I'm happy to read that you like the game! To answer your questions:
1) No, he isn't planned as a love interest.
2) Sylas is the uncle. You can't find him because he doesn't live in Grizzly Grove. Initially, I planned that the MC could call him, and raise their friendship with a special bonus at the end... but I had to discard that. I may have to remove him from that list in the future
3) There is already an inventory button on the left menu, right under the character info button. There you can see what items and equipment you have.