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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: The One-in-a-Hundred-Thousand Man (6)
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Serena assigned Ralph as Lavenda's escort and sent them to gather herbs. Lavenda collected even the ones Chrome had overlooked.
Rat meat combined with herbs, edible plants, and bread made for a fine meal.
Honestly, the rat had a gamey smell, the greens were little more than weeds—bitter and astringent—and the seasonings were just salt and pepper, barely enough to sprinkle. It wasn't tasty.
Still, everyone gave thumbs up, declaring this rat-and-weed sandwich the best of their lives. Hunger was the greatest spice.
Countess Landry, whose usual low appetite meant she still wasn't that hungry, just sandwiched some greens between bread.
"Sob sob, it's not tasty."
Philia's weed sandwich must have been extra salty with her tears and snot mixed in.
Everyone ate their fill and patted their full bellies.
Ralph, even after sharing, carefully wrapped the remaining half loaf of rye bread in cloth. It was the cloth that smelled sweetly of baby.
A sense of relief and peace settled on the boy's face—he who had been the main victim of Sir Lucas's swinging fists.
The tension, stretched taut like a thread on the verge of snapping, had finally eased.
"Your Grace."
Sir Lucas's voice tightened the relaxed atmosphere.
Ralph shot to his feet from where he'd been sitting with a bright face, suddenly scanning the surroundings warily. Chrome stiffly rose, saying she needed to do the dishes. Even Lavenda glanced at Sir Lucas.
"Don't waste your energy. Rest."
Usually, the one saying that was the prime culprit preventing any real rest.
"Speak."
"Due to my negligence, I failed to heed Your Grace's valuable fore... ."
Sir Lucas hesitated to say "prophecy," opting for another word.
"I failed to heed Your Grace's valuable foresight. It is all my shortcoming. Would you please tell us again about the monsters on the second floor?"
"I remember! You said there'd be an eight-legged ambusher and a horned bull-headed monster!"
The freckled boy's eyes sparkled.
"Did the God of the Labyrinth tell the princess? Do you hear the voice of the gods? The priest of the Earth God who visits our village says he's never heard a god's voice!"
Growing youths of Hwaji hungered for food, knowledge, and curiosity enough to forget their fear of Sir Lucas.
"Hee hee. Don't compare an ordinary priest to Lady Serena. Divine blood flows in her veins."
Serena sat quietly, but Philia boasted on her behalf.
It wasn't anything special. In a world full of gods, most royal houses claimed divine descent.
The Vieta royal family, Lavenda's homeland, claimed the same. Only odd kingdoms didn't.
"Other kingdoms have divine blood too, but Lady Serena is even more special. Those orange eyes of hers are a rare symbol of divinity, appearing only in the Hwaji royal line across the continent."
"Oh my. I thought they were just unusually unique, but they're divine, as you say, Countess."
"Yes. They appear very rarely even in the Hwaji royal family, and among the current royals, only Lady Serena and Archduke Oran have them."
With only five living royals, two having them hardly seemed rare. Serena smirked inwardly.
"I remember. When the prince was born, they said it was the first in a hundred years. Everyone made a huge fuss about what a great omen it was."
Serena's own birth had been a different kind of fuss—because of where her parents met.
Crown Prince Kiban and Crown Princess Consort Melang met at a drug-fueled orgy party and conceived Serena.
Before her birth, rumors swirled about the fetus's true father, and Melang—who had been one of many prince's consorts before overnight becoming crown princess consort—endured tremendous hardship.
Serena's orange eyes silenced the rumors at birth, but it was too late. Melang could only look straight at her daughter's eyes on stormy, thundering nights.
"If orange eyes prove divine blood, then that means descent from a god with orange eyes, right? Was there such a god?"
"Ahem."
Sir Lucas cleared his throat awkwardly. He seemed displeased that commoners were discussing the royal bloodline, his face sour.
'Or maybe he just doesn't like that I have orange eyes like Richard.'
Nobles close to the deceased former crown prince were especially like that. They'd pretended to like her with no royals around, then openly turned when Archduke Oran returned.
'No need for palace politics in a labyrinth.'
Serena wanted to get to the point. Recalling her fragile mother soured her mood. She rubbed her throat.
"The gods didn't speak to me. I just know. Hard to explain in detail."
"I see. An eight-legged ambusher sounds like a spider. The horned bull-headed monster is famously the Minotaur, but..."
Sir Lucas dismissed the Minotaur possibility.
"It won't be a Minotaur."
"Why not?"
"We're only on the second floor. A Minotaur is too strong for such a low level. To take down a properly armed one without casualties requires three knights and a mage."
Sir Lucas briefly explained the anti-Minotaur tactics he'd learned in the knight order.
"I've heard imperial knights can solo up to the tenth floor easily. The tenth is the limit due to supply issues, but without them, even the twentieth is feasible. Hwaji knights are no less capable, so I doubt Minotaurs appear before the twentieth floor."
'How chummy are they with imperial knights? Why does every sentence start with "imperial knights say"?'
Standing guard together probably just meant gossiping. The Empire had the most labyrinths, so the info wasn't bad.
'Beating the first-floor boss in one hit, then suddenly needing three knights and a mage on the second? That'd be weird.'
If it were a Minotaur, it'd be a badly balanced trash game. Even masochistic hardcores didn't put brutal bosses on floor two.
'You'd just avoid it.'
Occasionally, godlike players dodged unavoidable bosses, but that was possible only in games.
"Nothing more specific?"
"Not about the monsters. You mentioned the boss room after the Floor Boss?"
"Yes."
"The second floor's boss room opens automatically without touching it, spawning small fry. Watch out for that."
"Understood."
Sir Lucas nodded gravely.
"Everyone's eaten well, so rest a bit, then head to the second floor. Your Grace stays here."
"I'll go down too."
"...Then prepare yourself, Your Grace. Countess Landry."
Sir Lucas clearly wanted to leave Philia behind.
Serena nodded. Philia was slow and clumsy; better to leave her somewhere safe.
"Lavenda, you protect Countess Landry."
"Pardon? I want to go too, Lady Serena!"
"You're too slow."
And Serena didn't want to see silver hair soaked in blood again.
Serena took cord from Chrome to tie her shoes so they wouldn't slip off. She borrowed Sir Lucas's sword to cut her dress hem up to her calves, exposing her ankles. Philia nearly fainted.
Before leaving the lobby, Serena hesitated before the statue.
Save or load.
Touching the statue fixed the regression point. No going back before that.
'Sir Lucas issue resolved, so...'
Serena touched the statue. No turning back now.
"The spiderwebs are tough. Don't step on them."
The princess boldly re-entered Hwaji's Labyrinth second floor.
Hwaji's Labyrinth second floor was as dark as Serena remembered. She conjured light with magic to secure visibility, and Sir Lucas took the lead.
'There we go.'
Finally, the one-in-a-hundred-thousand man got to work properly.
Before the Royal Knight Sir Lucas, the labyrinth spiders were less than cannon fodder in a musou game. The party advanced quickly to the site of their previous wipe.
Guuung.
As the group entered the wide space, the door dropped like last time. A bull head with massive horns appeared first. Sir Lucas shouted.
"It's a Minotaur! Your Grace, run!"
'You said it wasn't earlier!'
Who was it that insisted no Minotaur on floor two, citing imperial knights?
'And even if I run!'
At Serena's speed, the Minotaur would catch up, killing her just like before. Besides, Sir Lucas wasn't fleeing—he was buying time.
"Haaap!"
Sir Lucas timed the descending door and roared.
The small shield on his left gauntlet expanded hugely. He charged head-on into the pawing Minotaur.
Kuung! A heavy thud echoed through the floor.
'Crazy.'
Man versus bull, and the man only staggered back a couple steps.
"Hap!"
Ralph bravely thrust his spear at the Minotaur. It bounced off without a scratch.
"Don't interfere and get out! Your weapons can't hurt a Minotaur!"
Sir Lucas pitted his full strength against the beast. He was slowly being pushed but holding—impressive.
Serena realized she'd underestimated this world's power balance.
A world where gods were near, monsters and magic real. Knights here were combat specialists far beyond her previous life's.
And Sir Lucas was a royal knight. High nobility distant kin to Serena, but not just anyone guarded royalty.
'Sir Lucas! I underestimated you because your stars matched Ralph's, but you're no disgrace to the Royal Knights!'
If Ralph held a sword instead of a spear, wouldn't faint yellow fill the transparent stars, making three? Ralph the squire matching Sir Lucas's stars meant Lucas was the diluted one! Disgrace to the Royal Knights!
Lost in wild thoughts, Serena took a shock. Sir Lucas pulled stars and probability values!
'Well done, one-in-a-hundred-thousand man! Three-star knight!'
"Urk. Your Grace! What are you doing!"
Sir Lucas scolded Serena for not fleeing. She wasn't staying for weird thoughts.
"Close your eyes!"
Adjusting the output of first-circle Light Orb spell could produce a brief, intense flash to blind foes. A skill honed while stuck in the lobby because of Sir Lucas.
A blinding flash erupted between Sir Lucas and the Minotaur.
Mooo!
The light strong enough to cause blindness made the Minotaur squeeze its eyes shut and stagger.
"Now's our chance!"
Attack while it's blinded! As Serena shouted, the Minotaur's ears twitched, and it assumed charging stance.
'Ears too? It has it all!'
"Hraaap!"
Sir Lucas shoved the Minotaur back with his shield. He retreated, shrinking the shield, and ran. His eyes were bloodshot from straining against the bull.
"To the first floor, quick!"
Ralph grabbed lagging Chrome and ran. The blinded Minotaur pursued by sound alone.
Kuung! Kuung!
Protruding walls and pillars randomly blocking the path shattered on impact, slowing the raging bipedal bull-headed monster.
'That's why they were there!'
Lungs burning like they might burst, they didn't stop and climbed the steep stairs. Thankfully, the Minotaur halted before ascending.
"Huff huff. Hack. Heuk heuk."
"Die... cough cough. Gonna... kill."
"Chrome granny, huff, breathe like me. Hooook."
Chrome, over fifty and barely alive from the run, suffered. Ralph thumped her back as she hyperventilated.
Serena collapsed beside the mashed-up corpse of the undead Labyrinth Rat Floor Boss, different from before.
Rotten vitreous humor from the undead's burst eyeball smeared her hair, but she ignored it.
"We lived! Urp!"
Even puking violently on the corpse from the exertion—everyone survived, so it was fine.
