39 Journey: Sylvania

Estelle had to take care of her needs by herself now.

She missed her maid Lylia. Lylia was the epitome of a perfect maid, she was meticulous and detailed in every single thing she did.

"Lyliaaa~" Estelle rubbed her eyes as she cooked fried eggs. She could just drop down from the ship and go to a nearby market, but she was too lazy for that.

Chewing on the sloppy eggs she made, she observed the smooth progress the turtle ship had. It breezed through the air without any hindrance.

[En, I'm such an expert.] Her painstaking hardwork did not go to waste, the turtle ship gave her a comfortable experience devoid of the drawbacks other transportation methods had.

She activated the transparent shell feature, gazing down to the boundless lands.

Because the ship still moved whilst she was asleep, she had already exited Alynthi and was now in the untouchable Plains, Intemerata.

She had to say, the lands were as dry as deserts. Because no one could own the lands, even if someone planted trees or flowers, they couldn't fight for their ownership if someone came up and stole the plants. Thus, no one wanted to plant anything in these barren lands, because it would just end up in a loss.

Besides, the climate was dry all year and only resilient plants could keep their life intact.

Estelle recalled the fact that the Plains also had monsters, the 'Strays' dwelling inside. She grew curious of the origin of the enemies she fought inside the Dukedom and wanted to try and search for them.

She drove the ship with magic and descended to a lower altitude.

A pack of monsters entered her line of vision as she captured their features with her eyes.

A hint of discomfort washed over her as she sensed an anomaly within the pack.

"..This," Estelle's expression turned grim.

The monsters contained traces of corroded mana cores. Their mental stability was low. Some of the hordes' members even fought against each other.

The stench of bloodshed, be it past or present, invaded Estelle's nostrils as she acted as an overseer from above.

"Strays..." Estelle wondered. Even if they were monsters, weren't they born with a pure mana core at some point? Then, how come every single one of them had a corrupted core?

Estelle, who could see their rotten aura had to cover her mouth. The eerie black mist surrounding the Strays were stronger than the ones she battled in the manor.

Her first answers were simple: the most common cause of core corruption, the use of [Black Magic].

The magic corrupted the core to the point where you would be hurt by the slightest touch of Holy elements.

Her books described the Strays as lawless creatures, but not ones that utilized [Black Magic].

Duke Alfonso had to have obtained his specimens from somewhere. If their guesses were correct, then a strong magic user resided by him.

If he really took them from the Plains, did he really have to implicate every single creature? To corrupt them all?

Seeing the deranged monsters trailing around, Estelle felt sick.

They were not worthy of her magic. None of them were suited to be her opponent.

She thought to free them from their shackles, but it honestly wasn't her responsibility to do so.

"A villainess can attain good merits, but even if I did free them, I would still have to kill them. I can't rid everyone of their lives, I can't bear the sin," Estelle felt regretful.

The only way she could free them from corruption was to counterattack the force with her [Holy Magic]. The backlash would cause the monsters to die or suffer harsh retributions.

Perhaps a few would survive, but the genocide that she'd cause was to huge. Unless she had a way to not harm them whilst freeing them from the magic, she wouldn't do it.

They no longer had a will, but Estelle still didn't want to get rid of them.

"..I'm sorry, but I don't have the right to take your lives," Estelle felt like it was such a shame. The monsters she fought proved to be quite a good sport. She thought that it would be good experience for her to take on these monsters, but now, the idea had long been evaporated.

Estelle continued to drive her ship to her destination, Sylvania.

Sometimes, she peeked down, but nothing would change. Intemerata was indeed famous for its lack of everything. A clear stark difference from the kingdoms surrounding it.

It was truly a shame. Outside of the kingdoms, the only sentient lives that existed were the monsters. Even then, the monsters were now being manipulated to serve as the ingredients for an experiment.

<Are you coming here?> Heine's voice interrupted her serene peace.

[I'm boarding a turtle ship right now, I won't reach there until about three to four days.] Estelle replied.

<Then, you're passing through Intemerata, right? Could you bring some monsters with you?> Heine made a difficult request.

[..Huh?] Estelle was shocked.

<I'll explain later... I'm sort of.. busy! That's right, I'm busy right now! Sorry, but I'm breaking this connection!> Heine sounded rushed. Indeed, the connection was broken the next second.

"What in the world..."

However, Estelle did plan to fulfill the request. It could be a visiting gift for Heine, especially since he asked for it himself. The things that puzzled Estelle was the reason he did that.

[Why would he need monsters? Furthermore, he didn't specify on whether he wanted alive monsters or corpses.] Estelle grumbled. Even so, she still lazily got up from her seat and put the turtle ship on stationary mode. One of the disadvantages of the ship was that it couldn't be stored inside a magic bag because of it gigantic elements and huge mana currents.

It had to be parked somewhere. Luckily, no one could see it if it was to be submerged inside the fluffy clouds.

Jumping down from the ship, Estelle used some Wind Magic to keep her afloat and reached the ground safely. She navigated around the lands to find the monsters' lair. Before jumping, she had marked down one of the lairs and was now preparing to head there.

"This will be my second real fight..." Estelle mumbled. Being six years old, her figure could not surpass the human limits even if she had monstrous powers. She was petite and the monsters would be several times larger than her figure, like how it was back then in the mansion.

Not long after, the monsters' lair was already in sight. The unpleasant stench of black magic was repugnant, but she stayed calm as she thought of her next move.

"Let's see.. [Fortification]!" Estelle cast strengthening magic on her body as she charged towards the nearest monster.

The monster looked like a combination between a red ox and a humanoid bipedal creature. The horns that jutted out from their heads were as sharp as a blade.

They wore clothes to cover up their private parts. The fabric had blood splatters all over it, from fresh spots to dried ones.

"[Magic Bullet]!" This was an attack comprised of no elements. It was a pure bullet made of mana, which worked the best for Estelle considering her element, [Null]. Unfortunately, she was not able to display this attack in front of other people because it would show her special identity.

The concentrated ball of mana launched itself towards the nearest monster.

GRRR!!!

The monster that received the attack growled. The growl acted as a signal for the others, as they crowded and began to approach Estelle with clear intentions: to kill and remove the outsider.

The bloodthirst was potent, so potent that Estelle was stopped in her tracks.

"Tch.. I wanted to engage in the fight more, but I can't," Estelle prioritized her life. She was afraid of getting hurt. Pain was her enemy, and she would spare every extra effort to avoid it.

Casting a Wind spell, she created a wind current that helped her stay in the air and shot the monsters down with accurately aimed spears.

Reminding herself to spare some of the monsters, she only shot a few on their hearts. The rest were shot on their limbs, knocking their balance and pinning them down to the ground.

"..I'm sorry that I wasn't able to fight you fairly, but I really can't stand pain," Estelle was still trembling from the ominous bloodthirst the horde displayed.

[Are Strays really this.. destructive? They didn't think, their minds went straight to killing mode upon seeing me.] Estelle shuddered.

[I mean, I did attack them, but they didn't show any shock. Like a lifeless robot who's programmed to attack whoever disrupted them.]

The monsters didn't even budge when her [Magic Bullet] hit their comrade.

"But... These Strays are way stronger than the ones I fought in the mansion," Estelle pursed her lips. It seemed like the artificial monsters were not as developed as the original ones. Although she could see some similar features, their prowess were totally different.

The monsters in the mansion should be led by their creators, who allowed them to rampage. These monsters' will came from themselves. It was their wishes to kill.

Estelle picked up the corpses and stored it into her magic bag, whilst the alive ones were bound using her mana and brought back to her ship.

The total earning amounted to seven corpses and four alive subjects.

Estelle was careful in handling the live ones, trying her best to not make any contact with the monster whilst binding them.

After the binding was done, she healed their wounds to a certain point where they wouldn't die.

"Wait.. I still have 2 days until I reach Sylvania.. Doesn't that mean I have to stay with these guys.. even when I fall asleep?" Estelle realized.

That day, she did not sleep, but focused on creating a cage that could secure the monsters. Since she didn't know how to create a proper cage, she had to experiment several times before she was able to produce a cohesive bond between the irons.

Fortifying the iron bars, lacing it with magic, she had to waste time since this was the first time she created something like this.

She lamented that she could not learn Yulia's advanced barrier magic. Her barrier magic, which stemmed from typical Unique Magic was too weak to handle the creatures.

Once she put up a barrier, their aura immediately destroyed the membrane, rendering it useless.

She also lamented that her [Creation Magic] could only stretch out to objects she perfectly knew the characteristics and structures of. Although it was still a cheat in the end, she had to waste a lot of time if she wanted to be able to utilize it to its maximum point.

[Then again, what's its original purpose? Am I even supposed to create.. things that didn't exist in this timeline?] Estelle was brought back to the topic of fireworks. An idea she brought from the modern times. Was she not supposed to do that?

"..." Estelle felt strange.

Her barrier magic was sourced from the magic books. Some of them were classified as high level magic. However, to these monsters, it was just child play and did not cause any effects. It was even repelled without a thought and purely by their aura.

Doesn't that mean... the world was losing in terms of strength compared to these creatures?