PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

As soon as we left the town lord’s mansion Desmond grabbed my hand and quickly crawled with him, I didn’t know what had happened, but having decided to trust Desmond I simply followed him as we made our way through some alleys when we finally stopped and I realized that for some reason, despite the detours we had taken, we still ended up in front of the inn where we stayed.

′′ We have to take our things and leave quickly, that damn noble did not seem satisfied with our answer and sent people to spy on us, we just lost them, but they will soon find us again and we honestly do not have time to play with people like him; so we’ll get out of town. ′′ Before I even had time to express my doubts to Desmond, he explained the situation to me as we continued our way to the room.

I quickly gathered my things along with our purchases from yesterday while Desmond watched out the window. As soon as I finished getting ready I heard Desmond complain in a low voice: ′′ Shit, they are fast. ′′

I approached the window to observe and it didn’t take long to notice a couple of knights watching the inn from afar.

′′ what do we do? ′′ I honestly did not want to deal with those men nor did I know how to do it so I ended up asking Desmond for his opinion, honestly I did not even know when I had become so dependent.

′′ For now, they only watch us from afar, they are probably only there to warn the lord of the city if we do something suspicious like talking to other nobles or leaving the city, so we will go out through the front door; It doesn’t matter if they know we’re leaving the city as long as we lose them and leave before they can tell the lord of the city.

Even if we take a step back and they manage to inform him before we leave, I honestly don’t think he’s going to do much about it after all from his point of view you are an incredibly rich young lady from a neighboring country; I don’t think he would risk doing something stupid. ′′ Desmond explained.

Listening to him I realized that things were not as bad as they seemed, I also understood that compared to Desmond I really lacked experience dealing with these kinds of situations; though remembering a little about Desmond’s past, I knew that he had learned to handle all kinds of situations out of necessity more than anything else.

.....

Still, I couldn’t help but ask, ′′ If so, why do we have to leave in such a hurry? ′′

At my question Desmond smiled bitterly as he replied: ′′ my young lady we already obtained what we came to look for, we know approximately the location of the origin of the plague in the forest so we do not need to stay longer, I am also in a bit of a hurry to back home. . . there are things to solve at home too. ′′

At Desmond’s mention of coming back home, I could only keep silent while I remembered that Desmond already had someone waiting for him, the truth is that I was deeply attracted to Desmond, but I still had some doubts about accompanying him to his world and what would happen when I meet Claire; But I didn’t have anything better to hope for if I stayed in this world, so I still planned to go with him and leave things in the hands of fate.

′′ Don’t think about it, there is no point worrying about the unknown. . . I can at least promise you that whatever happens with Claire I won’t abandon you so easily. ′′ As if he were reading my thoughts Desmond tried to console me. His words were frankly a relief because I knew that no matter how much Desmond liked me it was impossible for him to love me now as he loves Claire right now, but now I knew that even so, he would not give up on me so easily.

Putting all unnecessary thoughts aside Desmond and I proceeded to leave the inn and made our way out of the city, just as Desmond said the knights only seemed to be watching us from afar and took no action even as we walked out of the gate the city.

To be honest, I was still worried about what might happen until we finally reached the border of the forest and entered it, but who would know that even when we avoid problems with the men of the city lord there would still be someone waiting for us inside the forest.

′′ See Jack, I told you that she would go back into the forest, I know it looks a little different from the poster, but there is only one woman this beautiful who would come out of a forest as dangerous as this as if it were her backyard; You didn’t believe me when I told you yesterday, but look, I was right. ′′

Five men were blocking our way into the deeper parts of the forest at this time, there was nothing noticeable about them other than the fact that they all looked like scouts or bounty hunters.

The skinniest of them had a sinister-looking face who was speaking and addressing to a much more robust person with a bald head and beard who seemed to be the leader.

′′ Shut up rat we still don’t know if it’s her, we’ll have to check her to see if she has the devil’s horns on her head, but even if she isn’t, she’s still a good catch; just look at her sure we can get a lot of money if we sell it to a brothel. ′′ The leader said with a cruel and obscene smile.

′′ Yes, the boss we will definitely get good money, but boss it would be a shame if we didn’t even have a taste of her before we sell it; I think that first we should fill and cover her entire body with our milk, you don’t think so bos-. AGGH! ′′

It seems that these people had seen us come out of the forest and immediately suspected my identity or at least planned to use that as a pretext to capture me, they did not even try to hide their nefarious intentions while talking vulgarly about what they were going to do with me, but before one of them finished his disgusting monologue his voice was cut as his throat was when a black dagger lodged in him from one moment to another.

′′ Are you already finished? I’m in a bit of a hurry and I don’t feel like listening to your vulgarities. ′′ A calm voice broke the silence as he expressed his lack of patience, I didn’t even need to turn to look to know that it was Desmond’s voice who had thrown one of his daggers a second ago.

′′ You, you, what the hell did you just do? ′′ The bandit leader seemed to snap out of his daze at Desmond’s words and proceeded to question him after making his men draw their weapons and surround us.

′′Well, have you ever been told not to talk about another man’s woman in front of him? This is exactly how you end up with a nameless grave in the middle of a forest. ′′ Desmond’s response was quite calm as if he was explaining something very simple to a child, but the slight sadistic humor in his voice could not be hidden when he spoke about a nameless grave as he pointed to the man who was now drowning in his own blood.

Even I was a bit lost by Desmond’s attitude, although I blushed a little when he said it was his woman, I was still quite puzzled by his response as it was completely different from how Desmond used to be; Sure, Desmond was pretty carefree and playful most of the time, but this was different.

Actually, I was not the only one, the bandits weren’t sure how to respond now, of course, they had seen blood before as they themselves had taken several lives in the past, but Desmond’s playful but calm demeanor still left them a bit uneasy.

′′ Forget it, like I said before I don’t have much time so I might as well try something new with you, let’s see. . . its right, I haven′t chosen a name yet. . . mmmm well, let’s go with Full-drive, it sounds pretty good and makes some sense. ′′ Desmond seemed to ignore the reactions of everyone present as he spoke to himself.

I almost asked him what he was talking about, but before the words left me, I felt it. . . Desmond was mobilizing the mana in his body in a way that was incredibly familiar to me.

′′ Could that be? ′′