maintained her silence, no one would know, and Philia would never betray Serena.

“That’s right. This is exclusive to my husband and me, so no one else can use it.”

Indeed, Philia went along with Serena’s lie. Though she lacked awareness, she was quite skilled at lies that benefited herself and her master.

“I see… Then I’ll guide Countess Randy there as soon as we find the antechamber.”

“Rather than that, let’s all move together starting tomorrow. I’ve been thinking while waiting here, and after all, wouldn’t I know mausoleums best?”

“That won’t do. It’s too dangerous.”

“Couldn’t you protect me?”

“If I had other companions it might be possible, but I can’t do it alone.”

Lucas spoke firmly, then rolled his eyes and asked carefully.

“Your Highness. Your attitude is very different from usual. Are you perhaps hiding something from me?”

“Isn’t this your first time escorting me?”

“Even so, I’ve seen and heard things.”

Lucas pointed out Serena’s change in attitude. It must have seemed strange for a princess who loved to play and order others around to volunteer to step forward herself.

“Do you perhaps see things that aren’t there or hear voices?”

“No.”

Finding it strange, the first thing that came up was suspicion of onset. Lucas narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

To prevent further waste of time, Serena threw a direct question.

“Do you happen to know about labyrinths?”

“Labyrinths, you mean? I don’t know much in detail. I’ve heard they’re dangerous dungeons. But the rewards are correspondingly generous… Your Highness. Don’t tell me?”

“That’s right. I suspect this place might be a labyrinth rather than a mausoleum.”

The princess presented a possibility. In a class-based society, the correct response was to praise the princess’s words as right first, whether you agreed or not. Opposition should come after that.

“That’s not it.”

Lucas put opposition first. It could have been understood favorably if he had ended there, but unnecessary words followed.

“Your Highness may not know well, but labyrinths are not such common places. This place is definitely a mausoleum.”

‘This bastard. Whatever I say, he opposes it. Is he from Richard’s faction?’

Of all the random knights to pick, why did it have to be someone from Duke Oren’s faction? Serena pondered how she could get involved in conquering the labyrinth.

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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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