When aiming for realisations there is only one narrative tool at your disposal.

These two things are the same

Your examples feature a Good Thing and a Bad Thing. You're already using the tool above by presenting the two things side-by-side.

The internal logic of the story need never state the two things are the same or that they are causally linked. For example me being however good at swordfights, and these other guys being twice as good, are not causally linked to each other, and that's fine.

You present the Good and Bad Things side-by-side and are wondering how this can do anything other than corrupt the Good Thing. Well you've already done it with "the swordsmen outside my village are super strong". You compare the protagonist's skill and the strangers' and come out with a positive realization rather than the negative one: "I am really weak".

Now "I am really weak" does feature in the story. But that realisation comes later.

Imagine the first time the protagonist meets and is rescued by a foreign swordsman whose skills far exceed their own. The prevailing state of mind is "Wow! This guy is amazing". It's not until later when the rescuer brings the protagonist back to his camp where everyone is that skilled that the realisation "I am really weak" appears.

So what makes the realisations happen in the order they do, and not the opposite way around?

These two things are the same is only a realisation if we used to think the two were different. We used to think the Good Thing and Bad thing were unrelated. Now it is revealed they are the same. This leads to cognitive dissonance for the reader. The two things are the same so they must be either both good or both bad. One of them is forced to change, and this is your realisation. You want to control which half does the changing.

The less important half changes. The one less established in the reader's mind changes. The first part of the story focuses on the protagonist's village and how skilled they are. We know that. It's well established. So when an outsider appears and suddenly makes a fool of the protagonist, our view of the protagonist does not change. Our view of the outsider is what changes. They come off as super good, "Wow! This guy is amazing" rather than the protagonist coming off as super bad.

Then the perspective shifts away from the protagonist's village, and onto this camp of amazing warriors. Once we get used to being there, once that camp s established in our mind, our view of the protagonist is free to change. They come off as bad and the strange warriors become normal. "Oh no I am really weak!"

How to make it the other way around

To make the two realisation happen the other way, you have to change what is established first by refocusing the narrative. First present the foreign warriors. Then introduce the protagonist. He comes off as weak.

Then refocus onto the protagonist. Establish his lack of skills in the story. Then the foreign warriors come off as strong.

The most straightforward way to do this is, rather than the narrative following the protagonist, it follows one of the foreign warriors.

When aiming for realisations there is only one narrative tool at your disposal.

These two things are the same

Your examples feature a Good Thing and a Bad Thing. You're already using the tool above by presenting the two things side-by-side.

The internal logic of the story need never state the two things are the same or that they are causally linked. For example me being however good at swordfights, and these other guys being twice as good, are not causally linked to each other, and that's fine.

You present the Good and Bad Things side-by-side and are wondering how this can do anything other than corrupt the Good Thing. Well you've already done it with "the swordsmen outside my village are super strong". You compare the protagonist's skill and the strangers' and come out with a positive realization rather than the negative one: "I am really weak".

Now "I am really weak" does feature in the story. But that realisation comes later.

Imagine the first time the protagonist meets and is rescued by a foreign swordsman whose skills far exceed their own. The prevailing state of mind is "Wow! This guy is amazing". It's not until later when the rescuer brings the protagonist back to his camp where everyone is that skilled that the realisation "I am really weak" appears.

So what makes the realisations happen in the order they do, and not the opposite way around?

These two things are the same is only a realisation if we used to think the two were different. We used to think the Good Thing and Bad thing were unrelated. Now it is revealed they are the same. This leads to cognitive dissonance for the reader. The two things are the same so they must be either both good or both bad. One of them is forced to change, and this is your realisation. You want to control which half does the changing.

The less important half changes. The one less established in the reader's mind changes. The first part of the story focuses on the protagonist's village and how skilled they are. We know that. It's well established. So when an outsider appears and suddenly makes a fool of the protagonist, our view of the protagonist does not change. Our view of the outsider is what changes. They come off as super good, "Wow! This guy is amazing" rather than the protagonist coming off as super bad.

Then the perspective shifts away from the protagonist's village, and onto this camp of amazing warriors. Once we get used to being there, once that camp s established in our mind, our view of the protagonist is free to change. They come off as bad and the strange warriors become normal. "Oh no I am really weak!"

How to make it the other way around

To make the two realisation happen the other way, you have to change what is established first by refocusing the narrative. First present the foreign warriors. Then introduce the protagonist. This time we are used to them. Their skill level is normal to us. This time he is the outsider. This time he comes off as weak.

Then refocus onto the protagonist. Establish his lack of skills in the story. Then the foreign warriors come off as strong.

The most straightforward way to do this is, rather than the narrative following the protagonist, it follows one of the foreign warriors. Once the two meet the choice of narrator might not make a difference. Or you could swap back and forth from that point on.

Exercise: This shows how to put an earlier realisation the other way around. Use an analogous method to put the final realisation the other way around.