Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 248

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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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248. Tear-Soaked Salad

‘Keep the coin? Just a single copper coin?’

Serena expressed slight doubt. The Archer kept his mouth firmly shut without additional explanation.

‘It’s not like he’s joking around like Olive. There must be a reason.’

The taciturn servant of darkness wouldn’t have opened his heavy mouth just to play pranks. Serena carefully tucked away the allowance she received from the Effort Priest in her inner pocket.

“Miss Lavenda. It’s not much, but please add it to the public funds.”

“Cough. Mine too.”

Ralph and Neet, whose diligence was recognized by the Effort Priest, brought their allowances to Lavenda. Serena quickly stopped them both.

“Wait a moment. Though the amount is small, it’s the allowance you received. You don’t need to entrust it to the public funds. The same goes for Miss Lavenda.”

“But the more cash we have, the better. If it’s for everyone, I don’t mind giving it up.”

“Cough. I don’t have anywhere to spend money anyway. I’m always just spending instead…”

Setting aside Ralph, who didn’t know the value of copper coins as the son of a wealthy farmer, Neet seemed to be mindful of the assets she usually consumed.

If it were ordinary copper coins, Serena would have left them alone, but those coins weren’t ordinary. They were coins that the Priest of Darkness had advised to keep safe. She couldn’t let them get mixed with the public funds.

Serena quickly racked her stone-like brain to come up with an excuse.

“These copper coins hold more meaning than their monetary value. Didn’t the Effort Priest personally recognize your efforts? Keep them as mementos.”

Whether the hastily made excuse sounded plausible, the earnest young boy and child’s eyes sparkled. The Mysterious Stranger also smiled slightly.

“The Princess is right! I’ll treasure it and look at it whenever things get tough to remember how I feel now!”

“Cough. When begging, it’s better to have a little money than none at all. I’ll keep it so my wallet never goes completely empty.”

The moment she inwardly sighed in relief at achieving her goal, the Guide made a groaning sound.

“Ugh.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Princess, you should have said that a bit sooner. I wanted to have a lucky coin like that too.”

Olive squinted her round eyes and shook her wallet. The Guide had already put the copper coin in her wallet. The wallet looked ready to burst from how much money was stuffed inside.

“If you had also entrusted your cash to the public funds instead of keeping a separate purse, you could have kept the copper coin.”

“Haha! Even if you’re the Princess, you can’t take money that’s in the hands of this Wind of the Wasteland!”

Olive boasted as if she were some great phantom thief.

“How terrifying, Wind of the Wasteland!”

Serena didn’t ignore the Guide but responded that she was scary. Despite saying that, she believed Olive would open her wallet when the party’s cash reserves ran low.

‘Though she’ll write an IOU.’

Before long, the Effort Priest and the Number Siblings returned to the lobby. The harmonious siblings looked gloomy, as if they couldn’t overcome the High Priest of Effort’s efforts.

“What a stubborn old man. If I begged like that, he would have thrown me a coin or at least some bread he was eating.”

“It’s the first time acting cute didn’t work. Hmph. Tsk. Pfft.”

“Groan.”

“Ho ho ho, work harder in the future.”

“Stingy baldy!”

Even when Sesi mocked his physical weakness, the Bald Priest didn’t get angry and just laughed heartily.

“Ho ho ho. The direction of effort is also important. Sometimes you need the effort to accept what won’t work.”

When the High Priest of Effort was about to start a new sermon, Prince Willow stopped him.

“Now that everyone’s gathered, let’s eat. It’s time for our enjoyable dinner. This time, thanks to High Priest Hazel, Priest Rihua, and Knight Marin, I’m delighted to present a more special menu than usual.”

What Prince Willow confidently presented was salad.

Salad is simple to prepare. Just pick some vegetables from the herb garden, wash them in water, cut and tear them, and you’re done. There was a separate reason why the Prince showed confidence in this ordinary dish.

“Wow. What’s with the condition of these greens? They’re alive? The greens are screaming that they’re alive in my mouth?”

Olive stabbed the salad with a wooden fork and was surprised once by the unusual texture, then surprised again when she put the salad in her mouth and tasted it.

“This lettuce is really fresh and of excellent quality! At this level, it’s top-grade that could be supplied to a lord’s castle or imperial merchant guild!”

The farmers near Heujichen grow vegetables and fruits in their fields besides wheat and barley farming to supply to Heujichen. So Ralph, who grew up seeing many high-quality vegetables and fruits, was amazed.

“Woof!”

“The greens taste better than meat! How is this possible?”

“The tomatoes taste better than when I eat them with honey! This is crazy!”

“The blanched spinach is incredibly sweet too. Cough.”

Duri’s eyes widened as she devoured the salad. She looked like an elephant rather than a bear. Even Hana, Sesi, and Neet, who usually preferred animal protein, fat, and refined carbohydrates over greens, were shocked by the vegetable flavors.

Serena carefully put an onion that had been washed in cold water to remove its spiciness into her mouth and nodded. The onion was so delicious that she felt she could eat only onion salad every day.

‘Is this divine blessing?’

It would be tiresome to explain the effects of earth and light on plant growth. The herb garden that received blessings from both the High Priest of Earth and the Priest of Light simultaneously became abundant with top-grade vegetables worthy of being supplied to the royal palace, as Ralph said.

Moreover, the bread baked by Knight Marin was amazingly delicious. The fire control was exquisite.

“Hehe, it’s thanks to the priests. Let us give thanks to the great Earth, Light, and Fire.”

Perhaps because he was pleased that people were eating deliciously, the smile never left Prince Willow’s face.

While everyone was unanimously praising the salad with their mouths and hearts, there were others who were eating the salad most deliciously.

“Sob sob sob. Even if my brother dies, carrots are still delicious.”

“Sob sob, O Light. Thank you. Thank you so much for giving us our daily cabbage.”

“Priest Rihua. Cabbage has more carbohydrates than you think, so please eat more lettuce. You should consume salad and fruit rather than bread.”

“Mmph! Mmmmph!”

The priests, who had been living on dry bread and jerky, ate the salad more deliciously than anyone. It was almost exaggerated enough to feel their deep resentment.

The three priests and one Knight quickly emptied a plate of salad and coveted the vegetables Prince Willow had washed.

When the Prince tried to make the salad easier to eat, they declined saying it was fine, then forgot their dignity and tore into whole cabbages, radishes, and beets.

“I’m truly sorry. The last time I ate fresh vegetables was the lettuce and romaine in sandwiches on the 7th floor.”

High Priest Hazel, the actual leader of Seraph’s party, belatedly regained his senses and maintained his dignity.

“I heard that currency is used in alchemy. If it’s alright with you, could you sell us some vegetables? We’ll pay in gold coins or gems.”

High Priest Hazel opened his wallet. Seeing the wallet packed full of gold coins without any copper or silver coins, Olive imitated Ying.

“Ah! My eyes!”

Real gold coins aren’t that dazzling, but even at a rough estimate, the amount in the wallet was considerable. Compared to the past when they secretly stole food and clothing because they had nothing to trade, this was a dazzling change.

Serena asked the lobby manager if there were spare vegetables. Lavenda replied that there were plenty thanks to the blessing.

“We haven’t yet given proper thanks for the blessings bestowed upon our herb garden and trees.”

“That’s something we should rightfully do.”

“Hear me out completely. Since there was a previous mistake by the priests, we’ll consider the blessing as compensation for that, and sell the vegetables at fair prices.”

When Serena mentioned the theft as a mistake, Hazel, Muffin, Rihua, and Knight Marin simultaneously bowed their heads or averted their gazes. It seemed embarrassing even to them.

“I’ll entrust the transaction to Count Randy.”

“Leave it to me, Lady Serena. I swear by Gold that I’ll trade fairly.”

“If it’s an alchemist who received the scales from shining Gold, I can trust you. Please take care of it.”

The alchemist and High Priest of Earth headed to the herb garden to check the inventory of goods to trade.

Muffin and Rihua barely stopped consuming vegetables and focused intensely on eating fruit for dessert. Knight Marin chewed on a radish that Muffin had given him, afraid to open his mouth.

“Ugh. It’s delicious. The apple is so delicious that tears keep flowing.”

“Sob sob. Me too, Priest Muffin.”

“That fool. He really loved apples…”

“Muffin…”

Muffin seemed to remember someone who died while eating an apple and couldn’t swallow the apple he was enjoying. When Countess Nex comforted him and patted his back, he swallowed the apple along with his tears.

“Sob! This is all because of Lord Seraph. The fruit trees we ask for don’t appear, only pure gold, gems, and magical tools come out.”

“Priest Muffin is right. The rest areas or safe zones that High Priest Hazel mentioned don’t appear, only strange treasure rooms.”

Treasure rooms. Serena’s ears perked up at the ominous words. Others seemed to feel the same, as Olive and Grey, who had been leisurely eating kiwi, jumped up.

“Treasure rooms? Did the Prince and priests enter treasure rooms?”

“Which level, which floor did you enter from? Do you know the way?”

“What are treasure rooms?”

At the enthusiastic reaction of the Labyrinth experts, Serena requested information sharing. Olive poured out words as quickly as Knight Marin.

“I’ll only say this once, so listen carefully. Treasure rooms are extremely rare in the Labyrinth, only lucky bast— Ouch, I bit my tongue.”

Olive bit her tongue because of words inappropriate to say to the Princess. Grey spoke quickly and clearly with the skill he used when presenting and speaking before not only the Emperor but also the Empire’s civil and military officials.

“They’re rooms full of treasure that appear with extremely rare probability. The generation conditions are unknown, and the rewards that appear are also unknown. They’re called treasure rooms because the walls and floors are gold, coins from various nations are piled up like mountains, and all kinds of gems and precious magical tools are scattered inside.”

Literally treasure rooms. Everyone except the priests wore ecstatic expressions at the dreamlike story. Serena also forcibly closed her gaping mouth.

“Yes. It was exactly the kind of room this child described. At first, we went down the stairs, but instead of the next floor, a sparkling, glittering room appeared, which startled us.”

“Back then we thought it was a Labyrinth illusion or trap, so we immediately turned back. When we went up the stairs and came back down, a normal next floor appeared. When we discovered it the second time, we investigated a little. The gold coins the High Priest has were obtained then. After we left, the room disappeared, so even if you go to the same floor, you won’t be able to reach the treasure room.”

“Wait, wait. I’m not lying and I feel like I’m going to die, so wait.”

Olive placed her hand on the back of her neck, took time to calm down, then asked back.

“Are you saying the priests went to the treasure room twice right now, or did I mishear? Huh?”

“Sorry, Sister Olive. I think I heard the same auditory hallucination. I shouldn’t be going deaf at this age.”

When the two doubted their hearing, Rihua kindly answered.

“Both of you have nothing wrong with your hearing. We did find it twice.”

“Ugh. Just a bunch of gold and silver treasures we can’t even eat.”

“Exactly, that’s what I’m saying. No bread trees or fruit trees come out, so I don’t know why only those strange rooms keep appearing. Are our appetites weaker than the Prince’s fortune with wealth?”

Hearing Rihua’s words, Olive fell backward. The Guide who safely lay down with a proper fall looked at the lobby ceiling with empty eyes, then began wiping the lobby floor with her back.

“Oh my! Oh my! Some people roll around labyrinths their whole lives without getting near a treasure room, but some people enter treasure rooms twice. Oh my! Minotaur God! This is too much!”

“Managing all the Empire’s labyrinths my whole life, I only received one report!”

Blood vessels appeared in Grey’s eyes, who had been enduring even when his blood pressure rose thanks to his rejuvenation.

“So? What did you get from the treasure room? Did you obtain useful magical tools and labyrinth treasures?”

The two priests, who were new to labyrinths and seemed to have no related knowledge about how precious treasure rooms were, shook their heads.

“No. High Priest Hazel said it might be dangerous to stay too long, so we just grabbed some money and gems.”

“None of us could appraise magical tools. The Prince did grab a few eye-catching items, but I’m not sure about them.”

“Mmph.”

Knight Marin, who had been chewing radish whenever she wanted to speak, finally finished eating the radish. Muffin stuffed bread harder than brick into the mouth of the Knight who was restless wanting to join the conversation. Knight Marin gnawed at the bread with sorrowful eyes.

‘Hmm. Magical tools in the treasure room.’

It was quite an interesting topic from the perspective of having to conquer labyrinths inevitably.

‘This kid was said to have good luck with treasure chests, and now he’s been to treasure rooms twice.’

At the same time, her sibling’s fortune with wealth was also interesting. To enter treasure rooms twice – rooms that not only Olive but even the Grand Mage who manages all the Empire’s labyrinths had only received one report about in his lifetime.

‘What if the eye-catching things he picked were actually the most precious treasures?’

With her sibling’s current luck, it was a plausible story.

“Aaaaah! I want a treasure room too!”

Serena didn’t scold the Guide who was still wiping the lobby floor. She felt a sense of kinship as she experienced relative deprivation in a different sense.

‘Isn’t Seraph too lucky when he hasn’t even offered anything as sacrifice? Could it be that he’s ahead of me opening all the treasure chests?’

The Prince approached the Princess, who was pondering whether she, as a reincarnated one and returner, should monopolize all the labyrinth’s treasure chests.

“Your Highness Serena. I have a favor to ask. We suddenly have more people and I miscalculated the portions, so there’s some salad and stew left over. Could you deliver it to His Highness Seraph and his companions on the 10th floor? His Highness Seraph must also be in a nutritionally unbalanced state like the priests, so I’m worried.”

Though he was using Seraph as an excuse, the person the Prince was really worried about must be the friend remaining on the 10th floor.

There was the debt of leaving someone else’s knight in the labyrinth, and he must be curious about the magical tools Seraph obtained. Serena readily accepted the Prince’s request.

As Serena looked around the lobby for someone to accompany her, Olive, who had been lying on the floor, raised her hand.

“Me! I’m going to steal the Prince’s luck! Yeah!”

“Won’t it be too cold? It’s colder at the mountain peak.”

“You said it was a cave, right? Then it’ll be less cold!”

“I’m going too.”

The Archer put on the winter clothes he had taken off, as if opposing the opposition. Though Olive touched her winter clothes last, the person who took longest to prepare was the Princess.

Philia pouted but couldn’t stop her master from going to deliver food to the Prince. Seeing the saddened Heuji Jeolmi, the Priest and Knight complained of heart problems.

“Ugh. I guess we lost immunity from not seeing him for a while.”

“B-but the Prince is more beautiful!”

“Mmph mmph!”

As they say, arms bend inward. Priest Rihua and Knight Marin praised Seraph’s beauty. Muffin, a leading candidate for the Prince’s fiancée, looked serious.

“What are you talking about? Obviously Countess Randy is the most beautiful.”

Did Muffin’s arms not bend outward, or had she become immune to Seraph’s beauty from being close since childhood?

Serena, who had once expected a romance fantasy between the flower trash who offset all flaws with beauty alone and the lovely, spirited pink-haired girl, felt strangely disappointed as she selected the 10th floor.

The 10th floor and 1st floor were different from the very air. Even with temperature control magical tools, Serena breathed the cold air that made everything from her nose to lungs feel cool.

The Princess caught a familiar scent in the cool winter mountain air.

‘This is!’

A spicy, salty, greasy stimulating smell! It was the first time smelling it since reincarnating, but there was absolutely no way she could be wrong about that very smell!

‘They’re eating cup noodles!’

To decide on cup noodles as a dinner menu without even knowing how delicious they taste when eaten at a mountain peak. Whoever decided it, it was truly an excellent choice.

Since Olive was just twitching her nose without being wary, Serena opened her mouth without hesitation as she left the teleportation room.

“I came now because I have something to deliver. Has there been any trou…”

The Princess blinked her one eye.

Noodle strands fell with a plop from Low’s mouth, who had been eating cup noodles wearing only underwear.

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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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