Upon finding another elevator, the Henrietta Company traveled further down into the ship where they were greeted by more identical hallways with sliding doors on the sides. These doors, they all have the uncanny ability to slide themselves open whenever someone approached them. The first few made Auguste and the rest jump, thinking that it was some kind of trap. The only one that wasn't shocked was Gladiolus, who explained that it's just how these doors were made. They were doors that were made to open by themselves. Very convenient. Though, some doors do not open no matter what they do. It seemed that you would need to be the right person for these doors to open. The door to the security room would likely be the same.

Slowly, methodically, with Auguste taking the lead as the scout, the party explored the identical hallways and the various rooms, occasionally looping themselves around without realizing it. The one time they did realize it was because Gladiolus told them they were going in circles, which got Auguste quite confused as he thought that he had already marked the paths they came through with a piece of charcoal.

Again, he left another mark, this time more elaborate and more noticeable. Then, before he turned the corner, he took a peek. The mark was still there. He moved on, only to poke his head right out of the corner again.

"What are yer doing?" Henrietta asked.

"Just checking the mark I've made. They keep disappearing it seems."

"Are yer sure yer didn't just forget to do it?"

"Of course I did it. I've always done it."

Though he said that, there was a sliver of doubt in his mind. Perhaps he did forget. If he had forgotten, then he wouldn't even realize that it slipped his mind now, would he?

As he began to doubt his own memory, his ears caught on to a low humming. His eyes immediately began zoning in towards the sound and there, he found a very strange looking creature. It stood at about two meters in height, having a tall, cylindered shell in the shade of dull grey with a black, rounded top. Near the top, there was a pair of what appeared to be glowing eyes aligned vertically to one another. Gradually, the cylinder creature approached the charcoal marking and from its head, the rounded top popped right off and floated in mid-air. From the bottom of the now separated top, there attached a set of three jointed appendages, much like those seen on an insect, with a cloth attached to the end of one of it and a strange object shaped like the shell of a snail attached at the end of another. The creature pressed the end of the snail shell towards the part of the wall that had been marked and the shell began to make the very same humming sound coming from the bottom of the creature. After rubbing the shell up and down the wall, the marking was gone, and after cleaning whatever was left behind with the cloth, the floating head reattached itself to its cylindrical body and continued on the other way down the hall.

By this time, the entire party was watching alongside Auguste, all of them in awe at the strange creature whose sole purpose seemed to be keeping the hallways clean.

"That was a Cleaner," Gladiolus gave a belated explanation. "It's not hostile. It only cleans."

"Is it me, or does the Alva share Joseph's naming sense for things?" Auguste retorted.

"These were common objects for the Alva, there's hardly a need to give them elaborate names."

"If they're so common, why haven't we seen it until now?" Henrietta questioned.

"Correction, *were* common objects," Gladiolus added. "Very few have survived to this day. I wouldn't be surprised if this ship holds the last of Alva civilization in this world."

"What happened to it anyways?" Morganna spoke up. "I've only ever read that the Alva were the ancestors of the elves but that's about it. There were no details about how they used to live or where they came from. None of the books in my master's collection spoke of them in much detail."

"That is because the history we know of doesn't go far enough back. The Demon Lords have a habit of razing down civilizations whenever they're given the chance to rise. The history of this world as we know it is far from complete, or so I was told."

"So you weren't there when it happened?"

"I had only woken up in this world for about two hundred and fifty years, I have little knowledge of the history thousands of years prior."

"Two hundred?!" Morganna exclaimed. "I thought the Alva were much, much older than that."

"It's true that we're old, but some had spent much of their time in this world asleep, much like the ones we'll find in the chambers below."

"So we're going to 'wake up' the person who will be unlocking the security room then?" Auguste asked.

"Exactly. However, this is a huge ship. It will take time to reach the chamber. So let us find a place to set up our camp before moving on tomorrow."

Proceeding onward from where the Cleaner was spotted, the Henrietta Company eventually found a room with multiple beds that were built into the walls, with more than enough space to sit upright in each one. It was apparently one of the barracks for those manning the ship. The party decided to set up their camp here, not that there's much setting up needed.

"Should we lay some traps?"

"I'm afraid that will only attract the Cleaners, they're going to try and remove them, thinking that they were litter."

Near the doorway, Auguste and Gladiolus were talking about setting up the defenses for the night. In the end, though, it was made clear that there was not much they could do but to sleep with their eyes half-closed.

"Guess we'll have to be extra diligent then," said Auguste, intending to take the first shift of the nightwatch as always.

"Try not to push yourself, this ship should be pretty big and we might have to spend a few nights here."

"Business as usual then, shouldn't be a problem."

For the moment, Auguste decided to take a short nap in preparation for later.

That 'night', Morganna lost a little game between Finn, Henrietta, and herself, and wound up taking the first shift. Beneath the electrical lights, the two sat by the two desks built into the walls, next to one another, as they watched the entrance.

"They sure are bright," Auguste broke the silence between them.

"Huh?" Morganna turned from her pet Slime and towards Auguste with a quizzical look.

"These ceiling lights, they're bright. It's like daytime in here."

"They are, aren't they? The Alva made some unthinkable things. I wonder if they really harnessed lightning to make these."

"I mean, Gladiolus said they did, right? They're certainly as bright as one as far as I can tell."

"I suppose."

"The beds are comfy too. They're soft, but also bouncy. You can't make these with just feathers. It's nice."

"What are you getting at? Don't tell me you actually want to stay here."

"Well no, if I wanted to be comfortable, I would have stayed at home. I mean, I don't mind comfort every now and then, but I prefer traveling with you guys over the softest bed the world has to offer."

"I'll remember that the next time you complain about having to sleep on the ground."

"Like I said, I don't mind it every now and then. All that being said and done, I wonder why the Alva left this place in the first place. Isn't it fine to just keep staying here? I mean, whether in the ship or in the village, ultimately, they're still trapped in the Dungeon. In that case, why not stay where it's most comfortable?"

"Who knows? Maybe they're just tired of having to live in a closed space after all that time. I mean, they *have* been here for thousands upon thousands of years right?"

"Maybe... I just hope that the Orcus isn't hiding anything."

"As long as we treat it like any other Dungeon, we should be fine."

"I mean, you can never know with Dungeons, right?"

A frown appeared across Morganna's forehead. She understood the implications of Auguste's words. They've been doing well so far, so it's easy to get complacent, but the fact of the matter was, they're risking their lives in here, in the Dungeons, where anything might very well happen at any time.

"The next time you go..." Morganna spoke in a soft, hesitant voice.

"Hm?"

"I- I was saying, the next time you go drinking, can I come?"

Morganna wasn't that interested in drinking and neither was she fond of the rowdy sort usually found in the taverns. However, the gloomy talk made her feel a sense of unease, the unease that she had been trying to suppress since Iotas Tria, when she let her guard down against the Mimic-infected witch and almost got both Elaine and herself killed. All of a sudden, she wanted to spend a bit more time with them, with Auguste and the rest.

"Sure thing," Auguste answered without delay, smiling as he restrained his urge to tease Morganna about how much she was blushing. "Let's get Elaine and Gladiolus too. We can all go drinking together."

"Yeah, let's."

***

End of Chapter 69