Having learned their lesson from their previous run, this time around, Auguste and Henrietta brought along with them the journal Elaine carried around with her. One of the jobs Elaine had taken on was to roughly map out the paths taken during each expedition, both so that they do not get lost and that they would notice the changes that might occur within the Dungeon. Most of it were hastily written descriptions of directions and rough telling of the environments they passed through.

The journal not very useful as a map and no one from the guild would buy it for even a single copper coin. In the end, it served only as a memoir for Elaine, who made use of the journal in conjuncture with her own memories, to help navigate through the Dungeon. It was an underappreciated job in the Henrietta Company since they had Gladiolus, the Alva, who shared his strong sense of direction with the elves. Still, Elaine took it up to herself to do so, thinking that they might need it one day.

Studying Elaine's writing, Auguste could grasp the gist of how she worked. First of all, she used paces to measure distances, not exactly an accurate unit of measurement, but it can be more or less understood by those in possession of a pair of feet. As for directions, she used terms such as left, right, forward, backward, instead of the cardinal directions, seemingly so that even if they were without a compass or in places where compasses do not work, they could find their way around.

"This doesn't look so hard," said Auguste with some amount of confidence.

With the journal and a piece of charcoal in hand, Auguste began recording their movements within the ship, beginning from the moment he stepped out of the door of the room in which they made camp. Using this, they should have a much easier time finding their way around. With the directions written down, Auguste and Henrietta became more confident about proceeding further as they no longer feared getting lost.

Eventually, they came across a pair of doors. They recognized it as the same kind as they saw before the elevator.

"So, what now?" Henrietta asked.

Auguste stared at the doors as he pondered the choices before him. They could enter the elevator and go wherever it took them or they could stay and continue to search this floor as there were still plenty of grounds to cover.

It was incredibly frustrating, as there was no way for him to know if any members of the party had come through here. Even if they did, the Cleaners would have cleaned up all traces of their presence.

"Should we just flip a coin?"

"Y-yer serious?"

The ship was big, too big, and that was judging from the singular floor Auguste had been in. Without any tracks left behind, the only way to search was to look in every single corner. That was impossible to do with just the two of them, not with the time they have. As all the supplies were left in the room they made camp in, the rest of them were undoubtedly without food and water. They do not have much time. And yet, Auguste and Henrietta also had to be careful so that they do not fall prey to whatever the others had encountered.

"Then let's just look around this floor a bit more."

"Yeah, okay..."

They were both dejected as they began to realize the severity of the situation. If they were ever going to find the rest, the only thing they could rely on was sheer luck.

"Let's turn back to the last junction and go the other way," said Auguste as he retraced his steps as written in the journal. "I wrote that we took a right turn here, so that means we take a left turn to get back, right? Yeah, that sounds about right."

As he proceeded down the hall, Auguste suddenly felt a chill behind his neck. Feeling that something was off, he hastily turned right around, his hand on the handle of his sword. Behind him, he found that Henrietta too had turned around, apparently having felt the same chill as him. Then, beyond Henrietta, down the path they had just came down from, there was a figure neither of them had expected to see.

The figure had a head of bright blonde hair with tinges of green, a pair of amber-like eyes, long pointed ears, and a fair, alabaster complexion. It was not Gladiolus, however. This one here was a child, with a stuffed toy in her hands and was about as tall as Henrietta. At first glance, the figure seemed to be a girl, but you can never really tell with elves, or Alva in this case, and her strange clothing doesn't help either.

"H-hey!"

Surprised that there were actually people still in this place, Henrietta tried calling out to the child with a shaken voice. However, in response, the child sprinted off. Reflexively, Henrietta ran after her, Auguste right behind her. If there was anyone that might know their way around the ship, that child might very well be it.

"Hey, wait up!" Henrietta called out in desperation, not wanting to lose the girl. "Please, just-"

"Henri, stop, don't chase!" Auguste shouted, but Henrietta wasn't listening.

As she turned the corner, Henrietta's voice got caught in her throat. She had expected to catch the child here, down this hallway, a sort of dead-end that led to the elevator. It would have taken time for the elevator to come, or so Henrietta thought, but there she stood, right before this very hallway, finding not a single soul in sight.

"Did... d-d-d-d-did she just disappeared!?"

Henrietta began panicking, her tiny hands grabbing onto Auguste like the talons on a flacon. Hurt like a pair too.

"I said not to chase didn't I!?" Auguste yelled. "What even was that?"

"That... That was a girl, right?"

"A girl?"

It didn't seem like a girl to Auguste, but at the same time, he couldn't quite describe what it looked like. His impression of it was a blur.

As They were beginning to recover from their stupor, a *ding* resounded from across the hall. Slowly, the elevator doors unwind, without anyone touching it, without anyone calling it, as if it came up all on its own.

"Let's play."

Henrietta immediately turned the moment she heard the eerie voice.

"You promised, right?"

Right there, was the child Henrietta saw, the child's back turned against her. Henrietta didn't know how she could tell without looking at her face, but she felt in her guts that this was her.

"Let's go play outside, under the blue sky."

Henrietta was shaking, and so was Auguste. The hallway was getting colder but Auguste somehow understood that the jitters did not come from the sudden drop in temperature.

"Hey," the child said again, her voice gone completely cold. "You shouldn't break a promise."

Accompanied by the sounds of cricks and cracks, her neck twisting ever so unnaturally as the child finally turned towards them. A least, her head did. And with empty eye sockets leaking blackish fluids, she gazed into their souls.

"Eek-!"

Before Auguste realized it, Henrietta had released her grip on him and had made a run for it. Where to? Towards the only path of escape she could find of course, towards the elevator that had just opened on its own.

"Henri!"

Auguste had a bad feeling about this, but he had little time to think about it. He has to make his decision right here and now.

Within a split second, Auguste ran after her, jumping into the elevator just as the doors completely shut. Before he could even consider his next move, the elevator began its motion, descending ever downwards into whatever darkness that awaits.

***

End of Chapter 73