It was a room, pitch black with not a single source of light. Then, came a sound, a *ding*, and accompanying it was a sliver of light, vertically slicing apart the darkness from above. From the slice, light flooded the dark space, revealing a decrepit room with pitch-black panels install into its floor and ceiling with cracks here and there. On the four corners of the room, strange pillars could be seen standing and on the far side of the room, there stood a pair of doors, one of them broken and crooked.

From where the light came, there was a shadow, no, a pair of shadows, one clinging ever so tightly to another.

"W-w-what now?"

"Well, we can either go forward, go back, or stay here."

"But what if that ghost is waiting for us back up there?"

"We don't know if that was a ghost?"

"Yer kiddin' meh! That was a ghost no matter how ya look at it!"

"Could be a creature."

"That doesn't make it any better!"

The shorter shadow started shaking the taller shadow with great strength, but the taller one was not shaken, figuratively speaking.

"I don't follow that line of logic. We can't kill a ghost, but we *can* kill a creature."

"But what if it comes back as a ghost? How are we supposed to kill something twice!?"

"Now you're just being ridiculous."

The taller shadow, Auguste, was miffed. He was irritated over the fact that the shorter shadow, Henrietta, leaped into the elevator without thinking. The way the doors opened without anyone doing anything, as if inviting them in. No matter how he looked at it, that was undoubtedly a trap, one that they fell for, hook, line, and sinker.

"Anyways, let's try going back. If that creature shows up again, I'll kill it. And if it comes back as a ghost, I'll use the exorcism technique I picked up from the temple."

"You can do that? Yer should have said so! Now I got scared for nothing."

It was a lie. The temple of Ceratias was a place of divination and guidance. Exorcism was not their specialty.

"Well then, go on, get this thing moving."

"Alright, alright, yer don't got to rush me."

Henrietta moved towards the panel in the elevator, her hand hovering in the air, ready to interact with it. However, despite being told of Auguste's secret exorcism technique, she appeared reluctant to return to the upper floor. A moment passed, and then another, then another. Auguste eventually ran out of patience.

"How long are you going to take? We're short on time as it is you know."

"I know, I know, but it's not working for some reason."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. It just isn't working."

Auguste moved close, examining the panel. Having seen both Henrietta and Gladiolus operate this thing, he understood that they were supposed to touch the panel in a specific way, poking the symbols that would appear within the panel. However, at the moment, nothing was appearing on the panel. It was completely pitch black, like how it would be if Auguste or the others interacted with it.

"........."

"Ya think it's broken?"

"......"

"Gusty, you listenin'?"

"..."

"Gusty!"

Auguste wanted to snap back at her, he wanted to do it so bad. He was internally panicking. After falling for a trap, their way back was completely cut off. It was a terrible situation, a worst-case-scenario even. He wanted so bad to just get mad at Henrietta right then and there.

"Looks like we'll have to find another way back."

However, he can't. It's only he and Henrietta now. They have to stick together. It can't be said that all of this wasn't Henrietta's fault, but she has always been fidgety. It's not something that could be fixed at a moment's notice so there was no point in getting angry about that. There was no point. It would be counterproductive even. No matter how much he wanted to do it, he shouldn't, or it'll be the literal death of them.

"Gusty, yer alright?"

"I'm fine..."

Auguste was calm, at least, he pretended to be calm, but his furrowed brows, his clenched fist, his tense shoulders, they all said otherwise and Henrietta could tell that he was at his wit's end. Ever since the others were missing, he had been keeping it together, but it's all beginning to crack. Henrietta understood that this was her fault. If he had dumped her right then and there, it would have been understandable. She would have cried and begged, but she would understand. So far, she had been nothing but trouble. Even though Auguste said that he won't leave her behind, everyone has their limits, Auguste included.

While Henrietta was deep in regret, Auguste had already made preparations to traverse the dark. Using the flint from his pouch and paper from the journal to make a small fire and lighting up the wooden sticks pre-wrapped in cloths dipped in oil, he easily produced a pair of torches to light their way forward.

"Let's go," said Auguste as he handed Henrietta her torch.

Henrietta did not make a single objection, not even the slightest fuss. She merely followed along quietly.

No sooner than them stepping out of the elevator, the doors slid shut and left them in the dark, their only light sources now being the torches in their hands. This much was expected. Having been exploring the ship, they have learned that nearly all of the doors here tended to open and shut on their own. Most of the time, it was convenient, at the moment though, not so much.

As the two proceeded through the darkness, checking for one another's presence every few steps of the way, they proceeded towards the doors they saw from the elevator. The ones on the far side of the room, seemingly the only exit they could take out of here.

All of the sudden, there was a flicker of light. It came from below them, on the black panel installed on the floor. Then, another flicker, this time it came from the ceiling. The two were swift to stand right next to one another, back to back to cover for each other's blind spots. From the four corners of the rooms, out of the strange pillars, strings of lights shot out, connecting from one pillar to another and forming what appeared to a cage made of light. Soon after, the flickering on the floor and ceiling intensified, lights blinking rapidly while emitting a terrible hum. It was as if something that had been sleeping for a long, long time was trying to come back to life.

Before they knew it, both Auguste and Henrietta's vision were filled with light, and then, darkness once more, a darkness that could not be lit by the lights from the torches. Disoriented and confused, Auguste drew his shortsword while Henrietta hid behind her shield. Focusing his attention on his hearing and touch, Auguste sharpened his ears to catch the tiniest rustling and steps made around them, and his skin to feel the smallest shifts in the air. For a moment, Auguste could only hear his and Henrietta's breathing, his breaths soft and controlled while Henrietta was close to hyperventilating.

Exploding at his ear without warning, a blare that seemingly came from all directions, surrounding the two. As soon as the room came to life, small dots of lights began filling the darkness, till it eventually became akin to a night sky filled to the brim with stars. Strangely, though it was reminiscent of the night sky, the 'stars' here were unevenly distributed, with some spots having but a few while others had clusters of tiny lights.

Following the explosion of sound, some kind of music began playing, using instruments that could not be identified.

"Welcome, voyagers!" a booming voice called out. "From today onwards, you shall be undergoing your journey to becoming a proud citizen of the Alva Empire. Your mission to spread the glory of the Alva begins now."

The voice spoke in a dialect that Auguste could not understand, but he did found it familiar, remembering something similar being spoken back in the Orcus village.

"Hey! We're not here to fight. We're sent by the Alva outside. Alva, friends, get it?"

However the voice ignored him and kept going on and on about something in a cheery, yet at the same time, rehearsed sounding voice.

"And while we shall march continuously forth into the future, let us not forget where we came from, our glorious origins. Our great history began in the age of the Progenitors..."

"Hey! Listen!"

"......... And so the Goddess Remigia, the first of the gods, overthrew the Progenitors and chased them off the edges of the universe......"

"Hey!"

Auguste was beginning to feel like a fool now, shouting at someone that seemingly had no interest in listening to him and instead prattled on and on as if he doesn't exist.

"Yeah, I think she's ignoring you."

"Fine then, in that case, we'll do the same. Let's move Henri."

They proceeded onwards, carefully, one step at a time within what appeared to be a black void dotted with lights from afar, a sea of stars. Had it not been the sensation of the floor beneath them, they'd believe that they were floating.

With the torch held in front of him, Auguste eventually hit a wall, literally, as he couldn't see it. All he was able to see was an ever expanding star ocean. Naturally, he was confused, but he had already stopped trying to understand the phenomenon before him. Strange things happen in the Dungeons all the time. What's important was to focus on the goal and keep on moving.

Feeling the wall with his hands, Auguste began moving along it, Henrietta right by him as he went. Eventually, he felt a corner leading into what felt like a path. After sticking his arm deeper in and pulling it back out to make sure that it was indeed safe, Auguste took a deep breath and stepped right through. What he found on the other side was a pair of doors, one of them broken and crooked. It was the same set of doors he had seen from the elevator. Turning back, he stuck his hand into what looked to be a black wall, trying to beacon Henrietta over and felt his hand being grabbed almost immediately. There was no hesitation from the other side. Henrietta must have been scared when Auguste just walked right through.

In the end, no one stopped them from moving on. The voice that spoke to them did not even seem to notice that they were gone, still prattling on with that same rehearsed, cheery tone.

Henrietta, with her strength, was able to pry open that crooked door, granting them access into the dark passage ahead.

"Henri."

"Y-yeah?"

"From this point onward, no matter what happens, stick close to me."

"I hear ya."

"Don't go leaving me behind now."

With those words spoken, Henrietta was struck with an incredible feeling of shame and guilt, even more so than before. Even after making a fuss about wanting Auguste to stay with her, telling him to not abandon her, at the first sign of trouble, she was the one who took off running.

"I'm the worse," she mutters under her breath.

Auguste took Henrietta's hand and proceeded onwards, pretending to have not heard her.

***

End of Chapter 74