A Certain Notice

A Certain Notice is a World Quest in Court of Fontaine: Palais Mermonia, Fontaine.

Start Location[]

Steps[]

Start the quest by talking to Iaune inside Palais Mermonia.

Talk to Gattineo / Difor
- The NPC to talk to will be determined by the player's answer to Iaune.
Talk to Difor / Gattineo
- The NPC to talk to will be the NPC that was not chosen when talking to Iaune.
Talk to Roialte

Dialogue[]

Quest Description

Iaune from the Maison Gestion is hard at work...

(Talk to Iaune)

Iaune: ...I just can't believe it. Would someone really take a Kamera into the Maison Gestion itself, and simply strut about taking pictures of everyone and anything?

Iaune: It is ridiculous! Everyone knows, everyone should know, that that is how secrets get leaked! It is common sense!

Roialte: If common sense was common, Mr. Iaune, then the Maison Gestion could simply disband tomorrow.

Roialte: I shall leave this to you. Have them sign the document, just like I taught you, and return it to me before the weekend.

Roialte: I still have to handle the expense receipts. Carsix keeps hassling me about it.

Iaune: But, Mr. Roialte, just who should I be looking for? We don't have an office specifically in charge of Kameras.

Roialte: Uh... I trust your judgment. Now hurry up and take care of this, so we can each really enjoy the weekend! I'm going to go take care of other things. Hop to it, kid!

Iaune: Yessir, Mr. Roialte.

Roialte leaves in a leisurely manner...

What are you doing?

Iaune: Huh? Hello, hello. It looks, though, you are not a member of the staff here at the Maison Gestion.

Iaune: I am currently busy with official business. Should you have any inquiries, please ask Ms. Cornelia. She's right over there.

Iaune: She will provide with a chair and a cup of tea. Please have a seat, and I will come find you after I am done.

What's the big rush?

Iaune: *sigh* It's... It's actually a simple matter, but dealing with it is quite complicated...

Iaune: The office I work in has received a notice instructing us to draft a letter to the other offices.

Iaune: The content was something like, staff are forbidden from bringing Kameras into the Maison Gestion and taking pictures, except for work purposes, in order to avoid leakage of secret information.

Does telling me about the letter's contents constitute leaking secrets?

Iaune: No, certainly not. If anyone really had used a Kamera to take a photo of documents, and it resulted in a leak, then this would certainly be a confidential matter.

Iaune: However, "maybe someone will use a Kamera to take a picture of documents in order to leak them" is not a secret. After all, that's a possibility that everyone is aware of.

I feel dizzy...

Iaune: Think about it this way: If you are guarding a secret, then the secret you are guarding certainly cannot be revealed.

Iaune: But the fact that "you are guarding a secret" itself may not be considered secret.

Iaune: After all, if even the fact that "you are guarding a secret" is considered a secret, then you will fall into an endless cycle of keeping the secret of keeping secrets.

Paimon: Your wording is an endless cycle!

I'm curious who is in charge of this matter...

Then who is responsible for this?

Iaune: That is where this matter becomes complicated. There is no office in the entire Maison Gestion that is directly charged with managing Kameras.

Iaune: Mr. Semaine says that I should ask Mr. Gattineo. Their work is related to confidential matters, and thus they should be the first to be made aware.

Iaune: But Mr. Roialte says that I should ask Difor, as he is in charge of all matters related to the staff of the Maison Gestion.

Iaune: Were we to make a new rule that all staff of the Maison Gestion cannot bring Kameras to work, we'd have to let them know.

Paimon: Wow... That's complicated... Why are there so many different people responsible for different things? What happens if you can't remember?

Iaune: That's why each of us carries a thick notepad. Though even with the notes, I'm still not sure who I should look for now...

This is a confidential matter. Let's look for Gattineo.

Iaune: That's exactly what I thought. Mr. Gattineo is quite affable, and is also an "exemplary Gestionnaire."

Iaune: Even though all the matters he deals with are of utmost importance, he still handles each matter with aplomb. His work can truly be called outstanding.

This is a matter involving personnel. Let's look for Difor.

Iaune: That's exactly what I thought, but he has quite the explosive temper, and though he is quite reliable, his sharp tongue is sure to leave a mark.

Iaune: *sigh* But he must be informed of this matter as soon as possible...

Iaune: Well, I guess you'll get to see for yourselves. Please, this way.

(If player chose to look for Gattineo)

(Talk to Gattineo): Gattineo: Iaune! What're the odds? Do you finally have time for a cup of coffee with me after work?; Iaune: Thank you for your offer, but I have a confidential matter that requires your attention.; Gattineo: "Confidential matter"? Is it something I know about?; Iaune: I think you may not have been informed yet. I only received the document this morning.; Gattineo: Now that's odd. Perhaps my information is a step behind yours since I haven't had a chance to read The Steambird yet today.; Paimon: But it's a confidential matter. Why would you read about it in The Steambird?; Gattineo: Hahaha! Those reporters get information and spread it far faster than our internal memos here at the Maison Gestion can.; Gattineo: Of course, it's understandable. After all, they get paid when they deliver a message.; Paimon: Paimon doesn't get it at all...; Iaune: Let's not talk about that for now. Sir, it's like this...; Iaune explains the situation in detail...; Gattineo: Ha! That's right, such an announcement is absolutely necessary. This already happened. Some blithering idiot wanted to show off his desk layout, and took a picture of it.; Gattineo: He's a member of the Kamera Club, and showed that very photo to the other members of the club.; Gattineo: But one of the members of said club just happened to be an astute reporter, who quickly noticed a document that looked like an internal memo in the picture.; Gattineo: And guess what happened next? The next day, that blasted memo complaining that only fish gets served for dinner here, day in and day out, was all over The Steambird!; Paimon: Does that count as a secret...?; That doesn't sound very serious...; Gattineo: Whatever it is, it's internal information, and it should not be leaked to any outside parties!; Gattineo: The people of the Court of Fontaine never miss an opportunity to mock and deride the Maison Gestion, and we must act with caution.; Gattineo: As if they actually gave two figs about what we actually do here! All they want to do is... ugh, have a laugh.; Iaune: Uh, anyway... I'll leave this to your office to take care of, then...; Gattineo: But this matter concerns new rules for personnel... Difor is the one who should sign off on this.; Gattineo: After all, in this document, though it reminds everyone of the importance of keeping confidential information secret, the more important thing is how to communicate these principles to them.; Gattineo: If you ask me, it must be Difor that takes care of this. Our office will certainly assist in this matter. This will be more efficient, and confidentiality can be maintained.; Gattineo swiftly signs his name on the dotted line reading "co-organizer"...; Iaune: But, Mr. Gattineo! This matter...; Gattineo: Come on, boy! You can't dawdle about, this must be taken care of! Now go find Difor quickly, before his patience is worn thin by other matters.; Gattineo: Now, I'll go find some documents that talk about the principles of protecting secret information. When the document is ready to be officially promulgated, our office provide our full support!; Gattineo: Go find him, kid! I've got to go... uh, attend to other matters.; Gattineo strides off...; Iaune: What? Mr. Gattineo! Wait!; He left...; He positively fled...; Iaune: There, did you see Mr. Gattineo's abilities? His secret to getting everything done so well is avoiding doing anything at all that carries even a modicum of risk.; Paimon: Oh, so it's the ability to shirk your duties...; Iaune: There's nothing we can do now... Except go find Mr. Difor. This way, please.
(Talk to Difor): Difor: Do you have something for me, Iaune? You seem to be out of breath.; Iaune: It's like this, Mr. Difor...; Iaune explains the situation in detail...; Difor: You've come to the wrong person, Iaune. This document clearly has the subject of "secrets." How could you fail to realize something so simple and obvious?; Iaune: I thought the subject was "this document."; Grammatically speaking, that's correct.; Paimon: Hey, that's not the subject right now, either!; Difor: Your exactness is noted and appreciated. But I will not sign this document no matter what. I will not even entertain the thought! It should be Gattineo who leads this matter.; Iaune: Mr. Gattineo said, you should be the one in charge...; Difor: Ha! ME? And how should I do it? Grab a megaphone and stand at the door, shouting at everyone as they come in to work?; Difor: "Hey! Ladies and Gentlemen, don't bring your Kameras to work! You'll leak all kinds of secrets! That would be bad, so don't!"; Difor: Or maybe print up a few hundred documents, and leave them on the desk of every Gestionnaire so they can take them with them as they go get their coffee?; Difor: You think we're like Gattineo? That we can just grab leakers and teach them a lesson? All we can do is sent out notices, the kind nobody takes notice of!; Iaune: But, he's already signed the document, look here...; Difor: Boy, do you have any clue what "co-organizer" means?; Iaune: Um... the one who follows instructions from the other party?; Difor: It means "At least I'm not responsible for this."; Difor: I categorically and completely refuse to sign this document. If it must be my office that is forced to take charge of this, then let Maneval come down and tell me so in person!; Difor charges out in a rage...; Paimon: H—He's so loud... Paimon didn't even dare to speak...; Iaune: As I said, he has quite the temper.; So what do we do now?; Iaune: Don't worry, let's just go back and look for Mr. Roialte.

(If player chose to look for Difor)

(Talk to Difor)

Difor: Iaune! Let me guess. Bad news?

Iaune: Sir, you are correct it is not good news. To be precise, it is "secret" news.

So it is.

Difor: Very funny, Iaune. So what is this "secret" news?

Iaune explains the situation in detail...

Difor: That is true, something like this could easily happen. After all, most of the staff here at the Maison Gestion aren't very sensitive to how confidential different documents are.

Do people really ignore something that serious?

Did nobody tell them about the "security classification" system?

Difor: It's all thanks to Gattineo and his people. All the documents here have to be reviewed by them. They decide the security classification of the document and stamp it.

Difor: Sounds like a good system, right? But the folks in charge of reviewing documents came up with a truly ingenious way to save time: just stamp "secret" on every single blasted document that comes their way!

Difor: Last week, Carsix went to the Opera Epiclese for a speech, and talked about recent performances.

Iaune: I remember, it wasn't a long speech, and lots of people were there. The text of his speech was even in the newspapers.

Paimon: Since the speech was given in front of everyone, and everyone knows it all already... how can something everyone knows be a secret?

Difor: But noooo, even so, Gattineo still just has to classify it as "secret."

Maybe there was some important information inside it?

Uh... Maybe he has a good reason...

Difor: AS IF! He classified the draft that was released to the public as secret, but didn't bother with any of the previous versions!

Difor: Carsix never writes his own speeches! The entire text of every draft is written for him by someone else!

Difor: The only changes he makes to the entire speech are to sign his name and change a few irrelevant adjectives!

Difor: And all those older manuscripts that he didn't edit? Of course they're lying on Carsix's desk, nobody cares!

Difor: If Gattineo actually cared one iota about protecting secrets, why doesn't he classify those as secret too?

This could be another way of protecting secrets.

Perhaps it's a... precautionary measure?

Difor: Oh, come on! They just want to save time. To Gattineo, the best way to protect secrets is to make absolutely every trivial little thing a secret.

Difor: That way, nobody knows what the actual secrets that need protecting are. Not even them!

Iaune: If you want to hide a glass of water, the best way is to dump it in a lake! Great plan, nothing can ever go wrong!

Difor: And if you want to hide a glass of Fonta? Are you going to turn the whole lake into a lake of Fonta?

Paimon: A lake of Fonta... hehehe, Paimon wants to go swim in it! Fonta's really tasty, right, (Traveler)?

Paimon, that's not the point.

We'll go get some for you in a bit.

Paimon: Really? Then it's a deal! No backsies!

Iaune: So... This document...

Difor: Iaune, this matter does concern personnel, so you've come to the right person.

Difor: But first, you must let Gattineo ascertain the security classification. Just like I said before...

Difor: Before we can begin officially begin our work, we must know if it's a glass of water or a glass of Fonta we're hiding.

Difor: As we're already old colleagues, I won't cause any trouble for you. Our office will absolutely support and assist with this matter...

Difor slowly looks over the file, and lazily scrawls his name on the dotted line reading "co-organizer"...

Difor: Very well! Now, go find Gattineo! This will effect all the staff, so I must go and inform the relevant people in advance...

Iaune: But, Mr. Difor...

Difor walks off without looking back...

He left...

He positively fled...

Iaune: *sigh* That's Mr. Difor for you, quick to anger but quite clever...

Iaune: Nothing we can do now but look for Gattineo. This way, please.

(Talk to Gattineo)

Gattineo: Iaune! To think I'd meet you here, you little rascal.

Iaune: Mr. Gattineo, I was just looking for you! There's something you should know...

Gattineo: What is it? I just finished reading today's Steambird, and the Maison Gestion wasn't mentioned.

Iaune: Yes, this is a secret matter.

Gattineo: Oh, now that's a rare sight! Someone besides a journalist who can tell if something is secret or not.

Iaune explains the situation in detail...

Gattineo: *sigh* It appears our Difor is an exceptionally diligent journalist. It's almost as if he charged into my office demanding to know the security classification of this document.

Gattineo: I completely concur with his opinion. This matter certainly must be reviewed and classified first, but the matter of "Kamera Security Leaks" is quite large, and concerns the entire Maison Gestion.

Gattineo: My office alone cannot ascertain the confidentiality. I must go to the other offices first, and allow them to review it, and once they are all familiar with the matter, we then can proceed. For example... Carsix.

Iaune: Huh? But this order came down from Mr. Carsix...

Gattineo: Then it is even more imperative that he be aware of how we are dealing with it. Come on, lad, let's go find Roialte, and then meet with Carsix.

Iaune: Huh? Wait! Mr. Gattineo!

(Approach Roialte, Difor, and Gattineo)

Difor: This is a confidential matter. As such, it falls under your office's jurisdiction.

Gattineo: Well, in that case, can we keep affairs we handle confidential from you in the future — even on personnel-related matters?

Difor: Hey, those are two different things. Quit shifting the goalposts!

Gattineo: Well, it's certainly not up to us to decide whether or not they're the same thing!

Iaune: It looks like... I've messed things up again...

Scary...

They're arguing...

Paimon: (Traveler), how... How about we get out of here? Adults arguing is scary...

Roialte: Gentlemen, gentlemen! Calm down! There's no need to be upset over such a trifling matter!

Gattineo: This is no trifling matter, Roialte! This is a matter of grave importance that impacts the entire Maison Gestion. I dare not act rashly and decide it on my own!

Difor: So it is! There is nothing trivial at all about protecting our secrets. I don't think there is anyone in the whole Maison Gestion more suited to handling this matter than you!

Roialte: Please, relax! Why must you gentlemen argue about who is in charge? As I see it, there's no need for anyone to be primarily responsible, you don't even need to coordinate.

What?

Iaune: Huh?

Gattineo: I fear I do not understand your meaning, Roialte.

Difor: I don't quite follow your train of thought, Roialte.

Roialte: You two are both gentlemen with a wealth of experience, and know that when dealing with something complicated, we must first divide it into simple things.

Roialte: The responsibility of preventing people from leaking secrets using Kameras should logically fall to Gattineo.

Roialte: But you need not do anything extra. Just continue catching leakers, as before.

Roialte: As for informing everyone of the policy that Kameras can't be brought into Maison Gestion, this troubled task must fall for Difor. Nobody else in the Maison Gestion can clarify the new policy to the staff.

Difor: We have no capability to enforce it! Nobody listens to us!

Roialte: *sigh* You don't need to worry about that. Leave enforcement to Gattineo, what you need to do is not "notify," but "propose."

Roialte: The bigger you print the proposal, the better. Put it at the entrance, and be sure to print the case of the last Kamera leak below it. That should be enough.

Paimon: The sounds exactly like before...

I don't get it...

How is this different from before?

Iaune: I... I don't understand, Mr. Roialte, this way...

Gattineo: I agree with this proposal. Excellent, it's very clean and clear.

Iaune: Wh—What?

Difor: Proposal? Ha, that's easy.

Roialte: Then we have reached an accord. After Iaune rewrites the draft, I'll bring it to both of you to look over. Now... let's each get back to work.

Gattineo and Difor look at each other for a moment, and then each turns and leaves...

Iaune: I am very sorry, Mr. Roialte, I really messed this up.

Roialte: Don't blame yourself, Iaune. It's not your fault. At least not completely.

Why did they suddenly accept your idea?

Iaune: I don't get it... I don't get it at all.

Paimon: That's right! Why did they suddenly stop arguing? They looked like they were about to start a brawl...

Roialte: That's because you don't know what those two gentlemen truly care about. Do you think they simply didn't want to take on extra work?

Roialte: Of course not. They simply didn't want any other offices to get involved with their work, especially when they themselves would be held responsible.

Roialte: As long as you understand this, it's easy to remove the source of their discontent. And then they are quite willing to do the work.

Iaune: But... Your proposal, they still have to take responsibility.

Roialte: Gattineo and Difor are both experienced bureaucrats, and they are both painfully aware of some simple truth...

Roialte: In a large organization such as the Maison Gestion, everyone has to take some responsibility. That's the only way to make sure everything can continue to operate smoothly.

Roialte: You can negotiate the size of the responsibility, but everyone must take part. If anyone refuses to do so... Well, then they had best pray they never run into any trouble.

Roialte: Don't think too much on it, Iaune. You'll come to understand all this someday. Right now, the important thing is to go rewrite a proposal, and bring it to me. Got it?

Iaune: Yes, Mr. Roialte...

Roialte leaves in a hurry...

Iaune: Eh, looks like another all-nighter. Guess I should grab a coffee first...

Do you always stay up so late?

Iaune: I wouldn't say "always," but I guess I'm just... used to it.

Iaune: Regardless, it's all good as long as I get my work done...

Your health is important too.

Iaune: I know that, but... Forget it. No buts.

Iaune: *sigh* Sometimes I wonder if there's a point to all this work I do.

Iaune: I type, produce documents, chat, and run errands — day in, day out.

Iaune: As an... objective observer, (Traveler), what are your thoughts?

I'm not sure just yet...

Further observation required, citizen.

Iaune: Fine. Perhaps you can give me an answer after you've observed a bit more.

Iaune: If you're interested, come here tomorrow — we can talk again then.

Iaune: As a Gestionnaire here at the Maison Gestion, I've been... drowning in a sea of work.

Iaune: Perhaps you could tell me, as an objective observer... What's the point of it all?

(After the cutscene): Paimon: The purpose of work... Paimon thinks that's a pretty complicated question...; Paimon: And Iaune seems under a lot of pressure, too... How about we check on him again tomorrow, (TravelerTraveler)?; Paimon: Sure hope he doesn't burn out from all this work...

Other Languages[]

Language	Official Name	Literal Meaning
English	A Certain Notice	—
Chinese (Simplified)	一份通知 Yīfèn Tōngzhī	A Notice
Chinese (Traditional)	一份通知 Yīfèn Tōngzhī	A Notice
Japanese	一通の知らせ Ittsuu no Shirase
Korean	한 통의 공지 Han Tong-ui Gongji	A Note of Announcement
Spanish	Entre borradores	Between Drafts
French	Une certaine annonce	A Certain Announcement
Russian	Некое уведомление Nekoye uvedomleniye	A Certain Notice
Thai	ประกาศฉบับหนึ่ง
Vietnamese	Một Bản Thông Báo
German	Eine Mitteilung	A Notice
Indonesian	Sebuah Pemberitahuan	A Notice
Portuguese	Um Certo Aviso
Turkish	Elzem Bir Bildiri
Italian	Un certo annuncio	A Certain Announcement

Change History[]

Released in Version 4.0

[Create New History]