A Villainess Should Be Strong

As if their actions weren't already repulsive enough for Estelle to handle, the group of guys laughed out loud, mocking the two children who in their eyes were much weaker than them.

That might be true for Theo, the dragon boy, but Estelle was different from him.

"Stop talking, you are wasting the world's oxygen. I need not hear your silly voices," Estelle began charging at the group. This time, she was prepared to instill proper physical punishments since the shame treatment last time clearly did not work as she wished it would.

Estelle's spear hurriedly swept through the crowd. With each swing, three men would find themselves be thrown back by an absurd amount of force that almost made them collapse right on the spot. Within time, all of the men were cleared out, and the two children were left unharmed except for the jab Theo received before Estelle cam to the rescue.

The men were obviously surprised and terrified by the little girl's showcase, but they couldn't run away as the fear crept up to their hearts and their bodies refused to cooperate with their escape. They desperately tried to get as far as possible from Estelle, but there was little they can do.

With a finger snap, Estelle cast a magic net to entangle them in one flash, wrapping them up into a cramped ball inside the nets. They struggled to get out, but the magic net was way beyond what they could resist.

Estelle stored her spear away and began approaching them.

"I wonder when will people like you learn. I'm really curious, who is behind you guys? This is Vaitral, but why are there a thriving organization like yours, derived from Alynthi? You disgusting lowlifes, threatening a child just solely based on the basis that they are weaker than you. If someone stronger than you arrives, then your demise should be a given, right? Because the strong rules over the weak," Estelle spoke, a glorious aura surrounding her.

"Haa.. Really, you lots are- Hm. You too, Theo. You ran away and immediately encountered something like this. What would you do if I wasn't here? Bear the beating and fear that your life could be taken today? Are you really satisfied with that outcome? Not having the ability to fight back even though you desire to?"

Theo did not want to meet Estelle's gaze as he turned his back on the elder. However, unlike the last time, the child did not run away this time.

Estelle sighed and patted the child's head. "Don't brood over today's incident. I will make sure that I give them proper punishment. It seems like.. This shitty organization needs a cleanup desperately, so I will gratefully do the job for them,"

Estelle healed Theo's new wound, restoring his condition back to perfectly normal. His eyes brightened up when Estelle's warm mana touched his skin and soothed the stinging pain. His eyes finally stared into Estelle's, trying to figure out who was this person and why she helped him twice when nobody had helped him on the previous occasions.

He gritted his fists, a bit frustrated at what he had to face.

"Wait a bit, alright? Don't run away when I'm not looking. You might've gotten away last time, but it won't happen this time. Capische?" Estelle asked, making sure that the boy truly meant what he meant when he nodded his head slowly.

After confirming, Estelle's attention went back to the group of guys who pissed her off. She was not someone who was fond of torture, but it didn't mean that she would be absolutely unwilling to use it. If the situation required for it to happen, then she would have no qualms in doing it.

Estelle did not use graphic methods, but rather unorthodox ways to force the identity of their gathering to Estelle. It turned out that there was a group of people who banded together to form a guild like structure called Ark. Ark was their leader's name, and he was a man from Alynthi who was kicked out of the country when he used to do crimes. Because he always got out of the prison cells he was kept in, he ended up being banned altogether from the country because he wouldn't stop doing his maniacal deeds.

Upon hearing that Vaitral's policy would benefit him, he rushed to this draconic country and managed to gather up people who roughly had the same fates and beliefs as him, and most importantly, were willing to serve under his cause. This group of people was then later called Ark, and terrorizing weak people like what they did today was not that abnormal. This was also why the boy Theo seemed like he was used to the treatment, because it has indeed been happening throughout the years.

After Estelle ran out of use from the people tied up, she released them, but not before giving them a severe handicap by breaking their bones and such. She also manifested illusion magic to the group,so that they would feel like someone was beating them up even though there was nobody there.

The issue was resolved in a short time, and Estelle turned around to pursue her matter with Theo. The men were released, and although most of them were about to collapse, one or two were still conscious and could go back and gather their friends later on.

Deciding that she still needed to un to conceal her identity, she signalled for Theo to follow her.

They turned around corners after corners before finally arriving at a safe place.

"Hello, Theo. Are you alright? I saw that you seemed to not want me to tell Tertia about what you have been experiencing, so I stopped, but I can't help but want to seek an answer on why that has to be done. If you simply told Tertia, I'm sure that she could do something about this situation, no?"

"...Just don't! Tertia.. she has a lot more things to do rather than care for me. I can't drag her down, I definitely can't do that. I can't do it any more than what I have inconvenienced her for.. I am a sinner. I am guilty. Thanks to me, Tertia was also dragged down. I am bad luck," Theo stated without pausing.

Theo pursed his lips. In his mind, this girl in front of him was unmistakably the savior that had saved him twice, but that fact made him even more hesitant to bond with her. There was a special reason for it, one that plagued his heart and increased his heavy burden day by day.

"Tertia.. she's blind," Theo said.

"...Tertia is blind? She.. doesn't seem like it," Estelle gasped as she lowered her volume.

Theo also put his index finger up to his lips, gesturing for Estelle to shut her mouth up. "..She is blind, but she was not born with the condition. The reason she became blind is... me. Which is why, I can't leave her along for a long time, I want to take care of her and take responsibility for my own actions that made her fall into an accident.

"Tertia is a great person, and she's strong. But her lack of vision made her condition deteriorate day by day, her body is rotting with each passing second. To counter this, I have something that I need to obtain. Which is why I'm looking for a lot of money. If you are willing to pay me the absurd amount of money to help me, then I will undoubtedly follow you and try to assist you with the knowledge I have. But if not.. then I would have to decline the offer you made earlier.. About me travelling with you. That is impossible as long as Tertia won't follow us with the journey. I don't want her to struggle while living on her own,"

"To me, Tertia is doing fine, though? It seems like you are the only one who is coping with the aftermath of those events, not her.

"It's a hard choice for me. Tertia must know that I am worried about her, so she's hiding everything. She must also know that I am looking for her cure, the cure that would cost me my everything no matter how much I earn from now on. I know that it's a mindless goal, but I want to be able to buy this material one day and restore Tertia's sight to her. That's it. About other money, I don't care. As long as I get to pay her back..  I will be satisfied," Theo concluded.

"..If you're willing to share, could you tell how Tertia became blind? Also, I couldn't tell that her eyesight was gone. She acted just like everybody else, and functioned just as well. Her sight did not seem to bother her. Let me hear about this further, perhaps I might have the ability to heal Tertia. If Tertia is healed, does that mean that you have no qualms in following me in my journey?" Estelle rapidly asked.