A Villainess Should Be Strong

"Are you alright?" Yulia extended her arms to touch Estelle's face. Her hand landed on Estelle's cheeks, which was still smeared with potent blood.

It was an unconscious decision, made with no second thoughts. It just felt natural.

The scene that greeted her was shocking, but the main focus wasn't that.

It was the silver-haired girl currently standing in front of her.

The girl was noticeably harmed- not only in the physical sense but also mentally.

Her injuries could be fixed in no time, but her mindset was different. Once it changes to a negative direction, then trying to change it back would be difficult.

When Yulia thought of Estelle, she could only think of a ticking time bomb.

She wondered when the bomb would detonate. Or will it diffuse by itself without causing any existential damage?

Either way, the girl needed a push for those two choices.

A push that would send her over the limits, making her either turn 'good' or 'evil'.

One thing the Yulia didn't know, however, was that Estelle planned something out of those two narrow concepts.

She wanted something more, something that wouldn't categorize 'Estelle' only for her few actions.

When you thought about it, the classification was really narrow.

If someone did nothing but good things for years, but did something blasphemous- one that would render them into the evil category, would the person be 'good' or 'evil'?

It was just an endless chain of life.

Both good deeds and evil deeds were necessary to some cases.

Yulia still believed in the category, but Estelle no longer wanted to ponder upon her role in a direct sense.

By no means would she accept the one-sided mark towards her.

Not anymore.

Perhaps when she was little and did not care about her surroundings, but not now.

That was her current resolve.

"I am alright," Estelle gave a tired smile to Yulia, dragging her feet while walking towards the locked door. "How did you guys find me?"

Her head turned towards Heine. She expected Minerva to be the one to find her, but the woman wouldn't suspect much as she was only gone for a bit. Perhaps, if a few hours passed,then Minerva would've found it weird too.

Heine, however, somehow got to her.

"Logic. I checked the first house, and tried to calculate the mana calibrations. The range of possible times you took while fixing one spot. After that, maths. I deduced that you should already be in the last places, so I came here.. and voila, the seal was there," Heine said.

"And he couldn't open the seal, so he had to ask my help. We actually shouted quite a lot outside the building, but I guess the sound was blocked?" Yulia interjected.

"Yeah, I didn't hear anything. More than that, though... How did you think that I might possibly be in danger?" 

"Well, I came to help out with the disaster, but I couldn't find you. I found it to be strange, because you would naturally try to meddle into the matters. Then, after asking around, you seemed to have disappeared into nowhere, so I quickly pieced out the storyline and outcome... What 'Estelle' would've done," Heine chuckled in a low voice.

Estelle hummed in acceptance and started to coil her mana around injuries and painful areas.

The selected parts began to regenerate and heal in a high speed.

She had to be thankful to Heine's quick and decisive thinking process.

"Even so, the gate was surprisingly an unfamiliar riddle. It waz tricky, but I was able to get through it," Yulia commented.

Estelle also began to think deeper.

"Stronger magic..Strong power,st" 

"..This makes sense. Now that you've given me information about the real mastermind, this would all make sense," Estelle huffed, remembering what Heine's data said about Duke Alfonso's magician backer.

There was one name that caught her eye, the most important person behind the whole fiasco according to Heine.

Elias.

The guy from the Underworld, the one that became Arayle's parental figure.

When she spent time in the Underworld, the guy was indeed not there.

She had heard various news about him and his greatness, but never got to interact with him.

A denizen from the Underworld.

The Underworld was far more advanced than the Surface, although it lacked resources. Natural resources and privileges were not a thing there.

"...Elias, huh," Estelle didn't know if she would be able to

[Wait.] Estelle realized a strange discrepancy.

If Arayle was ten years old right now, then in the Surface, only ten months would've passed.

However, more than one year had passed ever since the evolved monsters first appeared.

The Ruler before.

Estelle's expression turned grim.

[Who commanded the research before Arayle was born..?]

Her brain started trying to rack up reasons why this would happen.

Firstly, the previous ruler of the Underworld.

[No..] Estelle rethought the choices.

According to the books she read in the Underworld's royal library, there was a time jump.

The line of succession didn't transfer immediately. Arayle was born a bit later than expected, and there was an absence of power for some years.

[Then..] Estelle moved to the second choice.

Second, Elias as the potential instigator.

[Records about Elias was not widely spread. His name was huge, but little is known about him.]

[If that isn't suspicious...] Estelle worried.

Perhaps, the monsters weren't caused by Arayle?

When she spent time in the Underworld, she had chatted with the girl multiple times.

Not once did she mention anything about monsters.

However, now that the culprit was revealed to be possibly Elias, under whose orders did he operate?

A solitary objective?

Why? 

The records stated that the Underworld's denizens disliked those who tried to mingle with the Surface.

If Elias was the one who orchestrated everything, then why was he motivated to do so?

What was his goal?

Chaos in the Surface?

There was no benefits for doing that.

To connect with the realm? 

If so, then why was destruction brought?

Estelle was once again puzzled.