*
"HALT! Name your business!" (Guard A)
"... I'm passing by... On a hero's journey." (Lastia)
Activating , she molds her trusty great sword by her side. It landed onto the ground with unbearable weight, causing a small fissure to form as it embedded a shallow depth. With graceful movement, she lifts it with one hand and lays it on her shoulder. She doesn't have {Envy} in this world, one could say her primary crutch in combat is gone. Though that isn't so unreasonable for the magical girls of the abundance era who only have one skill.
Her strength should speak for itself.
"...!? Level 42... Wait for a second please ma'am, I'll need to consult my supervisor. Would that be alright?" (Guard A)
"... Make it quick." (Lastia)
Although they can't see her stats or class, there seemed to be a strict hierarchy with regards to level. It wasn't surprising to think that all the high level heavyweights of human society have been conscripted into the national army. If someone was high level, they would be fast tracked into a high leadership position in the army. The lowest level of guards on the peripheral border duty are level 20, the royal guard were around level 50. 42 was still on the upper end, someone who was more than likely their superior.
Sure enough, a more senior guard in charged of border security emerged from the depths of their outpost. This city was numerous times larger than the village, with smoothen stone bricks laid into a massive wall that formed a perimeter around it. The wall was about as thick as a house and as tall as a small hill. The sounds of life soared from the city, filling the sky with laughter and sorrow. It was nothing like the village that housed unbearable silence, the silence left behind the dead.
If she thought about it for a moment, it should have been obvious. The raucous life of a city is inseparable from noise, back in zone A2, back in the capital of this kingdom. The heart of a city is its people, the difference is only jarring now because she's been to that village. The senior guard was level 29, when he got closer he met eyes with Lastia. Unlike the others, he never underestimated her with his gaze once. Rather, he laid bare his caution, a man of principle. Even if the other party is higher in level, he was prepared to give his life to protect this city.
Unlike the lower level guards that word chain mail and cloth garb, he had a metal chest plate a sword slinger by his side. A helmet was perched protectively over his head, reflecting the light of the bright afternoon sun. No matter how you looked at it, he was a picture esque knight from storybooks, but rather than a prince charming he had the face of a gruff middle aged man. Maybe he's closer to a military officer from modern times, age wise too.
"State your purpose." (Captain)
"A hero's journey, I set off from the capital and reached here in 2 days." (Lastia)
A typical army march would take a week or more, because they needed plenty of rest and to carry plentiful supplies for the journey ahead. Food, water, ammunition, medicinal resources, transport. Lastia who traveled as a lone individual would naturally be able to expedite this process, but two days was still too absurd. It's as if she kept walking without rest.
In truth she did take breaks and sleep, her speed was just that much faster than what was conventional. It was the way magical girls travel, with experience they gradually became more fuel efficient in how they expended their magical energy, and that efficiency constantly went up without pause. To Lastia, it feels like her breaks are sufficient and restful, but in truth her rest time was inhumanely short and she spent most of the 24 hours in a day making distance.
That much was clear to the guard captain, the being standing before him had surpassed the conventional limits of humanity. Did the adventurers of old also grow this strong? If so, it made sense that the kingdom feared how uncontrollable they were and conscripted them through force. It was on everyone's mind but never uttered out loud, the current king had in the past few decades, incorporated the adventurer's guild into the national armyand in the process weakened them.
While it better consolidated the combat power of humanity, granted the grit of a command hierarchy as well as the strategic capacities of organised movement, it also severely curbed the growth of their levels. Armies move like giants, slow and vulnerable. They require large amounts of food and resources to maintain and they take a long time to move from one place to another. Many saw the king's actions as those of a coward's, fearing the power of the adventurers especially those that were high ranking that had as much power as nobility. He consolidated their strength, put them under his banner and management, in the name of fighting the demon lord.
The general populace would be none the wiser, while those in the know would fear beheading should they speak out. Regardless, none of that was relevant to the present situation. The guard captain stared with scrutiny, suppressing his urge to tremble. His subordinates are watching, he must not present shamelessly. Even moreso during wartime, the demon lord's army had already taken some of the other human countries closer to their territory.
The capital of this kingdom was furthest from demon territory, it wasn't wrong to say they were living in ignorance while the army's higherups were running like headless chickens. In part, the national army easily accepted the conscription of adventurers due to how much their strength got bolstered, against the creeping anxiety of the demon lord's invasion, a policy or two easily became acceptable regardless of long term effects.
If there was a strong human like her... If she really was the hero, then maybe humanity would have hope. He accepted her entry. With a bang of his spear's foot, he signaled his subordinates to give way while doing the national salute. He doesn't have to answer their burning, questioning gazes. As long as a human was strong, he would want them to stay and protect this city wherein his family lived.