PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

The blush instantly disappeared from Tania’s cheeks as she shyly looked away and replied, “Yes, our canary near the city checkpoints said that some strange people have come to the city, very few of them came in groups and none showed military affiliation; our other canaries also reported seeing these strange people wandering around”

From Desmond’s shadow, a figure covered in darkness quickly emerged revealing Revna’s beautiful Nordic appearance who continued with Tania’s report: “I also found it strange, it’s not like it’s the best season to come for business or tourism, in especially with the city in its current state; check out some of those people last night and they all seemed to be wearing some kind of gang or criminal gang affiliation symbol; I was waiting for the master’s order to get rid of them.”

The bloodlust was almost palpable in Revna’s words who didn’t bother to hide her hatred for criminal gangs, it was obvious since all the girls in had suffered a lot at the hands of gangs like these; although Desmond never asked any specific details about it.

“I see... We’ll take care of them soon, Tania makes sure you keep the girls ready to perform in two days; we will wait for the ceremony to pass and we will wait to take a closer look at these individuals. Pass the word on to our canaries and tell them to stay tuned but be careful not to get into trouble; they only need to observe and nothing else”

Tania nodded firmly and prepared to leave as she had already spent too much time inside Desmond’s office as that would raise unwelcome suspicion if she stayed any longer.

Placing a hearty lunch on the table, Tania gave Desmond one last look before quietly retreating under Revna’s calm gaze.

“It’s weird seeing you out of my shadow.” As soon as Tania was out the door, Desmond commented.

“I don’t like anyone else besides my master to see me,” Revna answered matter-of-factly as she used her delicate fingers to smooth her curly dark red hair.

.....

Slightly intrigued by Revna’s logic, Desmond asked curiously, “What about Tania and the girls?”

“They are my friends and more importantly they are the property of the master, wouldn’t it be ridiculous if I hid from the objects that belong to my master?” Revna answered again with the same sincere tone as before as if she was explaining something perfectly normal that was as easy to understand as the sky being blue.

Refusing to comment on Revna’s clearly warped logic, Desmond began preparing to eat and asked with apparent disinterest, “Whatever the case, when you’re by my side you’re my shadow; Tell me Revna, have you ever seen someone’s shadow speak out loud?”

As simple as Desmond’s tone of voice was, the pressure Revna felt was not small, she might be carefree and stoic most of the time but that was just a front she put up in front of others so as not to appear vulnerable and when it came to Desmond that front of her crumbled like a sandcastle hit by waves.

“Master, I’m sorry, that woman was too disrespectful to you”

“I don’t want to hear it” Desmond interrupted as his blue eyes looked at Revna trembling and then he continued: “You promised to be my shadow, to wield my darkness and to be the dagger that I hide behind my back... just remember your promise”

“Yes, master,” Revna replied submissively.

Seeing that Revna seemed to have learned her lesson, Desmond settled down to enjoy the food Tania brought, just from the small amount of mana in the food Desmond knew that Tania had gone to great lengths using her abilities to make the food extra nutritious so Desmond couldn’t be more eager to eat which led him to once again notice an inconvenience he had been dealing with for the past two days.

Although ambidextrous, Desmond was used to eating using his right hand to hold his cutlery, so these last two days he had had to make an annoying effort to change his habit and use his left arm since his right arm was still basically crippled.

Due to all the stress Desmond’s body was put under, Sasha had prevented him from using potions to directly heal the wound on his right arm and instead had been feeding him supplements that boost natural healing leading Desmond to his current state.

As he gazed with slight annoyance at the plate in front of him, a porcelain-smooth, delicate hand reached out taking a spoonful of stew, bringing it in front of a pair of fragrant red lips that blew sultry before bringing the spoon back to Desmond.

“Here, master” Revna suggested with a very discreet infatuated expression.

Seeing that maelstrom of madness and obsession that always shone in Revna’s eyes when she saw him, Desmond sighed inwardly and gave in to Revna’s offer as he purposely ignored how the expression on Revna’s face turned visibly satisfied.

The process was repeated over and over again until the food was finished and Desmond was satisfied as was Revna who fulfilled some strange fantasy that existed in her head.

“Tell me Revna, you spend most of your time inside my shadow; You do not get bored?” The leisure of waiting until it was time for the ceremony led Desmond to chat with Revna, taking advantage of this rare opportunity where she was out of his shadow.

“Being by the master’s side is my honor as well as my duty, being able to see the master at every moment of the day is a blessing for me” Revna answered with devotion.

Desmond almost wanted to hit his head with a hammer in embarrassment, he had forgotten for a moment who he was talking to, Revna’s response while sincere was still not something Desmond was used to.

Still, something in Revna’s response caught Desmond’s attention and he blamed himself for not thinking of it earlier so he quickly asked, “That’s right, you spend all day in my shadow; So tell me, were you watching this morning?”

This morning Desmond had run into an energetic and almost hungry Claire who was still in a strange state after seeing him in danger a couple of days ago, similar to a rabbit trying to reproduce out of instinct and fear of danger; Claire jumped on Desmond’s bed this morning and she didn’t get off Desmond until she squeezed his seed out of him two times.

In fact, from the time Revna gained her ability and became familiar enough with it to be able to use it gently, Revna had been inhabiting Desmond’s shadow most of the time and except for a few particular occasions where Revna talked with him; Desmond really wasn’t always aware of Revna’s presence so he couldn’t be sure of the true hours Revna inhabited his shadow and only knew that whenever he called her she answered.

Poor Desmond didn’t know that Revna practically never left his shadow unless she had a particular task or needed to tend to her needs, like eating, sleeping, or going to the bathroom.

Desmond was also unaware that Revna spent almost every night inside his room, she sometimes simply watched Desmond sleep while at other times she mustered the courage to use her shadow form to get to Desmond’s side and sleep with him.

Desmond had simply underestimated the extent of Revna’s obsession with him, or to put it another way, Desmond had chosen to ignore this fact so that he could feel more comfortable with her without thinking too much about what he considered unnecessary details.

Hearing Desmond’s question, Revna suddenly remembered the passionate and wild scene she watched this morning and how she had been thinking about how good it would be to be in Claire’s place so her face was completely covered in a blush. still, she cheekily replied, “This morning? Master, I joined you shortly before you left for the forest.”

“So you even dare to lie to me?” Desmond replied coldly, not buying Revna’s act at all.

Terrified upon realizing that she had lied to her master, Revna immediately turned pale and replied, “I didn’t mean to, it’s just that I didn’t want the master to think badly of me... the truth is that I was already in my Master’s shadow this morning when young Miss Claire visited Master’s room.”

Not knowing whether he was satisfied or helpless at the look of terror on Revna’s face, Desmond asked, “So you stayed to watch?”

Demonstrating the qualities of a chameleon, Revna’s face turned from white to deep red again before she sheepishly nodded.

“Why?”

“I didn’t know what to do... it’s my job to protect you and serve you as your shadow, I thought it was precisely at times like that that the master would need protection since his attention would be on other things”

“Why do I get the impression that this is not the whole truth?”

“...I also wanted to see...I wanted to see the master making love with the young lady.”

At this point in the conversation, Desmond was already resisting the urge to swear out loud when he asked, “...how many times have you done it?”

Not daring to look Desmond in the eye, Revna replied, “Master, I’m always in your shadow.”

Then...there was no response from Desmond who was suddenly too tired and annoyed to respond, all details related to Revna’s obsession aside; the truth was that the girl had always been doing her job, and Desmond couldn’t blame her for that... It wasn’t Revna’s fault that she enjoyed her job so much either.

Of course, Desmond probably wouldn’t think so if he knew about all the other things Revna did when he wasn’t paying attention, Desmond just lacked experience dealing with a stalker obsessed with him with the ability to live in his shadow who also had his permission to always be watching.