-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: One in a Hundred Thousand (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
'I pulled the gacha, and suddenly a new person appeared out of nowhere. This can't be a coincidence.'
She'd said she wanted to help the people trapped in the labyrinth, and she'd regressed to the past.
The gacha window had appeared, and after doing a free pull, a new person had shown up.
'They don't seriously expect me to pull 100,000 times like this, do they?'
No, probably not. She still had no idea what powered the gacha either.
Serena kept her left eye open and shouted all sorts of things. Desperate for anything else, she frantically moved and clicked the cursor all over the window.
No status screen or cheats had been given to her, but something else had appeared instead.
A shop.
There was a shop window in addition to the gacha one. She'd cheered loudly when it first opened, then felt a massive wave of disappointment scanning the items.
'Fountain decoration change? Are you kidding me?'
Customization items popping up here of all places?
Serena didn't hide her irritation as she roughly flipped through the product pages.
She skipped past useless stuff like lobby floor and wall tile replacements, decorative statues, until trees and flowers started showing up.
'Why is it all just cosmetic crap... wait, what's this?'
As she ground her teeth and aggressively swiped through the green-filled pages, a product name caught Serena's eye.
Bread Tree.
The bread tree Serena knew bore fruit like potatoes. If it was the one she remembered, it'd be perfect for carbs.
As soon as she showed interest, the cursor hovered over the bread tree, and a description window popped up beside it.
Serena's eyes flew wide in shock as she read it, only for the shop to vanish and force her to close her right eye again.
'A tree that grows actual bread. For real?'
It cost 10 coins normally, but a first-purchase discount brought it down to just 1 coin. One single coin for a tree that produced fluffy loaves.
'But how do I get coins?'
Rats lay ahead, followed by spiders. Knowing the future, Serena desperately wanted that bread tree ASAP.
There were a few other decent items too. In this isolated hellhole, any resupply option was a godsend.
She poked around the shop and gacha windows hoping for coin info, but came up empty.
'Nothing else to see here.'
She could always browse products more carefully later.
"Hoo..."
Serena sighed and closed her left eye. Keeping it open when all she saw was the gacha and shop windows was exhausting.
With her leather eyepatch on, she scanned the surroundings. Philia, and now the newly added Sir Lucas Biron, all watched her with tense expressions.
'Tch. Can't blame them for misunderstanding.'
She'd been so shocked by the gacha and shop that she'd wasted too much time flailing around. Serena straightened her back, lifted her chin, and put on the regal princess face she'd practiced in the mirror.
"Are you alright now?"
"Just a brief headache. I'm fine now. More importantly, Sir Lucas."
"Yes?"
"I have a few questions for you. Answer exactly as they come to mind—no more, no less."
"Understood."
The gacha pull had summoned Sir Lucas. It couldn't be coincidence.
"Tell me what happened right before and after you arrived here."
"Yes, Your Highness. I was escorting you and Lady Landry down a narrow alley. The soldier and old woman were blocking the way, so I left your side to ask them to move—and that's when I felt the earthquake."
"Hm. And then?"
"When I woke, I was in an unfamiliar corridor. Hearing voices and seeing light, I came here and found you, Lady Landry, and the others. It's bizarre."
"Same as me."
"Yes. They all testified the same: they felt the quake, woke up here."
'But last time, you weren't there.'
In terms of proximity, Sir Lucas had been closer to Serena than Chrome or Ralph. So why hadn't he been here before?
'Different server or channel?'
Joking aside, Sir Lucas joining was good news. Their party's only muscle had been a squire disguised as a guard—now they had a real knight.
'But what's that?'
Even without his helmet, Serena happily eyed Sir Lucas's plate armor and real sword at his hip—until something weird flickered into view.
A star-like thing floated above Sir Lucas's head.
'One, two, three. Three of them.'
Why the hell were stars suddenly hovering over people's heads? Was Sir Lucas some apostle of the gods or something?
"Lady Serena?"
Serena pulled her gaze from the stars at her handmaiden's cautious question. She was curious, but now wasn't the time to fixate on something invisible to others.
"If you're tired, why not lie down? I can spread my cloak."
"It's nothing. I'm fine."
"Ahem. While Your Highness suffered your headache, I finished assessing the situation."
"Oh?"
"Yes. This seems to be the royal mausoleum."
Sir Lucas had given the exact same wrong answer Serena had. Labyrinths were rare, so she couldn't fault him.
'Wonder if Lavenda has a different take.'
Serena glanced at Lavenda.
'She's frozen stiff.'
While Serena had been distracted, something had happened—everyone's faces were rigid.
Ralph was even more tense than before, petrified like stone. Chrome huddled in the corner, fidgeting lest Sir Lucas's gaze fall on her. Lavenda looked cowed, her lavender eyes darting anxiously.
'A bit too frozen, huh?'
As Serena's eyes landed on the trio, Sir Lucas spoke.
"My interrogation confirmed they're no threats. Rest easy."
"Good. They're all ordinary folk, so treat them kindly."
'It's Sir Lucas's fault.'
From a royal escort's perspective, unexpected events and strangers warranted suspicion. Failing that was negligence.
'He might've gone overboard. Can't be helped.'
Sir Lucas had been startled too. Time would ease his guard. Serena rebooted her positive thinking.
"Waiting for rescuers from outside is best, but to speed things up, we'll search for an exit internally too. Please excuse me from your side briefly."
"Permitted."
"Stay here and rest with Lady Landry. I'll scout that way."
Sir Lucas pointed to the cave where Serena and Philia had been.
"It's blocked by boulders and debris."
"Yes, Lady Landry mentioned. I'll verify if there's anything else."
Sir Lucas didn't seem to fully trust Serena's word. She clicked her tongue inwardly.
'Can't be helped.'
Even a king, emperor, or pope would want to check a blocked exit personally. It had happened before too—no helping the time sink.
A few perceived minutes later, Sir Lucas returned, face grim like the others who'd checked the cave before.
He pondered deeply, then approached Serena.
"Your Highness, forgive me, but it seems we must enter the mausoleum proper to find the exit."
Getting the tomb owner's descendant's permission before rummaging was proper protocol. Ignoring it risked curses—and in this world, those were real.
"Granted. There might be traps, so I'll come too."
"Please stay here with Lady Landry."
Sir Lucas's tone was firm.
"Have you heard of Hwaji's mausoleum? It's riddled with traps. I'm the only one with knowledge, so—"
"No."
'Did this guy just cut me off?'
Serena started to snap, then glanced aside—her handmaiden, who should have been first to object, was silently nodding in agreement with Sir Lucas.
"You can't go somewhere dangerous!"
"As a distant relative of House Hwaim, I've heard much about their mausoleum from my parents and grandparents."
'Distant enough not to visit for ancestral rites, but still "relative"?'
"No escort means it's scary, but unavoidable. That path is blocked anyway, and my route is mostly straight—no great risk. If trouble, just shout."
'Not scared at all? What are you on about?'
Sir Lucas spoke almost like an announcement, then called Ralph and Chrome. They obeyed instantly.
Serena noted Chrome taking point, not Ralph or Sir Lucas.
'Chrome hurrying ahead to find her cart?'
Otherwise, why let an old woman lead over a soldier and knight?
A knight who knew Hwaji's traps were everywhere, sending a stiff-jointed granny ahead?
Serena furrowed her brow.
'Cheap things are expensive, as they say.'
And Sir Lucas was a free knight. Totally free.
For some reason, her premonition was sour.
'This is bad.'
As a foreigner, Lavenda had faced especially persistent grilling from Sir Lucas. She'd barely caught her breath when he left the lobby.
Now she was the lone outsider.
This was dangerous. Her only reliable anchor was the princess.
'Her condition's a bit off, but Lady Landry's here too.'
The princess kept muttering nonsense and blinking at thin air with an invisible eye—definitely odd—but with her handmaiden Lady Landry present, it should be fine.
Lavenda approached the princess cautiously.
"If you have a headache, may I massage your temples?"
"Stop. Who are you?"
"As I told the knight earlier, I'm Lavenda Puri, the masseuse. We met at the massage parlor, Lady Landry."
"I don't remember people well. Note that."
It was the haughty attitude she'd often encountered serving noble ladies. Lady Landry was stunningly beautiful, so even rude arrogance didn't grate much.
'Like a fairy who can't remember human names. Exactly that vibe.'
Lavenda washed her hands in the fountain water.
"Yes, understood. May I attend to Your Highness then?"
"More than that, I want to wipe off this oil when no one's around."
The fountain water was clean. Serena wanted to scrub off the lingering oil faster than last time. She had Philia stand watch and diligently wiped down with Lavenda's help.
"Don't you have any guesses?"
"Pardon?"
"I asked if you think this is the mausoleum too. It might be something else."
Like a labyrinth.
"I'm... not sure."
Lavenda smiled it off gently.
'No riding her coattails there.'
Rats, boss rooms, treasure chests would reveal it in time, but to clue them in sooner, she'd have to speak up herself.
Serena decided to announce it once everyone gathered. They might not believe her bad first impression, but authority or proof would crush doubts.
'But what's this?'
Serena stared intently at the yellow star above Lavenda's head.
Sir Lucas had stars above his—now Lavenda did too. And Philia standing guard in the passage.
'Why different colors though?'
Lavenda had one yellow star. Philia had one yellow too, plus four gray ones. Total five. Five stars!
'By count alone, Lavenda's 1-star, Philia's 5-star. But yellow-only, both 1-star.'
By Serena's memory, Sir Lucas had three yellow ones.
'Gotta check everyone when they return.'
Not long after Serena finished scrubbing and fixing her clothes, Sir Lucas and the others returned dragging Chrome's cart.
Serena checked stars first. Sir Lucas: three yellow. Memory confirmed.
'Chrome: two yellow. Ralph... what the hell is yours?'
Ralph had five total, but different colors.
'One yellow, two transparent, two gray?'
The princess had no clue what it meant and felt stifled.
Body refreshed? Sure. But her mind was clogged.
Serena opened her left eye and mentally screamed.
'Text file! HWP! Word! PDF! Excel! PPT!'
Nothing appeared.
