Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 35

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

35. Secret Room and Treasure Chests

“Wow, amazing!”

“Even if your words are cheeky, your skills are outstanding!”

“Well done.”

“Ahem, well, this much is nothing.”

After Olive enjoyed the pouring praise, she examined the interior of the hidden passage. Judging there was no particular danger or risk, she immediately entered.

Past the hidden passage naturally came a hidden room. The party arrived at a stone chamber smaller than the leader’s chamber.

Three treasure chests were placed there. The chest in the center looked quite good, unlike any chest they had seen before.

It was luxurious with gold trim around the edges and red paint as well. There were treasure chests like apple crates on the left and right, but everyone’s gaze was fixed on the treasure chest in the center.

Whistle.

Olive whistled.

“As expected, hidden rooms have good rewards. A shiny chest appearing on the 1st floor.”

Ralph was also delighted.

“We have more firewood!”

To think of firewood immediately upon seeing a treasure chest. Serena secretly looked at the shop window.

‘Next time I’ll buy a campfire.’

A campfire that burns eternally without consuming firewood costs 3 coins. She could buy it after going down just 3 more floors.

It seemed unnecessary, but it might be better to buy it and be freed from worry rather than being anxious about lacking firewood every time they needed to light a fire like now.

“I’ll open it!”

Ralph approached the treasure chest with sparkling eyes. Since he had opened all the chests so far, it was natural for him.

“Knight, wait a moment!”

Olive stopped Ralph and pointed to herself.

“From now on, all treasure chests and doors must go through me. Got it?”

Reason one for her claim.

“Usually there are many traps around doors and treasure chests.”

Reason two.

“There are also monsters disguised as treasure chests or doors.”

Reason three.

“As I mentioned before, there are many doors and chests that won’t open.”

Finally, the most important reason four. Olive said this was the most important and to engrave it in their hearts.

“Opening treasure chests is really fun, so I’m going to monopolize it!”

When she gave the first three reasons, it seemed like a very valid argument, but the last reason made it lose persuasiveness.

“How impudent! If it’s that fun, then Lady Serena should rightfully do it!”

How could Serena not know the joy of opening treasure chests? The delight when discovering a chest, the anticipation and hope about what might come out, the thrill when desired items or unexpected objects emerged from the chest.

Even opening treasure chests in games was that enjoyable, so in reality it would be more fun and exciting.

“Olive, you open it.”

Still, it was embarrassing to tell someone who wanted to open treasure chests badly enough to give reasons to step aside. Serena allowed Olive to monopolize the chests.

‘My luck has other uses.’

Serena’s luck should be used for draws, not chests.

“Hmm~ Actually, no. Since it’s come to this, shall we test the luck of the princess beloved by the Labyrinth God?”

After confirming there were no traps around the treasure chest, Olive gestured to Serena.

“Princess, you open it.”

“Didn’t you say you would open it?”

“I’ll open the others. But I feel like the princess opening this one will get better luck than me.”

‘I shouldn’t use my luck here.’

Even thinking that, Serena slowly approached the treasure chest with gold trim.

To use luck on draws, good things shouldn’t come out of chests. But having seen such a good-looking treasure chest, she didn’t want bad items to come out either.

Serena hid her conflicted feelings and opened the treasure chest.

Opening the somewhat luxurious gold-trimmed chest, inside was a single rolled-up piece of paper.

‘A scroll?’

Serena picked up the paper and unrolled it. It was blank.

‘It’s not really blank paper, right? There’s something there, right?’

She was reluctant to use luck on treasure chests, but she hadn’t hoped for just a single piece of paper to come out. As Serena was flustered, something began to be drawn on the white paper that had nothing on it.

It was a map of the 1st floor.

“This couldn’t be.”

“It’s a magic map!”

Olive screamed with joy seeing the map being drawn on the paper.

“Yes! This is really good stuff! It automatically draws maps reflecting the owner’s perception! Since it reflects the owner’s perception, paths or traps the owner hasn’t seen won’t be displayed, but still, automatically drawing maps is something! On the 1st floor and it already appeared? A magic map from the start? Crazy, it’s crazy!”

In a labyrinth with complex paths, what could be more helpful than an automatically drawn map? Since it roughly adjusts the scale according to perception even for those unskilled in scaling, it was truly a useful item.

“I know a really funny story about this! Listen!”

Olive held her stomach laughing and told a funny story about magic maps.

A certain labyrinth explorer party entered a 5th grade labyrinth. The paths were terribly complex, and after all kinds of hardships they reached the labyrinth’s lowest floor, but the reward from that final floor was a magic map.

It would be maddening if it happened to you, but it was a hilariously sad true story when it happened to others.

“Sometimes there are fakes, but this is real. I’m sure. It’s my intuition. Anyway. No objections accepted.”

“What’s the difference between fake and real magic maps?”

“I said this reflects the owner’s perception, right?”

“You did.”

“Suppose there’s a path that’s subtly curved in a way that ordinary people like the princess wouldn’t notice. Then the princess would think it’s straight while walking that path, right?”

“Right.”

“In that case, fake maps reflect that perception to the end, but real maps correct it after enough information accumulates and reflect that the path is curved!”

“Even if the owner doesn’t realize it?”

“That’s right. There’s a trap or hidden door on some path, but the owner doesn’t know and just passes by. Naturally it won’t be displayed, right?”

“I suppose so.”

“Fake maps won’t display it to the end even if you go back and forth many times without discovering the trap. But real maps will tell you there’s a trap or secret door after going back and forth two or three times.”

“I see.”

Whether real or fake, drawing maps was very useful. Olive naturally tried to take the magic map from Serena’s hand. Serena tightened her grip on the map.

“Stop.”

“Why? I should have this to use it most effectively. Traps will be displayed right away.”

“Wouldn’t it be more useful to me than to you, who are familiar with labyrinths?”

Since Olive could find paths herself, it was better for Serena, who might get lost in the labyrinth, to hold it.

“Aw. It’s mine though.”

Though Olive arbitrarily claimed the magic map as hers, she seemed to think Serena’s opinion was valid and let go of the hand pulling the map.

“I’ll tell you trap locations from now on, so look and confirm positions. Knight, you should also ask the princess to show you the map and switch holding it sometimes. It reflects just by looking at the map without memorizing.”

Olive told them the trap locations discovered on the 2nd floor for reference. As Olive said, even though Serena didn’t know the exact trap locations, the magic map automatically displayed the trap locations on the 2nd floor.

‘Zoom in and out possible, and symbols and legends can be set freely?’

Thinking of desired floors was immediately reflected, and maps of multiple floors could be viewed simultaneously.

‘Olive would like this.’

This was worthy as a reward from a luxurious treasure chest.

Olive hummed contentedly.

“I did well entrusting it to the princess, well done.”

“As expected of Lady Serena!”

“Princess, you’re amazing!”

Serena had only opened a chest, but the maid and knight praised her as if she had slain a dragon.

‘Such a good item came out though.’

Serena felt regret thinking she had consumed her luck and stepped back.

Now two treasure chests remained. These were ordinary treasure chests they had seen while wandering the labyrinth. Olive was to open these.

“Now then, before opening~ Pay attention!”

Olive drew the attention focused on Serena to herself. Since both Philia and Ralph were captivated by the princess, it took some time.

“What do you think is something cheap, easy to obtain, and miscellaneous, but that we happen to lack?”

“You said you wanted to open the box, so I let you open it, and now what are you saying? Hurry up and open the box! Lady Serena’s feet hurt!”

Philia, who said this, seemed to be the one whose feet actually hurt. Serena had changed into Krom’s leather boots, but Philia was still stuck with her dress shoes.

Even though she had walked less than Serena over the past two days, her feet must have been completely battered.

‘Her feet must hurt a lot, yet she insisted on following along.’

Serena sighed and stated what they needed.

“Comfortable and sturdy shoes. The more the better.”

“Good, Princess! That’s exactly it! Yo!”

“Huh? Am I supposed to say it out loud?”

“Didn’t Olive say so? The Labyrinth reflects our desires more faithfully the more honest we are about them. Until we open the box, what’s inside isn’t determined. So we’re deciding what will come out of the box with our desires.”

“When Lady Serena opened that box just now, there was no such explanation?”

“This is a pretty good box, so I thought I’d test the Princess’s luck~”

She probably planned to blame everything on the Princess if unsatisfactory items came out. Before Philia could notice Olive’s devious intentions and get angry, Serena calmed her maid.

“Calm down, Philia. My good luck has been proven, hasn’t it? That’s enough.”

“Ugh, fine. Guide, I’ll be keeping my eye on you.”

“Yes yes. I’m so honored that such a beauty like the Countess is watching over me, my heart is going thump thump.”

“Don’t be impure in front of a treasure chest. Stop that and let’s each say what we want.”

“Ah… I want armor maintenance tools! I need more weapons too!”

“I need a magical device that can get us out of here!”

“Countess. This is the 1st Floor, you know. Don’t you have something more realistic? Yo?”

“Ugh.”

Philia bit her lip in frustration, then clenched both fists and shouted.

“New underwear! Comfortable clothes! Comfortable shoes! Socks! Soap! Perfume! Toothpaste! Toothbrush!”

“Good! Everyone shouted, right? Then it’s my turn!”

Olive shouted so loudly it was hard to believe it came from her small frame.

“Dagger! Rope! Oil! Lantern! Bandages! Disinfectant, ugh my emergency kit! Sleeping bag! Blanket! Water bottle! Emergency rations! Just my whole bag that had everything! My baaag!”

Though there was no way Olive’s bag left behind in the inn room (Serena’s guess) would come out of a box in the Labyrinth, Olive desperately called for her bag that contained everything she needed right now.

“Right, we’re short on salt too! Salt! Sugar!”

“Actually, I want to change clothes too! Men’s underwear!”

“Can I say more? Toilet paper!”

Everyone’s desires came out in full force. Once they finished infusing both treasure chests with everyone’s desires, Olive took position to open the boxes.

“Good! Lastly, adding arrow bundles for poor Zero too! Let’s open them!”

Kung-cha-ra clap clap kung-clap kung-clap. Olive made sound effects with her mouth as she opened the second box.

“Kyaaaah!”

Twenty sets of clean, sturdy-looking women’s underwear came out. Philia screamed with joy.

“Hmm, we can all use these. Not bad.”

“I can’t wear those…”

“I got the corpse stuff out for you, Knight. Yo. Wash and wear them. Yo.”

“Ugh.”

Ralph, who had inherited underwear from Lucas after the sword and armor, looked miserable.

“Then here comes the next box~”

Kung-cha-ra cha-cha kung-clap kung-clap. Olive opened the last, third box. It contained one bundle of sturdy-looking rope.

“Argh! I need it, but I didn’t need it that much! Who thought of rope! Me? I said it, didn’t I?”

Olive grabbed her head and shook it in anguish. Serena judged the harvest more coolly.

‘Hmm, it’s not bad.’

Underwear and rope. It was disappointing for treasure chest rewards, but since they got the magical map that was essential for clearing the dungeon, it was a decent harvest.

The greedy Olive continued to anguish, perhaps wanting more.

“Miss Olive, please calm down. These are all necessary items.”

“Argh! If rope was going to come out, comfortable shoes for the Countess would have been better!”

“Calm down. We can aim for the next treasure chest, can’t we? This rope will also have its uses. Isn’t the magical map enough?”

“It’s not that it’s useless, but right now! Argh! Why did I do that!”

Olive seemed to think she had jinxed it by uselessly obsessing over her bag and its contents. Serena somewhat agreed.

‘If she had thought strongly about the bag instead, a bag worth carrying would have come out.’

What was with the random rope?

In a situation where every supply was precious, they couldn’t leave behind items that came from treasure chests, so everyone gathered their things.

Rope was heavy when bundled up too. Ralph took the rope, while Philia and Serena divided the underwear. After giving underwear to Philia first, Serena bent down to pick up the remaining underwear and discovered something.

‘What’s that?’

On the wall behind the treasure chest, a strange shape was painted in crimson. When Serena first entered the Secret Room and saw the decorative patterns drawn on the walls, she hadn’t found it strange.

‘They usually decorate around treasure chests anyway.’

They decorate the floor where treasure chests are placed and the surrounding walls to make them stand out to players. It’s basic among basics.

The wall decoration she had casually overlooked turned out to be door-shaped when seen up close. It even glowed faintly like a glow-in-the-dark sticker.

‘Could it be a door?’

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