A Villainess Should Be Strong

This case was a bit complicated to handle. however, as of now, since she couldn't find any means to proof that she was indeed capable of performing the deed, Estelle wanted to seek a willing patient that would agree to her operation. She was sure that if there was someone out there who was less capable of getting treatment, much less than Theo and Tertia, then they would be easier to convince.

Although this was a backhanded statement that wasn't too pleasing from a moral standpoint, this was Estelle's first large exploration in Vaitral. She saw that Theo was indeed a smart child, and had an instinct that he was hiding something behind all his words. When he talked about the dragon that caused Tertia harm, he made a lot of pauses that led Estelle to believe that the matter was not as simple as Theo offending this dragon just through simple means.

Estelle understood that she had little to lose in Vaitral as an outsider, considering that the country's law were not strict in the slightest and was in fact lenient to the strong. Knowing this, she was prepared to bring Theo with her and search for the willing patient. This could also be considered as a trial for her, and a learning subject. Treating someone with a poisoned core was not a case that you would encounter everyday, but it was rather common. Learning how to treat it would certainly bring her benefits in the future when the time comes to play.

Estelle made a huge sigh of distress, making Theo shrink back, as if he was afraid that the promises Estelle had made to him would all be nulled now that the girl realized that it was a near impossible case. However, instead of saying that she couldn't do it, the girl gave him assurance.

"I will try my hardest to cure your sister. I will see what I can do right now. I might not be able to alleviate her condition all at once, but I think I will be capable of soothing down the worst cases," Estelle said, patting the child on the head as she smiled.

Theo looked dumbfounded as the words Estelle gave were the complete opposite of what he thought the girl would say to him.

"About your salary, I'm thinking that this much will be your pay for... hmm, three days or so? I have enough to hire you for a week, but I plan to make more money to sustain the time. Don't worry, you may leave right away if you find that I am unable to pay you sufficiently. I am not someone who will cheat money like that," Estelle said, taking out a bag of money and giving it to the little child. "I also have some valuables that you may be interested in, but.. those will be revealed later on, alright?" Estelle awkwardly smiled.

In terms of gems and expensive objects, down to pieces that can't be attached to a price, she had a lot of them laying around in her storage. For example, the mana potion that she used to create was sure to reach a heavenly price if she did try to sell them. Although it was just a prototype and not a perfect item yet, it was still enough to bring shock into the world over how priceless it was.

She was confident in her financial stability, which was why she didn't take out as much money from the Alfheim's storage.

Theo was still dazed. The money that Estelle gave to him was an astronomical number that completely surpassed his pay from the previous customers by a mile. If it was Estelle that employed him like this all the time, then he might really be able to buy the wondrous item he had heard of, the one that he sought to be Tertia's cure.

Granted, Estelle's view on money might be a little skewed. She did not know how much Vaitral's currency were worth exactly compared to other measurements, so to her, this was a rather generous pay- but not too much. It just meant that Estelle valued the child's service that much that she was willing to pay this amount.

Theo tried to shove the bag back to Estelle with shaky hands, saying that he couldn't accept it. The amount was too much for him to handle. Not to mention, he did not need the money anymore now that the promising girl was actually trying to cure his sister. Even if he had the money, trying to get to a seller that would provide him with the item in the first place would probably be impossible.

"I.. I shouldn't accept this. You are about to go on a journey, so finance will be a hard thing for you to handle. I won't use the money anyway.. the item I need is actually too far out of my reach, I just set it as my dream to gain hope.. If you wanted me to be honest," Theo confessed, making Estelle raise a brow.

"You've repeatedly mentioned this wondrous item, but what is it actually? A complete cure to core poisoning.. If such a thing existed, I'm pretty sure that it would be recorded somewhere. I have read a lot of medical books, but I still don't think that I've heard of such a thing before," Estelle said, questioning Theo's knowledge.

"It's actually a secretive material that only exists within Vaitral's deepest regions. The strongest dragons guard these materials, and it is called the White Ruby. Ruby is known to be reddish in color, but these gems.. They have a pulsating whitish hue inside of them, and taking this material in will cause your body to grow stronger and even increase your core purity.. It's normal that someone from the outside doesn't know this. Even Vaitral's citizens normally don't know anything about this item, the only reason I know is because.. the very dragon that hurt Tertia told me that if I wanted to have the solution to her condition, then I would have to someday come and bring him sufficient exchange material for the White Ruby,"

"And the exchange material is money?" Estelle frowned. For such a miraculous item, she doubted that those strong dragons would even try to sell it in the first place. No money could replace a thing like increase Core Purity. Core Purity can literally double your current strength if you enhanced it right, like when Minerva first tried her mana potion and found out that her power elevated.

The gem seemed to be a permanent fix to increasing the purity. Then, why would the dragons even try to sell it? Wouldn't they just use it for themselves? Unless there was a limit in the usage, and that they resorted to sell it for correct trades that would further increase their influence and power. All in all, Estelle did not think that the exchange that the dragon was talking about was money. It should be something else, something more significant and had enough power to make the dragon desire it.

Theo hesitated, but then shook his head. "No, he never specified that it would be money. I just assumed so.. Doesn't everybody want money? For such a precious item, what else can I give except for money in exchange for it?" Theo answered.

Estelle was not convinced. For a person like her, who has always been blessed with the power to gain privileges like money earning abilities, she never found monetary gains to be that special of a thing. Rather than money, she always focused herself on more abstract stuff that interested her. Money was a secondary priority. Although it sounded condescending for her to say that, she really did think so.

Once you have too much money, the excessive amount will be pointless. She wondered. If the time comes where she had too much power, much more than anybody else that lived on the world, what would it be like? Would the power be pointless as well, since she no longer had a goal to go to? For now, there were still people who were stronger than her, but not in the true potential. She was the one who had the greatest potential from all, so she would later surpass those enemies she deemed as stronger once she treaded on the right path.

The question was, once she beat that goal, what would be the next target? What did she need to reach next?

A sudden question popped up inside her mind, making her feel a bit dazed. She quickly shook her head left and right, knowing that it wasn't time to think about such things as her journey would still be a long way from now.

Another matter caught her attention. Theo mentioned that only the strongest dragons sold this thing, or at least put it up for offers, where they would choose an offer that they agreed with and were willing to trade the item. Then, didn't it mean that the one who hurt Tertia, the one Theo offended was actually Ehrendil, the strongest dragon of this land?