I’ll Become a Villainess That Will Go Down in History

The back of the mansion has surprisingly lax security, so I was able to easily make it past the guards without anyone noticing me.

Honestly, I was expecting a bit more of a thrilling escapade, so to be able to get past everyone so easily was actually anti-climactic. Quite the let down, really.

And now I’m standing in front of the woods.

Somehow, being here at night…. all alone…. makes it feel almost eerie.

I don’t believe in such unscientific things like ghosts but…. The woods really do look like a ghost might appear at any moment…. It’s kind of scary.

…..No, a villainess wouldn’t be afraid. She wouldn’t even think that something is ‘scary.’ Such thoughts would disqualify her from being a villainess.

Villainesses are strong. Brave. To be frightened just by a couple of trees is unacceptable behavior.

I force myself to stop trembling and take a confident step into the woods.

It’s pitch black, but thankfully I made sure to bring a lantern with me.

Honestly, since there isn’t any sort of path, I have no way of knowing if I’m going in the right direction or not.

I just have to trust my own intuition at this point. It might not be quick, but I’m sure I’ll get there eventually.

The lantern light casts a low glow around me, lighting my way, but the shadows it casts on the trees make them start to look like huge, grotesque monsters.

But I can’t let myself be afraid. I refuse to give up that easily. I’m definitely going to the impoverished village today.

And just because they look like monsters, doesn’t mean that they’ll attack me. In the end, they’re just trees.

As I get comfortable with the environment I pick up my pace until I’m running at a decent speed.

Thanks to all the sword practice and physical training that I’ve been doing, I seem to be in pretty good shape now. Even after running for quite a distance, I’m not even out of breath.

Unsure of whether I’m going the right way or not, I just focus on trying to run straight.

Thankfully, as I run, the ominous feeling that the woods had been giving me seems to recede into the background until I don’t notice it at all anymore.

And after about an hour of this, I start to see what appears to be fog ahead of me.

But why would there only be fog right there? It almost looks as if its confined to that area only….. Could that be the magical barrier?

Does that mean I really found it!?

Awesome. Nice going, me……! There’s no one around to praise me, so I’ll just have to praise myself.

The important thing to note is that only something that possesses magical power should be able to pass through that barrier.

And while I can’t actually use magic yet, I do still possess magical power so theoretically I should be able to get through it.

Well, for now let’s just get closer to it.

Wow, I really can’t see what’s inside the barrier at all. The impoverished village really is just on the other side of all that fog though, right?

At night, the public order in a place like this is probably pretty bad……

Ugh, no. I came here to observe the situation. I can’t let myself be prejudiced like this before I even go inside.

For now, I should refrain from making any sort of judgments until I’ve actually seen it.

As I stare into the fog, I can hear my heart pounding in my chest.

To calm myself, I take a deep breath, and then I walk into the haze.

T/N: The fact that she’s running through a dark, scary forest all by herself at night, and probably didn’t even bring her sword…. Alicia!! That’s dangerous! What if you got lost?? What if you got hurt?? People won’t even realize you’re missing for HOURS….! And you usually go missing during the day anyway, so it could be even WORSE than that!

I’m glad her sense of direction (or luck) seems better than mine, because I feel like I would have died of starvation/dehydration if I attempted what she just did lol.