Making his way through the bustling city, Blaine sped along the grey asphalt streets in the beautiful sun-lit city.
Countless colourful electronic billboards advertised the latest hot commodities, tantalizing onlookers into succumbing to their inner greed, vainly promising them to satisfy their desire for vanity.
There were stores and facilities of all shapes and sizes, from office buildings in skyscrapers to small boutiques such as hair salons and fast-food restaurants.
As he passed by, Blaine witnessed a group of young people in school uniforms, no older than himself, laughing and chatting while walking out of a fast food restaurant.
As he slowly made his way through the congested streets, Blaine passed four other checkpoints at the four large inner walls, entering progressively older sections of the city.
While they were still beautiful and filled with crowds of busy people, they were considerably less new than their outermost counterparts.
After passing the innermost wall, Blaine made his way to a large compounded facility with a smaller wall surrounding its outer parameter.
As he made his way to yet another checkpoint, Blaine let a small yawn of exhaustion.
Shaking his head to wake himself up, he removed his helmet again. He had the border patrol officer verify his identity, hopefully for the final time.
While it was a tedious process, it was deemed necessary to protect facilities like the one Blaine was entering properly.
Even though the Tear problem wasn't this bad before, the Varene Kingdom was almost always in combat with its border nations.
It wasn't to the point of all-out war, but given their history of bad blood, minor skirmishes did break out from time to time.
The spy problem was both a real and perpetual threat.
Mainly because this city was located near one such border.
Thus, it was deemed necessary to properly defend the city from outside threats.
This measure purely prevented people from sneaking into the city undetected, but other procedures were used to weed out spies who had directly infiltrated the government and army.
But even then, nothing was one hundred percent guaranteed.
Even now, the Varene Kingdom and its border nations have plenty of spies leaking sensitive information.
Making his way past several buildings reinforced with several layers of defensive materials, Blaine parked his bike in a parking lot littered with various military vehicles.
The process of entering the city, while streamlined for military personnel in case of an emergency, still took him a good 30 minutes.
Blaine hopped off his bike and stretched his stiff muscles before walking to one of the nearby buildings.
As he walked by, he saw a group of military personnel performing several training drills, from running with weighted vests to practicing their finesse with firearms.
The soldiers undergoing training looked only slightly older than Blaine. They lacked the hardened resolve that came with the more experienced combatants, making it evident that they were still just recruits.
Making his way to the building's front entrance, Blaine took out his ID badge and tapped it on a scanner next to the door before opening it and walking inside.
Knowing his way through the building after having traversed it numerous times, Blaine made his way over to a room labelled 'General Whitaker's office.'
Gently knocking on the door, Blaine heard a gruff, muffled voice.
"Come in."
Twisting the door handle, Blaine pushed the door open and was greeted by the sight of a muscular man with a head and a short beard full of grey hair sitting behind a fancy red wooden desk.
The muscular man exerted an intense and authoritative pressure, which caused those before him to feel both awe and fear.
Some may even fall on their knees after being unable to resist.
However, Blaine didn't seem even remotely fazed by this.
The man wearing a badge reading 'Whitaker' on his right breast pocket studied Blaine with a curious look.
"I heard that your mission was a success."
Blaine nodded his head.
General Douglas Whitaker closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.
"Thank you again for your help. Even though you are technically on vacation… You still stepped up to help after my personal request."
General Whitaker opened his eyes again and studied Blaine's face.
"From what I heard, you managed to finish all the Unkowns within just a few minutes on arrival. Normally, most 1-Star humans struggle to defeat Rank 1 creatures above the goblin class. On the other hand, you managed to eradicate several Rank 2 goblins without as much as a scratch on you."
The General flashed Blaine a small smile.
"Not only that… But from the report, you didn't even use your mana art? I would have doubted my daughter's words if I hadn't witnessed your skills firsthand. Even as a 2-Star human, I don't know if I could pull off what you just did. As expected of the scion of the Lionheart family, you truly are special."
Blaine didn't react to the General's words and maintained his usual poker face.
However, the General didn't seem particularly offended by the auburn-haired youth's lack of response, having long since gotten used to the boy's taciturn nature.
Furthermore, Blaine had just saved his precious daughter's life.
"Ah… That's right," the General pushed a file that was sitting on his desk to Blaine. There have been some changes to your reassignment. Initially, you were going to go back to the royal capital tomorrow; however, it seems that you will be staying here in Redpine City for a little longer. This folder contains the details of your new assignment. Although... I would suggest taking the mission's details with a grain of salt."
Blaine picked up the file and quickly skimmed through the content before his eyes betrayed a hint of shock.
Seeing Blaine's expression, the General chuckled lightly.
"It seems you're getting quite the promotion, young man. Going from being an honorary soldier to a VIP's bodyguard is already quite the achievement. Still, the person you're tasked with isn't any old government official… But the royal princess herself."