Ball of Nothing

The farewell party ended days ago, but Zero still wasn't entirely ready to leave Half Moon Village. He lingered for a little longer and called Bob out to go for long rides spanning over a few days. Truen didn't question what Zero was up to this time. He had a feeling he knew what the doctor was doing.

On the second week after the farewell party, Zero told Truen that he was ready to depart.

"Shall we go find Fae King Vivian to ask him for help? Shipwright Pocky lives close to Mystic Meadows, so the fairies should be able to find him quickly if we have some help."

Truen shook his head. "No need for that. Cleo already found the estimated location that he lives in. Once we head over to the spot, I would be able to locate his exact location in less than half a day with the area tracking arrows."

Right, Zero almost forgot about Truen's convenient abilities. He should have thought about it before he spent the last two weeks running all over the planet just to try to map the entire thing out and join the map. Still, Zero couldn't say he was dissatisfied with the results he received. With the lab rats' help, Zero managed to create the first tool to prove that the world was indeed round and not flat. He hoped to convince shipwright Pocky about this finding and persuade him to tell him more about the ship that sinks.

"In that case, I should prepare to leave soon," Zero sighed. He was slightly reluctant to leave, but it was inevitable. He still didn't know if he should return to Half Moon Village one last time after gathering all the keys to activate the portal to Whiskeria, but Zero had a feeling he wouldn't do so. Parting was harder when he saw the people he had to leave. Zero hated goodbyes.

Truen agreed. In fact, the wood elf was all packed and ready to leave at any moment's notice. Bob no longer hung out with Kerberos as much. He was often found babysitting Seff in the village and playing with the kids in his human form as if waiting to leave at the drop of a hat.

After much contemplation, Zero decided to leave silently like how he left in the last few days. He decided to leave a message with a few people to let them know he was leaving for the last leg of his adventure on Earth. Shipwright Pocky wasn't living too far from where they were. If Bob flew leisurely, they would take only about a day to reach the location Cleo provided.

"We leave after lunch," Zero told Truen, who nodded. Mii took care of relaying the message to Bob, who was still outside hunting with Crudgel. At the same time, Zoe started preparing some snacks for them to take along on their travel.

Lunch was a quiet affair, and Zero thanked the hunters for the huge game they caught. There wasn't much to do or say. Zero found himself leaving the village with only a small number of villagers bidding him goodbye compared to the farewell party. He realised that he preferred a smaller goodbye party to a grand one. It felt more casual and less permanent.

"I'll be back!" he waved as Bob took to the air. The lab members shouted something, but Zero was already too high up in the air to hear it by then. Yet, the doctor had a feeling they were telling him to take all the time he needed.

Bob took to the skies above the clouds, and Zero shifted his mind to work. This was the last key they needed. It shouldn't be too difficult to find the shipwright who could build a ship that travelled to Indra Seagloo.

"Do you think it would be possible for us to stumble upon Indra Seagloo even if we do not know their location?" Zero asked Truen. He had a plan to live on a ship for the rest of their journey once they had the ship they needed.

Truen nodded. Given how well supplied Zero was, it would be possible for them to live on a ship for years without needing to resupply on land. However, he didn't know if they could overcome the fickle nature of the sea.

"While flying all over the planet with Bob, did you manage to get a hint on where Queen Leah would be?"

Zero sighed as he recalled his trip with Bob. Apart from a few sea monsters that appeared on his mini-map, Zero didn't find any hints about Indra Seagloo.

"I have a feeling we might need to drop by Lycantopia to ask King Gaon a favour. Those sea thugs should know more about Indra Seagloo than we do. If it was possible, I wanted to ask Jacqueline along. As a mermaid descendant, she should be able to find them more easily than us."

Zero had a point there, but Truen disagreed with letting Jacqueline come along with them for the journey. Merfolks were known to be very cruel to those who were considered outsiders. Unlike elves, they didn't stop at ostracising them. The young half-blooded merfolks could be sent to their early deaths by family. It wasn't uncommon to use the unwanted half-blooded merfolks as baits for sea monsters. Indra Seagloo wasn't very well equipped to deal with seasonal sea monsters that often attacked sh.i.p.s. It was why the country often moved around like water nomads.

"According to Raj, Indra Seagloo might be an underwater ship. We don't really know what the actual Indra Seagloo is until we chance upon it. Cleo sent a message to ask for more details about it from Fae King Vivian, but even he doesn't know much about Queen Leah. It has been many years since he lost contact with the Great Water Sprite."

As they discussed methods to locate Indra Seagloo, Bob continued to fly closer towards Mystic Meadows. For a dragon like him, the thicker mana in the air made him feel more energetic. While the mana at Endow Hill was dense, the mana closer to Mystic Meadows was fresher. It hummed with life and colours that made Bob feel nostalgic.

"Master, I can see the edge of the sea now," Bob announced as Zero munched on a snack that Zoe packed.

"That's fast!" Zero blinked. It has only been about three hours since they departed. The sun was still hanging above the horizon. It was still a good number of hours before dinner and sunset.

Zero looked at Truen and asked if they should pick a location to set up camp. They could resume the search on foot tomorrow, seeing as they were very close to the lawless town Monoman told them about.

Truen agreed, and Bob descended from the clouds. At the border between the wilderness area and Mystic Meadows, Zero noted many magical beasts. Even if they were not as powerful as those on Endow Hill, it would be difficult for regular people to live here.

"Shall we hunt something for dinner?" Zero suggested when he got down. The doctor was feeling a little restless from flying all day, and Bob agreed. Truen left the hunting to them and offered to set up camp.

Once Zero and Bob were gone, arguing over the kind of monsters they should hunt, Truen withdrew Sureshot and fired several arrows into the sky. They might not need to wait till tomorrow to find out where civilisation was. After all, there were several in the area, and Truen wanted to make sure none of these civilisations posed them any threats.