I'm a Villain in My Own Game?

[Ariel PoV]

Blood...

For some reason, I still trembled whenever I touched it or saw it with my own eyes.

”Oaaakk! Oaaakkk! Oaaakk!”

The cries of a newborn baby echoed through the room.

A midwife had just delivered the child from her mother’s womb, bringing her into this world alive. The baby’s head was covered in blood, her eyes still tightly shut as she cried at the top of her lungs.

The people surrounding her were crying as well, but theirs were tears of happiness.

The baby was alive.

Yet, all of a sudden, everything around me fell silent. The only sound that remained was the newborn’s cries.

A man suddenly approached me and shouted something.

I couldn’t hear his voice.

”Sister Ariel! Please, heal my wife!”

I snapped back to reality.

I looked down and saw a woman drenched in sweat, her eyes closed as she struggled to breathe. I approached her and knelt down, only to see blood pouring from between her legs.

I hesitated for a moment before looking toward the midwife.

”Please... could you open it?”

The midwife nodded before handing the newborn to her father.

Although I had already overcome my hesitation toward acts of violence, I still wasn’t accustomed to touching human blood.

The smell of blood meant that someone was injured.

Someone was dying.

Or perhaps we had found a corpse.

There was nothing good about seeing blood around you.

And yet...

After witnessing the birth of this child, my aversion to blood had diminished somewhat.

”I’ve opened it, Sister,” the midwife said.

Gathering Mana in my right hand, I began reciting an incantation to heal the internal tear.

”Healing Magic... Green Cure!”

I inserted my hand into the mother’s vagina.

A green light immediately emerged from my hand, causing the torn tissue inside to slowly close and heal.

For other Priests, this procedure would take around five minutes.

However, my mastery of Divine Magic was far superior to theirs, allowing me to complete the healing in only one minute.

I withdrew my hand.

The mother no longer appeared to be in pain. Her breathing had returned to normal, and there were no signs that she had suffered any lasting trauma.

”Let the mother rest. She must be extremely exhausted after losing so much blood,” I told the father.

Healing Magic could only regenerate damaged tissue. It could not replace the blood she had already lost.

”Thank you so much, Sister Ariel! You’ve always helped the villagers while you’ve been here,” the father said gratefully.

I simply smiled and nodded before preparing to leave the house.

However, just as I was about to step outside, the father called out to me again while cradling his newborn baby.

”Sister Ariel, please wait a moment.”

He brought the baby over to me.

”Would you be willing to give our baby her first name?”

I was surprised by his request.

”I don’t mind. In fact, I’m honored, sir. But why do you want me to name your child?”

”Because I believe Sister Ariel is an extraordinary person, and someday you’ll leave this village and become the most famous Priestess in the entire Empire!” the father exclaimed.

”We want you to give our child a name as a memento of your time here. And besides, we can proudly tell everyone that our child’s birth was personally witnessed by you! I think that would make her proud when she grows up.”

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”Very well. Since your baby is a girl, I’ll name her...”

I paused for a moment, searching for a name that suited her.

”Ariana...”

After giving the baby her name, the father thanked me once again and told me that I would always be warmly welcomed by the villagers whenever I returned.

Once I had completed all of my duties here, I returned to the designated pickup point.

Raul and several other members were already waiting for me.

I climbed into the carriage driven by Raul, since the other carriage was already packed with several men.

Once everyone was ready, we began our journey back to the city.

Raul and I didn’t speak at all during the journey.

Lately, he seemed more energetic than usual.

For the past month, he had always been difficult to find after completing his missions. And the next day, his face would usually reveal just how little sleep he’d gotten, along with the exhaustion weighing heavily on him.

Could he be doing something else besides his missions?

A few days ago, he suddenly came to me late at night with his entire body covered in wounds.

I spent the whole night treating him.

He had suffered an incredible number of magical and physical injuries.

I asked him what had happened, but the black-haired man never gave me an answer.

To be honest, Raul had always been something of a mystery to me throughout this past year.

I still remembered what he had been like when we were friends.

He had been just like Brian, always sticking close to me.

Wherever I went, he was always there.

We had been very good friends back then.

But then, everything suddenly changed when Brian entered my life.

Raul constantly bothered me, forced me to do things, and frequently fought with Brian.

He even transformed into the arrogant and cruel nobleman I despised.

And yet, one year ago, Raul changed once again.

He became quieter.

More mysterious.

Although he stopped bothering me, he still continued to argue with Brian.

If only you could behave a little better...

Perhaps we could become friends again, just like we used to be.

I glanced at his face.

His expression looked strange, almost as though something was troubling him.

What could possibly be going through this man’s mind?

”Hey, Ariel.”

Suddenly, he turned toward me and called my name.

Our eyes met.

I immediately became flustered after realizing that he had caught me staring at him.

”W-What is it?” I asked.

”Do you know how the First Saint—Yeriel—managed to call the Goddess down into this world and become the First Saint of the teachings of Goddess Diana?”

”If I remember correctly, it happened during the final battle in the Holy City of Notredame, didn’t it?”

At that time, the human alliance army had been surrounded by the Demon King’s forces.

All hope seemed to have vanished.

It was only a matter of time before humanity’s resistance collapsed and the Demons conquered the world.

But in the midst of the massacre, a woman suddenly prayed atop a mountain of human corpses.

She prayed to the Goddess, asking her to give humanity another chance to fight.

Another chance to live.

Another chance to worship her and spread the teachings of kindness that the Goddess had entrusted to humanity.

”The Goddess answered her prayer. Light broke through the dark clouds covering the night sky, the sound of trumpets echoed across the battlefield, and angels descended in formation to welcome the Goddess.”

There was a painting on the wall of the Main Temple in the Holy City of Notredame depicting this very story.

”And four days from now will be the annual ceremony commemorating the Goddess’s descent and the Ascension of the First Saint...”

In other words—

The Blessing Day, when the Goddess would choose a new Saint.

I imagined the magnificent scene.

The great Goddess slowly descending onto the battlefield, appearing directly before Saint Yeriel.

For a thousand years, she had been the only woman to receive the honor of being chosen directly by the Goddess.

That was why she was known as the holiest woman among all holy women.

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[??? PoV]

After resting for several hours, my wife finally woke up and was able to hold the child she had just given birth to.

”Look. She’s beautiful, just like you, isn’t she?” I said to my wife as she cradled our baby.

”She really is. But she has narrow eyes just like you, James!”

My wife smiled before suddenly asking,

”Come to think of it, what is our daughter’s name?”

I then told her about Sister Ariel giving our daughter her first name.

”Ariana?”

My wife repeated the name softly.

”That’s a beautiful name. I have to thank Sister Ariel if she ever returns to this village.”

As we celebrated the birth of our child and enjoyed our happiness together, someone suddenly knocked on the door.

I hurried to the front of the house and peered through the peephole.

There was no one outside.

Could I have imagined it?

After making sure there truly wasn’t anyone outside, I returned to the room where my wife and daughter were.

—Tok! Tok! Tok!

The knocking came again.

This time, I grabbed a sword and slowly made my way to the front door.

Once again, I looked through the peephole.

There was still no sign of anyone outside.

I opened the door and stepped outside, searching for whoever was playing this strange prank on my house.

”Come out!” I shouted, trying to call out whoever had been knocking.

I searched everywhere, shouting as I went, but found nothing around our house.

After several minutes, I finally returned inside.

—Tok! Tok! Tok!

The moment I heard the knocking for the third time, I rushed toward the front door and threw it open.

”...!”

I froze.

Standing before me was a horrifying monster resembling a giant praying mantis.

It stood nearly two meters tall, with both of its arms shaped like enormous sickles.

I turned around and hurried toward the bedroom.

But suddenly—

One of the monster’s sickle-like arms pierced through my left shoulder from behind.

—Krik! Krik! Krik!

”Linda! Take our child to the center of the village! Quickly!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

I thrust my sword into the mantis’s abdomen, forcing it to pull its sickle from my shoulder.

”James! What is happening!?” Linda cried out in shock upon seeing my body covered in blood.

”There’s no time to explain! Run with our child! I’ll hold this monster back for as long as I can!”

—CRASH!

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a wall collapsing.

I grabbed Linda and led her toward the back of the house, where there was another door we could use to escape.

”Run as far as you can! Don’t look back!”

—Krik! Krik! Krik!

It wasn’t just one monster that had broken into our house.

Four of those hideous creatures were now tearing apart our kitchen.

The four monsters noticed us.

Slowly, they began advancing toward us.

”I won’t let you hurt my family!”

I charged toward them, swinging my sword at one of the monsters.

The giant praying mantises seemed enraged and began attacking me simultaneously.

One of their sickle-like arms slashed into my body, making it increasingly difficult for me to fight.

But I couldn’t give up here!

My family would be in danger if I allowed these monsters to do whatever they wanted!

”Die, monster!”

I managed to sever the head of one of them.

But that attack left my defenses wide open.

Another mantis immediately drove its sickle-like arm into my chest.

My body collapsed onto the floor.

The mantises began tearing into my body from above, slowly devouring me as I gradually lost consciousness from the immense amount of blood I had lost.