PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Gathered in the central square of Green Seed Town, both military and civilians pay tribute to those who fell in battle, unlike another day when the population’s opinion of the army was not very favorable; today the mourning that the city kept was enough to overcome that disagreement.

Leading the military side, Commander Rundert was accompanied by other high-level military officers including Desmond, normally Desmond’s rank would not have allowed him to stand on an equal footing with these individuals but due to his accomplishments in combat and the fact that Desmond was already considered a hero by the town contributed to his being allowed to stand on an equal footing with the commander′s men.

Many didn’t think too much about it but Desmond was different, this was a matter of prestige and reputation, things he would need to clash with the commander in the future so it could be said he had taken a step in the right direction.

Beyond that, word came recently that Desmond would soon receive a promotion to lieutenant colonel at the same time that a fairly large number of military achievements would be recorded in his name; there was an odd comment about privileges to be gained which Desmond didn’t get any more information about but he figured he’d be told about it once both topics went through the proper channels.

At the same time, news came from Kars City and other big cities around Country F, unfortunately, unlike Green Seed Town, not all of the satellite towns of these big cities managed to stand up during the coordinated attack of the mutant beasts and the official body count had yet to be released.

Large cities like Kars also received a heavy attack from the mutated beasts but these cities managed to stand up relatively easily due to a large amount of high-level esper in each city as well as the level of defensive weaponry that said cities possess.

After all these great cities are considered the main defensive bastions and human settlements in country F, the level of resources invested in these was astronomical.

In any case, the initiative that applied to Green Seed Town for the redevelopment project to turn it into a powerful border defensive bastion received strong support due to the recent attacks and the achievements of the city’s military forces during the defense of the city.

.....

Desmond could almost be sure that a host of private companies must already be dogfighting over commercial rights related to the project, the same goes for companies in charge of all construction and infrastructure projects.

Only from the rumors that Desmond heard in the barracks, it is said that an arms company with reach to all corners of Europe has already won the tenders to provide all the heavy weapons necessary for the project and now negotiations are underway to make it the main arms supplier of country F.

As a huge fan of firearms, Desmond found the news quite interesting though he did find it somewhat laughable that Country F would be so glad to have drawn so much attention from a foreign company instead of having their production capabilities.

At least Country F wasn’t poor so it could afford to buy weapons from this company, ironically much of Country F’s wealth came from the main reason for their headaches; the mutated beasts.

Currently, the materials of mutated beasts are one of the main resources for research, development, and consumption throughout the world due to their great quantity, variety, and quality.

To give just one example, one of the best building materials in the world today was a type of concrete in which the bone powder of mutated beasts was used as an ingredient, the addition of this ingredient had given it greater strength and durability of the material; the stronger the mutated beast from which the bones came, the better the quality of the concrete.

The same applied to some new metal alloys in which materials extracted from certain mutated beasts were added as well as mutated beast skin or leather products that were far superior to the old world products.

In a way, the mutated beasts were both the blessing and the curse of humanity, reaching the point where there were people who believed that everything that had happened in the last few years was a test that would bring humanity into a new era.

Given what Desmond had seen on other worlds and what he knew about the association; He had to agree with this belief but he would still add that humanity would have to be able to survive until that new age arrives.

This and other thoughts ran through Desmond’s mind as he anxiously waited for the ceremony to end, it was hard enough having to feign sadness for so long; For although the loss of life seemed regrettable to Desmond, this was still far from a point where Desmond would truly be able to empathize with the rest of the people at the ceremony.

At the end of the ceremony, both Desmond and other officers gave a standard military salute to show their respect for the fallen souls and with that, the ceremony ended.

During his exit from the ceremony, many people came to thank Desmond for protecting the city and admired him as a hero which caused Commander Rundert whose contribution in the battle was in no way inferior to Desmond’s to frow.

Speaking of heroes, part of the reason Desmond’s prestige seemed to nearly dwarf Rundert’s at this point was not entirely due to his accomplishments but Sasha’s accomplishments.

The vermilion goddess of fire was still on the minds of many accompanied by the sight of a burning sky and although much information regarding Sasha’s identity was difficult to investigate; many people still identified her as one of Desmond’s women.

This caused a mixed reaction where people sighed in awe at Desmond’s ability to have fallen in love with such a gorgeous woman while other people cursed him to death for being a lucky womanizing bastard.

Whatever the case, Desmond had little interest in the subject, his life already complex enough for him to worry about every insignificant detail, from his private life with Claire and Sasha, to his responsibilities as a lieutenant, and the establishment of ; Desmond had barely had time to breathe alone in the past few months.

The latter wasn’t even entirely true since someone moved into his shadow, Desmond is at least grateful that Kyuru was kind enough to only pick on him when they were home; the faerie even spent a lot of her time playing with her friend Athena so Desmond didn’t have to worry about the harpy either.

At least Desmond’s life had become slightly less complicated due to the help of Estela, the little golem maid who took care of all the household chores.

Now even the garden at Desmond’s house looked beautiful and colorful because Estela had a lot of time on her hands and began to take an interest in gardening.

In fact, Desmond was thinking of taking a much-needed break now that he was on medical leave from the military since most of the initial preparations for establishing as an intelligence, counter-espionage, and personal assassination unit had already mostly been accomplished and the girls just needed to finish their training and gain some experience.

Desmond of course had plans to expand the infrastructure of and even had the plans to recruit other young women in need to expand but that would have to wait until the six girls currently under his command consolidated enough and they gained enough experience and independence to operate without him babysitting.

After all, Desmond didn’t create just to be his biggest hidden weapon and pair of eyes in the city but also to increase his control over Green Seed Town and to make his life easier.

Having to be constantly supervising the six girls was counterintuitive to this end, in any case, Desmond already had something planned for the next night that would help take a step in the right direction and although Desmond had quite a few mixed feelings about it; this was still a necessary step that the girls would have to take.

In a certain sense a type of ceremony, although this would be quite different compared to today’s ceremony where the dead were commemorated because instead, the ceremony that the girls will undergo was about sending a group of bastards to the ranks of the dead.

Back in his office, Desmond was finishing going through the documents on his desk when he couldn’t resist the urge to ask the girl who lived in his shadow a question: “Are you sure they’ll be okay? ?”

Because there was no one else in the room, Revna stepped out of the shadows revealing her exquisite curvaceous figure that was highlighted by the sportswear she always wore.

Using her ever penetrating gaze to look at the object of her affection, faith, and obsession; she replied: “The master is being too kind to the girls, you took us in as a group of broken and sullied women, you treat us without contempt and have given us more than any of us ever had; it is only natural that we have to serve the master... one way or another”

The way Revna said the last part after a pause was extremely suggestive, especially the way Revna licked her lips as she looked at Desmond with unrestrained desire in her blue eyes but Desmond didn’t even flinch about it.

Desmond already had some understanding about Revna and knew that the girl was harmless to some degree since she dared not defy his commands and authority, so Desmond had decided to simply ignore her obsessive behavior towards him by choosing to draw a clear line in their relationship as master and servant.

Seeing Desmond’s lack of response, Revna sighed as she returned to her shadow form and after a few seconds a resentful comment reached Desmond’s ears again: “The master is too kind and too cruel.”

To which Desmond simply gave a tired sigh.