Chapter 220: Ch 220: Pleased to meet the Guest - Part 2

Noah decided to host a small breakfast since it was around that time. And luckily, he had a lot of ingredients in his kitchen since he had just stockpiled.

Usually, he would have felt worried about spending so many resources in a single go, but he did not care so much this time.

It was because this was going to be one of the last times he would cook food in this home.

He loved this home gifted to him by Erin. And since he loved this home, he wanted nothing to happen to him.

But as long as he was tangled up with Alan and Daniel, things would keep happening.

Even if he somehow managed to distance himself from them, he had a feeling their fates would still remain entangled. And just like today, there would come a time when his life and this place would be in danger.

So he had made a decision - to follow them to the association for now and hide there. Hopefully, that would be enough to make this anxiety go away.

Noah plated some refreshments and brought them out.

The first thing he immediately noticed was the tense and irritated expression on Alan and Daniel’s faces.

Daniel quickly walked over to him to take the tray from him.

"Allow me to serve our guests. You should sit back down and talk with them. Alan, you can handle the kitchen work, right?"

Daniel yelled and his words made the espers tense up. But Alan, who was unaffected, stood up and skipped over the kitchen.

"I will take care of the food. Daniel, make sure Noah sits down and has a good time with our guests."

His tone made everyone (except Daniel, Noah and Ethan) shiver. No one had seen him like this, but there was one thing they realized - it felt terrifying to have Alan act like this.

The espers surpassed their shiver and looked at Ethan for explanation. But he just shook his head and refused to answer.

Noah quickly walked out and sat down on the sofa in front of everyone. And then, he gave them all an intense stare which made them squirm in their seats.

"Shall we start the meeting today? First, I would like to know why you came here."

Noah asked which finally made the tense espers move and their leader decided to take charge.

"We are here to bring officers Alan and Daniel back to our base. They have been missing for quite some time-"

"That is not true. We submitted our extended leave. It is not our fault your higher-ups decided to ignore that leave request."

Daniel complained, which made the speaker flinch. From the looks of it, it seemed like Dainel’s accusation was correct. Not that Noah thought of him as a liar anyway.

Still, it solidified one thing in his mind.

’The ones at fault here are the esper-guide association.’

The leader realized that he was at a disadvantage and decided to acknowledge the wrong doings.

"I agree with you about that. The higher-ups did ignore your extended leave request. But that also means you needed to report personally-"

"Maybe I should just quit. I don’t want to play the association’s lapdog anymore. Especially since I got what I wanted. You think the same, right Alan?"

No one moved as they turned to look at Alan. He was carrying a small tray in his hand and he had a perfect smile on his face. But behind it was a terrifying light.

He placed the small tray on the table and agreed with Daniel.

"You are right. We should quit while we still can. There is no point in staying with a division where people don’t even respect your request."

The people from the association realized that they were on the losing end of this bargain and decided to start panicking. The smile on Alan’s face told them that they were like gum under his shoes.

He only cared about them if they started to get irritated. And once they did, they knew they would all die.

They needed to rely on someone to save them and their eyes fell on Noah, the one who seemed to hold the real power here. And they looked at him with a pleading look, causing Daniel to immediately become irritated.

"Don’t look at him with your filthy eyes."

...

The leader immediately lowered his gaze, not daring to provoke Daniel any further.

He had come here expecting to deal with two troublesome espers who had been avoiding their responsibilities, but the situation had somehow turned into a nightmare, and he was beginning to wonder whether returning to the base empty-handed would be the best outcome he could hope for.

However, before he could think of a way to salvage the situation, Noah placed his teacup on the table and looked at Daniel with a slightly helpless expression.

"Daniel, please don’t scare our guests. They came all this way, so we should at least hear them out properly."

Daniel’s expression softened immediately, and he even nodded obediently before sitting down beside Noah, leaving the association members staring at him in disbelief.

’What on earth is going on here?’

The leader struggled to make sense of the situation, but he eventually forced himself to focus on the matter at hand.

"Thank you for your understanding, Mr Noah. We sincerely apologise for the trouble we have caused, and we would like to invite both officers back to the association. We are willing to discuss their leave requests again and offer suitable compensation for the inconvenience."

"Oh? And what exactly are you offering them?"

Noah asked with genuine curiosity, making the leader hesitate as he realised that he had just walked straight into another trap.

Alan, who had returned with a fresh pot of tea, placed it on the table and smiled at the unfortunate man.

"That’s a good question. I hope you brought something worthwhile, because I would hate for you to leave here disappointed."

The leader felt a chill run down his spine, and for the first time since arriving, he sincerely regretted accepting this assignment.