"Hold my hand. You can't get lost!"
I told Alice to hold my hand. I was afraid that she would get lost and part with me. If that were to happen, no one would be able to protect me—I mean, if that were to happen, she would have a hard time finding a way later. She depends on me, so she has to stay close to me.
"Okay..."
She took my hand, and we both walked away, covering our noses and mouths so we wouldn't inhale the thick smoke surrounding the palace.
I walked, but I kept my eyes on the map of the palace structure. The two of us had arrived at the dining room, all the furniture there had been blown away, and there were only bits of coal.
"There should be a shortcut to the 2nd floor."
I said, looking at the map. For me, this place has several paths that can be used as smart roads, especially in the dining room, which can be directly connected to three rooms; the kitchen room, family room, and hall.
"Yes. Over there… there is the path to the living room."
Alice pointed in one direction, the one in front of us. There was a door, a burning door, and an open opening.
"Let's go over there."
I have to hurry because the oxygen levels in here are running low. On my screen, I can see how far my character can survive in the depleting oxygen levels. That's three quarters left; I still have three quarters left on the oxygen bar.
We got there, the family room. We saw several knights already lying and burning there. They were knights clad in iron armor but not strong enough to withstand large amounts of fire; maybe so.
"Again, there are corpses..."
Not far from the family room, I can see the stairs that connect the 1st floor to the 2nd floor. That's what I was looking for.
"We have to go there!"
"Why go there? Aren't they in the basement?" Alice asked doubtfully.
I can't rely on Alice right now. She couldn't remember how to get to the basement yet, so I couldn't rely on her and had to rely on my thinking.
I didn't respond. I chose to remain silent and kept going.
As we were about to the stairs, Alice fell because her legs were hit by a hot iron rod. But luckily, she was wearing shoes, so her feet didn't hurt.
I use it to broaden my horizons. I looked at her profile bar and saw her HP bar was reduced by 2% because of it. Your HP could decrease even if it's just an object you accidentally stepped on.
"You are okay?"
I helped her up, and she said she was fine and undamaged.
We continued and went to the 2nd floor.
There were several rooms in this long hallway, and we didn't have much time.
"Try to remember it!"
Of course, I told her to.
"I'll try... Umm..."
She didn't seem to be able to remember.
"Okay, don't push yourself."
There's something odd about this map I'm looking at. I noticed several doors leading to several rooms, but they weren't shown on this map. The map doesn't show some of them, only some rooms, like the king's bedroom, the queen's bedroom, the prince's bedroom...
I didn't know yet but wanted to know, so I kept walking in the long hallway and checking out some of the rooms.
"AHH, I remember now..."
I was surprised when Alice shouted. I looked directly at her.
"About what?"
"I remember about when I was little. Veronica and I... we both ran down this hallway. We played hide and seek, and I couldn't find her. Veronica disappeared for 3 days, and her family worked hard to find her. I remember about that."
"..."
"Then… I forgot about that incident. What happened after that, huh?"
She asked because she forgot about the incident after that.
"Okay, no problem... At least you remember that."
It was useful information from her. Thanks to it, I learned that the two of them had played on this 2nd floor.
Then now, what I need is to solve this puzzle. Every room that is depicted on the map, and every room that is not depicted on the map, are all puzzles that I must solve now.
"I've asked this before, but I'm curious as to the reason why you went to the 2nd floor instead. Aren't they in the basement right now?" Alice asked.
She was curious about my reason, it might be because of her honest feelings, so I had to answer it so she wouldn't be more curious about why I chose to be on the 2nd floor.
"There's still time; I'll explain it to you. Listen!"
A basement was built to serve as a shelter. Whenever there is a disaster, a house with a basement prefers to take refuge there rather than outside; because it takes time. Then, what to pay attention to get there? Of course, what needs to be considered is how to get there.
The construction of the place for shelter is aimed at not taking too much time when an evacuation occurs. This world still uses the royal system, and every royal palace has built a place to hide that everyone can reach.
This royal palace has floors up to 4; coincidentally, the king and his family have rooms on the 2nd floor. That means the best way to get straight to the shelter, be it the basement, is to be in their midst. In other words, on this second floor, a place connects to the basement. So, I chose the 2nd floor because of that opinion, and because I know, Alice is unreliable at the moment.
"Oh, I see. I understand. So you mean, there's a room that goes to the basement?"
"Yeah."
But this confused me a bit, and I had to think fast. Some rooms that are not on the map I should explore. This is so difficult because I lack the information I need right now. At least, Alice had said she and Veronica had played here, and Veronica had disappeared here. It became important information for me.
Time remaining: 00:29:47.