Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 349

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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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349. Escape Preparations (2)

“Aim for the grain? Did Ying say that?”

“Yes. She said you would understand if I told you, Serena.”

In the past, when the party faced Alligator Rius, the ruler of the sewers, the Archer had given the Princess the same advice.

The grain back then meant Alligator Rius’s weakness. So this time, what or whose grain should they aim for?

‘Why is there no subject.’

Even the advice itself was recycled. But she couldn’t ignore the Archer’s counsel.

‘Ying left that message because she had to. And what Ying says is…’

Perhaps it could be words that the darkness of the heavens was leaving for the Princess through its priest.

So she absolutely couldn’t ignore it.

Especially since the gods of the heavens would be watching every action of the regressor.

Serena pondered over the advice given by the great being of the heavens, or perhaps the veteran labyrinth adventurer.

‘Aim for the grain? Are you telling me to find more weak spots like walls where I can punch holes to escape?’

While chewing, tearing, tasting, and chewing the advice again, the visitation time ended.

With clanking sounds, a guard entered the visitation room.

Looking at the armor that would have no weakness other than the eye holes if it were a real creature, the Princess frowned.

‘Surely you don’t mean to aim for the grain of the armor. Find the magic circle and attack it directly?’

If she did that, she could leisurely leave the prison without worrying about being caught by the guards.

In the labyrinth state where combat becomes possible, she could escape even more easily, like taking a stroll.

But why doesn’t she do that?

‘Because it’s impossible! Because it’s difficult! Because I can’t even dare to try!’

Ying’s advice was the same as saying you get a perfect score if you answer correctly. That wasn’t even advice. To call that advice, you’d have to pay an advice fee.

Demanding such advanced techniques that only the Old Man could perform.

It seemed the great darkness or the High Priest of Darkness wanted to burn Serena’s brain to death.

‘At least give me magic glasses that show weak points!’

With a faint hope, Serena glared at the guard with her remaining eye throughout the entire journey to the cell.

She thought that perhaps the blessing of the god of darkness would help her see weak points clearly.

Of course, until they arrived at the cell, there was no sudden display of weak points, nor did she see lines that looked like they could split even a strong vampire into 17 pieces if traced.

The guard put Serena and Ralph in the cell and removed their shackles and handcuffs.

The Undead Crone who happened to be in the cell supported the Princess so she wouldn’t fall from the guard’s rough treatment.

Serena recalled that the Peddler had been a basic pickpocketing technician.

“Krom. Could you switch these handcuffs with the guard’s handcuffs?”

Krom sent Serena a look asking why she was making him do such a thing, but still demonstrated the skills he had honed in life.

The Undead Crone instantly switched the ordinary handcuffs with the magic handcuffs. The guard collected the switched handcuffs and closed the cell door.

Clank clank clank. The sound of the guards’ footsteps faded away.

Krom shook the magic handcuffs he had obtained through the switch.

“It was easy, but why did you make me do it?”

“You’re amazing, Krom!”

“Amazing? This isn’t even a skill. You’d starve to death trying to make a living with something like this.”

Even though it was basic hand movements that would make you starve outside the labyrinth, thanks to it they were able to obtain two magic handcuffs.

“So what is this thing?”

“According to Olive’s guess, it’s a magical tool!”

“Really?”

At the mention of a magical tool, Krom looked again at the handcuffs he had been shaking carelessly.

Having never encountered magical tools in his lifetime, it seemed strange to see them frequently after entering the labyrinth.

“Was there anything unusual while we were gone?”

“That wall I said I’d dig. I poked through all the crevices and barely pulled out a stone, but instead of a room, there was a stone wall.”

“Oh my. That’s disappointing.”

It was a common result you’d see when breaking walls in the labyrinth. Ralph felt sorry for Krom’s efforts ending in vain and comforted him. Serena thought differently.

‘When it becomes a labyrinth, the cell arrangement changes. It might be useful then.’

“That’s not all. There was a spot on the floor that seemed like there’d be a passage if you lifted it, so I forced it open.”

Krom waved his broken finger that was dangling. Ralph suffered as if his own finger was broken and quickly fixed it with bandages.

“That was blocked too.”

“It’s disappointing that you even got injured. But check if other rooms have such things and prepare paths in advance. They might be needed someday.”

The Undead Crone expressed dissatisfaction.

“But it’s blocked?”

“The Princess must have a plan!”

The Young Knight’s faith pierced the Princess’s heart.

The pain of her head being crushed by the mace was gradually fading, but strangely, every time she saw the Young Knight, Mysterious Stranger, or Sibling, somewhere in her body hurt as if she’d been hit anew.

Serena spoke quickly to forget the pain.

“Was there anything else?”

“I dug two holes and was going somewhere else, but I heard those guys coming so I came back.”

“I see. Even if you don’t feel it, your body must have been strained, so rest for a while.”

“I was going to do that even without you telling me.”

The old woman, who looked even more pitiful due to her small stature and lack of vitality, leaned against the cell wall and sat down.

Krom took out Neet’s blood and dropped a drop on the magical tool.

Though the amount of blood was small, it looked like a perfect example of black magic or sorcery from creative works.

Ralph, who had been watching with curious eyes, suddenly asked.

“Krom, you’ve been to prison twice, haven’t you?”

As evidence, the old woman had two tattoos behind her ear. But somehow the Peddler’s expression was strange.

The Peddler giggled and pointed to behind his ear where the tattoos were carved.

“This here. It’s what guys who’ve served their full time in prison do.”

The Princess’s face hardened as she interpreted the escaped convict’s words.

“Don’t tell me you were imprisoned more than twice?”

“Yeah.”

In Serena’s heart, the emotional distance with Krom grew one step further.

Since it had already grown tremendously after learning his profession, there wasn’t much difference.

“The first time I was caught as a petty criminal without knowing better, and the second time I just served a short sentence. The third time I happened to get caught selling drugs. I was dragged straight to the stone quarry.”

Krom’s skills in breaking stones and digging walls and floors were learned then.

The full-body joint pain that had tormented Krom was also acquired then, but it was cured when he died.

“Since they gathered dealers together, we got along well. We made escape plans while talking business with each other and got out. Originally, escape requires three things to align.”

Krom held up three fingers again.

“Prison friends, bribed guards, family outside prison. Without these three, you can’t escape.”

Ordinary prisoners couldn’t align these three things no matter how hard they tried.

“Plus, the country was in chaos. All the high-ranking people died, so there was no one to manage the guys doing hard labor at the stone quarry. Thanks to that, we got out safely and lived well, eating well.”

Ralph, who would normally lament the corruption of guards, was so absorbed in Krom’s story that he became curious about something else.

“To satisfy those three conditions seems difficult for ordinary criminals. Krom, were you a big shot?”

“Hehe, do I look like one?”

A small, shabby old woman. Though her appearance didn’t look like a big shot of the underworld at all, it was also a cliché for such unexpected figures to be big shots who controlled the underworld.

When Krom smiled meaningfully, Ralph seemed to recall such clichés and opened his eyes wide as saucers.

Serena was also briefly tempted but remained suspicious as usual.

‘Isn’t 2-star too low for an underworld big shot?’

Serena was gradually realizing that the star count visible only to her wasn’t perfect.

It seemed to give star ratings based on labyrinth exploration rather than actual ability.

But even considering that, 2-star was too low.

Serena said coldly.

“You don’t look like it. How did you escape?”

“Hehe, the Princess is right. I helped a big shot escape and got out together.”

Serena openly displayed her displeasure.

“If such a big shot escaped from prison, they would have kept chasing the escapee, right?”

“I told you. The country was in chaos, so I got lucky.”

Serena clicked her tongue inwardly.

She didn’t like how when society became unstable, good people suffered while those who caused harm thrived.

“What is the name of that despicable person?”

“I don’t know either. Everything I saw – the face and name – was all fake. Since they were in the same cell as me, they were probably a woman, but even that’s not certain.”

A big shot from the underworld whose name, appearance, and even gender were unknown.

Krom didn’t seem to be lying.

He was already dead so had no loyalty to protect, and originally Krom was someone who only cared about his own money and body, not someone who had anything else to protect.

“I got a territory as compensation. I can tell you about that.”

“A territory?”

“Yes. Why do you think I was holding out in that alley? It was because that was a place where I could do business.”

The territory the Peddler received from the criminal organization. There was endless content that could be deduced from that.

Ralph in particular was horrified, thinking of bribed guards following the bribed Guard.

“The Huji Chen Guard Unit couldn’t be like that! They were all kind and good people!”

“Every place has one or two rotten, moldy bastards. Hehe.”

“Pr-pr-pr-Princess, I really didn’t know.”

There was someone within the proud Huji Chen Guard Unit who had colluded with criminals.

Ralph stammered, shocked by this fact.

“Do you know how annoying it was when that clueless brat kept telling me to close up shop?”

The Peddler chuckled, saying it was ridiculous even thinking about it now.

There was a reason the Peddler had stubbornly defended his territory at the time.

‘If he got caught being a drug dealer, it would be big trouble, so why didn’t he give up his spot?’

The derived question was resolved when she saw the Young Knight creaking not just his mouth but his entire body.

‘He looked down on Ralph because he seemed easy.’

Krom had assessed the boy’s innocence the moment he saw Ralph and held his ground.

Krom’s mistake was failing to realize that the boy was as righteous and persistent as he was innocent.

“What is the name of the bribed Guard?”

Krom immediately stated the Guard’s name. Ralph tensed up, then let out a sigh of relief after hearing the name from the Old Woman’s mouth.

“Phew. It’s someone I don’t know.”

Ralph was happy that no bad mold had grown on his brother and his brother’s coworkers.

“Is the story over?”

Krom finished resting and stood up. The dead Old Woman disappeared into the toilet hole.

How much time had passed? Strange sounds were heard, then the Old Woman’s face slowly emerged from the toilet hole. It was just like a ghost story.

“I saw something good.”

“What is it?”

“The cell across from us. There’s a part where the wall color is slightly different.”

“It’s a breakable wall!”

Taking advantage of right after the Guard passed by, the three destroyed the wall Krom had discovered. The hole created was large enough for even Ralph in his armor to use.

“Will it be okay if this gets discovered?”

“Let’s cover it with a mat for now.”

In the cell across from them, it was possible to move to the Adjacent Cell using the toilet hole.

Krom would explore that area later, and since they were already out in the Corridor, the group took a lap around the Corridor.

Cells were lined up in rows, and they could see treasure chests too.

The end of the cell line attached to the outer wall wasn’t a cell. There was a huge metal door stuck to the wall with as many as 4 keyholes.

Serena couldn’t see it directly, but she recalled the overall prison structure she had grasped through the magic map.

‘Is this the door leading to the North Wing?’

Requiring 4 keys. The security was really tight.

She had the childish imagination that if they got 4 keys and opened the door, a bunch of treasure chests would be waiting.

‘Who knows. They might build up expectations only to have a powerful enemy waiting.’

The group returned to their cell, avoiding the Guard in front of the door leading to Area 2, that is, the South Wing.

Krom left to investigate the cell across from them, and dinner was distributed. It was almost lights-out time.

A day had passed, and the prisoner in the Adjacent Cell had only one day left.

‘What should I do? Should I at least confirm if there’s really a person there? But it would be unsettling to just watch them die.’

Given the nature of prisons, it could be an innocent person who was imprisoned, or someone who deserved the death penalty.

Perhaps because she had heard about criminals from Krom, her thoughts leaned toward the latter.

‘Actually, there’s no way to confirm.’

“There’s no mirror either…”

To see someone in a labyrinth that was the same but different, she needed a medium like a mirror.

Serena didn’t have a mirror with her.

The Princess who had unconsciously spoken to herself smiled bitterly. It wasn’t that she had accidentally forgotten to bring a mirror.

‘I unconsciously avoided it. I was going to use the mirror as an excuse, saying I couldn’t get one.’

It wasn’t because she was stupid, but because her personality was bad that she forgot to bring a mirror.

‘Is this right?’

Was it right to crush possibilities without even trying?

When she had her own problems to deal with, wouldn’t it be right to prioritize the prison break?

‘If there really is a person imprisoned, they might be executed because I observed them. Is this really right?’

The fierce contemplation that had been boiling in the Princess’s head and heart, unable to show it because there were watching eyes, quickly ended due to the Young Knight’s bright voice.

“Do you need a mirror? Here it is!”

Ralph pulled out a hand mirror from his bag and held it out.

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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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