Flames and destruction spread unobstructed through a large, civilized settlement. The people within scrambled around helplessly in hopes of finding safety.
Alas, very few could provide such a thing at the moment.
A large wolf proudly stood on top of the ruins of a house. Sparks of ember illuminated its blood-stained pelt momentarily, before the beast jumped off the tall building.
Its jump casted a shadow over an exhausted guard.
Pouncing on the weakened human upon landing, the gray monster pinned him down easily. Its tough fangs had no issue piercing the ash-stained skin of its prey.
The painful embrace of death quickly threatened to snuff the human's life away, but...
With his wrath still burning bright, he held his sword with all the strength his body could exert, and landed an excellent blow on the creature's side.
In another area within the town, a small, green skinned creature held a large, wooden wand with its two little hands. An abnormal energy congregated within a small place in front of the green humanoid, only for an accumulated energy to condense into a magical, circular shape.
As multiple symbols quickly appeared to decorate the insides, the small beast pointed its wand towards the circle's core. Shortly after, a ball seemingly made of fire emerged at blinding speeds from the circle.
The attack had no issue in landing on its target: a villager.
The target, who found herself struggling against a dog-faced humanoid, had her arm burned up almost instantly... and well, the explosion that came right after killed the two parties.
Both the human and the monster.
Someone watched that last scene. A small, teary-eyed kid. She had no choice but to hide in the collapsing house.
In the distance, six horses approached the land consumed by the flames and beasts. Riding their armored companions, a group of humans acted as witnesses of the massacre currently taking place.
Particularly...
"Why... w,why are we not stopping to help?"
One of the humans riding the horses voiced that out loud. The scenario sapped most of the strength her voice had a few hours ago.
One of the armored soldiers answered her inquiry with a cold tone. "We don't have the time. Our priority and main objective is extracting the Elven Princess from the area of conflict successfully. Failure to do so may lead to much worse consequences than this, such as dozens of similar towns and even cities being sieged like this."
The armored man's words echoed in the minds of everyone present. However, one of them vaguely took notice of that statement... Randall.
His absent-minded, hollow brown eyes loosely wandered around the burial ground that used to be a human settlement. Seeing giant wolves feasting on living people or fire balls created out of thin air burning down whole houses... That wasn't something he had ever seen back on Earth.
He felt almost the same as Jean. He wanted to get off that horse and try to help, somehow... However, in spite of all of that, he knew the knight also had a point.
If a "Princess" was worth the same as those from his own planet... Then, the knight's words held some truth.
Of course, it was also the monarch's command.
'If I want to gain some favour with him, then this should be my priority,' he thought. He cast his gaze down, and ignored most of the environments' sounds.
"Right..." muttered Jean dejectedly.
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.
"With how tricky the terrain is, mounting the horses through this area will only make things bothersome. We'll leave them here," voiced one of the knights.
He wore an obscure plate armour that covered most of his body. Like the other armored knights, some yellow spots brought colour to the otherwise piece of darkened protection. However, the darkness of his armor stood out amidst the silver platoon.
His boots dug deep in the dirt, making large craters whenever he took a step. Due to his role, they'd always be ahead of the others.
The group left the horses behind and continued on foot. It took seconds for the girl with the black jerkin to walk up to Randall's side.
"Stick with me at all times. Do not leave my side, otherwise I'll be unable to protect you," she uttered. Her voice had a faint trace of the sadness from earlier, but most of it had been replaced by concern and wariness.
'... I guess she's taking the Monarch's request seriously.'
The eight-man group rushed in search of the missing elf, but they'd only find more people at the brink or death... Or corpses.
The girl would grow more and more agitated over time. The knights couldn't afford to pay attention due to their full focus being on their guards. As for Randall?... He didn't quite know what to do.
Fortunately, things took a turn for the better when they spotted her.
"That's the Princess," voiced the commander of the platoon.
A group of six individuals. They largely resembled humans, but their oddly-colored hair and a few other body features did a good job at differencing the two.
Four of the six engaged in a close-quarters conflict with multiple monsters, while the fifth one provided some support.
One of them wore a particular, spotless creamy pink dress. She clearly seemed to be in a much better condition than the other elves present.
They had been cornered in a 3-way crossroad 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.
Randall's gaze lingered for a moment in two particular elves. 'An elven archer forced to fight in close range, and another missing an arm. How bad did the situation get?'
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.
All 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. The commander had the feeling that the way they used to arrive at this spot wasn't as safe anymore...
Either way, the knight leader glanced at Randall.
"Your name is 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 edges emanated a strange, red glow, while the commander held it by the seemingly eclipsed orange and brown hilt.
Some of the knights performed a similar maneuver, leading to the appearance of weapons or armor on themselves.
Seeing that, Randall followed the exact same movements as them.
A rapier appeared on Randall's main hand. The whole thing emanated an unique, translucent white glow.
Right then, his demeanor became much colder. Most of the monsters present also flinched slightly.
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.
Not even three seconds later, he extracted the weapon and threw it towards a notoriously big goblin, which lodged itself on the monster's chest. He pulled the rapier 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.
Most were focused on dispatching their own targets. However, those who did notice his kills were somewhat impressed by the stranger's swiftness and efficiency.
The same didn't apply for Jean... Instead, her expression showed horror.
The others didn't know that he had been here for less than a day. But she did.
He manifested an Ego AND even maintained 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 poured their efforts together to quickly wipe out the monsters nearby.
Once that was done, the translucent rapier in Randall's hand vanished. So did his cold attitude.
Respectfully, the human commander greeted the Elven Princess. However, the elf seemed to be a bit too busy with something else...
"Gah, with all these ashes, my dress might as well be a volcano. Gosh, and it was my favorite, too…"
Jean clenched her fists tightly, but not to the extent that her nails would pierce her own skim. The rest of the squadron also showed a negative reaction, but no one had the balls to bring it that far.
"Oh, 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.
A venomous tone coated his words, but the one to reply sure didn't notice it...
"OH-MY-GOSH, I know, right?? What's your name? You're the first one to understand my pain…"
The female elf looked up to him with the most compassionate, heartfelt eyes he had seen since his arrival to this place.
"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 the humans surrounding her die in the most horrific ways possible.
Though, at least the dress did have some value... At least according to her.
"Oh, great. Sir Isuck Hard Pipes, you are formally invited to my palace. Consider it your second home!"
'Thanks, I'm never taking a foot on it,' he thought while suppressing a slight laugh.
Everyone else, regardless of the squadron they belonged to, looked at the two while whispering to each other.
"Who the fuck is that, and how can he understand the mind of the Princess?" muttered one of the elves.
"I'll be damned if I know, and I'll be double damned if I care. As long as he keeps her bullshit in check, we're good as gold," replied another.
"Does the elven princess even know what a pipe is?..." voiced one of the humans.
"Doubt it, pipes are non-existent in Edelchia."
Meanwhile, Jean talked with one of the three healthy elves, and the only female fighter in their group.
Light and embers wrapped themselves around the two females. Ashes stained the elven combat uniform, consisting of a forest green jerkin and a pair of brown leggings. Her pale skin, albeit illuminated by the constant flickers of fire consuming the settlement, also found itself wrapped under the shadows cast by the buildings behind her.
The bright, lime green that barely reached her shoulders almost acted as an absolute opposite to Jean's waist-long dark hair. The fact that the human kept it straight and unrestricted while the former tied it into a ponytail only added to the differences between the two.
"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 beastkin 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.
Jean's dark brows sank slightly upon hearing the comment. 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 not be burnt to ashes in a burning town," replied the human.