Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 8

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

8. Rat Meat

“Is anyone there?”

Krom shouted loudly.

It was quiet.

Serena moved the orb of light to the fountain in the center of the lobby. Nothing happened. Except for the darkness, everything was the same as before the group left.

“Could the lighting device be broken or out of mana?”

The group scattered to look for anything strange. Serena cast the light orb spell once more for easier exploration. She was nervous it might fail, but fortunately it succeeded again this time.

‘That’s it. When push comes to shove, you can do anything.’

Indeed, what the body learns lasts long. Serena felt secretly proud and straightened her shoulders that had hunched from fatigue. Her shoulders and back ached because of her chest. Perhaps because she had been sticking her head out looking for traps, it hurt more than usual.

She went to the cave and examined even the exit blocked by rocks, but couldn’t find anything.

Eventually the group gathered near the fountain, exhausted.

“Since rats can get in, I’ll stay over there.”

Hanson volunteered to rest near the passage.

Krom brought the cart and rummaged inside to pull out a bucket. After pondering for a moment, he simply plunged the bucket into the fountain and drew water.

“I might as well not die.”

Krom held the rat carcass and bucket while looking around. He seemed to be looking for a place to prepare the rat. Near the water would be best, so next to the fountain would be perfect, but he didn’t know what would happen to water that spilled outside the fountain.

If it didn’t drain and pooled up, it would rot and smell foul. He needed another place without tiles. At least somewhere the water could seep into.

“I’ll prepare it over there.”

Krom disappeared toward the cave carrying the rat and bucket. He went there but came back saying it was too dark and requested a light orb be sent.

“Let me borrow the pot.”

“You can’t touch anything else.”

She wanted to see what was in the cart, but Krom firmly refused. Krom took out a pouch containing food, seasonings, cooking utensils like pots, and tableware, then covered the cart with a blanket.

“It’s all wood, so it can’t get damp. It’ll warp. Don’t touch it carelessly either. You’ll get splinters.”

He said it was wood scraps discarded from a sawmill, so it was raw wood itself. Since he had the most possessions among the group, he also had the most to offer. Krom reacted sensitively.

‘Is it okay to sell things with splinters to children?’

Perhaps commoner children had calluses on their hands so they weren’t afraid of wood splinters.

Serena decided to respect Krom’s property rights and made ice in the pot he had taken out.

The sensation of cold ice water passing through her mouth, flowing down her esophagus, and pooling in her stomach was piercingly vivid.

Looking back, Serena hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast this morning.

She was hungry.

Serena took the pot with remaining water and approached Krom.

Krom was the eldest among the group. Yet he fought the rat because he was a commoner familiar with blades. When they were resting, he pulled the cart alone, and now he was trying to prepare the rat too.

She felt bad about leaving all the work to one person. It made her feel worse because it reminded her of the grandmother who raised Serena in her previous life.

‘He did pull the cart on his own initiative, but still.’

But when she went to him, Krom’s reaction was lukewarm.

Why did you come?

He didn’t say it, but his eyes looked exactly like that.

Serena handed him the pot with water while looking around to see if there was anything she could help with.

“Is there anything I can help with?”

“What? Lady Serena should be resting over there!”

“I’ll help!”

At the princess’s shocking statement, Philia was greatly alarmed. Lavenda squatted down next to Krom even though she didn’t know how to help.

Krom snorted in disbelief, then cleared his throat to suppress his laughter.

“How can the princess help prepare a rat? As long as you don’t faint… Oh my.”

Krom struck the rat’s neck with a kitchen knife he brought from the cart. A rat head the size of a grown man’s fist rolled on the ground.

The rat head with unfocused eyes and a bloody tongue sticking out met Philia’s lake-like eyes.

Unlike Serena who had at least seen frozen fish eyes at the market in her previous life, Philia was a real noble lady without past life memories.

She had never made eye contact with a dead creature in her life, and if it was a hideous rat at that, it said everything.

Philia’s delicate body swayed.

“Ah.”

“Countess!”

“Lavenda, support Philia and take her over there.”

“Yes. What about you, Princess?”

“I won’t faint, so take her away.”

Lavenda hurriedly supported Philia and left.

“I knew this would happen. What help indeed. You’re just in the way, so leave before you see more gruesome things.”

Even while speaking, Krom kept his hands busy. He skinned the headless rat, split open its belly, and removed the organs. He washed the rat meat with water drawn from the fountain, then washed it again with the water Serena brought.

“Oh, my hands are so cold. It’s almost finished, so Princess, please go now too. Ah.”

Krom looked back and forth between the fresh rat meat and cold water as if something occurred to him.

“Princess, do you know how to make fire?”

“Can’t you make fire yourself?”

“I have flint but no kindling. Can’t you make fire like you make ice?”

“My studies in fire magic are shallow…”

She studied ice magic diligently because it would be disappointing not to have it when she wanted it immediately. Fire? When would a princess need to make fire? Cold? There were piles of furs waiting for Serena’s selection filling the warehouse.

She knew ignition magic but its duration was short. It wasn’t the kind of magic that maintained fire for a long time like Krom wanted.

“Right. I’ve heard stories of mages bursting flames everywhere, but never heard of them cooking with fire. What should we do about kindling?”

There was moss in the cave, but it was damp so fire wouldn’t catch well and there wasn’t much of it. Krom put the rat meat in the bucket and placed it next to the fountain, then searched through the cart but with little success.

Originally, kindling could just be picked up as branches from nearby forests. That’s why Krom carried flint and a little oil but didn’t carry kindling around.

Philia, who had overcome her dizziness through love and loyalty to Serena, approached and asked.

“What are you looking for?”

“We need to light a fire to cook, but we’re looking for kindling since we don’t have any.”

“There’s plenty of kindling over there. Isn’t all that kindling?”

Philia innocently pointed to the cargo in the cart. As Philia said, the cart was indeed full of wood pieces.

“Philia. You must be tired and your eyesight has deteriorated. Those aren’t kindling but sculptures and toys that Krom carved.”

The sculptures and toys were crude and roughly finished. But you could roughly tell what he was trying to carve, and the toys were painted to add some style.

‘Though you’d get splinters.’

“They’re products that a merchant and craftsman uses to make a living. They’re not kindling.”

“They can be used as kindling. There’s a lot of them too. You there, I’ll buy those.”

Krom, who had been listening quietly since he couldn’t interrupt the conversation between the princess and countess, answered bluntly.

“Look here, Countess. If I was going to use these as kindling, why would I be rummaging through the cart? They may look crude to noble folks, but I made a living with those. If you were young it would be understandable, but for a married woman to say such things is troubling—”

“Would this much be enough for the price?”

“Well I’ll be. Oh my, looking after such an ignorant fool’s situation. I’m deeply grateful.”

It was too much money to refuse. Krom personally split the toys and sculptures loaded in the cart into pieces good for burning.

“You’ll get splinters, so Princess, Countess, and the masseuse lady over there shouldn’t touch them. I’ll do it all. You too, Guard.”

“I wasn’t sleeping!”

Hanson, who had been sitting by the passage dozing, jumped up and shouted. Rather than pathetic, it was pitiful.

“I will compensate everyone for their hard work, so don’t worry.”

“Oh, what are you saying.”

“I wasn’t sleeping! I was awake! I’m fine!”

After preparing the rat, cooking was also Krom’s job. Perhaps forgetting his fatigue from the gold coins received as payment for the kindling, Krom moved diligently.

He lit the fire, seasoned the rat meat, and put some dried grains he had into the pot to make porridge.

While the meat cooked, he used his carving knife to select appropriately sized products and carved spoons and bowls.

The bubbling smell of cooking rat meat was savory. Thunder rumbled in Serena’s stomach. The others seemed similar as they held their stomachs and paced around the pot. Hanson also woke up and swallowed his saliva.

“Is it okay to light a fire like this when this might be a sealed space?”

Lavenda voiced her doubt in a slightly loud voice as if asking anyone to answer. Krom was busy and Philia didn’t know. Hanson probably didn’t know either. The only person who could answer was Serena.

“Even if we can’t see them, there must be ventilation shafts, so it should be fine. Isn’t the smoke disappearing even now?”

“You’re right.”

“It’s done.”

Krom opened the pot lid. Steam spread out and then disappeared. The slightly oily white broth with barley and oats that had absorbed the stock, and the cooked meat looked delicious.

‘If only I didn’t know what it was.’

“Now, the princess first.”

Krom ladled a generous portion of rat meat porridge into the princess’s bowl, which he had specially sanded smooth so no splinters would hurt her delicate hands.

“Thank you.”

“Next is our merciful countess.”

“Give me some without the meat.”

“You need to eat meat to have strength. That’s why you’re nothing but bones.”

Krom picked out what little barley and oats there were and put them in Philia’s bowl. Some meat that had fallen off the bones from being well-cooked got in, but that couldn’t be helped.

“Next is our guard. Eat lots of meat.”

“I’ll eat well.”

“Lastly, the massage lady who’s good at kicking. You said you came from Vieta? That’s impressive, really.”

“Please serve yours first, Krom. Thank you.”

When Krom ladled out his own portion of porridge, the pot was empty.

“Enjoy your meal, everyone.”

Krom was the first to eat the rat meat porridge. He showed no sign of reluctance at all.

“Everyone seemed to have had a hard time, so I made it a bit salty.”

“Yes.”

“Yes…”

Everyone had been pacing around the pot from hunger, but when it came time to actually eat the rat meat porridge, they couldn’t easily pick up their spoons.

Serena was grateful that this world didn’t have the culture of waiting for elders to start eating first like in her previous life.

If such a culture existed, everyone would have just stared at Serena until she ate the rat meat porridge.

‘Ugh.’

To think that after being reincarnated as a princess, she’d have to eat rat meat.

She never imagined that after being born a princess and enjoying all kinds of delicacies, she’d end up eating rats—something she’d never even tried in her previous life.

‘Since ancient times, rats have been a useful source of protein for humans. After the harvest, farmers would raid rat holes in the fields to gather grain and catch rats to eat as one of their pleasures. Even before I died, there were countries that ate rats depending on their culture. Honestly, it’s better than insects.’

The reason I’ve been hesitating is to let the hot porridge cool down!

After finishing her self-hypnosis, Serena took a bite of the rat meat porridge. As Krom had said about making it salty, it was indeed salty and had a slightly gamey smell.

‘I can’t tell what this is.’

It was gamey, but since this was her first encounter with this particular gamey smell, she had no words to describe it. While Serena mobilized her meager vocabulary, the others were inspired by the princess’s courage and tasted the rat meat porridge.

“It’s delicious!”

“It’s nice and warm.”

“It tastes bad…”

Though Philia dissented, everyone was satisfied to be able to eat warm food with broth.

Hanson seemed a bit reluctant at first, but his eating speed gradually increased until he quickly emptied his bowl. The others were similar, though slower.

Since Philia alone was picking at her food with her spoon, Serena scolded her.

“If you want to move tomorrow, you have to eat even if you don’t like it.”

“Yes, I know.”

Philia held her breath and ate the porridge little by little. Serena handed her the water bottle Hanson was holding so she could swallow more easily.

“Ugh, hah!”

“You shouldn’t get indigestion, so chew thoroughly even if you hold your breath.”

“Yes.”

They were tired but full. Their bodies were also warm from the fire.

Small smiles formed on the faces of people who had been terrified after being caught up in a sudden disaster.

Hanson started dozing off again, and Philia continued fiddling with the communication device that still wouldn’t connect.

“I’ll go rinse these.”

Krom moved to rinse the pot and bowls. Serena started to get up to follow but stopped.

She was too tired. She just wanted to collapse and sleep. She was confident that if she slept like this, she wouldn’t wake up even if someone poured ice water on her.

What woke Serena, who had been dozing like Hanson, was Lavenda’s voice.

“Princess.”

“Mm? What is it?”

The Vieta-born masseuse who had come to earn money in a foreign country and met with misfortune looked particularly pale among the five. Though she’d be anxious being in a foreign country, this was severe.

“I don’t intend to oppose your opinion, but… is this really a mausoleum?”

“I know it’s strange for a mausoleum. Huji has many cultures isolated from the continent due to its closed terrain, but the royal mausoleum is particularly unique.”

“But I’ve been to a place similar to this before.”

“A similar place?”

Lavenda wrapped her arms around herself with a deathly pale face.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————