To the northeast of the Orcus village, there lied an ancient ruin that had been said to predate the Hidden Haven Dungeon itself. Supposedly, it was not only here before the Dungeon, but it was also the origin of the Dungeon.

According to Joseph, this was not a Dungeon created fifty years ago. Instead, it was something much, much older. Considering that, according to the village chief, it took several generations before the Alva became the Orcus and that the Alva was said to be able to live up to a thousand years, the ruin must have been very, very, very old indeed. It was only after all that time did the Dungeon eventually spread far enough to reach the surface.

The current job for the Henrietta Company is to investigate the ruin said to be the origin of the Dungeon. In exchange, the Orcus would allow them to go free. Even Joseph may go with them should they choose to take him. With how easily the Orcus were willing to let them go in exchange for this favor, Auguste couldn't help but wonder if there's something particularly dangerous contained within. Dangerous not just to them, but also to the Dungeon Town should the Orcus get their hands on them.

After walking at a brisk pace for about an hour or so, the party arrived at the deepest part of the forest. There, they found a strange structure awaiting their arrival. It was something like a tower, rising about twenty meters from the ground. At the zenith of the tower, there sat a flat and wide top, shaped like the head of a hammerhead shark. While the forest, despite being a part of the Dungeon, was filled with normal life such as trees, bushes, insects, birds, even snakes, around the tower, there was not a single budding life to be seen. The tower and the grounds surrounding it remained a pristine white despite sitting around here for what must have been at least a hundred years. The tower seemed to be made from some kind of metal and the grounds it sat on appeared to be the same.

"What kind of metal is this?" Henrietta knocked upon the tower walls. "Ya think we could sell it for a good price?"

"Not a good idea. We don't want other Dungeoneers to catch wind of this and start flocking here, do we?" said Morganna. "Besides, we're not allowed to damage the ruin more than necessary."

"Aw shucks, this looks like it could be worth a lot though," Henrietta whined as she started rubbing all over the surface of the tower with her hands and cheek. She seemed to like how the smooth metal felt on her skin.

"Is... Is this a dwarven thing?" Auguste leaned close to Gladiolus and asked.

"No, that's just Henrietta," Gladiolus replied plainly.

Thinking back, Henrietta was a merchant, wasn't she, one with a penchant for strange and rare trinkets. Perhaps she's simply drawn to these kinds of things.

"What da heck!"

Suddenly, Henrietta leaped back from the base of the tower, nearly falling backwards due to the baggage she's carrying on her shoulders.

"What!? What's wrong!?"

Auguste stepped forward, his hand about to draw his sword.

"Nah, i-it's nothing, I hope..."

Auguste didn't like the sound of that, not one bit.

Looking towards where Henrietta was rubbing herself all over just a moment prior, Auguste spotted an indent in the once perfectly smooth tower wall. It wasn't there before, so perhaps Henrietta had slid open a hidden compartment while messing around. Within the compartment, there laid a smooth panel, seemingly made out of a different material from the tower walls.

"Are we supposed to stick a key into there?" Morganna suggested. "I don't see a keyhole though."

"It's a scanner," Gladiolus began explaining. "You simply press your hand onto it and it will identify you. If you're Alva, it should reveal the entrance."

"You're quite familiar with this," Elaine commented, "I guess you really are an Alva, huh?"

"I was born in a place just like this, to many of the Alva back then, this was home."

"So we just touch it, right?" asked Henrietta, though apparently, she wasn't going to wait for someone to answer her as she went ahead and pressed her small palm onto the panel.

"Like Gladiolus said, it only lets you in if you're Alva," said Auguste, trying to stop her a little too late. "It's not going to spring a trap on us if we're not, right?"

"No, it shouldn't have such defensive measures," Gladiolus answered, his thoughts somewhat muddled by feelings of nostalgia.

That being said, all of a sudden, the panel started glowing and a low humming could be heard from below.

"Henri, get back here!" Auguste shouted as his right hand went for the sword hanging at his waist. At the corner of Auguste's eyes, he could see Finn dropping his bag and coming forward with his battleaxe ready.

Then, after a tense filled moment with nothing happening, a part of the tower wall began to move, sliding to the side and revealing the inside of the structure.

"It opened?" Morganna commented in a daze.

"I thought it only opens for an Alva," said Auguste as he turned towards Gladiolus.

"That should be the case," Gladiolus replied, his eyes leveled at Henrietta, who looked somewhat more confused than usual.

"Didn't Henri say that her mother was an elf at one point? Maybe she was an Alva after all? I mean, they don't look too different from one another, right?" Finn casually spat out, earning him a hateful glare from Henrietta.

"Hey! I told yer that in confidence!"

"Huh!? S-s-sorry, was that supposed to be a secret?"

"Of course it was! I don't want people to go all, 'If yer mother's an elf, why do yer look like a barrel?' at me!"

"Now, now, nobody here is going to say that," said Elaine, trying to placate her before turning a sharp glare towards Auguste. "Isn't that right?"

"Why are you glaring at me for?"

"Because you tend to run your mouth from time to time," Morganna supplemented.

"Look, I didn't say anything when I found out and I'm not about to say anything now. Let's get back to the door business, alright?"

"It's possible her mother was an Alva or a close descendant of one," Gladiolus began drawing his conclusion as the commotion died down. "Either way, the scanner reacted, meaning that the Alva blood is strong in her."

"Well, one way or the other, the door's open I guess. No point dillydallyin' around talkin' about who has what for a mother. Let's go," said Henrietta, eager to move on.

"Let's. We don't have all day."

With the word from Henrietta and Auguste, the party began moving once more.

The moment they cross the threshold of the entrance, the lights immediately lit up, not by torch fire or by bioluminescent plants, but seemingly from the ceiling itself. It was as bright as daylight. The hallway revealed by the light was of a sterile white, mixed with silver and lined with gold.

"What's with these lights?" Morganna gazed upon the ceiling, more interested in the lights than the hallway, eyes wide in amazement.

"It's electricity, it's essentially the same thing as the lightning in the sky, but in a constant flow," Gladiolus answered.

"You mean the Alva had harnessed lightning? I'm never heard of such a thing."

"Can't witches make their own lightning?" Auguste chimed in. "Like, you know, lightning magic."

"And where are we supposed to find a catalyst for that?"

"I don't know. Trees that got struck by lightning maybe?"

"That's something obtained in the aftermath of a lightning strike. At best, you'd get a fire catalyst. What you want is something that contains the origin of said lightning, and that's all the way up in the sky."

"Has no one flown up there before?"

"Witches can't fly, at least, none that I know of."

"Not even with a broom?"

Morganna nearly struck her face with her own palm.

"That's utter hogwash. How would that even work? What kind of spell would you use to make a broom float!? Heck, if you can make a broom fly, why not just make yourself fly? Why a broom of all things!? How are you even supposed to sit comfortably on those!?"

"Okay, okay, forget I asked."

Auguste was confounded by the sudden outrage from Morganna. Unbeknownst to him, Morganna had once read a book in her master's collection covering the myths of witches and presented them as facts, including the flying brooms. Morganna took it to be true and being a witch herself, endeavored to try it out. She wound up falling from a tree and breaking a leg. Her master made some harsh remarks towards her for believing in such malarkey afterward. Somehow, it made her feel worse than a straightforward scolding would.

After proceeding further into the tower, the Henrietta Company found themselves at a crossroad, with one path leading to the left, another to the right, and another leading straight forward to what appeared to be a pair of doors without any handles.

"That will take us down," said Gladiolus as he pointed forward, towards the handle-less doors.

"This one has a panel too," Auguste stated his observation.

"Right, leave it to me then," said Henrietta as she excitedly rushed forward.

"Hey, slow down, what if there's a trap!?" Auguste yelled at her, though his worries were for naught as she made it over to the doors without much of a problem.

Reacting to Henrietta's touch, the panel started glowing softly like the previous one and a second later, something could be heard moving from below. With a ding that sounded nothing like any bell Auguste had heard of before, the handle-less doors slid open, revealing a small room behind them. The room was so small, there was barely enough room for all six of them and their bags to fit into it.

"I don't like the look of this," Auguste voiced his trepidation.

"If we get trapped in it, then we're pretty much screwed, huh?" Morganna chimed in.

"Maybe this is the real trap all along?" Finn commented.

"It's not a trap," Gladiolus explained, "at least, it shouldn't be."

"You think all those years in the Dungeon might have changed that?" Morganna asked.

"........." Gladiolus took a moment to examine the small room. "I don't think it's a trap, not as far as I can tell. But if you still think it's risky, then perhaps we can find another way down."

"Is there another way?" asked Auguste.

"There are, in case the elevator doesn't work."

"Elevator?" Auguste quirked a brow.

"It's probably this little room," Morganna answered. "You know, because it *elevates*."

"Right, it did sound like it came from below, didn't it?"

"There should be a maintenance shaft nearby," said Gladiolus. "We may be able to go down from there."

As Gladiolus had said, near the path leading to the elevator, there was what seemed to be a hatch in the lower part of the wall. Twisting the handle, the hatch opened with a forceful tug, revealing a space dimly lit with small lights lined up along the walls and a ladder leading downwards. It's a rather narrow space, enough space for a person to descend without a doubt, but not with a rucksack on their back.

"Looks like we might have to leave our bags behind,' said Auguste.

"But if we do that, we won't be able to loot the place then, would we?" said Henrietta, who had been rather excited at the prospect of treasures never seen before by others in hundreds of years.

"I don't think the Orcus would be very pleased if we just started looting their precious ruin," said Auguste. "Still, we're going to want our supplies with us."

"Hmm..." Henrietta furrowed her brows and deep wrinkles appeared on her otherwise youthful forehead. "Isn't there another way around?"

"There is, but it's only accessible from the outside of the structure, which is currently buried underground," Gladiolus answered.

"Guess it'll have to be the elevator then," said Auguste.

"What if it's a trap?" Elaine raised the question.

With a knuckle under his chin, Auguste thought about it briefly before nodding.

"I suppose I'll test it out first," he said as he began stepping into the elevator.

"Wait!" Elaine called out, grabbing onto Auguste's wrist. "You're going to test it?"

"That's what I said." Auguste quirked a brow, confused. "How else are we going to know it's safe?"

That's not what Elaine had meant. She was both surprised and less than pleased by the fact that Auguste had decided to just offer up himself without consulting the others.

"What if it turned out to be dangerous?'

Auguste scratched his head. Elaine had a point, if it wound up being dangerous, he might just be screwed, so to just go forward with it might be a little too reckless. On the other hand, this was their only way down according to Gladiolus.

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Auguste decided to go through with it. "Even Gladiolus said it it's probably not a trap."

Elaine, while furrowing her brows, let go of her grip.

"Just be careful," she said curtly.

"That's the plan."

"Hold on for a moment." This time, it was Gladiolus.

"What now?"

"I'll go with you. You can't operate the elevator without an Alva with you. Even if it turns out to be safe, you won't be able to come back up."

"Is that how it works? Then..." Auguste looked to the rest of his party. "I guess I'll take Henri then."

"W-w-wait! Why me!?" Henrietta cried out, rapidly backing away.

"Because if anything happens to Gladiolus, we're screwed."

"What about me!? I'm the leader, right? Yer sayin' that it's fine if the leader kicks the bucket!?"

"It's fine if we just elect another one, right?"

Hearing those cold words, Henrietta made a screech akin to that of an enraged monkey.

"Fine! I get it! Yer thinking that I don't even do anything all that important anyway, right!? Fine, I'll show ya, I'll show ya all!" Henrietta practically leaped into the elevator as she voiced her outrage. "Yer better be goddamn grateful when I come back!"

"Hey, don't run ahead," said Auguste, following suit. He's completely used to Henrietta's outburst by now, mostly because he's usually the one who instigated it.

"Shaddap! I can do this myself if I feel like it!"

"Anyways, how do we make this move?" Auguste turned to Gladiolus, more or less ignoring Henrietta by this point.

"Just use the panel. That should bring you down to the next floor."

"Alright." Auguste then turned towards Henrietta. "Henri, if you will?"

"Whatever," Henrietta retorted, her foul mood not going anywhere any time soon. "This better not go wrong."

"You make it sound like it's somehow going to be my fault," Auguste replied with a shrug.

Pressing her palm onto the panel, the doors to the elevator began to close, sliding into place as their party members watched them go, hopefully not for the last time, as the elevator began to descend towards the lower floor.

***

End of Chapter 67