Literature / Villager A Wants to Save the Villainess No Matter What!

Villager A Wants to Save the Villainess No Matter What! is a Web Serial Novel series, with a Light Novel and Manga adaptation. An Isekai about a young man who finds himself in a girl’s Romance Game his sister made him play, only as an insignificant side-character. To protect his mother and friends from the consequences of the game plot, as well as out of sympathy for the game’s tragic villainess Anastasia von Ramslett, Allen builds up his strength to be able to defend Anastasia's honor and prevent her fall into darkness as a Gadgeteer Genius, Stealth Expert and Mage Marksman adventurer. Allen's biggest obstacle comes in the form of Amy, the heroine of the game, and her Manipulative Bitch plans to get in the way of the two’s budding romance…

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Contains the following tropes:

• A.K.A.-47: Allen’s Russian styled guns.
• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Averted, Allen has to toil away in hard child labor to save up money to prepare for the future, which involves horrible sewage cleanup.
• Accidental Marriage: Allen and Anastasia have to pretend to be lovers to attend the Hidden Elf Village festival, and end up participating in a ritual like this, but get caught up in it without regret, albeit keeping their marriage secret.
• Adventure Guild: Allen starts doing menial labor at one as a child, and learns important lessons as he takes more dangerous work. It's also key for being able to legally leave his hometown due to the setting's feudalism.
• Alchemy Is Magic: The Alchemy skill Allen learns is basically construction magic, and sometimes used like Dishing Out Dirt.
• Altar Diplomacy:
  • Anastasia starts out set up in an Arranged Marriage with the Crown Prince who barely tolerates her, before eventually hating her. That is until the condemnation event. After this, her father warns Allen multiple times that the couple must keep their distance so as not to ruin a replacement arrangement.
  • Prince Karl forges Royal approval for Anastasia being sold off to the Est Empire in order to kidnap and dispose of her at the urging of Amy.
• And Your Little Dog, Too!: Both Anastasia and Allen get told this about each other by antagonists.
• Anger Born of Worry: When Allen left the school after the duel, fully expecting to face expulsion or execution for fighting and defeating the crown prince and the other nobles, Anastasia was confused by his farewell and horrified by discovering his room was cleaned out. She quickly appealed to her father, who got ahead of the situation and got Allen pardoned. During a dinner her parents invited Allen and his mother to days later, Anastasia is reunited with her friend and champion. Her first act upon reuniting with Allen is to drag him aside and furiously call him out for scaring her with his actions.
• Anti-Villain: Anastasia's role in the original otome game. Her role as the antagonist comes from the fact that she's opposing Amy romancing the Crown Prince and/or the other Capture Targets because Anastasia's worried about Centralen and the impact on its future Amy's romances might have on it. However, this, combined with a very nasty Trauma Conga Line, leaves Anastasia as the villainess.
• Artifact of Doom: The Demon Sword that was to turn Anastasia in to the game’s Final Boss. It was made with the suffering of children, and corrupts the soul.
• Artifact of Hope: The hair ornament the Elf Village give to Anastasia.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: This has been known to be how noble houses are founded in the history of the setting. Allen eventually makes it one of his goals so that he can marry Anastasia.
• Attention Whore: Amy really loves being ogled by handsome men.
• Auto-Revive: The pair of Substitute Rings Allen finds in the Orc dungeon do this. Naturally these are considered so valuable only Royalty should have them. Which really impresses and dumbfounds the Duke after Allen uses them as wedding bands.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Anastasia’s father Gerhard when declaring independence from the Kingdom.
• Batman Gambit: The Duke Ramslett is good at manipulating the king’s Hair-Trigger Temper, either himself or through Allen.
• Bastard Bastard: Amy is the illegitimate daughter of Baron Von Brayes... and is now a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who is out for herself.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Amy’s act of pretending to be like the game protagonist. In her introduction, she seemingly befriends Allen, then dumps him afterwards for the Beautiful Elite reverse harem.
• Blown Across the Room: This consistently happens to anyone who tries to have their way with Anastasia after she wears the Spirit hair ornament.
• Blow You Away: Allen, thanks to grabbing the Wind God's blessing, is an expert at wind magic. He uses it to power his Magitek guns and airplanes.
• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Downplayed with Anastasia’s father, he needs his daughter for potential political marriages. His reaction to Allen essentially eloping with Anastasia and then coming back is relatively tame.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: The Demon Sword does this to Anastasia in the game, and Amy’s Charm Person Witch powers are used to brainwash and enhance Centralia soldiers.
• Break Them by Talking:
  • This is how Allen’s 1 on 5 duel with the five princes goes, serving to humiliate and politically marginalize them. He feels like he went to far, but he had bottled up rage from being unable to talk to anyone for a year in class.
  • In addition to being trapped in a dark room with poor conditions, when Anastasia is captured by the Est Empire, they tell her several lies about what happened to those she cares about to break down her will to aid in her corruption by the Demon Sword.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: The pedo Great Sage is good at his job, making it all the more frustrating for Allen that he’s needed.
• The Chains of Commanding: Ludwig, the second prince of Centralen, unlike his brother and father, cares about the people and is bothered by sacrificing them.
• Charm Person: The Witch of Envy blessing elevates Amy's Word Spirit skill to this level, which lets her turn all of the men around her into mindless super-powered drones that obey only her.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Subverted in Anastasia's relationship with Karl. She's overall indifferent to their betrothal and her anger at Amy cozying up to the Crown Prince is more out of concern for the Kingdom.
• Combat Pragmatist: Allen uses gadgetry and cunning to win his battles, not being afraid of dirty tactics, stealth being the most common.
• Compelling Voice: Thanks to her skill Kotodama/Word Spirit, Amy is able to sway the game's capture target to her side. In a twist, she has no idea she has the skill as she lacks the Appresial skill and instead deludes herself into thinking she's charming as the in-game Amy and the boys just naturally find her attractive, even though it's clearly not the case.
• Corrupted Character Copy: The first part of the story is a Whole-Plot Reference to Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs, though one of the key differences is that Amy is a less sympathetic version of Marie. Both are fans of an otome game they get reincarnated into, and they both seek to obtain the reverse harem ending and live out lives of luxury, but get stopped by the protagonist, and go through several Break the Haughty moments. Marie eventually saw the error of her ways and pulled a Heel–Face Turn, and even before that, she had her fair share of Pet the Dog moments. On the other hand, Amy remains a Hate Sink, as shown by her obsession with making sure Anastasia gets raped, and eventually becomes the Big Bad.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Justified in the original otome game. When Anastasia challenged Amy to a duel, she was caught off-guard when Karl and the other Capture Targets volunteered. Anastasia was effectively stabbed with a Morton's Fork: she either didn't fight back, suffered this trope, and get expelled and banished; or she actually fought, suffered this trope, and hope she merely got expelled and banished; or somehow WIN, but practically sign her own death warrant for harming the crown prince. Out of duty for Centralen, she chooses Option A.
  • Allen, in the story proper, chooses Option C, and delivers this on the Capture Targets. He gets pardoned for it thanks to Duke Ramslett's influence.
• Crazy-Prepared: Much of the first half of the story before he enters high school has Allen spending seven years preparing every way he needed to circumvent Anastasia's condemnation event. This included stealing several scrolls years before anyone else would think to get them, crafting guns and planes powered by wind magic, and training as an adventurer to gain power and money to qualify for the school.
• Culture Clash: Allen being from poor serf stock, who aren’t even allowed to leave their hometown without an adventuring license, clashes with the pampered Royal Brat types within the academy. The Crown Prince's exhibition on how great peasant life is excessively rose-tinted; recognizing none of the challenges the lower classes must endure to even survive.
• Death from Above: Allen uses his past-life knowledge working with planes to build a Magitek bomber, and what follows would make Bomber Harris proud.
• Decadent Court: The second half of the story involves war and politics relating to this, with factions built around the line of succession.
• Decapitation Presentation: Allen presents the head of the Est Empire Crown Prince and Mage Commander to the Duke, who then presents them to the King after the King predictably demanded Allen offer him a head as an impossible request.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Anastasia towards Allen, first taking notice of his accomplishments despite his age and low station, then finding herself impressed by his knowledge and enjoying his company.
• Delightful Dragon: The Wyvern couple Jeremy and Melissa, though they can be a bit Trigger-Happy.
• Demanding Their Head: The King does this for the Est Empire after going back on his promise to Allen, to which the Duke brings out the head of the Est Kingdom’s Prince, and the King goes back on his word yet again.
• Deprogram: Magic type, not the realistic type. Anastasia using her Ice Saint magic repeatedly to clear the heads of soldiers brainwashed by Amy’s Witch Magic.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: Non-comedic example. The Sociopath Amy is really bad at asking for forgiveness.
• Disinherited Child: One of the idiot princes after their duel with Allen. Gerhard tries to get this done to the Crown Prince.
• Doomed Hometown: Avoiding this is one of Allen’s main motivations, as this happened to his home at the hands of invaders in the game timelines.
• The Dulcinea Effect: Downplayed and Justified with Allen. Allen managed to get to know Anastasia over the school year, so he's not unfamiliar with her. The Justification comes from Allen acting on his foreknowledge of what happens in the game if Anastasia's condemnation event goes as planned, seeks to protect her and the kingdom.
• Dungeon Bypass: Allen HALO jumping in and out of the Sage Tower to get the loot at the top.
• Dungeon Crawling: There are several sequences of Allen doing this, eventually bringing along Anastasia and other allies.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Anastasia spotting Allen flying, and being seen in a carriage.
• Elemental Powers: Character’s unique magic types are based on this.
• Elopement: While Allen and Anastasia are told to and consider doing this completely at the elf village summer festival and stay there, in actuality they did get married there, only to come back with Allen getting away with an Engagement Challenge.
• Emotional Powers: When Anastasia is angry, her An Ice Person powers cool the room.
• Enemy Mine: The changing constellation of alliances around Centralen repeatedly involve this.
• Engagement Challenge: Anastasia’s father demands that Allen make some great achievements so that he can be worthy of her. After Allen singlehandedly wins the war against Est Empire and rescues Ana, the Duke considers him more than worthy and tries to get him promoted to Earl in Centralen so they can marry.
• Entitled Bitch: Amy, due to being reincarnated like Allen, sees the world as a game and thinks she deserves to have everything go her way because she was reincarnated as the game's heroine.
• Evil Costume Switch: Anastasia gets dressed up by other villains in a risqué outfit for her role as the Brainwashed and Crazy Final Boss.
• Evil Hero: The Crown Prince Karl, who has the title of Hero, under the manipulation of Amy.
• Evil Prince: The Crown Prince of Centralen Karl is more an easily manipulated idiot than anything, but the Prince of Est is a straight up monster fond of Cold-Blooded Torture.
• Evil Weapon: The cursed Demon Sword that was to turn Anastasia into the Final Boss.
• Expy: Amy and her five idiot reverse harem princes are this for Marie and her five princes from Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs. Though they lack the Character Development or depth. Anastasia’s father is also this of Duke Redgrave, only in this case being more developed than the original.
• The Fake Cutie: Amy putting on an act to fool the idiot princes and others, only to show her true colors whispering to Anastasia.
• Fighting Your Friend: Allen having to face his master from the Adventure Guild due to Amy’s brainwashing, but fortunately Anastasia frees him using her Healing Shiv spell.
• Flechette Storm: Allen’s most commonly used air dropped bombs and compressed air bubbles filled with sharp junk to this effect.
• Friend to All Children: Allen is taken aback by the Great Sage being renown as this despite being a Covert Pervert. Apparently he spent his fortune on orphanages.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Allen, with the help of the scroll of Alchemy and his Past-Life Memories as an engineer, is able to create guns, bullets, bombs and a plane (albeit one powered by wind magic).
• Gaining the Will to Kill: There is an arc about how being unwilling to kill bandits is the greater evil, making Allen feel responsible for their later crimes of kidnapping. This results in Allen being less naïve. Later, Allen gets even more desensitized once he starts a one man strategic bombing campaign.
• Gender Bender: The Great Sage turning into a tiny female fairy. According to him, "In order to understand the loli, one must become the loli!"
• Grade Skipper: Allen, due to being a university graduate and the school material being well below that level.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Amy is so much of one that she earns the title Witch of Envy.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: Justified: Amy and the princes were able to escape their prison due to the Witch of Envy powers Amy gained.
• Guns Are Revolutionary: Allen’s guns, but especially his bomber. He does his best to keep them secret for as long as possible.
• Hate Sink: Amy. Word of God says he hates writing in her First-Person Perspective.
• Healing Shiv: Since Anastasia’s magic is ice based, when she uses healing magic it looks like ice attacks.
• Heroic Bastard: Amy in the original otome game is meant to come off as this, being the illegitimate commoner daughter of Baron Von Brayes raised into aristocracy. However, the girl who reincarnated into Amy comes off as the opposite.
• Hidden Elf Village: The magical elf village plays an important recurring role in the plot. They are in hiding behind a magical forest to avoid the fate of Enslaved Elves.
• Hijacked Destiny:
  • Allen stealing the power scrolls and other loot from the Player Party using his foreknowledge.
  • Anastasia becoming the saint in place of Amy.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: The perverted Great Sage going to great lengths to protect children… despite the Running Gag of him being a shameless Comedic Lolicon.
• I Shall Taunt You: Amy tries to taunt Anastasia and Allen into physical violence to get them into trouble on multiple occasions.
• An Ice Person: Anastasia uses ice magic. It's rather symbolic of her status as a Defrosting Ice Queen, and her engagement with Prince Karl falling apart.
• Idiot Hero: Jerome, the young and immature Wyvern.
• Ignored Epiphany: The five idiot princes sometimes seem to learn something, but ultimately Amy is always there to reel them back in.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite Allen's presence in her life allowing Anastasia to maintain her cool during the condemnation event, Anastasia still challenges Amy to a duel, but it's because she's implicitly ordered to by Prince Karl when she would have preferred to complain to her father over Amy and Karl's insults to her house.
• Invisible to Normals: Spirits and other beings sometime run into this issue.
• It's All About Me: Amy with her god complex. To a lesser extent there are the Crown Prince Karl, and King.
• It's All My Fault: Allen feels this way about Anastasia’s kidnapping.
• Karmic Rape: Amy is obsessed with making sure Anastasia suffers the same fate she did in the game, which is to get gang-raped by bandits. She also believes that Anastasia deserves this fate because she's the game's villainess. After Allen defeats the princes in their duel, she also fantasizes about making Allen watch Anastasia get raped as revenge for stopping her plans. To achieve this, Amy has Karl forge royal approval so that Anastasia is sold to the Est Empire under the pretext of a political marriage. By the end of the story, Allen and Anastasia are Happily Married, while Amy gets sold to a mine and forced to work as a Sex Slave for the miners.
• Lady and Knight: Allen and Anastasia of the white type, but it’s pretty much forced on them due to their difference in status preventing a normal relationship.
• Large and in Charge: Anastasia’s gorilla-looking father Duke Gerhard von Ramslett.
• Level Grinding: Sometimes Allen does this specifically to boost his or an ally's combat power.
• Like Father, Like Son: According to Allen's mother, Katarina, his father, who died before he was born, was also a smart man who acted to protect a woman he cared about (implied to be her). He looks like him as well.
• Long-Lived: Elves and spirits.
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: Anastasia’s game archetype is based on this. In actuality, she condemns and discourages bullying.
• Love Epiphany: Happens to both Allen and Anastasia as they fly together to the elf summer festival..
• Mage Marksman: Allen’s fighting style is to use replicas of Russian guns that function via wind magic, combined with an Invisibility spell.
• Magitek: Allen’s guns and airplanes combine Blow You Away powers with his past-life engineering degree.
• Mama Bear: Katarina, when informed that Allen might face execution for the duel, encourages her son to consider running while she holds off the Royal Guard or even the king himself.
• Marshmallow Hell: The waitress Monica is always doing this to Allen during his childhood as a teasing onee-san archetype.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read:
  • When the wind god reads Allen’s mind, he’d dejected by negative thoughts about him.
  • An enchantment on Miri makes anyone near her who has thoughts of using her in some way collapse. Apparently the Duke and his son just can’t help themselves, though it’s stated to be possible to be just using her magic or politically.
• Mistaken for Cheating: Allen carrying around a small child, Miri, earns him glares and rumors that he had a bastard.
• Momma's Boy: Allen is very much devoted to his loving mother, who is the only family he has. This is viewed as positive since their close relationship is his main motivation in his quest.
• Monster Is a Mommy: This was supposed to be a sad twist in the game with the Wyverns. In the new timeline, thanks to being warned, they only have a child after the Player Party attacks their nest location.
• Morality Chain: Allen's presence in Anastasia's life allows her to regain or keep her cool in her worst moments of Amy's taunts. This prevents the former from slapping the latter and getting in serious trouble for it, and nearly avoids challenging Amy to a duel (Prince Karl practically had to order Anastasia to challenge Amy).
• Moving the Goalposts: The Psychopathic Manchild King of Centralen has a bad habit of breaking his word like this.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: Jerome the Wyvern has this as his Running Gag.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Allen revealing he is a reincarnator to Amy results in Anastasia’s kidnapping, causing Allen to feel It's All My Fault.
• Off with His Head!: The King of Centralen is that kind of King, and him doing this to Anastasia’s father doomed the capital to be burnt down in the game timeline.
• Pals with Jesus: The Wind God asking Allen for a little matchmaking help.
• Papa Wolf: Duke Gerhard Von Ramslett, at the request of Anastasia, looks into Allen's case and gets him pardoned in less than a week for the duel. He becomes Allen's main sponsor, but he is worried about how close the two are.
• The Pardon: Allen championed Anastasia in the duel, expecting to be expelled at best or executed at worst for harming the Crown Prince and his friends. However, Duke Ramslett, acting on his daughter's behalf, got Allen pardoned for what happened in the duel, allowing him to continue his school life with Anastasia and her friends.
• Penny Among Diamonds: Allen spends much of his first year in class silent and ignored due to social rules which say he can’t talk to nobles (the majority of his school), which builds up into frustration he can vent at the duel. The Crown Prince makes a painfully out of touch presentation about how great the lives of the poor are.
• Playing with Fire: The Crown Prince Karl specializes in fire magic, and the Wyverns breathe it.
• The Poorly Chosen One: The girl who reincarnated as Amy, as the protagonist of the game and as someone who knew exactly how the story went, had ample opportunity to change the story for the better or help Anastasia and the Kingdom without sacrificing her Reverse Harem route. However, her disregard to others' happiness or manipulating people's suffering for her amusement make her a very poor heroine.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Demon Sword was created using the suffering of children.
• Psychopathic Manchild: In contrast to the Crown Prince who’s a mere Sheltered Aristocrat Royal Brat, his father the King is an Off with His Head! Hair-Trigger Temper type.
• Puppet King: The Second Prince of Centralen Ludwig is a young puppet to Duke Shleistein.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: All the talk by Amy and the Est Empire about doing this to Anastasia is used as a quick way to make the audience hate them.
• Rags to Riches: Allen going from being a poor child laborer, to husband of the Duke’s daughter.
• Railroading: During the condemnation event, thanks to Allen's presence allowing Anastasia to keep a cool head, Anastasia refused to be baited by the crown prince's insults or cancel the engagement. Her response to Karl insulting her family is merely threatening to complain to her father for the grievances, which Amy and Karl see as cowardly. When Anastasia ignores their taunts and prepares to leave, Karl implicitly orders her to challenge Amy. Unable to refuse a direct order from the crown prince without getting executed, Anastasia half-heartedly tosses her glove at Amy.
• "Reborn as Villainess" Story: The main character is reincarnated as the titular "mob/villager A", with his ultimate goal being to protect himself and his mother by saving the villainess and her family, without whom the Kingdom would be doomed.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Anastasia’s father, Duke Gerhard von Ramslett.
• Refuge in Audacity: Allen marrying and then putting a ring on Anastasia, before talking his way out of punishment with her Boyfriend-Blocking Dad and managing to hide their marriage from the public despite them both wearing rings on their wedding band fingers.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In the game timeline, a Fallen Princess Anastasia is supposed to be corrupted by an Artifact of Doom and become the Final Boss on one of these. Allen goes on a rampage through the Est Empire’s capitol to rescue her from this fate.
• Sadist: Amy often enjoys, and fantasizes about, tormenting people.
• Save This Person, Save the World: Allen's initial reason for ultimately choosing to save Anastasia from her fate in the Otome Game? In his mind, it was the most straightforward way of preventing the Civil War and subsequent invasion of the Est Empire, which would destroy the capital of Centralen and kill everyone he cares about.
• The Scapegoat: In the game, Anastasia's family was the most convenient group to blame for the civil war, given that it started with her Arranged Marriage with Karl being broken off, and they get executed as a result. However, they remained neutral during the civil war because they knew their family was in a difficult position.
• Scarily Competent Tracker: Wyverns, which Allen reasons can only be through magic, despite their tracking being described as scent based.
• Scholarship Student: This is how Allen gets into the Academy despite being a commoner.
• Secret Relationship: Allen and Anastasia after getting married in the Elf village.
• Secret Shop: The shop where Allen buys his Alchemy scroll is apparently a black market magic shop which requires a password to enter.
• Self-Made Man: Allen becomes Centralen's most promising up-and-coming adventurer, and after making enough money, he buys a bigger apartment for himself and his mother.
• Shoot the Dog: Allen eventually takes this attitude towards Collateral Damage in war.
• Shout-Out:
  • After killing many goblins, Allen gains the title of Goblin Slayer.
  • Allen references Carl von Clausewitz, On War when discussing how war is a continuation of politics by other means.
• Silent Treatment: Anastasia ends up giving this to Amy after being embarrassed almost hitting her in front of Allen.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: The Great Sage and Allen have this kind of relationship, with Allen repeatedly taken aback at how he has to deal with a shameless pedo who has important magical knowledge and power, and to boot was deeply involved in the family of his Love Interest.
• Smoke Out: Allen’s Signature Move to compliment his Invisibility power.
• The Sociopath: The person who reincarnated as Amy is this. She's aware of the destructive path pursuing the harem route and ruining Anastasia's life will bring. Given how successful she was at gaining the affection of the capture targets and Anastasia showing more interest in Allen, Amy could have easily obtained the harem ending without putting Anastasia through hell and dooming the kingdom. However, she doesn't care about the kingdom's path to ruin and only wants her happy ending as the heroine. Not to mention, Amy is envious of Anastasia having everything from looks to riches she wanted in life. To that end, she impulsively tries manipulating events so Anastasia becomes the designated villainess, setting her on the path to misfortune. All with sadistic relish.
• So Much for Stealth: Allen stealthily rescuing Anastasia from the Est Empire, but having to fight his way out with her.
• The Speechless: Amy after Anastasia curses her using Ice Saint magic.
• Stalker without a Crush: Allen stalks Anastasia to protect her from Amy, though the romance does develop.
• Star Scraper: The Sage Tower dungeon pierces the clouds.
• Standard Hero Reward: The King offers the prospect, amongst other rewards as part of his impetuous Uriah Gambit to try and get Allen killed out of petty anger. He goes back on his word even after Allen satisfies the additional conditions. But Duke von Ramslett is crowned King of his own separatist Kingdom and does grant Allen his daughter’s hand.
• Starts Stealthily, Ends Loudly: Allen’s rescue mission of Anastasia in the Est Empire gets uncovered quickly.
• Storming the Castle: The Final Battle storming the Centralen capital against Amy and her brainwashed minions.
• Stupid Evil: The five idiot princes as a result of Amy's influence, and the King.
• Sword of Damocles: Allen’s presence after he actually lets loose in war works a bit like this politically.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Allen was sympathetic to Amy at first because he knew about her past from the games. She was the commoner child of a baron and his mistress, but because she knew healing magic, was adopted by him and made his heir. She was suddenly thrust into the cutthroat world of nobility despite her upbringing, which led to her being bullied and ostracized by the rest of the school. Allen figures she must be using her charms and flattery to get close to Karl and his entourage, hoping to use their status and connections to survive the kingdom's Decadent Court. However, any sympathy he had for her went out the window once he confirmed that Amy was also reincarnated like him. Unlike the Amy from the games, this Amy has knowledge of the future, including the fact that their kingdom will be destroyed by war if she tries to obtain the reverse harem ending, but she goes for it anyway ignoring the consequences.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: The final fate of Amy, after bragging so often about sending Anastasia to be gang-raped, is to be sold off as a Sex Slave who's The Speechless.
• Theme Naming: The countries named in the setting have their direction in their name—Norsane is in the North, Westerdale is West, Est is east, Xaus is south, and Centralen is in the center.
• This Means War!: For Allen, he stops hiding his power once the Prince kidnaps Anastasia and sends her to the Est empire.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Allen learns the hard way the consequences of this, and develops past it.
• Throwing Down the Gauntlet: The villainess condemnation and dueling event, lifted whole cloth from Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs, though with Anastasia being much cooler headed.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Allen suspects Amy is this to Karl and the other capture targets. In the game, they never acted as awful as they do, because they had gotten close to the real Amy, rather than the reincarnated girl who took her place. When they're away from Amy, they do begin to improve their attitude and see the error of their ways.
• Tragic Villain: Allen thought Anastasia's fate in the original game was horrible, which is why he resolves to save her from that fate. After losing her duel against Amy, she gets sent to a convent. However, on the way there, her carriage gets attacked by bandits who were hired by Prince Karl, her ex-fiancee. These bandits gang-rape her and treat her as their plaything, then sell her off to the Est Empire once they're bored with her. While there, she gets tortured so she's more vulnerable to the influence of a Demon Sword's corruption. She then leads the Est Empire in a war against the Centralen kingdom for revenge over executing her family.
• Trap Is the Only Option: When a cool-headed Anastasia doesn't fall for Karl's baiting for a duel, and instead resolves to complain to her father about the insults levied at the Von Ramslett family, Karl uses his status to subtly order Anastasia to challenge Amy. Everyone witnessing can practically tell this is a trap, but Anastasia's only option for disobeying is most likely facing execution, so she sighs in frustration and half-heartedly springs the trap.
• Trauma Conga Line: Anastasia in the original Otome game, full stop. Engaged to Crown Prince Karl at eight years old, Anastasia was forced to grow up early, learning etiquette and politics to make herself worthy of becoming the future queen for a fiancé who didn't want to spend time with her at best or despised her at worst, but she does so for Centralen. Seven years into the engagement, when entering her first year of high school with her fiancé, whose grown up into a Royal Brat, Anastasia finds him romancing Amy Von Brayes, who also romances four other nobles despite the negative impacts it might have on the kingdom's future. As the school year progresses, Anastasia, due to her friends' actions and her occasional ill-timed moments of lashing out against Amy, grows increasingly unpopular. At the end of the school year, Prince Karl publically annuals his engagement to Anastasia and denounces her as an uncomprehending woman with a rotten character unworthy to be the future queen. When Anastasia angrilly challenges Amy to a duel, she's caught off guard when Prince Karl and the four other Capture Targets all champion Amy. To the surprise of nobody, Anastasia is subjected to a humiliating Curb-Stomp Battle that Anastasia can't fight back in out of loyalty for the realm. Anastasia is banished and sent to a convent, but that isn't enough of a punishment for Prince Karl. Karl hires bandits to abduct Anastasia en route, who gang-rape and sell her to The Est Empire on his orders. While Anastasia is off facing Cold-Blooded Torture, her family is blamed for the Civil War that happens in the fallout of the failed engagement, and are executed for it (while Anastasia's friends' families are implied to have been killed). Anastasia's torturers inform her of her family's deaths, making it easier for the Demon Sword to brainwash her. Transformed into the Est Empire's Black Knight, Anastasia leads the Est Empire's war effort in a vicious Roaring Rampage of Revenge that destroys Centralen's capital, and as the Final Boss her story ends with her dying like a rabid dog at the hands of the people responsible for ruining her life and Hated by All.
• Trick Bullet: Allen occasionally uses rubber bullets to fight non-lethally.
• Trick Bomb: The bombs Allen loads into his bomber come in multiple varieties. Flechette Storm is his most common, but also petrol bombs, and he can use flour for a fuel-air bomb.
• Trigger-Happy: The Wyvern couple Jerome and Melissa border on Blood Knight territory.
• Twerp Sweating: Anastasia’s father insists that Allen be Just Friends with his daughter.
• Ungrateful Bastard: The Royal family towards the Von Ramsletts, whose territory is the breadbasket for the Centralen Kingdom.
• Uriah Gambit: The King likes to make requests he thinks are impossible to dole out punishment like this, and the Duke comes up with a Batman Gambit to take advantage of his promised rewards for such.
• Villain Ball: Amy could've just enjoyed the high life with the handsome princes without antagonizing Allen or Anastasia. Her obsession to get Anastasia abducted, raped and killed makes her mortal enemies with the Ramsletts and Allen.
• Villain Has a Point: Anastasia's main arguments as the game's villainess are that the nobility has obligations to the people that can't be ignored because nobles can do as they please and that nobles pursuing love over what's best for the country does more harm than good. However, Anastasia must be ignored or seen as a Soapbox Sadie for the sake of the otome game plot. And yet, she ultimately proves correct when Civil War breaks out and the kingdom is invaded by The Empire thanks to Amy's romance with Prince Karl and the Reverse Harem.
• The Von Trope Family: The major Noble houses like the Von Ramsletts. Other names tend to be German as well.
• Whole-Plot Reference: The plot structure of the first volume of Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs is lifted whole cloth, before things diverge. For instance, Amy and the five idiot princes are Expy in character role to Marie and her five idiots. The biggest differences are Allen's much nicer personality, the lack of Lady Land, and the lack of harem elements.
• Who Writes This Crap?!: A couple of times Allen wonders what kind of girl’s dating sim would have such perverted elements like a fertility charm in an Orc cave…
• Willfully Weak: Allen hides his accomplishments and inventions so as not to draw too much attention to himself. We see later in the story that, indeed, using those things freely leaves a big political impact.
• Worth It: Allen represented Anastasia fully expecting expulsion at best or execution at worst for fighting the Crown Prince and several other nobles on Anastasia's behalf, let alone winning the duel. He had prepared accordingly and, when asked, effectively decided in this trope. However, Duke Ramslett intervenes on his daughter's behalf.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Anastasia and her friends don't bully Amy like they did in the games. Thus, Amy resorts to destroying her own stuff and lying to her reverse harem that Anastasia did it, to recreate events from the game where they come to her rescue.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Amy believes she's in a Karmic Jackpot story for enduring a "hard" past life where, as the protagonist of her favorite otome game, she was allowed to pursue the Reverse Harem route and live a life of luxury, while getting a front row seat to the suffering of the story's villainess. Sure, there's a civil war and the kingdom gets invaded, but the story turns out well in the end, so why does it matter who suffered? However, never once does Allen's presence tip her off until the condemnation event going Off the Rails that this is a "Reborn as Villainess" Story from the perspective of a commoner NPC who is out to Set Right What Once Went Wrong by saving the Villainess to avoid the war. Furthermore, [[Railroading by trying to return the story to its rails]] so that Anastasia suffers for her amusement, Amy has become the Villainess.
• You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good!: Allen's dislike of Amy stems from this. Since she, too, is a reincarnated player of the original game, she has foreknowledge of what happens and thus could use it to circumvent the disasters that happen in the game without sacrificing her reverse harem. However, her apathy to the kingdom's suffering, plus her sadistic pleasure at the thought of Anastasia's horrible fate disgusts Allen.

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