I'm a Villain in My Own Game?

[??? PoV]

Bandits...

A term given to a criminal group that frequently robs and causes trouble along the roads connecting villages and towns.

Right now, our platoon was disguised as a caravan carrying trade goods from a village to a larger city.

We were doing this specifically to lure these bandits out into the open.

Normally, a caravan like this would be escorted by 40 to 50 people. But right now, we only had 25. That number wasn't too small, so the bandits wouldn't suspect this caravan was actually a trap.

"Hey, Pablo. Do you think this plan will actually work?" one of my companions asked.

"I don't know. We should stay alert until the mission's done," I answered him.

Actually, this plan had been proposed by a group of academy students. Still, it only got approved because our lord, the Count of this territory, signed off on it directly.

The bandit group we were after was called the Rumblers. They'd been causing trouble in this region for the past three months.

What made this group especially frustrating was that they only attacked when their odds of success were high, even if the payoff was small.

They valued their group's safety far more than a big haul.

That's exactly why this bandit group had been so difficult to catch.

"Hey Pablo, look!"

Ahead of the caravan procession, a man and woman riding a cart had stopped in the middle of the road.

"Oh, thank goodness! Please help us, travelers!" the woman called out, approaching our group.

I and two companions went to check on her, to find out what was wrong.

"What's the problem? Why have you stopped here?" I asked her.

"You can see for yourself, sir. Our cart's wheel is broken, and the two of us aren't strong enough to fix it," the woman answered.

"Alright, we'll help you," I told her. "You two, lift the cart while I replace the wheel," I ordered my two companions.

My two companions then lifted the cart along with the man accompanying the woman.

I pulled the broken wheel off the cart and began fitting a new one in its place.

"Hey, we're under attack! We're under attack!"

I heard shouting from the caravan's direction and stopped what I was doing.

"Dozens of riders suddenly appeared from every direction! Get ready!" one of my companions from the procession shouted.

I and my two companions turned to head back to the procession. But suddenly, I heard a scream of pain from the side. The woman and man from before had stabbed both my companions.

"You two! Why would you do this!?" I shouted, drawing my sword.

"Fool! This was a trap from the very beginning!"

"You're all so naive!"

Both of them mocked me as they ran off, fleeing the scene.

I quickly checked on my two companions. One had died instantly, stabbed directly in the neck, but the other was still alive, though struggling to breathe, clearly dying.

I carried him and walked back toward the caravan.

"Hey! Find a priest, quick!"

I laid my companion down against a cart.

After that, I rushed toward the formation of soldiers setting up a perimeter. Ahead of me, about 10 riders were approaching.

I heard they were coming from other directions too — it seemed the earlier reports were correct: the Rumbler bandit group numbered more than 50 people.

"Remember! Don't give the signal until we've made contact with them!" a Lieutenant commanding this platoon ordered.

"Hahaha! How foolish of them to bring so few guards into this area!"

"We've been watching your procession since it left the village!"

The bandits began shouting with delight.

I gripped my sword tightly and tried to steady my breathing. Dozens of bandits closed in, aiming their spears at me.

I quickly dodged and slashed with my sword, knocking one off his horse.

"Attack them!"

"Take everything from that caravan!"

Shouts rang out from a distance. I saw about 20 people running toward us.

It seemed the bandits had deployed infantry units alongside their mounted forces for this attack.

Three men closed in on me at once, unleashing slash after slash.

I tried my best to dodge and parry their attacks. But bit by bit, I was getting cornered.

At this rate, I'd be killed!

"Damn you, you rotten bandits!" I shouted, furious, beheading one of them.

But seeing this, the other bandits only laughed at their fallen companion.

They kept attacking me relentlessly, my body now covered in slash wounds from their swords.

"Glory to the Empire!"

Suddenly, I heard a shout from the Lieutenant commanding this platoon.

That was the signal for the academy students to emerge and ambush the now-lured bandits.

Before long, the tarps covering several carts flew open, revealing academy students who'd been hiding there, waiting for the signal.

I saw a flash of yellow lightning before my eyes, and suddenly, the head of the bandit attacking me was severed, flying through the air.

"Are you alright?" asked the blonde woman who'd just saved me.

Beautiful blue eyes, a stunningly charming and elegant face — her remarkable presence made it clear she came from a high-ranking noble family.

"I-I'm fine, Princess Elena!" I answered her question.

"Rest for now, we'll finish off these bandits quickly," she said, giving me a beautiful smile I'd remember for the rest of my life.

This tale has been pilfered from NovelPhoenix. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

She then rushed forward, cutting down bandits now scattering in panic, startled by our sudden reinforcement.

Princess Elena looked graceful and captivating, even as her body was now drenched in fresh bandit blood.

Despite her young age, her swordsmanship had already reached a top-tier level, rivaling even a Master of a Knight Order.

Since childhood, she'd been trained in swordsmanship by our lord — Count Raymond de Chatelon, one of the Empire's Grand Espada, known by the title "The White Knight."

It didn't take long before the academy students had wiped out every attacking bandit.

In this operation, we lost three of our own, while on the bandits' side, we killed 42 and captured the remaining 24 who tried to flee.

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[Count Raymond PoV]

Nearly four hours had passed since the operation began. I wondered whether they'd succeeded in wiping out those bandits.

It was my student who'd originally proposed this plan. I was fairly surprised — she'd once only known how to fight, yet suddenly she could devise such a solid strategy to lure the bandits out.

Having spent a month in this territory, I noticed she'd changed considerably since we last met. Her swordsmanship and fighting style had also become far harder to predict than before.

I wondered what could have caused my student to change so drastically. A person doesn't transform this quickly without something significant influencing them.

Suddenly, I heard cheers and commotion coming from the castle's main gate.

The platoon I'd dispatched for this operation had returned, along with the academy students currently carrying out their field practicum in this territory.

Every soldier in this castle came out to greet them. Still, I knew these fools were really just eager to see the blonde woman leading the procession.

Look at their faces — my soldiers looked like virgin boys seeing a woman for the first time, utterly enchanted by my student's beauty.

I walked over to greet my student, and every soldier immediately snapped to attention upon seeing my arrival.

My student stood at perfect attention and saluted me.

"Reporting: the bandit extermination operation was carried out successfully!" my student declared loudly.

"Princess Elena, look at you! Not only beautiful and graceful, but you've also completed a mission flawlessly!" I praised her. "If you stay here much longer, my soldiers will only obey your orders and ignore me — their own lord!"

"You're exaggerating, Master," my student said with a warm smile. "The soldiers in that battle were incredibly brave, unafraid to face an enemy far greater in number. Their courage is what made this operation succeed!"

Hearing praise from the goddess standing before them, my soldiers grinned foolishly, like lovestruck men.

"Well done, everyone!" I shouted to the returning soldiers. "Rest up now! Tonight, we'll celebrate this victory with all the food and drink you can handle!"

Hearing my words, my soldiers cheered with delight.

After dismissing them, my student and I headed toward the training grounds.

Even having just returned from a mission, Elena never grew tired of asking me to train her further, to grow stronger.

This was one change in her I hadn't noticed the last time we met.

Before, she'd only train when I invited her to. Elena used to say she wanted to focus more on the academy's organizational affairs than on growing stronger in combat.

I suspected the reason she'd acted that way was because there was no one at the academy who could match her strength.

Elena was the finest talent the Empire had produced in the last hundred years, aside from Liana de Grantz. Still, I felt her ability would surpass Master Liana's within the next two or three years.

Liana de Grantz had been the strongest Grand Espada in the Empire's history. But she died before ever reaching her full potential as a knight.

Such a tragic waste.

"You mentioned before wanting to show me your newest combo attack, didn't you?" I asked her. "Would you like to demonstrate it now?"

"That's right, Master. I want to know if I can still refine this combo I've created," Elena said, drawing her sword.

"Heee~ Interesting, show me! I'd love to see a combo my own student has created herself."

Hearing my words, Elena smiled confidently and settled into a stance.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Her gaze sharpened, her sword gripped with both hands — it seemed this combo would emphasize Power above all else.

She then charged toward me and began her combo attack.

I tried to parry and dodge each of her sword strikes. But the pattern of Elena's attacks felt slightly strange, making it quite difficult for me to handle.

There were plenty of feints woven into her movements, making it hard for me to predict where her next strike would land.

Elena continued her combo assault, the clang of swords echoing as I parried several of her strikes. Sparks flew from the sheer force behind each blow in this combo.

—Slash!

One strike managed to graze my right arm.

Elena's combo wasn't just powerful, it was fast too. Yet even after ten consecutive strikes, she didn't stop, continuing on.

—Tang! Tang! Tang!

I parried several more attacks, but four or five of Elena's strikes still managed to graze different parts of my body. That combo of ten consecutive strikes had been genuinely dangerous.

Once she finished her combo, Elena stopped, breathing heavily after completing the sequence.

"What do you think, Master?" Elena asked.

I looked at the five cuts now marking my body. Elena's combo hadn't been reckless in the slightest.

"This combo of yours is extremely dangerous, Princess Elena," I told her. "Especially those last ten strikes. Even I, a Grand Espada, could only perfectly parry five of them."

Hearing my praise, Elena simply gave a melancholic smile. I wondered what was on her mind right now.

She should be pleased, having created a combo capable of wounding a Grand Espada — the Empire's strongest knight.

"There's a man who could parry this combo of mine even better than you, Master," Elena said quietly, looking down at her sword. "Out of twenty strikes, he blocked or dodged 17 with ease, and only the remaining three managed to graze his body."

Huh!? Someone who could parry and dodge that insane combo even better than I could? Had Elena shown this combo to any other Grand Espada besides myself?

"Didn't you say you'd only shown this combo to one other person besides me?" I asked her.

"That's right," Elena answered, smiling brightly. "Even though it was the first time he'd ever seen this combo, he almost perfectly parried and dodged every strike."

"Who is this man, Princess Elena? Is he a Grand Espada like myself? Or perhaps a Holy Knight from the Temple's military unit?" I asked, growing increasingly curious.

Elena simply laughed softly and shook her head at my question.

"No, he doesn't hold a title like Grand Espada, nor is he one of the Temple authority's most fearsome knights, like a Holy Knight," Elena answered casually. "He's just... an academy student, like me."

Hearing Elena's words left me genuinely shocked. There was no way an academy student could handle that combo attack almost perfectly.

This didn't make any sense! Was there really talent out there exceeding even Elena's own!?

"His name is Raul de Garcia..."

Wait a moment, Garcia? Isn't that the family name of the current Head of Imperial Intelligence? Could this be that cunning man's son?

But as I was mulling over what I remembered about this man named Raul de Garcia, I noticed an expression on my student's face I'd never once seen before.

The moment she mentioned that man's name, her cheeks flushed slightly, and her smile matched the same foolish, lovestruck grin my soldiers wore, captivated by Elena's beauty and grace.

This was the first time I'd ever seen the Second Princess of the strongest empire in the world wear an expression like this.

Ughhh... I felt sorry for my soldiers — the woman of their dreams had already had her heart stolen by another man, even before they'd ever had the chance to meet their beloved goddess.

"Count Raymond, Princess Elena, forgive me for interrupting your training session."

Suddenly, one of the attendants serving here approached us.

"What is it? Is there important news from the capital?" I asked him.

"You should read this newspaper yourself, my lord."

I took the newspaper from the attendant's hands and read the news printed within.

"What does it say, Master?" Elena asked, stepping closer.

"The Main Temple in the Duchy of Grenaut was attacked by a heretic group," I muttered, answering Elena's question. "They killed Bishop Vermind, and several Inquisitors died at their hands."

Hearing my words, Elena's expression turned grim.

"It says here that The Masquerade group is behind this attack."

The Masquerade, one of the most troublesome heretic groups, since they targeted high-ranking, influential clergy within the Temple's authority.

"How could they possibly break through a Main Temple guarded so heavily by elite forces like the Inquisitors!?" Elena asked, looking shocked.

"Princess Elena, The Masquerade has a team called Performers," I revealed to her. "Their strength can even rival my own as a Grand Espada."

"Master, will greater chaos befall this nation in the near future?" Elena asked, looking worried.

"I don't know. What's certain is that we must prepare ourselves, should such a disaster strike sometime soon."

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[Raul PoV]

"Hacchooo!"

Ughhh... for some reason my nose suddenly itched terribly.

Was someone talking about me?

"Captain Raul, what's wrong?" Melissa asked, looking concerned.

"It's nothing, just a bit worn out from all the duties we've been assigned," I lied to her.

"Is that so? Don't push yourself too hard, okay? Plenty of people would be terrified without you here protecting this region," Melissa said sweetly.

"Heee~ You're quite the smooth talker, aren't you," I teased her. "There are plenty of other patrol soldiers besides me, you know."

Following the attack on the Main Temple in the Duchy of Grenaut, the Temple's authority had increased personnel throughout that region and its surroundings.

I'd also heard a Holy Knight from the Holy City of Notredame was being sent as reinforcement, specifically to help eradicate our group.

It seemed the Temple's authority would spend the coming days searching for traces of The Masquerade and hunting them down.

I figured placing the orphanage in Grenaut City had been the right call. They'd never suspect the very rats troubling them had been living right under their noses all along.

Wanted posters had also been distributed throughout the Empire. There were three bounty posters featuring illustrations of the masks worn by the Performers.

Currently, the three masks confirmed by the Temple's authority as belonging to The Masquerade members were Dancer, Painter, and Tamer.

After completing those two missions, Keeper hadn't assigned us any further tasks. She'd only ordered us to periodically monitor the orphanage in Grenaut City.

I supposed we couldn't carry out any missions right now, given how heightened the Temple's authority's vigilance was after this attack.