Ball of Nothing

The treaty of non-aggression with Smargdas was quickly approved, and Rachel managed to discuss the details of Lycantopia\'s proposal for an alliance and trade partnership with the elves. Everything happened so fast for Arvin and Sharo that they didn\'t have much time for anything else outside of work. Zero spent the rest of his time in the King\'s private property, chatting and playing games with Alex.

"Are you really not going to hand the Moss Giant Orb over?" Zero asked and moved his bishop.

Alex sipped on his bark tea and smacked his lips. The spriggan frowned. Zero was getting better at the game, and Alex was finally getting serious for the first time in a while. While the ladies he played with daily were good to look at, none of them was as entertaining as the chosen one before him. It also helped that Zero was able to assume many different forms that pleased the eye. Today, Zero was a flame-haired wood elf. It wasn\'t something Alex saw before, but he imagined that such a genetic combination would turn out to be a beauty. He wasn\'t wrong.

"Checkmate," Alex smirked after making his move, and Zero leaned in for a better view, accidentally giving the perverted spriggan an eyeful of something better.

"Darn it!" Zero yelled and downed the bark tea angrily. He was so close!

"Do I really have to win you in a game of chess now before I can get the Moss Giant Orb? I technically fulfilled the requirements of your request. You just wanted me to knock some sense into King Sharo to remove that stupid inferiority and superiority complex, right? I did it!"

Alex tutted. "I said, take him to see the world and make him a wiser ruler. Which part of that have you accomplished?"

Zero thought for a little. "I did! I brought him out of Altear to see Lycantopia."

The spriggan wasn\'t buying it. "That\'s just going to your neighbour\'s house. It doesn\'t count as the world."

Zero clicked his tongue. "It does. You didn\'t specify how much of this world I should take him to see. Anything more than your front door is considered part of the world."

Annoyed that Zero made sense, Alex argued on the next point. "You didn\'t make him a wiser ruler!"

Again, Zero had a comeback for that. "I technically did. I made him see the errors in his way and even helped him find a suitable advisor. In fact, I think I deserve a raise for this! You\'re just a stingy spriggan reluctant to keep your end of the bargain! You agreed to meet the Weeping Willow and give me the Moss Giant Orb if I fulfil your request. Don\'t even think of twisting the facts or going back on your word, I have them recorded."

On cue, Mii played the recording of Alex telling Zero his requirement and Zero\'s acceptance of his new quest. The spriggan\'s face became darker as the image replayed. By the end of it, Alex simply flipped the table and left Zero alone in the room.

The doctor sighed and cleaned up after the messy table, placing the chess pieces back to where they belonged on the board. If King Sharo must have learned how to be obstinate from Alex. After all, Alex couldn\'t be convinced or influenced the same way as King Sharo. Zero regretted not making the spriggan sign a magic contract before he left with King Sharo. Back then, he was in a hurry and overlooked the possibility. He was too complacent, thinking that Alex would keep his end of the bargain because he was the chosen one. If Baal knew this, he would probably laugh at Zero.

As the doctor tidied the mess up, he wondered if he should leave for today. Nobody could convince the spriggan otherwise, not even King Sharo. With a depressed sigh, Zero washed the teapot and cups. It has been almost a week since he returned to Altear with King Sharo, but while the elven king was making huge waves of changes, Zero was still stuck here without any signs of progress.

"Truen would be mad at me if I told him about this, wouldn\'t he?" he asked.

Wii materialised and helped Zero dry the cups. "I won\'t doubt it. What about using other methods that Lilith taught you? Maybe a good dance or music will put Spriggan Alex in a better mood. he might agree, and you could even trick him into signing a magic contract if he is drunk enough."

Zero sulked. He really would have to employ every book in the trick if that was the case. Initially, he thought Alex was simply prideful and reluctant to agree because he was not mentally ready to reconcile with the Weeping Willow. He didn\'t think that the spriggan hated her because he chose to commission a resort where her root was located. Yet, as days passed, Zero thought the spriggan might just be fooling him and using him for personal entertainment.

Outside, in the garden, Alex looked at Zero as he cleaned up. The chosen one wasn\'t wrong, he kept their part of the bargain. If he was honest, Zero exceeded his expectations. Who would have thought that he could bring Arvin back to court as the royal advisor? Alex thought Arvin was gone for good, and even if they could locate him, the man would never return to Altear because of his hate for the country. King Charo was his best friend after all, and in a way, Altear killed him and doomed Sharo to follow in that cursed footsteps despite Arvin\'s best efforts to stop it.

Alex looked at the bush in the huge garden and wondered if the Weeping Willow still hated him. In all these years, Alex continued to drink bark tea so that he wouldn\'t lose touch with her. Maybe it was time to put the past behind them and apologise. After all, King Charo was no more. Like King Sharo and Arvin, perhaps they could still mend the broken bridge and move on for the sake of all future humanity. She bore that burden of the future by herself for so many decades, and Alex felt slightly guilty that he wasn\'t by her side in the last few decades.

Zero wasn\'t expecting Alex to return so soon, but he was hopeful. Before the doctor could speak, the spriggan made another request.

"Can you accompany me to see her?"

There was no need to specify who she was, Zero smiled brightly.

"Naturally!"