PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Emerging from a familiar portal Desmond looked around him looking for a familiar girl, given the unique features of said girl it should be quite easy to find her, but that didn′t apply to this place; with dozens of strange beings passing by it was difficult to even look beyond a couple of meters.

There were few occasions where Desmond had visited the headquarters, but every time he came he was amazed by the magnificence of this place and by the enormous diversity of life forms that passed through it; From the being made of chaotic purple energy passing by to the strange woman made entirely of flowers, Desmond was always surprised to come here.

“Enjoying the view?”

A familiar voice stopped Desmond’s contemplative state who turned to look at Elaisa, her hair kept moving on her own in an almost ghostly way and her eyes were still as beautifully exotic as the first time they meet; Desmond being the kind of man he is, he takes his time to contemplate the exquisite beauty of his partner.

Elaisa on the other hand already had a basic understanding of Desmond’s personality so she didn’t even try to stop him and she just stood there allowing Desmond to appreciate her; in fact, there was a small part of her that enjoyed Desmond’s appreciation, but she would never admit it.

The seconds passed and Desmond was satisfied, so he answered the question that was asked him with a long delay.

“Of course I enjoy the view”

Elaisa ignored the hint in Desmond’s words, as well as the captivating smile he gave her, and dragged Desmond into her office to speak.

.....

As soon as he walked through the door Desmond could smell a nostalgic fragrance that whetted his appetite, he didn′t know if he was too predictable or his partner too good, but it seems that Elaisa had previously ordered the hamburgers that Desmond like so much.

“This meeting will be a bit long so I order in advance, let’s see... I guess we can start with the results of your previous mission”

As Desmond feasted on the food, Elaisa proceeded to give him a brief description of her interaction with the person who commissioned the mission and the rewards obtained.

The client whose name Desmond couldn’t pronounce was incredibly satisfied with the results, even if the materials weren’t much for a blacksmith of his caliber they had still met the mission requirements and more.

In the end, the client agreed to make the complete set of armor for Desmond according to his specifications, the same applied to the pair of daggers that Desmond requested; The latter were not only made of specific materials but were enchanted with the advanced rune set Desmond requested.

The client even added a small additional gift in addition to the agreed payment in credits, Elaisa had called Desmond a couple of days ago on the subject asking him if he needed anything else, and when he couldn’t t think of anything so Desmond asked for something that he considered would be useful for Claire in instead of something for himself.

And so it was that alongside his full set of black scale armor with silver details and his daggers was a small comet shield similar to the one used by the Templars in ancient times.

“Do you want to check the objects now?”

“No, I’ll check them later; I trusted your judgment ”

A sincere smile grew on Elaisa as she listened to Desmond and the girl continued to enthusiastically explain the important issues at hand.

According to Elaisa, it was the same client who bought almost all the materials that Sasha had brought from her vault, the number of credits they obtained was quite large considering Desmond’s level as a hunter, but after hearing the price to pay for all the equipment and setting up Sasha’s new lab, Desmond wanted to cry blood.

The original reason for selling most of the materials in Sasha’s vault was precise because Sasha knew how expensive the lab equipment she had lost was, it’s just that Desmond hoped he had escaped his poverty after his last mission which was now a mere illusion.

After seeing the number of credits that circulated through his account fade into oblivion, Desmond could only console himself by thinking of Sasha’s beautiful smile and the love she had for him.

“Get that expression off your face, there are just a few hunters who can say that they have such a talented alchemist as Sasha at their disposal and even fewer who can take a girl like that home; you should be grateful that a member of the natura race is so fond of you ”

“But my credits” Desmond’s tears almost spilled as he thought about the lost money, but he quickly regained his composure and paid attention to the words Elaisa used.

“Wait ... you said natura race, what do you mean?”

Elaisa gave Desmond a strange look for a moment before asking with a clear uncertainty in her voice.

“You used analysis on the girl before making a contract with her... right?”

“Why would I do it?”

The urge to hit Desmond with the largest blunt object she could find ran through Elaisa’s mind for a moment, but after a couple of deep breaths, she managed to calm down and explain.

“As you know every hunter is considered a monster among monsters in terms of talent, only the best of the best have the potential to become a hunter. While it takes centuries for the most talented beings of the average world to reach the peak of their world’s power, a hunter could do so in less than a decade.

The so-called geniuses of one in a million are nothing compared to hunters, we are talking about that there is only one hunter or less for each world inhabited by tens of billions; that’s how rare they are.

That is why the companions of a hunter regardless of whether they are temporary or not must have at least a certain level of power or talent, I originally thought that you had made a contract with that girl Sasha because you had used the notebook to scan her determining her talent and race ... but it seems you didn’t ”

By the end of her explanation, Elaisa’s voice went from being that of a teacher giving a lecture to his students to being that of a teacher angry at his student for being too stupid.

Desmond was too embarrassed by Elaisa’s tone of voice and look to reply so he just answered honestly about his motives for recruiting Sasha.

“So you could say that I recruited her based only on my relationship with her and my personal perception of her talent and her strength.”

Completely speechless Elaisa thought to herself that her hunter was probably the luckiest idiot in the galaxy.

With the voice and attitude of a scolded child, Desmond had to continue the conversation or he would suffer from the awkward silence for an eternity more:

“So... did I miss something important about Sasha’s race?”