Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 242

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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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242. Effort

“Princess. This person is indeed one who serves a great being.”

High Priest Hazel vouched for the words of the one who had introduced himself as a priest.

Though the timing of their encounter was coincidental, they couldn’t ignore a life that had yet to commit any wrongdoing.

“Quickly take him to the mountain hut.”

When the Princess, who had gone outside to relieve herself, returned to the mountain hut with a person in tow, everyone was greatly surprised.

Serena first seated the patient by the fire and gave him warm water and new clothes.

The Effort Priest quickly recovered his body temperature and was able to move, despite having been buried in snow.

“It is because Bindo made an effort.”

The Effort Priest introduced himself with a much calmer complexion and tone.

“Bindo is a slave of Effort. Thank you for saving the worthless life of Bindo.”

“What is your name?”

At Serena’s question, the Effort Priest rubbed his head. The Effort Priest didn’t have a single hair on his head. Unlike Low who had shaved his head artificially, this was natural baldness.

“A name is too much for a slave. Effort calls Bindo ‘Baldy,’ so please call me that.”

‘Effort calls him Baldy. That means he’s had direct conversations with the deity.’

He had seemed extraordinary since his five yellow stars appeared above his head, and it seemed the bald priest held considerable status.

At the appearance of a new high priest, all the priests tensed up, and Count Randy and Count Alpha, who understood the implications, also wore more serious expressions.

Of course, there were those who didn’t understand the implications. Low’s expression became more menacing as he was frightened by the addition of a stranger, and Duri just tilted her head while sniffing.

And Seraph, who would become the future king of Heuji.

“How dare you give evasive answers when Heuji royalty asks for your name? Do you think that being a priest makes you completely transcendent from earthly authority?”

He mistakenly thought the bald high priest was ignoring royal authority and became angry.

“Heh heh heh, it’s a misunderstanding. Bindo answered thus because he is a tool of Effort that needs no name.”

Serena didn’t stop Seraph. The bald high priest’s attitude was indeed somewhat arrogant.

‘Even High Priest Hazel is polite and courteous.’

Even the High Priest of Earth, who serves a deity of high rank and whose religious order itself is powerful, is so polite and humble.

Yet this High Priest of Effort, whose religious order’s existence was questionable, only claimed to be a slave in words but didn’t act like he considered himself a slave at all.

With his thin frame and gaunt face giving him a pitiful and unattractive appearance, his boldness before royalty left a poor impression.

“Don’t you think your attitude is arrogant toward your life’s benefactor?”

When Serena scolded the bald high priest for his rudeness, the pitiful baldy chuckled.

“While it’s true that the Princess saved Bindo, wasn’t that also because Bindo didn’t give up and requested salvation? It’s thanks to Bindo’s effort.”

‘I’m the one who saved him, yet he praises his god?’

She had thought to recruit him into the party since he was a 5-star priest, but immediately canceled that idea.

‘I need to observe him a bit more.’

Unlike Serena, who decided to cautiously observe the bald high priest, Seraph directly attacked the high priest.

“Hmph! Even with all your effort, your hair didn’t grow back, did it?”

‘Oh no. Making fun of his baldness upon first meeting.’

Not only Serena but others were also shocked. Surprisingly, the bald high priest didn’t get angry and chuckled.

“Heh heh heh. A slave of Effort shouldn’t say such things, but as the Prince said, my hair didn’t grow despite my efforts.”

The Effort Priest stroked his shiny, smooth natural baldness and gazed wistfully at Seraph’s abundant golden hair.

“Bindo’s hair started falling out around the Prince’s age…”

The story was so tragic and sad that both men and women fell silent. Seraph was startled and covered his abundant hair.

“Is it a curse? If you cursed my hair to fall out, I’ll never forgive you!”

“Heh heh heh, Bindo just recalled how he came to know the great Effort.”

He had come to believe in the god of Effort while trying to hold onto his falling hair, yet despite his efforts he couldn’t prevent baldness, and the god even calls him Baldy. It was a strange story.

“I understand that the bald priest serves the great Effort. However, I don’t recall seeing you at Heuji Royal Palace. Where have you been?”

While the two teenage royals were distracted by the stimulating topic of natural baldness and teenage hair loss, High Priest Hazel focused on uncovering the baldy’s identity. He had deep experience.

“Heh heh, Bindo didn’t come to Heuji as a congratulatory envoy. Diligently.”

“Diligently?”

“I came to enjoy the festival. I made an effort to secure an inn room whose reservation was canceled and was unpacking when suddenly it became snowy mountains.”

The bald high priest who had come for fun and got stranded in the snowy mountains fortunately fell into the Labyrinth with his luggage bag. He put on all the clothes he had and moved toward the summit.

When Serena asked why, his answer was a masterpiece.

“Isn’t the summit more rewarding for one’s efforts than the middle slopes?”

“Sigh. How many days have you been in the Labyrinth?”

“It must have been over a week. There’s some margin of error since I was unconscious for a while.”

Even without monsters attacking first, the 10th Layer has harsh environmental conditions. Even for a 5-star high priest wearing layers of clothing, it would have been a difficult journey.

“You survived remarkably well.”

“It’s because I made an effort.”

“How did you maintain your body temperature?”

“I maintained it through effort.”

Everything the bald high priest said ended with effort.

Tomorrow they needed to go to the mountain summit to check on the powerful enemy, but the appearance of an uninvited guest delayed bedtime. The night watch order had been decided in advance. Serena declared rest time.

“Everyone must be tired, so let’s sleep now.”

“I’ll excuse myself to recover with maximum effort.”

The bald high priest, being a patient, lay down in the warmest spot they had assigned him and fell asleep.

Seraph stared at the baldy with an expression of ‘What kind of priest is this?’ then gave Serena a meaningful look.

“You saved him, so you take responsibility.”

“Aren’t you lonely being the only man in the party? He’s also a priest, so how about taking him along?”

The siblings pushed the baldy onto each other until they fell asleep from exhaustion.

***

The next day dawned. The natural baldy declared he had made an effort to recover his condition and would follow them to the summit.

“Are you really alright? There’s a possibility of combat with a powerful enemy.”

“I’ll make an effort to be helpful.”

“Your body isn’t fully recovered yet, so staying at the mountain hut would be…”

Rihua was worried about the natural baldy. Seraph scoffed.

“Leave him be. But if he becomes a burden, we’re abandoning him.”

“I’ll make an effort not to be a burden.”

Serena looked at the yellow stars above the natural baldy’s head. With a full 5 stars, he must have something to rely on.

“Then I’ll clear the path. Great Earth! Please watch over us who depend on you!”

When High Priest Hazel used divine magic, the snow-covered slope became stairs.

“Whoa! Crazy!”

It was such an amazing miracle that even the shy hunter broke his silence. Seeing this, Seraph mocked the fake baldy.

“You claim to be an experienced Labyrinth Adventurer, but your knowledge seems lacking? To be surprised by something like this.”

Low shut his mouth and stiffened his facial muscles at the unfamiliar prince’s mockery. In Low’s mind, he was being shy, but Seraph, who didn’t know the timid hunter’s nature, was indignant thinking Low had scowled at him.

“Are you daring to get angry at my words right now? How insolent!”

Low kept his mouth tightly shut and moved behind Ying. This was also Low’s way of running away, but Seraph thought he was being ignored and raised his voice.

“How dare you ignore what a prince is saying!”

Serena pressed her forehead seeing her sibling who was always angry like a chihuahua. She had thought he might have grown a little, but his personality was still trash.

“Let’s go.”

At the Princess’s single word, not only Serena’s party but also the priests all moved at once. Seraph seemed displeased by this too, frowning his pretty face before silently climbing the stairs.

The hunter who had been hiding behind the archer leaped several steps at once to take the lead. Seraph also climbed the stairs diligently to move to the front.

The guides of the two parties met on the stairs. It would be good if they cooperated. Low, lacking confidence to handle the angry prince, leaped across the stairs again to claim the lead.

Seraph, unwilling to tolerate the hunter going ahead of him, stepped on the stairs diligently, but the difference in stamina was unavoidable.

The prince panted and then picked up speed with venom in his eyes. Seeing the prince chasing after him, Low was horrified and fled.

‘Why is he wasting energy on the stairs?’

Why was he depleting the stamina he had recovered by even taking bitter medicine?

Since there were stairs, there was no need to connect the party with rope, but the slightly scattered formation became a mess as the two guides competed.

“Low!”

The hunter seized the opportunity from the Princess’s scolding and came down like lightning. Serena spoke to the hunter while breathing heavily.

“Give the lead to Seraph.”

“Is that really alright? He’s a prince.”

Low seemed worried about entrusting guidance to a prince from a country without labyrinths, not like the Empire where royalty enters labyrinths as their duty.

“I understand your concerns. But Seraph has served as guide from the 3rd to 10th layers and has already experienced reaching the summit. You don’t need to stubbornly hold the lead.”

“Huff, huff, the Princess is right. The Prince is good at finding paths. He’s even better at finding treasure chests.”

Priest Rihua spent her precious breath vouching for the Prince’s skills. With the Prince’s party member saying this, Low abandoned his worries.

Instead, perhaps to resolve his doubts, he questioned the Princess.

“But is it okay to make stairs like this? Isn’t this violating labyrinth mechanics?”

“Huff, huff. Th-that’s also what High Priest Hazel said was fine. Even ordinary mountains have. Huff. Hiking trails made into stairs.”

Though Priest Rihua answered with difficulty as if about to collapse, Low couldn’t even say thank you and hunched his broad shoulders.

The hunter frowned, seemingly displeased with himself for not being able to express gratitude. Seeing his fierce expression, Priest Rihua froze in surprise.

Low bowed his head repeatedly then ran back up the stairs. Serena swallowed a sigh and comforted the startled priest of light.

“He’s not angry, just shy, so please understand.”

Perhaps due to overexertion at the beginning. Despite Seraph sweating profusely even in the cold weather, the first to reach the summit was ultimately Duri.

Downhill might be different. But uphill, bipedal locomotion couldn’t beat quadrupedal locomotion.

“Woof!”

The black bear, whose massive frame appeared even more gigantic against the snow, looked down at the group from atop the stairs. It was so threatening that a stranger might mistake it for the 10th layer boss.

The party caught their breath watching the gradually disappearing stairs, and without time to savor the joy of reaching the summit, headed toward where the labyrinth’s real stairs were located.

Everyone who saw the cave entrance where the stairs were located let out sighs.

“Still.”

Massive ice completely blocked the cave entrance. The ice’s identity was a coiled snake. A giant snake that looked carved from ice was blocking the cave entrance.

“It looks very strong.”

“Fighting it would be dangerous.”

As Count Alpha and Count Randy clicked their tongues in admiration, Muffin suggested another possibility.

“Ugh. At first we thought so too. But it’s just staying still even though it saw us. Maybe it also turned from snow to ice and can’t move.”

“It stayed still even when I threw a punch at it.”

A snow snake is not an ice snake. It manipulates snow to protect its body, but doesn’t know how to control ice. The snow snake was trapped in ice.

‘Was this one also a victim.’

Serena observed the giant ice snake with a deflated gaze. There should be a small snake somewhere in the opaque ice, but it wasn’t visible because the ice distorted light and was opaque.

“Knight Marin.”

The fire knight struck the ice snake with his axe and breathed fire. The ice melted little by little, but the effect was minimal, perhaps due to insufficient firepower.

Knight Marin retrieved his axe and trudged back to the group.

“Ugh. If only Knight Marin hadn’t spoken.”

As Muffin muttered gloomily, Knight Marin’s lips twitched before he barely managed to close them. He seemed to have so much he wanted to say.

“Fire, huh. You used fox orbs for the 8th layer trap – have you tried fox orbs?”

“Perhaps because it’s otherworldly power, they were quickly extinguished by the cold.”

“Tsk. Useless spirit. Helped for nothing.”

“Yet Seraph found it the cutest.”

“I never found it cute!”

When Seraph protested, Muffin shrugged and ignored him.

“The Book-Eating Fox spirit was affectionate toward Seraph?”

Serena’s party couldn’t go to the library to borrow books because they made enemies with the fox spirit, but the sibling’s party had the fox acting cute. Muffin explained in summary.

“As soon as it saw Seraph, it ran over acting cute. It was like a pet.”

“Ah! I’ve read about this in books! Spirits have high aesthetic standards, but are weak to beauties who meet their criteria.”

“Hmm. If it acts like that seeing Seraph, it would become a servant seeing Philia.”

“Huff, huff, Serena! Will you take your wife to the library? Huff!”

At the Count’s question, Serena firmly shook her head. If she gave even one opportunity to Philia, who was already constantly looking for chances to follow Serena, she would continue seeking second chances. Weed sprouts had to be pulled out by the roots as soon as they were discovered.

“Absolutely not. Count and others, watch your words too.”

Count Randy, who valued his wife more than books, nodded with a resolute expression.

The Priest of Corruption sighed while rubbing his fist.

“It was shocking that fox orbs didn’t work. Since it’s ice that doesn’t rot, fire is the only solution. Do we have to wait another week like this? Sob. Princess, you’ll stay with us, right?”

Muffin looked up at the Princess with moisture-filled eyes, then squeezed them shut as if the frozen tears stung.

The hunter frowned and whispered in the Imperial Knight’s ear.

“I’m telling you again, staying together for such a long period is too dangerous.”

“Count Randy. Isn’t there a way?”

“Attack potions focus on instant firepower so they won’t be very effective. How about surrounding it with oil using oil creation magic and lighting it to melt it?”

Adding oil to firewood would increase the firepower. Oil could be made with magic, but firewood was the problem. Nearby trees had already been used as firewood by the priests, so they’d have to travel far to get wood.

Count Alpha, who heard Low’s whisper, spoke up.

“He says let’s make a sled first to make transporting firewood easier.”

Being from the mountains, he quickly thought of this life wisdom. They had to hurry to melt the ice snake before nightfall brought blizzards.

As the two parties were dividing personnel to gather firewood while looking at the magic map, the bald high priest suddenly interrupted.

“It’s time for Bindo to step up.”

“You have a plan to melt that ice?”

‘If he says just work hard to melt it, I’ll bury him in snow.’

One saved from snow, return to snow.

The naturally bald priest, unaware of what the Princess was thinking, pointed to the fire knight.

“Fire Knight. Aren’t you unable to fully demonstrate the power given by the gentle flame?”

“How did you! Hah!”

“Knight Marin! What do we do if you speak!”

Knight Marin covered his mouth, but it was already too late. The time displayed on the silence training necklace had reset to 0.

Muffin stamped her feet in frustration, Rihua hit her own forehead, and High Priest Hazel closed his eyes and sought the earth.

Seraph pressed his temples and sighed. His posture and expression were exactly like his sister’s, but Serena thought the young one was sighing.

Just as Knight Marin was about to become an obstacle to the party surpassing even a flower waste, the priest with a completely smooth head without a single hair root encouraged the knight.

“Don’t worry! Bindo will help you demonstrate your power!”

“Don’t tell me to just work hard.”

“I’m saying I’ll help with that effort.”

The naturally bald priest smiled confidently.

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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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