I stared down at my alleged sister, tapping my finger on the doorframe as my rather short patience continued to thin.
It has in fact, been five minutes since this idiot suddenly decided that she wanted to start freaking out. She still, has not told me anything, and has been sitting here like a dumbass who was hit with an existential crisis. I would pity her if this problem couldn't have been solved five minutes ago. Five minutes of my finite life wasted in a silent paradox with a confusing goldfish-brained goblin that somehow ended up sharing the same biological parents as me! Truly, god had died a long time ago, because that is the only way this exact event could ever occur. Sometimes, I wonder what I did wrong to warrant this level of divine punishment. It's either I committed the most heinous crime known to man by accident, or my past life was the equivalent of the scum of the earth. Both are possible.
Usually, when she gets like this, I wouldn't mind and wait for a while. But whether it's the sleep deprivation talking or the thin line that is my sanity has finally snapped, I don't believe that I have the patience nor mercy to tolerate her right now.
I exhaled a long breath, starting to feel the ache in my legs as- I don't know, have been standing in the same position for the last FIVE MINUTES! My joints were already stiff, but not this stiff. It's a miracle that I haven't already thrown her out the window to take a nap in peace. Only my pickled brain knows I need it.
We continued staring at each other for the next- I don't know, I just it was a long time. I'm surprised my current patience lasted this long, maybe I am too merciful. After another few minutes of my life had withered away, Phuong's eyes started to redden and the most frustrating thing happened. A sniffle.
"I'm going to punch you."
"What the fuck?!"
"You heard me."
Rubbing her eyes and accursed sniffle, she pouted.
"You're a fucking asshole."
"Thank you, just doing my job," I shrugged, finally moving my poor joints, before slumping next to her.
She rolled her eyes, rubbing her nose as she fell quiet again. Just as I was actually about to punch her, she finally started talking.
"I can't remember what dad was like."
"..... That's it?"
"Fuck you."
"Fine, I'll be serious," I conceded, scooting closer to her.
Okay, but on an actual note, this is something to worry about. Though Phuong has the brain capacity of an ostrich, she doesn't have dementia. Given she was quite close to Dad before he sailed across the river Styx via road rage truck, it's almost impossible for her to naturally forget anything about him. I wouldn't be surprised if I did, but not her. So then why? I looked back to her and started my list of questions.
"Did you take any drugs knowingly or unknowingly?"
"Emily tricked me into taking some knock medicine, but there was no signs of memory lose."
"Did you hit your head anywhere?"
"Yeah, but head traumas like that only cause temporary to long term memory loss. And it doesn't explain why memories of Dad are gone specifically."
I nodded, "Mm, yeah, good point. What about magic?"
"Maybe, but I'm not sure. I could ask-"
I raised a brow, "... You paused."
Phuong froze, starting to look anywhere but my face as she started reciting her excuses, "I-I was gonna Emily. Yeah, she knows a lot about magic stuff, so maybe she'd know what's going on with me. A-and If we ask around the cult, we'll find out something!"
"Uh huh."
Wait for it.
"I-if we can't find anything in the cult, we can always talk to the city lord or something. I'm sure Emily has connections, he might know something about it."
"Mhm, and what was your first option?"
"What option?"
"Don't gaslight me."
At that, she shut her mouth as she turned her ass a 180 away from me. Maybe I should start beating some sense into her. Just as I was raising my fist to plant a well coordinated smack, she finally spat it out.
"We're dead!"
And it was the most useless information I've ever heard. Also, probably crazy. Perhaps something along the way had broke something in her hollow noggin.
"Wat."
After another instance of silence, she took a deep breath and started unloading the whole mag in one breath.
"Before we came here we actually got hit by a truck and died but I got a goddess and you got here by mistake and she's been talking to me before she stopped after I didn't want to be her vassal and now I'm starting to forget about dad and everyone back at home and we're fucked!!!"
After unloading that grammar disaster of a sentence, she took another breath, deflating like a sad pancake that tastes like crap. Patting her back, I started filtering out the new information, and holy mother of nonexistent gods this situation is tropier than I could've ever imagine.
First, let's process the most important things, being the fact that we DIED?! When did that happen, and how do I not remember that?? You would think that I'd remember dying to the truck in almost every isekai! Perhaps it was because I was brought here by mistake? So that means Phuong was brought here on purpose and that truck was meant for her. So piecing that together, what most likely happened was that she was being dumb on the crosswalk again, I saw the incoming vehicular homicide, the attempted saving her ass failed and ended with throwing us both into fantasy land, in which by some divine plot armor that we haven't died a second time. Truly the fates are cruel in their methods. The worst part is that my dumbass would probably do it again. If anything to blame, blame my capacity to care too much.
Other than that, there's also that goddess, probably the one Emily talks about from time to time, and the one who sent that truck after Phuong. I believe her name was Asteria; a goddess of the night and order. I already don't trust her for crap. There is no way that she isn't scheming anything, otherwise, why would she pick Phuong out of all people to target. If I wasn't here, she'd have probably tricked her into doing crimes against humanity. Luckily, Phuong isn't that stupid to not notice anything, but if she didn't crack so easily, she'd have probably agreed to something that she couldn't take back.
Never put your trust in a god, especially one that has motive. We might not know for now what that goddess is planning, but given the current circumstances, nothing great. But, what we can do is fish for information. Unfortunately, I'll have to leave the reins of that to Phuong and pray she doesn't fuck it up somewhere. But with some coaching and good old ruler whacking, she should be able to get something out of her.
I knocked Phuong upside the head, dodging a responding punch and expertly slipped off the bed. Fist in the air, she shot a glare at me as she then proceeded to channel her inner fish and flop uselessly onto the mattress. I let out a long sigh, rubbing my temples as I felt more unwarranted headaches start popping up.
"So, what do you want to do?" I asked, might as well throw the initiative out there.
Phuong stared at the ceiling above, seeming questioning life as she offhandedly answered, "I don't know. Talk to her maybe?"
"Are you sure you can? You've never actively come to her and it seems you two aren't on speaking terms at the moment."
She exhaled, rolling over to her side before curling up, switching from fish to shrimp now, "I can try. I don't think she's mad."
"Really now?"
"Shut up."
"Yes yes, I know having intelligent conversations is a struggle for you, I'll take it slow," I shot back, walking over the curtains to cover the window.
At this point, I never wish to see another window ever again. May all of them be utterly obliterated the moment I see them.
Turning back, I was met with a middle finger as per the standard as the little goblin clone threw out her string of ancestral curses. After, she pulled up the covers, cocooning herself into an absurdly large forbidden burrito, saying not to wake her up in a while. Leaning against the nearby desk, I watched as Phuong closed her eyes, falling into slumber as her soul fuck off to who knows where. Walking over, I adjusted the blanket burrito to cover her feet, because one, no one wants to see that, and two, she'd end up getting uncomfortable and waking up sooner if I didn't. I sat down next to her, watching her sleeping burrito before turning my attention to the very conspicuous knife on the bedside table.
Now that we have the goddess thing being worked out, it's time to see how much my life is worth.
Apparently, it's worth a small black kitchen knife. However, given that this thing can allegedly fly around, its value should be kicked up a notch. But still, this is a fantasy world, so I can't guarantee that there are any other flying magic weapons. For now, its value will be relatively low.
Looks like I'll have to rework on selling it anytime soon.
The question is: Why was this thing in my room?
It could've stabbed and killed me in my coma. The sheer irresponsibility to have this thing be in a 'patient's' room where they could've died because of this knife is staggering. Maybe this specific cult doesn't care about their members as much? No, if they did, then that pink-haired guy wouldn't be this friendly.
I let out an exasperated breath, my already sleep deprived brain already wanting to resign from office before I heard a knock on the door. Well, former door.
In the entrance way was a silver-haired girl with a rather frilly get up for someone like her, with her usual scrutinizing expression. She glanced at the sleeping goblin, before setting her sights back on me.
"Is she okay?"
"She's fine."
"Alright," she shrugged, letting herself in as she sat down on one of the bedside tables.
Still looking to me, she propped a leg over the other, leaning back as she brushed a few strands of hair aside.
"Well since she's asleep, I guess I'll fill you in on the current situation."
I raised a brow, letting my relax a little as I nodded, "Much appreciated."
Let's see what I missed while I was comatosed.
A/N
Alrighty. Really sorry for the late uploads, life has been hectic and writer's block has been kicking my ass. QAQ
I feel like I've been neglecting Angelo a bit, so the next few chapters will be in his POV :>