As they walked into the hallways of darkness. There was not a light to be seen, but they could hear one another's footsteps and the low humming emitting from the Administrator. Trusting the sensation of their feet upon the floor, they kept walking forward till finally, light began flooding into their vision.

When their eyes got used to the light and could see properly once more, they found themselves standing in a hallway, right before the door into the room covered by a pitch-black wall. When they turned around, they found the wall to be slowly falling away, revealing a room with black panels installed on both the ceiling and floor as well as strange pillars erected in the four corners of the room. This was the so-called simulation chamber.

"It would seem that the 'strange space' has collapsed after the removal of its source," said the Administrator, their vertically aligned eyes turning towards Elaine.

"Hm? What is it? I can't understand," said Elaine, thinking that the Administrator was talking to her. "Henrietta, can you inter-"

All of a sudden, her legs felt weak and her vision blurred. In that instant, she reached out and grabbed onto Auguste, who supported her by reflex.

"Oi, yer alright!?" Henrietta cried.

"She must be rather weak from being trapped in that space for such a long time," the Administrator informed. "Let's bring her back to your room. I had some of my Cleaners scavenge for rations ahead of time; I'll have them deliver it now."

Henrietta roughly translated what was said and together with Auguste, the two helped Elaine back to their new camp.

Soon after laying Elaine down on one of the beds, the Cleaners came with the delivery. The 'rations' as the Administrator called it, was a strange tube with a cap on top, sealing its contents. Unscrewing the cap open, Auguste unintentionally squeezed down on the tube, causing some strange paste to emerge.

"I think your rations have gone bad," said Auguste.

"That can't be, they were properly stored when the Cleaners found them. They ought to be perfectly safe to consume. They're highly nutritious too, so it should help greatly with your friend's recovery," the Administrator replied, her words translated by Henrietta.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course."

Not quite trusting those words, Auguste took a bit of the past with his finger and with some hesitation and a whole lot of willpower, placed it upon his tongue. The taste was bland, near tasteless even, but other than that, he couldn't taste anything wrong with it. The texture was disgusting though.

"Well, maybe we can put it on some bread."

Garnishing their stale bread with the paste, they fed the weakened Elaine one small piece at a time, even dipping the bread in water to make them of down easier. She didn't seem to mind the taste or the texture, partly because she was never a picky eater and partly because she trusted them. After eating, she fell comfortably asleep, her breathing soft and easy.

"She's pretty tired, huh," Henrietta commented.

"The 'strange space' created appeared to be sapping her strength," the Administrator tried to explain. "Her constitution did not seem all that strong to begin with, so perhaps it was a good thing that you got her out of there as soon as you did."

"I see," said Auguste, watching over Elaine as she slept. "Was that why you led us to her first?"

"That was part of my consideration, yes. That, and the 'strange space' created around her did not reject me as strongly as the others. With the rest, you might not have such an easy time."

"Easy or not, we're getting them back, right?" said Henrietta, gauging the room.

"We damn sure are going to try," Auguste replied, his eyes staring into space, trying to see a path forward, a path where they all get out of this in one piece.

In time, fatigue caught up to Auguste and he resigned himself to a nap. He slept well enough, more so than the few nights prior. By the time he woke up, it was quiet. Remembering the absolute nightmare he had endured the past few days, he sprung up from bed and immediately took stock of the present situation. On a nearby bed, Henrietta was sleeping soundly, her limbs all spread out and a line of drool dripped from her wide open mouth. By the side of his bed, sitting on a chair by a desk, there was Elaine, looking rather alert, presumably on the watch for the night. This was probably the first time that Auguste had missed the first shift.

"Awake already?" said Elaine. "You can sleep a bit more if you want."

"I'm already wide awake. What about you? The Administrator said your constitution wasn't great to begin with. Maybe you should rest."

"I feel fine. Besides, if I sleep anymore, my back will start to hurt."

"If you say so," said Auguste as he grabbed the nearest chair and slouched upon it.

"This reminds me," Auguste spoke up again, "it was like this that night as well, isn't it? You and I were keeping watch, and Henrietta was asleep even though it was her shift. You told me to go to sleep, and I did. Then, when I woke up, you were all gone and it was just Henrietta and me. I thought I was having a nightmare at the time."

"Are you afraid of the same thing happening?"

"I can't say it's not fresh on my mind."

"I see..." Elaine wasn't sure what to say. She felt that nothing she could tell Auguste would quell his anxiety. He's too stubborn to be convinced by a mere few words.

"Hey," Auguste sat straight up and looked Elaine in the eyes, "do you really not remember what happened that night?"

"Strangely enough, I can't. It's all very foggy, like a dream I couldn't remember."

"Maybe it was the 'ghosts'?"

"Ghosts?"

"Yeah, we ran into one while looking around for you guys. That's what spooked Henrietta and made her run, and I had to go after her which led to us being stranded."

"I see, 'ghosts'... I used to think that they don't exist. Then again, we *are* in a Dungeon."

"Yeah... Stupid Dungeon."

Somehow, thought words drew out a burst of soft laughter from Elaine.

"What?" asked Auguste.

"How should I put it? That was an uncharacteristically child-like expression from you."

"I guess I've been spending too much time alone with Henrietta. I sure am glad there are three of us now, or my intellect is might just start sinking like a brick in a lake."

As the conversation went on, Auguste inadvertently let out a yawn.

"Go ahead and sleep if you're still tired," said Elaine, insisting that he should rest if he needed to without explicitly saying it.

"I'm fine," Auguste too insisted.

"How about this," Elaine clasped her hands together as an idea came to mind. "If you're so afraid of me disappearing again, why not sleep on my lap. That way, if I start to move, you'd be the first to know."

"You know..." Auguste crossed his arms and legs. "I get that you think of me as a little brother and all, but I think that you might be treating me too much like a child."

"Do I?" Elaine, tilting her head, feigned ignorance.

"I mean, if you see me as a man even in the slightest, you'd want to keep some distance, don't you? There are supposed to be boundaries between men and women, no?"

"My, aren't you knowledgeable?"

"There you go, that's what I'm talking about. You're talking down to me like I'm some kind of child."

"Do you... Not like it?"

"Well, it bothers me, you know..."

"I see..." Elaine laughed softly. "Well, how should I put this. I actually think you've got it pretty together for your age. You're reliable in fights and can make decisions on the fly no matter the situation. You're a good listener and it would seem that my brother constantly looks to you for advice too. You're also very honest to others and especially yourself, even about the part of yourself you don't like. I think those parts of you are rather 'grown-up'."

"Oh," Auguste started rubbing his nose to hide his slight blush to no avail. "Thanks. I guess."

"However," Elaine added, suppressing the urge to laugh, "you're also a little naive in some ways, at times painfully so. You're not careful enough of your money or strangers and you have a romanticized expectation of the world. You also seemed to be the type to hardly ever think about his future. You like to tease Morganna and Henrietta too much and you can be also very confrontational with them over the smallest things. You are also surprisingly weak to pressure. Sometimes, I feel like even my childish brother is more mature than you are."

"........." Auguste couldn't say anything back. He felt that there were certain amounts of truths to what was being said.

"On top of all that, you tend to get caught on little things and let them get you down. 'I'm not good enough with this,' 'he's better than me in that,' you're so obsessed with what others are doing and how you compare, you get worked up about things you can't do anything about."

"Okay! Alright! I get it. Please stop or I think I might just about to get angry. Actually, I think I already *am* pissed off."

Though, rather than being pissed off, he felt more like crying. When she put it the way she did, it certainly sounded like a pretty bad testament to his character. He felt like a child being admonished by a teacher or parent.

"But you're not *actually* going to get mad, right?"

"Oh, trust me, I'm fuming."

"You're not going to tell me I'm wrong?"

Elaine leaned in closer.

"You... might have a point or two, I'm not going to lie."

"Most people would have yelled at me by now, you know."

"I could try and argue, but I know I won't beat you. I've seen you in action and frankly, you are one scary woman. I feel like I might lose all semblance of confidence if you go all out on me."

Elaine laughed. She didn't realize she commanded so much fear and perhaps respect from the swordsman before her. Somehow, it felt good in some strange, twisted way.

"But even knowing that, most people would have lost control. I've dealt with many such people before."

"Well, my master had trained me to be in control of my emotions."

Indeed, Cera had trained him well in that department as well as many others. And by train, he meant that losing his cool in a fight with Cera would only result in him getting beaten up even more severely than he otherwise would have. To fight a swordswoman as tricky as Cera, one must keep a cool head even amidst the taunts she would toss his way.

"She had certainly taught you well."

"I wished she did it in a gentler way. Then again, maybe it had to be that way. I'm kind of a stubborn piece of work after all...... Wait, what were we talking about again in the first place?"

"I was just saying that you are very mature in some ways and incredibly childish in others."

"Oh right... That."

Auguste immediately regretted asking. He would have preferred to forget all about it.

"It's because you're like that... How should I put it? Somehow, I just felt like mothering you more than the others. It's such a strange feeling. I wonder why. I suppose you're a bit special in a way."

"Uh-huh," Auguste responded with a tone so flat, not even a perfectly leveled ground could compare. "I don't think I like that kind of 'special'."

"Well don't let it bother you. It's just a strange little feeling I can't quite explain."

"But it does bother me!"

"There you go again, getting caught up in these tiny little's things."

"It ain't tiny to meh- Ah!"

Auguste realized that he was starting to talk like Henrietta. Watching his realization unfold, Elaine could not help but laugh, to Auguste's chagrin.

"Oi, yer guys planning on quieting down anytime soon. I'm tryin' to sleep here."

Their conversation had gotten out of hand, even Henrietta, usually like a brick in slumber, had woken up. Uncharacteristically, her mood was foul.

The two apologized and for the rest of the night, kept their words for one another to whispers.

***

End of Chapter 83