I'm a Villain in My Own Game?

[??? PoV]

I'm not like them...

Those were the words I always heard from the villagers in the village where I was born and raised.

They believed everyone got hurt because I was the one causing them harm. But I never once thought of doing anything cruel to the other children, even though their treatment to me was quite harsh.

It made no sense to me — I wanted to play with the other kids, not hurt them. Doing something bad would only make them avoid me even more, if that's really what I wanted.

"I'm home, Runa."

I heard a man's voice entering my house. But I didn't respond to him.

He then saw me and walked over. "You look so gloomy. Did the other kids avoid you again?"

I simply nodded quietly in response.

"I'm sorry Father can't be by your side while you're going through such a hard time, Runa," he said, sounding regretful, stroking my hair.

This wasn't Father's fault. He had to work from morning until night in the nearest city just so the two of us could eat enough.

It's just... I felt so lonely here, and the other children had never accepted me since I recovered from my illness.

Ever since Mama passed away when I was very young, I'd always lived alone here until Father came home. Sometimes I'd go out with the other children so I wouldn't feel so lonely.

"To cheer you up, I brought you something," Father said, pulling something out of the leather pouch he carried.

In his hand was a yellow duck doll.

"Uwahh... so cute..." I took the doll from Father's hands. "Did Father buy this from Joker?" I asked him.

"That's right. He was still here this afternoon when I got off work," Father answered.

Joker was a man who'd been coming to the village lately, selling various handmade crafts like dolls, figurines, and clay items.

He always wore a mask covering his face. When the villagers asked why he always wore it, he'd simply answer, "I'm ashamed of the burn scars on my face."

He also told the villagers he didn't want his ugly face to make us uncomfortable.

I'd been talking with him quite a bit these past few days.

Talking with him was so much fun — he always told stories about his travels as a merchant, visiting amazing places and meeting all sorts of different people.

That night, I played with the doll Father gave me.

I named her Luna, a name almost the same as mine. Somehow, I could see myself in this duck doll.

She was alone, had no friends, and her face looked sad.

"I've got an idea! Tomorrow I'll ask Joker to make a companion for Luna, so she won't feel lonely, hehe..."

Thinking about that, I hugged Luna and closed my eyes to sleep in my comfortable, soft bed.

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The next morning, Father suddenly had a visitor — a mysterious man. He wore a strange mask, similar to the one Joker wore.

Was he one of that merchant's acquaintances?

The two of them discussed something I couldn't understand, like magic, the Temple, and Inquisitors. Many of the words coming from that mysterious man sounded foreign to me.

The mysterious man then glanced over at me. His gaze, visible through the two holes in his mask, frightened me.

After the man left, Father said goodbye and headed off to work in the city.

As usual, I was alone again here. Joker would only come by in the evening, so I had no choice but to spend my time playing with Luna.

I decided to bring her to the river — don't ducks love playing in the river?

But when I arrived, I saw other children playing in the water. They all looked so happy, laughing and splashing each other.

I was so envious...

I wanted to laugh and play with the others like that too.

But this time, I had Luna with me. We'd already promised to play together somewhere Luna loved.

I walked away from the other children and tried setting Luna down on the river's surface.

She floated, drifting along with the current. I ran along the riverbank chasing after her — it seemed she wanted to race me to see who was faster.

—Crash!

Suddenly, I collided with something. My head throbbed with pain, and my body fell to the ground, dirtying my clothes.

"You freak! Don't you have eyes!"

Suddenly, I heard someone shouting — it was the boy from yesterday who'd told me to stay away from the other children playing.

"S-sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you! I was too caught up chasing after Luna!" I lowered my head as a gesture of apology for what I'd done.

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"Huh, Luna? You mean this ugly duck doll?"

I turned to another boy, who was holding Luna — the doll Father had given me.

"Please... give Luna back to me..." I said, looking at the boy.

"Tch, a freak like you doesn't deserve happiness! You should suffer just like you made Perun's hand burn!" the boy shouted.

Those words again...

I hated them.

"Give her back! Give her back right now!" I screamed as loud as I could.

But even after I asked him several times, the boy tore Luna apart and threw her into the mud, stomping on her until she no longer looked like a cute duck at all.

I hate all of you...

I wish you'd all disappear from this world...

I want you to feel the pain I've felt because of your words...

"Aggghhh! It hurts! My arm! My arm!"

That's right... scream! Scream louder!

"Mommy! My eyes hurt! No!"

This is so satisfying... watching those who hurt me suffer is so satisfying...

"What's going on!? Why is your skin blistering, Remus!"

Ah... those animal-children's parents have arrived.

"It was her! That freak hurt us all again!" the boy shouted, crying.

"Enough of this! I'm reporting this to the Priest and having him call the Inquisitors here!" the child's parent shouted. "I'm certain you're the demon incarnate the Priest has been talking about!"

They all left me here, alone.

I... didn't care anymore...

No one in this world was ever willing to accept my existence...

There would never be a place where I'd find happiness in this life...

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Several hours passed after the incident by the river.

Right now, I was standing in front of the warehouse Joker usually used to sell his wares. I waited for him to arrive, so I could ask him to fix Luna, who was now severely damaged, torn apart and trampled by that boy.

This place was very quiet, far from the village center inhabited by those half-animal humans.

It was more comfortable here — just me, nature, and Joker.

"Hey, little girl, what are you doing here while the shop's closed?"

I heard a familiar voice from behind.

Turning around, I saw a white-haired man with green eyes, wearing a black mask covering his eyes and nose.

"Joker! You're finally here!"

I wanted to hug him, but my clothes were dirty from playing by the riverside earlier.

"Sorry, some business kept me out longer than expected," Joker said, opening the warehouse door. "Come inside first."

We both entered the warehouse, where I saw plenty of items and dolls stored inside.

"So, what do you need from me, Runa?" Joker asked.

I then showed him Luna, badly damaged and dirtied by what those children had done.

"You want me to fix this?" he asked again.

I simply nodded in response.

Joker took Runa and set her on a shelf. "I'll fix her tonight. Anything else I can help with, Runa?"

I wanted to ask him something... but I was afraid Joker — the only person I could talk to — would also start avoiding me. Still, I didn't want Joker's kindness toward me to just be fake, or merely out of pity for me.

"Hey, Joker... why aren't you afraid of me, like the other villagers?" I asked him. "You must have heard from the others, right? I often hurt other children, and honestly, I've started to enjoy watching them scream in pain."

I was different from them — I finally realized this, watching those children in pain and enjoying their suffering.

"I'm different from the others, Joker." I walked over to him and touched his palm. "I'm a monster who doesn't deserve to be among ordinary people like them."

Smoke began rising from Joker's palm where I touched him.

But why wasn't he feeling any pain at all? What was happening?

"You seem confused, Runa," Joker said, smiling at my reaction. "I'm using Unreality Field, which can negate the effects of magic my body receives, up to a certain limit."

Magic? I think I've heard that term before. Isn't magic a phenomenon where someone can create a miracle?

"Follow me for a moment, Runa."

I followed Joker as he walked ahead of me.

Before long, we arrived at the river on the edge of the village.

"Runa, do you want to know why you're avoided here?" Joker asked me.

"Unn..." I simply nodded in response to his question.

"Alright, I'll tell you a story about an ugly duckling..."

As Joker said this, the water in the river suddenly formed into a mother duck, swimming.

My eyes widened, watching this miracle.

"Once upon a time, there was a mother duck about to lay her eggs..."

The mother duck's eggs then hatched, revealing baby ducks swimming alongside their mother.

But there was one larger egg that hadn't hatched yet.

The mother duck waited a while longer for it to hatch. But when it finally did, the baby duck that emerged had a slightly different shape from the others.

This odd duckling was then mocked as ugly for its strange shape and shunned by its own siblings.

"Look at you! You're not even the same as us!"

"Your shape is so weird, and your color's not like ours! You're so ugly!"

The odd duckling could only watch from a distance as its family abandoned it, left alone in the wild.

Loneliness, fear, and hunger — the odd duckling experienced all of it, without any help from its family.

"He's just like me..." I murmured sadly, listening to the story of the duckling Joker was telling.

As the little duckling wandered through the wild, he saw a group of long-necked, winged creatures talking to each other, showing affection toward one another.

Seeing this, the duckling felt deeply envious of that group. He wanted to become part of them, to end the loneliness he'd been feeling all this time.

I... felt the same way as that duckling...

I wanted to have friends like everyone else...

To have fun with them...

Without being called "the freak."

Before I knew it, tears began streaming down my cheeks.

But suddenly, the winged creatures approached the little duckling. They invited him to join their group.

"Why would you want me? Aren't I ugly? Aren't I strange!?" Joker shouted, acting out what the little duckling felt.

"Hahahaha! You're not strange at all! You're just like us! Look at your reflection in this clear water!" Joker said, imitating the voice of the creature approaching the duckling in a different tone.

The little duckling did as the creature instructed.

He was shocked to discover he had the same shape, appearance, and color as the creature approaching him.

"You're a swan, just like us!"

All this time, the little duckling had never known he was actually a swan, clearly different from the other ducklings he'd once considered family.

So it was only natural that the other baby ducks had always avoided and called him strange.

"Come on, let's join the others!"

The little duckling then flapped his wings and flew toward the group of swans, his face full of joy.

He seemed so happy to have finally found a place that accepted his existence.

He began chatting and playing with the swans.

The flock of swans then began flying away, leaving the river area. But the duck didn't fly off with them — instead, he flew toward where I was standing on the riverbank.

As the water-formed duck arrived right in front of me, it then transformed into an ice mirror, showing the reflection of a blonde girl with red eyes.

The reflection in that ice mirror... was me...

Realizing what Joker was trying to tell me through this story, I clenched my fists, holding back the overwhelming emotion swelling in my heart.

Could I find happiness like that duckling?

Was there someone else out there who cared about my existence?

Were there other children out there just as strange as me?

Had I been a swan all along, and never a duck at all?

"Joker..." I called out, turning to look at him. "Are there children out there just like me?"

The masked man smiled and stroked my hair. "Of course, Runa. If you want, I can introduce you to them."

"I want to! I want to be with children just like me! I don't want to keep feeling lonely and mocked like this!" My tears poured out uncontrollably, unable to hold back my emotions.

"Alright, Runa. I'll take you to your friends who are already waiting for you there."

But it was only after calming myself down for a while that I finally noticed something.

The river water behind me was steaming, as though boiling. Joker's body was also giving off a considerable amount of smoke.

"It's alright, Runa. Where your friends are, we'll teach you how to control this power of yours."

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[Raul PoV]

After taking Runa home and speaking with her father about relocating her to our orphanage, I hurried back to the warehouse where I'd met the girl earlier.

I quickly removed my gloves and the clothes I was wearing.

My skin showed fairly severe burns, from having stayed close to Runa while her emotions had been unstable earlier.

"The magic Runa releases can even pierce through Unreality Field if I stay near her too long..."

We needed to help Runa learn to control her power as quickly as possible.

If not, she would die, her body unable to withstand the sheer amount of mana released by her uncontrolled magic.