Ball of Nothing

Zero got to work immediately and removed the rags from the girl's body, cleaning her with the towel after adding some disinfecting herbs into the water. Dwayne didn't flinch as bloodied fur was revealed. Zero took a pair of scissors and started to trim the fur that was hiding the bad wounds. Dwayne helped to change the first basin of water and Zero worked swiftly.

By the time Dwayne returned with a clean basin of water, Zero was already done with trimming all her fur. The wounds were giving off a foul smell and Dwayne grimaced. Zero didn't look affected by the gory sight of blackened flesh and signs of worms in them. It wasn't the worst that Dwayne had seen in his life but for a young child, this was cruel.

Zero's hands moved lightly and so quickly with a precision that not even Dwayne claimed to have. With dexterous hands, Zero cut and cleaned the infected wounds with Dwayne passing him an assortment of surgical tools when the young doctor requested them. Dwayne had to learn quickly how to differentiate the different tools that Zero wanted because when the boy worked, he didn't fool around and he wasn't forgiving with slip-ups.

The innkeeper quickly learned that there were two sides of Zero. The nice side of Zero that Brutus talked about and that he saw earlier was the front side of the boy. Behind that smile was a very serious doctor committed to saving lives. He didn't tolerate mistakes and ever since Dwayne became an S rank adventurer, he had never been scolded by anyone without retaliating until moments ago.

"I said tweezer!" Zero barked when Dwayne made a mistake and gave him a needle. "The pronged one! Remember it right!"

Even when Zero snapped at him with a glare, Dwayne found himself unable to rebuke. He doubted that Zero would change his attitude even if he met someone stronger than himself. When a patient was before him, the timid boy transformed into a fearsome doctor not to be messed with. Against someone with expert knowledge of anatomy and his weapon of choice in his hands, not even Dwayne wanted to try his luck.

They didn't have a tray or anything that Zero could use to dispose of the worms that he picked out of the wound so Zero threw them on top of the pile of fur and rotten flesh.

"Keep an eye on those critters. I don't want them going anywhere and infecting anything else. It's too messy to kill them right now, find something to contain them and burn the rest. When you're done, come back with a washed cloth and a new basin of hot water. We're going to start suturing once I'm done."

The innkeeper couldn't say anything else and did as he was told. He quickly disposed of the biohazardous waste and washed the blood off his hands before he prepared a new basin of water and heated it up. Zero was very particular about the cleanliness of the room during the operation so he had to sterilise himself many times, more than he ever remembered doing so in his entire life within the span of a few hours.

Dwayne returned quickly and watched as Zero stitched the wounds shut. He grimaced at the slightly messy needlework but didn't point it out because he wouldn't fare any better. Still, he wondered what the elf would do about the more serious sting wounds and poison. They might have removed the stingers and saved the rotting wounds from further infection but this girl's life was still in danger. Without proper antidote for the poison, she would develop a fever, grow weak and die.

This time, Zero didn't give his assistant much to do. Instead, Dwayne stood around and only helped to clean the wound with the hot water soaked with disinfecting herbs. He wasn't an expert on herb knowledge so many of the plants in the medicinal pack were unfamiliar to him. However, Dwayne had a nagging suspicion that some of these herbs weren't common.

"We're almost done with the second part," Zero told Dwayne and smiled at him from behind the mask. Although the innkeeper couldn't see it, he could hear it and see traces of it in Zero's eyes. The bubbly doctor was back for a brief moment as he tied and cut the last stitch. Dwayne couldn't help but he handed Zero a cup of water just in case the elf needed a short break.

Zero accepted it gratefully and emptied the cup in one go as Dwayne wiped the girl down again with the warm water. She looked a lot better but Dwayne was still curious about what Zero would do next. He said that this was only the second stage which meant that he wasn't done.

After the short break, Zero looked around and checked the windows before closing it and locking the door. Dwayne was puzzled but he didn't ask questions. Instead, he held his breath when Zero cast a chantless barrier for the room and reminded him about their agreement.

This was it, Zero's true ability that Truen was talking about. Dwayne was suddenly excited to find out what Zero could do and he wasn't disappointed when Zero used healing magic to close up those nasty external wounds. The stitches held the gaping holes together enough for Zero to slowly mend the injury. With this, Dwayne understood that the shoddy stitchwork didn't matter. There would be no scarring by the end of everything.

Zero worked tirelessly until every single cut and bruise was healed. The mole girl looked like she had only received a bad fur cut by the end of the session and had a slightly better complexion even though she was still on the paler side.

Zero used magic to determine the damage to her eyes and was surprised to find that they were blind but not by an injury or defect. Turning to Dwayne, Zero asked if mole beast folks were naturally blind.

"Yes, they are. To be more precise, they're not completely blind. They just don't see things the way we do. Like bats, they have very poor vision during the day and can be considered blind in that sense. However, in the night or underground for mole beast folks, their superior sense of dark vision kicks in and they are able to scan things that not even we can see. Think of it as field scanning magic but with their eyes."

Hearing the explanation, Zero now understood why those adventurers refused to sell her to them.

"Say, do many traders or adventurers who try to enter Derby Desert buy mole beast folk slaves?"

Dwayne didn't deny it and nodded. Zero was furious but now, everything made sense. Still, he looked at the girl. She didn't deserve this.

"We're done with the treatment, thank you for helping me out. I need to make the antidote for her so I will be borrowing Brutus' kitchen for a bit. Could you help me to bathe and clothe her? After that could you help me to rearrange the furniture so that she can rest on Truen's bed? I will clean the sheets for my bed later. Thank you for offering to help, I couldn't have done this without you."

Dwayne blushed and looked away. Receiving thanks like that was embarrassing but he agreed to do as Zero requested. After the doctor left to prepare the antidote, the innkeeper could believe how much the boy was able to throw him around with just his words and action.

Zero should not be underestimated. Even if he was not a girl, he was still a beauty that could charm a kingdom to its downfall.