A Villainess Should Be Strong

Chapter 6: Magic Testing

[I am the villainess. If we're going by your story, I should be something like the evil team leader.]

[T-that's not something to decide so casually! You don't kno-> Heine was taken aback by her sudden claims.

[I know. I saw it in my dream. As such, I don't think you're meant to be my guide.]

Replaying her words inside her head, it really seemed too outrageous to be true.

Who is she to suddenly believe what was shown in her dream to be a reality? Where was her previous life's logical side? To hell with these emotions, she preferred the mechanical her much more!

She did not have to bother with minuscule, irrelevant things like having to account for others' suggestions and thoughts unless it brought her benefits.

Alas, that part of her seemed to have successfully integrated inside her. Became one with her emotional part.

Heine looked dumbfounded and unsure as to how he should respond.

Estelle chuckled in her mind. Heine was no exception, the 'dream' revelation also sounded ridiculous to her.

In the deepest of her heart, she believed the revelation. Her mind, however, contrasted this belief as she thought it was nonsensical.

[Look, look. I don't know what happened in your dreams, but that's not important. Even if you were cast as the villainess' role, the decision still lies within you. You are the one who'll choose whether to act or not.

I mentioned roles before, but imagine it from another point of view. A 'hero' could massacre an entire village if he wanted to. At that point, it came down to his actions. If he were to commit a massacre, would he still be 'good'? Or would he be 'evil'?

Even if you are the villainess, are you really going to... you know, in history, there has been some really dumb villains... Are you really willing to group yourself with those bunch of idiots?

And, didn't you save your mother a while ago? That could be considered as a good deed, no?

Following the same logic, I am not going to pull out of my role as a guide just because of your dream. We've just met for the first time, so it must be hard, but I want you to trust me for now.]

[... You have a point. Sadly, I don't find myself being in the bad side that far-fetched of an idea. If I was assigned to a role, then I am to take it seriously.]

Estelle wasn't shaken by Heine's words.

[You... Oh well. Like I said, the options are with you. I won't interfere. The contract has already been made, so the deal will not change. As long as you don't touch my Spirits, I don't really care about the other races. We could live without them.]

[Yeah, I know.]

If Estelle was capable of doing so, a smile would already bloom in her face. Unfortunately, her facial muscles didn't comply to her thoughts as it stayed blank.

[So, what exactly are you going to teach me?]

[Right. Before the practical stuff, I have to tell you how magic works first, do I?

Magic is... to put it simply, limitless. There are endless possibilities to be taken note of. They all come from the same source, which is mana. Without mana, you cannot use magic.

The factors that affect your magic is divided into two. The first one is affinity. Affinity pertains to the 4 basic elements, which are Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. All the other magics are derivatives from those 4. For example, the Nature Magic that is sourced from Earth Magic.

Aside from that, there is something called Unique Magic. It is not sourced from the 4 basic elements. There are 2 types, Light and Dark. These two also has it's branches. The Holy Magic I lent you recently is sourced from Light Magic. The Black Magic that maid has is from Dark Magic.

For most of the spells, creativity is the one that comes to play. One's imagination and ability to bloom that into a reality. But that being said, even if you have the Fire affinity and a great imagination, but still do not have a tight grasp on its concept, you can say goodbye to the cool fire show you visioned.

Usually, people can only use one affinity, but in some cases, there can be dual and triple affinity users. As for quadruple... It is said that only The Sage had a quadruple affinity.

The other factor is core purity. Cores are essentially our mana bank. It is the most mana concentrated part in our body. If it is destroyed, the mana will spread around our body and bloodstreams, acting like poison.

The purer the core means the more mana you can absorb. It'll also be more high quality.

When you are born, your core will automatically absorb the surroundings' mana, but the effect won't be optimized to its full potential because you are not aware of it. As such, there is something we call awakening.

It's when you finally grasp the true foundations of your core and its affinity and can utilize it practically.

For you... you seem to have undergone the awakening since you were able to use Holy Magic even if it was bestowed. *sigh*]

[What's the norm for others?]

[It varies between the races, but it also depends on the person's capability.

For example, I was able to awaken a month after I was born, but my people's average time is around 6 months. Spirits are on average the quickest to awaken because of our mana abundant surroundings.

If I had to summarize, the humans would be the slowest, followed by beastkin, elves, dragonkin, and spirits. However, there is always the chance of an unknown variable like you appearing, so the average don't really matter.]

[Wao. I'm terribly fast, then?]

[... Yes? You have only realized this now? It seems like I need to hammer a lot of common sense into your head...] Heine rubbed his temple, feeling helpless.

[I have never been in contact with magic. How the hell am I supposed to know common sense about it?] Estelle looked at him as if he was the weird one for thinking she was weird.

Heine felt like she made some sense. He wanted to ask why her thoughts were so developed in that case, but he relented as it was not relevant to the contract they made.

[Now, now. As I said before, you have already awakened, so it will be possible for you to use magic. The Holy Magic you used previously was bestowed by me, but we don't know if you have Light Magic yet... So! I brought this thing...]

Heine rummaged in what seemed like an alternate spatial storage. Seeing his hand half in the space, leaving the parts up to his arm looking severed, it was not a pretty sight.

Thankfully, Heine found the item pretty soon and pulled it out.

In Heine's hands was a dull crystal ball. It was clouded and opaque.

[I assume that I'm supposed to put my hands on it?]

She had been forcefully dragged by Hikari into watching a 'transported to another world' type of movies in the past and knew the gist of things.

[Yeah. Here, I'll help you.]

Estelle was not able to properly sit down and was left reaching for the crystal ball to no success. Heine chuckled at the cute sight and lowered the ball to Estelle's reach.

The moment Estelle touched the ball, a cracking sound reverberated in the large room.

[Huh?]

[Huh?]

Both Heine and Estelle were taken aback at the reaction.

Clearly, this was not the expected reaction.