Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 351

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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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351. The Old Man and the Lizardman (1)

The old man’s thunderous roar echoed resoundingly through the corridor.

Kiek!

The lizardman who heard the roar froze like stone in surprise.

It wasn’t only the lizardman who was startled. Serena, Ralph, and Krom also stiffened into statues.

Serena, who was close to the old man, staggered while clutching her ringing ears.

‘This isn’t even a martial arts world, yet he’s using a lion’s roar.’

The old man’s vocal cords were so powerful it seemed like he’d boiled and eaten a train whistle.

Clank clank.

The old man’s shout was so loud that even the guard, who normally didn’t react to ordinary sounds, approached.

“Everyone return to your original cells!”

“Teacher! Teacher. You’re here!”

Ralph and Krom hurriedly ran back into their cell, but the lizardman wagged his thick tail back and forth, welcoming the reunion with the old man.

The old man who had stopped the lizardman with his thunderous roar also reached forward to pat the lizardman.

Though she didn’t know how they had come to know each other, it seemed they truly had a teacher-student relationship as the lizardman had said.

‘This isn’t the time for this.’

Serena, who had been staring blankly at the interspecies exchange, suddenly came to her senses.

The princess also warned her neighbor who didn’t know the cell rules.

“A monster is coming, so quickly return to your cell and close the door! Hurry!”

“….”

The old man’s head, which had been looking at the lizardman, turned toward Serena.

His white hair was so disheveled that even looking straight at him, the old man’s face wasn’t visible.

Serena felt a gaze through the bangs that curtained the old man’s face, but she couldn’t see his eyes.

“If discovered by a monster, you’ll be automatically imprisoned in a cell. Go in quickly.”

“Teacher. What do we do?”

“Let’s go in.”

The old man entered the cell without a word.

The old man with the prosthetic leg watched the princess through his randomly grown bangs that covered his face.

Then he entered the cell without saying anything.

“Teacher. Together. Go.”

The lizardman wagged his tail as he followed the old man into the cell.

The broken bars scattered on the floor were stepped on by the lizardman’s feet.

“Door! Gone!”

“Just prop it up roughly against the door frame.”

“Those guys are walking faster than usual, so Princess, you should come in too.”

Clank clank clank. Footsteps 1.5 times faster than usual could be heard.

A guard walking down the corridor came into view. Fortunately, the guard’s field of vision was the same as his light range.

When the guard’s light illuminated around the cells, all prisoners had returned to their cells and closed their doors.

The guard paced in front of the cells before disappearing.

Ralph sighed in relief upon hearing the gradually fading footsteps.

“Phew. He’s gone.”

“What’s all this about? What’s that monster and who’s that loud-voiced person?”

“Mr. Lizardman could speak! Did the newly appeared grandmother tame him?”

“Chattering noisily like Sesi?”

“Yes! If Sesi tamed a lizardman, she might be able to teach it to speak too!”

“I get that a talking lizard is amazing. But where did that lizard and person suddenly pop out from? I swear on my two eyes-.”

The undead crone glanced at the princess who only had one eye.

“I must have seen wrong. These rotten eyeballs are naturally like that.”

“Krom didn’t see wrong. The princess can save people from the same but different labyrinth. The princess also saved the Hana siblings and Count Alpha.”

“A labyrinth is a labyrinth, what are you talking about. I don’t understand at all.”

“Well.”

When Ralph was about to give a full explanation, Krom turned away in disgust.

“Never mind. Anyway, the princess is the best, right?”

“Yes. That’s right! You just need to know that the princess is amazing!”

‘No, that’s not it.’

The young knight’s faith was evolving in an increasingly strange direction.

She feared that others might think similarly to Ralph.

‘I need to catch him and correct this.’

Clearing up misunderstandings could wait until after escaping the 12th layer. Serena focused on the present.

The princess asked a question toward the hole in the wall.

“Who are you people?”

The answer didn’t come immediately. The sound of moving the fallen bars broke the silence.

The black lizardman came out of his cell and walked toward the cell where Serena and her party were.

Ralph raised his shield because it would be dangerous if he attacked again.

Though Serena’s cell door was also open, the lizardman didn’t enter the cell and greeted them with the door between them.

“Me. Kara. Warrior.”

“Hello, Mr. Kara. I am Ralph Hanson. I am the princess’s knight.”

If Ralph had been officially appointed as a royal knight through proper procedures, he would have introduced the princess on her behalf at times like this.

‘Because that would be proper etiquette.’

It was also strange to apply human royal etiquette when dealing with other species.

Serena introduced herself to the lizardman, Kara.

“I am Serena Fackling Huaim. I am the granddaughter of Harold II, the one and only sovereign of Huji, and the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Kipan, the next sovereign of Huji, making me Princess Fackling.”

“Pr-princess? Huaim?”

Had the interspecies introduction been too long? The lizardman who had introduced himself as Kara suddenly stammered.

The lizardman’s large vertical pupils shook like a small boat caught in a storm.

That appearance overlapped with the image of a sibling who had dozed off in advance, afraid of being scolded by Serena.

‘We’ve never met before, so there’s no reason for scolding. That’s impossible, what am I thinking? Since we’re different species, I must have misunderstood. Was my introduction too difficult? Should I start by explaining what a princess is?’

Just as Serena was ignorant about lizardman culture, the lizardman could be ignorant about human culture.

While she was at a loss about where to start explaining, the lizardman’s gaze reached Krom.

Kara was startled.

“A corpse!”

“An undead.”

“An undead! Burn it! Kaak?”

Kara, who had informed them that lizardman society also burned undead upon discovery, blinked his large eyes.

Like a chicken, his eyelids moved from bottom to top to cover his eyes.

“Undead. Talks! Teacher! Corpse! Talks!”

Corpse. Something scary and disgusting.

Undead. Something scarier and more disgusting than a corpse.

A talking undead?

Hiss hiss.

Kara flicked his tongue outside his mouth, making metallic sounds while being wary.

However, he couldn’t hide the curiosity in his eyes.

“First time seeing a talking corpse? I’ve also never seen a talking lizardman before.”

A bizarre scene unfolded where a genuine undead and a talking lizardman found each other fascinating.

It was a sight that could never be seen outside of a labyrinth.

“Mr. Kara, are you not a monster? How can you speak human language? Are those combat techniques unique lizardman martial arts?”

Once it became clear there was no need to fight Kara, Ralph unpacked his bundle of curiosity. Kara also answered comfortably.

“Teacher. Language. Learned.”

“Did your teacher teach Mr. Kara language and martial arts? What kind of person is your teacher?”

“Teacher is. Teacher. Kara. Learned.”

Even though he could hear them talking about him, the old man didn’t come out of the adjacent cell or join the conversation.

‘Why isn’t he coming? No, that’s not right! I should be the one to move!’

The old man was physically impaired and elderly, yet she was thinking ‘Why isn’t he coming?’

It seemed her 18 years of playing princess after reincarnation hadn’t been in vain.

The small citizen from a Confucian culture in her past life scolded the princess of her current life.

Serena felt a slight pang of conscience as she asked through the hole.

“Who are you?”

No answer came back.

Kara moved her differently structured mouth earnestly to speak.

“Teacher is. Teacher.”

“Kara, were you tamed by the teacher?”

“Kara. Livestock. No.”

Kara struck the floor with her tail, displeased.

Now that introductions were over, she was about to ask her curious questions when Kara beat her to it.

“You. Why. Here? Yesterday. Not here.”

If the lines carved on the wall were left by Kara or the old man, then they had been in prison longer than Serena’s group.

Kara struck the floor with her tail, finding it strange that residents had suddenly appeared in the previously empty adjacent cell.

It was a light motion, not threatening.

“Do you know this is a labyrinth?”

“Know. Teacher. Taught.”

“I am an apostle of the Labyrinth God. I saved you because you were in danger.”

“Saved?”

She thought it would be difficult to read emotions on a face of a different species, but perhaps because the face was large, the eyes were also big, making emotions easier to read than expected.

Kara blinked her large eyes as if she couldn’t guess anything.

Like Serena when she first set foot on the 12th floor, she seemed unaware that she was scheduled for execution.

“Do you know how many days you’ve been imprisoned in this cell?”

Kara nodded her large head.

“Know. 5. Lines. Drew.”

Kara revealed that she had drawn the lines in the adjacent cell.

Before asking a very unpleasant question, Serena crossed her arms.

“You must have killed people in the labyrinth. Isn’t that right?”

At the firm tone, Kara bristled.

“Unfair! Kara! Not wrong! First! Hit!”

“It was… self-defense.”

The old man spoke for the first time to protect Kara.

Hearing the old man’s words, Serena slightly furrowed her brow.

‘He’s forcing himself to use honorifics?’

In the royal palace full of demons, Serena had encountered everyone from those who wanted to kill the princess to those who looked down on her. She was certain.

That was the tone of someone forced to use honorifics because Serena had revealed herself as a princess.

‘Does he have complaints about the class system? Or is he the type who unconditionally dislikes high-ranking people like Olive? Or does he have an antisocial personality befitting a prison?’

If revolutionary blood flowed in the old man’s veins, he would be a dangerous element, but that wasn’t what was important right now.

“Whether it’s self-defense or not doesn’t matter. Do you know that you’re scheduled to be executed in two days?”

Kyaak! At the mention of execution, Kara was startled and stiffened her tail.

The old man showed no particular reaction at first, then the regular sound of wood hitting stone could be heard.

Tap tap tap. The old man with a prosthetic leg moved his impaired body to stand before the barred door.

“Please tell me… in detail.”

Only then did Serena properly see the old man. His appearance was shabby.

He wore crudely sewn leather clothes, and his white hair was so disheveled it made one wonder when he had last combed it.

Below the raggedly hanging leather clothes, a wooden prosthetic leg was visible. This too was crudely structured and finished like the leather clothes.

The old man’s face was hidden by his messy hair and couldn’t be seen.

Judging by his build and voice, he seemed like an old woman as Ralph had said, but there was no concrete evidence.

‘Gender isn’t what’s important right now.’

Serena’s face hardened after properly seeing the old man.

Not because the old man reluctantly used honorifics.

Nor because of the old man’s shabby appearance and disability.

The old man was missing something that should have been there.

‘There are no stars.’

Above the old man’s head, no stars indicating his grade were visible.

Following Richard and Grey, this was the third appearance of someone without visible stars.

The princess swallowed her groan.

‘Why? Why are there no stars? Or am I unable to see them? What’s the reason stars aren’t visible?’

Until now, Serena had narrowed down the reason for not seeing stars to one possibility.

‘A strong person beyond my ability to gauge.’

That made sense, since among those without visible stars, one was a Sword Master and one was a Grand Mage.

Because of Grey, she had briefly mistaken that weak people also had no visible stars, but that wasn’t the case.

But now one more person without stars above their head had been added.

Serena couldn’t decide whether to revive the hypothesis she had excluded or keep it on hold.

Looking only at his leg disability, it would be right to classify the old man as weak.

But thinking of the roar that had echoed through the corridor, the old man didn’t seem that weak.

Yet looking at the old man more closely, he didn’t look like a master with hidden skills.

Even washing her one eye and looking again, he was just a sick old man.

‘But shouldn’t he at least be 1-star? Neet was sick and only 7 years old, but had 1-star initially with memory correction. I thought Philia was 1-star because she had no abilities but intact limbs. To think he’s not even 1-star.’

If there was even one star, it would be easy to figure out, but with no visible stars at all, there was no way to know if this was 0-star or 6-star transcending 5-star.

‘Let’s be cautious for now.’

“If you want information, isn’t it proper to at least reveal your name?”

The old man bowed his head.

“I’m not someone worthy of a noble princess remembering my name. Please call me Nameless or One-leg.”

The old man with no visible stars above his head refused to reveal his name to the end.

Though she desperately wanted to retort ‘Then you can call me One-eye too,’ Serena endured.

“Fine then. I’ll tell you the rules of this floor.”

Serena explained the rules of the 12th floor to Nameless and Kara.

After hearing the full explanation, Kara opened her large mouth wide.

“Kara. Unfair!”

“I’m unfair too!”

Judging from Kara’s attitude that the lizardman and Nameless weren’t villains, Ralph agreed with Kara.

Kara struck the floor with her tail repeatedly, appealing her injustice.

“First. Hit. Killed. Kara. Unfair!”

‘If I encountered a lizardman in the labyrinth, I’d probably attack first too.’

From Kara’s perspective, who could speak human language, it would be very unfair, but while Serena inwardly understood the deceased, Nameless supplemented the explanation.

“They knew Kara wasn’t a monster.”

According to Nameless, those they killed had known Kara from before falling into the labyrinth.

So when they coincidentally met in the labyrinth and traveled together, they tried to abandon the impaired Nameless.

When Kara refused, they revealed their intention to kill Nameless and keep Kara like a battle slave.

‘So they didn’t kill just one person.’

Whether killing one person or several, execution was carried out fairly after 7 days, making the labyrinth prison rules truly unreasonable.

‘It doesn’t sound like a lie.’

Nameless seemed to be hiding something, but the circumstances of their imprisonment sounded entirely truthful.

While the princess wondered what the old man who didn’t want to reveal his name and the lizardman wanted to hide, the young knight believed everything Nameless had said.

“To try such things with acquaintances! They were bad people! How did you come to know such bad people?”

“Tournament. Met.”

The lizardman spoke a completely unexpected word.

It was so unexpected that all the suspicions in Serena’s mind flew away, leaving her thoughts blank.

‘Do lizardmen hold tournaments too?’

In Serena’s mind, she pictured a group of lizardmen dressed up and adorned, laughing heartily while dancing to music.

Every time the lizardman couples spun around, people nearby got hit by their tails and went flying.

“A tournament?”

“Grand Martial Arts. Tournament. Kara. Warrior. Fight. Strong ones. Strength. Skill. Prove.”

‘Ah, that tournament.’

Various events were held to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of Heuji’s founding.

Serena was in charge of the arts festival and the royal ball, while Richard handled the hunting competition and the Grand Martial Arts Tournament.

The tournament Kara mentioned was the latter. Not only Heuji citizens but foreigners could participate, and with luxurious prize money and rewards, there were many participants.

‘They said there was a crimson key among the championship prizes.’

Labyrinth Adventurers flocked to Heuji targeting the crimson key.

Two-thirds of them didn’t participate in the tournament, instead waiting for it to end with plans to steal the prize once the winner received it.

After hearing the story, Serena checked her own memory.

Even if work was busy and hectic during the festival period, still.

“Did you participate in the Grand Martial Arts Tournament? I never heard news of a lizardman participating.”

If a lizardman had participated in the tournament, rumors would have spread.

But this was the first Serena had heard of it.

—————
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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