Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 73

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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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73. Magic Training & 2nd Layer Exploration

“Count, you look troubled. Does your shoulder still hurt?”

“Thanks to the hot spring, it’s almost healed. It’s not because of that…”

The shadow cast over Count Randy’s face grew darker.

“I’m worried about Lady Serena.”

“At most it’s body aches, she’ll be fine in a week.”

“Miss Olive. That’s not necessarily true. If muscles are suddenly overworked, they could break down. That would be serious.”

“But the Princess was fine. What’s there to worry about?”

Count Randy looked over his past with eyes full of concern.

His master’s teachings had become part of his flesh and blood, greatly helping him in life. But learning them at the time had been just as difficult.

“I wonder if Lady Serena will be alright…”

“The Princess needs to get better quickly so she can use teleportation magic circles. Olive finds the stairs annoying!”

The party descended to the 2nd floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth.

***

Grey’s questions started with 3rd tier theory.

Since Serena had long forgotten other 3rd tier magic theories besides ice creation, she couldn’t answer.

The questions moved down to 2nd tier.

Having her brain cells stimulated by the previous questions, many things came to mind, so she could answer about half, and for 1st tier theory questions, she answered most of them unless they required application.

“You studied the basics more solidly than I thought. Since you gave up magic studies midway, I thought you were just a dropout with no skills.”

‘Why am I lying here, having to take magic lessons from a child who was about to treat my mentor like a dropout?’

Serena briefly felt an existential crisis, but Grey didn’t give the Princess time for idle thoughts.

Grey made a triangle with his small hands.

“In magic, when going from low tiers to high tiers, it’s important to build a solid foundation and form a stable triangle. But Your Highness has learned two 1st tier spells, two 2nd tier spells, and one 3rd tier spell – a precarious and deformed structure. This makes it difficult to cast higher magic and increases failure rates. It’s dangerous because mana could backflow.”

Grey looked puzzled.

“Your Highness should have been able to learn 1st or 2nd tier magic quickly, and you know the theory, so why did you learn so few?”

This was a question Serena had also harbored toward her magic tutor at the time.

Since she was learning magic quickly anyway, she wanted to master various spells, but her magic tutor wouldn’t allow it.

The reason was.

“He said learning multiple spells in a short time would strain the mind.”

This wasn’t superstition but fact.

Since magic in this world was learned from gods, if one’s vessel was weak or if one contacted gods too frequently in a short period, it could damage the soul or mind.

Cases of young mages who frequently performed rituals wanting to grow quickly and became madmen were so common that entire case studies were compiled.

Serena’s magic tutor had insisted that learning new magic every six months was best.

So Serena had only learned four spells in two years.

‘Wait. Is it okay to see the Labyrinth God?’

The God of Magic was like an automatic response, a lingering will, but the Labyrinth God had direct audiences.

‘Am I in danger?’

Serena’s doubt was surprisingly quickly resolved.

“Some people without grit – that’s Grandfather’s habit of speech, so I picked it up too, hehe. Such people sometimes have their minds collapse unable to withstand divine majesty. But Your Highness should have been fine. I wonder why the progress was so slow. Was he really a dropout… no, that’s not it.”

Serena’s mother was the most famous madwoman in the Kingdom of Heuji.

It was natural that Serena’s magic tutor would handle his noble student as gently as wet paper.

Thanks to Grey recalling this point, Serena’s magic tutor was promoted from dropout back to human.

“Good. While you’re lying down, you can learn the basic magic you lack, and when you can move, we’ll train you to cast magic while moving.”

She needed to learn magic that would help with labyrinth conquest while considering Serena’s magical life and not hindering future growth.

Grey grumbled while considering what magic to teach.

“Magic should be viewed long-term, but time is too tight. I hope rescue comes quickly.”

Serena glared with cold eyes at the child who was walking around her in circles with hands behind his back.

***

“Yes! A treasure chest!”

Olive discovered a treasure chest and ran toward it at full speed.

Though she seemed reckless, all party members knew she had finished checking for traps and monsters before running.

“Since it’s an ordinary treasure chest, it would be better to ask for daily necessities.”

“Arrows.”

“Leather or cloth would be good. Or metal would be fine too. We’ve somehow managed to gather wood, but we’re short on minerals.”

“I’d like salt if possible. Lavenda was worried that the salt Grandmother Krom left us is almost gone.”

“Salt! That’s important. Then I want salt too!”

Though the bread was seasoned, that amount of salt wasn’t enough when wandering around the labyrinth.

Olive took Ralph’s side and opened the treasure chest while singing her own composition.

“Ta-da!”

“A rock?”

Inside the treasure chest was a huge rock that was white with a pink aura swirling around it. It was quite large, filling the chest completely.

“Let’s see~ It’s not iron~”

“It’s rock salt.”

While Olive was trying to appraise the rock, Count Randy identified it immediately upon seeing it.

Since Heuji was close to the sea and they ate sea salt, Ralph, seeing rock salt for the first time, was amazed.

“Wow, this rock is salt? Can I try eating it?”

“It’s fine.”

Ralph broke off a small piece from the surface of the rock salt and put it in his mouth.

The young knight rolled the hard salt around with his tongue, dissolving it with saliva and savoring it.

“It tastes salty and sweet.”

“That’s what salt tastes like.”

“The fact that it tastes sweet means you were a bit tired. Eat more.”

Count Randy encouraged Ralph to eat more salt and collected the rock salt. Ying licked her lips regretfully.

“Arrows.”

“Next time there’s a treasure chest.”

“Ordinary!”

“When an ordinary treasure chest appears, I’ll pray for arrows to come out.”

“I think we’ve looked around this entire floor. Let’s go to the next floor!”

Ralph, Count Randy, Olive, and Ying moved from the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth.

***

“Why did you skip water creation and learn ice creation? Why? Just why?”

“Because there’s plenty of water.”

“So you skip it because of that? It’s basic of basics along with ignition! If you learn water creation, using ice arrows becomes 10 times easier!”

Grey’s nagging didn’t end.

For the Princess, who had never been nagged even once since reincarnation because there were no adults to nag her, this was torturous punishment.

She wanted to raise her hands to cover her ears or block that brat’s mouth, but she couldn’t move!

She wanted to ask Philia for help, but she was gone gathering herbs.

‘I shouldn’t have sent her.’

It was a mistake to send Lavenda and Philia because she was curious about how well the herb garden upgrade had gone.

Serena imagined water in her mind and chanted an incantation to create water in the air.

“I’ve learned it, so isn’t that enough? Stop nagging now.”

“The fact that you could learn it in one try but didn’t learn it before is more serious!”

She planned to pretend it was an accident and pour water on Grey’s head, but the impudent brat sent the water mass flying away with a single gesture.

You’re 100 years too early to pour cold water on me.

That was exactly the look in Grey’s eyes as he looked down at Serena.

‘This little brat?’

Despite claiming he couldn’t use 3rd-tier magic due to insufficient mana, his magical skill and application were superior to Serena’s.

While she wasn’t too upset knowing the skill difference, there was another reason Serena found herself grinding her teeth at this child.

“Seeing how poor your aim is, you’ll need lots of practice. With that in mind, I’ll stimulate the pressure points that help with mana circulation and blood flow.”

“You don’t need to, my mana flows just fine. Kyaaaah!”

Right now, Serena’s entire body was a weak point.

Grey took advantage of this, inflicting torture disguised as stretching, massage, or pressure point stimulation whenever Serena made a mistake or did something wrong.

‘This little devil! Once I’m better, I’ll pinch those cheeks using cuteness as an excuse!’

The princess vowed petty revenge as she cried out in surrender.

It didn’t work.

“Now, you need to be able to use magic even in this agonizing state! Try casting Light Orb!”

“Aaaaah!”

The pressure points Grey pressed might not have helped with blood and mana circulation, but they were excellent at raising blood pressure.

Serena’s neck cramped up from all the screaming. Grey panicked and inflicted new torture to relieve the cramp.

***

While exploring the 3rd floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth 2nd Circle, Olive discovered the pattern that damn old geezer’s grandson had commissioned.

It was carved right into the ceiling, nearly missed because it was covered by spider webs.

As Olive traced the pattern onto paper, Count Randy added items he hoped would appear in treasure chests.

“We’ll need spare paper and pens too.”

Even if Lavenda’s notebook was thick, it was still just a notebook. Count Randy had his own notebook, but it would be better to have large paper and spare pens for comfortable use.

“This is a cipher, right? Count, can you decode it?”

“I know something about labyrinths, but not in detail. And cipher decoding methods differ for each labyrinth. It’s also an important imperial secret.”

“Come on~ We’re exploring the labyrinth together, so tell us just a little bit!”

Olive, who was diligently copying the pattern onto small paper, made the request.

Even while concentrating, she kept her ears open to listen to the conversation.

“I really don’t know, so there’s nothing to tell.”

“Didn’t your nephew say all sealed doors have the same first condition? You said something like that. You could at least tell us that.”

“Miss Olive. You have no conscience.”

“Does conscience put food on the table?”

What Olive was asking for was something that even Ralph, an outsider, could tell was truly important and the result of long research.

To try to get it all for free without paying any price. She really had no conscience.

“One who inherits noble blood.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“The common unlocking condition found in all labyrinth sealed doors. One who inherits noble blood.”

Olive was so surprised she dropped her pen.

“This is weird to say after asking, but is it okay to tell us? When we get out of here, won’t that old geezer kill us for keeping secrets, or won’t we get forcibly drafted into the imperial army?”

Count Randy shook his head.

He waited for the surprised Olive and Ralph to calm down before continuing.

“Not necessarily. What do you think noble blood means?”

“Royalty? Nobility?”

“Someone who has a god among their ancestors?”

“Then let me ask again. There are so many great beings residing in heaven that we can’t even keep track of them all. If the condition is being a descendant of gods, how many people would meet this condition?”

“A whole lot, right?”

Not just most royal families, but noble houses, merchant families, and even village chiefs in remote areas could find gods among their ancestors.

If divine descent were the condition, all of them should be able to open sealed doors.

“Then is it royalty? That’s why the Princess could open the door!”

“That’s not it either. Royalty from nations that own labyrinths have all tried to unlock sealed doors at least once. Some succeeded, others failed. Even His Majesty the Great Emperor of the Empire has had generations challenge sealed doors, with some succeeding and others failing.”

“Could it be because someone in their lineage had an affair?”

Ralph looked serious while Count Randy earnestly shook his head.

“That question shows why my master treats labyrinth explorers like drifters, good-for-nothings, rogues, and suicide seekers. Anyway, since the definition of noble blood isn’t clear, my master is deliberately releasing the first condition as bait to gather information. So it’s not a big secret.”

“Did your nephew sell it at a high price earlier?”

“He was joking.”

Olive clicked her tongue and muttered ‘cocky brat’ to herself before focusing on practical matters.

“Hmm~ It’s really ambiguous. The royalty who opened doors might have actually unlocked the seals by meeting different conditions~”

As if her thoughts overloaded, Olive roughly tousled her hair.

“Ah, forget it! Let the bookworms think about it! I need to work and earn money!”

Ralph pondered a bit longer than Olive.

“The Princess can open sealed doors not because of such conditions, but because she was appointed as an apostle of the Labyrinth God, right? That’s it! That must be it!”

The young knight didn’t think complexly and reached a simple conclusion.

Count Randy secretly envied the boy’s simplicity while pretending to survey their surroundings as he fell into thought.

‘Lady Serena.’

Three sealed doors opened by the master his beloved wife cherished more than life itself.

Moreover, all were sealed doors to leader’s chambers that even the Empire, an advanced labyrinth nation, had no record of opening.

Setting aside the sealed door unlocking conditions, her ability to use teleportation magic circles had been discovered.

After safely escaping the labyrinth, would the Empire let the Princess go?

‘They might demand Lady Serena under the pretext of helping rebuild the Kingdom of Heuji whose capital has fallen.’

With marriage talks involving the 5th Prince and being an irreplaceably precious person, the treatment wouldn’t be bad, but would Serena be satisfied?

‘Lady Serena loves playing around most of all.’

Would the Princess, who loved playing and lounging around more than anything in the world, escape this labyrinth only to be dragged into another one?

Count Randy was deeply concerned.

***

The exploration team that had aimed for perfect conquest while touring the 2nd layer returned, minus Serena.

It was past a day, the next evening, when night was deepening.

“Darling!”

“Dear!”

The Count Randy couple enjoyed their joyful reunion.

Serena blinked her sleepy eyes and opened her left eye.

‘No notification?’

The perfect conquest notification hadn’t appeared.

This meant Olive’s group hadn’t perfectly explored all of the 2nd layer’s 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors.

‘Perfect conquest really is difficult.’

The 1st floor was easy only because it was the 1st Circle’s 1st floor, and perfect conquest was supposed to be difficult.

As Serena was thinking this, the guide called out loudly for the Princess.

“Princess! We found a sealed door!”

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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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