A Villainess Should Be Strong

"What else do you want to know? I think I have spoken too much. How did we go from talking about Tertia into speaking about the great dragons? Tell me, why were you feeling down? Did something happen that rubbed you off in the wrong way? I will try to help you as best as I could," Alyssa spoke as she gently smiled.

Estelle pursed her lips, a bit uncertain as she spoke. "It would be great if she just rubbed me off in the wrong way, as you said, but.. Tertia disappeared. Like, she is not joking, she even left a farewell letter back in her store, and everything had been closed down and tidied up like no one ever lived there in the first place. Cold and dreary. It makes me.. unsettled, and also, the child she takes care of is obviously freaking out," Estelle spoke, voicing out her concerns.

"Tertia.. disappeared? Look here, although I'm not able to be considered close with her, I do know that Tertia wouldn't possibly abandon Theo. The child you are speaking about, it is Theo, right? He would be absolutely devastated. Are you sure that Tertia isn't just pulling a prank on you two? Well- although she doesn't look like someone who wants to play pranks on people, surely there might just be a misunderstanding that occurred between you all?" Alyssa questioned.

"Like I said, everything was well prepared. That time, we only left her alone for less than an hour. When we came back, everything was magically cleaned up and left emptied out, like no one ever lived there at all. There were no signs of life, no nothing. You might find it hard to believe, but.. we also want it to be fake. A false alarm, a staged scenario. Unfortunately, it's not," Estelle retorted.

"..I'm deeply sorry, but I am really not qualified to speak about this matter. You might have came to me because I was the one who introduced you to Terita, but it was just because I knows she does work in that field and I trust her enough to take care of your request. It wasn't based on deep friendship or anything like that. Truly, I am not able to help you in this matter," Alyssa bowed her head.

Estelle shook her hands, telling Alyssa to raise her head frantically as it wasn't her fault. She just came here to ask for any leads that might have been left with the woman in front of her. It did not seem like so, but it also did not mean that Alyssa was at the wrong.

"It's alright. Tertia seemed to have set everything up for the little boy, and we just have to trust that he will manage. Theo has been acclimated to the harsh ways of the world ever since he was little, right? I believe that he will do just fine without Tertia by his side, or perhaps even better," Estelle said.

Alyssa nodded her head, still feeling a bit impacted over the shopkeeper's sudden disappearance. "But.. her disappearance is not because of force, right? It was out of her own volition? It's a bit crude, but you might want to dig into her personal matters.. For example, find out what she had been doing for the past few days? If she really planned to runaway at any given time, then she should have left traces somewhere. Look for that, maybe?"

"Yeah. At the same time, I also feel like I shouldn't look for her. It is completely up to Theo, but surely she has reasons for disappearing and it won't just be done on a whim.. That kind of thing, shouldn't we respect her wishes and desires?" Estelle questioned back.

"That is true, but we are talking about a child. What will happen to Theo? He relies on Tertia a lot for not only as his parental figure, but also a provider for his emotional stability. This kind of thing.. If Tertia was removed from Theo's equation of life, what would happen to him?" Alyssa sighed.

"Living along isn't necessarily a bad thing. Fending for themselves, there are a lot of people who have to do that on a daily basis just because they weren't as lucky as to find somehow who they could coexist with. Just like Theo depended on Tertia, Tertia also depended on Theo for certain matters, right? The fact that she wanted to break the balance, disrupt the equation, perhaps she thought that it was time to revert everything,"

"Haa.. I understand. It all comes down to Theo. To tell the truth, I am not that close with that boy, but I do worry about him in this scenario. You seem to have gotten closer to him more than I have during the time since I first met him. You are very quick, aren't you? This might be a presumptuous request since you are just a traveller who dawned to this land, but if you could, please take care of Theo as much as you are capable of doing," Alyssa spoke as she smiled in a gentle manner.

"Yes, of course. Thank you for speaking with me about this matter and voicing your input. I will go back to my room to sort some stuff out, after that.. I will try to seek Theo once again. I left him because I know that he needed some space in order to recover himself, so I will return," Estelle nodded lightly, taking off from her seat and heading towards the staircase, in which her room was lcoated in the second floor.

Alyssa looked at the child's back with a complicated pair of eyes, as she thought about the sudden change. Especially when Estelle suddenly asked her to reveal information about the great dragons. Surely, why would that be a random question spouted out of nowhere when they were discussing a serious topic like Tertia's disappearance?

Alyssa found this situation to be a bit odd. She was smart and quick to pick up on things, and she began to find how there would be a correlation in all of this. Sighing repeatedly, she told herself to not worry about others as much and focus on her work. She went back to tally her earnings and sorted out her services, wanting to forget about the situation she just learned with haste.

Estelle arrived in her room and closed the door behind her, leaning as she closed her eyes for a few seconds and knitted her eyebrows. Out of nowhere, a daunting situation like this delivered itself to her doorsteps.

She felt like she wanted to run so that she wouldn't have to face this kind of trouble. At the same time, her conscience did not allow her to abandon the matter. Although it might delay her progress a bit, the end result was still the same as she would still be travelling around the draconic country with a guide that turned out to be one of the Great Dragons of Vaitral's child. Wasn't that a great coincidence?

But if she did want to implore on this matter further, it meant that she was going to be tying herself with familial matters of another person. That kind of thing, she did not wish for it.

After debating back and forth with herself a few times, she finally decided to pack her bags and settle the matter of her departure.

No matter what, she finally made her decision. She was going to meet Theo one more time, and take him with her. Of course, that was if the boy steeled his heart just enough so that he would let the girl drag him around the world.

Estelle finished packing up, and by the time she did, it was already night time. In the end, she decided to leave the inn tomorrow morning. She laid down on the bed and slept the night away.

The following morning, she readied herself up and threw all of her items into the storage system, walking downstairs and greeting Alyssa a good morning.

"Alyssa, today will be my last day. Here, a tip for your great service. I truly appreciated your help, please take care of yourself and your business. Good luck!" Estelle happily smiled, handing back the magical keys that were given to her when she first came here. The magic that she inputed was removed, and returned to Alyssa's drawer.

As an innkeeper, Alyssa naturally had no right to not let Estelle leave, so she only sent a cautious look as she spoke. "What about the words you spoke yesterday? Theo? What will he.."

"Don't worry. I will lend him help. I was due to leave the inn anyway, it's not because I'm running away," Estelle assured the other party as she signed off the attendance list, marking her last day on this inn.

"..If so, then that's great. Thank you for staying here, Eirlys. If you have the chance sometime in the future, please come back and visit me, I will gratefully serve you just as great, if not better," Alyssa promised.