Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 39

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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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39. Heuji’s Labyrinth 2nd Floor (3)

“Huff, gasp.”

“That’s right! Well done! That’s right! Oh yes!”

“Keep it up! You can do it!”

With encouragement from Ralph and Olive, Serena finally stepped on the last stair leading up to the 1st floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth. Serena collapsed on the spot.

“Princess, well done! You’ve got grit!”

“You did great! If you do this every day, you’ll build up stamina!”

Olive splashed water from her canteen, which no longer needed to be conserved, onto Serena’s face. It was an incredibly rude and presumptuous act, but Serena felt good right now.

Everyone waited for the collapsed Serena to get up. Serena steadied her breathing and peeled the hair stuck to her face. She belatedly worried whether she had gotten any cuts on her cheeks from falling.

“You can’t stop just because it’s hard. Even when we get to the lobby, you need to keep walking in place a little so you’ll hurt less tomorrow.”

“Don’t forget to stretch too!”

Olive bent her body, saying she would teach if Serena didn’t know how. She was so flexible that rubber toys would be put to shame.

“Do labyrinth adventurers keep doing this while exploring?”

“Usually we just carry food and keep going down or up, so this rarely happens. We have no choice because we’re short on supplies.”

‘What am I going to do from now on.’

The difficulty of Heuji’s Labyrinth that Olive and Ying estimated was at least Grade 5. The minimum number of floors was 50.

If they continued exploring the labyrinth like this, the effort and time wasted returning each time they went down would be considerable.

‘I think I’ll die before reaching the 20th floor.’

Serena checked if there was an elevator in the item list. There wasn’t.

‘Ah, come on! Installing warps on each floor is basic!’

You can’t apply game basics to reality. Serena was desperate enough to forget that and complain.

‘Will I be able to move tomorrow?’

Even walking on flat ground, her feet felt heavy and wouldn’t lift. More serious than the scraped and raw soles, heels, and toes was the heavy pain slowly creeping up from her ankles, calves, thighs, and hip joints.

“Lady Serena! Are you alright?”

Upon arriving at the lobby, Philia was the first to greet her. Serena had no energy to answer and staggered before collapsing onto a grave. The grass and soil were soft, better than stone floors.

“My goodness! How hard it must have been!”

Philia let out a shrill scream as she removed Serena’s shoes and socks, tidied her hair, and wiped her face with a handkerchief dampened with water. Lavenda greeted the rest of the party.

“Are you hurt anywhere? Did those people take good care of Lady Serena? Oh my! Lady Serena’s feet! We need to use a potion.”

“No.”

“Then I’ll wash them for you right away.”

Philia’s clear blue eyes glistened with tears as she filled a bucket with water and soaked Serena’s feet. She felt sorry seeing the princess’s swollen, scraped, bleeding, and pus-covered feet.

Lavenda hurriedly ground herbs and brought them over.

“I’ll apply the herbs again for you.”

“Yes. I’d be grateful if you could massage my feet too. I walked quite a lot today and went up and down many stairs. Did anything happen with you two?”

“We were fine on our side. We blocked it with the cart, and the Labyrinth Rats don’t seem to come this far. They did wander around the passage area, but they didn’t come in.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Everyone must be tired, right? I’ll prepare a meal.”

Applying herbs to Serena’s feet, massaging her feet, preparing meals for the party. Lavenda moved busily.

Serena was about to tell Philia to help prepare the meal but stopped. She could guess why Lavenda was working so hard.

‘She must be worried.’

Though two more foreigners had joined, Lavenda was still in the position of being ‘the only foreigner.’

‘It can’t be helped.’

The two additional members happened to be labyrinth experts, making it hard to feel the camaraderie of foreigners struggling in a foreign land.

Moreover, with a princess personally entering the labyrinth, she must be afraid as a commoner foreign masseuse waiting in the lobby.

‘Philia is also just staying put, but her staying put is actually helping.’

How much help would a real hothouse flower noblewoman be with chores? Staying quiet without causing trouble and attending to Serena was truly helping.

Also, Philia was in a somewhat different category. Spending several days in the labyrinth had made her look haggard, like a tragic princess from old tales.

‘With that beauty, you’d think she doesn’t need to lift a finger. It’s like brainwashing.’

Being considered fine because of beauty was also proof that the party was still doing well enough to survive. Serena hoped this state would continue until they escaped the labyrinth.

Serena wanted to gulp down cool water, so she made ice. Lavenda served ice water to the party members who had been exploring.

“Did you bring us water? Thank you, thank you!”

“Thank you!”

“Miss Potpourri, how many floors do you think we went to? Want to guess?”

“Huh? Well, seeing how the princess had trouble with the stairs, 4th floor? 5th floor?”

“Correct!”

“You really went up to the 5th floor? Amazing!”

“We even confirmed there’s a Floor Boss~ We’re going to hunt it tomorrow~”

“Then you should rest well. Shall I give you a massage?”

“I’ve never had a massage before, so I’m nervous~”

“Many people are reluctant or afraid to entrust their bodies to a masseuse. If you trust me and let me take care of you, you’ll learn the benefits of massage.”

“I’m still a bit scared~ I’ll ask after we defeat the Floor Boss! But how old are you, Miss Potpourri? Do you have a boyfriend?”

The conversation that had been going well initially became subtly twisted, as each had different purposes.

Lavenda had purely good intentions to make a good impression, while Olive seemed to have some ulterior motives.

Look how she deliberately called Lavenda by the nickname Potpourri instead of her proper name. It was a bit cringeworthy.

Just as Serena was about to personally step in to stop Olive’s flirtation of gently grasping the masseuse’s hand, someone stepped forward before her.

“Everyone be wary of Olive.”

Yes, Ying, who usually answered even yes or no with nods, stepped forward.

“Zero? What’s wrong?”

“In the labyrinth adventurer industry, Olive’s nickname is Desert Wind. She claims it’s because she can pierce through anything like the famous wedge winds of the Central-Southern Continent Wilderness, her hometown, but actually.”

“Hey!”

“She throws herself at anyone regardless of age or gender, except children, seduces them, then coldly dumps her lovers when she gets bored or finds someone new she likes.”

“Hey hey! Zero!”

Olive’s brown skin turned red enough to be noticeable. Olive pointed accusingly while trying to drown out Ying’s words with her voice.

“What about you! Zero’s Ying? Sounds like a nickname from wordplay or being quiet, right? Actually, you have such bad luck with parties that they keep falling apart, leaving you alone, so you’re Zero!”

Desert Wind Olive and Zero’s Ying. They sounded plausible, but both had unfortunate reasons for their nicknames.

Lavenda smiled kindly as she pulled her hand free. Ralph was also shocked and muttered, “What age does the child standard start from?”

Serena focused on the story that would affect their labyrinth exploration rather than complicated romance talk.

“Parties fall apart?”

“Yes! Every party she joins disbands instantly, whether for good or bad reasons! The best reason was party members falling in love with each other, getting married, and retiring, and the worst was total annihilation in the labyrinth! She’s always the last one left alone with no party remaining, so Zero! Zero’s Ying!”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Even without intent, if you’re unlucky and keep having bad timing, it’s your fault!”

“So being a wind is better?”

“Princess! I’m not a wind because my heart has moved on! And I’m not thinking about romance right now. I just want us to flirt a bit, relax, and have fun together.”

Perhaps feeling disadvantaged, Olive hissed before changing the subject.

“Now then! Let’s discuss how to deal with the Floor Boss waiting for us on the 5th floor!”

Her tactical shift was quick.

‘She probably switched that quickly when dumping lovers too. There are always people like that.’

Philia whispered in Serena’s ear. Serena thought so too.

She would have been the most perfect lover in the world when seducing and during the relationship, then transformed into a perfect stranger the moment her heart wandered.

Look at her now. Even after hearing why her nickname included ‘wind,’ her face discussing the Floor Boss seriously still looked cool. Her green olive-colored eyes, seriously focused on her profession, looked very cool.

“It’s definitely a spider. Everyone saw all those webs spread out, right?”

“The spider webs were very sticky and will likely interfere.”

“It would be good to burn them, but the entire space is covered in webs, so if we set them on fire, we could be in danger. Let’s plan our strategy assuming getting caught in webs is a given.”

Since it was a conversation they needed to have anyway, Olive’s subject change was successful. Ralph played along, and Ying, who wouldn’t speak anyway, squeezed between Ralph and Olive to huddle together.

Serena approached the three.

“About tomorrow.”

“Yeah, Princess. What?”

“Are you planning to leave me behind and go by yourselves?”

“Of course.”

Olive asked back as if wondering why Serena was asking something so obvious. It was just as Serena had suspected. Olive was planning to leave Serena behind and face the floor boss.

‘How should I persuade her.’

She couldn’t convince them by simply saying she wanted to go. Perhaps sensing that Serena was trying to persuade her, Olive widened her round, green olive-colored eyes.

“Princess, don’t tell me you want to go?”

“What? Lady Serena, you’re not seriously thinking of going to fight strong monsters too, are you? It’s dangerous!”

Philia, who had been listening to the conversation, strongly opposed. The reactions of the others weren’t favorable either.

“I don’t know why the Princess wants to go, but honestly, you’d be a hindrance.”

“I agree. It’s too dangerous.”

“Lady Serena! Exploration and boss monster strategy are different things! This time, please really leave it to them! Honestly, I think Lady Serena joining would be a hindrance too!”

“Aren’t you underestimating me too much? You saw me defeat the Minotaur on the 2nd floor.”

“Back then, Count Lucas was holding the Minotaur down. You did strike well at the opening, Princess… but there’s no guarantee you can do the same this time.”

“I think it’s dangerous too. How about staying here with me tomorrow…”

With four people opposing, even if the silent Ying cast a vote in favor, it wouldn’t change public opinion.

If she couldn’t break them with the worldly authority of being a princess, it was time to invoke the power of divinity.

‘What should I say? Should I just say the Labyrinth God wants it? That if I don’t go, the Bread Tree and tomb will be confiscated?’

Bringing up confiscation from the start might be too much. As Serena was organizing what to say to moderately use the god as her basis, Olive mentioned something everyone was forgetting.

“Setting aside whether we oppose it or not.”

Olive smiled brightly.

“Princess, will you even be able to walk by tomorrow? Even if you somehow manage to walk, you won’t be able to take a single step down the stairs, right?”

“…”

She couldn’t refute it. It was exactly the truth. Olive’s truth attack was so strong that Serena lost her fighting spirit. Leaving behind the princess who had lost her will to fight, the three main combat forces of the party continued their brainstorming.

“What kind of spider monsters might appear? What do you think, Zero?”

“Human-faced spider.”

“Human-faced spider? This is the 5th floor, you know? Get it together! That thing doesn’t appear until past the 50th floor.”

“What’s a human-faced spider?”

“A spider with a human face attached.”

“Eek!”

Serena was held down by Lavenda and Philia as she lay down. Even the terrible pain of having her feet massaged couldn’t overcome the unfamiliar fatigue.

She fell asleep at some point, and when she woke up, Olive, Ying, and Ralph had finished preparing to go down.

Serena tried to sit up to say goodbye but froze in place. Her whole body ached, especially her legs, back, shoulders, and neck, making it impossible to move.

“Ugh!”

“Easy there. You don’t need to say goodbye, just lie down. I’ll accept the sentiment.”

“We’ll be back!”

“Please return safely.”

“I wish you good fortune.”

Ralph and Olive’s mouths fell open at the two beauties’ send-off. The two left the lobby with ambitious spirits like protagonists in a story, and Ying followed behind them like a shadow.

Serena waved her hand while lying down, and only after enough time had passed for the three to descend the 1st floor stairs did she realize.

‘I didn’t save.’

The current regression point was right before going exploring yesterday. Serena wondered if she should change the regression point now but gave up.

‘Surely nothing will happen.’

According to Olive, who was a playboy but definitely capable, the current party had excessive power. Even if the 5th floor boss served as both floor boss and stratum boss, they should be able to defeat it easily.

This was different from the boasting of the Empire knights that Count Lucas had mentioned. Olive and Ying were competent labyrinth explorers she had definitely drawn as 5-stars.

And five days passed. Bread hung in clusters on the Bread Tree again. The young knight and the two labyrinth explorers did not return.

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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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