A Villainess Should Be Strong

The 'Void Witch', Shanatos.

What did that name mean? It was a title catered specially to a woman who never revealed her physical appearance to the world, but continued making her presence be known for years to no end before she finally subsided.

Her primary signature look was that of a black robe that covered her entire body, even her face. People did not even get the chance to see her hair color during her active years.

Not a single information about her was spread around. Her race was unknown, where she came out of, where she was born, her nationality, her family, nothing was exposed about her even though she grew to become quite the existential figure.

Her name was etched in history, but few actually spoke about her in great honor.

It was because her actions were too unpredictable. Some were good, some were not. Thus, people who had a linear mindset would pick out her bad side rather than the good and not appreciate her as much.

On the topic of her name, no one actually managed to confirm her identity, so naturally her real name might not even be circulated around the links of history.

However, the name Shanatos itself was obtained from one of her earliest encounters with the people.

She had helped a village and saved them from a disaster on one of her trivial journeys. Saved it from a dangerous creature that locked them inside the small area and freed them without demanding payment.

The village were all thankful at her, but also quite intimidated because of how their savior presented herself. At that time, they still did not know that she was a Witch and only thought of her as a powerful magician.

She did not say anything, but instead raised her finger and twirled the tip around, forming letters with her movement.

'Shanatos' was apparently the word she wrote, the one that got accepted with a general consensus as her name.

Estelle recalled that the people who were on the scene specifically described her handwriting as quite cryptic, but did not pay any mind to it because the story did not relate to her at all. She just learned it because it was a part of history.

They saw the letters and deciphered it on the spot as 'Shanatos'.

However, now that Estelle came to learn that the Witch Shanatos was actually an Elf named Frey Agatha, she started to doubt whether the name held truth or not.

[..Could it be, they misread the letters?] she theorized.

It was possible. The book Estelle picked up, the one Frey described as 'secretive' contained unintelligible characters to her.

Perhaps, that was Alfheim's language? Not the one regularly used, but a lesser known one? Ancient scriptures?

The story of Shanatos was strange.

Shanatos was not kind, not saintly, but she was not a bad figure as well.

She was neutral- someone who did as she pleased.

She came and went, bringing a taste of the Void to the world and disappearing immediately.

No one knew what her motivation was. Where she was headed to. Her goal.

They just knew that she held freedom in her actions and did not bother interfering with personal matters.

Shanatos' deeds were never done for public attention. She wasn't completely white in her actions. She did some unspeakable things, too, but no one could fault her for it since her identity wasn't recorded anyway.

Many wanted her as an ally, so they tried bribing and enticing her with sweet offers. And yet, she turned her head away from all those and disappeared.

Shanatos was one of the most mysterious figures to ever grace the world.

When she disappeared out of nowhere and failed to resound her name anymore, everybody thought that she was dead. However, wasn't the real deal was currently standing right in front of Estelle?

Estelle did not think that Frey would be the type of person to lie. She also expressed it nonchalantly, as if the title was not a big deal to her and was even a nuisance. An unwanted glory.

She truly believed that the woman before her was the Void Witch Shanatos, who covered her entire body from head to toe and never revealed anything.

However, how did no news of this come out? Did Frey live a double life, one as the Elven Frey Agatha and the other as the Void Witch? Why did she suddenly disappear? Was it because she had accomplished her goal and had no more reasons to continue?

Internally sighing, Estelle resolved to look into this matter deeper if she had the chance to. However, she currently had no time to bother about other people's stories as she was still battling against the countdown for her challenge.

"I was looking for books that mentioned the Moon Goddess.. Particularly ones that would also dwell on Alfheim's first generation and their origins," Estelle said, expressing her wishes.

"Hmm.. so, history is it?" Frey thought deeply. "You're not in the wrong section, but your focus is slightly slanted. I saw a stack of books down the aisle, are those yours?"

"If you're talking about the seven books I placed on the table, then yes," Estelle nodded.

Frey then broke into small laughters.

"I glanced over them, I think you are on the verge of being misled," she said.

Estelle furrowed her brows, asking Frey what she meant.

"Don't you know how easy it is to 'accidentally falsify' historical incidents?"

Then, Estelle's mind clicked.

Frey was insinuating that the books she picked were not genuine.

However, Estelle also knew that history books could be slanted from the truth in the first place. The books that were written by each country's writers would respectively be different due to their point of views and favoritism on a specific side.

She was prepared for this slight difference and just wanted to get a feel on how things were.

Naturally, each country would want their own their own nation to prosper and flourish, more than the other competitors.

In the modern world, this became harder to do because of the ease of access to specific incidents, in which factual information are already placed everywhere and would be hard to falsify. Inserting false information would only lead to unwanted controversy that might harm yourself.

"..I know, but shouldn't they be at least a bit truthful? I just want to know about the Goddess, I don't care about politics and the reigning monarchs after the incident happened,"

"To be honest, the Goddess' tale is one of the most retrospective thing, more biased than the history incidents. At that time, no one actually had sufficient knowledge to pour their experiences into books. They just told the story through words, their only way of communication. The Elven race has been here since forever, you see?" Frey chuckled.

Estelle nodded, understanding that the first generation was indeed not as knowledgeable as the now blossoming Alfheim.

"As such, the Goddess' tale... Haa, let's just say that no one knows the actual truth. Perhaps, the 'reality' that we have been learning about might all be a lie. We only have specific clues that were told down by the first generation, but what prevents them from lying to their successors in the first place? What prevents each generation to continue lying more and more, until written text was explored and learned?"

Estelle pursed her lips, agreeing with Frey. She couldn't help but wonder what she had to do now that her methodical approach was proven not possible. She hoped to get clues on how the actual incident went by.

"Then... what should I do? Is there no 'correct' scriptures?"

"There is none if you're looking through the books," Frey confidently said.

Feeling dejected, Estelle lowered her head and sighed. Her time was spent in vain today.

"However, it is not like I can't help you. I have a way around this, if you want. To think that you're the kid's disciple, but he did not tell you anything about this.. how mischievous of him. You should've known better what kind of person he is,"

Estelle's eyes brightened up, raising her head to look at Frey and patiently waiting for her to continue speaking. But before that, she had one question. "Why are you helping me this much, when I am just a stranger you've met for less than an hour?"

Frey blinked repeatedly, at a loss on how to respond.

"Well.. let's just say that it is because you are someone who caught the attention of Alex. Both of us are actually quite similar, we share the same sentiments. Although.. that's not the only reason," Frey gave Estelle a wink, insinuating that there was something deeper.

"I-is that so?"

"Anyway, I will bring down some scrolls that will help you. They are not words, but more like pictures and scribbles. Although there were no texts from the first generation, there were interpretations. Depicted sceneries. Rather than reading those books that have been polluted by the writers' own interpretations, these would help you more," Frey smiled.

"Thank you so much!" Estelle happily responded.