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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: The One in a Hundred Thousand Man (9)
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Lucas was doing fine, and the bread tree was still going strong.
Serena watched Chrome grumbling that her waist had improved, but now her shoulder hurt.
"Come here."
Serena called Chrome over to check the tattoo while giving her shoulder a good rub.
"When your shoulders feel stiff, it's good to tap them like this."
Chrome practically jumped out of her skin at the honor of having a princess personally knead her shoulders.
"No needsh!"
"You're not exactly young anymore, yet you endure so much hardship."
She reminds me of Grandma.
Tough as nails, said whatever was on her mind, even a bit sly at times—but Serena didn't dislike Chrome for it. She felt an affinity because the woman reminded her of the grandmother who had raised her in her previous life.
There is a tattoo, just like he said.
As Lucas had described, Chrome bore a tattoo, matching the number and design perfectly.
Not that it matters anymore.
Since Lucas had tried to kill Serena, whether Chrome had a criminal record or not was beside the point. Serena had no intention of keeping a potential backstabber in the party—one who could go after her life at any moment.
Who knows what lies ahead? Better to nip the bad seeds early.
If her skills were irreplaceable, that might be one thing. But Lucas's abilities could be substituted.
And using people as bait just to make things easier for himself? Then why the hell would Serena walk the filthy labyrinth path instead of the glittering golden road?
Serena glanced at Ralph. His face was a swollen, bruised mess from Lucas's blows. The single yellow star and two transparent ones hovering above his head looked rather nice.
"Everyone's ready, but forgive me—I need a moment."
"What is it?"
"I'm still shaken up. I need to meditate."
"Can't give you long."
"Understood. While I'm meditating, wouldn't you mind lending me that aroma incense? The one Lavenda had."
Lucas handed over a stick of incense. Serena called Lavenda and Philia over.
"I don't want to show my face with the blindfold off, so screen me."
"Yes. I'll stand with my back to you too."
"Sob sob, even with one eye missing, Lady Serena, you're still so beautiful."
Serena lit the incense. Sweet smoke wafted up, filling the air with a subtle fragrance. Amid it, she caught a very familiar scent.
"This is top-quality stuff."
"Yeah, the really expensive kind. I splurged on it..."
And now it had been snatched away by Lucas just because she was carrying it around. Lavenda looked dejected. Serena promised the poor masseuse.
"I'll make it up to you once we're out."
Serena removed her blindfold and closed her eyes. She sat in a comfortable position, breathing in deeply and exhaling slowly.
Time for meditation.
During meditation, one's sense of time fades away. When Serena finally opened her eyes, Philia chattered immediately.
"You finished faster than I thought."
The two-hour aroma incense still had plenty left. It felt like only about fifteen minutes had passed despite her deep trance. She checked the cooldown on the bread tree above—it confirmed roughly fifteen minutes had elapsed.
Lavenda extinguished the flame on the incense.
"Looked like you concentrated really well."
"Yeah, tell me about it."
Having someone I need to kill sharpens the focus like nothing else.
Serena donned her blindfold again, then lightly rubbed her temples.
Lucas took Chrome to check the central structure. It was the same as before.
Serena looked at Ralph. As a squire, he couldn't defy Lucas's orders, enduring the beatings without a peep.
Still, he had pointed out Lucas's wrongdoing. He had voiced that a knight shouldn't act that way. And he had agreed with Serena's decision to expel him. He had offered his own body to protect the princess.
"Ralph."
"Y-yes! Er, no? I'm not Ralph."
"Ralph Hanson. Sixteen years old. You have quadruplet nephews in Kizen not even a hundred days old, and you hate how your brother takes fatherhood lightly, so you're impersonating a guard in his clothes."
"H-how did you know?!"
"That's not the important part. The real issue is something else."
His identity exposed, Ralph's teeth chattered.
"Please, don't tell Sir Lucas. He'll kill me on the spot. And he won't spare my brother or family once we're out."
"That's exactly the problem with Sir Lucas Biron. You're a squire training to become a knight. Answer my questions honestly."
"Y-yes, ma'am."
"Do you think it's okay for a knight to use civilians as bait and sacrifice them to achieve his goals?"
"No, ma'am."
"What if they're not civilians, but two-time convicts?"
"Still no."
"Would you stop it if you witnessed it?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"But you've already seen Lucas using Chrome to detect traps, haven't you?"
Serena, who had stayed in the lobby, had noticed. Ralph, who traveled with him, couldn't have missed it. How candidly must Lucas have revealed his true nature away from the princess and countess's eyes?
The color drained from Ralph's sun-tanned face. No one had mentioned it, but wounds multiplied on his face each time he returned to the lobby.
"I knew, but... I couldn't defy a knight. I tried to take her place if possible. I swear."
"Then, Ralph—this is the truly crucial question."
Chrome shook her head vigorously. The ground rumbled.
"The Minotaur is coming up, and Lucas plans to use Chrome as bait to catch it. Help Lucas, and you kill the Minotaur but Chrome dies. Help Chrome, and you fail to kill the Minotaur while incurring Lucas's wrath. What do you do?"
"I..."
"No time. Answer now."
The rumbling stopped as the Minotaur thrust out its massive horned head. Lucas shoved Chrome out from behind the pillar.
"Eek!"
Ralph clamped a hand over his mouth as he tried to shout. Serena blocked him as he lunged forward.
"I want to help Chrome. But there's no way, right? From what I've seen of Sir Lucas's temper, even you wouldn't be safe, Your Highness. What will you do?"
Instead of answering, Serena recited the incantation for the mental image she had been building throughout their conversation.
What she had been visualizing all along was a flame to punish the wicked.
"Urk!"
Flames erupted from the lantern in Lucas's hand.
The lantern's light alone wouldn't draw the Minotaur's attention from Chrome, but what if it were oil-fueled flames roaring to life?
"Gah!"
He endured the blaze scorching his hand from the lantern, but the fierce inferno from the oil pouch at his waist was too much. Sir Lucas finally cried out.
Light and sound—prey with both appeared at similar distances. The Minotaur charged not at Chrome, but at Lucas. He frantically tossed the lantern and oil pouch aside to dodge, but it was too late.
Boom!
The Minotaur collided with Lucas. As before, he enlarged his shield to hold it at bay, veins bulging in his neck.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"You go help Chrome."
"What about you, Your Highness?"
"I'll take both."
The princess gritted her teeth, conjuring the opposite image of flame: ice. Ice was easy—she'd done it plenty. The challenge was the new addition.
⟨ Ice Stake ⟩
An ice stake about the length of an adult's arm formed above Serena's head. The chill radiating from it made even her face tingle.
"Go!"
Serena launched the ice stake with all her might. It hurtled toward the enemy's head as she designated.
The ice stake embedded in the Minotaur's head. Suddenly sporting an extra horn, the beast roared and staggered.
What the hell is she playing at?
Lucas racked his brain frantically.
When the duchess first hit him with ignition magic, he figured the naive girl was just angry about using the old woman as bait and lashed out thoughtlessly.
But then she used ice arrow magic, which she'd claimed she couldn't? She'd been deceiving him all along.
Yet attacking the Minotaur like this would give him an opening to strike.
Is the duchess using me to take down the Minotaur? No, she's not clever enough.
A foolish girl obsessed with frivolity, shirking royal duties to play around.
Royal blood? Her father was a druggie, her mother a mad whore. That rotten lineage wasn't going anywhere—conceived at a drug-fueled orgy, no less.
The Hwaim clan was spent, so she got princess treatment. If other royals were alive and well, she'd be a penniless beggar, denied even a royal pension.
Lucas wasn't alone. Any proper noble would pity the Parkling grand duchess and her brother.
Those haughty orange eyes? His true lord, Archduke Oran, had them first—before that arrogant wench.
Once Lord Richard takes the throne, they'll be exiled to the boonies! One-eyed freak!
To think he had to conquer the labyrinth serving such base trash! And the duchess had inherited her mad mother's unstable mind!
Chosen by the gods? I don't buy it.
Why would the labyrinth god favor a lunatic like her?
The bread tree was surely a trick too—some royal treasure or Countess Landry's doing.
Once this is over, time to sort out the pecking order.
The duchess probably thought she was tackling the more dangerous Minotaur first by prioritizing the monster, but she'd underestimated him.
Think I'll keep holding it off? Dream on!
Shove the Minotaur away, create distance, then attack the duchess. Easier than breathing. Imagining that arrogant face twisted in terror and begging lifted his spirits.
"Hup!"
A second ice stake struck the Minotaur, this time in the shoulder. Lucas shoved hard with his shield, then felt his knees buckle.
This is!
The ground that had supported him so firmly was now slick. Not expecting it, he glanced down from the Minotaur—thin frost coated where he stood. He quickly regained his balance, relief short-lived.
Lucas grimaced at the ice arrow flying straight for his head.
Lavenda's aroma incense wasn't flattery—it was genuinely top-shelf. And in this world, luxury items usually contained...
Mana stones or mana herbs.
Serena caught the familiar scent amid the sweetness. It was the smell she'd inhaled endlessly while learning magic.
The ingredients confirmed it: mana herb was included. Low concentration, but present—that was key.
Mana stone? Philia had the premium stuff in her pouch. With such excellent catalysts, a pinch of mana herb was like a shrimp-flavored snack with just a hint of shrimp.
The god said I could perform rituals for the god of magic even in the labyrinth.
Straight from the labyrinth god himself—reliable. Serena immediately conducted the ritual and learned the second-circle spell Mana Bolt. That prepared her for third-circle Ice Arrow.
No practice, so it was a gamble.
Serena had another shot at it anyway. To retry, she'd have to die, but whatever.
Luckily, she nailed the new spell on the first try. Her master's tearful pleas not to abandon the path of magic flashed in her mind.
I thought he was just buttering me up.
Everyone always praised the princess as a once-in-a-century genius at anything she touched. So she'd assumed magic was the same. Apparently, she had real talent.
"Damn it!"
Her glee was fleeting. The ice arrow missed Lucas's head. Not because he dodged—Serena had simply misaimed.
"Ah, my eye."
With only one eye, judging distance took extra care, which she'd neglected. The Minotaur's bulk made it easy to hit, but Sir Lucas's small head demanded precision.
Serena dashed toward Ralph and Chrome.
Unable to one-shot him, Lucas would now come for her life. She needed a tank to block him in her place.
"Chrome! Ralph! Switch weapons!"
"Not runnin'?"
"Running gets you killed!"
Ralph swapped weapons with the dazed Chrome. Yellow filled the transparent stars.
Two stars now, but both had crap gear. Useless against the Minotaur, let alone plate-armored Lucas.
"Slide...!"
Lucas used the frosted floor to trip the Minotaur.
He thrust his sword into its mouth. Twisting and yanking it sideways, the beast convulsed and stilled. Blood poured from its massive nostrils.
"Still not too late. Grovel and beg forgiveness."
Lucas shook the blood from his blade and glared at Serena, hiding behind the two.
"Bash your forehead till it bleeds, flash that slutty body, and plead. Might even forgive you then."
Serena casually flipped him off. It meant the same in this world too.
