Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 327

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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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327. Tiger Toy

Of course, Countess Nex had heard from Ying that the Shadow Tiger collected human heads.

But when she heard the eyewitness account of a monster rolling around and playing with her nephew’s head like a ball, her heart couldn’t help but break.

Even the mental fortitude that had made her a royal mage without family backing couldn’t withstand it.

Stollen Baker. The nephew she had considered the pillar of the family since childhood for being smart and kind.

Not content with betraying his lord and family, this ungrateful nephew drove a nail into his aunt’s heart even in death.

As Olive had said, Countess Nex was tormented by nightmares throughout her unconsciousness.

She endlessly witnessed scenes of a hideous monster of unknown appearance rolling around a skull with only pink hair remaining after all the flesh had rotted away, playing with it using its front paws.

“Ugh.”

“Have you regained consciousness?”

When Countess Nex opened her eyes, the Princess was the first to speak to her. The Countess recalled what she needed to do and put it into action.

“I just had a severe headache. I didn’t collapse from hearing news of the traitor, so please ignore the traitor’s corpse. I beg of you.”

Serena comforted her master with a serious expression while thinking.

‘I was planning to ignore it anyway without being told.’

Honestly, the story that the Shadow Tiger wasn’t displaying Stollen’s skull in a showcase but was playing with it like a ball was shocking.

It was even more chilling knowing that a soul was attached to that head.

‘But I can’t save him.’

It had become unclear whether Stollen really intended to betray the Huaim Siblings, or if he truly had a plan as the Young Knight had hoped.

Therefore, Serena had to evaluate Stollen Baker based only on the revealed facts, and based on the revealed facts alone, he was.

‘Pink Fungus.’

What was the point of rescuing him from the tiger’s paws? He was a betrayer who should be grateful that he was buried in a grave in the labyrinth lobby.

Serena’s resolve was firm from the start, but the reactions around her were not.

“He’s a little pitiful, but what can we do? The tiger is too scary. It’s not the Princess’s fault. If he had joined the Princess from the beginning instead of betraying, he wouldn’t have become a tiger toy, right?”

“That’s right! Count Baker is unfortunate, but… There will be an opportunity to rescue him later! We must build our strength until then!”

“The Shadow Tiger is no ordinary monster. Since it’s a labyrinth, we can’t bring troops, so we’d have to face it with a small elite force…”

Ralph was a knight of justice, so that was understandable. But even Olive and Grey assumed that Serena wanted to rescue Stollen and comforted and persuaded her accordingly.

‘Hmm. Did I act too merciful?’

Serena was a selfish person, but her image management seemed to have worked too well.

‘Should I show a more cold-hearted side in the future?’

As the Princess pondered, a small mage wrapped in bandages all over her body approached. Neet seemed to have something urgent to discuss, gripping her staff tightly with tension.

“I, I, I, cough cough! Princess. Cough!”

“What’s wrong, Neet? Don’t be afraid and speak comfortably.”

“I, I, I, I, well, you see. You ordered me not to hide anything and to tell you all the conversations I had with the dead, right? Cough.”

That’s right. Serena had ordered the necromancer to report all conversations, both to protect the child who conversed with the dead and thinking there might be information among the dead’s knowledge that only she, as a regressor, could understand.

“Did you converse with a new dead person?”

“Cough. Well, you see.”

Neet hesitated and kept glancing around, unable to speak easily. Serena invited the child into her capsule bed so she wouldn’t worry about other people.

“Conversations inside won’t leak out. Speak comfortably.”

“Cough. You know the headless knight? That knight is Teacher Brownie’s nephew and the Priest of Corruption’s older brother, right?”

“…Yes. That’s correct.”

Even in private audience with the Princess, Neet seemed to find it difficult to speak easily, fidgeting with her fingers. Serena was beginning to guess who the new dead person Neet had conversed with was.

‘But is that possible? Isn’t he captured by the tiger?’

The Princess’s question was quickly resolved.

“Actually, the Pink-haired Knight attached himself to Sister Olive and came here. Cough.”

‘Crazy.’

Serena bit the inside of her mouth to suppress a scream.

“He wasn’t here long. He was forcibly dragged away by a strong power. Cough. So I only heard what the Pink-haired Knight said.”

Deep wrinkles formed on the Princess’s brow. Serena pressed her forehead firmly with her fingers.

“What did he say?”

“Cough. He asked us to find his head. He said we need to find it quickly. Cough.”

For someone who betrayed his lord and family, he was truly shameless. It was more serious than the One in Ten Thousand Man who kept crying despite having done nothing right.

‘One in a million fungus or what.’

She knew that death was as shocking an experience as birth, so souls had different personalities from when they were alive, but even considering that, he was too shameless.

Eventually, a sigh escaped. Neet flinched and hung her head.

“Cough. I’m sorry for telling you. I actually didn’t want to say anything. But your order was binding. Cough.”

“No, Neet. Thank you for telling me. Please continue to tell me everything without hiding anything.”

Serena patted Neet’s shoulder. Neet seemed to be getting used to physical contact from people other than her sisters, as she slightly leaned her shoulder against Serena’s hand.

Serena smiled and used her whole palm to stroke Neet.

“However, let’s keep this conversation secret from Countess Nex.”

“Yes! Cough.”

Serena withdrew her hand and crossed her arms. Neet looked at the departing hand with longing eyes but endured it.

“By the way, this is troublesome. To think that a dead person’s soul can attach to someone and come to the lobby. Should I install mana absorption traps right at the lobby entrance?”

“Cough. Since they’re not monsters, cough. It’s okay. If someone else comes that way, I’ll talk to them.”

Though she was a child, Neet was a precious necromancer and a proper 3-star mage. Her sincere desire to ease Serena’s worries could be felt.

“Hehe, I’ll trust you. Did you eat the cookies Hana brought?”

“Cough, not yet.”

“The Countess has awakened too, so eat them comfortably.”

Neet, who came out of the capsule with the Princess, happily shared chocolate chip cookies with her sisters.

Though her mind might be complicated, Serena watched the scene of the children laughing and chatting with satisfaction.

***

Count Randy still had a long way to go before completing the new armor.

The two exploration teams needed to decide on additional floors to explore.

“Now it’s your turn to drink sewage water, isn’t it?”

Olive grinned as she looked at Low and the Number Siblings.

As Olive said, the second exploration team’s next destination was the long-awaited 6th floor. But there was a significant problem here.

“In our party, I’m the only one with a magic weapon. We lack combat power.”

“But you guys have Bear. Compass also received a golden dagger from the Prince. That should slice through crocodile hide easily, right?”

“Labyrinth Maws appear, and the floor boss was powerful too. I think our forces are insufficient…”

Low seemed concerned that the party’s attack power was unreliable since only he had a magic weapon. Olive shook her head.

“No. Seeing Bear Tank smash monster heads on the 10th floor, it should be enough.”

“Then that’s a relief.”

“Right. So hurry up and go drink sewage water.”

Olive couldn’t stop laughing, apparently delighted that other people would also be entering the filthy sewers.

“It’s a shame that the bastard son of the Hemorrhoid Grand Mage won’t go to the sewers~ But there will be another opportunity someday. Olive believes it.”

Most regrettably, Grey was excluded from labyrinth exploration to prioritize lobby security. But Olive didn’t give up.

Serena also firmly believed that someday there would be an opportunity to throw that arrogant old man into the sewers, just like Olive.

“Run away before meeting the Labyrinth Maw. It’s easy to avoid since you have Compass.”

While Olive and Low were conversing, Serena looked at the magic map and reviewed what had happened on the 6th floor.

‘Huh?’

The Princess looking at the map realized an important fact.

“Wait a moment.”

“Yes, we’ll wait.”

“I remember there were many narrow passages on the 6th floor.”

“Yes. There were many.”

Serena pointed to Low, who had a really good physique from taking medicine and exercising.

“In your opinion, can Low pass through there?”

“Oh?”

Olive, who hadn’t thought that far ahead, blinked her eyes framed by thick black eyebrows.

Olive recreated the diameter of the passage with her arms and tried to fit the Mysterious Stranger’s head through it.

Olive’s arm circle stopped before it could pass Low’s shoulders. Low, who ended up in a position as if being hugged by Olive, turned red not only in his cheeks but also his cleanly shaven head.

“Not even close, is it?”

That was right. Low was physically unable to explore the 6th Floor. Olive held her head in her hands.

“Ah~ We’ve hardly ever split into 1st and 2nd units, so I forgot! Hey! Radish can’t go to the 6th floor!”

“We don’t have to go into the sewers?”

“I’m so happy!”

“Woohoo!”

The Number Siblings, who would have been in mortal danger even with purification magic tools equipped, jumped around excitedly. Especially Duri, who had a keen sense of smell, curled up into a ball and rolled around.

Serena delivered bad news to the celebrating Number Siblings.

“Just because Low can’t go doesn’t mean you can’t go at all. Someone else can serve as the guide.”

And there was a suitable candidate in the lobby. Serena’s single eye fell on the petite Olive. Olive avoided the Princess’s gaze and looked around the lobby.

“A guide? Who else is there besides me? Could Compass guide the 6th floor?”

Hana, seemingly troubled by Olive’s feigned ignorance, pretended to retch and spoke directly.

“Going with the con artist?”

“Aaaah! Princess! You can’t do this to me! Hey! You’re telling me to go back into that sewage water? There are bugs there too! Hey! They’ll crawl into my ears, pierce my eardrums, and eat my brain!”

“Eek! I really hate bugs!”

Sesi, who disliked them, was given a golden, lustrous Woohwang Cheongshim pill. The red-haired girl, knowing how much people had suffered to make the medicine, scraped together her lacking patience.

“I’ll take the medicine and try to endure it.”

“What, I’m really going? This can’t be happening!”

Realizing that the 6th floor exploration party was being finalized, Olive displayed the spirit of a drowning ghost who couldn’t die alone.

“Princess! You know that’s an essential floor for mages! Princess should come too! Just kidding, hehe.”

Olive, who had been trying to drag Serena along, quickly backed down with a squeak when Heuji Jeolmi raised an eyebrow once.

But Olive didn’t give up. As if she was serious about it being essential for mages, she grabbed onto Grey’s pant leg and wouldn’t let go.

“Young master! Our young master can come along. Ehehe. The opportunity was now, not later.”

“Let go! I said I’d focus on lobby security! I’m busy with lots of other things to do besides that!”

“Ehehe, the Princess will be in the lobby. Young master can go. It’s perfect, just perfect.”

Olive clung to Grey like a leech and wouldn’t let go.

“Help me!”

Grey took advantage of his young body and pretended to be frail while asking for help from those around him.

But no one stepped forward to help Grey. The Old Man had revealed his true nature too often to be fooled by his pitiful act.

“Olive.”

But perhaps blood is thicker than water. Prince Willow called the guide with an unnecessarily cool voice.

“Oh my, Prince. What am I supposed to do when you suddenly call my name like that. Hey. I almost fell for you just from your voice.”

“Right, Will! Say something to Sister Olive!”

Prince Willow stared at Olive with unprecedented seriousness. Olive’s eyes lit up as the Prince stated his business.

“Mark isn’t going, so how should we handle the food? I’m worried about hygiene.”

“Wow! What a really important question! Olive is impressed!”

“Willow, you bastard!”

Everyone except Grey, who had been betrayed by his blood relative, burst into laughter.

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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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