Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 217

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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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217. Ralph is in His Growth Phase

To cut to the conclusion, the first-string assault team without Ralph couldn’t reach the 35th floor leader’s chamber and was wiped out.

There’s no grave without excuses. Serena had many things she wanted to say, but she narrowed down the cause to one thing.

‘It’s my fault.’

On the 35th floor, Minotaurs and Goblins formed parties and came out together.

While the others dealt with the Goblins, Serena should have delivered the decisive blow to the Minotaur, but her concentration was scattered and she couldn’t do it.

Without time for self-reflection, the Princess faced the Minotaur God.

Serena continued the conversation from just before.

“What does it mean that Richard wants everyone to die? Please grant your teachings to me, who lacks knowledge and wisdom.”

Serena’s head was throbbing painfully just from watching one Young Knight die, so what on earth was Richard thinking?

Did he have no human heart? Or had the pain lasted so long that he didn’t even know he was in pain?

“It means exactly what I said. That child wishes for everyone’s death.”

“Does that ‘everyone’ include the great beings who reside in heaven?”

Serena had a somewhat philosophical conversation with the Grand Priest of Earth on the 5th layer.

The Grand Priest said her enlightenment was still lacking and told her to forget it, but.

‘After saying something so meaningful like that. How can I forget.’

Was this foreshadowing finally being resolved?

Unfortunately, the Minotaur God only smiled gently and didn’t open his mouth.

He seemed to have no intention of talking about other gods at all.

‘His silence on such an important question means I should understand it however I want, right?’

Even when Serena deliberately had impudent thoughts, the god’s closed mouth didn’t budge.

The Princess was about to ask another question when she blinked and the ugly statue was before her eyes. She had regressed.

‘Isn’t this a bit faster than usual?’

It might have been her imagination, but the time alone with the Minotaur God seemed to have ended a bit quickly.

‘Did he kick me out because he didn’t want to answer?’

She desperately wanted to die and argue about it, but since that would only be Serena’s loss, she didn’t.

Instead, the Princess began the self-reflection she had postponed.

“You shouldn’t carelessly pick mushrooms.”

“Duri knows everything, so it’s fine.”

“Mmm.”

‘My concentration was scattered. How pathetic.’

She had gone down to the 35th floor saying she needed to gather as much information as possible, but died in the first crossroads battle.

She didn’t obtain any necessary information and only increased her fatigue.

‘After acting all cool, how truly pathetic.’

The Young Knight’s death became a headache for the Princess in a different way from the Mysterious Stranger.

Serena pressed her throbbing head and watched Ralph, the source of her headache, to relieve the pain.

Ralph had died, but now he was alive.

His freckled face was full of color as he laughed happily while eating grilled rat meat.

The sight of someone who had died now alive and eating was a great comfort to the Princess. Her throbbing headache became much lighter.

‘This time, don’t let your guard down and come back alive to eat beef, Ralph.’

Serena deliberately thought lightly, then bit her lip.

‘Admit it, Serena. Ralph wasn’t careless.’

There was no way the innocent Young Knight would be careless when fighting monsters he had once experienced the terror of.

Ralph had done his best.

‘Is it a lack of strength?’

The Princess re-examined the ratings of the first-string assault team.

Guide 4-star, Archer 4-star, Alchemist 5-star, Knight 4-star, and Ralph was 3-star.

Serena didn’t know her own star rating, but as the only combat mage, she couldn’t be excluded from the party even if her rating was low. She had no intention of being excluded anyway.

Serena recalled how Lucas fought when facing the Minotaur. He fought quite well with tenacious spirit.

‘Right. Ralph can do it too. This time he just had bad luck.’

Ralph was a growing Knight with 5-star potential. With steady training and accumulated experience, he could become a brilliant 5-star Knight.

There were many, many factors blocking Ralph’s growth.

‘He hasn’t finished all his knight lessons, he’s young so his physical growth is still in progress, and he has the least experience. But being 3-star is amazing.’

His body would grow on its own, he was accumulating experience in the labyrinth, and he could learn the lacking lessons from others.

Serena called out to the muscle trio who were going for their post-dinner evening exercise.

“Instead of just doing strength training, wouldn’t you sometimes look after Count Ralph’s swordsmanship? If it’s difficult to teach swordsmanship because your weapons are different, how about taking turns having realistic sparring matches?”

“Ah! I wanted to ask for that too!”

Low and Count Alpha were 4-star. Even just sparring would make Ralph’s skills grow rapidly.

“Then today we’ll just do basic exercises and try sparring. And as for swordsmanship.”

The Imperial Knight’s dark green eyes turned toward somewhere in the lobby.

“Lord Willow’s skills are far superior to mine. If Your Highness the Grand Princess requests it, he would gladly accept.”

Serena turned her head to look where Count Alpha’s gaze reached. Prince Willow was pondering a new seasoning combination.

‘Him?’

Prince Willow and Ralph were both 3-star, the same level.

Considering that Prince Willow could use magic, it didn’t seem like the Prince’s swordsmanship would be superior to Ralph’s.

‘This is the problem with class society. Use a little magic and you’re Grand Mage material, swing a sword a bit and you’re a future Sword Master.’

“The Prince has mobility issues, so it’s difficult to ask him carelessly. I’ll set aside a day to clear the lobby and ask him.”

“This is a presumptuous request, but if possible, couldn’t you ask the great being in heaven to lift Lord Willow’s curse?”

Serena shook her head. She was truly sorry, but this was something that couldn’t be solved even with regression.

“I see. Then would it be alright to request expanding the lobby or equipment to help His Lordship’s physical training? His limited range of activity seems to have greatly reduced his stamina.”

“That seems like something he would grant. I’ll make the request during my next prayer.”

“I sincerely thank you.”

Count Alpha led Ralph not to the herb garden but to a suitable clearing.

“Before sparring, I’d like to observe Count Hanson’s basic sword forms. When finished, I’ll show you my axe’s basic forms.”

“Yes!”

Ralph answered energetically and demonstrated the basic sword forms he learned from his Master.

In return, Count Alpha showed an axe technique demonstration, then formal sparring began.

In the labyrinth with no entertainment, the two Knights’ sparring was sufficiently interesting to watch even without blood flying.

Everyone except Prince Willow, who was trapped in the lobby and couldn’t come out, and Countess Nex, who was still unwell, came out to watch Ralph and Count Alpha’s sparring.

Actually, because the difference in skill and experience was clear, it was closer to a real weapons lesson than sparring.

After one round of mixing sword and axe, Count Alpha earnestly praised Ralph’s sword.

“Excellent swordsmanship. Among those Count Hanson’s age, none could match you.”

“You flatter me.”

Whether the praise sounded good, Ralph maintained a humble posture while grinning broadly.

However. The nobles of this world start with praise no matter what they say. Count Alpha, whose family was good enough to serve as the Prince’s escort, was no different.

“However. Count Hanson’s sword lacks many things.”

“Ah!”

“Black Knight! Please go easy on the truth attacks!”

Olive sat comfortably while cracking pumpkin seeds that Prince Willow had roasted for her.

For the Guide, what was about to unfold was the main event rather than the sparring.

“What you lack must be recognized and filled by yourself. But this is a labyrinth and Count Hanson lacks time for that, so I’ll ask just one thing.”

The Knight, whose face looked like it would make the sound of desert winds but whose personality was serious, asked the flustered Young Knight.

“Who is Count Hanson’s enemy?”

“Huh? My, my enemy is…”

“You can’t answer immediately because you don’t know your enemy. Count Hanson, what do you draw your sword for?”

“Of course to protect the Princess and weak people…”

“Protect from what? Terrifying monsters that threaten the world? Evil villains who oppress the weak? Secret assassins who threaten the Princess?”

Ralph listened to the senior Knight’s examples and answered energetically.

“All of them!”

“That’s impossible.”

Count Alpha cut down his junior knight’s spirited answer with a single stroke.

“Count Hanson’s sword is one. You can’t cut everything. So Count Hanson must decide which enemy he most wants to cut.”

Count Alpha furrowed his brow.

“Huji is a prosperous and peaceful country. There are no external invasions, and with few monsters, knightly swordsmanship developed for the purpose of protecting dignitaries rather than fighting monsters. Count Hanson likely fell into the labyrinth having learned only anti-personnel swordsmanship and gained real combat experience against monsters. In my humble opinion, Count Hanson’s exceptional talent seems to have become poison instead.”

“Why is having talent poison?”

“Shh. If you just listen, you’ll at least get somewhere.”

“Count Hanson must have learned many things on his own through real combat with monsters. The practical swordsmanship he acquired that way isn’t mixing at all with the existing swordsmanship he learned. At this rate, his growth will soon be blocked and he’ll become neither here nor there. So before that happens.”

Count Alpha, who had been beating down Ralph without giving him a moment to breathe, delivered his final truth attack.

“Choose your enemy. This is a labyrinth, but you may choose humans as your enemy. There are quite a few humanoid monsters, and a sword that knows its enemy is a hundred times better than a sword that doesn’t.”

Ralph hadn’t been speaking for some time now. I wondered if he had died from the truth attack being too strong, but it was needless worry.

Ralph’s face was clearly red. Red all the way to his ear tips, with tears hanging at the corners of his eyes as if embarrassed.

But he wasn’t broken.

“Precious advice! Thank you! I’ll engrave it in my heart!”

Ralph shouted in a booming voice that could shake the 1st Floor of the labyrinth. The Guide, who had been eating pumpkin seeds, was impressed.

“Our knight has good stamina too~”

“I should be the one thanking you. My words must have been grating to your ears, but thank you for listening seriously. And I also offer my gratitude to Her Highness the Grand Princess. Thank you for arranging this opportunity.”

Count Alpha gracefully offered an Imperial-style greeting. Ralph respectfully showed courtesy in the Huji style.

“Thank you, Princess!”

“What did I even do? I’m more grateful that Count Alpha gave Count Ralph such sincere advice.”

It wasn’t empty words. I was truly grateful. Count Alpha had given Ralph an even greater teaching than Serena had expected.

‘You right now. Are you trembling?’

Ralph’s two gray stars. One of them was trembling fiercely like an egg about to hatch.

‘Just a little more! You can do it! Keep going!’

Our boy can become a 5-star knight! He has the potential!

Encouraged by the Princess’s silent cheering, the violently trembling gray star suddenly stopped moving.

Then it irregularly trembled and stopped repeatedly.

‘Ah! So close!’

It was just one step short. Just one step short for the gray star to break and a yellow star to hatch.

But the summit was near. The day when 3-star Ralph would become 4-star Ralph was approaching.

‘Save!’

You might ask, couldn’t I just arrange another sparring match if I regress?

Hoping for such an opportunity to repeat exactly the same way would be greedy. Since this differs from that, who knows how the results might change.

Serena excitedly tapped the statue while avoiding others’ eyes.

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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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