Chapter 9

At the moment Kleya pushed open the dressing room door, time seemed to freeze completely.

That’s right, because everything happened so fast, Reyno happened to not even lock the dressing room door.

And Molanna’s invisibility effect happened to wear off just two seconds earlier.

And Reyno happened to lose his balance due to her invisibility wearing off, falling on top of her.

And it just so happened that both of them were disorganized.

And it just so happened that Kleya pushed the door open at this exact moment.

With so many coincidences piled up together, even Reyno himself wouldn’t believe this was mere coincidence.

“Warning! Warning!”

Instantly, the system erupted with explosive thunderous roars in Reyno’s mind.

‘The Demon King Kleya’s magical power has gone berserk and is out of control. She has instinctively developed a killing intent toward Hero Reyno!’

‘If the Demon King is not suppressed within 24 hours and is allowed to release her magical power, the consequences will be almost unpredictable!’

‘Mission Objective: Suppress the Demon King within 24 hours and ensure your own survival.’

‘Mission Reward: Dried Heat-Resistant Salamander’

Hearing the system say this, Reyno’s heart immediately sank.

“Kleya! Don’t panic first!”

Reyno hastily and frantically got up slowly from on top of Molanna, adjusting all his clothes and pants properly.

“I, I can explain everything! It’s really all a misunderstanding!”

“A misunderstanding?!”

There was no longer any light in Kleya’s eyes, her entire body radiating a deadly and sharp aura. It seemed as if in the next second, her waist-length silver hair would instantly float up due to that explosive aura.

But then, the anger on her face gradually faded, replaced by a terrifying coldness.

“Reyno, I misjudged you.”

With those words, she didn’t spare Reyno another glance and turned to leave.

Reyno’s heart immediately sank

“Kleya! Wait!”

Just as Reyno was about to rush to stop Kleya, Molanna, who was half-leaning against the chair, felt increasingly uncomfortable in her heart.

Although she was at fault first, even in this situation…

Am I still not as important as her?

Her eyes drooped, her hair disheveled, her entire person seemingly shrouded in disappointment.

“Master, are you going to… chase after her?”

As soon as these words were spoken, Reyno’s mind immediately rang with another ‘DONG’:

‘Molanna, who originally stayed at the camp, couldn’t rest easy about Hero Reyno going alone to meet the Demon King, so she secretly came to provide support, but was accidentally severely injured by the out-of-control Demon King.’

‘If she is not sent back to camp now, she might be in mortal danger.’

‘Mission Objective: Send the severely injured Molanna back to camp as quickly as possible.’

‘Mission Reward: Basic Fire Magic Mastery’

The sudden appearance of this second message nearly gave Reyno a splitting headache on the spot.

Normally, he would be delighted for the system to give him several more missions.

But in this situation, giving him two at once was truly killing him.

He turned back to look.

At this moment, Molanna was pitifully huddled in the corner of this narrow dressing room, her hair scattered, forcefully wrapping that thin windbreaker around herself.

Her entire body trembled from time to time, her eyes slightly tinged with redness.

“Sigh.” 

Reyno sighed. Although he was still angry in his heart, he didn’t blame Molanna too much.

He walked two steps to Molanna’s front, crouched down, buttoned up her windbreaker one by one, then adjusted her collar, gently helping her tidy her clothes.

“Alright, I’ll take you home first. We’ll talk about the rest later.”

There was no choice. Although Kleya was throwing a tantrum due to the misunderstanding, his own disciple was still here half-naked.

No matter what, he had to take her home first.

He extended his hand, slowly stopping it in front of Molanna’s eyes.

Molanna was stunned for a moment, then slowly placed her hand on his.

Reyno’s hands were always broad and warm, with a slightly rough texture.

Whenever Molanna held his hand, she would feel a strong sense of security.

Now, this feeling became even stronger.

Reyno grasped Molanna’s hand and slowly pulled her up from the seat.

At this moment, her heart trembled.

Dense curtains of rain from her memories once again came flooding back, slowly covering Molanna’s eyes.

…

That day, the rain was very heavy.

Thunder that sounded like dragon roars occasionally came from the distant sky.

She hid at the edge of the forest, curling her entire body inside a small grass shelter she had hastily built.

At that time, her build was much smaller than now, and her abilities were much weaker too.

Her parents had once taught her how to build sturdy yet simple grass shelters, but unfortunately, before she could learn, she no longer had parents.

Following vague memories, she spent half the day building a grass shelter, scraping several cuts on her hands, yet only managed to create a half-finished product.

The roaring storm came rushing toward her, pounding on her flimsy shelter.

Outside was a sheet of white, as if the entire sky had collapsed and fallen, finally crashing down on her head.

The soil beneath her feet was soaked by the storm, slowly turning into dirty mud.

Streams of rainwater poured in through the gaps in the grass shelter’s roof, flowing over Molanna’s body and hair.

First came the cold of the rainwater, then after it slowly dried, the discomfort of sand and debris left on her skin.

Those water streams hit Molanna’s face, submerging her mouth and nose, choking her breath.

She began to shiver.

The overwhelming cold pierced her skin and seeped into her bones.

She was somewhat cold, somewhat sleepy.

The roaring sound of the surrounding rain curtain seemed to gradually fade away, leaving only buzzing tinnitus in her hearing.

“Is anyone there? Are you alright?!”

Molanna’s eyelids, which were about to close, suddenly trembled violently. She seemed to hear a call from very far away.

Then, suddenly, a person appeared before her eyes.

It was a young man who looked slightly immature yet full of heroic spirit.

He held a crudely made umbrella in his hand, desperately bending down, pressing his body into Molanna’s field of vision framed by the grass shelter’s edge.

“Are you lost? How did you end up here alone?”

Seeing that Molanna didn’t respond, he directly reached his hand into the grass shelter.

That hand, from the outside world, reached into her world.

…

“Hold tight, can’t let others see my good disciple.” 

Reyno’s lips curved into a slight smile.

No sharp accusations, no urgent scolding, no cutting sarcasm.

As if no matter what great mistake she made, he would respond with a smile.

“Let’s go, let’s go home first.”

Molanna really liked the phrase

“Go home.”

Whenever Reyno said these words, she could feel a sense of belonging.

She knew that as long as Master was still there, she could always be that child who had candy to eat.

Pulling Molanna along, Reyno slowly led her out of the dressing room.

As long as Reyno was by her side, even with just a windbreaker barely covering her body, she wouldn’t feel particularly panicked or afraid.

They walked openly out of the opera house’s main entrance, through the market streets, and finally returned to the house they rented together.

The moment he brought Molanna through the front door, Reyno finally breathed a sigh of relief.

While walking, he had been watching Molanna beside him almost the entire time, afraid that a gust of wind might blow up her windbreaker at any moment.

He had even prepared to directly throw himself over to hold down Molanna’s windbreaker.

But fortunately, there wasn’t much wind outside today, and Molanna kept her hands in the windbreaker’s pockets holding it down the entire way, so the journey was basically full of scares but no real accidents.

“Finally made it. Go back to your room and change clothes.”

Reyno collapsed exhausted into a chair in the living room, thinking about his next course of action.

Molanna didn’t dare say much more, nodded slightly, and returned to her room.

“I need to hurry and explain things clearly to Kleya.” 

He pinched his philtrum, feeling waves of pain from the back of his head.

There was no choice – after all, the time limit was clearly written there: resolve the matter within 24 hours.

Although the mission said to ‘suppress’ Kleya, he probably couldn’t really pin her down.

Anyway, he should just need to explain things clearly and make her killing intent disappear.

Thinking back to Kleya’s expression and demeanor when she pushed open the dressing room door, Reyno still felt somewhat suffocated.

Truly worthy of being the Demon King!

‘Hero Reyno urgently brought Molanna back to camp, successfully saving her from mortal danger.’

‘Mission completed.’

‘Mission Reward: Basic Fire Elemental Magic Mastery can be claimed at any time’

Hearing the system’s notification, Reyno remembered about the rewards.

“Might as well claim them while I have the chance.”

With a thought, the system in his mind rang out again:

‘Elemental Magic Affinity claimed.’

‘Basic Fire Elemental Magic Mastery claimed.’

After receiving the new abilities, Reyno didn’t feel any obvious changes in his body for a moment. Only suddenly there was a heap of knowledge about basic fire elemental magic in his memory.

Including spellcasting, control, drawing magic circles, incantations, and so on – everything was automatically comprehended the instant he claimed the reward.

“Is this convenient?” 

Reyno raised an eyebrow.

Previously, magic and weapons had always been his weak points. Now with such an extremely convenient system, he suddenly felt his future was promising.

Just as he was still marveling at the convenience brought by the system, Molanna’s room door slowly opened nearby. Having changed into other clothes, Molanna blushed as she held the windbreaker in her arms, taking small steps to walk in front of Reyno.

“Master… your clothes.”

Reyno nodded and took the windbreaker, efficiently putting it back on. His movements were so quick that Molanna’s heart couldn’t help but tremble.

That windbreaker had just been covering her naked body, yet now Reyno seemed completely unconcerned about this.

“Molanna.” 

After putting on the windbreaker, Reyno solemnly called her name.

“Ah! Yes!”

“Don’t do such dangerous things again next time.”

Hearing Reyno’s earnest words, Molanna involuntarily cast her gaze toward the ground.

“I still need to go out later to explain things clearly to Kleya. You stay home and make potions properly. You’re not allowed to follow me out again.”

“Make potions?”

Hearing this keyword, Molanna’s entire body shook.

She remembered something very serious.

“Master…”

“Mm?”

“The magic materials you bought this morning… I forgot them in the stolen clothes…”