PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

As always, Desmond was among the first to arrive, finding a briefing room filled with mid and high-level officers. After quickly scanning the room, Desmond walked over to Silvia and sat beside her.

Since Silvia had been promoted to the second lieutenant, she was barely qualified to be at these meetings. Desmond sat next to her to support her in the circle of influence that was always generated in these meetings.

Some raised an eyebrow at Desmond’s move since both Desmond and Silvia were supposed to barely stand each other. Another part of the people in the room understood that despite the differences, Silvia was still Desmond’s subordinate. It was normal to support her, even if only to keep up appearances.

In the room, there was more than one hostile look directed toward Desmond and Silvia, who had risen incredibly fast in the chain of command. That was especially the case with Desmond, who had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel in less than a year.

Those people who had more than a bit of strength to back up their positions were the ones who looked at Desmond and Silvia with the most intensity. This was the first time Silvia was in this meeting room with so many high-level military officers; the pressure that fell on her was not negligible.

For his part, Desmond had barely even noticed, other than three or four people in the room; no one posed any real threat to him. However, Desmond wasn’t the type to let a subordinate be intimidated like that.

Formless pressure soon swept away like a tide, and those who insisted on bullying Silvia had difficulty resisting. They all looked slightly intimidated and irritated, but they kept quiet after seeing Desmond’s competitive smile.

Desmond was famous within the military barracks, albeit for all the wrong reasons. Everyone knew how aggressive and territorial Desmond could be and how absurdly strong he was; only other people with the rank of lieutenant colonel would oppose him on some occasions.

.....

Tired of seeing Desmond show off, Rundert couldn’t wait to make him look bad, but he couldn’t bring himself to display that behavior while he was still under supervision.

Unwilling to watch any longer, Rundert resorted to starting the meeting. “Very well, ladies and gentlemen, the show is over. Save your energy; you will need it.”

Once the meeting began, all the officers in the room put their grudges and personal goals aside and paid attention to all the information that was given to them. Everyone’s expression rapidly worsened as the meeting continued to progress; the scene was unfavorable, and not many in the room had expected the meeting to be so intended.

A single word was enough to summarize the content of a meeting that lasted almost three hours, and that word was war. Even if large-scale wars were a thing of the past and nuclear weapons ceased to be a threat, human beings today still shivered at the mention of war.

With the birth of the Esper, even warfare changed significantly, but firearms still reigned supreme unless an esper of immense power appeared on the battlefield, something that didn’t happen often.

Low-ranking espers were nothing against high-caliber machine guns, grenades, missiles, and artillery. With a few extraordinary exceptions, Esper’s powers gave no advantage against these weapons. Therefore, the fear of war, the fear of death, had not diminished.

Fortunately, things were not as bad as everyone had thought. It seemed this was just a wake-up call for possible military activity from country C, and no war had officially started.

The information provided in the later parts of the meeting was beneficial in calming the officers down; Despite this, Desmond kept a thoughtful expression on his face.

Desmond had done his homework regarding Country C for a long time. Desmond knew that this country had always been envious of the resources and territories of Country F; war was not impossible.

But there was something odd with how this information was delivered to them; war with Country C was always possible, and everyone knew that. Since everyone knew about it, it didn’t make sense for a meeting to be called just to report the same thing.

Just as Desmond expected, by the end of the meeting, the true motive behind it was revealed; the new defensive fortresses. Strictly speaking, only the new defensive fortress to the south of Country F, Green Seed City. From what the military knew, Country C was unhappy with the sudden increase in the presence and the army might on Country F’s southern border.

If that were all, there wouldn’t be much of a problem, but Country C wasn’t the only one uncomfortable with its neighbor’s sudden increase in strength. It seemed that Country F’s western border was also at risk of conflict with a neighboring country.

With two fronts on which to focus its military force, Country F was at risk of invasion by both countries. Desmond didn’t take the news well; the last thing he wanted was to see an all-out war between three countries.

Soon, orders and assignments were quickly doled out to the officers in the room. To no one’s surprise, Desmond’s squad was assigned to handle surveillance patrols of one of the most sensitive areas on the southern border.

Since Desmond’s squad fit the profile for the mission pretty well, including Desmond himself, no one had a say. It couldn’t be said that the same thing happened when Rundert tried to assign people related to Desmond in this same sector.

Following the new reforms, both Sasha and Cecilia had enlisted as reserve forces in the army, but without official assignments, they were not easy to mobilize.

Sasha’s dispatch to that region was quickly rebuffed by the supervisor above Rundert. As a pyromancer of great power, Sasha was more suited as a strike force; assigning her to a surveillance unit was a waste. Depending on the situation, Sasha could be sent from the city to where she needed most.

Something similar happened with Cecilia; her skills were more suitable to have her as a doctor and guardian in the medical wing in case a conflict broke out. Having someone with defensive skills stationed in the medical branch would significantly enhance the safety and well-being of people injured on the battlefield.

Noticing the unkind look he was receiving from the supervisor sent from headquarters, Rundert stepped back and let the matter end there. Over these last few weeks, the commander had been thinking a lot about who might have orchestrated his recent misfortunes, and Desmond’s name was on the list. Still, without any certainty, Rundert was not prepared to risk it.

The smile on Desmond’s face couldn’t be calmer; it was easy not to take these matters seriously when certain suggestions had already been made from the shadows to ensure neither Sasha nor Cecilia were used against him. Rundert thought it was a genuine concern for the general situation that led some officers to support the notions given by the supervisor; the truth was that it was money that supported such ideas.

To cover things up, such suggestions and bribes covered a wide range of topics, only sporadically mentioning names, and even then, the list of names was so extensive that it would be difficult to find a relationship between these people.

During the planning discussions over the next couple of hours, more than one decision was influenced by these anomalies, but with no pattern to be found, no one saw the oddity of the matter.

Only Silvia, who knew in advance that more than one person in the room was secretly in Desmond’s pocket, realized that there was something off about how Sasha and Cecilia’s assignments were handled.

During the entire meeting, Desmond remained as calm as ever, as if nothing that happened could surprise or bother him, leaving Silvia speechless. She knew that, invisibly, Desmond’s influence was enormous in every decision made in the room; Despite this, Desmond acted as if it had nothing to do with him.

This was, by far, one of the most extended meetings, but it was worth it. The situation regarding the war was not ideal, but the assignment given by Rundert, although dangerous, had a lot of potential. With the new rules and guidelines regarding military merits, Desmond could make a fortune in merits with just a little luck.

“That’s all, ladies and gentlemen. Your assignments start tomorrow; try to get a good rest.”

With a firm military salute, all the officers left the room. Walking out the door, Desmond felt as if a poisonous snake was watching him from the darkness, something that made him smile rather peculiarly.

Silvia was preparing to say goodbye to her, but she froze when she saw Desmond’s bloodthirsty smile at that moment.