Ball of Nothing

With Misana's painting and description, Zero and Truen were able to quickly confirm that she hasn't been seen by anyone in the legal channels within the slavery network or the major guilds. Missing people reports happened daily and they looked through every single case to check if there were updates about the beast girl but so far, there were no traces within the northern or eastern districts.

"It looks like we can only try finding Dina or comb the southern district," Truen said and Zero sighed.

"If only we had something that contained Misana's DNA, I could have performed a tracing spell and located her immediately."

Truen nodded. "It's a shame that King Brice couldn't find anything like that. Don't worry, it might take slightly longer but we can still do this the old fashioned way. It's way past lunch and we've been walking for a long time. Aren't you hungry?"

Zero's stomach growled at the reminder and Truen chuckled. "I thought so. Let's head back and find Bob. There is a nice kebab stall near Mitchnew's shop that we can eat at. I hope Gary has apologised enough to Bob. We need to discuss the guild creation process before dinner and check if Dina has seen the summoning request when we get back."

There were simply too many things that needed to be done and Zero wondered if Truen would get angry if he said there was one more thing he wanted to do in Smargdas before they left to find the keys. Other than finding Misana and setting up the Humanitarian Guild, Zero had an inspiration while looking around the city.

"Truen, will you be mad if I said I wanted to set up schools here? Not just for basic reading, writing and counting. The demons are coming over and I thought what better way would there be for them to gain recognition on Earth than to start by teaching magic or cultivation? It would only be a matter of time before people started designing tools and weapons with mana stones inside of them when we start circulating them in the market. Setting up a school ahead of time to educate people the right uses for magic should help to minimise the misuse and violence that come with it."

Truen sighed. "Why am I not surprised? Do you even have time to resolve all that? There is a saying to not bite off more than you can chew. I didn't think you'd be able to bite off more things and add them to your plate but you continue to amaze me. Where are your limits?"

Hearing Truen's lecture, Zero couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. Mii and Wii were overwhelmed with work because of his selfish demands and the one suffering most because of his ideas weren't really him. Zero should really stop if he wanted to be considerate to the people around him but whenever he saw how much worse other people had, he couldn't help but want to give them a better chance as well using what he had even if it meant troubling those who stood by him.

Still, Truen didn't dismiss Zero's idea. After all, it wasn't his duty to judge what Zero wanted to do or what shouldn't be done. The Great Gods sent him to assist Zero in what he wanted to accomplish and even if it was difficult, that was Truen's job to figure out how they could make it possible.

A school wasn't difficult to set up. In fact, Truen already had a few ideas about how they can do it. King Brice would play a major role in setting up the school and supporting the Humanitarian Guild at a later stage. For now, their aim was to stop Duke Connie from building up too much power with his monopoly of slaves and reduce the number of slaves in the market. Those who were desperate should be given a different option to survive and a place to turn to. Slaves who could redeem themselves from the guild would do so and in the worst case, Half Moon Village would buy the freedom of those who couldn't afford it much like what they did to Jermine.

King Brice would open his kingdom's borders and city gates to refugees so Zero's suggestion of setting up a school wasn't entirely unreasonable. The archer just wondered if the villagers in Half Moon and New Moon Village could handle the inhumane work schedule. As of now, New Moon Villagers were indisposed with the task of rebuilding their village taking priority. Zero's clones were working hard and while the gnomes made several jobs easier for many Half Moon villagers, they still had a lot on their plate.

Who should he entrust the school building project to?

Seeing that Truen was silent for a very long time after he brought up the idea of wanting to create a school in Smargdas, Zero was nervous.

"If it cannot be done let's just forget about what I said. We'll just continue searching for Misana in the southern district after lunch with Bob and Mitchnew," Zero quickly dismissed the idea in case it added too much pressure on his friend.

Compared to making Truen feel pressured over something he decided in a split second's inspiration, he preferred if they continued to enjoy the city tour while looking for Misana. Unlike him, Zero knew Truen had a lot more responsibilities. His friend often stayed up to give the Great Gods daily reports and even manage some of Zero's businesses in the different planes, contacting many people all while accompanying Zero on his adventures. Zero wasn't a fool. He saw Truen doing this the whole time they were in Derby Desert and was thankful for the help. He couldn't imagine the amount of work waiting for him if Truen didn't help out when they returned to Half Moon Village after such a long trip. Thinking back on the things he had to work on those two weeks while soaking in the tub was enough nightmare materials for a few years. If Truen didn't help him out, Zero would have been stuck in that nightmare for two months.

"No, that's not it. Your idea is good. I'm just thinking of how we can fit it into the schedule seeing as we're extremely short-handed."

They reached the kebab stall after a while but neither of them thought up any good solutions. Bob, Mitchnew and Desert Lily noticed the sullen faces Zero and Truen had. They quickly ordered the food and Bob was the first to ask if there was something bothering the duo. It wasn't like them to be so disheartened over not being able to find Misana in just two days. After all, it should have been expected.

"No, it's not Misana's case. We're thinking about something else but neither of us has good solutions to the short-handed problem," Zero smiled wryly and tackled the freshly made kebab wraps that Desert Lily rolled for him.

"What's the problem?" Mitchnew asked. "Is it Duke Connie? I can give him a scare to put him in place if you need..."

"No, not Duke Connie," Truen shook his head and tore at the kebabs. "I put him in place already when we bumped into him earlier. It's something else."

For a while, Truen and Zero didn't speak and only focussed on eating, keeping everyone in suspense. Hence, to break the tension, Bob informed Zero that Old Gary visited Mitchnew's shop and congratulated his master for convincing the retired general to take up the position as the guild master.

Zero sighed when he heard that. "If only he could help with the school..."

"What school?" Desert Lily asked and slowly, Zero explained everything that he and Truen were discussing.

"The problem is that we don't have enough people now to set up such a school before the demons come over. Qin Yun would have been excellent at this but she's currently too busy helping Queen Shittomi in Hell. The Tree of Life has become a very important new place so she's monitoring it and guarding the temple in case someone tries to breach the barriers."

Desert Lily nodded. "Well, seeing as sister Mitchnew over here is very adept at information networks, I think I can leave Black Mamba's operation to her for a while. There really isn't much going on in Deadman Town at the moment. Dwayne has everything under control ever since we made that deal with Green Hawks. I can help set up the school here with Old Gary if you don't mind. Would that help?"

Zero looked at Desert Lily for a long time and his eyes glistened before he hugged her tightly and tried not to bawl. Truen was also very grateful and bowed to the assassin who blushed beneath her veil. Although the lower half of her face was hidden, they could still see her coloured cheeks through the translucent cloth.

Bob grinned. His master sure was popular with the ladies.