Being the Former Archon's Live-in Cook

Act 2

You went home shortly after your maintenance duty at the cafe. Tossing and turning in bed seemed to be the only option for you as your accompanied thoughts were incompatible with relaxation.

When you had rushed inside with brisk steps, the oakwood floors creaking as usual with the boots you put on this morning. You greet your dad on the way in that night, closing the door slowly with his back turned towards you, visible and too familiar as he was entertaining his former adventuring buddies in the open living room with his stories of old.

"Come here Y/N! Join your old man here with his buddies for a shot! You just recently celebrated your birthday, didn't you?"

"I'm fine." You say casually as you focus on unlacing your boots, placing a delicate but firm hand on the wall to get a better angle at taking them off. "How did your day go? I assume it's great as always." You were about to head upstairs but your dad's voice boomed louder than the thoughts in your head.

"Oh you bet! One of the boys caught a large haul today! It's a big fish, I tell you!" Despite his career of being an adventurer, your dad didn't seem to hold that much power anymore. He was just an old man reminiscing about the good times. Whoever he introduced you to for good work in the long-term would probably backfire and send the family into a huge debt. This was something you'd be extremely cautious of. You didn't actually believe he'd grant you success if he just slipped in a word about you to those he knew that were influential. You weren't that naive and trusting, even towards a family member who had trouble putting food on the table while your mom worked harder. There would definitely be benefits but nothing that promised you longevity.

Your dad had a well-defined physique before.

Days of harsh and gruelling adventuring and eating away to your heart's content when success was imminent did that to the body.

Now his belly reminded you of a rotund mountain, no longer boasting the rough edges it used to have and the battle scars he had accumulated didn't look as intimidating anymore. His wife couldn't bear to live with him anymore but ultimately, you still chose to live by this man's side instead of your mom's place. Not because you didn't love your mom more but because your dad needed someone more mature than him at his side. Well, that might change in a few minutes.

Even if he was useless at times, he was the one who taught you to be brave and make decisions for yourself while your mom made you see common sense and differentiate delusions from reality. You wonder how mom ever loved him, considering he had done all sorts of adventuring missions before for the sake of fortune. For someone like her who put the law above everything else, her husband was far from that and loved bending it. Though he is more behaved now and always had good intentions.

"That's good." You adjust the collar of your long-sleeved white knit shirt.

"Should you choose to be a live-in-cook for Miss Furina, you will have to relocate residence and live in her house. Naturally, living on-site means the elimination of commute time and allows you to readily prepare meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You will be rewarded but the work will be twice as much, considering your job here at the cafe. If this is alright with you?"

You knew the assignment was going to go this way. Iudex Neuvilette, for all his formalities, was surprisingly meek and quiet when he wasn't working. That was one thing you kept in mind. His mastery over all things verbose in the court was outright disparate from his demeanor outside of it.

But juggling things was the beauty of freelancing. Work was often dictated and settled by yourself. These things you do in life related to work would be short-term before you moved on to the next job in line, retaining balance and prioritizing your own sense of happiness, seeing what works and what doesn't for you. In your own preference, a single job for life was boring. It wasn't something you could stick with. It might've been a matter of time anyways before you quit the cafe if you can't handle the schedule anymore. That made you internally praise those who worked consistently at one thing their entire lives more so.