Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 353

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

353. Prison Break Preparations

The next morning.

Ralph once again gave up his special breakfast meal to Kara.

Kara was genuinely grateful and swore to catch a deer for Ralph once they escaped the labyrinth.

“You. Where. Go?”

“Do you remember we mentioned having companions who weren’t captured? We’re scheduled to meet with them.”

“Can. Meet?”

“We can’t go ourselves, but they can apply for visitation from outside!”

“I’m gonna go check out the places I couldn’t see yesterday.”

Krom left the cell before the Princess and Knight.

Kara couldn’t take her eyes off Krom, seemingly fascinated that an undead possessed reason and could speak.

Once Krom disappeared from view, the Lizardman asked.

“Undead. Okay?”

“Krom is an official undead recognized by the great Death and Magic. He’s not dangerous, so it’s fine.”

“God? Then okay! Understand!”

At the mention of a deity, Kara believed without question. It was fitting for a world where gods truly existed.

“What gods do Lizardmen mainly worship?”

“Hunt. Forest. Earth. Water. Many.”

Lizardman faith varied according to their tribal environment. It wasn’t much different from humans.

Unlike yesterday when they had conversations, Nameless didn’t say a word all morning. Though Ralph asked various questions, the old man consistently ignored him. Kara was busy eating.

Clank.

Hearing the guard’s footsteps, their neighboring resident returned to the adjacent cell.

Serena and Ralph put on shackles and handcuffs before leaving their cell.

‘Hmm. New magic handcuffs.’

Just in case, Serena concentrated and examined the handcuffs.

Even though they had switched ordinary handcuffs with magic ones yesterday, magic handcuffs were put on again.

‘Where do they get these from? Is there a warehouse? Or do new ones appear each time for visitation? Does that mean the magic handcuffs are being copied?’

These were magical tools that nations owning labyrinths and labyrinth adventurers would love. If they could be copied, they’d be truly delighted.

Entering the visitation room, Count Randy and Count Alpha were waiting for Serena and Ralph.

When conquering the labyrinth, they were always together as the same party, and even during rest they crowded together in the lobby, so despite being apart for just one day, it felt as welcoming as if days had passed.

“Lady Serena! I have urgent matters to discuss.”

Count Randy couldn’t wait for Serena to sit down before speaking.

Knowing why the Count and Imperial Knight were anxious, Serena spoke first.

“Has someone been added to the prisoner list?”

“Gasp!”

The alchemist, who had been waiting for visitation time after seeing people added to yesterday’s list, was shocked as if he might faint. Count Alpha was equally surprised.

“How did you know? Did you perhaps meet new prisoners in jail? Are you injured anywhere?”

Since the added prisoners were also death row inmates, meaning murderers, Count Alpha checked the Princess’s safety first.

Serena waved her hand lightly to dispel the handsome knight’s worries.

“People were added because I interfered. They were also wrongfully imprisoned like us, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Oh, I see. I’ve been worrying constantly without knowing that.”

“Poor communication has caused you trouble, Count.”

Instead of bowing her head, Serena gave a slight nod. This was sufficient as a royal apology.

“Let me confirm. Was it one person added, or two?”

The labyrinth lottery treated Kara the Lizardman as one person, but she couldn’t know if the prison did the same.

“Two people. One is Kara, and the other has a blank name. Both are scheduled for execution tomorrow.”

“Really?”

One of the Princess’s eyebrows rose.

She had hoped to identify the old man who refused to reveal his name through the labyrinth’s mystery, but what was this?

The damn labyrinth arbitrarily imprisoned people and executed them, yet protected personal information.

‘Isn’t it usually the opposite?!’

In her previous life, she was thoroughly exposed on every site she joined. Reincarnated as royalty with orange eyes that only two people in the world possessed, making her personal information public property, Serena couldn’t hide her anger.

“If tomorrow is the execution date, there isn’t much time left.”

Ralph’s expression became serious as he had been waiting for a chance to tell the alchemist about Kara’s species.

“Not necessarily. If they leave their cells and stay in our cell, the guards won’t be able to execute them.”

“Is that so? What a relief! Count, Count Alpha. Don’t be surprised when you hear this! Kara is actually!”

Ralph, perhaps learning from Olive, didn’t speak immediately and built suspense.

Though everything had been undone, seeing Ralph’s joy was reassuring since he had suffered so much on the 12th floor.

“Actually!”

“Count Ralph. Stop building suspense.”

“Is she a lady you know?”

“Pardon? A lady?”

“Yes? I thought it was a woman’s name.”

Both knights widened their eyes and repeated their questions.

Ralph looked at Serena in confusion.

“Princess. Is Kara a lady?”

The Princess rolled her eyes.

‘Kara. The name does sound feminine when you just hear it.’

The two who had seen Kara directly were overwhelmed by the massive black Lizardman and didn’t wonder about gender.

She tried to recall what the voice sounded like, but there were no clues to guess the gender.

‘A Lizardman speaking human language – what does voice matter! A lizard is speaking human words!’

But Count Alpha, who had only seen the name on the list, seemed to have assumed Kara was female.

After brief consideration, Serena concluded that Kara’s gender wasn’t important.

“We’ll ask Kara about gender directly. Kara is a Lizardman. Black-colored, so don’t attack out of misunderstanding.”

“Pardon? A Lizardman? Lizardmen can be imprisoned too?”

“Not a labyrinth monster, but a Lizardman from outside who was consumed? Are you saying there were Lizardmen in Heuji City?”

The two Imperial citizens doubted their ears upon learning Kara’s identity.

Serena felt sorry for unintentionally stealing Ralph’s joy, but fortunately Ralph had other pleasures remaining.

“Yes. Kara is a Lizardman. And don’t be surprised to hear this. Kara is actually!”

“Speak quickly this time.”

“A Lizardman… Even if it was self-defense, if they killed a person, wouldn’t they be hostile to humans?”

The two Imperial citizens tried to steal even the young knight’s remaining joy by focusing on business.

Ralph gave up his remaining pleasure to defend Kara.

“That’s not true! Kara can speak human language! Though we fought yesterday due to a misunderstanding, before the misunderstanding, Kara first said there was no intention to attack!”

“You’re saying a Lizardman speaks human language?”

Shocked Count Randy shot up from his seat.

He was about to wet his lips to pour out questions when he saw Serena and calmed down.

“I’m truly curious, but Lady Serena’s escape takes priority. Lady Serena, let me examine the magic map briefly.”

“Did you discover something?”

Count Randy held the magic map and spoke while looking at the main building map that drew itself automatically.

“There’s a restricted area in the main building, and following Lady Serena’s order not to act rashly, we haven’t infiltrated it. But feeling regretful, we kept loitering nearby.”

The alchemist’s lips curved upward as he examined the main building map.

Count Randy brightened and pointed to a spot on the map.

“A secret passage is marked here! I thought there might be something but couldn’t tell where!”

“Oh ho.”

Genuine magic maps automatically added information the bearer didn’t know if they kept traveling back and forth in the same area.

‘It reflects road gradients, secret passages, traps, and such.’

Since the two free people investigated accessible main building areas daily, the secret passage location was revealed on the map.

“This secret passage connects to a warehouse. It’s my guess, but it’s probably a warehouse storing weapons confiscated during imprisonment.”

“Infiltrate the warehouse through the secret passage to retrieve weapons, then visit the imprisoned companions to return their weapons!”

Ralph spoke excitedly, and Count Randy nodded as if that was exactly right.

“Precisely. Thanks to Lady Serena, we managed to smuggle out our weapons before entering the 12th Layer, but adventurers who entered this layer without any information would have had to move exactly as Count Ralph described.”

Hearing this raised a question. Serena slightly furrowed her brow.

“The imprisonment rules are almost unreasonable – what happens if the entire party gets imprisoned? Isn’t the difficulty level too high?”

“That’s right. In fact, Kara and Nameless didn’t even know they were going to be executed.”

Count Randy and Count Alpha looked troubled after hearing their words.

Count Randy repeatedly stroked his chin before speaking with difficulty.

“Actually, I asked Ying and Olive the same question. Their answers were similar.”

“What did they say?”

“They said if you’re going to kill people, you should always be prepared to suddenly get stabbed yourself. If you don’t like it, either improve your skills or don’t do things that deserve getting stabbed.”

From a labyrinth adventurer’s perspective, a labyrinth like the 12th Layer seemed similar to suddenly getting stabbed.

Come to think of it, it was an apt comparison.

‘Well, if you’re capable enough, you can escape prison alone.’

Not being told the execution date was fatal, but even this could be known and prepared for in advance if you had companions.

What if all your companions are on death row? What if it was self-defense and you’re being wronged?

At this point, Serena was getting the general idea.

Considering the labyrinth’s difficulty level, there would be one escape route even when everyone was imprisoned as death row inmates.

‘The execution carried out on the execution date probably isn’t automatic.’

Just like Serena and Ralph had walked directly to the visitation room, there would likely be a mechanic where you had to walk to the execution ground on your own feet on the execution day.

If so, there would be opportunities to escape or fight along the way.

‘Besides, if you have the ability, there are plenty of opportunities to escape prison.’

In that regard, it was surprising that Olive, who seemed most likely to excel, kept failing.

She was thinking it might be the downside of a thief who was too excellent and had no prison experience, when Count Alpha shook his head.

“That’s not all. Among the magical tools that come from labyrinths, there are magical tools that prevent such situations. Just as substitute magical tools replace their owners in life-threatening situations, there are also substitute magical tools that take punishment in their place. Experienced labyrinth adventurers like Olive or Ying would carry at least one.”

‘I see. They had something to rely on.’

She had thought automatic punishment was unfair, but it made sense that there were magical tools to block it.

‘Right. If there were no countermeasures, all labyrinth adventurers would be model citizens and labyrinths would be crime-free zones.’

In reality, labyrinth adventurers are all potential criminals and labyrinths are hotbeds of crime.

‘If you don’t know, you get caught; if you know, you’re careful in advance or bring magical tools to block it? Still unreasonable.’

Serena gritted her teeth.

‘This damn prison. We need to get out quickly.’

Serena and Ralph still had time left, but Kara and Nameless had no time remaining.

Even if they hid the two in other cells, if the guards discovered empty cells, the prison’s structure would change into a labyrinth.

It would be great if Serena could follow Ying’s advice and knock out a guard in one hit by targeting their weak spot.

‘That’s impossible!’

Since it was realistically impossible, it was better to escape before the structure changed.

‘Alright. I’ve decided.’

“We’ll escape tonight.”

Since Serena had already shared much information claiming she heard it from a deity, the count and knight nodded obediently.

“Understood. Do you have any orders?”

Count Randy not only trusted the princess but firmly believed she had an amazing escape plan.

Serena, whose plan was to have no plan, hid her embarrassment and held out a bundle of papers.

“Please lay out some lines on the floor.”

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