If there was a return on being the King of Ghosts, then Nico would like to be directed to it.
He could see why his elder siblings had never bothered to fully commit to the role while being content to let Mêlinoê preside over propitiations offered to the ghosts of the dead and Hekatê who was the leader of ghosts handle all things dealing with the spirits.
The ghosts barely gave him time to do anything else especially now as he relinquished his crown to Rachel. He had to get an assistant outside of their group of twelve, but he was still thankful when Connor admitted to having some gifts that dabbled in necromancy as his Father was Hermês Khthonios. That wasn't to mention Clarisse's small power of forcing deceased soldiers to her command and Katie's latent powers with rebirth.
The others tried to help them, but none of them were in the right state of mind to do anything. Will had tried to lend them a hand, but Apollôn had pulled him away to gain control of his powers when he had nearly seized in performing a divine-ordered surgery.
Nico understood all of that and he didn't really mind. The ghosts were great for recon. That's how he learned what Paris had done (and he still had not told any of the self-proclaimed older siblings of Ariadnê nor Percy as he knew how they would take and they needed to think about the very mortal people of their kingdom with all their squishy parts).
It's just that most ghosts were inconsolably angry, utterly despaired, or frantically hopeless. Their friends were the only exceptions and sometimes not even then. Silena could be found on occasion with the other ghosts gossiping and collecting information like mythomagic trading cards.
From her, he learned how Luke felt that it was his fault that Ariadnê had gotten kidnapped even though it happened due to godly intervention, and it was his punishment for kidnapping Annabeth. How he came to that conclusion Nico didn't know, but Nico's job position did not include playing therapist to the delusional.
Silena had also shown that while she was more sane of mind than Luke, even she was still prone to being inconsolably angry. She had gotten cruel and malicious the very rare times that Percy and Annabeth were at odds since Ariadnê's kidnapping. She was very pleased that Annabeth was able to see how the elder twin had felt since the day they all met.
She hadn't been the one to tell him about the times that Clarisse cried, turning into the most vicious guard dog whenever someone got too close to her friend's vulnerable side. Beckendorf had been the one to tell him that when he had ventured into Deadly Fashion looking for Silena.
He learned about how Katie burned a batch of banana muffins because she had zoned out staring into nothing while Travis had rushed in to put out the fire. Silena had stated that the other girl had been teasingly speaking as if Ariadnê was there trying to sneakily swipe some away.
That was not to mention the argument that happened between Connor and Apollôn when the god refused to rescue Ariadnê despite the boy's pleas.
In spite of all that, he never regretted taking on the responsibility as the Ghost King. He enjoyed it on occasions especially in their time. He had mainly dealt with those that had accepted their deaths and happily regaled him with stories of grandeur as he was but a lonely, mourning preteen with nowhere else to go. He had gotten a lot of good stories when he had gone to D.O.A. Recording Studio also.
There were some that insisted on fixing him food to eat when he was in the surface world as he was much too skinny. And the signora that he had stumbled upon-
"You're looking far too skinny."
"What do you mean you're not hungry? Of course you are!"
