Chapter-30

"Whew"

Why he was sure that Malina or rather the person who said she was Malina was not a good person was because of the third reason, his stepmother. After his mother supposedly died, the one who breastfed him and raised him was his step mother.

From childhood to till now the one who raised him was his step mother. Even though she was clumsy and didn't know how to raise a child, she tried her best and worked towards being a good mother both towards him and to her own two children. She treated him like how she would treat both of his elder brothers. 

Even if he raised the suspicion that she did it, it would have a low chance or none for his mind and his knowledge of her but even on the off chance that it would be, there were reasons to prove that rather Malina was the one who was lying.

After reading the text, Theron knew that the one he was dealing with was not a human but a demon and so after realizing the danger of the problem. Although he had prepared himself for the confrontation, Theron was unwilling to waste any more time. Seventeen years had passed since his mother's supposed death, and he yearned to uncover the truth about her fate. The demon's cryptic remarks about needing help had only fueled Theron's determination to unearth the secrets surrounding his mother's disappearance. Malina or rather the demon also said that he was at a wit's end when he approached him and this recipe was the last thing it had and for that it needed help or else it would have done it on its own.

After Theron arrived at the marsh, he readied himself for a fight, he had taken all of his pills that he crafted, a talisman to alert his grandfather at the time of need and based on the off chance that the talisman couldn't be activated, if it was longer than what he expected the fight would be, he made a timed message towards his grandfather and he also had many more.

But it seemed that he didn't need to use much as he thought after the fight as it seems that his flame was more effective than he thought even though the demon after the transformation from its disguise went to gold attainment 2nd realm. But it seemed that he overprepared but it wouldn't be a win without the demon underestimating him very much as he should have known his condition.

'A pillow'

'Aren't I in the mountains right now'

Theron opened his eyes to see back a beautiful face. The girl looked ethereal as her long black hair stood behind her ears. There were of course 2 melons though not too large, it was not too small either. It felt as if there was a staring contest between them as they continued gazing at each other for a few seconds before Theron blinked. Theron didn't even know what to say to a girl who was in the middle of nowhere and he decided to break the silence. She should not have bad intentions towards him as she didn't do anything to him during his sleep which he didn't know a person had approached him because he was too tired to put his guard up during his sleep. The only reason why he would sleep in peace was of the thought that since this was a place where the demon had set a home on, it should have its natural protections or else it would have been disturbed pretty often. 

"Mind if you give me your number, pretty girl"

Theron said. There continued silence and then the girl asked,

"Number?"

She asked in a confused tone.

"Umm"

"You know to contact each other via phones"

Theron said as he waved his as the girl looked at it interestingly but still confused. 

"Never mind, would you mind telling me your name"

Theron said as he got up from her laps.

"My name?, Sylvana, Sylvana Shadowthorn"

Theron almost choked on his words as he heard the name as he said, He looked at her clearly upon hearing the name. Seeing her appearance, Theron had a feeling that he had seen her before and suddenly realized who it was. It was in his memories of the story. She was a spirit who asked the hero to slay the demons and also became a help for the hero and if he were a reader, she became a likeable person though didn't became a heroine, she still had some influence on the story as she was part of the reason between the hero and the demons. 

"… Nice to meet you, Sylvana" 

"Mind telling me why you are here"

"To grab master"

She said as she pointed at him. It seemed that she was a woman of few words, Theron thought as he pointed at himself as he asked,

"Me?"

"Yes, to mother"

She said as she pulled on Theron's sleeve. 

"Wait a moment, I need to do something first"

Theron didn't know why she would call him master but seeing that she was trying to head towards his mother, Theron thought it would be somewhat related to his mother. Theron went to the place where the demon was incinerated. There was a pile of ash as Theron removed some of the ash as something shined due to the sun within it as he picked it up. It was a storage ring.

Sylvana once again pulled Theron along and they went back to Vivenne. Theron didn't know why she would call his mother, mother as well but didn't dwell on it too much as he saw Sylvana started to disappear into white light back into the necklace, more specifically the stone which his mother wore.

Then an ethereal figure appeared just the same as Sylvana before.

"Hello" Theron asked.

"Yes, master"

"I can't maintain that form for too long" she explained, her voice faint and fragile.

It seems that she wasn't able to talk much due to her being in a form she couldn't maintain for long Theron thought as she continued to talk.

"I will explain what happened"

"After mother had given birth to master, she suddenly became ill"

"It was also my fault that I didn't know how it happened to mother" she disclosed, her tone heavy with regret.

"For 17 years straight, he tried many methods"

"But none of them worked"

"He was not able to touch an inch of mother because of the protective layer I made"

"Mother was fine because she could feed off of mana but it still weakened her a lot"