Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 6

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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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6. Heuji’s Mausoleum (3)

Serena’s mind went blank when she saw the sturdy wooden sword instead of a sharp blade. Double Hanson confessed with a genuinely repentant expression.

“This is my trainee equipment. I was working without any breaks and briefly stopped by home. I accidentally grabbed what I used during my trainee days. They weigh the same, so I didn’t notice…”

Hanson said there was a place to store equipment at his house entrance, where he kept his trainee gear as well.

He grabbed it while rushing out, but thought it would be fine since he wouldn’t need to draw his sword anyway.

“I thought it would be okay since I had my spear. I actually didn’t need to draw my sword for two days…”

The anger that had flared up subsided at the word ‘two days.’

‘Right. If someone works for two days without going home, that could happen. Especially since he’s been doing this for a whole month.’

“Did you at least bring your dagger properly?”

“The dagger too… actually, I left my shield behind as well.”

There was no dagger at his chest. A buckler should have been attached to Hanson’s now-empty back. It was equipment she hadn’t been conscious of since she rarely saw guards using shields.

“Sigh.”

When the princess sighed, the guard swayed as if hit by a typhoon.

“Fine. So be it. What’s done is done. At least give the wooden sword to Krom.”

“Yes! Understood!”

Serena silently headed to the corridor. Since Serena, who had the highest status, said nothing, everyone moved in a group.

The order was Hanson in front, followed by Serena, Philia, Krom, and Lavenda. Lavenda made a tearful face and muttered, “This is a nightmare. It must all be a dream.”

‘It really is a corridor.’

The inside of the passage the three had emerged from was indeed a corridor as they had said. Though the material differed from the lobby, it was a stone structure wide enough for four people to stand side by side. The ceiling was lower than the lobby’s, but not inconvenient for walking or wielding spears. The walls would be more of an obstacle than the ceiling.

‘It’s bright but I don’t see any lighting.’

Though it was bright, she couldn’t find where the lighting devices were installed.

Serena concentrated and looked around the walls, ceiling, and floor searching for traps. She didn’t allow anyone to move forward before she gave permission.

“There were no traps on the path we came from.”

“There are also traps that activate depending on the direction of movement.”

“They sure were thoughtful when building this place.”

“Can’t we probe ahead with our spears?”

“We’ll try that if we find something suspicious.”

“Don’t keep interrupting Serena while she’s concentrating!”

“I’ll stop!”

“Sorry.”

“Ugh, this must be a dream.”

‘Hmm.’

Something more concerning than the constant chatter while she was concentrating came up.

‘Hmm. There aren’t any?’

There were no traps.

Serena had put her heart and soul into finding traps, thinking she might as well do well since she was already here. She thought she would find them quickly.

‘From here to there should be a field of traps, right?’

The Huaim Family Mausoleum should be packed with vicious traps from beginning to end. That would be normal.

But there were no traps.

‘Is it because this is just the entrance? Or are they planning to make us let our guard down before striking?’

Either way, it was a big problem.

‘I’m starting to want to slack off.’

Serena’s poor concentration was showing its limits. Her eyes hurt from staring so intently, and perhaps from being constantly tense.

Her throat was also dry. Actually, her throat had been dry ever since she woke up. She had forgotten about it because so many incidents had occurred.

‘I want to take turns soon. But I’m the only one who knows about traps. It would be awkward to suggest resting already.’

Their movement speed was slow because she had to check the floor, walls, and ceiling before walking. What was a turtle? Their speed rivaled that of a crawling snail.

‘Yes!’

As they say, there’s no law saying you must die. Fortunately, Serena found an excuse to rest.

“There are multiple paths?”

It was a crossroads. Not just one, but a whopping five! A full five paths!

To the naked eye, all five crossroads looked identical. Hans and Krom pointed to the third path in the middle.

“We came from here!”

“My cart is over there.”

Lavenda pointed to the rightmost path.

“I came from there. I was thinking of taking a different path, but that one seemed the brightest…”

“Did none of you venture further inside?”

“I also followed the light like Lavenda!”

It seemed they all woke up near the crossroads. Indeed, when they approached the middle path, the cart became visible.

“Oh my! This precious thing!”

Krom ran to the cart without even getting Serena’s permission. Neither Serena nor anyone else had time to stop her.

Fortunately, there were no traps. Krom came out pulling the cart with her mouth agape and grinning foolishly.

‘This old woman.’

Serena clenched her fists and trembled with anger.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“What?”

“I asked what you think you were just doing.”

“I saw my cart, and there were no traps.”

“I told you there are traps that activate depending on the direction of movement! It was fortunate there were no traps this time, but what if there had been! It’s fine if you die alone, but what if others got caught in the traps too? Do you think that shabby cart of yours is worth the same as five lives? Really?”

Already on edge from using her unused brain and concentration to search for traps, Krom’s reckless action poured oil on Serena’s anger.

“I didn’t mean it that way. This is all my wealth…”

“Your wealth would be useless if you’re dead.”

“I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

Though she wanted to scold more, Serena held back. Angry scolding should be finished in one go. Unlike outside, making the atmosphere bad in their current situation would do no good.

“Don’t do that again.”

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. This mountain fool was too hasty.”

‘While saying that, isn’t she thinking inside that there wasn’t even one trap, so the princess is too sensitive and irritable?’

A sprout of paranoia began to grow inside Serena. Serena trampled on it hard to prevent it from growing. Being tired and exhausted was making all sorts of strange sprouts grow.

“Let’s rest for a moment.”

At Serena’s declaration of rest, everyone sighed without exception. They seemed quite startled after seeing the princess’s anger while already being tense.

“I’m dying…”

Hanson was about to crouch down but looked around nervously, then leaned against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. The tightly closed ceiling probably resembled his and others’ hearts.

Lavenda crouched down and pressed acupressure points on her hands. She diligently pressed points good for relieving tension and fatigue.

Krom seemed cowed for a moment, then opened the blanket covering the cart and checked inside. She seemed to be checking if anything had spoiled during the brief abandonment.

Philia naturally stuck close to Serena and chattered.

“You must be very tired, right? Shall I massage around your eyes?”

“No need. You shouldn’t massage when your hands and surroundings are dirty. Especially not the eyes.”

“Then shall I at least massage your shoulders?”

“I-I’ll do it.”

At the mention of massage, the masseuse jumped up. Serena waved both of them away and stared blankly into space.

‘Wow, I’m so thirsty. I want to drink Coke Zero.’

Though her diet as a reincarnated princess was better than in her previous life, sometimes she craved specific foods. Right now she particularly wanted ice-cold Coke Zero.

‘The best is when you supercool it and pour it into a cup so ice crystals form. I’m really going crazy.’

Unable to bear it any longer, Serena asked the four.

“Does anyone have water?”

“Here!”

Hans respectfully offered the canteen from his waist. It was completely empty.

‘This bastard, twice now?’

When she asked for a sword, he offered a wooden sword, and when she said she was thirsty, he offered an empty canteen?

As far as Serena knew, sending an empty lunch box meant to die without being a bother. What meaning was contained in an empty canteen? Was it telling the sensitive princess to quietly shut up and die?

“It’s empty.”

“I’m, I’m sorry! I didn’t know!”

“Still, since we have a water bottle, we can fill it with water. Can we drink the water from the fountain?”

“There’s also a water container. It’s empty though.”

Krom showed the group several water containers and bowls loaded on the cart. There was also a small iron pot.

“We can boil water with that and drink it! But firewood…”

“Philia. Just because you boil water doesn’t mean it’s all safe to drink. The fountain water might be poisoned, and heavy metals can’t be filtered out even by boiling.”

“Gasp, poison?”

“Still, that pot looks useful. Put it here.”

“Here?”

Krom placed the pot in the location Serena designated. Serena took a deep breath.

‘This is my first time using it since last summer.’

She scraped together her lacking concentration and mental strength, conjuring up what she wanted, hoped for, and wished for in her mind.

The clearer the image, the better. Once the image in Serena’s mind formed into a vivid picture, she recited the incantation.

“What I desire is cool ice.”

As Serena finished her incantation, ice the size of a child’s head formed above the pot. The ice settled into the pot.

“Eek! Princess, are you a mage?”

“Wow!”

“Waaah!”

“As expected of Lady Serena!”

Everyone except Philia, who already knew, was surprised.

‘Ugh, my head hurts. It’s been too long since I used magic.’

A blade rusts if not sharpened, and books become musty if not read.

Having used magic after such a long time, a headache followed as a side effect, as if reproaching Serena for her laziness.

But Serena managed her expression without showing it.

“Nothing to be surprised about.”

Since this is the only magic I can use.

‘But magic is so difficult.’

Since she was reincarnated in a fantasy world, she wanted to learn magic. But when she actually learned it, it was different from what she expected. It was even difficult and hard.

The princess used a trick. She chose one magic she wanted and learned only that.

The teachers who taught Serena were sad that she was wasting her talent, but what could they do when the parents wouldn’t listen and the student wanted to play?

And all that talk about talent was just flattery. It was like a conventional phrase that usually followed when royalty studied.

‘I did learn light orb and ignition magic because they said they were basic, but I haven’t used them even once since then, so I don’t know if the magic would work or not.’

To learn 3rd-tier ice creation magic, she did learn several 1st-tier spells and 2nd-tier magic. But she never cast them after learning.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that ice creation magic, which she used diligently every summer, was the only magic Serena could use.

People who didn’t know the truth simply looked up to the princess in awe as ice suddenly appeared in mid-air.

Because Serena had adjusted it in advance, the ice melted quickly. People were delighted to drink the cool ice water.

“It’s really cool.”

“I feel like I can live.”

“I didn’t know water could taste this good.”

“It’s delicious!”

They rested briefly and quenched their thirst with cool ice water. The group’s morale rose significantly.

“Then let’s go down the path where Krom and Hanson woke up.”

They decided to leave the cart at the crossroads for now. Krom walked behind Lavenda, casting wistful glances back.

“What if rats gnaw on it?”

“This place is a mausoleum. Rats cannot enter.”

Being a mausoleum in name, it completely blocked the entry of rats and insects. Rat holes might have appeared over time, but that was the original design.

“But I saw rats.”

“Really? I guess rat holes appeared somewhere after all. This earthquake might have opened new passages.”

Serena didn’t think much of it. Rats were animals you could easily see anywhere.

‘The antechamber should be fine, right? I don’t want to see anything gruesome.’

An antechamber swept through by hordes of rats. Coffins overturned, corpses eaten, and rat droppings covering everything.

If the corpses had become skeletons it might be different, but corpses placed in mausoleums usually became mummies, so she didn’t want to see that. She didn’t even want to imagine it.

“Rats?”

Lavenda alone looked disgusted. She seemed to dislike rats.

“Was it big? What did it look like?”

“It was a really big one.”

Krom drew the size of the rat he witnessed in the air.

‘Is that a dog?’

The rat was the size of a puppy. It was even bigger than a Chihuahua.

Truth or lie. The truth about the size of the rat Krom witnessed was revealed sooner than expected.

Screech.

“Ahhh!”

Because a black shadow fell in front of the group. The large black shadow fell from the ceiling, startled the group, then crawled up the wall and back to the ceiling.

Coarse fur, ominous eyes, spiky whiskers, a cunning snout, and a long, disgusting hairless tail. Anyone could see it was a rat. The rat twitched its nose, then stuck to the ceiling and fled.

Serena’s jaw dropped.

‘Is that a nutria?’

How big could a rat get? She wanted to grab her past complacent self by the collar and shout.

‘I’m telling you the rat is this big!’

The rat was far too big. It looked exactly like a plague-ridden sewer rat, but it was the size of a poodle or Maltese.

“That startled me!”

“Yes! That’s the one I saw! No doubt about it!”

“So that’s a rat! I’ve never seen one before!”

“No, Philia. There are many types of rats. That one is, well, a very big rat. That shouldn’t become the standard for rats.”

“How do you know, Lady Serena? Don’t tell me rats appear in the palace?”

“I read about it in books.”

“As expected, Lady Serena is so knowledgeable!”

“…”

While everyone was adding their comments after being surprised by the giant rat, Lavenda said nothing. Lavenda bit her lower lip and fidgeted. Her complexion grew increasingly dark.

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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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