7. Mother and Daughter

Ultear turns around to look at her mom with an angry expression. But that angry expression disappears instantly when she sees the tears coming out of Ur's eyes.

"Ul...te...ar? Are you really Ultear? My Ultear?"

Ur is in disbelief now because she is seeing and holding her "dead" daughter.

"M-mom, it's me."

"ULTEAR! YOU ARE ALIVE! YOU ARE ALIVE! YOU ARE ALIVE!"

Ur hugs Ultear as soon as she hears her voice which makes her sure that she is really Ultear. Gray and Lyon look at each other with surprised expressions because they also know about Ultear that should have died already.

Ultear herself is the most confused now because her mom seems to think that she has died. But that thinking disappears instantly when she finally feels her mom's hug. She starts crying as she hugs Ur back.

Alex watches the reunion with a warm smile from under the tree. Gray and Lyon also seem sensible enough to stay aside, letting the mother and daughter enjoy the moment.

After hugging each other and crying for minutes, Ur seems to remember something.

"Ultear, are you fine? You are not hurt anywhere, right?"

"I'm fine, mom."

"That's a relief. They told me you died and didn't even let me take your body home, so I still can't believe you are here now. Thank God. Really, thank you."

Ur is sobbing while saying that, but it makes Ultear frown.

"Mom, who told you that I die?"

"Sniff! The doctors in the Bureau of Magic Development. Do you remember when you had that strong fever?"

"Yeah, you said it was because I had too much magic power and my body couldn't handle it."

"That's right. So I brought you there because they have vast knowledge of magic and I thought they could cure you."

Ultear now finally understands what happened. Those "doctors" lied to her mom, saying she had died so they could experiment on her.

"Mom, I never died, they lied to you."

"Yeah, I realize it immediately when I see you alive."

Ur has a fierce expression even with the tears and snots on her face. She doesn't know why those doctors lied to her, but she knows the reason won't be good.

However, she doesn't want to ask Ultear, afraid that it might be something traumatizing for the little girl. Besides, she is just happy to see her daughter return.

"Mom, I will tell you everything later. But I want to ask something. Who are these 2?"

"Ah, right. Why don't we go inside to talk more while eating? It's not good to talk outside like this. You must be hungry too, Ultear."

Ultear answers that with the growl of her stomach, making Ur smiles warmly. Ur lifts her daughter and enters the house. Gray and Lyon also follow them into the house.

A moment later, the front door opens again and Ultear screams as she looks beneath the tree quite far from the house.

"KYAA! ALEX!"

She sees Alex is freezing under the tree and his body is covered with snow. Ur, Gray, and Lyon who come out after Ultear finally see that there is a boy freezing under a tree where Ultear is running off to.

"OH NO!"

"DAMN, HE IS GOING TO DIE. LYON, LET'S SAVE HIM."

All of them then run to take Alex and bring him into the house.

"Hehe, it's okay, Ultear. You can just forget your friend to freeze."

Alex says it with a deadpan expression while his body can't move because of the cold. The sand armor can't completely block the cold, so he feels the cold again after a long time.

"Ugh! I'm sorry, Alex."

Ultear apologizes while making a small ice hammer. Ur, Gray, and Lyon don't know what she wants to do with the hammer. They surely would never have thought that Ultear would use that hammer to hit Alex.

The 3 of them scream when she hits Alex very strongly with the ice hammer. Their screams get even louder when they see Alex is breaking apart. But then they are stunned when they see another Alex appear from the broken Alex.

"Ah, mom, sorry. I am just helping Alex get out of his sand armor because he can't move."

"Eh? S-sand armor?"

The 3 of them look at the broken pieces of "Alex" and finally realize the dust around it. Ur picks a piece and it crumbles into sand particles. She is an experienced Mage, but even she never saw this kind of magic before.

After a while, Ultear finally finished breaking off Alex's armor. Then she asks Gray and Lyon to help her to take Alex to the bath. Ur heats some water and then pours it into the bath for Alex.

"Phew, I'm alive again."

Alex can finally feel his body again as the heat returns to his body. He really never lived in a place as cold as this both in his past life nor his current life. He lived in a tropical country in his past life while both the orphanage and the facility prison were hot all the time.

So his tolerance to cold is very low. It won't be strange if he suddenly gets sick after being exposed to low temperature for this long.

While Alex is recharging his body heat, Ultear tells her mom what actually happened in the facility. She tells Ur everything that happened since she entered it until how she escaped and went home.

Ur is very enraged and sad when she knows what her daughter has gone through. Gray and Lyon who can hear it from another room also can't believe that there is a place like that.

But all of them are even more surprised when Ultear tells the story of how Alex helped everyone escape and even destroyed that whole facility.

"Alex has been there for more than 2 years and the experiments they did on him were much more painful than what they did to me. Even the researchers and the adults he saved were amazed that Alex is still sane after everything they did to him for 2 years."

"Do you want me to go insane then?"

Alex has come out of the bath and now wears thick clothes that Ur has prepared.

"You know that's not what I mean."

"Haha, I know. But well, even I am amazed by myself for not turning crazy. Ah, thank you for the hospitality, Madam."

Alex bows like a gentleman at Ur which makes her smile. Then he sits beside Ultear and drinks the hot tea that Ur has prepared.

He has just wanted to talk when his stomach suddenly growls. Everyone laughs a little and then they go to eat the food that has been reheated.

"Alex, I'm very thankful to you. Thank you very much for saving Ultear and bringing her here safely."

"It's okay. I'm sure she can escape and go back safely by herself even if I'm not there. She is strong and smart, after all."

"I know my daughter is strong and smart. But maybe she won't return this fast if not for you. And it's still a fact that you helped her, so please let me thank you."

"Alright then, I will accept it, so can you give me another plate?"

Alex shamelessly asks for a 2nd portion which makes Ur giggles. She gladly gives him more and he eats the food happily. For him, having proper food is the biggest blessing he always hopes for when he is being detained, after all.

In the end, Alex eats 5 portions by himself and would actually eat more if they have more. Ultear, Gray and Lyon are dumbfounded while Ur is saddened by it.

She can't imagine just how hungry he must have been all this time for him to eat like there's no tomorrow.

Ur can see that it's different from people with big appetites because she can see the small tears in the corners of Alex's eyes.

He is very happy to have a proper meal that he is crying when he eats. But he tries to look strong, so Ur doesn't say anything and just keeps giving him food.

With more mouths to feed, Ur knows she needs to work harder from now on to get more money. But it's a small price to pay for having her daughter back.

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Ch. 57: Searching The Demon