Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 40

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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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40. Heuji’s Labyrinth 2nd Floor Rechallenge

The first day, they waited with anxious hearts but let it pass, thinking it was natural. Olive had warned them in advance that when conquering a labyrinth, they might not be able to return for a day or two.

On the second day, the morning was fine, but as time passed, everyone grew restless. That night, they all spent the night in light sleep.

From the third day on, everyone paced around the lobby restlessly. They all just bit their lips.

“Do you think… something went wrong?”

“Don’t you know the saying that words become seeds? Don’t speak carelessly.”

“But it’s too late.”

Lavenda, unable to bear the anxiety any longer, was the first to speak up. Philia reacted sharply.

“Lady Serena.”

“Princess.”

The maid and the mysterious stranger looked to the princess for answers. The princess had no real solution either.

“There’s nothing we can do. Let’s trust and wait. They will surely return.”

After spending another day on pins and needles, on the fifth day, the Bread Tree’s cooldown had passed and about 50 loaves hung in clusters, but no one was happy.

“Princess…”

Lavenda’s face became tearful. Without proper bags, they couldn’t take much food with them, and five days had passed. It was certain they were in a situation where they couldn’t return.

‘What on earth happened?’

They were confident their strength was sufficient, so what could have happened? To find out, Serena would have to see for herself.

“I need to go down.”

“What? No! Wait here!”

“No. I have to go.”

Serena bit her lower lip while looking at the summoning window. It seemed like now was the time to summon, but she was uncertain about what kind of person she should wish for.

‘I really want a Sword Master so badly.’

Olive hadn’t brought up the Sword Master for no reason. She desperately needed an ally who could break through all difficulties with overwhelming force. She wanted one so badly it brought tears to her eyes.

“Ah! Over there!”

Someone roughly shook Serena’s shoulder as she stared at the summoning window under the pretense of meditation. Opening her eyes, she saw someone walking toward the lobby.

Golden hair tied up high, shining within the pitch-black darkness that wrapped around the entire body, a pale face floating like a ghost. It was Ying.

“Miss Ying! You’ve returned!”

“What happened? Where are the others?”

Serena and Lavenda immediately ran out, moved the cart aside, and welcomed Ying.

Despite returning alone after five days, Ying remained expressionless and silent as always.

“What on earth happened? Why do you look so disheveled?”

Ying’s black clothes were torn here and there as if they had been gnawed by swarms of spiders or rats. The skin visible through the torn and ripped fabric was pale white and beautiful. There seemed to be no injuries.

Ying didn’t answer the pouring questions, tilted her head, then approached Serena.

“Darkness.”

“You mocked it as just the 5th floor, so why did only you come back alone? What about Olive and Ralph? Are they dead? What happened!”

“Commanded.”

“What are you even saying… Gack!”

Serena’s eyes widened as she looked down. Her throat felt hot as if touched by fire. A dagger was embedded in her neck.

Ying, who had suddenly attacked Serena, nodded her head as if apologetic. Only then did her tired expression show.

“Kill the princess and start over.”

‘What?’

“Kyaaaah! Lady Serena!”

“I don’t understand this command either. I’m sorry.”

They say when a person dies, the ears stay awake until the very end. Serena collapsed while hearing Philia’s scream and Ying’s incomprehensible apology.

***

“Gack, cough cough!”

The sensation of the dagger piercing through her throat was absolutely terrible. It was fortunate that she died immediately. After coughing repeatedly, Serena asked the Minotaur God.

“What was that just now?”

“A faithful servant of darkness. I heard she’s a good child.”

‘It wasn’t chunibyo but real darkness?’

Why did it have to be darkness, making her mistake it for chunibyo instead of a god? Serena complained about this, then soon realized.

‘Even if it wasn’t darkness but fire or light, it would still be chunibyo.’

The problem wasn’t the god but the believer. Ying’s way of speaking and appearance naturally led Serena’s thinking toward chunibyo.

‘But still, black bandages wrapped around the left hand. How could I endure that.’

Serena tried to rein in her freely wandering thoughts and make the most of this brief time.

“Do the other gods also know that I can return when I die?”

“Some know, some don’t. Darkness seems to know.”

When Serena tried to ask more about darkness and other gods, the Minotaur God shook his head. It meant to refrain from talking about other gods. Eventually, Serena asked something else.

“What exactly happened to those who didn’t return?”

“Go see for yourself.”

Even without being told, that’s what she planned to do.

***

Cough cough.

Serena opened her right eye while coughing lightly. As she remembered, Philia approached.

“Lady Serena, there’s a labyrinth expert here, so shouldn’t you stay?”

“Cough, I, cough, have to, go.”

“Are you coughing? Are you sick somewhere? Did you catch a cold?”

Persistence mixed with the blue eyes colder than the North Sea with floating icebergs. Philia grabbed Serena’s arm.

“If you’re sick, you shouldn’t go.”

“Cough. Let go. Cough. I’m not sick. Gack. Swallowing saliva. Gack. It went down wrong.”

“If you can’t even swallow saliva properly, how can you explore a labyrinth?”

Perhaps because her master seemed sick, Philia’s persistence was worse than before. Serena barely managed to shake off the maid and joined the waiting party.

“What’s the relationship between the princess and the countess? That kind of relationship?”

Olive asked a rude question with the same sinister smile as in her memory. Serena’s mind was complicated, so she spoke whatever came to mind without choosing her words.

“My only friend. Philia has no companions other than me.”

“For friendship, it seemed pretty clingy~ But she has no friends? Even though she’s so pretty?”

“Countess Randy is clueless. Catastrophically so.”

“Come on, even if she’s clueless, with that appearance.”

“In front of a peer grieving the loss of her mother, she smiled and bragged that her mom braided her hair prettily.”

It was exactly from that moment that the noble young ladies who had been enchanted by Philia’s beauty and worshipped her couldn’t bear it and fell away.

“Gasp.”

Olive and Ralph gasped.

“She had no malice, but that’s why she committed many more unforgivable acts. That’s why I’m her only friend.”

“Does she watch her behavior around the princess? The power of authority?”

Serena shook her head. If that were possible, the noble young ladies who wanted to tear her face off would have remained as friends. It was impossible, so they all ran away fearing the backlash.

“If that were possible, she would have had more friends than just me.”

“Then how do you maintain your relationship with the princess? The power of friendship?”

“The power of beauty.”

‘And reincarnation too.’

The peer noble young ladies couldn’t bear Philia’s misdeeds, but Serena could tolerate them. Since her mental age was different, the clueless child’s misdeeds seemed somewhat cute to her.

“Oh~ I think you and the princess would get along well in terms of aesthetics!”

“How fortunate indeed.”

“Wow. In front of a friend whose mother passed away. How could she say such things. Wow.”

Ralph kept trembling, perhaps because Philia’s misdeed that Serena mentioned was too frightening even though it wasn’t about him. He seemed to have unexpectedly good imagination and empathy.

“She’s much better now. I taught her through drilling.”

If you hit her side, she shuts her mouth, and if you glare at her, she says the opposite of what she was saying. There are a few other things too.

Serena kept glancing at Ying throughout the conversation. Her expression didn’t change, so it was impossible to know what she was thinking.

‘Could this person also remember the previous loop?’

The Minotaur God said Ying was a faithful servant of darkness. She had said herself that she killed Serena under darkness’s command.

‘What is her identity? She doesn’t seem to be a priest.’

Like Serena, she might not be an official priest but could be connected to a god? As she continued stealing glances with these questions, Ying noticed her gaze and their eyes met.

‘It’s just a coincidence. You know?’

Serena smiled with a gentle princess smile. It came out immediately because she had practiced it in the mirror with a dignified expression.

Ying blinked, then raised the corners of her mouth and responded with an awkward smile.

“What what? Why are you two looking at each other and smiling? What what?”

Olive interjected with a sly smile as if she had caught something.

“Olive, I’ve heard much about you, but I know nothing about Ying. Ying, are you an archer?”

Ying nodded.

“I heard you follow darkness, but you’re not a priest?”

Perhaps sensing the start of a chuunibyou conversation, Olive interrupted.

“Princess, you shouldn’t ask things like that. Hey. Zero, you just keep quiet! That’s cooler!”

Not sure which one she was trying to answer, Ying quietly nodded.

***

They found the stairs going down to the 3rd floor just as before. After praising Olive and having the memorable conversation, they went down to the 4th floor.

Here Serena stepped forward. Serena recommended the passage where the stairs were located to Olive, who was about to choose one of the passages.

“Princess. This is a labyrinth and I’m the guide?”

Perhaps thinking her work was being interfered with, Olive’s voice was as cold as the ice water Serena created with magic.

“Let’s not cross the line. Okay?”

Though Olive’s momentum was fierce, who was Serena? She was the overlord of the social circle, the absolute ruler reigning at the pinnacle of Huji’s social scene. Compared to the indirect criticism of high nobles, direct coldness was nothing.

“I have no intention of crossing your line. However, as you know, I receive great favor from the Minotaur God.”

Serena glanced at Ying while mentioning the god. There was no particular reaction.

“Somehow I had a very strong premonition that if we go this way, stairs will appear. That’s why I told you.”

“No, Princess. That’s basically saying you guessed. Are you playing with me?”

“Olive, didn’t you say you would serve the Minotaur God? How about believing my words as proof of that?”

“Since we have to find the stairs anyway, how about following the Princess’s opinion?”

Ralph carefully took Serena’s side. Olive crossed her arms and grumbled.

“Are you both joking now? When we made our employment contract, we clearly agreed not to interfere with each other’s work and not to discriminate, didn’t we?”

Perhaps because it was a pathfinding issue, Olive didn’t easily soften her stance.

‘How do I persuade her?’

As Serena was troubled, an unexpected ally appeared.

“Follow the Princess’s words.”

“What?”

Ying took Serena’s side.

“Darkness said so. To listen to the Princess’s words.”

“You two smiled at each other and now you’re close? Are you leaving me out?”

3 to 1. The tide had already turned, but surprisingly Olive was stubborn. Olive threw away her playful manner and smiled brightly. It was a similar smile to when she said she was consumed by the labyrinth.

“I’ll say it again, I’m the guide. Without a valid reason, you should follow my words. The labyrinth might seem like a mysterious adventure space to the Princess, but to me it’s a tomb. A tomb that buried all my family, friends, teacher, and colleagues.”

“Uh… I think we should follow Miss Olive’s words.”

Ralph changed his opinion due to Olive’s stubborn attitude. Ying silently stood next to Serena, showing her support for the Princess.

2 to 2. If she continued to insist, only precious time would pass and her relationship with Olive would worsen. She could already feel her favorability dropping.

‘Should I just go where Olive wants to go? Or… Ah! Maybe!’

Serena hurriedly took out and unfolded her magic map. A map was automatically drawn on the blank paper.

‘My guess was right!’

Serena folded the map and composed her voice.

“I misspoke and made you uncomfortable. It’s not a strong premonition but a strong image.”

Serena thrust the magic map showing the path to the stairs leading to the 5th floor and part of the 5th floor at Olive.

‘Go, regressor’s magic map!’

Olive’s eyes, which had been trying to hide her irritation, grew wider as she read the map. A path they hadn’t taken yet and stairs were drawn? Even a guide who had spent more years in the labyrinth than outside had never experienced this.

“Is this real?”

“The Minotaur God has shown me the correct path!”

“No way, this is…”

“Amazing, Princess! The Minotaur God even shows you the way!”

Olive didn’t hide her bewildered expression, then rolled her round eyes left and right before smiling brightly. She seemed to have finished organizing the situation.

“Oh Princess! If you had something like this, you should have told me earlier! You created a serious atmosphere for nothing!”

“That’s why I apologized, didn’t I? I said I was sorry for expressing it wrong.”

“Wow, with the path shown like this on a magic map, we can’t not go! It’s a path shown by a god himself, let’s go quickly!”

‘She still doesn’t fully believe it.’

Olive seemed half-believing. Serena wasn’t disappointed. She had spoken up to shorten the time to reach the 5th floor, not hoping to be believed.

“There really are stairs! You’re amazing, Princess!”

“Follow the Princess. Darkness is indeed right.”

“Wow! There really are stairs!”

Olive approached Serena while blinking her eyes excessively often. She seemed to be trying to look cute, but from Serena’s perspective, it was burdensome.

“Then will the Minotaur God continue to show you the way from now on?”

“That’s not it, this time is special.”

“If it happens once, it could happen twice, right?”

The corners of Olive’s mouth twitched. Serena broke out in a cold sweat trying to calm Olive down.

“According to what the god showed, the 5th floor leads directly to the boss chamber. Should we return to the 1st floor?”

Olive suggested returning as before. She intended to leave Serena in the lobby and have the three of them defeat the boss.

Naturally, Serena opposed.

‘I need to know what happened.’

She needed to know what exactly happened to the three who went to defeat the 5th floor boss, and why only Ying returned.

“No. We must defeat the floor boss now.”

“Did the Minotaur God say so?”

“No. This is a request.”

Everyone was puzzled by the Princess’s words.

“If we return to the 1st floor from here, tomorrow I will suffer from muscle pain and won’t be able to move. So we must defeat the floor boss now.”

“The Princess will naturally stay on the 1st floor and we’ll do it ourselves, right?”

“Miss Olive is right. If the Princess is there… honestly, the probability of battle becoming difficult increases.”

She looked at Ying just in case, but Ying remained expressionless and didn’t take anyone’s side.

‘Doesn’t she remember?’

Since she said to restart, if she remembered, she would have taken Serena’s side. Serena seemed to be the only one who retained memories from before the regression.

“I ask again. This is a trial that the Minotaur God is giving me.”

“If, if that’s the case…”

“Then naturally the Princess participates.”

God and trial. When she played these two cards, Ralph, who had been negative, stepped back. Olive stepped back not just one step, but more than ten steps.

“Princess, what magic can you use?”

“Light orb, ignition, mana bullet, ice arrow. I can control the light orb to induce blindness.”

“Your magic composition is a bit different from the mages I knew? Hmm. Don’t use magic unnecessarily to attract monster attention, just stay here quietly. How about it?”

Olive pointed to near the stairs, away from the space where battle would take place on the magic map.

“That’s fine.”

For Serena, knowing what happened was more important than defeating the boss. When she accepted Olive’s proposed condition, the party went down to the 5th floor.

***

After passing through the long stairs, they reached a space filled with spider webs. As promised, Serena waited behind while Ralph, Olive, and Ying stepped on and cut through the sticky spider webs to enter inside.

The giant presence in the center of the spider web-filled space welcomed the party.

A powerful monster that served as both Floor Boss and Stratum Boss. Upon witnessing its appearance, the party couldn’t believe their eyes and rubbed or blinked them.

Serena, who saw the Floor Boss from afar, was so shocked that she blurted out the creature’s species.

“A frog?”

Ribbit.

“Why is there a frog in the middle of spider webs! Are you kidding me?”

“We believed it was a spider! We believed it, but we were betrayed!”

The party, having their faith betrayed, wailed like people who had been swindled out of their entire fortune.

Regardless of their reaction, the Labyrinth Giant Frog, having successfully seized the initiative with its surprise, leaped up high and pounced on the party.

Ribbit!

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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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