Ball of Nothing

Coux sensed something powerful happening upstairs and so did the other patrons. Some of the demons in the shop forgot about their food and paused to look up. The spike in magical energy lasted only for a minute or so but everyone knew that it couldn't be Qin Yun. the regulars knew the fox demoness well enough. Besides, even if they didn't, something of this level could only rival a Demon Lord's.

"It must be Lord Baal's guest," one customer speculated. The rumours became wild and Coux was unable to stop the word from spreading. What's strange was how nobody seemed frightened of the short display of power. The half-succubus briefly considered if Hell was a better environment for Zero rather than Earth. If Half Moon village didn't welcome Zero back and apologise for their treatment, she would leave it for good. There are many places a Van Doux could settle down in.

Back upstairs, Zero burped and quickly covered his mouth sheepishly. Qin Yun looked a little different but Zero couldn't place a finger on it. Was it her hair? No, that had always been the same.

Qin Yun examined herself in the window's reflection. She felt a lot lighter and in a way, younger too. Whatever Zero did was amazing. The fox demoness wondered if this meant that she could become human faster than anticipated. That aside, King Yama would surely notice the discrepancy of sins in his books after what Zero did. Sins didn't simply disappear without a trace. She glanced sideways at Zero who seemed to be analysing something.

Zero stared hard at Qin Yun's new status. The experiment proved to be successful so far. Qin Yun's sins were reflected as zero the way it should be. The queer thing Zero noticed was how Qin Yun's race status changed. Instead of a snow fox demon, it now read as snow fox spirit. Still, the lady looked exactly the same as how he remembered her to be. What could possibly be different?

When he looked down, Zero understood what was wrong at once. Qin Yun's shadow was missing!

"Your shadow..." he pointed and Qin Yun looked down.

"Oh, this is normal for spirits. I guess your experiment must have been a success."

The teen didn't know what to say. "Does that mean you can't remain in the abyss any longer?"

The snow fox spirit smiled. "I have a free-pass to Hell, courtesy of Lord Baal. I'll be fine. You should be able to use this to convince everyone of your plan now. I heard from Mii that you found a way to save both Schaf and Kerberos?"

Zero nodded. "Yes! I'm going to eat away all of Schaf's sins. That way, he can return to heaven."

Qin Yun didn't know what to say. "You do know that Schaf has a mixed bloodline, right? What worked for me may not work for him."

Zero waved her concern off. "Don't worry. I'll just have to test this on more people to understand how it works. I'll ask Coux if I could set up a business here for redemption of sins. I wouldn't be cheating people if they paid me to do it. Although I might need your help to convince them that it is safe..."

Coux wasn't too sure that Zero's plan would work. In fact, she was worried. What about the demons who were pure-blooded demons? Would the consequences be dire? A demon without sin couldn't remain in Hell, they would be rejected. Still, she didn't shoot his plan down. Instead, she encouraged him. Coux should be more than capable enough to do damage control. It was better than encouraging Zero to randomly kidnap demons to test his new abilities out.

Zero left like the wind as soon as Qin Yun nodded. She trusted that the trader would be able to stop the teen from going too far if needed. For now, the snow fox spirit seized this chance to test if the demon part of her was gone for good. Summoning the familiar feeling of magic in her veins, Qin Yun found that she could not use the mana that existed in the abyss. In fact, she felt weakened by expending so much mana. The foxfire that appeared on the tip of her finger flickered and wavered so much that she had to call it off. Perhaps she should return to the village to recharge and help Lovina meet the never-ending demands for food. She could return once she has regained her strength after she'd discussed with Baal about her unplanned vacation.

***

A few dozen pairs of eyes stared at the mysterious fake sheep demon who came down the stairs. Murmurs filled the little shop and spread quickly when Zero bounced over to Coux in a beeline.

"Coux!" Zero grinned. "Can I open a sin redemption business in your shop for a little while? The experiment was successful but I need to confirm something different..."

The secretary froze, unsure about what Zero was talking about until Mii interrupted to clear the questions in the air.

The moment they heard what the strawcherry fairy said, the whispers in the shop got louder until the patrons standing outside the shop were able to catch the drift of the commotion.

"Redeem sins? Can he really do that? Not even the Gods can pardon so many sins..."

"Is this a hoax? Wasn't this brat Lord Baal's guest?"

"That explains the powerful energy earlier. Maybe he is the saviour sent to us!"

With conflicting opinions about Zero's claims flying in every direction, Belles and Begonia was once again thrown into chaos. Unable to put a lid on the situation, Coux contacted Baal to report about the situation.

Back in his castle, Baal jumped. He was skiving and procrastinating with work. Pen spinning was a more entertaining hobby and he'd been doing it for the past hour without Coux breathing down his neck. Needless to say, he fell out of his chair when he heard Coux's voice. The Demon Lord looked around the room to see if his overly capable assistant was spying on him from somewhere and relaxed when he realised it was simply a telepathic message through the covenant mark.

Collecting himself quickly, Baal switched to work mode. Whatever matters that pertained to Zero was always on the top of his priority list. Sometimes the Demon Lord wondered if Zero was doing this to him intentionally. Ever since knowing the brunet, Baal had been through the emotional wringer. On the plus side, his boring and lonely life was now a thing of the past. At the same time, Baal longed for the idle days that were also now a thing of the past. Business was good because it meant that he had money that could be used to support Zero's adventure in the future. However, working was bad. Baal abhorred working, it simply went against his principles but Coux was determined to make Baal see things the other way. She hasn't succeeded so far and Baal hoped that she would never succeed.

"I see," he nodded after Coux finished her reporting. "I'm not against Zero opening his 'business' in my domain. However, you still have to register his business under Belles and Begonia. Knowing Zero, I'm guessing we should inform King Yama about it?"

Coux agreed. "It wouldn't be funny if King Yama discovers a huge discrepancy of sins in his books. Reconciliation is a pain, you should know this with some first-hand experience."

Baal shuddered at the memory. It wasn't too long ago that he was swearing at the figures. If the numbers did not tally, it rivalled facing Lucifer's punishments. Mammon was determined to make Baal's empty bank account bear the brunt of every single number that was missing from the books. Coux was excellent when it came to chasing for the required documents, which explains Baal's current predicament. The Demon Lord sighed. Not having a secretary was troubling. Having an overly efficient secretary posed a new set of problems. Was there really no way to be satisfied?

After giving Coux a new set of orders Baal agreed that he would write King Yama a letter personally to explain the situation.

"Please help to keep track of the demons who participated. We don't have the records of their sins but we can make his job easier."

"Oh, don't worry about that," the half-succubus smiled. "Zero has that taken care of. He can see how many sins each person has. We just want to test if eating a demon's sins will change their race. Zero tried it on Beelzebub earlier and the result wasn't too petty. Beelzebub saw it as a threat despite Zero's claim that he still had an infinite number of sins for gluttony."

Baal hummed. "Well, it's not exactly the same for a normal demon to lose their sins and a Demon Lord to lose theirs. A Demon Lord's sins represent power. We need all the power we can get to support this plane from falling apart. Becoming the guardian of a domain isn't something anyone could do. As a new Demon Lord, Beelzebub had every right to feel threatened. If Zero took out more than Beel could accumulate, his newly forged domain could easily crumble. As for regular demons, tell Zero to feast to his content. They would simply become spirits of their rightful heritage if I'm not mistaken. Weak demons are often ousted out from the abyss to Earth. They roam around as things like ghosts."

Coux looked at Zero who waited patiently while snacking on something that Amaraline offered. She exchanged a few more words with Baal before closing their connection. Zero's eyes lit up when Coux turned to him. Leave it to Zero to instinctively know when there is good news.

"Baal says that it is alright to start your business here. However, we can't do it today, there are administrative matters to attend to. Also, you need to record down the name of the demons who participated and the number of sins you've eaten. We need to give this record to King Yama."

Zero agreed at once and pumped a fist into the air, uncaring about the strange looks he received. "Great! I guess I'll spend the rest of the time helping out with the shop until the auction house opens. We can visit the auction house later, right?"

Coux smiled. "Of course. Would you like to learn how to brew tea? Amaraline can show you how."

Zero skipped away happily and once he was out of the picture, Coux turned back to the whispering patrons.

"Lord Baal has given permission. We will be starting a side business tomorrow for anyone who is interested in sin redemption. Please look forward to the details we will be putting up later. Anyone who participates will be given a discount coupon for our desserts, whilst stocks last."

The moment Coux mentioned that there will be discount coupons given out, excited whispers filled the room. Some demons rushed back to tell their loved ones about the good news. Clearly, money was everything regardless of which dimension. Coux left with a smirk on her lips. Everything was progressing smoothly. It wouldn't be long before Mammon commits to invest in their business, she just knew it would happen. Lilith was already calling dibs on the initial share release and Coux couldn't deny her. The only problem she had was getting Baal to agree to become the owner of the business. Despite being lazy, Baal was extremely capable when it came to managing his territory.

"Oh well," she smirked. Even if Baal doesn't want to accept the position, he will when Coux reveals her secret weapon. Nobody will be able to resist the limited edition photographs of Zero cosplaying as a demon.