30 Furina's planned denouement

Bang!*

In the wilderness of the mountains of Elynas, Isaac could be seen running away as gunshots fired behind him.

Isaac then saw a boulder and hid behind it. He then loaded his revolver as he cautiously looked around. "Shit... They're persistent."

After muttering this, Isaac quickly jumped out of the boulder and shot back.

Bang!*

His bullet successfully hit a robotic figure.

Seeing this, Isaac didn't waste time and quickly ran away while loading his revolver.

"Lunatics... Seriously." He clicked his tongue as he sprinted into Elynas' forest.

Clockwork Mechas were hunting him down.

What's worse is that there were a lot of them, making it difficult for Isaac.

As Isaac ran, he couldn't help but grit his teeth. "How did it come to this..."

---

A few days prior.

Isaac continued with the café's business as usual. He then saw a pattern in the amount of customers coming in.

'...the number of customers rise at approximately eleven and one in the morning and afternoon respectively...' He thought as he quietly cleaned the cups behind the counter. 'Then, it will increase again at around seven in the evening... Due to the night shift workers...'

'That means, other than those times, the rest are the best times to do what I have to do.' Thinking of this, Isaac opened the system interface.

[S-Rank Quest.]

[Type: Main]

[Name: Pious Believer.]

[Objectives: Serve the Hydro Archon for one week.]

Looking at his current main quest, Isaac thought back to his wanted posters. 'I get that I can just give them the info about "The Masked Clown" identity and get close to Lady Furina... But...'

'But that's WAY too suspicious...' Isaac shook his head before sitting down and grasping chin chin. 'Besides, I'm sure the Iudex, Neuvillette, would send someone to investigate me and find that I'm just a barista.'

'How could a barista know such information? —is what they'll probably think.' Isaac rolled his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling with a contemplating expression. 'How could I pass that dilemma...'

He then closed his eyes and started pondering solemnly. His mind churned endlessly, trying to find solutions.

Just then, a sudden burst of ideas entered his mind.

He then abruptly opened his eyes as he reviewed the sudden idea that popped up in his mind. "Hold on... This is..."

"No, no, even if it does work..." He then straightened his posture as he took out his notepad and began writing down his thoughts. "But... What if..."

Isaac then began to construct a frame for the sudden idea in his mind. He was once again concocting a plan!

"...oh my." Finally, after contemplating for minutes, Isaac muttered with a wry smile. "Yeah... This-This could work. I don't have to put up too much of an act and it blends well with my profession..."

As he thought of this, he once again opened his system shop. "System, I want to buy something things again..."

"This time, I won't be using any persona." He lightly smiled at these words. "From now on, I'll have two jobs."

"At day, I'm Isaac, the Barista of Le Souffle du Silence."

As he spoke, the amused smile on his face grew.

"At night, however, I become the mysterious private investigator from L'Énigme des Ombres..."

"A decent cover-up..."

---

Afternoon, in the Palais Mermonia. Currently, heavy rain is pouring down on Fontaine.

The Iudex, Neuvillette, who was inside his office, calmly sorted the various papers on his desk.

He then picked up another paper and read its contents. With his impartial tone, he muttered to himself, "The recent gang war in Poisson..."

"...various members of Spina Di Rosula suddenly started initiating a wide purge of any Sinthe-related personnel within Poisson..." Reading the report, Neuvillette was silenced for a few seconds. "All captured personnel were either imprisoned or severely injured by the Spina Di Rosula members..."

"...they do know that this is against the law, no?" Legally speaking, what Spina Di Rosula did was against the law. One of the reasons was public disorder and vigilantism.

However, since it was an act against Sinthe, a highly addictive drug, it was seen as a heroic deed by the public.

"Miss Navia has a lot of explaining to do," Neuvillette muttered with his emotionless tone. "Is she perhaps continuing where her father left...?"

He then shook his head. "For now, I'll let the Marechaussee Phantom keep a close eye on them. If it escalates further, I'll send the Gardes."

Knock*

Just then, two audible knocks came from the door, and soon, a voice outside spoke. "Monsieur Neuvillette, another batch of letters about Lady Furina's request arrived."

"Send them in," Neuvillette spoke, loud enough for the person to hear it.

The door opened, and soon, a tiny Melusine wearing a Marechaussee Phantom uniform entered. She was carrying sixteen envelopes.

"Here they are, Monsieur Neuvillette." The Melusine walked over to Neuvillette's desk and placed the handful of envelopes down.

"Thank you." Neuvillette, who was still seated behind the desk, smiled softly at the Melusine.

After saying this, he began looking in the envelopes sent in by detectives and investigators working on The Case of the Nocturnus Masked Clown.

"Speculations about the significance of the tarot card..."

"Possible modus operandi of the Masked Clown..."

"Theory about the Masked Clown's high-profile identity..."

The Iudex Neuvillette carefully read each letter given by various investigators in Fontaine.

Most of them came from his Marechaussee Phantom, while some were from private investigators and agencies.

After reading all of them, he took each of their points into account and organized them in his mind.

He then looked at the final letter. The Iudex Neuvillette held it and opened the letter, reading the title.

"The Organization Behind the Masked Clown."

"A report by L. Mitchell (Pseudonym)."

'Another faction speculation?' Neuvillette saw the title and couldn't help but associate with other investigators who also had the same thought. 'Which one would it be this time? The Fatui or the Abyss Order?'

With curiosity, Neuvillette pulled out the whole letter and saw the neatly written letters inside. He then began reading.

He carefully read the letter and during the whole time, his face changed a few times as if he was gaining enlightenment over something. 'I see...'

'According to this investigator named L. Mitchell, he investigated both Palais Mermonia and the recent trouble in Poisson...' The Iudex Neuvillette grabbed his chin as he held the letter. 'He found that both of them involved two unidentified personnel.'

'A mysterious Masked Clown here in Palais Mermonia, and someone named Moriarty in Poisson...' As he thought of this, Neuvillette laid the letter back onto the desk before looking out the window behind him. 'Two seemingly unconnected incidents that involve two unidentifiable persons."

'From a logical point of view, this connection might seem to hold no solid grounds... But L. Mitchell stated something note-worthy...' Neuvillette then walked out of his desk and walked over to a cabinet while holding his cane. 'That is the card that was left behind by the Clown. It had the initials of J and M.'

'He speculated that these two initials might be the letters of the first names of The Masked Clown and Moriarty respectively.' As he thought of this, Neuvillette couldn't help but caress his cane. 'Well... The letter M already fits Moriarty.'

'L. Mitchell then investigated further and discovered that the upper echelons of Spina Di Rosula had a visitor who claimed to know this Moriarty.' Neuvillette contemplated with a solemn expression. '...and that this visitor greatly resembled the Mask Clown.'

'This led to L. Mitchell's connection of the two.'

The Iudex Neuvillette then began browsing through some files for a few moments before stopping. 'Yes... What L. Mitchell proposes might be possible.'

"For there had never been anyone named Moriarty in Fontaine in the last ten years," Neuvillette muttered to himself after browsing through the thick files in the cabinet. "That would mean that Moriarty would either be someone from another nation or that he erased all records of his identity in Fontaine... Or perhaps he doesn't even exist at all."

After saying this, Neuvillette returned to his desk and once more looked at the letter. "As for the Masked Clown... L. Mitchell speculated the Masked Clown and Moriarty were accomplices and part of a newly formed organization... And that this won't be the end of their acts..."

After summarizing the letter, the Iudex Neuvillette became silent as he contemplated. He then opened his mouth, "It's a decent theory... However, it still lacks proof."

"It's nothing more than a speculation based solely on coincidences, and no further strong connections have yet been made." He gave his rational and impartial judgment over the letter. "But I shall take it into consideration—"

Before Neuvillette could finish his words, the door to his office suddenly opened, and someone with a white ahoge entered. "My dear Iudex, how are you today?"

"...Lady Furina, would you please knock first? You seem to be forgetting your basic manners." Seeing who it was, Neuvillette sighed lightly.

"Hm, don't be too strict now, Neuvillette. It's just the two of us here in your office, anyway." Furina scoffed as she walked over to his desk.

She then saw the letters he was holding and her smile brightened. "Oh, are those letters perhaps the investigators I rounded up?"

"Yes," Neuvillette closed his eyes before speaking solemnly. "Though, to be honest, Lady Furina, I believe that these people are more interested in solving the case itself than being your informants."

"What?!" Furina exclaimed as she looked at him with a doubtful expression. "How did you come to that conclusion, my dear Iudex?"

"...you should know better than I, Lady Furina." Neuvillette shook his head. "Humans always yearn to uncover some things beyond them.

"In this nation, where performances and acting are the very basis of society, a sudden appearance of a new performance would more or less attract the attention of the audience," Neuvlete spoke with his calm demeanor. "I think we both already know this."

"If the play is great enough, the audience would want to know more about the actors, rather than the play itself." After saying this, Neuvillette returned to his seat and sat down. "I'm other words..."

"They care not for what happened, but who was behind it." Furina was the one to finish the sentence with a sullen expression.

After saying this, Furina paused for a few seconds before looking at Neuvillette with firm eyes. "If that's the case, then as the center of the stage, I must give my audience a proper denouement."

Having said this, Furina quickly took a letter from Neuvillette's desk randomly. "I'll be sure of it— In this new play, I would personally end it in a spectacular passion."

"That seems like a bad idea—" Neivillette tried to express his opinions, only to be shot down.

"And what's a classic mystery story without me, the detective, and a sidekick?" After saying this, she paused for a moment before looking at the random letter she picked. "L. Mitchell... A pseudonym... Do you know who this is?"

"..." Neuvillette stared at her for a few moments in silence before sighing.

He then called for his Melusine assistant, who was also part of the Marechaussee Phantom. He then signaled to look at the letter Furina was holding. "I believe that you've also tracked down this person?"

"We've tracked down every letter sent to Palais Mermonia, Monsieur Neuvillette." The Melusine smiled. "Please hold on."

The Melusine then reached out for her purse before pulling out a paper. "Here you go, Monsieur Neuvillette. The identity of the person who submitted this letter at exactly 2:33 P.M."

"Haha, great!" Furina quickly took the paper and chuckled softly. "With this, I'll have a classic mystery-solving performance! It's not my first, but it still excites me."

She then looked at the information in the paper. "Isaac Alder... Runs a café? Oh, he must be one of those normal at day and enigmatic at night type of investigators! Perfect!"

Isaac's plan, unironically, worked well on Furina as expected.

"He'll be the perfect sidekick!"

However... It seems like his plan worked too well on her.

---

A/N:

I was wrong the whole time.

Neuvillette's title was "Iudex", and not "Ludex."

I feel ashamed.