PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

From Silvia and her sister, Desmond received a pair of black leather gloves with an embroidered pattern of a silver wolf. Apparently, the gift was the idea of ??Silvia’s sister, who had heard countless times the legends of the black wolf of the south.

It is worth mentioning that Desmond and other iconic members of the local military had inadvertently become something of a celebrity, especially to the younger generation. Desmond still remembered the embarrassed expression on Silvia’s face when her sister revealed that she was known as the ice princess.

Although Desmond wasn’t mainly a fan of wearing iconography of his nickname on top of him, the pair of gloves was quite comfortable and stylish, so he nodded and smiled, giving his thanks to the pair of sisters.

The next gift came from the Garden girls, which was quite interesting. The Garden girls presented Desmond with an ops report. Desmond had to admit that he wasn’t expecting that kind of gift or the contents of it.

For a long time, Desmond wondered how best to get rid of Commander Rundert; the man was too stubborn and persistent an annoyance. Desmond was surprised to see an entire plan already executed to deal with this bastard commander, all that was needed was to deliver the coup de grace.

Truth be told, Desmond found the whole thing quite unreal; after all, the man he had seen as some sort of rival and obstacle for months had met an unexpected end at the hands of his subordinates. To make things more ironic, Desmond wasn’t even aware; the Garden girls just cleaned up the trash for him.

Of course, Desmond understood the crux of the matter when he saw the report. In the end, Commander Rundert had fallen victim to himself; to say that it was Karma was not an exaggeration. After years of brutal physical and mental abuse, it was Rundert’s personal secretary who poisoned him in his own home.

As an arcanist, Rundert did not have a strong constitution, so despite his immense power, he quickly succumbed to the poison administered in his drink. However, poison was not an everyday product either.

.....

Another critical factor in the whole thing was that Rundert never saw it coming; he had just done all sorts of unspeakable things to his secretary before forcing her to pour him something to relax. The notion of being betrayed never crossed Rundert’s mind.

For Desmond, getting rid of an unstable and hostile element like Rundert could be considered a great blessing, but that wasn’t even the best part. The best part was that the Garden girls set up the entire stage, including suspects and culprits. The people of Country C were soon in for a bittersweet surprise when they were blamed for the death of such a high-level commander.

While Desmond was quite pleased with the eccentric birthday present the Garden girls prepared for him, he still declined the offer to deliver the coup de grace. He suggested that Ana be given the opportunity. Ana was one of Garden’s new agents, and she made the whole operation possible by poisoning Rundert; it made sense that she would have the pleasure of killing her hated enemy.

Being the most sensible of the group, Sara almost instantly agreed with Desmond’s suggestion. Granting her long-awaited revenge on the new girl would go a long way toward strengthening her loyalty and giving the other new girls a positive morale boost. After all, revenge was a recurring theme within Garden, which was quite normal; every girl in the organization had been through hell, often at other people’s hands.

Details aside, Desmond’s birthday was over with that last gift a bit somber. Once the questions regarding Desmond’s fusion with Kyuru were over, everyone began to walk away. After giving Athena a warm goodbye and rubbing her feathers, Desmond and the girls left.

Since it was still a couple of hours before sunset, the family decided to take a little tour of the city, doing some shopping here and there, but that ended quickly as the attention they were drawing to themselves was simply too intense.

As the moon reached its highest point, the front door of the Astryd residence opened to welcome its tenants. Immediately, the previously empty house was filled with warmth and an air of somewhat exhausted satisfaction.

As Sasha, Claire, Revna, and even Desmond headed to their respective rooms to change into more comfortable clothing, Cecilia watched silently, unable to get an image out of her mind.

Those blue eyes full of nostalgia and melancholy, that soft, elegant, and sincere smile, playing the violin with sublime dexterity, bathed in the sun’s rays while his feet danced slowly on a green grass carpet; Desmond looked sad but proud.

For Cecilia, that side of Desmond was utterly unknown, but that wasn’t what prevented her from forgetting it. There was more; Cecilia was simply in love with that scene.

Even as the music became more cheerful and warm, Desmond merged with Kyuru, and his performance reached a higher level; the one scene Cecilia couldn’t get out of her mind was those first moments after Desmond picked up the violin in his hands.

And now, as she watched Desmond casually exchange small tokens of affection with the other girls, a previously ridiculous notion crept into Cecilia’s mind: I want that man to treat me like this.

The mere notion made Cecilia’s mind dizzy, and without knowing it, her face had already been completely covered in blush; fortunately for her, no one saw her in that state. There was a moment when Kyuru seemed to notice something, but the mischievous fairy just looked in her direction for a moment and gave her a very peculiar look; it was as if to say: Ah, it’s about time.

With all sorts of thoughts running through her head, Cecilia retired to her room and did what the others did, find something comfortable to wear. Cecilia had always been very beautiful, she was well aware of that, but she had never actively sought to look good... Until now.

After looking in the mirror to ensure she looked good, Cecilia walked into the living room only to find the whole family getting ready for movie night. Having already spent a fair amount of time on earth, Cecilia was familiar with television. Still, it had been a long time since the whole family got together for an activity like this.

Recalling part of what happened the last time the family had a movie night, Cecilia couldn’t help but want to do something she didn’t do last time; fight for a spot near Desmond. In this house, besides Desmond, there were four girls and a fairy; only two girls and maybe the fairy could sit next to Desmond, and Cecilia wanted to be one of them.

It is worth mentioning that Cecilia had no idea or concrete plan about what to do once she was close to Desmond. She was not only too inexperienced on the subject, but even now, she didn’t fully understand her feelings; she only felt the need to be closer to Desmond.

Of course, Cecilia had seen a lot during her stay in this house; romantic indiscretions were daily bread, but she wasn’t thinking about that kind of thing, or she was trying not to think about it. After all, she practically turned into a tomato every time she saw Claire and Desmond kiss; the notion of her kissing him never crossed her mind, for now.

As these and other confusing thoughts ran through Cecilia’s mind, Desmond and the girls had already finished organizing things and were preparing to choose their places on the couch.

Seeing Desmond sit in the center and the rest of the girls ready for a silent battle, Cecilia panicked, and unable to express her emotions clearly, she did the second best she could; put on a calm countenance and just do something.

So it was with disbelief on the other girls’ part and a bit of surprise on Desmond’s part that Cecilia calmly walked over and sat down next to Desmond without even trying to keep any distance between them. Although Cecilia did not show an intimate attitude towards Desmond either, the mere gesture of sitting so close to him already said a lot; after all, the only way to get even closer would be if she sat on top of him.

Perhaps Cecilia’s silent but active demeanor aroused something in Sasha; the girl dove in and grabbed Desmond’s other side, though her stance was much more intimate.

At this point, Desmond had already acquired a helpless and uncomfortable expression, praying inwardly that a fight or something would not break out. Still, Desmond had greatly underestimated the women who fell in love with him.

Giggling with genuine amusement, Claire flung herself onto the couch and brazenly used Sasha and Desmond’s thighs as a bed, placing her face under Desmond’s.

It could be because she didn’t know what to do or because certain tendencies led her in that direction, but Revna chose a different route. Revna sat on the floor under the sofa and held on to one of Desmond’s legs before looking up in a rather provocative, submissive flirt.

Fortunately for Desmond, what he feared never happened, and his birthday ended with a rather relaxing and entertaining movie night. Some of Desmond couldn’t stop thinking about the journey he would soon undertake, but he decided to leave that thought for another day.

In the end, one by one, the members of the Astryd family fell asleep on the sofa; clearly, the day was equally satisfying and exhausting. For Desmond, this was undoubtedly one of his life’s most memorable and joyous birthdays. Desmond’s only regret in the future was not being able to take a photo of everyone sleeping together and cuddling on the couch; he thought it must have been a pretty adorable scene.