Ball of Nothing

It was a long day and Zero was ready to completely zone out after dinner. He was soaking in the bath when Truen contacted him using the i-communicator.

"Hello?"

"It's me, Zero. How is everything progressing in Half Moon Village? Are you fully recovered now?"

The doctor grinned. "Yes, I am fully recovered. I just had a long day. Almost everything on the second part of your long to-do list is completed. Aren't you proud of me? All that's left is to wait for Mammon and Ruth to finalise the arrangements for the demon work visas. Qin Yun's clan will be the first batch of demons to come to Earth for a trial. I already have the first job in mind for them - an escort duty for the goods to Deadman Town. Did I do good?"

Truen listened to Zero's babble with patience and a proud smile. "Yes, Zero. You did very well. I assume everything is going fine in Magnus Hilda too?"

Zero hummed and sank deeper into the bath so that the water covered above his shoulders as he held the communicator to his ear. It was chilly without his temperature regulating clothes.

"According to Zenobia who sends letters twice a day, Dorgon and Thomas are making astounding progress. The basic structure of the temple is ready and the rough outline for the Freya statue has been prepared by Camie's mom. At the rate that they are going, I think they'd only need another month to finish everything including the detailing and paint job."

Truen hated being the one to break the bad news especially when Zero sounded so content. However, he had no choice. It was better to get over and done with it quickly so that he didn't have to feel too guilty about something completely out of his control.

"There's a situation in Smargdas," Truen controlled his tone to make it as neutral as possible. "King Brice submitted a private request to Mitchnew but we need to know what you would like to do. A beast folk servant of his was kidnapped and we suspect that Grey Legion is behind it. Do you want to accept his request to find and rescue her?"

It was a no-brainer. When Zero heard that a damsel was in need of saving, he immediately asked for details and not about the reward or the conditions.

"Monoman and Jermine are heading to Lycantopia. Do you think they would be able to find Misana?"

Truen sighed. "Unlikely. Misana might have been kidnapped to be sold as a slave just like how we found Jermine. In order to locate her, we need to raid every slave trafficking ring in Smargdas and if we still cannot locate her, I'm afraid we might need to pay a visit to the United Nation of the Uncanny to find Grey Legion's mistress."

Zero tried to map out the journey and the time needed in his head with Mii's help and frowned. "I want to help King Brice, Truen. However, the Freya statue and temple is due to be completed in a month. I don't think we can make it back on time to go to Magnus Hilda if we help King Brice find Misana. Do we have to split up again? Also, if we are heading to the United Nation of the Uncanny, I want to meet Sylvia the Silver Witch no matter what. She still hasn't replied about Xvyal and Yxaan, much less about the key she is holding."

Indeed, there wouldn't be enough time. It was humanly impossible to be at two places at once. However, for Zero, such a matter was child's play.

"Why don't you make extra clones in Half Moon Village so that they can take care of official matters in the village, in the abyss and with Magnus Hilda for you? At the same time, it wouldn't hurt to have one clone constantly recovering mana or cultivating. I still have four clones meditating in the Spring of Vitality while I'm in Smargdas. Distance doesn't seem to matter a lot when it comes to maintaining clones as long as I am in control of my Parallel Minds."

Zero considered it. According to Wii, he had more Parallel Minds than Truen did but in order to maintain a clone, Wii had to split herself constantly and it took up a lot of system resources in the mindscape. Mii was currently swamped and even with Lily helping the strawcherry fairy, they were still very far from running smoothly. The downtime that Zero created after the nova cannon incident was simply too much and the work piled up too much for one mindscape assistant to handle.

"Mii might kill me if I suggest creating more clones to her," Zero whimpered. "Wii has only recently been able to maintain her online status and we're still in the process of recovering lost Parallel Minds from the nova cannon blast. I've started to gain the safe mana reserves back and maintain them at a stable level. I don't think making too many clones is a wise decision for now."

Truen kept his emotions in check. "Does that mean we cannot accept King Brice's request?"

Zero frowned. "No. I want to save Misana. Any kin of Jermine is also an ally of ours in a broader sense. I might not like Count Carrabas but it doesn't seem like King Brice likes him either. The enemy of my enemy is my foe."

Truen sighed. "The enemy of my enemy is my ally, Zero. You're right about that. King Brice doesn't like Count Carrabas because Count Carrabas belongs to Duke Zurich's faction."

"Who's that?"

In a short summary, Truen explained Smargdas' current political arena and the key players. With Duke Zurich and Duke Connie sandwiching the powerless King Brice, Zero started to feel more determined to accept this helpless king's request.

"Is there room for negotiation?" Zero asked and Truen was surprised.

"We have until tomorrow to give him a reply."

Zero thought for a while. "Tell King Brice that if he wants us to help him save Misana, he has to become a good king. Smargdas is too close to New Moon Village and Half Moon Village has been attacked before. I want him to sign a peace or alliance treaty. He should start removing the corrupted nobles in power and start looking at helping the poor people in his country. I'm going to start introducing demons and I want Smargdas to open its trade borders to demons from Half Moon Village. Also, tell him to appoint us as envoys. I need some name and rank to have an audience with Sylvia the Silver Witch and Elf King Sharo. If he doesn't agree, we're still saving Misana but I'm going to teach him a lesson personally, starting from the Five Classics of Confucius."

His friend had truly toughened up ever since the nova cannon incident and Truen liked Zero's current way of thinking better than before. Finally, they were being reasonable.

"Understood. I will wait for you in New Moon Village two days from now after I hear from King Brice. Will update you again, don't forget to brush your teeth before you sleep."

Zero froze for a while and promised that he wouldn't before ending the call with a groan. Must Truen really remind him? He finally had a night off to relax. Why must his best friend ruin it by reminding him about chores?