“A-Anna…You didn’t…” The old man who seemed to be the ‘King’, whoever that may be. It was strange. The old man didn’t seem angry, more terrified than anything else. He tottered over to the girl, holding her hands in his, gently. A faint glow appeared around her, sparkling brightly before fizzling out entirely. The knights around her looked away, as if ashamed of what they’d done. It was the first time he’d seen them emote.

“Ah, Gods… Dear gods, not my daughter…” He looked at her with grief, with shame. Jack didn’t understand why. His daughter seemed to know, though. “It was the only way, father… You knew I had the most mana in the kingdom. You were just too kind to ask.” The father looked at her as if she had stabbed him in the heart, before pulling her into a hug. “Your future, Anna. Gods, your future was as bright as a star… You’d throw it all away for the kingdom!? There’s a limit to selflessness, you dumb child.”

He couldn’t see the man’s face, but his shoulders heaving up and down indicated he was crying. The Princess’ face was in plain view, however. Tears fell from her face as she kept a weak smile. Her eyes were full of what seemed to be regret… No, that’s just what he expected on her face. Instead, there was a firm resolve over what had happened. The question was, what exactly had happened!?

He couldn’t exactly ask while they were bawling their eyes out now, could he? Looking at his friends, they felt the same. A few of them even seemed to know what had happened. Abby, Liam, and surprisingly, Mary all had a look of extreme guilt on their face, as if the problem at hand had somehow been their fault. That was pretty funny, honestly. Even if they had been involved with the problem, they had no fault in what had happened.

This had been a decision entirely done by the princess, had it not? She was the one to own the blame… He felt a chill run down his spine, the same one he felt when he first met the gods. How stupid of him. This was not a time to rationalize, it was time to do what he was told. What did royalty prefer? Bowing? Kneeling? Prostrating? Only now did he realize just how useful all that knowledge he had absentmindedly remembered and forgotten for exams had been. He stepped forward, keeping a steady hand behind him as he swallowed his nervousness.

At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt to try.

Going into a bow, the same he’d seen a butler do once before, Jack spoke. “Sir… I do not know the condition your daughter is in, thanks to us. But I promise you, If I can help further your cause in any way, I shall. I do not speak for my friends, but I promise you, you have my help.” The king gave him a complicated look, surprise mixed with frustration. It seemed the king blamed him for his daughter’s condition, even if subconsciously. It didn’t matter, his daughter had sacrificed too much for him to be turned away. Having a soldier to be ordered around, that was best case scenario for them.

He didn’t bother looking back at his friends, making sure he didn’t put any words into their mouths. He had to be careful when speaking for the group. This was a dangerous situation. He was forced to speak but if he talked too much it could lead to the group's blame on him should everything go wrong. People were quick to blame others when times began to get desperate, especially in unknown situations such as this.

He almost wished he’d come alone to this world. It would cut him off from such a place as to give him a need to tether the old and new. His old personality wouldn’t do much good in a violent, magical world like this. He had to make sure to keep their relationships intact should this all return to normal in their old world, however. Well… it’d have been better if everyone except for him had been sent here instead, he guessed. Though, that wasn’t a kind thought, so he chose to forget it.

Eventually, Liam came up to back him up as he hoped. “Um… We don’t know what’s going to happen to this world, but if we can help we’d certainly like to try.” Fool, including the group into his little trivial want to help. How would he deal with the consequences-

Elijah broke his train of thought jumping in behind Liam. “Yeah! If it’s the only way we can make it out of here, then we’ll definitely help! Right guys?” The others exclaimed in agreement, Arturo putting an arm around Liam and Elijah. “I can’t just be the only guy who doesn’t do this, am I right?” The three grinned and laughed, and even the girls seemed to be having their own little celebration for what was to come. Strange, how fast they’d all come to terms with the situation. It made him wonder if a god had threatened all of them as well.

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Could he talk about it to them?

…

Considering how he didn’t feel any ominous emotions around him, he felt he could. But what about the princess… Sweat dripped down his forehead, and his stomach felt nauseous as it tightened unnaturaly. An invisible force watched over him, and went as soon as it came. Guess that was a no. As the group was talking to the king and trying to exclaim their servitude, he looked over to the princess. She was standing in the back with a sad, but proud look in her eye, as if she was watching her children leave for war.

Were they just children in her eyes?

No, he just didn’t know enough about emotions to properly gauge her feelings at the moment. A perfect time for studying. He went by her side as the others talked, a calm and patient smile on his face. “Hello, princess.” She startled at his voice, which was strange, he had basically walked up to her in full view. Had she not actually been watching? “Y-yes? Oh! Thank you for changing your mind in helping us… I know what I did was cruel, but I had no choice in order to save my world…”

He smiled, empathetically. Her world could have burned for all he cared. It had not been his problem until she up and went and made it his. “Considering what the king said, there was a consequence for doing so, wasn’t there?” He asked, making sure to have as soft and empathetic voice as possible. She smiled weakly. “Yes… My… One who does the summoning ritual gets heroes purely based on the magic power they give. I gave almost everything I had to ensure the birth of proper heroes.”

He stared blankly at the response. Magic was a thing in this world, and he had already experienced it. And yet… Seeing such a serious, forlorn expression on someone’s face as they talked about magic almost made him want to bash his head in a wall. It was just too ridiculous. He put a hand on her shoulder, giving his best smile despite his shaken mind. “You must really have loved your country, is that not so? Your father should be proud to have someone who cares so much for her people. That is true royalty.”

At least, it was in fiction. This girl really was more of a hero than any one of them combined, so why couldn’t she have taken the responsibility of removing the demonic scourge? Why shirk that responsibility to them? Her eyes glistened with tears at his words, seemingly happy that someone else had taken her stance on things. She was a hero for this sacrifice she made, making her sure of that was for the best. It would also take away from the guilt of kidnapping him and the others.

This was probably what the other gods wanted.

“I… Thank you, hero… For taking up arms against the demonic threat. It’s unbecoming of me to act like this…” No, it was actually understandable at a rational level. “You lost your magic to save your world. It is unfair to you, to act as if that meant nothing. Everyone deserves a right to sadness, you aren’t an exception.” She nodded, tears still streaming down her face as she attempted to wipe them away. He felt… insufficient, as he watched her.

In no way was he or his group willing to sacrifice as much as her to watch this world be saved. Just the thought was already baffling to Jack, to actually go through with it… If he had to lose his career in order to save a life… Well, the answer was obvious.

Many others would choose their careers without blinking as well, he assumed.

…He looked at his friends, their eyes serious as they listened to the king’s words. Jack may not have been willing to sacrifice, but he couldn’t say the same for certain people in this group. Liam, Arturo… He wasn’t sure about the girls since they were a bit more complex… and Elijah and Charlotte, well, he barely knew them. He really didn’t know any of them, to be honest… Not as much as they knew each other.

Damnit, again his mind was filled with paranoia. His hands shook as he once again thought about how easily everything could crumble around him at the moment. The only difference this time was that his old world was gone, and he was left with what he could barely consider scraps.

“Jack? Hey, Jack! Dude!” He looked at the doorway, where the rest of his friends and the king were. Liam was calling out to him, a big, expectant grin on his face. “Are you and the girl coming? He says he’s gonna send us to the dungeons!” He seized up, his eyes dilating. What had gone wrong to send him there? What the hell had they’d done?

He didn’t move, and the rest of the group turned to look. Mary laughed, looking at him with pitiful eyes. “It's not an actual dungeon, Jack. They’re sending us to train.” He was once again surprised by her observation. Despite his calm face, Mary saw the fear in his heart, he still wasn’t sure how she did that. Liam just laughed. “Of course he knows that, Mary. The king just told us. Come on, Jack. Let’s go already!”

He nodded, momentarily wondering why’d they called a training hall something like a ‘dungeon.’ He turned to the princess and smiled sympathetically. “You think you’re okay to walk?” He held a hand out, and after briefly hesitating she held it and they catched up with the rest. His mind raced with thoughts, interruption after another causing him to miss out on information considered crucial.

Maybe once they reached these ‘dungeons’, he’d have his answers.