Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 29

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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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29. Greed Sensor (2)

‘Someone I need right now…’

Serena seriously pondered what kind of person would be necessary for conquering the labyrinth.

‘They should definitely have good combat ability.’

The faces of several trustworthy knights and royal mages flashed through her mind.

‘Who’s the strongest in our country? Who won this year’s martial arts tournament?’

Serena, who had been thinking of several people based on strength, soon shook her head.

‘No matter how strong they are, it’s useless if they have a bad personality. Even if they don’t listen to me, they need ethics and conscience, and they must know how to cooperate.’

If someone was strong like Lucas but had a rotten personality, they’d become a more troublesome enemy than the Minotaur and just get in the way.

‘Even a 2-star would be good if they have a nice personality and are a good person who doesn’t commit crimes. Someone who sees people as living beings even in a class-based society.’

Someone with decent combat ability who possesses both common sense and conscience. Would this be enough? No. It’s still insufficient.

Serena didn’t stop there.

But didn’t they say to be honest with your desires?

‘I need someone who knows a lot about labyrinths.’

Among Serena and her party, not a single person knew about labyrinths. Lavenda, who knew the most, had only visited Bieta’s Labyrinth a few times for fun and could only recite the guide’s jokes she’d memorized.

Serena had only encountered obvious knowledge from books, and the others didn’t even know that much. Lucas had shared information he’d gotten from chatting with Imperial knights, but none of it was accurate.

‘He said a knight alone could easily handle up to the 20th floor. A Minotaur appearing on the 2nd floor – is that even real?’

The Imperial knight must have been bragging, and Lucas believed it all.

‘We don’t know anything. It would be better to use game knowledge at this point.’

It was fair to say that no one in the current party knew about labyrinths.

‘We need to conquer the labyrinth, but what are we going to do without anyone who knows about labyrinths?’

The problem was whether there would be anyone well-versed in labyrinth information among the 100,000 people Serena could summon.

‘Our country doesn’t have labyrinths, so information is limited.’

Labyrinth experts usually included labyrinth conquest forces from countries that possessed labyrinths, scholars who delved into the mysteries and wonders of labyrinths (including mages and alchemists), and adventurers who challenged labyrinth conquest.

Heuji had none of these.

‘Hmm. Priests provide a lot of support for labyrinth conquest, so maybe something could work out.’

Having a healer in the party was essential in this world too. Priests could use healing magic and various divine magic depending on the god they served, making them essential for labyrinth conquest.

That’s why some temples knew more advanced information than countries that possessed labyrinths. Even countries that banned foreign labyrinth adventurers from entering their own labyrinths welcomed priests.

‘There were many priests sent by religious orders among the congratulatory delegations. Wouldn’t there be someone among them who has conquered labyrinths or knows a lot about them?’

After much deliberation, Serena set her priorities.

‘Labyrinth information is first priority. Combat ability and character come next.’

If they were a labyrinth expert, she decided to give up on combat ability and character.

‘If they have a personality like Lucas, I can just extract the information and dump them.’

Labyrinth information was that urgent.

Human desires have no end. Serena added one last thing.

‘Preferably a woman.’

While Serena liked balanced gender ratios in fictional parties, this was reality. Having all women would make it easier to handle issues like restrooms and bathing.

What about Ralph being male? That young knight was still a minor and the same age as her younger sibling, so Serena didn’t see him as a man.

‘Good. This is my honest desire!’

A female labyrinth expert with both combat ability and common sense! And since I’m using a guaranteed 5-star summon, make her 5-star too!

‘Hmm.’

Serena wore a bitter smile. No matter how she thought about it, such a woman didn’t seem to exist in the world. Even if she did exist, she wouldn’t be in Heuji City.

‘There might be 5-stars with both combat ability and character, but there probably isn’t anyone knowledgeable about labyrinths.’

Since she’d need to deal with it if the summoned people were hostile, Serena saved first. Saving wouldn’t change the summon results, but she felt like saving anyway.

The princess carefully rubbed the Minotaur God statue and then gritted her teeth.

‘I was faithful to my desires! Go, greed sensor! Do your job!’

The finger-shaped cursor vigorously pressed the summon button using the guaranteed 5-star ticket.

Was it because she was too faithful to her desires? Or was it because she thought too strongly about pressing?

Click-click.

She accidentally pressed it twice.

‘Aaaahhhhh!’

A female labyrinth expert with both combat ability and common sense! But there couldn’t be two 5-star people summoned with guaranteed 5-star tickets.

‘No! I only planned to summon one labyrinth expert! I have someone I want to summon with the guaranteed ticket! I already decided on someone!’

Serena desperately wished she could cancel, but it was too late. The guaranteed 5-star ticket count became 0, and the button sparkled as if asking whether to do a regular summon.

“If I made a clicking mistake with my finger, I could at least make an excuse about being nervous and shaking! But thinking about pressing the button twice because I was too excited – I can’t complain about that anywhere! Ahhh!”

Serena opened her eyes and began intense self-criticism.

“You idiot! Fool! How could you make such a mistake? How is that even possible?”

“Princess?”

“Lady Serena! Are you alright?”

“Are you perhaps receiving another revelation from the Labyrinth God?”

“Ahhh! I’m an idiot!”

At the princess’s strange behavior, Lavenda and Ralph exchanged glances that said they should wait and see. They were very surprised the first time, but this was the second time, so it was okay. Only Philia was anxiously worried about her master.

“What if she’s really sick this time?”

“She’ll be fine, Countess.”

“You can be so indifferent because you haven’t seen His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Sir Ralph, could you come here for a moment?”

Though Lavenda was well-informed about various rumors due to her profession, she didn’t know much about the Heuji Royal Family’s story due to the triple burden of time having passed, it being related to the royal family’s honor, and her being a foreigner. At most, she only knew that the current crown prince was a drug addict.

“I’m a foreigner so I don’t know well. Could you tell me just the truth?”

“I was young when it happened, so I don’t know much either…”

After hearing from Ralph that Serena’s mother had suffered from madness and committed suicide, Lavenda felt sorry.

“My goodness. The Countess has reason to worry.”

“But the Princess will be fine.”

Ralph recalled Serena’s eyes when she said she would face both the Minotaur and Lucas when he was being indecisive on the 2nd floor.

“Princess Serena is a very strong person.”

“Ahhh! I’m an idiot!”

That strong person was fiercely criticizing herself for pressing the wrong summon button.

“Oh! There are people over there?”

What stopped Serena’s self-criticism was a bright and cheerful female voice.

“Hello, hello! Hello everyone!”

“Who goes there!”

Ralph, who had been watching the princess and failed to notice the stranger’s approach, was startled and drew his sword.

Ralph was even more surprised when he turned his head. There wasn’t just one stranger, but two!

“It’s hard to meet other parties in the labyrinth, but here we are. Hello, hello. I have no intention of fighting. I’m just passing through.”

A short woman smiling brightly while emphasizing her harmlessness, and a tall woman with a bow silently following behind her.

The short woman was wary of Ralph in his plate armor, then looked over the two ladies in dresses and Lavenda who appeared to be a civilian, and smiled more comfortably.

“I’m just passing through. Wow, there’s a fountain and even a bread tree here! How deep a floor is this? We’ll take some bread. Should we refill our water too?”

“Stop! Don’t come any closer and identify yourselves!”

The short woman giggled at Ralph’s words.

“What? That’s hilarious. There’s no such thing in labyrinths. If we fight, we fight; if we don’t, we don’t. We’re just passing through, okay? Or do you know what floor this is? We came from floors below here. Want to exchange information?”

‘Floors below?’

At the ominous words, Serena raised her eyebrows. She thought they might be people summoned from her gacha since they were two women, but could they be people who encountered them while wandering the labyrinth like Serena and her party?

“What were the floors below like?”

“Oh, interested? Um… should I use formal speech? Interested? The floors below were very terrifying. Right, Zero?”

“…”

“Ah, please understand. She has a very quiet personality. We really just want to pick some bread from the bread tree, replenish our water, and pass through~”

“How dare you! That bread tree belongs to the person here- ugh.”

Serena immediately elbowed Philia’s side. They didn’t know anything about their opponents yet, so there was no need to reveal high-level information like names, status, and that they’d received the bread tree through communication with the Labyrinth God.

‘Did I summon them or not? It’s ambiguous.’

Serena looked above the two women’s heads.

Both had five stars.

However, the short woman only had three yellow stars with the remaining two transparent.

The tall woman was the opposite – two stars were yellow and three were transparent.

I could roughly guess why the 5-star ratings had empty stars.

‘Neither of them has equipment.’

The short woman appeared to have no weapons at all, and while the tall woman carried a bow, her quiver was completely empty. With proper equipment, they would be at full combat strength with all five stars filled.

Moreover, they weren’t surprised by the unrealistic tree bearing clusters of bread. Instead, they estimated the labyrinth floor by looking at the bread tree. This meant they were well-versed in the mysterious wonders within the labyrinth.

Two such women?

‘There’s no way I’d encounter people like this by chance. They must be the ones I drew.’

Though I wanted to hear more about the lower floors, I decided to postpone it, and Serena stepped forward in front of the two.

“This is the 1st floor.”

“Hey, that’s nonsense. Don’t you see that bread tree over there? You know that only appears after the 20th floor, right?”

“It’s true. There’s an exit if you go that way.”

“Really?”

The short woman’s eyes widened. She blinked rapidly, then asked Serena for permission.

“May I pass through?”

“You may pass, but the exit is blocked.”

“There’s no such thing as a completely blocked path in this world. That’s my motto. Well then, goodbye everyone!”

The short woman cheerfully greeted them, deliberately making her presence known just as she had when approaching, and passed through the lobby.

Perhaps planning to check the exit first, she turned around sharply as she passed the bread tree. The tall woman hadn’t moved and remained standing in place.

“Zero! Aren’t you coming? She says there’s an exit here!”

“I’m not going.”

The tall woman, who had been silent and taciturn the entire time, answered.

“I heard it’s blocked.”

“What? You believe that? Even if it’s really blocked, you should see for yourself.”

“I believe it.”

The tall woman’s answer left both the short woman and Serena flustered.

‘She believes that?’

Until now, when Serena said the exit was blocked, only Philia had believed it immediately without seeing for herself. Now someone else was added to that list – someone she’d met for the first time in her life, and in the labyrinth no less.

‘What a strange person.’

The short woman disappeared into the cave alone. After a moment, light footsteps approached.

‘She’s deliberately making footsteps.’

I hadn’t heard any footsteps when the newcomer approached or when she moved to the cave. Now she was deliberately walking to make noise.

“Wow! It really is blocked! This seems to really be the 1st floor! I tried to get out, but I was afraid the rocks might collapse and crush me, so I couldn’t touch it.”

The short woman who had deliberately made noise approaching acknowledged Serena’s words. She scurried over to Serena.

Though she appeared completely unarmed on the surface, her rating was 3 stars. Serena was subtly tense.

“I told the truth, so now it’s your turn.”

Serena struck first before the short woman could speak.

‘This person also wants to take control.’

The deliberate footsteps, the casual informal speech. She was the type who liked to take control and manipulate things as she pleased.

This was absolutely unacceptable. Serena herself had to be at the top of this labyrinth’s hierarchy. If they wanted to object, they should give up the golden path first.

“Since you told us the truth, I’ll tell you about the lower floors too!”

“Before that, tell us who you are. We’ll introduce ourselves when you’re done.”

“Hmm… it seems we’ll have to use this as our base for a while, so shall we?”

“Please also tell us about what happened just before and after you came to the labyrinth.”

“Well, you must be curious since you don’t know anything.”

The short woman looked around at the people in the lobby, starting with Serena, then smiled brightly.

“I’m Olive! I’m a labyrinth explorer who travels the continent conquering labyrinths! Nice to meet you!”

Then the tall woman spoke.

“I’m Ying. I’m a labyrinth explorer.”

The tall woman looked directly at Serena as she spoke.

“Nice to meet you.”

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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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