Lin Ye had to admit that he was not the best at bargaining for partnerships with people. The reason why Yan and Kjerag were willing to work alongside Rhodes Island was all because of luck and some entity that enjoyed torturing Lin Ye at every given moment.
However!
Even he knew that what Nian just said to the man was not something that you would say to someone you were looking to cooperate with. Saying that the man would soon die was not what he expected her to say.
So forgive him when his eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he stared in shock at his little sister.
He was no genius negotiator but saying that was definitely not the smart thing to do.
Although he was shocked, Lin Ye was also intrigued by what she just said. Even if Nian liked to act like an idiot, she was the farthest thing from one.
She must have a reason for saying this. That, or she just wanted to annoy the man.
He hated how he was leaning into the latter.
The best he could do now was pray to any deity who would be willing to help him. Luckily, he was in a church, so maybe the Lateran God would help him out?
If not, Messiah would be the only god that he would love in this world after this.
The elderly Sankta's face morphed from confusion to anger when he heard Nian explain herself.
Lin Ye couldn't blame him though.
This came to no one's surprise since that would be the normal reaction when someone told you that you were about to die soon.
"Child," His voice was deeper now, "Do you know who you are talking to?"
Sure enough, this man was not amused at what Nian told him just now.
Sadly for him, Nian was not impressed by his attempt to intimate her. In fact, she looked annoyed.
"Of course I do," Nian stared at him blankly, "And please don't call me a child. No matter how old you think you are, you are but an infant compared to me."
This took the man by surprise. He knew that some races age differently, so the chance of what she was telling him being true was high. However, he was a veteran Legatus and he quickly recovered.
He glanced at the boss of this person, Lin Ye, the famous Doctor of Rhodes Island.
"I think we should end this meeting," He sternly told him, "Maybe when you are ready to talk and have a better company with you, we will be able to make some headway in our discussions."
With that, the Sankta faced his back toward the two and walked away.
Seeing that the other party was not in the right state of mind, Lin Ye thought that it would be better to cancel today's meeting. But, he still needed to get some good results, even though he understood where the person was coming from.
Just as Lin Ye was about to call him to try to negotiate a compromise, Nian's irritated voice echoed out once again.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
This is not good.
Before Lin Ye could react, Nian spoke again, her voice full of disdain, "Your body is in such a dire state, and yet you just ignore it? I know you're a child but at least take care of yourself, though it is unfortunately no medicine in Laterano that can help you with your condition."
After hearing her words, Kieran, who was planning to leave, stopped again and turned to look at her.
"What are you even talking about? What do you mean?" Kieran said in a deep voice as he faced them, "Are you trying to pretend to be smart by pointing out my "disease", and then explaining that only Rhode Island can cure it? This is not something new to me so please try better if you want to trick me."
Before Nian could further worsen the situation, Lin Ye patted her on the shoulder and walked in front of her.
"That is not what she meant, Mister Kieran," Lin Ye smiled as he said, "In some regards, this person is better at finding problems in one body than most doctors could. She's so good in fact, she can find problems with one's body at a simple glance. So rest assured, she had a reason for telling you that."
With how much trouble he found himself in this new world, Lin Ye learned a lot of tricks in trying to mitigate the consequences of the trouble he would face.
One of them was what he does best now.
Bullshitting.
Even he was impressed at how fast he thought up an excuse for Nian's crude action. It was not even a lie. Nian was a creature that could be considered a God, so she must have some sort of skill in reading someone's body or soul.
So, technically he was not lying to the man. He was just using different words to say the same thing.
He just hoped Nian had a good reason for why she was annoying the angel now.
What Lin Ye said caught this man's attention as he raised a brow at him and looked back at Nian.
Although he was still not amused, he was intrigued now.
"Better than most doctors?" Kieran's eyes narrowed slightly, as he said with a sneer, "I do a full-body check-up every month at Laterano's best hospital, and every month, they say the same thing to me, that I am healthy. Are you trying to say that I suddenly fell ill on this very day?"
"No," Nian shook her head quite seriously and said to him, "You have been sick for a long time. Since you were born."
Kieran's eyes widened. But he quickly recovered and adopted a more serious expression.
"How are you so sure-"
"Like the Doctor said just now," Nian interrupted him, "I can really detect problems in your body better than doctors could ever do."
This made the man even more suspicious of this individual.
"What proof do you have then?" He challenged her.
Nian did not look bothered by this.
"I have none." She simply admitted.
This only made the man annoyed now.
Lin Ye, who was on the sidelines, could not help but let out a quick laugh at what was going on in front of him. He knew that this was an important matter, but the face of the man-made just now was too funny to not laugh at.
Kieran needed to physically restrain himself to not jump at this woman.
"So you're a fake then," He concluded.
Kieran obviously didn't want to waste any more time and was about to leave again.
However, Nian's next sentence stopped him again.
"I remember this country had a monster called Abomination here, right?" Nian said, "Its power is not so easy to control, is it?"
Kieran's movements froze.
This made Nian smirk.
"Let me guess." Nian tilted her head, with a faint smile on her face, "Mortals wanted to get their hands on a power that didn't belong to them, and they succeeded! Sadly, they eventually realised that that power was something they could not handle."
Nian chuckled as she shook her head at him.
"This kind of plot is quite common in movies and TV dramas, right?" She said, "It seems that it also happened in real life too."
Kieran turned his head sharply, his eyes wide, and his expression no longer as calm as before.
"What do you know?" Kieran said in a hoarse voice as he stomped towards them again. He stretched out his arm, "How do you know all of this-"
Just as the man was about to grab her, another hand stopped it.
Nian's eyes widened when she saw this. Both of them looked to the side and saw it was Lin Ye who did that.
He still had a thin smile on his lips.
"I know this might be a surprise to you, I can understand that. However," Kieran noticed the grip on his arm was tightening, "Please calm down."
Kieran's eyes widened when he looked into this man's eyes.
Although the smile on his face was gentle, his eyes showed otherwise.
And from what he has seen; he did not want to make Lin Ye more emotional than he already was now.
Seeing that he finally calmed down, Lin Ye's expression softened.
"I will let go of your hand," He told the man, "You will be calm, yes?"
Kieran could only weakly nod at him.
With that, Lin Ye finally let go of his hand.
"You said you can treat it," The man muttered, "How-."
Before he could even say a thing, Kieran was interrupted by Nian.
"Eh~," She drawled out, "Weren't you about to leave just now? No one is stopping you now, you know?"
The man did not say anything as he lowered his head, gazing defeatedly at the floor.
This made Nian smirked and nudged her elbow at Lin Ye.
"Isn't this good, Gege?" Nian said to him, "The little Angel is finally going to listen to us now."
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Draft: Jaq
Proofread: Discord
Edit: Jaq