The Iudex's day off

Chapter 74 - Maps

 Aunty Furina?

 I looked at the archon curiously.

 Just how did she become Aunty Furina in the time that it took me to look over some paperwork?

 "To be perfectly clear, those are all from Neuvillette's collection."

 "He didn't say they were yours, Lady Furina. He merely said you brought them."

 "Oh, shut it, Neuvillette."

 ...

 "Can any one of you please explain what you are doing?"

 "We're drawing a map, Your Grace." Amalie kindly explained.

 "A map? Of Meropide? I suppose there is a reason you don't just use the one you and Claude both got from me."

 So tell me.

 "Allow me to explain, Wriothesley. At the time of the bombing incident, I discovered that quite a few places within Meropide are not being used for various reasons." Neuvillette started.

 "Right. Aside from the one you first found, I had three more staircases opened after that. I still can't believe someone blocked them off in the first place."

 "After that, every once in a while I would discover discrepancies between the Meropide of today and the one on the maps I had back in my archive. After we were done with the paperwork just now, I asked Miss Amalie if I could see Meropide's records of everything that had changed over the years."

 "Hence the boxes of files." Amalie added.

 "While Claude helped us gather the files, I sent someone to Palais Mermonia with a request for Sedene to send me the old maps from the archives. With the help of those, we are currently in the process of drawing a complete map of Meropide and marking places depending on whether or not they are still in use and if not, the reason for their closure." Neuvillette explained.

 That's interesting and all, but...

 "What bothered me is the fact that my office currently has one more archon in it than necessary." I pointed out.

 In response, she merely pouted and Amalie on the side held back a laugh.

 Well, these guys are getting along surprisingly well.

 "Lady Furina took it upon herself to deliver the maps, Your Grace. After discovering what we were doing, she decided to say and have a look." Amalie clarified.

 Sigh...

 Instead of wasting breath on a conversation that would result in nothing, I simply sat down between Amalie and Neuvillette.

 "So, what do you have here?"

 In response to my question, Neuvillette pulled a few old maps to the side to reveal a big new piece of paper.

 The place drawn on it was Meropide, I was sure of it, but there were quite a few differences.

 "The ones marked with red are places closed because they were too dangerous to use, the ones marked green should still be fine to use and were simply closed because the warden of that time was in a mood to punish the prisoners. You should find someone to check up on these places. There are quite a few conveniently placed staircases and even two elevators."

 I nodded along to Neuvillette's words.

 "I'll do that later. I'm sure everyone will be happy if they have more ways to move around."

 "Right, but my biggest concern at the moment are these."

 I followed Neuvillette's finger to a place marked with blue.

 "Blue?"

 "Places that appeared on one map and one map only. To be exact, the first one."

 There were quite a few such places. More so on the lower levels.

 "Above all other is this one."

 He pulled another map to the side, revealing a part of their driving that had been concealed till now.

 It was a map of the lowest level. The one with the abandoned production zone.

 Next to the geode mine shaft was a whole zone comparable in size to Meropide itself.

 "What the hell is that?"

 A building that size-

 And I didn't have a clue it even existed!

 "That is what we were planning to find out." Amalie grinned.

 "So this is..."

 "A treasure hunt!" It was Claude this time.

 Sigh...

 "Fine. Let's go."

 "Huh?"

 "You're going too, Your Grace?"

 "Duke Wriothesley is coming as well?"

 Why the hell is everyone so surprised?

 Is Neuvillette also-

 Nope. 

 No, most definitely not surprised.

 I had to avert my eyes from that smile.

 "But won't we attract far too much attention if we just march over there?" Amalie pointed out a major problem.

 Right...

 Just Amalie, Claude, and I would already attract quite a bit of attention if we moved together, but that would still be okay.

 But those two...

 All eyes were now on the two very flashy people sitting there as if they weren't the problem.

 Noticing the attention, the two frowned.

 "I don't see how that is a problem." Neuvillette said calmly.

 "Yeah. I don't see it either." Furina agreed in a similar manner.

 These two...

 "We can always just teleport over, no?" The archon asked matter of factly.

 I was left speechless by the incredibly straightforward yet perfectly valid suggestion.

 Right.

 Teleporting.

 Of course.

 ...

 I can feel my sanity drifting farther away from me by the second.