2. The Iudex needs help.

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"Furina." I more stated than asked as I barged into her office, nearly making her drop her dessert.

"Archons Neuvillette!! At least knock will you? You nearly made me drop my cake!!" She exclaimed, hardly regaining her composure as she addressed me.

"My apologies, Lady Furina, but I find myself in need of your help." I got straight to the point.

"Oh? The great Iudex of Fontaine and Hydro Sovereign needs help from your dearest Archon?" She teased as she took a bite of her strawberry filled cake.

"There's been a murder." I told her.

She stopped eating.

"May I ask, why pray tell, you'd go to me of all people to solve this? I'm a simple Archon, Neuvillette, not a detective." She replied.

"Because I do not, I repeat, I do not want this case to get out anytime soon. If any details of the crime scene get leaked then the people of Fontaine will begin to question their safety, that an acquaintance of the Iudex himself was murdered in his own home with his wife? Could you imagine how out of proportion it would be blown Furina?"

I was frustrated, I knew it, Furina knew it.

She even put down her plate to address me, finally taking this matter somewhat seriously in contrast to her usual 'happy go lucky' attitude.

"Neuvillette, if you're so desperate to discover more on this case yourself, you know you have full jurisdiction to do so, but I'll be no help to you. Why not ask Clorinde? Surely a champion duelist will be willing to help you out with such a dangerous task." She recommended, going back to her snack almost directly afterwards.

I quietly sighed, I suppose I should be glad that I was able to get this much of a serious conversation out of her.

"Thank you for your help Lady Furina, I'll try that." I thanked her and exited her office.

Truth be told I was perfectly capable of handling such affairs myself, I'm the Hydro Sovereign after all.

But, truth be told, even after 500 years of living and walking among humans, I still don't know most of their mannerisms.

Therefore, I needed assistance from Furina, who actually understood their... Strange habits.

But if She wasn't willing to, the next best thing could only be a human themselves.

I would have gone for that option to start with, but as Furina mentioned, this would be dangerous, and I most definitely was not going to get some innocent civilian involved in my affairs.

A champion duelist on the other hand, they're more than capableat handling criminals.

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

"What do you mean Clorinde is on vacation." I asked the receptionist at Palais Mermonia with an expression she clearly was weary of.

"I-Im sorry Monsieur Neuvillette, Miss Clorinde had to take an emergency 2 weeks off, she didn't specify why." The port receptionist explained to me as calmly as possible.

This was be coming a bigger headache than I wanted it to be.

And this time, I couldn't stop myself from loudly sighing.

"I see, when did she put in this leave?"

"4 days ago sir."

So still 10 days till her return, excellent!

No! Not excellent!

Why must no one be around to help me!

I cannot even remember the last time I needed someone's assistance, so why, pray tell, is everyone seemingly gone or unable to the minute I need someone's help!?

"Uh.. Monsieur?" The lady asked me,

I must have had an awful look on my face because she seemed to be slightly quivering.

I coughed and regained my stature.

"I apologize, thank you for assisting me."

"Of course Sir..." She responded, seeing me out.

I need to clear my head.

Perhaps a walk will do...

Oh who am I kidding, I can't even walk down the streets of Fontaine without being pressurized by some objectifying states from others,

I know that none harbor malicious intent, but at the moment I just need peace and quiet.

"Iudex Neuvillette!!" I heard a voice calling after me, I turned around to see a delivery man waving a letter about.

He eventually reached me and spoke through big pants, "I'm so glad I managed to catch up to you Sir! This has been in the box for quite a while now since I've been unable to attend to my duties, but I finally managed to deliver it to you!" He explained, handing my a small letter.

"Thank you, I appreciate your hard efforts."

"Of course Sir!"

And with that, he was off again.

How tiring that must be.

Regardless, I turned the letter over to see my name in a very familiar handwriting with a sticker instead of a stamp on the top left corner.

Ah, this must be from Sigewinne.

I allowed myself to smile slightly as I opened the letter with care and read it mentally.

Dear Monsieur Neuvillette!

How are you doing? I hope that you are taking care of your health as I instructed you to last time we saw each other, lots of rest please!! It's been quite sometime, but I'm afraid it's been quite busy down here in the fortress, more fights have been breaking out recently and that means I'm always the one attending to the inmates!

But don't worry too much, it's usually over silly little things like accidentally pushing into someone and what not, and I always get them to apologize to each other afterwards! If that doesn't work, then His Grace usually has a small talk with them... I haven't seen those ones since now that I think about it. His Grace definitely leaves quite the impression.

Moreover, you should try visit soon if you're not too busy! I'm afraid I won't be able to anytime soon so I hope you can find some time in your busy schedule, I've already cleared it with the Duke and he said that if you were up for it, he wouldn't mind hosting you! Yay!!

Oh dear, I think I hear another fight breaking out so I should probably stop writing this now.

With love!

Sigewinne!

I folded the envelope back up and neatly placed it in my pocket, perhaps I'll take her up on that offer, it would be good to take some time in a secluded place in order to get my thoughts straight, plus, I quite miss Sigewinnes presence.

Whereas the Duke, hmm, I haven't seen him in quite some time either, he wasn't able to make it last time Sigewinne visited the surface as he had taken a bit of a hit from one of the strongest inmates not too long earlier, which was surprising considering he's usually the one to hit them when necessary.

I suppressed a small chuckle thinking back to how Sigewinne was telling me the Duke looked too shocked to even respond when one of the inmates square punched him in the face, apparently, he made all sorts of excuses after.

"I hadn't had my morning tea!"

"I didn't get any sleep!"

"There's too much damned paperwork on my mind."

I recall having to surprise a chuckle as Sigewinne had told me about these events.

The Duke huh...

Perhaps he'd be willing to lend me a hand, but perhaps that would be too much to ask, he's quite the secretive man.

Well, there's no answer till I ask.

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