Emily and I stared at each other for a while before Phuong stepped in front of me.
Sis, I don't think you standing there is going to protect me from shit. And given how horribly you've rolled your constitution saves so far, I doubt you'll even be a decent meat shield.
I craned my neck over her shoulder, looking down at Emily, holding the lantern by the end of a staff. She tapped the ground with it three times, the lantern burning brighter until me and Phuong were brought into the light.
Emily raised a brow, her smile now with a mix of smugness.
"Convient right?"
I looked at her, then the lantern before answering, "Very."
I took Phuong's hand, her eyes practically super-glued onto the mystical lantern that lights up when you tap it. You can cast fireball; this is just the same thing, except smaller and minus the arson. Knowing you can do that, you are somehow amazed by a lantern.
Phuong turned to me, eyes full of hope and dreams, and just as she was opening her dumb mouth.
"No."
She immediately crumpled into the pit of disappointment.
"I didn't even say anything yet," she whined, as if I didn't know what she was going to ask me.
"Uh huh," I nodded, ignoring her complaining.
I turned to Emily, who was still waiting, pausing for a moment, as I threw a glance at the lantern before looking back at her. She stared back, giving a slight nod. I smiled a little, looking back at Phuong before dragging her further into the lantern light.
Emily raised a brow, her smile now with a mix of smugness.
"Convient right?"
I looked at her, then the lantern before answering, "Very."
I took Phuong's hand, her eyes practically super-glued onto the mystical lantern that lights up when you tap it. You can cast fireball; this is just the same thing, except smaller and minus the arson. Knowing you can do that, you are somehow amazed by a lantern.
Phuong turned to me, eyes full of hope and dreams, and just as she was opening her dumb mouth.
"No."
She immediately crumpled into the pit of disappointment.
"I didn't even say anything yet," she whined, as if I didn't know what she was going to ask me.
"Uh huh," I nodded, ignoring her complaining.
I turned to Emily, who was still waiting, pausing for a moment, as I threw a glance at the lantern before looking back at her. She stared back, giving a slight nod. I smiled a little, looking back at Phuong before dragging her further into the lantern light.
"Hey! I'm not done talking yet!"
I rolled my eyes, tightening my grip on her wrist as Emily began to guide us away from the station.
As we walked, I observed the surroundings, only realizing that the people around also had lanterns, creating quite the ambient scene.
Maybe when I have time, I could draw this memory later.
I turned back to Emily ahead of us, keeping an eye on Phuong just in case. She looked at me and Emily for who knows how long, suspicion written all over her face that it's pretty much stamped onto her forehead.
Suddenly, I felt her grip tighten as she stared at me like she was trying to find something.
Is there something on my face?
She leaned towards me, squinting with this nonbelieving stare. I stared back at her, my confusion boiling over.
"What?"
"When did you get a girlfriend?"
I choked on my own saliva as I almost fell face-first to the ground. After a few rounds of coughing, I turned back to Phuong, my poor throat still sore from my shock. She looked back, acting like she was just asking about the weather. For a moment, due to my utter bafflement, I couldn't find the words to respond.
So I punch her instead.
"Ow, what the fuck?!" She hissed, holding the top of her head with great grievance.
"I should be saying that."
"Is it that hard to be happy for you?" she scowled, throwing a middle finger into the mix.
"I swear to god,if you ever get married, I'm cursing all your kids."
"Don't bring the children into this, they did nothing," I argued back, "Besides, bold of you to assume I'd ever knock anyone up."
"Then I'll curse your wife."
"Do not bring nonexistent people into this arguement right now."
"Yeah, exactly, nonexistent, that just means you'll be single for the rest of your life!"
"How does me being singe have anything to do with this?"
"Can you two shut up?"
We turned to Emily, who was glaring at us, very much annoyed. She rubbed her temples, letting a loud groan of frustration.
"I swear to Asteria, you two are more annoying than Captain," she muttered, turning her back to us as she continued walking ahead.
Phuong quieted down, lowering her head slightly as she mumbled a sorry before catching up to her. She turned to Emily, probably trying to turn her against me.
I sighed, following a few steps behind.
----------
We quickly arrived at a tall building that looked like a stereotypical medieval structure you'd find in any fantasy game. Based on European architecture- specifically Britain, surprisingly clean, and painfully generic. Although I wouldn't know, with my lack of glasses and the fact that this entire city seemed to have boycotted the sun, I can't see jack. Whoever he is.
Emily hung the lantern on the hook next to the door before taking out a key and opening the door. After the ominous creak of the door opening, the inside was completely dark, with only the lantern light lighting up at least a foot ahead.
I'm beginning to think this city hates light.
As usual, Phuong rushed in without hesitation. Like a fool- though there's nothing new about that.
And as expected, in the next second, a loud crash and cry of pain could be heard in the darkness, followed by a round of colorful curses. Emily and I looked at each other. She shrugged, giving me the key to the house and a sheet of paper.
I opened the paper, only to find a dense block of text staring back at me. I squinted my eyes, attempting to read the thing with much fear. After a while, everything started to melt together into a load of nonsense.
To whoever wrote this, may you stub your pinkie toe every day when you wake up.
My eyesight is cursed as it is; I don't need this wall of gibberish frying my brain as well.
Emily, perhaps seeing my hardships, explained, "It's the property contract. You'll be staying here until your mission is over."
So, in other words, make yourself useful or be homeless, understood.
I nodded before hearing another crash and another round of curses coming from the house.
Ah, right, Phuong's still inside. Did she get lost? Again?
I looked into the darkness, Emily doing the same, seeing absolutely nothing.
Do we have to install lights in here? Yes, I'm aware that we're going live here rent-free, but with my obisimal night vision, and Phuong's lack of knowing where the fuck she's going. I doubt we'll be able to actually live here.
I glanced at Emily, then at my wrist, and then into the darkness Phuong had foolishly run into.
I leaned forward a bit, calling out to Phuong inside in the midst of her angry cursing.
"Phuong, just use graphien."
"Fucking he- oh yeah."
So she forgot. Of course she did.
"λ𝕴γ𝕳𝕿!"
Then, a bright light manifested in the darkness, bathing the house in a warm light. There stood Phuong, even more disheveled than she was this morning. She looked around for a moment before turning to us, smiling as she waved like she wasn't just cursing to hell and back.
I rolled my eyes, stepping past the threshold before suddenly feeling a wave of warmth wash over me. Paired with the low lighting, the inside was surprisingly homey, all things considered. I looked at the contract and key in my hand, before turning back to Emily, still outside.
"You coming in?"
"Nah," she shook her head, placing the staff for the lantern next to the door before walking away.
She stopped for a moment, then said, "I'll have the materials delivered to you tomorrow. And if you destroy anything, you'll be paying for it."
I rolled my eyes again. As if I don't know the concept of property damage.
After saying her piece, she walked off into the darkness. How she's able to find her way without a lantern, only heaven knows. And because I don't care enough to find out. As long as she keeps her end of the deal, I won't poke my head into her affairs.
I closed the door, turning around to find my sister sticking fluffy glowing orbs everywhere. On the walls, the floor, the furniture, somehow the ceiling- no idea how she got up there.
"What are you doing?"
She stopped in her tracks, turning around to reveal a whole bundle of glowing orbs cradled in her arms. I looked at the orbs, then at her dumb face.
"What?" she blinked, then held out a glowing orb from the pile to me.
"We can save money on lights."
I stared at the glowing puffball presented before me.
"If we're doing this, at least be tasteful about it," I said, taking the little thing with a hand, then turning to Phuong.
"Have any spells that make string?"
After asking, her eyes lit up like the lights I was imagining. She looked up at me, hope turned into fire.
"Fairy lights?!"
"Fairy lights," I nodded.
The next moment, there came a squeal and a round of rapid casting.
Phuong sat on the floor, holding out her hands above a small pile of glowing puffballs as she fired spell after spell in rapid succession.
"λ𝕴γ𝕳𝕿-𝕺ρ𝕭 λ𝕴γ𝕳𝕿-𝕺ρ𝕭 λ𝕴γ𝕳𝕿-𝕺ρ𝕭 λ𝕴γ𝕳𝕿-𝕺ρ𝕭 λ𝕴γ𝕳𝕿-𝕺ρ𝕭!"
I watched as more puffballs materialized from Phuong's clammy palm, piling up until it was a mini-mountain of sparkling orbs, lighting up the surroundings even brighter. Phuong moved her hand next to the mountain of puffballs and chanted another spell.
"𝕽𝕺πε!"
A snake-like light appeared in Phuong's hand, coiling onto the floor before condensing into a pile of white string.
Did she just memorize a bunch of miscellaneous spells from that beginner's book? Although, if memory serves me right, that thing was more like a mismatch of ideas and messily drawn out paragraphs that I gave up reading halfway through. Though I hadn't read the beginner's guide, based on the chaotic mess that was the advanced scripts, I can roughly imagine.
I sat down beside her, taking a puffball and one end of the string and tying it around the orb. Unexpectedly, it didn't disintegrate into a million pieces like my little one. Lord rest its soul.
Anyway, since these ones seem to be much more durable than the one I made this morning, I assume they'll last much longer as well. Which means, we- Phuong- won't have to change out the lights for a while, which is good for us. The more money we save, the better our lives will be. Even in another world, other than the magic and the fact that everyone seems to be British, French, or just about anywhere in Europe, money is still a necessity for living. Comfortably, at least, I doubt anyone wants to sleep on the streets.
Phuong joined me in tying the glowing orbs to the string until we got quite the lengthy line of fairy lights. Phuong rolled the glittering string and excitedly dashed off to who knows where in this house to hang our new handiwork.
I sighed, turning back to the pile of string still there, staring back at me, and waiting. I sighed again; it seems that's all I've been doing these days.
Welp, at least these will keep me distracted for a while.
I took another string from the pile and began tying the puffballs of light to it. During that time, Phuong would sometimes come by to pick up the new string of fairy lights to hang around. Other than that, she'd talk about what she found while exploring our new abode.
"Hey, Minh! Did you know there's a basement here!"
"Uh huh," I'd nod.
"I know what a basement is; you should too. Or did getting thrown into this world scrabble your brain cells?"
She frowned, rolling her eyes as she groaned, "Ugh, can't you not fuck with me just this once?"
"No thanks, I don't give up hobbies that easily."
"Fuck you!" she shouted, stomping away in her little tantrum.
A few minutes later, she came back for more fairy lights to hang up around the house, and eventually, we exhausted the string pile and puffball mountain before realizing it. And with that, the house was fully lit with fuzzy balls of light hung by strings all over the ceiling, like stars pasted to our essentially rental home.
Hopefully, this doesn't count as property damage. Though it'd be stupid if it was, I've read up on some stupid laws in my time, so I wouldn't be surprised.
Looking up at the ceiling, I stared at the warmly glowing lights in a daze. I let my eyes unfocus, and body relax for the first time in a while- well, as relaxed as it can be on a stiff floor, but who's to judge?
Just as my mind was about to drift off, Phuong came into my vision with something in her hands. I sat up, taking a closer look at the thing.
It was a wooden box with cloud carvings engraved along the sides, with the carving of what looks like a willow tree on top of the lid, paired with golden accents and a latch.
I looked up at Phuong, a brow raised as I asked, "And what is this?"
"Dunno," she shrugged, sitting down cross-legged, the box nestled in the middle.
She turned it over in her hands, studying the cloud patterns around the box.
"When I was looking around, I found it under a bed. Maybe the previous owners left it?" she suggested, handing the box to me.
I took it, examining the carvings engraved into the wood.
No label. But if the previous owner left it behind, then is it ours? Is there a lost items fee if we keep it? I swear, whoever wrote that gibberish and calls a contract needs to relearn what a contract is. The wall of pure text showed me no mercy. I felt like my brain was melting.
I took out the contract from my pocket, opening it up to attempt to read the accursed thing again. However, it was all in vain as everything melded together into line after line of nonsense that I couldn't even recognize words anymore.
"Need help?" Phuong asked, leaning on me as she looked over my shoulder.
I shook my head, "I'm fine, I can read this on my own."
"Sure, whatever," she shrugged, turning to stare at the box.
"... Wanna open it?"
"... Meh, why not."
So we opened it.
There, cushioned inside was... a rock.
Just a good old, smoothed-out rock with some type of carving on it. Was it wrong of me to hope for treasure? Well, technically, it's my fault to hope for anything in this world. Also, why is this in a drastically more fancier box? Was this part of a rock collection or something? Never mind, why am I even thinking about this?
Phuong took the rock out of its much more extravagant home, turning it over before staring at the engraving.
"𝕮𝕬λ𝕷."
Suddenly, the stone lit up. And then the sounds of the wind and the occasional animal noises, before it cut off, the rock returning to its dull self.
... Hah?
That's it?
Well, it's better than the rock I was thinking of, but still. Disappointing.
I turned to Phuong- and she's on the floor.
The heck?
A/N
A lot of slice of life chapters recently. Also, sorry for the short chapter. The next one will be longer.