Ball of Nothing

Chapter 207 Second Stop - Greed

Zero parted from the Gluttony domain without tears. Beelzebub was glad to know that Zero no longer felt the guilt that came with the trouble he caused in the abyss. After all, the next Demon Lord he was visiting didn’t take kindly to the young doctor’s contributions in ways more than one. He only wished that Zero wouldn’t buckle under all that pressure. Mammon had explicitly told him that should Zero choose to bother him again, he will make the teenager work his debt off. Beelzebub had to work for his loan and that was an experience that he never wanted to go through again. Office jobs and administration was a whole new level of torture, Beelzebub never wanted to go near the subject called Math ever again.

Baal was still sleepy. The food he ate still hasn’t quite digested from last night and he looked at Zero with disgust at how the petite brunet inhaled breakfast worth for three ogres. That was some ungodly metabolism although Baal knew that it was more of a Zero cheat than a biological thing. Still, it was highly disturbing to see Zero eat so much. The thought of it made him ill and he rested in the carriage as they journeyed towards Mammon’s castle.

Mammon was signing his name off on the bottom of some document when he heard a knock at his door with a very familiar magical energy. Knowing the lazy Demon Lord, he would never make an unannounced personal trip. This must concern a certain business ruining pest.

With a sigh, he put his feather pen down and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Come in," he said.

The door cracked open a little and Mammon know that a headache was coming up. In the entire abyss, there was only one person he knew who had the shade of hazel eyes and hair.

"What do you want? Didn’t I say that I don’t want to see you ever again or did Beelzebub not pass on my message?"

Zero looked sheepish. "I just wanted to drop by and thank you for everything that you’ve done for me so far. I know it wasn’t easy for you and that it was a lot of money investing in the business and firing one of your most capable employees... I just wanted to know if there was some way I could make it up to you before I left."

That made Mammon grin evilly and Baal shuddered. Mammon would never pass up the opportunity to milk a cash cow dry and as one of Mammon’s inner circle, he knew that the best thing to do was abandon Zero. There was no saving stupidity. Zero simply never learned.

Zero felt Baal run away and a bad feeling formed in the pit of his stomach. "Bell...?"

"Why... since you’ve so politely offered I can’t refuse it now, can I?" Mammon purred with a glint in his eye. Zero swallowed and wanted to bolt for the door but he stood his ground firmly. There were no take backs now that he had offered.

"Yes. Is there something I could do to help?"

Mammon grinned positively wicked at this point. "Of course! Ever since Schaf was fired, I’ve been shorthanded. There simply wasn’t anyone capable enough to replace him. I know that you can’t be here for long but I know that you’re rather capable. Now that I think about it, you’ve grown into such a fine young man. Surely helping out with some paperwork wouldn’t be too much to ask right?"

Zero blinked. Paperwork? "Sure! Just let me know what I should do."

***

Zero laid on the couch in the staff break room deflated like a balloon and as white as a sheet. With Mammon barking orders every minute demanding for the impossible, Zero didn’t know how he survived. He had no idea which files were for what and how the magic scrolls worked. To make matters worse, his clumsiness decided to kick in during the heat of the chaos. Beverages were spilt and the Demon Lord instantly booted him out. It was lunch break now but Zero didn’t feel the slightest bit of hunger. He was too mentally exhausted to do anything and that was when Baal chose to make his entrance.

"How was the internship?"

Zero groaned and closed his eyes. "Horrible..."

His friend merely laughed and patted his head. "It usually gets better. Although he isn’t an agreeable fellow, Mammon has groomed many of Hell’s most capable businessmen under his tutelage."

Zero couldn’t deny it. He came in with no knowledge about business apart from basic Mathematics but now he knew what interest was. Also, Mammon’s business processes made Zero think about how he should manage the Mana Lotus farm and the Herb farm in Half Moon Village. He wanted to ask Hua Tuo if he could pay the villagers something in exchange for their services to help him grow special herbs and invent special medical tools.

"Bell, do you think Mammon would be mad if I asked Schaf to help me set up a business?"

Baal blinked and then grinned. "Well, why don’t you ask him?"

Zero hesitated. "I don’t want him to be mad at me... he was really angry when I spilled drinks all over the magic parchments even though the documents were coated in protective magic to prevent any kind of destruction."

Hearing that made the Demon Lord want to laugh but he held it in and fixed his poker expression. "I’m sure that wasn’t it. Mammon usually gets stressed easily when things don’t go the way he wants them to be. It’s not something he openly shows anyone. You know how he was the first time you met him... all stiff and proper. I’m sure a good shoulder rub will help."

Zero’s eyes brightened up at that suggestion. "Of course! Bell you’re so smart, I should’ve thought about that as a doctor. This means that I still have a lot to learn... I shall treat his stress at once."

Baal didn’t say anything and watched as his friend bounced back onto his feet and marched towards Mammon’s office. Now that his job of stirring the pot was done, it was time to take a nap on the roof and wait for Mammon to kick them out.

The Lord of Greed wasn’t expecting his newest intern to return so soon. Didn’t he see Zero trudge away as if his soul was sucked out of his brain? That ought to put him out for two hours but it hasn’t even been half an hour since he left. Did that kid have an endless supply of optimism or was he just a dunce?

"Come in," he answered when he heard the young doctor knock on his door.

"Good afternoon, sir! Would you like anything for lunch?"

Mammon blinked. "No, nothing in particular. I still have some urgent reports to look over. Why aren’t you heading for lunch?"

Zero beamed. "I just thought that it might be good to take a break from time to time. I’m told that I’m good with healing magic. Perhaps I could help ease some of that headache that has been bugging you since eleven."

Now that surprised Mammon a little. He didn’t think that it was that obvious to anyone but he had frequent headaches from time to time and body aches from the long hours behind the desk.

"I suppose there’s no harm trying," he conceded and allowed Zero to take over.

After getting the green light and carte blanche, Zero swooped down on the opportunity presented. He examined Mammon thoroughly and decided that the best course of action would be to cast gentle healing magic while massaging the tension away in those shoulders.

Mammon welcomed the warm and comforting healing magic. His eyelids grew heavier as he fought drowsiness. However, he lost that battle when Zero’s fingers kneaded through the tight knots of muscles in his shoulders and neck. It didn’t take long before Zero heard snoring. Mammon was out like a light and the brunet chuckled. Even the most hardworking person couldn’t continue working without proper rest. From the dark eye circles beneath the Demon Lord’s eyes, Zero concluded that the Greedy Lord hasn’t been getting enough rest. He was fatigued and the headache was a sign from the body that it needed to stop working.

Zero clicked his tongue in annoyance when he discovered more concerning parts that needed healing. Due to the accumulated fatigue, Mammon’s chakra channels were blocked and the flow of magic wasn’t circulating well. That, in turn, caused some sort of paralysis to the Demon Lord’s mana sensing.

Delving into meditation, Zero reached deeper into Mammon’s system and sorted out the chakra mess. Nobody dared enter the room while the treatment was ongoing. In fact, Baal took the opportunity to give all of Mammon’s overworked employees a day off. Zero wouldn’t be done with the treatment for a few hours judging by the steady waves of mana circulating in the air.

Oh well, it wasn’t Baal’s concern so the Demon Lord continued napping. He had an idea of what Mammon’s intentions were after he informed him about Zero’s visit. Still, he doesn’t know when and how the Bank Owner wants to transfer the deed and make Zero sign his own inheritance. The young doctor would refuse such rewards if Mammon were to say it outrightly. Then again, after what Zero was doing for him, Baal didn’t know if Mammon could still pull off that sneaky attack and make the gullible brunet sign them.

Mammon didn’t know how long he’d slept or how he had fallen asleep in the first place. All he knew was how fantastic he felt. It has been centuries since he felt this refreshed at all. The last time he was this energetic was before he was an official Demon Lord. His mind was working at five times the speed, his body felt ten times lighter and younger, his magic felt powerful and Mammon felt alive again.

Zero had his eyes closed and emitted a radiant glow in both his hands. The Demon Lord didn’t know what kind of healing magic this was but he welcomed it all the same. His body felt like it was getting recharged and the Demon Lord took everything that Zero gave greedily. With this amount of energy, it wouldn’t be impossible to oversee the business expansion he’d always been dreaming of.

Zero continued for about another twenty minutes before exiting the trance-like state and opened his eyes. Mammon was looking a lot better than he did. The Demon Lord wasn’t as pale as before and his skin was now smoother. Zero didn’t know if he should say it but he thought Mammon looked a lot younger after the healing session.

Mammon caught the young doctor staring at him and remembered his original objective of having the teenager work here. Getting back into character, he frowned disapprovingly and snapped at Zero to get back to work. This time, he was sure to slip in some special documents for Zero’s processing.

The apprentice suspected nothing and did as he was told, stamping and signing on the stack of documents on behalf of Mammon who went out for his late lunch. Zero didn’t dare ask if he could go too because of the mountain of work waiting for his attention.

Mammon bit into a simple sandwich and watched Zero work through the monstrous stack of paperwork. The diligent intern worked through them without pausing and Mammon felt moved by his serious work ethic. If Zero wasn’t someone destined for greater things, he would have done everything in his power to retain such talent and even take him under his wing. Pity, the teenager had already chosen his path.

After Mammon saw that all the secret documents he slipped in were signed, he decided to grab some leftover sandwiches and a cup of the holy beverage known as coffee to reward the clueless boy. He just hopped the boy doesn’t mind polygumy meat because it wasn’t particularly common.

While Baal slept and Mammon got grub for Zero, the doctor-in-training remained blissfully unaware that he was now the official heir to Soul & Sins bank alongside the newest business venture Belles and Begonia Trading.