PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

In addition to all the beauties and natural gifts that could be found in this forest, there were also ancient beasts whose strength was not to be provoked. In an old, fertile, and unexplored land like Serefia Forest, it was normal for beasts with powerful bloodlines to rise to the top of the food chain and reign supreme in their own territories.

Skaylos the Stormbringer was one of these mighty ancient beasts. This creature stood at the top of the chain, capable of annihilating entire armies. Fortunately, these hulking creatures didn’t appear too often or venture out of their territories. Otherwise, Desmond’s party wouldn’t dare venture that far into the woods.

Speaking of the trio, after listening to Kyuru’s explanation about who her supposed mother was, there was a brief discussion. Ultimately, it was decided that they would follow what Harmony said and go into the forest in search of the fairy’s home.

Curious enough, Kyuru didn’t actually know where her old home was since, in her own words, her land had moved. Desmond didn’t quite get it, but there wasn’t much need to think about it too much. Both of them could feel a tug within their bodies that was guiding them to their destination, so they wouldn’t get lost.

Feeling the stiffness in various parts of his body and sudden spikes of pain, Desmond found the ride a little more strenuous than expected. Desmond couldn’t complain about that; given the state of his body after the battle in the plaza, it was already a miracle that he was still alive.

The hidden wounds within his body became a liability for Desmond, affecting his movement and his fighting ability. Cecilia had noticed Desmond’s difficulties. She had been using her starlight field occasionally to heal Desmond’s wounds. However, this proved slightly less effective than she expected.

Desmond’s wounds were too heavy during his last battle. Desmond’s muscles had been torn beyond recognition, and some of his bones had broken into several sections. There was internal burning damage due to excessive use of burning mana as a buff, and the number of shallow cuts and bruises was too many to count.

This was no longer a matter of healing flesh and bone; Desmond’s physical body was simply too exhausted. Cecilia tried to use her starlight to recover Desmond. Still, Desmond’s body would drink the mana as if he were a man lost in the desert who finally found water in an oasis. There were hardly any signs of improvement, which worried the trio very much.

.....

Desmond had to admit that he had gone too far; now, his body was only one step away from being crippled. His body would need a great deal of medicinal magic, precious potions, and nutrition to heal.

However, Desmond did not regret it. The care and affection Cecilia showed him were purer than glass, which was enough for Desmond. Although there were no romantic feelings from Desmond toward Cecilia, he was still touched by the sincerity with which she cared for him.

Cecilia was easily one of the most beautiful women Desmond had ever seen. Cecilia’s curves alone were enough to make wolves howl. However, it wasn’t her devastatingly sensual body nor her face of pure beauty that motivated Desmond to save her. Forget the topic of saving her; Desmond had offered her his name, his parents’ last name that was sacred to him. It was precisely Cecilia’s character that won the favor of the young hunter.

While Cecilia’s physical appearance certainly added a lot to her favor. Her unwavering conviction to protect the weak and do good led Desmond to defend Priestess. The care and resolve shown by Cecilia when she protected the children of the orphanage was something Desmond respected.

As if all of the above wasn’t enough, Cecilia wasn’t weak at all either. She might seem weak since she lacked much experience and mastery over her abilities. Still, Desmond didn’t believe for a second that she was worthless. Just remembering how Cecilia blocked all those powerful attacks from a distance was enough for Desmond to give her abilities a thumbs up.

Desmond, of course, still remembered that strange energy that kept him on his feet during the battle. Even if he never got a chance to look in a mirror during the fight to see the golden stars within his eyes, Desmond still deduced that this had something to do with Cecilia.

As much as Desmond wanted to praise his own abilities, he knew he couldn’t maintain his full stats during a battle as intense as this. Desmond wasn’t a machine; he still felt pain, he had survival instincts, and his mind wasn’t immune to all the stress of battle. Being able to fight to the fullest without his mind being disturbed by any of this was not normal.

Cecilia didn’t understand her abilities either, so Desmond didn’t mention anything about it. Since she had no idea, what was the use of asking?

With these and other thoughts in his head, Desmond continued on his way, accompanied by two beauties immersed in their thoughts.

In Kyuru’s case, she still blushed from time to time, remembering that she fused with Desmond in front of many people; it was too embarrassing an event for her. The opportunity to return home and see her self-proclaimed mother did little to distract the fairy.

Cecilia, for her part, was thinking about what the future would hold for her. From time to time, she asked Desmond questions about his life and his family. One can imagine Cecilia’s surprise when she discovered that Desmond came from another world.

Sure, the prophecy mentioned something similar, so Cecilia’s surprise wasn’t that great. At least she was much more surprised when Desmond talked about having an affair with two women.

Cecilia didn’t know how to feel about it since she had no love experience. After giving it a couple of additional thoughts, Cecilia remembered hearing from many nobles that they had multiple wives, so she rationalized that this should be normal.

Obviously, she didn’t understand that this had her own social and cultural logic, so it wasn’t necessarily something normal. In the same way, she missed that Desmond wasn’t a nobleman or anything.

One could only marvel at the miracles achieved when great ignorance was combined with a selfless, pure, and kind heart. It was a shame those miracles only benefited bastards like Desmond.

Completely unaware of the constant blessings that the goddess of fortune sent him, Desmond had to stop to rest once more. It was more than just the muscle pain and throbbing sensation in some of his bones; one of Desmond’s lungs wasn’t working correctly either. Hence this was just one of many breaks the trio took.

During their break, the trio received a rather pleasant surprise. A group of scouts that had gone deep into the forest passed by the trio’s camp.

The group turned out to have gone deep into the forest to search for precious resources, and from the size of their backpacks, it seemed they had been very successful. On the way back, the scouting party saw the light of the fire in the trio’s camp, which caught their attention. Though cautious, the scouts trusted their strength and moved closer to see who dared go so far into the forest.

The group of five, three men and two women, turned out to be quite friendly. They all belonged to the same tribe and had traveled together for a long time.

This was one of the few times in a long time that both Cecilia and Desmond could have a friendly chat with strangers. To no one’s surprise, they all shared a meal with aqua rabbit meat. Those stupid rabbits only existed to piss people off and then fill the stomachs of the people they provoked.

The talk was pleasant enough and gave Desmond and Cecilia much-needed fresh air. There was a minor incident where one of the men tried to advance to Cecilia. Still, after being tactfully rebuffed, the man shrugged and calmly continued to drink.

Little did the man know how close he came to having his head separated from his shoulders. How could he know that behind Desmond’s warm, flirtatious smile lurks an extraordinarily jealous and possessive bloodthirsty demon? Even if Cecilia wasn’t his lover or anything like that, she had his last name; she was family. And Desmond wouldn’t let any fly get close to someone in his family.

After food and drink, the explorers left for their destination, but not before leaving some advice to Desmond and Cecilia. There was a somewhat ominous comment about horrible storms to the east. Still, since that wasn’t the direction the trio was moving, no one paid much attention to it. Instead, Desmond was more focused on the sense of calling that washed over him; it seemed they were already very close to his destination.