Chapter 168 Roeni’s Struggle Part Nine: The Novice in the Dungeon
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
The realization that a misstep had been made belonged, perhaps, only to herself and her husband in that tense, suffocating room. Maybe even Marquis Aprelton, who ought to have been briefed, had silently furrowed his brow, deep inside his chest.
But if no one pointed out the error, it was simplest to play the part of the oblivious observer. Furthermore, even if the blunder could be proven, seizing merely the edge of the comment might let the speaker slide away, simply claiming a slip of the tongue. The path forward, therefore, required a back-and-forth.
Roeni needed to broaden the discussion, taking the mistake as her premise, forcing the opposing party to offer more words until they were so entrenched they couldn’t possibly talk their way out of it. It was easy to say, but could she really pull it off?
Every noble here outranked the Confianzas, and a failure would mean being targeted for the next hundred years. That spelled certain ruin for the Baron house, a path that would start persecuting even the children and grandchildren they hadn’t yet conceived, right from the moment of their birth.
Such a massive decision couldn’t be made alone. Roeni’s gaze drifted to her husband beside her, and his round face was already turned toward her, his strong eyes looking up steadily. Silcro had already caught the Lord Fried’s error.
He was deferring the ultimate choice to her with his gaze, but the future of the Baron house was simply too much to weigh without more. After a prolonged moment of silence, their lips pressed tight as they stared at each other. Perhaps seeing his wife so paralyzed between duty and fear, Silcro softened his eyes and leaned closer, a faint smile touching his lips.
”If Yuuri-kun becomes the villain, we won’t be able to dodge the criticism coming our way anyway, see,” Silcro murmured, his voice gentle. “Besides, if it comes to it, we’ll just bow to the Count and switch over to the Princess faction. We might lose some business partners, but that’s still a hell of a lot better than the Prince’s faction cutting us down just to weaken us. The rest is up to you, Roeni. I’ll respect whatever you decide, I will.”
”My dear…” Roeni breathed.
She kept her voice as low as possible, so it wouldn’t carry through the hushed chamber. Luckily, the room was full of similar quiet whispers, allowing them to blend in and avoid drawing unwanted attention.
All the while, King Valentio glared at their opponent, and the Lord Fried accepted the glare with cool indifference. Even with the tide turned in favor of the Prince’s faction, that silence wasn’t broken.
To the Marquis and his allies, this time was a chance to build the momentum for nobles to join the Prince’s faction purely out of self-preservation. The Princess’s side couldn’t simply let the opportunity to argue slip away. In that brief window, Silcro had clearly made his peace with the risk.
All that was left was Roeni’s own resolve.
Yet, she couldn’t take that final step.
She knew, without a doubt, that justice was on their side. Still, she couldn’t see a clear path through this ocean of power.
Finally, Marquis Aprelton smiled, saying something to the powerful noble next to him, and began to move as if to conclude the matter. If things continued, Yuuri would be branded a national traitor, and the Princess’s faction would be crippled.
What awaited them all was the rule of people who condoned plotting against others—a perverse deviation from the true path of governance. That sense of crisis was shared by both the Princess and Neutral factions, but no one had the card to play that could overturn the current momentum. Therefore, if she didn’t raise her hand now, correctly, she would spend the rest of her life blaming herself for this moment.
”I’m sorry. Being your wife felt so good that I guess I got a little cowardly,” Roeni confided, her voice a near-whisper.
”Yeah. I wouldn’t mind seeing the old you again for a change, you know,” Silcro chuckled.
This was not a long-shot gamble they were about to take. However, the stakes were so enormous that she had inadvertently chickened out.
Her honest confession brought up the memory of his passionate proposal, all those years ago when she was so full of fire, and her face flushed with unexpected heat. She recalled her days in the dungeon—wasn’t risking her life an everyday occurrence back then? That had included the lives of her comrades, too, yet thankfully, every single one of them had entrusted their fate to her judgment.
(Oh, to be young again, right).
She wasn’t too old for the things she used to be able to do.
This current situation was a direct continuation of her past, nothing to be afraid of. With a decisive nod and a smile for her husband who’d reminded her of that truth, she re-selected her papers, pulled the magic stone² entrusted to her by Turrin from the satchel at her feet, and slipped it into her jacket pocket.
Prepared, she looked up and accidentally met the eyes of Count Alegria, who had glanced back at that exact moment. His gaze was that of a man clutching at a straw, begging for salvation. She gave a firm nod to his gloom-ridden face, devoid of the dignity she’d seen yesterday, and instantly, a heavy burden lifted from her chest.
One reason was the enormous favor she’d gain from the Count if she navigated this crisis. The other was the necessity of having the Count sympathize with her upcoming counterattack. With the prospect of gaining his understanding, the oppressive feeling that had been weighing her down vanished. To better draw out his sympathy, she held his gaze, offered a faint smile, and then immediately extended her arm to raise her hand.
In the sudden commotion, she scanned the room.
King Valentio had an expression of distinct relief. Her eyes moved past the displeased face of the Marquis, whose plans were being interrupted, and finally settled on the composed Lord Fried, who then pointed to her, giving her the floor.
Amidst the rising clamor, Roeni stood, drawing all attention. She looked up slightly at the large-framed noble, paused for a dramatic moment, and then began.
”I have one thing I’d like to confirm, if I may, Lord Fried. For how many days did you continue the search for Her Highness?”
What was the meaning of that question? At first glance, it seemed no different from the King’s previous bitter complaints.
Yet, the opponent was connected to the Adventurer’s Guild and knowledgeable about the Labyrinth. To refuse to answer such a direct question would look like they had something to hide. As expected, the Lord Fried answered calmly, showing no visible sign of disturbance, speaking the truth plainly.
”One day,” the large noble declared.
”That… that seems a bit quick to give up, doesn’t it, for a Princess who has supposedly been kidnapped by villains?”
Her second question followed, the intention behind it still obscure.
For a query posed after the balance of power had already been decided, it seemed truly clumsy. From the opponent’s perspective, it must have felt like a feint, a light tap after they had been on guard for a secret maneuver.
But that was precisely the goal.
She was sticking to the strategy of broadening the conversation using the mistake as the premise.
The Lord Fried, utterly convinced of their victory, couldn’t run away now because engaging seriously with what sounded like a mere quibble only boosted their own claim to righteousness. Therefore, the noble let out a dramatic sigh of disbelief and began their defense with utmost composure.
”It’s embarrassing to admit, but I am a novice in the labyrinth. The truth is, wandering the middle layers without a guide put my life in danger several times. And if Her Highness was in a situation where they could call for help, they would surely have acted within that one day. Without any sign of that, continuing to wander and risk my life would mean that no one could bring word of this great incident back. Moreover, after one day, the supplies of my comrades who perished would have reverted to the labyrinth. Though I felt deep regret, I could not afford to lose the food and equipment they left behind, as they were necessary for my safe return to the surface.”
The Lord Fried’s argument gained passion, certain that their justification was unassailable. On the surface, the reason for searching for only one day seemed completely logical.
But the actual point Roeni wanted to confirm was not the propriety of a one-day search, but the confession itself that they had definitely only searched for one day. She had to confirm that they had not seen the traces that shouldn’t have been there. By making the noble emphasize the justification for their one-day search, she wanted proof that the Prince’s faction hadn’t planned anything with the knowledge of that fact, but instead had unknowingly dug their own grave.
”Pfft… Heh. Haha! AHAHAHAHAH!”
”…What is so funny, Madam? You are in the King’s presence!” the Lord Fried shot back, their composure cracking.
Roeni had resolved not to back down now and surrendered to the intense delight of the moment. From here on, it was a battle of wits and sharp words. Even a slight waver in her attack would allow the opponent to slip through the gap.
She wouldn’t permit that. While wearing a manic expression, her mind worked with utter calmness. She noticed the Lord Fried was more enraged than she’d expected, and careful not to overheat the attack, she fired her second arrow.
”Honestly, I don’t care why you wandered the middle layer, I really don’t. All that matters is that you just gave me the written proof that you didn’t keep searching for Her Highness for days. You see, the curfew was coming up, wasn’t it? If you had searched for two days or more, you would have noticed the inconsistency, and you wouldn’t have been able to lie about a stone wall!”
”Wh-what? When did I ever lie? Do you even understand how sinful it is to call the testimony of another person a lie in this court without evidence?!” the noble roared.
The large noble was being called a liar by the wife of a low-ranking Baron. Compared to the powerful backing they had, she was a presence that could be swept away with a sneeze.
The insulting accusation of being a liar made the blood rush to their head, preventing them from correcting the lost composure. This reaction gave Roeni’s final thrust the necessary sharpness, but it wasn’t enough yet. She had to tie down the opponent’s hands and feet to ensure her attack struck the vital spot.
”Hey. Did it just piss you off that a little girl you figured you could kill anytime pulled one over on you?” Roeni challenged, deliberately using the rough, crude language of her former life as an adventurer, rather than that of Baroness Confianza.
The Lord Fried was stunned for a moment, then glared with frightening intensity. Their mouth moved uselessly, unable to form a word, and though they desperately tried to control their expression, the corner of their mouth couldn’t help but twitch.
The surrounding nobles, too, grew suspicious of the noble’s sudden shift from composed to a grimace. At a signal from the Marquis, the surrounding nobles began to denounce Roeni’s aggressive behavior, but the King silenced them with a single, booming shout.
Thanking him for his trust, Roeni clenched the magic stone in her pocket, drove a surge of mana through it, and projected the recorded images to fill the court.
”Th-this image is—”
”I know it, Sir! That’s the Safety Area of the labyrinth—”
”But the scene looks wrong—”
Her possessions had been checked upon entering the royal castle, but the magic stone, disguised as a simple record of images among her documents, was fortunately not confiscated.
That was why she was able to display the footage as a surprise attack. While this action was normally disrespectful in a hall full of national figures, the projected image of the Safety Area was immediately recognized by many as being related to the most recent incident, and no guards were summoned.
”This footage is from the scene of the incident two days ago,” Roeni reported, her mockery gone, replaced by a cold fury. “You see, for some reason, all the guards with Appraisal, who were monitoring the labyrinth’s ‘Gate,’ were ordered off duty three days ago. It was as if someone knew the culprit would return during that exact time, so I urged a trustworthy associate to sprint to the 27th floor in a single day.”
Roeni deliberately turned to face King Valentio, maintaining the formality of a direct report so no one could interrupt her.
”The result is exactly what you see: the Stairs are still frozen, and chunks of ice are scattered across the 27th floor plaza. This means the magic that blocked the Lord Fried was not a stone wall, but an ice wall!”
”You are the one talking nonsense! It’s common knowledge that all foreign objects in the labyrinth vanish after one day! Her Highness was supposedly abducted seven days ago, so even if this footage is truly of the 27th floor’s Safety Area, after five days, it can only be a forgery planted by someone else!” the noble roared.
”That’s right! She’s talking rubbish!”
”I thought she was going to say something important, but this is nothing!”
Lord Fried, who had been panicked, now regained their composure and vehemently pressed their argument, seeing a logical flaw. The shouts of condemnation from the Prince’s faction followed, which was exactly what Roeni wanted. Her tactic remained unchanged: provoke the opponent’s pride to prevent them from correcting their mistakes, forcing them to keep tightening the noose around their own neck.
She risked a glance at her single greatest concern, the Marquis. He was only slightly frowning, already looking bored with the farce.
(My deepest condolences, Arman.)
The Marquis, knowledgeable about the labyrinth himself, must have understood that the logical dismantling that was coming could not be escaped. Furthermore, King Valentio was clearly trying to avoid interfering with Roeni’s testimony, which only increased the likelihood of the noble suffering greater damage if the Marquis tried to protect them.
Therefore, the cunning Marquis Aprelton was already calculating how to cut his losses—how to abandon his pawn. The noble was likely to be the only one to face punishment, even if they later confessed their crime, as the lack of physical evidence would make it hard to indict the Marquis, given the kingdom’s reliance on his influence.
If Roeni could guide the situation so that only the Lord Fried was found guilty, the Marquis would likely not interfere with force. Though infuriating, it was a necessary compromise if the main goal was to prove Yuuri’s innocence and clear the Confianza Baron house’s name.
Roeni turned back to the Lord Fried, who had regained their confidence, bolstered by the shouting nobles.
It was time to deliver the final blow to her former friend, who remained unaware that they were standing on thin ice. Roeni steeled her heart and shouted with all her might.
”The novice in the labyrinth needs to shut up now! Foreign objects only revert to the labyrinth when they are left undisturbed and stop moving! The melting chunks of ice in the shaded Safety Area will leave traces until the meltwater evaporates or becomes a standing puddle! YourMajesty, please arrange for the fastest messengers immediately. This ice won’t melt entirely for perhaps another day. I suggest Your Majesty confirm this fact for yourself!”
King Valentio nodded sharply, calling for one of his attendants. When Roeni looked back, the Lord Fried’s eyes were wide with horror.
Unfortunately, Roeni could not relent, not if it meant proving Yuuri’s innocence and the Princess’s chance of survival. She resumed her attack on the large noble, closing the chapter on the memories of the most free and reckless time of her life.
—
Summary:
In a climactic political showdown at court, the Baroness Roeni Confianza stakes her family’s entire future on a single gamble to save Yuuri. Facing down the Lord Fried and the powerful Marquis Aprelton of the Prince’s faction, Roeni uses a clever line of questioning to force her opponent to incriminate themselves about their one-day search in the dangerous labyrinth. Her husband, Silcro, provides unwavering support and courage as Roeni reclaims her fierce spirit as a former adventurer.
The tension explodes when Roeni reveals video evidence from a magically recorded magic stone, proving that a wall of ice—not stone—was the true blockage, a contradiction that shatters the opposition’s carefully constructed conspiracy. This audacious move puts the entire court and the Princess’s fate on a knife edge.
—
Character Insight:
Roeni’s true nature is not that of a timid Baroness but a sharp, resilient former adventurer. The pressure of the court, instead of breaking her, forces her to reconnect with her past self. Her love for her husband, Silcro, and her moral compass regarding fairness for Yuuri give her the courage to risk her family’s entire noble status. She calculates the risks not only as a politician but with the direct, life-or-death logic of a dungeon explorer.
—
Behind the Scene:
The political attack was well-executed by the Marquis and the Lord Fried, who overconfidently thought their testimony about the stone wall and the labyrinth’s rules was unassailable. Roeni anticipated their overconfidence and had a trusted ally (Turrin) rush to the labyrinth to capture the ice wall on a magic stone before the natural processes of the labyrinth erased the evidence. Roeni deliberately used the ‘novice’ point to corner the Lord Fried, who was too proud to admit they were wrong in front of the nobility, thereby walking into Roeni’s trap.
—
T/L:
2 [A magic stone here is a magical item used for recording video, essentially a magical camera/storage device.] ↩
Notes:
• Roeni – Guild receptionist, former adventurer, now a baroness—mentor to Yuuri. The wife of Baron Silcro Confianza, and effectively manages the labyrinth exploration business which is the foundation of their house’s power. She is a former adventurer, which gives her a practical, no-nonsense approach to problems. Look like Lisa from certain game, brown hair but neat hair.
• Silcro – The Baron Confianza, the quiet genius whose family’s survival depends on their exploitation of the Royal Labyrinth. He is short and round, a look that sometimes causes people to underestimate him, which he uses to his advantage. He is utterly devoted to his wife, Roeni, who he sees as his greatest asset and love.
• Valentio – The current King of Restea. A large, imposing man with sun-gold hair and a crown, he commands authority, though his current actions reveal a deep-seated agitation, likely due to the political crisis and the uncertainty surrounding his daughter, Marina’s, fate. Looks like King Bradley from certain series.
• Count Alegria – A distinguished noble and a key figure in the Princess Faction. He is known for his strict outward demeanor but possesses a kind heart and a fierce loyalty to his only daughter, Ashley. He has short, neatly trimmed silver hair and wears exquisitely tailored, dark three-piece suits and look like like Vayne Solidor.
• Ai – The recently-formed sub-divinity/ego who manages the world’s Skills. Her sudden, intense burst of divine will (‘ki’) almost bleached Yuuri’s wicked thoughts. Called Yuuri ‘Elder Brother’ and declared genuine affection and trust based on his efficiency with her Skills.
• Arman – Knight captain who escort Marina on the first mission.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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