“How didn’t I think of this sooner? I was transported to another world! Oh, what are the odds that I, of all people, got Isekai’d.”

A concept that to your average person may seem only uncanny, but that to one like Elena proved simultaneously exciting and familiar.

“I wonder, is this the world of an Otome game? Or maybe just a plain-old novel?” she pondered out loud, inspecting her surroundings in search of a clue.

She compared the sights in front of her with those stored deep within her memory. Back in her world, Elena had read many a tale of maidens who found themselves whisked away from their regular, boring lives and thrown into exciting worlds of fantasy. Often, into stories they already knew, meaning they could use their knowledge of future events to their advantage.

For better or for worse, it seemed she’d found herself in such a scenario.

“I do hope this is like those older Isekai like Inuyasha, tho, where there’s a way to return home. Mom will be worried sick if I don’t return in—” Elena halted her speech, clenching her jaw and aiming her gaze downwards.

After a second of silent contemplation, she turned her frown upside down, raised her fist up to the sky, and shouted, “Who cares about that shitty country anyway, I’m in a fantasy land now! It’s only a matter of time before some handsome prince will come sweep me off my feet.”

For a moment, Elena locked any memory of her hometown away in a mental box. Right now, she wanted to give in to the excitement of the prospective romance and adventure that awaited her in the future.

“In fact, if average romance novel pacing is to be believed, I’m sure I’ll be meeting my romantic lead riiiiight… NOW!”

Elena turned around dramatically, and pointed forward. Her index finger was aimed at no person; instead, a dog barked at her before running away.

“Ok, so that didn’t work.” Elena closed her eyes and walked a few steps forward. “But maybe my love interest will be… YOU.”

Opening her eyes, her view only showed an old man selling knives, having one for each wrinkle on his face.

With a defeated sigh, Elena crossed her arms and said, “Ok fiiiine, I’m being an idiot. I’ve only been here for about half an hour, I guess I shouldn’t expect to be handed out a romance immediately.”

Of course, love usually began to bloom within one hour of reading or gaming, so perhaps it was expected for her expectations to be set as such. But in real-time, it would take far longer.

“Besides, odds are I’m already engaged or something. That’s usually what happens to the main characters in these kinds of stories. Although that’s usually because…”

Elena was left scratching her chin, eventually coming to a realization. In most of the tales she’d read, there was a distinction drawn between heroine and protagonist. Generally, there’d be a character who appeared to be the protagonist of the story, the pure, kindhearted heroine. The actual main character was the character who got transported from Earth, usually taking the role of…

“...the Villainess!”

The idea ate away at her thinking like a termite chews wood. For whatever reason, she’d always taken a liking to villains, so being put in the place of one could certainly prove entertaining, if nothing else.

“...”

That said, she took a glance at her clothing once again. While her dress was certainly quaint, it was still quite plain in a way uncharacteristic for an aristocrat, as Villainesses usually were. Plus, she lacked any sort of jewelry or other forms of expensive items; no necklaces, no rings, nothing demonstrating an excess of wealth.

“I swear, I better not have been reborn as the world’s poorest villainess…” She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. “That does sound like a Light Novel title, though. ‘I was Reborn as the World’s Poorest Villainess! All Routes Lead to Bankruptcy.”

She had a good laugh at the expense of Light Novel titles, but it would prove to be a laughter of short duration.

From behind, her ears heard a coarse voice call out, “There you are, I’ve been lookin’ for you.”

Elena’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be, my romance arrived at last?”

It was be fair to say that either she was wrong, or she was gonna wish she was wrong. For once she turned around, neither a handsome prince nor a suave duke was the originator of the voice. Instead, in front of her stood a large man approximately in his 40s, wearing a shirt too small for his size, his belly button left exposed. His hair was greasy and unkempt, and whenever he opened his mouth, it was clear a few teeth were missing.

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“Oh, come on now. Is a handsome rogue too much to ask?” whined Elena, rolling her eyes.

Focusing too much on the man’s appearance would turn out to be an error, as it led her to overlook a saber he wielded on his right hand.

Pointing the blade to Elena’s neck, the man said with a threatening voice, “You little rat, you thought you could hide?”

Fearful, Elena’s only reaction was to raise her arms and mutter, “I-I’m not who you’re looking for. I just got here.” She looked all around her. As all this commotion was occurring within a public space, she assumed someone would come aid her.

But nothing of the sort happened. Every man and woman either completely ignored what should be an unusual situation, or gave a curious glance before looking away, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

“You lyin’ brat, I’ll cut your arm right off if you take me for a fool again!” The burly man sheathed the sword and approached her with heavy steps. Using his left arm, he gripped Elena’s left shoulder and pulled her down, with enough strength to cause the petite girl to drop face-first to the ground.

Immediately, she felt some kind of metal touching her hands, “What are you doing?” she screamed out. A clicking sound made her realize what it was. The man had put her in handcuffs.

The brute pulled her body and told her, “There we go, now you better behave, you little shit.”

Her eyes drenched in despair, she made one last desperate glance to see if someone, anyone, would notice her distress. Once more, adults played dumb, but she now took notice of a small boy of red hair, who briefly stopped his walk and looked back at her with a curious gaze, before getting dragged by his hand by his mother.

Her attention then shifted to a group of three other children, who in unison all raised their arms in excitement, cheering the giant man on as if he was a hero.

“Let’s get goin’.”

With a small push from her back, Elena was left with no choice but to walk, to follow her captor’s instructions.

Where she was being taken, she did not know. But right now all she could do was think. Think of an escape plan, or if nothing came to mind, at least think frivolous thoughts to distract herself from her dreadful potential fate.

Nobody seemed to care about me… maybe I really am a Villainess.

So far, she hadn’t really thought through what being reborn as a Villainess could entail. Most stories she’d read involved being reincarnated into women of high status, ones who could be said to be the aristocratic version of high school bullies. Generally, they lived lives of wealth and glamour, to serve as foil to the kind-hearted heroine, usually a commoner.

Yet there she was, in the middle of a dirty city street, surrounded as she walked by folks with rags for clothes and the occasional rat that strolled by.

Just my luck, she pondered. Of course luck would have it so that she, of all people, had to be reborn into such a shitty situation.

Maybe this was her punishment for her behavior on Earth. Maybe the role of villainess truly did suit her.

After a long stretch of walking mindlessly, they arrived at the parking spot of a vehicle. To describe it, a truck would perhaps be the most accurate word, featuring ten wheels and a cargo area at the back. At the same time, one could mistake it for a carriage; the wheels were tall and the driving area was lovingly detailed, with glassless windows to the sides of the driving seat.

“Now Get in, you filthy Marked!”

That sudden order knocking her out of her trance, Elena pointed at her chest and asked, “Are you talking to me?”

“I told you not to play dum’ with me.” The thug raised his saber with his right hand, “Unless you wan’ a taste of me bla—!”

His attempt at intimidation would be interrupted, as some kind of orange projectile flew right past him, hitting a wall and startling him.

“Who the hell was that? Show yoursel’, you coward!” yelled the giant, pointing his sword forward, attempting to bait whoever fired that into a fight.

“Coward?” asked a deep, masculine voice, remaining hidden, “You, who captures innocents in an attempt of making a buck call me a coward?

“I’ll show you a thing or—” Before he could finish, a gust of wind blew, and before it could even subside, the once seemingly unmovable giant was knocked down to the floor like a domino, lying there while grabbing his leg in pain.

But the worst news for him was found a few centimeters from her neck; a rapier was pointing at it, threatening to slice it were he to make a wrong move.

And holding it was a young man of brown hair, light-brown skin, and lean build, who mockingly said, “Here, I showed myself, you happy?”

“Get Him!” A swarm of ruffians arrived running at the scene, totaling five total, their swords raised over their heads.

Catching them with his eye, he rolled his eyes. “More company. Neat.” Gripping his blade’s hilt with both hands, he replaced some sort of green crystal inside the sword with a red one he took out of his pocket, and then pointed the weapon upwards and closed his eyes. “Flame of the Sword God, Bless my Blade!”

Chanting those words, orange slowly began painting the end of his blade, a curtain of flames beginning to surround it.

“That brat… he’s a Sword Artist!” one of the men exclaimed, in dismay. From the way the sword was shaking, it was evident a great power was contained within the weapon, yet the young man’s hands remained firm.

“Very observant.” Opening his eyes, the confident brown-haired rogue swung at last his rapier; the blade traveled in an arc, cutting the air in front of him and releasing its surrounding flames.

With only that single movement of his arm, the surrounding street had become ablaze, tainting even the sky with an orange hue.

Wasting no time, the man turned around and glanced at Elena with a grin. “Now, if you all excuse me—” he rushed toward Elena and began bridal carrying her, before turning his attention back to his enemies, cowering before the spreading hellfire— “I have places to go. Gotta follow my rainbow, you know, usual rogue stuff. Later!“

Not without taking the time to pull his tongue out, he sprinted out of the scene, Elena in tow.