PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

I had gone out this morning to collect some rare herbs for my new experiments, I think some metallic property herb could be the missing ingredient in my new flexible material reinforcing compound, some of the ingredients I used before did not have the desired effect and even some ended up damaging the material he was trying to reinforce. Of course, even if the metallic herbs I was looking for were suitable for use in my experiment, it remained to be seen whether they could indeed strengthen the material without damaging its flexibility; In the end, the whole point of my experiment was to create materials of great resistance and flexibility to facilitate my life in these forests.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to keep a lady’s clothing intact in this type of environment or how incredibly impractical it is to wear any armor of any kind in the long term to live here? that’s why I now looking for a way to make my diary′s clothes more resilient, That’s why I came up with this idea, so I began this research after my research on the revitalization of organic materials for their improvement through the artificial injection of mana, research that helped me improve my magic wand without having to change it for another; this may be a forest, but finding materials for a good wand is difficult. . . it also has a special meaning for me.

Paf * Paf *

Patting my cheeks to change my mind, I left the cabin that had been my home for as long as I could remember and entered the forest, I soon found myself beyond the regions of the forest with which I am most familiar and entered the area mountain bordering this forest.

As soon as I entered the area I could feel that there was something wrong with the environment, I did not know what it was, but it made me feel sick, as I advanced I began to find corpses, they were in deplorable conditions, but what really bothered me is that they emanated that feeling disgusting that was in the place but in a more concentrated and intense way.

I don’t like what my mana-sharpened senses were telling me, as a sorceress and alchemist that I have been all my life, my sensitivity to the energetic properties of mana and its nature was incredibly high; so she could feel that something was infecting the forest. . . something dark and putrid, something that was driving away those who felt it and parasitizing those who were too weak to feel or bear it.

And judging from the trail of corpses that she had been finding, it was safe to say that she was not the only one who had noticed the anomalies in the forest, given that it was clear that whatever was killing these parasitized people was not a beast but another human being; at least that is what I think given the traces of the use of bow and arrow that I have been finding here and there.

I could only hope that this person was not like the humans I have met in the past, because she could really use some help in this place and maybe. . . some company; she also was sick of dealing with those racist humans.

.....

Arriving at a small bush near a stream, I can see a person with his back to me, doing something with the water in the stream, I tried to approach cautiously so as not to alarm the person but as clumsy as ever, my cape got stuck in a bush and shook it when advancing; which caught me off guard and caused me to release a small “Hah” which was followed by the tip of a very sharp arrow that pointed straight to the center of my forehead. . . heck, I don’t think it’s peaceful.

′′ who’s there? ′′

Having my wand inside his holster, I have no choice but to approach slowly with my hands up as a sign of peace, hoping that the human in front of me had a good heart; When I fully revealed my appearance I received a strange reaction that was not the kind of drastic reaction I was expecting, I thought it would be something like revulsion or aggressiveness, but it was instead. . . surprise and fascination.

′′ Oh my goodness. . . I found myself a magical girl . . I’m sorry for Claire, but I’m taking her home. ′′

But that reaction was followed by an alarming statement related to my capture and captivity, I almost truly feared for my future when the person in front of me seemed to regain her composure and in a somewhat awkward way spoke to me again while slightly easing the tension on the string of his bow and lowered his firing angle a little so that it was no longer aimed at my face, but it did not escape my attention that he was still pointing at my right leg.

′′ Sorry about that, you took me by surprise both by your appearance and by the way you look, so my reaction was far from adequate, let me introduce myself I am Desmond Astryd a traveler. ′′

′′ Nice to meet you Desmond, my name is Sasha Kor ignis, I am also sorry to have surprised you, I was looking for some herbs in the forest. . . Does it bother you that I ask what was it that surprised you about my appearance? ′′

The truth is that I was somewhat intrigued by his response as his reaction, leaving aside his comment about kidnapping me, was quite different from what she had seen in other humans over the years.

′′ In the first place I would mention how incredibly beautiful you are and how unusual it is to find a woman as precious as a princess in a place like this, also your eyes and hair are of a particular color, although that is why they only highlight your beauty exotic; Finally, it is that you reminded me a bit of a legend from my homeland. ′′

Beautiful? Like a princess? That the color of my eyes and hair only highlighted my beauty? For a moment I thought that the man in front of me was either ignorant or stupid because only an ignorant person would not recognize that she did not belong to the human race and only a fool would be so surprised by the beauty of non-human in this kind of situation; nevertheless. . . why my heart was beating so fast and my cheeks were feeling so hot.

Little could this naive girl know that Desmond was mainly surprised by the last point than by the first two, after all, although she was indeed very beautiful; Desmond had seen many beauties throughout his life, this one was only more exotic. The reason Desmond almost kidnapped the girl in front of him is that she was so much like the magical girls from the manga he read as a child.