Ball of Nothing

Camie was both nervous and sad about leaving the village that had taken her in for years. Zenobia stood in front of everyone else and as the Chieftess, she was in charge of giving them a speech to wish them well on their journey.

"To Camie who has been a big sister to Half Moon village, we will miss you dearly. There's no need for tears and goodbye. Family don't say such things to each other. Just know that should you wish to return home one day, we will always welcome you back with open arms. As proof that you are irreplaceable to us all, this is a village token that the lab rats made. An obsidian tag specially enchanted with protection spells by our village head to be worn at all times. With that, have a safe journey, Camie, Zero and Truen."

The three of them set off on foot and the warriors escorted them as far as the bridge at the entrance before stopping.

"This is goodbye but not farewell," the centaur smiled and gave the giantess a hug.

Camie smiled at Crudgel and returned the hug twice as hard, choking the archer. She grinned. "I'll send letters, lots of it on the way to tell you all the things Zero did."

"Hey! No fair!" Zero protested and Truen chuckled. Despite maturing physically and mentally, Zero still had a little of his childish tendencies from time to time, especially when he was caught off guard. The other warriors weren't as touchy-feely and simply offered handshakes or hard slaps on the back as well as some travelling advice.

The twin magicians exchanged a look before going up to Zero. "Village leader, we would like to seek permission from you to leave the village as well before you go."

Zero wasn't expecting such a sudden request and asked why they wanted to leave too. Xyval didn't hold back and revealed that he and his sister received a summon from the Great Grand High Witch of the greatest magic school on Earth. Zero had never heard of the Great Grand High Witch and gave Truen a confused look.

"She's the owner of the biggest magic cult in the United Nation of the Uncanny and currently the biggest leading faction in their civil war."

Zero made a face. He didn't like the sound of it. "What's her name?"

Yxaan smiled sadly. "Her name is Sylvia the Silver Witch and she is our great grandmother. To be more precise, she is our creator. We're chimaeras born from one of her experiments and she has summoned us through the covenant bond on our backs. We cannot refuse her."

Zero was speechless. He couldn't stop them from going but he was still worried about them. He turned towards Xvyal and asked if they would be alright after they left. With his lie-detecting ability, Zero immediately knew when the twin boy smiled and told him not to worry and that they would return once they were done. Zero's fears were confirmed. He didn't have a good feeling about Sylvia the Silver Witch and the twins might have escaped her in order to protect themselves. Now that she was using the covenant bond to force them to return after so long must mean that she was threatening them with something. Why else would the twins leave the village that they came to love so much? Going by the pattern of history in human books, Sylvia must have declared war or something. There wasn't a reason for the twins to request to leave so suddenly. In fact, Zero suspected that the twins chose this moment to ask because Zero was unable to do anything to stop them even if he didn't agree.

With a sigh, Zero chose to look the other way and pretend not to know the shadows behind the twin magicians. Instead, he placed a finger on the twins' foreheads and chanted a short incantation. On the surface, it looked like it was only a good luck charm or blessing spell. However, only Mii and Wii knew that Zero had done more than that. Zero used Origin to help him give them powerful defensive spells in case the twins were harmed or attacked. The spell couldn't last forever but even Merlin would need months to undo such a complicated spell. The doctor had to thank his magic teacher for teaching him how to create shortcuts for casting complicated spells in short chants using the grimoire.

Now that he had taken preventive measures, Zero waved goodbye to the party and walked into the forest with Truen and Camie in tow. The trees were big and tall so Zero felt like he was walking forever in the dense forest with no exit in sight. While he walked, Mii updated the maps. Zero was amazed by how little the surroundings had changed. Apart from a few new villages appearing at the foot of Endow Hill, everything else remained the same.

"How much further do we have to walk?" Zero complained on behalf of his stomach. They left after breakfast and it didn't take much to make Zero hungry again.

Camie giggled. They were walking for almost an hour now in silence. She tried her best to slow down so that the smaller people could keep up but Zero looked like he was suffering regardless.

"Zero, it takes a week for us to walk out of this forest. If you have to eat every hour, I'm afraid we might take a year. Even the twins would be able to leave faster than us," Truen teased and Zero growled.

"You said that I cannot use overpowered magic in towns and places when there are people watching us. Can't I use magic now? Why do we have to walk when I can make us fly or teleport us?"

Truen gave Zero a strict look and denied his request. His reason was that Zero needed to get used to travelling like a normal person so that he doesn't stick out like a sore thumb when he reaches civilisation. Camie didn't say anything but she was laughing secretly. Truen didn't really mean that and the giantess knew the real reason why they were walking through the forest instead. After spending so much time apart from each other, the wood elf simply wanted to spend more time alone with Zero without the company of others. If possible, Truen didn't want Camie to come along either but since they were escorting her, the wood elf could only suck it up and go along with it.

Zero moaned and groaned about his poor stomach every five minutes until Truen had no choice but to give in and offer to go hunting. He told Zero and Camie to carry on at their own pace while he went on ahead to find decent prey or an early lunch. Zero grinned in victory and showered the wood elf with praises, causing the elf's ears to turn red. Unable to take any more of the teasing, Truen left.

Zero was finally alone with Camie so he quickly seized the chance to ask her more about Manus Hilda and how the country was like. Camie was more than happy to share with Zero what she knew about the world many years ago when she was still travelling it. In fact, Zero didn't think that Camie would be an ex-slave who ran away after killing her slave traders.

"Is that why you were separated from your kin in Magnus Hilda for so long?"

Camie nodded. "I wanted to go home immediately after but I wasn't strong enough. Besides, I had no money and no connections. The Chieftess took me in and told me that while they couldn't provide me with a job and pay me for it, they could teach me how to survive in the wild and fight. I stayed in Half Moon village for a while to learn but you showed up in the middle of it, changing my life completely. I wanted to leave earlier but couldn't do so because I still had to find a way to make money somehow. In the past few months that you introduced Schaf, I was able to do some work in exchange for gold and I saved up enough to finally leave the village for home. The news just gave me a nudge forward to hasten my plans."

Zero frowned. "Although I have been to Heaven and Hell, I don't know a lot about Earth apart from Endow Hill. Camie, if you've seen more of Earth, can you share with me? What's your homeland like?"

Camie smiled. She started telling Zero all that she knew about Earth. The doctor already knew about the ten countries or continents that exist on Earth. Each territory was ruled by a specific race even though some of the races might have further divided hierarchies like in the human kingdom and in the United Nation of the Uncanny.

"Does Magnus Hilda also have many factions?"

Camie shook her head. "The giants are actually peace-loving people and the current monarchy has been ruling for over five hundred years. Three are no taxes and politics, only hardworking and gentle people who love their jobs. Most giants are compassionate so we have a lot of teachers, gardeners and naturalists."

Zero found that interesting. The life that Camie described seemed very behind the times. The giants didn't seem to use any magic or qi so the doctor was reminded of Hua Tuo's previous way of life - simple and unpretentious. He didn't know if he could ever get used to a life without the convenience of magic but he would find out as soon as he got there. Truen's first rule still echoed in Zero's mind. He had to follow the customs of the people in the place that they were at. If giants didn't use magic then Zero couldn't either.

"Is everything in Magnus Hilda big? Will small people like me have difficulties doing regular things like eating, cooking and bathing?"

Camie thought about it. "I'm a quarter giant so it's harder for me to find things of the right size without it coming from the children store. However, you don't need to worry. We have regular furniture and utilities for humans and even dwarves in town. Although Magnus Hilda is a quiet place, we still receive visitors of all races from time to time.

They chatted for nearly two hours until Zero smelled something delicious in the air. He sniffed again to confirm that it wasn't a product of his imagination before making a run for it in the direction. Camie laughed at Zero's eagerness when she heard Truen smacking Zero's hands and scolding him for not being patient enough.

The archer was amazing enough to prepare ten grilled lizards within two hours. He even caught a huge pile of fishes from the stream not too far away from his campfire. Camie joined them shortly and accepted a grilled fish from the grumpy wood elf. Zero choked on a bone, giving everyone a scare until he absorbed that and made the threat go away.

Watching the doctor eat, Truen couldn't help but worry. While they were still in the forest, Truen could still make ends meet to satisfy Zero's stomach. However, once they enter towns, how was he going to do that without becoming bankrupt?

Zero munched on his fifth grilled lizard without care. Truth be told, he wasn't that hungry. He just wanted some alone time with Camie to find out a little more about Magnus Hilda and the people before they arrived. The plague that started a few years ago sounded strange and with Zero's knowledge, something didn't add up. People didn't automatically fall into a coma for years on end. Coma wasn't contagious so it wasn't a plague. Something else was causing the unusual behaviour and it didn't seem to be magic either since casting such a wide-range of magic that persisted for so long usually required someone to be a sage god or demigod.

While the three travellers ate in silence, they couldn't help but be occupied by their various worries. From Heaven, Uriel watched them without a word. For some unknown reason, the dreams he kept receiving about Zero's fate kept changing and the archangel couldn't help but feel uneasy. What was this premonition that he kept feeling? Thankfully, none of the other archangels noticed anything different. For now, Uriel would continue to watch over the lad and the choices he made.