PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

For many people, the arrival of dawn signaled the beginning of a new day, but for Desmond right now the dawn seemed more like an ominous sign of trouble to come; It had only been less than an hour and he was already having a massive headache.

Who wouldn’t have a headache with the scene in front of him? The night before after his failed expedition to plunder the wealth of the last large gang in the city, Desmond ended up massacring all the high ranks of the said gang without getting anything in return.

Well, maybe saying that he didn’t get anything in return might be wrong because he did get six battered, pitiful-looking girls who were now looking at him with puppy dog ??eyes asking not to be abandoned.

After last night’s events, Desmond wasn’t heartless enough to just send the girls off on their own so he ended up renting a family place, though he did earn several scornful looks when he entered the place with the six girls.

Tired both physically and mentally, the girls fell asleep as soon as they found a safe and comfortable spot so Desmond dropped them off before heading back to Sophia’s house where he had been staying for the past two weeks in exchange for help with the housework.

Early in the morning Desmond had to say goodbye to Sophia and the twins by speeding off to the apartment where he left the girls to find out what the hell to do with them.

Who would have thought that as soon as Desmond walks into the apartment the first thing he would see would be the six girls crying non-stop like little girls who can’t find their mother?

Followed by six pairs of eyes that glared at him, Desmond didn’t want to have to deal with these women, in Desmond’s mind he had already done enough for these girls to get them out of the place they were in and he didn’t have any responsibility to them.

.....

But it was hard to argue anything when a group of hurt and helpless women looked at him hopefully so Desmond first tried to calm the girls down before speaking to them.

After a short conversation Desmond came to learn a few things about the girls, mainly their names and a bit about their circumstances.

The youngest and the one who lost her temper the day before was Sara, an adorable but gaunt-looking girl with hazel eyes and a childlike appearance.

From there came Kira and Yulei, a pair of girls with a slim complexion and dark hair, apparently both used to be athletes so their figures used to be somewhat sexier before malnutrition.

Tania was the oldest, a pretty woman with an air of an older sister who showed quite amazing curves despite her malnutrition, apparently due to her mature appearance she was the one who suffered the most abuse when the girls were captured.

The next one was Natalie, with blonde hair and aquamarine eyes, a short girl with pronounced curves that gave her a succubus body with an angel face, she still seemed like a happy girl even though she was the one who received the most abuse after Tania though there was little the girl could do to hide the emptiness deep in her eyes.

Lastly, there was Revna, a girl of Nordic descent with dark red curly hair with ice blue eyes, red lips, and fair complexion, she was probably the tallest of all the girls reaching an incredible five feet seven, with long beautiful legs; she was the least mentally broken girl in the group and seemed to fulfill some kind of protective role between them.

From what Desmond heard of the girls, half of them were orphans and were captured in the slums of the city while the other half were sold by their own families either to survive or out of greed.

Even the generally indifferent Desmond felt that the girls’ circumstances were quite pitiful, not only had they suffered endless abuse but even after being saved they were still alone and helpless in a world that would swallow them up without a second thought; it was as one of them had said: their beauty was their curse.

Whatever the case, it was one thing to take pity on them and quite another to do something about it, after all, Desmond couldn’t just take care of them, it was too complicated and troublesome to do just out of the goodness of his heart. Not to mention that Desmond already had enough on his plate.

Desmond tried to talk to the girls about their future but that was where all his problems and headaches started.

“I want to follow you” Exclaimed Revna who seemed the most rational of the group, although now her eyes were shining strangely as she looked at Desmond.

Following Revna’s lead, the rest of the girls nodded in unison like chicks pecking at rice and expressed their desire to be under Desmond’s care.

It seemed that at some point between the night before when Desmond saved them and today, the girls had regained even a little of their mental stability and began to feel less self-conscious about Desmond’s presence; Desmond didn’t know that this was because the girls had woken up so early and spent hours talking about what to do next.

After some twists and turns, all of the girls agreed that they would try to convince Desmond to take them under his wing, some of the girls like Tania and Natalie even stating that they wouldn’t mind serving Desmond in bed if it would help them stay safe; after all, they preferred to be in the care of someone like Desmond who was extremely powerful and treated them with kindness instead of serving someone else, of course, the fact that Desmond was devilishly handsome also helped.

To the girls’ surprise, Desmond adamantly refused to take them under his care even when Tania and Natalie tried to seduce him, the girls were probably too naive if they thought that would work considering the girls’ current appearance was far from ideal.

Still, the girls didn’t give up on their attempts to convince Desmond, they knew they were asking for too much, but he was already their only hope and the only thing they could hold on to right now so even if this was shameless of their part; the girls didn’t want to give up so easily.

Hence Desmond’s headache only grew stronger, on the other hand, he was a bit undecided on what to do about it, the reason Desmond had come to Kars City, to begin with, was to raise funds to kick off one of his plans to increase his influence and control over Green Seed Town and the next part of the plan included recruiting people to work for him.

The problem was precisely that part of the plan, Desmond had too many secrets and it was too difficult to secure people’s loyalty so Desmond didn’t dare extend his influence by trusting people who might betray him later.

For this reason, Desmond had thought of adopting a certain approach that he observed in the sovereign martial world, but for this, he needed two things: the first was the slave collars that Desmond bought at the auction in the sovereign martial world, which would serve to ensure the loyalty of the people Desmond recruited.

The second thing Desmond needed was people who would agree to join him even if it meant wearing the slave collar, after all, Desmond wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of ??stealing their freedom from innocent people and he wasn’t tempted with the idea of ??enslaving the dregs of society.

Now in front of Desmond were six girls who desperately wanted to be under his protection, who looked at him with longing and dependency, desperate girls with nowhere else to turn, girls with no record or backing; people who had already been given up for dead by society.

In other words, the six girls in front of Desmond perfectly met the standards and criteria necessary to be the kind of agents Desmond needed; there was only one problem... Desmond wasn’t sure he wanted to give that kind of life to these girls who had suffered so much.

After careful consideration Desmond came to a simple conclusion: he would give the girls the opportunity to choose to follow him after explaining what he expected of them.

At the end of the day, Desmond didn’t have many other options and it was unlikely that such perfect candidates would show up on his doorstep in the future not to mention that even if they did Desmond would still be faced with the same moral dilemma he was facing now.

“Silence, I understand that you want to be in my care, but nothing is free in this world, and do not think for a moment that I covet your bodies; truth be told... my wife is prettier than all of you” Desmond began to explain trying to calm the girls but as his speech progressed he saw how the eyes of certain girls began to shine strangely so he quickly cleared up any misunderstanding before making a little joke that made all the girls blush with embarrassment.

“I will be honest with all of you, I have no reason to take care of you, you can already consider yourself lucky that I have taken you out of that hell; asking me more is abusing the little kindness I’ve offered you.” As soon as Desmond finished, the girls looked sad and embarrassed, perhaps realizing how unreasonable their demands were.

Not wanting the girls to get any ideas, Desmond continued as he pulled out his hunter book and from storage pulled out six ornate-looking black necklaces with locks in the shape of a black rose: “As I said, everything has a price, I can put a roof above your heads, ensure a quiet and safe place to rest, put food on your tables and I can even allow you to leave your weakness ”

Then Desmond snapped his fingers and flowers made of fire filled the room before fading away, then Desmond made a gesture as if he was holding something in his hand and as he closed his fist it was as if the air itself was fractured due to the force exerted letting it escape a tearing sound and accompanied by the reverberation of that sound Desmond continued with a voice full of dominance: “Even becoming an esper is not impossible, all you have to do in return is wear this necklace, give me your freedom; giving me everything you are and what you will ever be... Swearing allegiance to me”

The girls hesitated, Desmond’s promises were everything the girls wanted, especially the promise of giving them power, but what Desmond asked for was too much or so some of them thought until the first one stepped forward.

Revna didn’t even think about it for more than a second before she stepped forward and took one of the necklaces, she didn’t know what the necklace did or if it was just a decoration, but she understood what the necklace meant... she would be his property, for some reason an imperceptible smile grew on her at that notion and without much thought, she placed the necklace around her neck.

As soon as she put the necklace on of her own volition, the black rose that served as a padlock came to life closing of its own accord releasing a faint purplish glow and both Desmond and Revna felt the effects of the necklace as well as the master and servant relationship it had been created from it.

Revna’s actions caused the rest of the girls to follow her lead placing the necklaces around their necks filling the room with the violet glow of the necklaces.

That day without the world taking note of it, one of the most terrifying secret forces the world has ever known was born, loyal, beautiful, and deadly, a group of roses full of thorns that would cause fear to anyone who heard about them.

From that moment no one would dare to step on the territory of the black wolf, creating a saying that would become famous in a short time: “The garden of the wolf is full of thorns”

But that was a story for the future.