Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 310

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

310. Musk Expedition (3)

Low and Count Alpha went outside the mountain hut. Serena changed into light clothes and opened the door to the inner part of the mountain hut.

Hot air rushed out. The smiles disappeared from the faces of Hana and Sesi, who had been happily following the princess.

Serena entered the sauna without hesitation. Ying followed behind her.

‘It’s nice and hot.’

It was hot and humid, making breathing stuffy, but once you get used to it, it’s fine.

Since it was in the labyrinth, hygiene was maintained, so there were no musty or strange smells. There were even seats prepared for sitting and enjoying the sauna.

Serena took the most comfortable and best spot. She was about to start sweating in earnest when she saw the Odd Sisters who hadn’t entered the sauna yet.

“Don’t be shy and come in.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Since it was Hana and Sesi’s first time in a sauna, they cautiously stepped in, finding it unfamiliar. Sesi, who entered the sauna last, didn’t close the door.

“Sesi, close the door.”

“What? But it’ll be hotter if I close it?”

“Yes. You need to close it so the heat doesn’t escape.”

Sesi scrunched up her pretty face and closed the door.

“Make yourselves comfortable.”

Ying was already comfortably enjoying the sauna without Serena having to say anything.

She had somehow made a towel and rolled it into twin buns on her head. Though rolled a bit loosely, they were definitely twin buns.

‘Do they use twin buns in this world too?’

Feeling Serena’s gaze, Ying pointed to her twin bun towel and said.

“It’s a custom from the other world that wishes for hygiene and health.”

‘You do it because it’s cute and fun, what’s this about hygiene and health.’

They said you could access knowledge from other worlds in the labyrinth, and it seemed even trivial information came out.

‘Is it because it’s knowledge from another world? Does the information not transmit properly and get a bit distorted?’

The archer, who had no idea what Serena was thinking, spread out a towel and began rolling twin buns. She seemed to think the princess envied her twin bun towel.

‘Ah, that’s not how you fold that.’

Though it was nearly 20 years in the past, perhaps because it involved moving her hands to make something, the method of rolling twin buns came back vividly.

Since she couldn’t show off her knowledge, Serena put on the loose twin buns that Ying had made herself. Ying was satisfied seeing the clumsy twin buns.

“Since it’s the second time, I’m rolling them well.”

She was so satisfied that she even spoke aloud. Serena had to endure the humiliation of wearing twin bun towels rolled more sloppily than when she first learned how to make twin buns from a friend.

“The floor is hot too. It’s hot. It’s humid.”

“Shh. I told you to be quiet when attending to the princess.”

“But Sesi is the one attending to her. It’s hot. It’s burning.”

Hana, who had been looking forward to the sauna, spoke honestly as if the sauna didn’t meet her expectations.

“Princess. Is this really a sauna?”

“It’s a sauna. Even if it’s hot, if you endure and bear it, you’ll sweat and your body will feel refreshed.”

“It’s very different from what I thought. The bath felt good, but the sauna is stuffy. It feels bad.”

Since saunas are originally a matter of taste, Serena understood Hana’s reaction.

“If you don’t like it, you don’t need to force yourself to endure it. It’s fine to just warm your body and leave. You might catch a cold if your body suddenly cools down, so dry your wet body and hair well by the fireplace.”

“Is that okay?”

Hana looked at the princess’s expression. The Princess of Heuji waved her hand dismissively, allowing the pickpocket’s exit.

“Awesome!”

It must have been really hard to endure, as Hana hastily escaped from the sauna.

Serena said the same thing to Sesi, who had a similar expression to her sister but wasn’t following her sister in escaping.

“Sesi, you don’t need to force yourself to endure it either.”

“But I need to attend to the princess.”

“I’ll keep it secret from Philia.”

She expected Sesi to happily rush out upon hearing those words, but Sesi didn’t. She showed a momentarily tempted expression but gritted her teeth.

“The Countess told me what a great honor it is to sauna and bathe with the princess. If I can’t handle the heat and leave, I’ll lose out for my entire life.”

‘How much did she brainwash this girl.’

She had only received short-term education, but the degree of brainwashing was serious.

‘Grey too. Just how do they educate students that they get brainwashed?’

Serena, who had been curious about the maid’s secret method, soon realized.

If Heuji Jeolmi was educating with a serious face while looking straight into their eyes, their brains would be bleached and newly acquired information would be inputted smoothly.

“Sesi, don’t you have many opportunities to sauna with me besides today? It’s fine to leave now.”

“Th-then I’ll leave!”

In the end, Sesi raised the white flag and went outside the sauna. Only Serena and Ying remained in the sauna, and they were about to adjust their positions more comfortably when Sesi, who had left, suddenly opened the door.

“Did you come back because it was cold?”

Bald Liar told me to give this to the princess!”

What Sesi brought was a birch branch with dry leaves. However it was prepared, the branch and leaves were soft.

‘Wow, this is authentic.’

It seemed Low had been enjoying the sauna to the fullest while staying on the 10th layer.

“Tell him I’ll use it well.”

“Yes!”

Serena smiled and picked up the birch branch to brush her body. It was quite fun to tap each other’s hard-to-reach areas with Ying.

Ying seemed to feel the same way as Serena, as the smile never left her lips. The archer, who even when wet with sweat felt more like a sculpture soaked in water rather than full of vitality, said quietly.

“The Countess would be wary of this kind of thing.”

“This kind of thing? You mean tapping each other with tree branches?”

‘Now that I think about it. I’ve been in saunas with Philia before, but I’ve never tapped her back with birch branches.’

Following the festival chicken skewers, there was now one more thing that would make Philia jealous if she knew. Serena put her index finger to her lips.

“Keep it secret from Philia.”

“Are you afraid your friend will get angry?”

Serena shook her head with a bitter smile. Of course she was afraid of Philia getting angry and jealous after finding out. But what she was more worried about was something else.

“I… want Philia to always be happy. That’s all.”

Serena wanted her precious friend to always be happy and in a good mood. She didn’t want her to feel bad by learning facts she didn’t need to know.

Of course, to make Philia happy, the best thing would be for Serena not to leave her friend’s side. Knowing this but still having to leave her friend’s side repeatedly was something Serena really hated too.

“I want to quickly get out of the labyrinth, settle the situation, and play with Philia.”

Serena rambled on. Ying touched the loosely rolled towel that had completely unraveled and said.

“I’m rooting for you.”

“Thank you. What will you do when you get out of the labyrinth? Will you look for another labyrinth? Does the ‘last’ you mentioned continue even after leaving the labyrinth?”

The twin buns unraveled more the more she touched them and eventually collapsed.

Ying spread out the towel and made twin buns again.

Serena didn’t miss how Ying’s gaze went to her hands wrapped tightly in black bandages when she heard the question.

The black bandages maintained the coverage up to her shoulders, as Neet had pointed out. Ying rolled the left and right sides of the towel. Perhaps because it was the third time, she rolled them to a reasonably acceptable level.

“I expect the last will end in the labyrinth. When I leave the labyrinth, I’ll carry out the mission given by the darkness.”

Ying completed the twin buns. Even from Serena’s perspective as an experienced person, they were excellent twin buns deserving a passing grade. Ying put the completed twin bun towel on her head.

“You mean the Deity of Darkness will give you a new mission?”

“No. It’s a mission I’ve been keeping since before this task.”

Ying openly stroked her shoulder wrapped in black bandages, as if she had no intention of hiding it.

Perhaps due to the heat of the sauna, for a moment Ying’s bandaged arm seemed to wriggle like a snake.

“It’s been… a truly long mission. If there are no variables, it should end soon.”

With those words as the last, the archer’s lips sealed tightly.

Serena didn’t ask what she would do after the long mission ended.

Not only would Ying, who had closed her mouth, not answer, but even if she did answer, it seemed like it would be the type of content Serena wouldn’t want to hear.

‘Just how old is she.’

Serena hoped that the time the faithful servant of darkness had spent on her mission wasn’t that long.

***

The Princess, who had enjoyed the sauna while hydrating intermittently, came out of the sauna.

Sesi, who had been doing acrobatic exercises, offered the Princess honey water she had prepared in advance.

Despite drinking the honey water that had been deliberately mixed with snow to make it cool, the Princess still suffered from thirst.

‘Ah~ I want to stuff my mouth with boiled eggs and down some sikhye in one shot!’

They say human greed has no end. Now that the dairy shortage was solved, she missed the eggs they only occasionally ate.

‘I have cup noodles, so I’ll endure it.’

Serena, who was suppressing her desires out of habit, stopped her thoughts.

‘Wait. Didn’t they say to be honest about desires in the Labyrinth? They said it’s dangerous to suppress desires for no reason.’

Serena recalled the earnest advice the Labyrinth Adventurer had given and changed her thinking. She honestly shouted inwardly.

‘Boiled eggs! Not cup noodles but pot ramen with chopped scallions and kimchi on the side! Seaweed soup with Da*da added and boiled thoroughly!’

Being honest even in thought felt refreshing. Serena soaked a towel in water, wiped her body, and changed clothes.

Now it was the Knight and Hunter’s turn to enjoy the sauna.

Serena poured boiling water into cup noodles and took them outside the mountain hut.

“I’m sorry.”

Count Alpha repeatedly apologized, feeling sorry that Serena had to leave because of him.

Serena was so focused on the cup noodles that she half-heartedly received the serious knight’s sincere apology. Fortunately, Count Alpha didn’t notice.

Outside the cave it was cold enough to freeze one’s body, but inside the cave the temperature wasn’t that low.

Her body was warm from the sauna. As she enjoyed the cool temperature of the cave while warming her hands with hot cup noodles, she could understand why Low had been eating cup noodles outside wearing only underwear.

“Labyrinth noodles are so so delicious! They’re salty so I keep wanting to eat them!”

“The noodles go down so smoothly! I want to eat them every day but the vending machine doesn’t sell them. Hiiing.”

Perhaps because Serena hadn’t called them cup noodles, the lobby people had somehow started calling cup noodles “Labyrinth noodles.”

Everyone except Neet and Countess Nex, who couldn’t digest spicy, oily, and stimulating food, loved Labyrinth noodles, but unfortunately the quantity was limited.

Everyone just swallowed their saliva and waited for the vending machine to sell cup noodles again.

The Odd Sisters ate their precious cup noodles sparingly, but the noodles in the cup were quickly finished. The sisters sniffled and dipped bread into the broth.

Witnessing that scene, Serena’s eyebrows twitched. She became very uncomfortable, but Serena didn’t scold the sisters.

‘It’s surprisingly edible.’

She was shocked at first, but it was unavoidable given the Labyrinth environment where ingredients were scarce.

She consoled herself that it was like dipping bread into stew that smelled like ramen, and when she ate it, it tasted fine.

‘In the Labyrinth, I really shouldn’t be surprised no matter what happens.’

Serena was dipping bread into the ramen broth thinking there couldn’t be anything more surprising than this.

“Honey.”

“Don’t open the door.”

“Honeeey. It’s so cold. I feel like I’m going to freeze to death.”

“Count Alpha. You must endure it.”

“I don’t need you to let me in. But please, just our child! Please save them! Aah! My stomach hurts!”

She was shocked by the appearance of the Ghostly Scammer doing voice phishing.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————