Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 205

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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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205. Reporting Reward

In the quiet library, the bell sound spread far like striking a large bell.

The party trusted the Princess’s decision to call the librarian.

Everyone seemed to believe that Serena had a plan. Of course, Serena did have a plan.

‘Won’t Ying hide us? She tried to help before.’

Serena trusted in the power of darkness.

‘Surely they won’t kill us? Writing about giving rewards on the sign and then going “roar!” would be truly unconscionable.’

If the Shadow Tiger roared, she planned to firmly argue with the Minotaur God about rule violations.

‘If there’s not enough time to argue everything, I’ll use Zero Express to keep arguing.’

The Princess’s resolve wavered slightly as a fishy smell began to drift over.

Even knowing that death wasn’t the end, the instinctive and primal fear was unavoidable.

First, a terrible fishy smell captured the party’s sense of smell.

Next was the smell of blood. The blood from the blood fountain that sprayed blood instead of water was fresh, so the fishy smell was relatively mild.

As creatures with blood flowing through their veins, the unpleasant smell of blood hung low in the air.

“Ugh! Mmph!”

Three gleaming eyes appeared in the shadow of the Young Knight, who was terrified with even his hair standing on end.

Ying covered Ralph’s mouth as he was about to scream.

The three eyes that had been moving freely fixed their positions, and the knight’s shadow transformed from flat to three-dimensional.

Ralph watched in shock, showing the whites of his eyes as a monster emerged from his own shadow.

Grrrowl.

The Shadow Tiger didn’t immediately attack the group. It observed the party with its three eyes while making low growling sounds from its mouth that reeked of rotting blood.

The tiger’s body seemed to have no specific form, rippling as it scattered and thickened like ink dissolved in water.

As Ying had said about wearing glasses, the middle eye was indeed wearing a monocle.

Perhaps due to preconceptions about glasses, the beast’s eye behind the lens looked somewhat intelligent.

“Fox spotted.”

The archer calmly reported the malicious user damaging books to the library librarian.

The three eyes blazing like torches followed the direction Ying pointed and landed on the Book-Eating Fox.

At that moment, the Shadow Tiger’s mouth split into a long grin.

‘Did it smile?’

The Shadow Tiger immediately entered the desk’s shadow and in the blink of an eye, entered the stacks.

When three eyes rolled around in the shadow closest to the Book-Eating Fox, the Book-Eating Fox suddenly stopped eating.

The Book-Eating Fox seemed to sense the tiger’s approach and fled deeper into the stacks. The Shadow Tiger hurriedly chased after the fox.

-Is it gone?

At the Guide’s question, the archer nodded and released the Young Knight whose mouth she had been covering.

The party relaxed and leaned against desks and walls to calm their startled hearts.

-Why doesn’t the Shadow Tiger move to the fox’s shadow?

-The Book-Eating Fox is actually closer to a spirit. Having no substance, it probably has no shadow either.

A spirit! At that word, the fear completely left the Young Knight’s face, which had been terrified.

While priests and mages often have opportunities to encounter them in life, spirits are as rare as fairies.

Ordinary people who have no occasion to encounter spirits generally think of them as mysterious beings formed when power of specific attributes gathers and gains will.

Since public perception was similar to the spirits seen in various media in her previous life, Serena didn’t think much of it either.

But while learning spirit magic theory due to protagonist syndrome, the understanding she had built up from her previous life was completely shattered.

Most spirits in this world come from the spirit realm. Powerful attributes have spirit kings with lower spirits following them, which was similar to her previous understanding, but there was one difference.

‘Who would have thought spirits would be treated as foreign species.’

In a world where gods actually exist, spirits from other worlds are foreign species, and spirit kings are gods from other worlds. In other words, foreign gods.

Perhaps because of this, the existing spirits ranged from the commonly thought four elemental spirits to strange spirits that made you wonder what they were.

The Book-Eating Fox the party had just witnessed was a typical example of the latter type of spirit.

-The Book-Eating Fox was a spirit? This is my first time seeing a spirit!

-Don’t be fooled because it’s cute and pretty~ The cuter they look, the nastier their personality. When we get to the Count’s lobby, will you tell me more? Please? I want to know more since it’s the first time I’ve seen that fox. Please.

-Ask Grey rather than me. I also heard it from Grey.

-You heard about fox monsters while asking the old man? Please?

-That too.

Count Randy took out a small orb from his subspace bag. It was an unidentified orb obtained when Olive dismantled the trap Seraph had set.

-This is an orb containing the Book-Eating Fox’s fox fire. Fox fire is said to burn only its target until the flame goes out.

-Oh! That’s good stuff!

Olive tried to snatch the fox orb from Count Randy’s hand. The Count seemed to anticipate the Guide’s sticky fingers and put the orb in his subspace bag beforehand.

Olive pretended to pout, saying it was just a joke.

-It breaks easily, so I’ll keep it safe.

-Anyway, it’s a useful item. Count Landriole. Can this be obtained in this library?

Fire that could burn only its target. It was extremely useful.

At Count Alpha’s question, Count Randy made a troubled expression.

-The thing is. According to Grey, this orb can only be received as a gift by winning the Book-Eating Fox’s favor. It would be nice if it came as a reward from treasure chests, but it probably can’t be picked up in the library.

‘Favor?’

From what she heard, it seemed like quite a precious item, but Seraph had used it for a trap.

‘Since he knew the orb’s purpose, he used it for a trap. Does he have at least five or more?’

There was no way he would install a trap with an orb if he only had one. It meant he had plenty of spares, but who could have won the fox’s favor to that extent? Serena suddenly became curious.

‘It’s definitely not Seraph. Could it be High Priest Hazel after all? The fox must have also liked High Priest Hazel’s broad and soft embrace.’

Ralph, who loved adventure stories, was slightly excited.

-Maybe the opposite of us reporting the fox to the Shadow Tiger! The Prince and priest’s group might have helped the fox and received it as a gift!

It was a thought worthy of Ralph, who possessed imagination as abundant as a forest where dream and hope fairies appeared.

‘A fox repaying kindness? Is this a folk tale?’

Of course, the adults who had forgotten dreams and hopes and become barren like a desert didn’t agree.

Instead, Count Randy offered a different opinion.

-The Book-Eating Fox is ultimately a fire attribute spirit. Wouldn’t it have given the gift to Knight Marin, who is a Knight of fire?

‘Ah, I missed that.’

It was common sense that fire would get along with fire.

Serena admitted that her vision had narrowed because she couldn’t forget High Priest Hazel’s embrace, as broad and warm as the earth.

‘But it really was warm.’

Being held in Count Alpha’s arms without armor would probably be similarly warm, but she didn’t want that.

‘Lady Alpha would be sad.’

Compared to that, what about High Priest Hazel? No one would be sad if Serena was held in the High Priest’s arms, and if she asked, he would gladly embrace her anytime.

‘I can’t ask because of dignity though.’

-Indeed. The Ashlan child’s learning is excellent.

-Gray Young Master is incredibly smart!

-Of course. Whose handiwork do you think this is.

-Do you know the Ash family?

The Guide grinned. Count Alpha, who was the 5th Prince’s escort knight but still didn’t know the identity of the suddenly appearing attendant, hurriedly asked.

Olive wrote an answer before Count Randy could stop her.

-Black Knight didn’t know either? Please? He’s Duke Pein’s bloodline! Please! Same blood!

Count Alpha’s handsome face was colored with shock.

-Duke Pein’s bloodline. Surely you don’t mean His Grace the Duke has an illegitimate child. Is that what you’re saying?

Count Alpha moved his hands busily while shaking his head to deny Olive’s words.

-That’s impossible. His Grace Duke Pein is a noble person who has loved only his wife his entire life.

-I didn’t lie though? Please? Ask the Count. Please.

Olive, who had thrown a stone into a calm lake causing not just ripples but a tsunami, passed the responsibility to Count Randy.

Count Alpha, thrown into confusion, looked at Count Randy as Olive intended and asked about the truth.

Count Randy waved both hands and then nodded weakly.

-It’s not a lie. Grey is Master’s bloodline.

-Does Lord Willow know? No, you don’t have to answer. I’ll ask directly.

A prince’s attendant parachuted into a diplomatic mission to a foreign country. Even his identity was kept secret from his own escort knight, the prince’s guard.

Count Alpha seemed to have caught on from various clues and didn’t press further.

‘Just tell him the truth. Why hide it even from Count Alpha? He’s not someone who would betray us.’

If left as is, rumors would spread across the entire continent that the Empire’s Grand Mage suffered from the triple set of hemorrhoids, anal fissures, and anal fistulas, and despite being a faithful man who loved only his wife even in the midst of the Empire’s promiscuous social circles, he had secretly cheated to father an illegitimate child and wasn’t content with just that, but had also placed that bastard’s bloodline as his grandson’s attendant, making him an unprecedented piece of trash.

‘I don’t know about the entire continent, but it’s definitely spread throughout the Labyrinth Lobby.’

Among those who knew the truth, a certain someone was deliberately fabricating rumors for entertainment.

‘Even so, they’re hiding too much. Could there be something more they’re concealing besides what’s visible?’

Serena exercised her negative imagination but then stopped. It was another country’s affair anyway.

‘I have my own problems to worry about. Let’s stop.’

Anyway, having survived the terrifying Shadow Tiger, she could focus on exploring the Labyrinth.

Serena turned her head and discovered something unfamiliar on the desk.

‘What’s that?’

On the desk were an ornately decorated key and a piece of paper stamped with a red seal.

When Serena pointed to the desk, Olive immediately grabbed the key first.

-Key! Olive’s!

Count Randy picked up the paper with the red stamp. The Count’s eyebrows rose.

-This is a library membership card. It says you can borrow books and are permitted access to all bookshelves in the library.

Count Randy spread out the membership card nicely for the other party members, especially the Princess, to see.

‘Let’s see. It really says it’s a membership card that allows access to all bookshelves? That’s good.’

The red stamp that had stood out from afar was actually shaped like a cat’s paw print.

-The cat paw print shape is cute.

Ralph seemed to think the same, quietly laughing at the stamped mark, but the Guide looked serious as if asking what they were talking about.

-This is a tiger paw print. Yo.

Seeing that they specifically used a tiger paw print stamp, the one who stamped the membership card was the Shadow Tiger.

‘A monster with unexpected charm.’

The monster itself was terrifying, but it wore glasses as a librarian and even used cute stamps.

Since it properly gave the reward written on the notice board, the fear Serena held toward the Shadow Tiger was somewhat diluted.

-If all bookshelves are accessible, does that mean we can enter this closed-stack bookshelf area too?

Ralph pointed to the stacks where the Shadow Tiger and fox were likely having their chase.

Olive nodded vigorously while spinning the ornately designed key on her palm.

-Of course! They gave us the key too.

The Guide smiled brightly and inserted the key into the keyhole in the door and turned it.

Click.

Click click.

Click click click click click click click click.

The Guide’s hands gripping the key and doorknob gradually applied more force.

After a while, Olive, who had been roughly turning the key, turned her head back.

With bloodshot veins in the whites of her round eyes and her face completely contorted while grinding her teeth, she looked like a killer from a horror movie.

-The key doesn’t fit? Yo?

Kyaaaaaaak!

The Guide who had delivered shocking news to the party couldn’t contain her anger and exploded.

Kyaaang! Kyaaaaaaak!

Olive tore at her black olive-colored curly hair while silently raging.

From her rapidly moving lips, Serena roughly guessed the content.

‘This is supposed to be a reward? How is a key that doesn’t fit a reward! Is sparing our lives enough?!’

That was it.

‘She has a right to be angry.’

Serena understood the Guide’s fury.

Having received a key in front of a locked door, anyone would naturally think it was the matching key, but it wasn’t?

‘It’s just mocking us.’

-Miss Olive, please calm down! If it’s you, Miss Olive, you can open that door even without a key!

-Count Ralph is right. Please calm down.

-Of course! Yo! I’ll pick this kind of door in an instant!

Since they had the membership card, there was no worry about being mistaken for thieves. Olive inserted lock-picking tools into the keyhole and fiddled around.

True to her boast, the door opened in an instant.

The Guide snorted triumphantly and threw the door wide open.

Assault Team 1 carefully stepped into the stacks.

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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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