And the most impressive part of it all was that Theora really had no clue whether Dema had done any of that on purpose. Maybe she really was a masterful schemer who actually knew the one weakness Theora had, the one thing that would add further deterrence to her pursuing her Main Quest, and had, in a feat of incredible planning and ingenuity, worked towards that very outcome, for over a century. 

Or, Dema was just completely oblivious and wanted to raise a daughter with Theora.

Both sounded absolutely completely equally likely. So, Theora filed each away into their respective reality, and now, she was almost grinning.

Oh, what a beautiful way to deal with this. The System would really need to come up with some amazing threat for Theora to actually do something about her Main Quest now.

The Ancient Evil? Theora had no idea what Dema really did in the past. It was murky, and it was unnerving, and it was a mess.

But Iso was just a little girl who had been resurrected from millions of years of slumber. Truly, there was no reason for Theora to accept her death if she could in any way help it.

Maybe this could work. Maybe, for now, this was alright.

Both realities fit neatly on top of each other, still superimposed, but less conflicting, in a way. Because even if it was true that Dema was just scheming, was actually evil, and that this would all end with her dead — even if that reality was the truth, it was now blunted. Because of Isobel.

Because there was someone else in the equation now.

And maybe Dema was so devastated because she’d hoped for the three of them to travel together, in her evil scheme. Perhaps she thought her plan would not work out if Theora didn’t come to love Isobel.

If that was really the case, then of course, Dema had made a miscalculation, because Theora would never doom that girl, regardless of whether she’d come to know her or not.

Ah. This was rather amazing. 

Theora tousled through Dema’s hair for a second and then got up, leaving the little demon rather confused.

“What! What was that!”

“I’m just proud of you,” Theora said. “Good girl.”

For a second, Dema looked like she’d been shot by a cannonball. Her face was completely empty in shock, processing what had just occurred, and then, she just gulped.

Theora offered a hand to help her up, and Dema shakily took it, wiping her eyes, but all the sadness had been blown away in favour of a wide-eyed expression. Her tears were drying in the breeze, leaving small crystals of salt glittering on her face. 

“We will find her, and then we will get to know her,” Theora added. “If she wants to. We could do it right now, but I still think it would be good to leave her some space. We leave her a bit of time to adjust, and then we can talk. Is that alright with you?”

Dema sighed, and smiled weakly. “What are you on about! Yeah, sure, fine! It’s alright, damn it!”

Why did it seem like all her sadness had suddenly washed away?

“So,” Theora went on, “I suggest we now go straight to Hallmark, and find out about the Fragments. And we can locate someone who will track Isobel for us.”

“Sure! Let’s go!”

And with that, they went. Their path so far had been a big mess, but now that they actually committed, it took them only about three more months to actually reach their destination. Dema still had some bad days. Days on which she thought of Isobel, and looked like she was about to cry. But, for the most part, she was back to her usual shenanigans. Finding rocks to share in exchange for Theora’s flowers, teasing Theora with how sleepy she was all the time, and asking for hugs every two seconds.

Much to Theora’s chagrin, she could not refuse those demands. Whenever Dema asked for a hug, she fought with herself, valiantly, and then relented anyway.

And those hugs felt really, really nice. Theora would never initiate one or ask for one herself, but Dema had managed to break down another barrier, ripped open another closed door, and now, there was no turning back. Those hugs had to happen when asked for.

No way would Theora risk having to look into those sad puppy eyes. Those sad puppy eyes, threatening to say, ‘What? You don’t want to hug me? Even though I asked so nicely?’

No, she would not be able to bear that, so she bore the hugs instead. Not that they didn’t feel incredibly calming and warm and like a spring breeze in a burnt down forest. No, the hugs were amazing. It was just that one reality inside Theora was screaming out loud, as loud as it could, to not hug the girl she was going to kill. To not give Dema false hopes. To not give herself false hope.

And yet, this is what her life was now. This is how it was when they finally, after such a long time, arrived at the gates of Hallmark.

And then, it occurred to Theora that she was about to carry the Ancient Evil into one of the largest settlements on the planet, and that the guards may not be too thrilled about that. This was different compared to bringing her to a place with low level guards who were likely unaffiliated with the System’s hero project. In comparison, the guards here might actually spell trouble.

“Dema,” Theora started. “Don’t tease them, or anything. They might not actually let us through.”

“Ha!” Dema snorted. “Let them try!”

“I don’t want to harm them.”

“Why, I don’t either! But we can always, like, smuggle ourselves into town if things don’t work out, you know! I can dig a tunnel or something, right into their library if need be. Don’t worry, little rabbit, it’s all gonna be just fine.”

And then, it ended up being ‘just fine’, exactly as Dema had said.

“You gonna make sure the city is safe?” one of the guards said. A muscular man, thick build, heavy armour, light skin.

“It’s safe.”

“Not just from her,” he nodded at the scrawny demon accompanying Theora. “I want to know if you keep all of us safe, from everything.”

“Of course,” Theora said. “To the best of my ability.”

The man gave a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Truth be told, we’re having trouble. The strongest Heroine might just be what we need to deter it. Do you mind if we make an announcement in the city declaring your arrival?”

Theora frowned.

That was a rather unusual request. Not something she ever heard anyone ask of her. She didn’t typically make a fuss around her existence.

“I don’t mind,” she eventually answered, because the truth was, she didn’t care either way. If it made this man happy, then why not. Let them declare Theora’s arrival. For what it was worth, it might make her task easier if the scholars she was going to speak to actually knew who she was. Fewer introductions needed.

Thus, less talking needed. This was looking good.

Except for that ‘trouble’ the guard had mentioned. A city as large as Hallmark, and they had trouble of the size that they needed to declare the arrival of the strongest heroine in the world to have any hope of dealing with it?

It was not what Theora had come here for, but now that things were going this way, she might as well take a peek.

A peek at the underlying machinations of this incredibly large city, built into a gigantic valley.