PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

′′ How bad is it? ′′ Witnessing the burning hell in front of him, the voice of the governor of the city couldn′t avoid trembling after seeing the trail of shattered corpses and the buildings that had been reduced to ashes.

′′ Sir, we lost at least 2 elite knights during the battle with the witch′s demonic servant, added to that we lost all the guards stationed at the top of the wall; they were in accordance to the report killed in a sneak attack before they could defend themselves or call for reinforcements. ′′ Answering was an older man dressed as a butler who was holding a pile of documents in his hands.

Hearing that even his valuable elite knights died the city lord felt incredibly helpless, you have to know that the number of elite knights in the kingdom is not very high and it takes a lot of resources to create only a handful of them, that was the reason why the loss of two of them was a hard blow for his dominion on this earth.

′′ keep going. ” Having regained his composure, the lord of the city asked for the rest of the report.

′′ Yes sir, we lost ten knights during the witch’s trial, apparently the murderer mixed in the crowd and murdered them one by one silently; According to the doctors who examined the bodies, all of them had a sharp object buried in the back base of the neck. . . they died instantly and felt no pain.

At least eight more knights were killed during the ensuing combat and dozens of city guards were completely obliterated. The elite knights did their best to stop the murderer, but everything got out of hand when a group of city guards tried to murder the witch. . . All those guards were brutally cut to pieces.

You already know the rest, my Lord, as for the damage in the city, some buildings around the square were lost by fire; but the damage is not serious.

As for the witch and her servant. . . they both escaped. . . Do you want me to send our men to look for them? ′′

.....

The expression on the city’s lord’s face got worse with each passing second as he listened to the report from his henchman, but when one would think that he couldn’t get even worse; The moment he heard the question from his subordinate, the city lord’s face completely paled.

′′ are you crazy? Sending our men into the forest is no different than sending a group of sheep to hunt a lion, no, we will wait until reinforcements arrive from the imperial city; once the imperial knights arrive we can do something.

For now, let’s just control the damage and give subsidies to the families of the dead soldiers, there is no need to increase the number of graves we have to dig. ′′

′′ As you order my lord. ′′ After receiving orders from his master, the butler quickly left, giving his master some time alone.

′′ Damn how am I supposed to get rid of the responsibility of this? At this rate I will lose my title of lord of the city or even worse; I guess I’ll have to figure it out when I catch that damn witch. . . a week, in a week that bitch will pay. ′′ From one moment to another, the stoic attitude of the lord of the city vanished giving way to a vicious face full of hatred and desire for revenge.

But how the poor lord of the city is supposed to know that he would never have a chance to carry out his revenge? let’s not talk about a week; By the end of the day, the witch he hated so much would have reached a place that would be completely out of his reach.

(Sasha’s Cabin, 3rd person POV)

′′ How bad is it? ′′ Unaware of the enormous coincidence of his words, Desmond asked Sasha at the same time that the city lord heard a similar question from his butler.

Sasha who was checking her childhood house in ruins had a slightly sad expression, but she seemed less affected than one would expect, perhaps Sasha had already prepared to say goodbye to her home to follow Desmond and for that, she was not so sad or she was just trying to look strong; it was hard for Desmond to tell.

′′ Most of the first floor along with my laboratory was destroyed, it seems that they took their time to steal most of the valuable equipment they could take and destroyed everything else.

The second floor is mostly in good shape, only one of the rooms was destroyed by fire, I guess they were in a bit of a rush after looting the lab so they didn’t make sure they did a good job setting the house on fire. ′′ There was a wry expression on Sasha’s face as she spoke of the poor work of others in the use of fire, but Desmond could still see that the girl was sadder than she was willing to show.

As perceptive as Desmond was, he noticed something in Sasha’s tone of voice so he knew more or less what the problem at hand was: ′′ What room burned down? ′′

Sasha stopped for an instant, a helpless expression could be seen in her eyes, she knew that Desmond was an incredibly insightful person, it was something that she had noticed in the time they had been together, but at this moment she did not want to talk about it; so without any intention of hiding her intention to evade the question, Sasha simply answered with another question.

′′ do you want tea? ′′

Desmond watched Sasha for a couple of seconds before giving a sigh and nodding, it turned out that among the few things that were saved from the first floor were the containers where the tea herbs that Sasha kept in the kitchen were kept, plus Sasha managed to find a tea set among the things Desmond had bought for her; Sasha was glad she had stored those things in her room on the second floor.

A couple of minutes passed and now the couple found themselves drinking from a warm cup of tea on the semi-destroyed porch of the cabin as they watched the sunset.

′′ What about you, are you okay? ′′ Sasha asked Desmond as she enjoyed the aftertaste of tea on her palate.

′′ What are you talking about? ′′ Desmond lowered his cup for a moment with a puzzled expression at the sudden question.

′′ You don’t like it, do you? Killing humans. . . you hate it. And now, is the second time you have to kill them for me. ′′ Although Sasha tried her best, she still couldn′t help having her voice trembling slightly as she expressed her concern for Desmond.

The cup in Desmond’s hand trembled for a brief moment, Desmond looked down at himself on the surface of the tea in the cup, but to his surprise, he didn′t felt disgusted at looking at his reflection, and though his heart was still uncomfortable at the idea; Desmond found that he strangely felt less guilty than he did in the past.

But Sasha who did not know what was going through Desmond’s mind at that moment, when she saw him in silence she thought that Desmond was very affected by it and she felt incredibly guilty; he had saved her, but everything had a price.

By the time Desmond stopped seeing his image, Sasha was trembling slightly with tears in her eyes that threatened to spill like a broken dam, Desmond seeing her like this didn’t need to find out what the girl was thinking; Desmond just sat close to her, pulled her close to his chest, and hugged her lightly.

′′ I’m not sure it’s good, but I don’t feel as guilty as you think. . . First of all, I don’t think the word is guilty, Sasha, I think you have a misunderstanding, I have never felt guilty for murdering others, to begin with, I have never murdered anyone who does not deserve it.

You see when I was younger I had to do many things of which I am not proud, murder was just one of them, one day when the danger passed and committing those horrible acts stopped being necessary I looked at myself in the mirror; and at that moment I couldn’t recognize myself. . . I was so damaged, so dirty. . . so corrupted. . . I was afraid, afraid that the person I loved would see me like this, that she would see me for the monster that I am, and that she would stop loving me for it.

That is the reason why I feel uncomfortable when I kill other human beings, I am afraid that she will see me once again as in the past. . . I’m afraid of being too dyed in blood and sin that even Claire would stop loving me.

The same applies to you now I suppose, but as for the rest, I do not regret even a little having killed them, they tried to murder you for their stupid reasons so they deserved what happened to them; that simple. ′′

Before Desmond’s words, Sasha was not sure how to react, it was true that the people that Desmond murdered had sought it out in one way or another, but Desmond’s way of thinking was dangerous in itself; Also, Desmond was right, she had thought the reason for Desmond’s mood was guilt, but Desmond never felt guilty in the first place.

Sasha didn’t know what to think about what Desmond had said, but she consoled herself with the idea that at least with Desmond’s way of thinking he would never harm the innocent, plus she had grown up in a world where the strong devour the weak so violence was not unknown to her.

In the end, no matter what the world thought about the man known as Desmond Astryd, the only thing that mattered was that she, Sasha Kor Ignis, loved him, she loved him, and she would follow him to the end of the world; the rest were just insignificant details.

It must be said that Sasha also had a somewhat distorted view of the world and she was willing to accept the man she loved even if he harbored so much darkness in his heart, but who can blame her, she would not be the first person to ignore all kinds of things for love; Also seeing the man who hugged her with such tenderness and affection while he brought her a cup of tea for her to drink. . . Could anyone tell that she followed the wrong man?

Ultimately, Desmond Astryd was a man who was far from being a hero or a good person, but there was an undeniable fact about his existence; Desmond would do absolutely anything for the people he loved, whether it was to be the most loving man in the world or the most terrifying demon.