Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 357

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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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357. The Great Escape (4)

He had committed a crime and was being punished.

No one believed Nameless’s words at face value.

The world Serena had reincarnated into was a medieval fantasy setting where corporal punishment and torture were legal.

However, no country on the continent would shatter a person’s legs just for committing a crime.

Like his name, Nameless was reluctant to speak about the reason for his injury.

Ralph, understanding the old woman’s feelings, silently applied painkiller to his knee.

Nameless spread the ointment-type painkiller himself and looked slightly surprised.

“It’s quite effective.”

Ralph was delighted as if he had received the compliment himself.

“The Count is the finest alchemist!”

“Teacher. Not hurt? Princess. Head. Apply.”

The Lizardman recommended that the Princess, who was complaining of headaches, also apply the painkiller.

Though the type of pain was different, Serena applied the ointment to her forehead, temples, and nape with some hope.

‘Hmm. It’s sticky and greasy.’

The ointment mixed with the dust, oil, and sweat accumulated on her skin, making her feel only uncomfortable while the pain relief effect was minimal.

Still, taking a rest and massaging pressure points while applying the ointment seemed to help, as she felt the heat rising from her head subside slightly.

‘The brain needs water cooling.’

Serena drank water to cool her overworked brain and pressed her body against the cool stone wall.

She closed her eyes to let her precious eyes rest as well.

“Princess.”

Not even a few seconds after Serena closed her eyes, someone called her.

‘Ugh, I’m tired.’

Her soul was exhausted from the continuous escape without rest.

Serena spread her fingers wide and waved her hand, meaning she would keep her eyes closed for just 5 seconds.

“Princess! You need to wake up!”

“I know it’s hard being trapped in prison, but please wake up, Princess!”

Ralph and even Olive tried to wake Serena. Serena frowned and clicked her tongue.

“Princess! We need to move quickly!”

“Stop, stop it. I just had my eyes closed for a few seconds, why are you being so impatient?”

“Well, of course. Because it wasn’t just a few seconds?”

The Guide answered the Princess’s words and laughed cheerfully.

Normally it would sound pleasant, but being physically and mentally tired made her irritated first.

‘This better not be something trivial.’

Serena ground her teeth and opened her eyes.

Her eyelids were so heavy that even opening her eyes was difficult.

“Are you awake?”

Serena ignored Olive’s greeting and asked about the matter first.

“What’s going on?”

“Wow, look at that hoarse voice. Princess, first some honey water~”

Though she didn’t want to drink it, Olive forcibly brought honey water to her lips.

When the sweet honey water touched her lips that had been stuck together, her throat suddenly felt parched.

Serena took the honey water and gulped it down.

She hadn’t realized it all along, but her mouth and throat absorbed the honey water like drought-cracked fields.

After consuming moisture and sugar, her heavy eyelids became lighter.

Her mind, which had been hazy as if covered in fog, also cleared up.

Though the fog hadn’t completely lifted, it was enough for her to realize that her physical condition hadn’t been normal.

“Was I unconscious for a long time?”

She had thought she’d only closed her eyes for a few seconds, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

Ralph nodded vigorously while preparing fresh honey water.

“Yes. We can’t know the exact time, but it felt like at least an hour had passed and you still wouldn’t open your eyes, so we were worried.”

“You don’t even remember me splashing water on your face, do you?”

Hearing that, she touched her face and found water droplets in various places.

Serena drank about half of the new honey water and sighed.

“I admit it. I failed to assess my condition.”

“That’s not true. Discerning the monster’s weakness must have been exhausting, yet we made the mistake of leaving the traps to you as well.”

“It’s not the Knight’s fault, it’s all Zero’s fault~ Zero, you could find traps like these here but you dumped it on the Princess? Zero conscience?”

Olive raised her hand and poked the chest of the Archer who was taller than her.

Ying narrowed her dark, deep eyes and made an excuse.

“The Princess said she would do it.”

“Even if the Princess said she’d do it, you should have divided the work properly. You know that in labyrinths, if one person takes on everything alone, it’s not just that person who dies, but everyone dies.”

“That’s…”

Ying, who had frowned slightly, seemed to have nothing more to say and changed her expression.

The Archer honestly apologized to the Princess who had fainted from overwork.

“I’m sorry. The Darkness said you could do it, so I left it alone, but thinking about it now, it was too much.”

“Don’t make pathetic excuses!”

Olive, who acted unreasonable, often became infinitely reasonable when faced with actual unreasonableness.

This time too, she was armed with common sense and scolded the Archer, and everything that came out of her mouth was right, with not a single wrong word.

However, the right words here were based on not knowing Ying’s true identity.

The faithful High Priest of Darkness, who was only guilty of relaying exactly what the Darkness had said, listened to the scolding with a slightly aggrieved expression.

“Even with the traps, the Princess said she would find them staking her family’s name…”

“When high-ranking people can’t grasp reality because of their pride, you should stop them!”

“Ugh.”

Though the aggrieved Archer had spoken at length, the Guide completely blocked her excuses.

Serena thought hazily with her brain that was beginning to regain vitality as sugar was supplied through her bloodstream.

‘So it really was impossible after all. When the Darkness said it was fine, it probably meant it was fine because experience and senses would remain even if I died from overwork.’

Aiming for the grain my ass. Her brain had nearly melted or burned to death.

‘Good job, well done. Keep scolding her, Olive.’

The Princess cheered for Olive inwardly while clapping her hands.

Strictly speaking, she was also at fault for stubbornly insisting on finding the traps herself, but originally in hierarchical societies, when superiors made mistakes, subordinates got scolded.

With a satisfied heart, Serena sipped her honey water while watching Olive scold Ying, and only after emptying her cup did she realize a fact she had missed, just like her physical condition.

“Olive? When did you arrive?”

“Ahaha. Princess, are you finally coming to your senses? You really were tired~”

Olive laughed cheerfully and winked at Serena.

The Young Knight was delighted to see the Princess’s improved complexion and explained.

“After you collapsed, Princess, and wouldn’t wake up no matter how we tried, we were discussing whether to rest here for a day when Olive came looking for us.”

“No matter how long I waited, you didn’t come~ So I wondered if something had happened.”

Olive shrugged her shoulders. Then she suddenly put her arms around Ralph and Krom’s shoulders.

“I waited quietly and then moved, and found you making interesting speculations, huh? What? That I left my cell to loot treasure chests and got caught escaping by guards? That I’m the cause of the structural changes? Huh?”

Olive laughed “hahaha” while pressuring Ralph and Krom.

Ralph broke out in cold sweat and couldn’t make eye contact, while Krom responded boldly.

“Your usual behavior ain’t great, so we misunderstood.”

“Grandmother. It’s troublesome if you think of a deep labyrinth adventurer the same as some common thief. Did everyone really think the prison structure changed because of me?”

This time Olive made a tearful face as if aggrieved and met her companions’ eyes.

Ralph bowed his head and apologized.

“We’re sorry for misunderstanding, Olive.”

“Sound. East.”

“Hey! When I heard it, it came from the west!”

Olive pointed at the Archer’s face, then scratched her head while grumbling.

“No, it’s not like this kind of case never happened before. Didn’t anyone think that the labyrinth might have automatically changed its structure because the number of escapees exceeded the threshold? Yo?”

‘Ah.’

Serena inwardly groaned.

Since escape was the main gimmick of the 12th layer, there was a possibility that the labyrinth would react if more than half the prisoners escaped.

‘Come to think of it, the prison structure changed right after Ying joined us.’

To think she only considered the possibility that Olive had caused trouble without considering that point.

The guide had every right to feel wronged and hurt.

“I~ stayed cooped up in my room, holding back my desire to go out and wander around because the Princess told me not to move carelessly~ Do you know how lonely I was all by myself! Yo!”

Having seen Serena’s achievements as an apostle of the labyrinth, Olive had taken the Princess’s warning as gospel and waited quietly in her cell.

“Everyone listen carefully. I don’t mess around when my life is on the line. Yo.”

Olive puffed up as if she was saying something important.

“I’m sorry. I won’t misunderstand in the future.”

“Sorry about that. My mistake.”

“Sorry.”

The party members who had suspected the guide all apologized, except for the Princess who had never learned to apologize.

Instead of apologizing directly, Serena sent a lukewarm gaze and spoke the thought that came to her mind.

“Don’t mess around when other people’s lives are at stake either.”

“Of course I won’t mess around when the Princess’s life is on the line~”

Olive winked at the Princess again.

Her charming smile that made onlookers smile along was a bonus.

‘Include other people too.’

It was both typical and atypical of Olive to specifically mention only Serena when she could have cheerfully said “Yes!” even if it was just lip service.

‘If someone else had said it, she would have shamelessly lied because she didn’t want to get tangled up in words. Does she not want to lie to me anymore?’

Serena had conquered up to the 50th floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth together with Olive.

The trust and affection they had built seemed to have taken away Olive’s shameless lies.

Serena looked at Olive with fresh eyes. Olive busily packed her belongings.

“I know the Princess is tired, but let’s move quickly now that you’re awake. Yo.”

“Is there a reason?”

“The Princess hasn’t seen them yet. Floor bosses are wandering around. I saw two of them on my way here.”

According to Olive, monsters presumed to be floor bosses were wandering around or standing guard in each area.

“The guards are stupid, but these guys seemed a bit smarter. And their field of vision was wider than the guards too. Yo.”

Even if floor bosses were wandering around, they just had to avoid them.

There was another reason why Olive wanted to move quickly.

“The floor bosses check the cells as they go around. Yo.”

Hearing the guide’s words, Serena groaned.

‘I was unconscious for at least an hour. We were lucky not to be caught by a floor boss.’

The Princess got up.

The rest she got from fainting was worthwhile – her headache was reduced by half.

When Serena moved, Olive naturally stood in front of the door.

The Princess looked at the guide’s black, round back of the head and shuddered.

‘I missed this!’

Due to the repeated cycles, she was seeing the guide’s back for the first time in almost a month, and it was so welcome.

Now that she had the luxury of managing her expression, Serena controlled her facial muscles and asked Kara.

“Did you greet Olive?”

“Yes.”

It was a question thrown out of duty as the party leader, but Kara seemed to smile happily.

“Kyaruk kyaruk.”

“Kak kak.”

Kara was right in front of Serena, but lizardman sounds came from a different direction.

Serena turned her head in surprise.

Where the sound came from, Olive was grinning. Olive opened her mouth.

“Kak kak.”

“Olive. Speaks. Our language.”

The others were already quiet, having been surprised enough.

Serena, who alone was behind on the information, widened her eyes.

“Olive. You knew how to speak lizardman?”

“Not as well as our cool warrior speaks our language. Yo. Just greetings, a little bit.”

Olive grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

“There was a lizardman tribe that occasionally stopped by our village to buy fruit. They really loved watermelons, so when we sold them ones we’d deliberately kept cool in underground water, they’d crunch them up and eat them whole right on the spot. That was so interesting that my sister and I would watch together.”

Olive smiled nostalgically as she recalled childhood memories.

Kara wasn’t the lizardman who ate whole watermelons, but her gaze toward Kara was gentle.

The smile didn’t linger long and soon left Olive’s face.

“Well then, let’s go escape.”

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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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