Not ten minutes passed before Cobra finished, exiting the tent to find Jellal joined with the rest of his guild. His boss did not look happy. Although, if he were to count the number of times he saw this man smile, it had to be in the single digits. "You have some explaining to do, Erik," Jellal said.
Cobra held up his hands in mock surrender. "You got me. Do you want the report on your desk by the end of the day, or can I have an extension until Monday?"
The proceeding frown made it quite clear. He wanted the information yesterday (literally) and he wasn't going to take any more excuses.
"Ok, ok," Cobra said. "I know, I messed up. But let me ask you this. Would you rather have a half-finished report or a conclusive one?"
"…What do you mean?"
"I mean, I just talked with Sorano again, and I think I have all I need to put this Love-Doctor case to rest. If it's alright with you, I was thinking of taking Macbeth to assist and wrapping it all up all nice and tidy."
He heard Meredy gasp, putting a hand to her face in relief. Macbeth stood up beside Jellal, his face a confused scrunch. "How do you possibly plan to do that?"
"I'll explain on the way." He turned back to Jellal. "I know I haven't told you anything, and I know I caused you grief yesterday. Let me take that back in part by fixing it now."
Then he waited. When Jellal was serious, his eyes didn't betray a hint of what he was really feeling. Never mind his inner voice. It was enough to send a shiver down Cobra's spine. Not for the first time, he admitted to being a little glad the heavenly body mage was on his side. Usually.
Jellal let out a breath and shook his head. "I rarely hear you being so sincere."
"Are you kidding? I tell you how insufferable you are every day. You think I'm joking?"
His guildmaster gave a thin smile before stepping aside. "I do expect something by the end of this, alright? I won't let it slide this time."
"Yeah, yeah. Already got my rough draft done." Before Jellal walked past him, Cobra put a hand down on his shoulder. The taller man turned around, an eyebrow raised. "Actually…can I have your ear for a moment? You might be able to do something to help us in this…"