PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

It was because of her race that she didn’t dare to roam freely around, which turned out to be unnecessary after learning that there were espers whose abilities gave them unique appearances, something even Desmond was unaware of and they both found out at the end of the battle of the bitter winter when Commander Rundert treated Sasha with the utmost respect and appreciation given her accomplishments during the defensive battle.

Though Desmond was under the impression that the only reason Rundert showed respect rather than greed for Sasha’s beauty and power was that even the commander felt fear after seeing the ridiculous destructive power Sasha was capable of wielding.

After some questions and inquiries, Sasha’s identity was recognized and registered by the army after which there were no further incidents, of course, it helped a lot that Desmond had already messed with the city council files in preparation for this day.

Officially Sasha was an orphaned girl like many others during the dark ages, she lived in the orphanage under the care of the previous headmaster (who was conveniently dead) and awakened her powers shortly before meeting Desmond and falling in love with him.

All details aside, Sasha’s identity has been patched up since that day, still given her shy personality and her obsession with alchemy; Sasha was still spending most of her day in the lab working on some project.

Because of this, it was almost a habit for Claire to fetch Sasha from the lab every afternoon so that the latter would have even a decent meal; of course, that was Claire’s only responsibility in this regard since the one who cooked was none other than Estela.

Whatever the case, after a morning accompanying her best friend Melissa at her work, Claire came home quite tired with the desire to simply eat something delicious and snuggle in Desmond’s arms like a spoiled kitten.

Entering the house, her cute little nose immediately caught the scent of some kind of stew that adorable Estela had on the stove and watched as the little golem maiden calmly drank tea on the windowsill while she looked at the snowfall.

.....

This rather human behavior of the adorable little creature of jade and metal was something she had learned from Desmond it seems as he had become a bit of a tea fanatic ever since his trip to Erack’s world.

That thought quickly reminded Claire that she would once again have to drag Sasha out of the lab, a somewhat tedious task she wasn’t entirely a fan of, but the truth was that she quite liked the incredibly thoughtful and kind Sasha for so she couldn’t really get mad at her.

For the last few months, the relationship between Sasha and Claire had been pretty good with few arguments to mention other than the times when Sasha was too stubborn to leave the lab.

Of course, deep down Claire had always had a hint of resentment and jealousy that she felt towards Sasha, this couldn’t be helped, for no matter how open-minded Claire was; she still had some selfish desires about Desmond.

Still, Claire never did anything about those feelings and instead, she tried to work on accepting Sasha who had no one else in the world besides Desmond; something Claire could become familiar with.

Things were easier said than done though, and that was never as clear to Claire as the moment she finished going downstairs to the basement to call Sasha in the lab only to find the scene of Desmond and Sasha passionately making love.

And although slightly surprised by the appearance of Sasha who looked like a fire dryad, her surprise was the least of the emotions that filled Claire’s heart at that moment.

Jealousy, hatred, anger, frustration... Betrayal, all those emotions like a waterfall that furiously falls on the good emotions in Claire, it was hard, no matter how much she had prepared for this moment; it was too hard.

By coincidence or fate, Claire seemed to have reached the very end of Sasha and Desmond’s love exchange which ended with a loud moan of pleasure and satisfaction before Sasha fell helplessly onto Desmond’s naked body.

Claire’s emotions became more visceral and for a moment her telekinetic powers even started to spiral out of control but before anything bigger happened; she managed to overhear a small conversation that Sasha and Desmond had.

“Do you think it was okay?” Sasha was the one who voiced her question as she tried to catch her breath.

Slightly confused and concerned, Desmond replied, “Do you regret it?”

“No, of course not... From that moment you decided that you preferred to risk your life to save me instead of leaving me to my own fate, from that moment I decided to be yours”

“So what is the problem?”

“I feel bad for Claire, she loves you more than anyone in the world and you are everything to her, no matter how much she says she’s okay with this; I still feel like I’m stealing you from her... she doesn’t deserve that, ever since I got here she has shown me nothing but kindness; I feel guilty”

Hearing Sasha’s response, which was full of concern and consideration for another woman even when she had recently lain in his arms, made Desmond unable to help but let out a helpless and guilty sigh, “If anything, it’s me who should feel guilty, the truth is that I did not believe that I deserve that neither of you two loves me so much, but I’m still shameless and selfish enough to keep both of them to myself.”

“Desmond, I’d like to discuss this with Claire alone, I don’t want any secrets between us if we’re going to live together and share your affection from now on, but I also don’t want you to have to be there mediating all the time.” A determined expression-filled Sasha’s tired and still flushed face.

And it was only Revna who was acting as an open spectator all this time who noticed the light sigh from Claire who seemed to have let go of a heavy burden from her shoulders as she walked back up the stairs with a sincere smile on her lips.

Concerned about the implications of this unforeseen little incident, Revna used a small shadow tendril to draw Desmond’s attention before whispering what had happened in his ear.

Desmond had to swallow his discomfort as he remembered that Revna had been watching all this time before he began to clean the room and help Sasha lie down to rest on the only couch in the lab.

Once dressed, Desmond took only two light taps to the ground with the sole of his boots and a mini tsunami came out of his feet cleaning the entire floor of the room in a single sweep, showing how much his waterbending had strengthened Desmond only clapped his hands once and many small tentacles made of water spread around the room quickly and accurately ordering all the mess that the couple left behind during their exchange.

Now lying on the couch with a warm blanket over her, Sasha watched with pride and satisfaction at how much Desmond’s skills had progressed in the last few weeks under her teaching but the extremely warm feeling rising from her abdomen and the exhaustion overwhelmed her causing Sasha to fall asleep after watching for a couple of seconds.

Seeing how the entire lab was tidied up, Desmond smirked at himself very briefly before shaking his head helplessly as he noticed the sleeping Sasha.

Not wanting to wake her up, Desmond left the lab to chat with Claire and get some food on the way as he was so hungry at the moment that he didn’t doubt he would be able to swallow ten pounds of meat and not be satisfied.

Arriving in the kitchen, a peaceful but peculiar scene was what Desmond found, cups of tea still steaming in their hands as they sipped occasionally; Claire and Estela watched the snowfall on the windowsill.

Wanting to say something, Desmond took a step forward calling Estela’s attention who reacted to the presence of her master with a look of infinite devotion making Desmond instantly uncomfortable; that awkwardness only increased when Claire turned around to look at him calmly.

Desmond didn’t know where to start, it wasn’t easy for him to talk about it with Claire when it was clearly him who was wrong but he didn’t want to give up what he had now either; the simple reality was that his heart was too selfish to give up either of the two women he now lived with.

However, Desmond still had to say something or at least he felt that way but as soon as the words began to form in his throat, the hunter’s book that he always carried with him began to vibrate with intensity emitting a faint glow indicating that Elaisa was trying to call it.

Caught in an awkward moment, Desmond hesitated for a moment only to see Claire look back at him with a fond smile as she said, “Don’t worry, I knew this day would come; I was just kind of surprised that’s all. You should answer.”

Desmond still paused for a couple of seconds just looking Claire straight in the eye trying to find any sign of a lie wishing he had Kyuru’s skills as an empath so he could understand Claire’s heart right now.

Failing to find any reason not to believe Claire’s words, Desmond took the call from Elaisa who immediately expressed her intent with a worried expression on her face.

“Desmond, a mission came to the association that is directly addressed to you, I am not clear on the details yet since I was not given much information about it but it seems that it was issued by a Celestial who named you as the recipient... Desmond, did you provoke a Celestial?

Immediately understanding what was going on and who was behind it, Desmond just shrugged and replied bitterly, “I wouldn’t dare provoke a Celestial in a thousand years... but one did come to collect a debt I owe her.”