Ball of Nothing

Zero added some sleeping medicine into the tea. It was a very strong dosage that he concocted himself and gave it to the girl who was coincidentally starving so he gave her some broth to go with it. As it wasn't good to eat or drink too much before surgery, Zero apologised that he couldn't give her more.

Instead of being upset or disappointed, the blind mole girl shook her head and shed tears of gratitude at the kindness he was showing her. When Zero saw how humbled she was from this little act of concern for her, he felt his non-existent heart hurt. How old was this child? She must have been so afraid after she was separated from her family and living alone with all that abuse, not knowing which day might be her last while putting up with the cruel pain was simply not something someone like her deserved. She was such a good child and Zero wished that he'd asked Truen to drag out the deaths of those adventurers. He didn't know how his friend killed them but Zero thought that death might have been too lenient for them. Then again, they weren't the only ones responsible for this girl's misfortune. Zero shouldn't be too harsh on those adventurers, they were only part of the problem and by now, Enma must be dishing out their well-deserved punishment.

The ones who should be truly responsible would be the ones in power who failed to make a change for these weak people who couldn't fend for themselves. Zero learned from Baal and the demon lords that power was meant to protect the weak. Sure, there may be times when the demon lords had a little too much fun with the power they have which resulted in annihilated countries but on a whole, Zero thought that they were still better than the puppet royalties who didn't do anything for their people. By puppet royalty, Zero was reminded about a certain dwarven king but thank goodness, his daughter turned out to be an exemplary princess capable of succeeding her not so capable father. Motley was also a good chancellor even if he was a difficult person to get along with. Dorgon might be a pervert but he had a strong sense of loyalty to his country and its people so Zero would close one eye about the man on Rocket Mountain's throne.

Slowly but surely, the effect of the sleeping medicine took effect. He had to admit, this girl was more resilient than he thought she would be. Even after all that abuse, she was still mentally strong. Zero knew that she must be feeling extremely sleepy and dizzy by now but she was still doing her best to stay awake.

After twenty minutes, the resilient girl finally caved in and Zero tucked her nicely into the bed. Brutus was back and Zero could hear him conversing with Dwayne downstairs. He quickly cleared the space that he needed for the surgery and took out his surgical tools.

Dwayne came up with a basin of water and some clothes but he wasn't expecting the room to be rearranged. The bed that was originally placed at the side of the wall was not brought out to the centre and the fragile-looking elf had somehow flipped the other bed upright so that he stood against the wall to give them more space to move around the bed that the beast folk girl was lying on. She looked sound asleep but Dwayne was experienced enough to know that she wasn't sleeping out of her own will. Zero must have done something.

"Are you ready?" the elf asked.

He was dressed in a lab coat and had his hair hidden under a cap. Dwayne placed the basin of water onto the chair and the clothes at the side. He didn't know what Zero was up to but after looking at the silver knives, he had a bad feeling.

"What am I going to be assisting you in?" he finally asked, unable to hold himself back.

The boy smiled and put on some gloves and a mask that he pulled out from thin air. Spatial magic? Dwayne's eyes nearly popped out of his socket. No wonder Truen said that his younger brother was stronger than him. This elf was a mage! And from the looks of it, he might be a doctor too. No wonder he didn't ask for medicine. Normal mages aren't able to activate spatial magic with so much ease. They have to possess a lot of mana and be very proficient. Not only that, but they also need to be compatible with the magic to use it. It's the reason why anything imbued with magic can cost anything from a few hundred binnites to a few dinnites. Truen didn't really have to go to the Dirt Ring to make money, Zero was a walking money-making machine with his unique abilities.

However, that wasn't the end of the surprise. Zero prepared a lab coat, a mask, a pair of gloves and a cap of some sort for Dwayne too.

"Put them on," he told Dwayne and looked at the girl. "We will start with surgery to remove the rotting flesh and clean the wounds before stitching it up. Then I will need assistance to hold her in certain positions so that I can heal the sting wounds. Some of them have stingers inside so we need to get those out. I will need you to pass me my knives and needles when I ask for them and clean the wounds with water and the cloth. Can you do that?"

Although there was a lot of information to take in, the S rank adventurer got the gist of it. He might not be medically trained but he knew a thing or two over the years as an adventurer doing life-threatening missions. He knew how to tend to basic wounds and seeing a little bit of blood didn't faze him. He knew how to keep calm and do what he needed to do. Zero was satisfied with Dwayne's response and nodded.

"Let's begin," he told his new assistant as soon as he donned the outfit. This was going to take a few hours so Zero hoped that the S rank innkeeper would live up to his reputation. Surgery was no less challenging than fighting against an army of undead. Zero hoped that his assistant wouldn't underestimate the pressure of it.