Villager A Wants to Save the Villainess no Matter What!
Chapter 62

I got caught in a decoy and lost sight of Anna. So, I dragged the survivors of the knights who were escorting the decoy carriage back to the royal capital.

Thanks to the hard armour, the bullets didn't go through properly or hit the right spot, and about half of them survived.

I've killed several bandits with my own hands when I accepted requests to take them down as a condition of my promotion to C rank. What's more, instead of shooting them like I did this time, I've even slashed them with my sword.

So it's not like this is the first time, and there's nothing wrong with killing the person who kidnapped the duchess.

After that, among these knights, whom I brought back, there was that man who had taken Anna, but this man was a soldier sent from the Est Empire.

He seemed to be a low-ranking soldier, so when the torturer interrogated him, he immediately threw up. And the knights around him were also said to be from the Est Empire.

Moreover, it seems that arrangements had been made, so even if I had not attacked them, they would get attacked by the bandits, and the whole thing would go missing.

By the way, the Crown Prince pretended that he didn't know anything about this as well. But this guy is definitely the one the Crown Prince has been guiding.

Thanks to the testimony of the students of the anti-Crown Prince aristocracy in the school, the fact that the Crown Prince had this soldier with him and that he had ordered him to put Anna in the carriage was confirmed.

However, it was assumed that the Crown Prince did not know that these soldiers were of Est Empire.

And to my surprise, even the forgery of the order was pushed through with the unbelievable logic of 'it was just a temporary thing', and it was settled with the Crown Prince punished with house arrest. However, he was allowed to take classes at the school, so I guess you could say that there was almost no punishment.

In short, the Crown Prince ordered Anastasia to be taken to the royal palace, but the knight was replaced by a soldier from the enemy country, and Anastasia was kidnapped, which is what got published.

But, if this is the official report, the Jade Seal would be meaningless, so what was the king thinking?

Could it be the child is the mirror of his parent?

Also, what I did was not questioned because I stopped a soldier from another country from attempting to kidnap a duchess in the country.

This was thanks to the Duke's hand behind the scenes.

I expressed my gratitude to the Duke and apologized for my outburst, and was able to obtain his generous forgiveness.

The duke, however, thoroughly protested against the royal family in this case and demanded the abandonment of the Crown Prince. He also declared that he would not cooperate with the royal family in any way unless Anna returned safely.

With that, he said he was planning to leave the capital soon.

It may be the highest level of aristocratic protest.

No, this is more than a protest …

However, in response, the kingdom tightened border inspections. And so the search for Anna was on, but her whereabouts were unknown.

If I think about it now, I must have been too proud.

The fact that I was able to destroy fate as I had planned for over eight years, Amy and the others hadn't messed with us for over six months, and most importantly, Anna's love for me made me careless.

Amid such senses of accomplishment and satisfaction, I had completely forgotten that this was a tower on the sand, built on a precarious balance.

There was no evidence that this country was safe, even though I had preemptively collected all the items and events from the game and destroyed any chance of Amy becoming a saint!

It was just an excuse that there was nothing I could do to help in my current situation.

I should have looked for what I could and worked to reduce the possibility of the royal capital being overrun, even if only by a small amount!

It's my fault for putting off something so important, something that I really needed to think about.

Damn it! Damn it!

In general, I should have taken Anna to the Duke even if I had to use force to do so at that time.

If I had done that, none of this would have happened!

But because of my stupidity, Anna was already taken away.

If only I hadn't said those things to Amy!

If only I had told Anna to hide the fairy hair ornament!

If only I'd paid more attention to the Crown Prince's movements in the first place!

But it's too late for anything.

I have no idea how they got Anna out of there.

As long as there are no clues, there's not much I can do even if I search in the dark.

If so, the next thing to do is …!

＊＊＊＊

The Est Empire, on the other hand, declared war on the Centraren Kingdom on the same day and launched an invasion across the provisional eastern border. The excuse was that their own soldiers had been harmed and that their trust had been betrayed when they had asked Anna for a political marriage in the hope of peace, but it got thwarted by violence within the Centraren Kingdom.

However, considering the fact that the letter declaring war was delivered shortly after Anna was kidnapped, and the war was started at the same time the letter was delivered, it was probably something that had been carefully prepared.

To make matters worse, the Kingdom of Westerdale to the west quickly declared its non-interference. Originally, Westerdale and Centraren are allied against the United Kingdom of Norsane, but not against the Est Empire and the Kingdom of Xaus, which do not border each other.

However, in the past, whenever a conflict broke out, they would support us with various supplies, but this time we could not expect that.

The next morning, after the international situation had changed dramatically, we students of the high school were gathered in the auditorium.

As for me, I didn't want to stay at the school anymore, but the Duke persuaded me to stay, so I had no choice. I can't allow myself to go out of control any more than I already have.

Amy approached me and exaggeratedly egged me on.

"That's too bad, isn't it? Your precious Anastasia's bridal carriage will be attacked by rogues, you know? And after that, she'll be cruelly raped and sold. Oh, you poor thing."

"Why do you know that?"

I stared at Amy as if I could kill her with just a glance, but she didn't seem to mind.

"It's obvious. She's a villainess. So she'll be abandoned by her fiancé, cruelly raped and sold, then she'll become the dark knight and come for revenge. We'll defeat her and give her a happy ending. That's how it's supposed to be. You know that, right? You know that, don't you? I know that you've been in my way a lot."

"…… scum."

"Fufu. It's nice to hear a loser howl. You're not even a mob. You, who is not even a character, should leave immediately?!"

I couldn't say anything back. This was a situation I had foolishly brought upon myself.

But not yet. It's too early to give up.

Anna's death was not decided yet.

While I was thinking about this, the headmaster of the school came upon the platform of the auditorium with a knight.

"I have a sad announcement to make today. As some of you may already know, the Est Empire has once again launched a unilateral war of aggression against our Kingdom of Centraren. War is a very sad thing. It is always the weak and innocent who are sacrificed in wars, and it must be very painful for those of you who will be protecting and leading your people. But ……"

It's always a long story for the headmaster.

But in the game, the knights didn't appear, and in the first place, the invasion war occurred after the civil war commotion. Moreover, taking advantage of the chaos in the kingdom, the villainess who had fallen into evil due to desperation took the lead and attacked at once. It was a blitzkrieg operation, thanks to the guidance of the villainess, who was originally excellent and was well versed in the situation in Centraren.

But I don't think Anna would betray me like the villainess in the game. In the first place, Anna's family has not been executed, I'm also here. Margaret and Isabella are there too. No matter how much she was framed by the crown prince, she would not lend a hand in the invasion.

I was just thinking about it when it happened.

"No! It's too much! Why can't we all get along better? I'm sure we can understand each other if we talk."

Amy interrupted the headmaster's long speech and shouted a line straight out of the game.

Oh, no, was it such a terrible line? I think it was a little better than that, but my memory is already fuzzy.

Amy's eyes are filled with tears and she has a very typical expression on her face. If you just cut out that look, she certainly looks like a heroine, also the Crown Prince and Leo, who were fooled by it, nodded that she was right.

However, the headmaster coughed and spoke to Amy in an admonishing tone.

"Yes. It's important to talk about it, but only if the other party is willing to discuss it. Also, I don't admit any arbitrary remarks. Is that okay?"

"Eh?"

(TL:- seriously, her brain is a flower field. A typical example of someone who can't distinguish reality and fantasy.)

Amy looks shocked, but it doesn't matter.

In short, I guess she was trying to recreate a scene from the game here as well.

I think it was a scene where the Crown Prince and his friends went up on the stage and shouted Love & Peace, and were praised by the students.

In the first place, the scenario of the game was broken long ago. The Crown Prince's position is clearly weaker than it was in the game.

So of course there are more oppositions than there were in the game, and the war started because of something the Crown Prince did in the first place.

There was no way he could make a reappearance.

And this is not a problem that can be managed by the game's unique opportunism. The Est Empire, which had originally targeted the territory of the Centraren Kingdom, used the foolish Crown Prince's unnecessary actions as an excuse to carry out the invasion plan they had been preparing.

Yes, that's just it.

"Now, as you can see from what I have said so far, our country is entering a wartime situation. For the time being, the school will be closed until the next spring, so please get ready to go home to your parents!"

"Eh? What do you mean?"

Amy tried to interrupt despite the warning, but the headmaster ignored her.

"Also, I have an announcement about the student volunteers. The Commander of the Knights is here today from the Royal Palace. Then, Commander, I look forward to working with you."

With that said, the headmaster passed the mic like a baton to the knight commander.