The power of an Ego.

In a certain town, townsfolk scrambled helplessly as they ran away from their ruined homes with all their might.

Alas, not everyone is lucky enough to survive in this world.

Jumping off the ruins of a two-floor house, a giant wolf pounced on an exhausted guard, and dug its dirty fangs on his shoulder, piercing his flesh with ease. 

The guard screamed in desperation while it stabbed the monster with its sword, as the wolf chewed with all its might. 

A goblin with a staff condensed mana particles on a singular spot, creating a magic circle, followed by a fireball, and shot it towards a middle aged woman. It landed on her arm, setting it ablaze at a concerningly fast speed.

Throwing herself to the ground, she put out the fire while her eyes darted around the ruins. 

As soon as they spotted a small boy being kidnapped by a relatively small, humanoid creature with brown skin and a dog's face structure, she madly dashed towards it, luring its attention towards her.

Jean, who was riding a horse alongside one of the dispatched knights, observed everything with horror in her eyes. Her hands curled up into a pair of fists, with some veins almost bulging in response.

"Why are we not stopping to help them?!" she asked, with her rage-filled eyes. 

"We don't have the time. The Elven princess is our priority, and main objective. If she dies, we'll have to deal with far worse issues than losing a single village to a monster tide."

Meanwhile… Randall's expression was devoid of any sort of emotion. He had never seen this sort of apocalyptic scenario, anywhere.

'... This isn't an isekai. It's too real...'

He had never seen people being eaten alive by wolves back on Earth, or humans having their arms set ablaze after a ball made purely out of fire almost killed them. Before having a chance to get away from the literal hellhole they were trapped in, that is.

Randall understood how Jean felt, to some extent.

He wanted to save those people. 

Sadly, the knight's reasoning was correct. If the Princess' death ends up giving birth to a war between two countries… It wouldn't be good.

Far more towns would have to deal with this sort of situation. Whether the human countries win or not, it wouldn't matter…

'I don't know how powerful any of these factions are, but if there's truly an ongoing war… Then, it'd be better to have more allies, rather than creating enemies.'

"… There's no choice."

As Randall voiced out loud his conclusion, Jean arrived at it at the same time. However, she made the choice to stay quiet, lest saying it would push her to actually get off the horse to slaughter those monsters.

The eight-knight squadron carried on, ignoring the pleas of the people they had no choice but to forsake. They had to do so in order to protect the future of those who remained in their homes, waiting for the unyielding heroes that put everything on the line to fight these beasts every day. 

Even if their minds break. They swore to push on.

"Target spotted!" yelled the commander of the squadron, as everyone's eyes fell on a singular six-elf group, with four of them doing the fighting, one holding on to its life, and a female elf, who wore a crown, complaining about something. 

They had been cornered by over a dozen monsters, and they didn't look like they'd be able to hold out. Especially considering how one of the still fighting elves had lost a hand.

With everyone's concern peaking, the commander ordered the two close-quarter fighters to rush ahead and get some heat off the elven defenders.

Then, he told the two archers to give them cover fire, while requesting Jean to control the battlefield by providing magic support. 

The three of them complied, and got down to business. 

As for the remaining one, he was given the task of searching for an alternate escape route. He had the feeling that the way they used to arrive at this spot wasn't as safe anymore.

"Oh, and you… Randall, right? Just don't screw us over," he calmly told him, while extending his hand.

A two-handed greatsword with a crimson blade materialized out of nowhere in his hands. The sword emanated a strange, red glow, while the commander held it by the seemingly eclipsed orange and brown hilt.

Seeing that, Randall followed the exact same movements as the commander.

A rapier appeared on Randall's main hand, while a medium-sized chain-dagger appeared on his off-hand. Both weapons were a unique, translucent white.

Moving at the speed of lightning, Randall appeared behind a wolf that had snuck up on one of the remaining elves, and pierced its brain as if it was cotton candy. 

As that happened, he threw the dagger towards a massive goblin, which lodged itself on the monster's chest. He pulled it out as if it was tied to a rope, and the goblin collapsed down. One of the archers shot a translucent arrow at the fallen monster's head, picking up the kill.

Everyone had seen how he took down those monsters, and they couldn't help but be somewhat impressed. As for Jean?... She was the only one who saw Randall manifesting his Ego in his first few hours staying in this world.

And even maintaining it as if it was no big deal.

This sent shivers down her spines, but she quickly recomposed herself.

In the meantime, the two squadrons quickly wiped out the monsters nearby.

Respectfully, the human commander greeted the Elven Princess.

"Gah, with all these ashes, my dress might as well be a volcano. Gosh, and it was my favorite, too…"

Jean clenched her fists, while considering whether giving the princess a slap was worth it or not. The rest of the squadron had similar thoughts, but no one had the balls to bring it that far.

"Oh, my, that's a pity. I'm sure that dress would have saved an entire country had it not perished under the wrath of these merciless ashes," replied Randall, while everyone else stared at him in bewilderment. 

Except for the Elven Princess, who instead glared at him with one of the most compassionate, heartfelt eyes he had ever seen since he stepped into this circus.

"OH-MY-GOSH, I know, right?? What's your name? You're the first one to understand my pain…"

"This one's name is Isuck, and the surname is Hard Pipes," he told the Princess, who grinned from ear to ear after finding someone who seemed to understand the agony of having a single particle of ash stain the perfect dress while humans die in the most horrific ways possible.

"Oh, great. Sir Isuck Hard Pipes, you are formally invited to my palace. Consider it your second home!"

Everyone else, regardless of the squadron they belonged to, spoke with each other.

"Who the fuck is that, and how can he understand the mind of the Princess?"

"I'll be damned if I know, and I'll be double damned if I care. As long as he keeps her in check, we're good as gold."

Meanwhile, Jean talked with one of the three healthy elves, and the only female fighter in their group. 

Her pale skin resembled Jean's in terms of color, but Jean's had far less wounds. Meanwhile, the female elf's lime green hair made a sharp contrast with Jean's dark hair. Same thing applied to their body shapes, with Jean winning in both the upper and lower departments. 

'Way to go, Jean!... Wait, why am I cheering as if they were in a competition?'

"So, Natasha, is it? What is it like to be working under one of the Stems?" asked Jean, while keeping her focus on the elf's gray eyes.

"It is quite good. What about the Royal Ensemble? Heard the pay was decent, and no one gives more than two flying fucks about your past over there," inquired Natasha, while scratching the big ears resting on her round head.

"Eh, that depends… The pay is good, regardless of which Ensemble you join, but not all of them are as carefree regarding your origins. For example, you'd probably be fine with any of them, but a beastman might be locked up in the dungeons for a long time if they were to attempt to try out for Weilderner's Ensemble."

"Well deserved, to be honest," mumbled Natasha, while continuing to scratch that sweet spot behind her ears.

They didn't continue speaking any further, but the same could not be said for the Princess and Randall…

"When are we going to invite Mr. Teddy Tree to drink some black tea with apple peels?"

"We can do it now. I'm sure that tree will definitely not be burnt to ashes in a burning town."