“…father?” Noah asked bewilderedly.

“…Is he angry?” His father’s constipated voice could finally be heard coming from the other side.

“Who?” Noah stupidly asked.

“Your brother-in-law.”

Still very baffled, Noah responded, “I suppose so? He nearly died, so he, justifiably, isn't in the best of moods. Why do you ask?”

Cordia daddy fell silent for a moment.

Then in a hushed yet hurried tone, he asked, “Is he standing right next to you? Do you need me to send rescue?”

Noah gaped at the absurdity and checked his communicator to confirm once again that he was indeed talking to his father, “What? No! Rescue? For whom, from what? What are you talking about??”

“...You ...aren't having trouble dealing with his unreasonable, cold, scary temper?” Cordia daddy asked in equally as befuddled tone. As a city lord of the neighboring city and his future father-in-law, he, of course, had had many dealings with this “good” son-in-law! How could he not know his temper?!

Noah didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “What temper? Brother-in-law isn't having a temper. How could I be having trouble? Father, what on earth are you talking about?”

The line fell into a long silence.

“So... What you are saying is that you are not having any issues with your brother-in-law right now?”

“No. Of course not! Brother-in-law has been nothing but caring and considerate!” Noah defended passionately.

Cordia daddy pinched the bridge of his nose, pondering whether his son-in-law had started taking some new, highly effective medicine recently. Or was it that everything in this world had its bane?

“…I've just received a request from Astarea city lord's office to appoint you as the overseeing representative of Concordia in charge of the power rampage case. What do you think of this?”

“I have no objections. On the contrary, I can't just idle around while brother-in-law, you, and even sis are working hard–” Noah abruptly halted mid-speech, his eyes widening in realization –Shit!! He had totally forgotten about his sister, who was on the way to the restaurant!! ?

Crap, crap, crap! “…what I am trying to say is, father, just leave this task to me!” Noah wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, trying to remove the imaginary cold sweat. Ah, ah!! Have to call sis ASAP!

“...You do realize that if you accept, you'll be required to oversee the case until its solved… alongside your brother-in-law? Are you SURE you are fine with that?” Cordia daddy, oblivious to his son’s hurry, continued to talk agonizingly slowly.

Noah fidgeted in place, all the while staring at his communicator, perplexed, “Why wouldn't I be??” Did his father have some misconceptions about his good brother-in-law??

“You get along well, huh?” The voice of the Cordia daddy was indistinct, seemingly lighthearted, but at the same time as if he was lamenting the vicissitudes of life. It left Noah feeling rather odd.

“Yeah?”

“But, son, if that’s indeed the case, it might be better to sit this one out… Mixing business with private matters is never a good thing. What if you get into a conflict of opinion that ends up impacting your relationship?” City lord offered his well-intentioned fatherly advice. If this son of his could tame the wild wolf that was Astar Levi, then he really wanted to keep the current status quo! How precious was someone capable of placating Astar Levi?!?

“Pfft, this is what you are troubled about?” Noah, distracted by the mention of his relationship with Levi, momentarily set the urgent issue aside, his eyes curved as he chuckled merrily, “Father, you needn't worry. Our relationship isn't so fragile that a mere disagreement can set us against each other. We are family!”

Cordia daddy, for some reason, really felt as if he had just swallowed a fly “…I know you are tolerant, but others might not be. They might get unpleasant...” ‘Son, I’m clearly implying who “them” is, please pick up my meaning!’

“Dad, have you forgotten? I'm a Soother.”

The city lord fell silent.

Right. He was worrying over nothing. If an SS-ranked Soother can't handle that man's temper, then no one can.

╮(╯▽╰)╭

“You are right. I'm overthinking it.” Cordia daddy let out a tired sigh, “You have now been appointed as an official overseeing representative of Concordia.”

With a ding, Noah received an official appointment letter in his inbox.

“Stay safe… and good luck...” Cordia daddy added helplessly.

“Don't worry! You can count on me.” Determination burned in Noah’s two amber eyes.

Finally, with the call hung up, Noah hurried to contact his sister. Only then did he notice he had received a message from her a while back: “Called in again! 〒▽〒 Can’t make it to lunch after all. Sorry bro!

＞︿＜ I’ll make it up to you later.”

Phew! Thank goodness!

Imagining his confused sister waiting in front of the restaurant that has been sealed off by peacekeepers, while constantly attempting to reach him through her communicator… well… it really made him feel incredibly guilty.

Blackie: ‘If that makes you feel guilty, just wait until you hear why her lavish wedding got canceled…’

(¬‿¬)

The heart that jumped into Noah’s throat finally settled down as he responded to her message with a lot of sweet nonsense that could be summed up with “Do your thing, no worries, everything is fine.”

Just as Noah clicked on the send button, Levi returned and eyed Noah expectantly, “Has it been done?”

“Yes! I have now been officially appointed as a representative of Concordia.” Noah’s eyes curved into a smile, “It is a pleasure to be working with you, Mr. Astar Levi.”

Levi felt as if a feather tickled his heart. His darling’s manner of saying official things while obviously giggling on the inside was too adorable for words. Thus, his response was, of course, to once again start to pet his baby’s head.

Ah, these several minutes away were torture! It would be best if he could chain his darling to his side, forever together, never to part.

The department head, who was, at this point, no different from a statue decoration: “…” ‘Who am I? What am I doing here?’

○|￣|_

***

Once everyone sat back down again, the department head was close to shedding tears of blood. There was so much paperwork on his desk, yet he had to sit here no different from a backdrop and watch these two esteemed personages, shoving dog food down his throat.

Finally, he opened his dry mouth to move onto the important topic at hand, “Alright, now that the matter of representatives has been settled, we can begin this–“

A knock on the door interrupted his speech, followed by an awkward officer peeking his head in, “Um, sirs, apologies for disturbing you… but there is a delivery guy outside, claiming someone from conference room D1 ordered food delivery?”

Everyone, unanimously, as if synchronized, turned to look at Levi.

The man in the center of attention very nonchalantly hummed, “Mn. Bring it here.”

The department head who was just about to reflexively point out the violation of regulations had to swallow the words back down when Levi shot him a warning look. He… was a tactful man, which is one of the reasons why he managed to reach so high up the ranks. Thus, with manly tears in his eyes, he wisely chose to pretend he knew nothing, saw nothing.