PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

This was the third time Desmond had asked the same question, but the answer was still the same; a pair of golden eyes staring at him in silence. Desmond only understood why Cecilia’s symbol as the holy priestess was a golden four-pointed star at that moment. The image shone within the girl’s pupils when her determination could not be higher.

It was expected that after almost a week since the assassination attempt, Cecilia was anxious to get out of her tower. Desmond wasn’t even surprised when he found out that Cecilia’s reasons for wanting out were related to the welfare of others; she was that kind of person.

Just as Desmond would go to any lengths to protect what he loved, Cecilia would go through any torment to uphold her beliefs; in that sense, both were not so different.

Still, Desmond could already imagine that trouble would come knocking at the door as soon as Cecilia set foot outside the tower; It was good enough that the problem didn’t come sooner.

In fact, Desmond’s primary source of mistrust was precise that nothing had happened so far. Desmond never thought that these were Cecilia’s enemies retreating, and instead, he took it as the calm before the storm.

But as much as Desmond wanted to avoid conflict, some things were meant to happen and Cecilia walking out of the tower was just the precursor to those conflicts; hence Desmond was on high alert ever since they left the building.

Seeing Desmond’s constant alertness and somewhat sensing his latent aggressiveness, Cecilia could no longer hold her thoughts to herself and broke the long silence she had maintained towards Desmond.

“I don’t understand.”

.....

“What thing?”

“Why are you so determined to protect me? Obviously, you consider my whole situation and me as a nuisance.”

However, Desmond didn’t answer or instead couldn’t answer. He couldn’t tell Cecilia that this was nothing more than a mission that he got from an archangel from another dimension; If Desmond were in her place, he wouldn’t believe anyone who said such ridiculous things to him.

On the other hand, Desmond couldn’t lie to Cecilia; he wasn’t stupid enough not to realize until now that Cecilia had some gift that allowed her to detect lies.

Silence held for almost a full minute, during which the duo passed through the church’s knights’ training yard on their way to the main gate to exit the church grounds.

Some might think it was a coincidence, but God himself would have to convince Desmond on the matter since there was a holy knight casually waiting in the middle of the training field with his eyes fixed on Cecilia.

Tall, stocky in body, his plate armor shone brightly due to the quality of the magical materials, thus increasing the appeal of the holy knight whose eyes were hazel like his hair.

Desmond didn’t know the guy, but it was evident that Cecilia knew him from her reaction, and their relationship didn’t seem to be good at all. Just from the look of disgust on Cecilia’s face, Desmond could already picture the girl having several unsatisfying encounters with the knight; this idea was reinforced when Desmond saw the lustful way the knight was looking at Cecilia.

Not that Desmond couldn’t understand, Cecilia was, after all, a woman of unearthly beauty; not only were her features soft and elegant, but she also had curves that would drive any man mad with lust.

If it weren’t for that maternal air that Desmond didn’t like, it was likely that even he would have shown an interest in Cecilia; after all, she was in no way inferior in beauty to Sasha or Claire.

Soon all those unnecessary thoughts left Desmond’s mind like windswept leaves, his mind crystal clear and his senses sharp as a beast; All of this focused on the knight in shining armor who was now looking at him with unconcealed murderous intent.

However, Desmond did not make the first move, contrary to his usual way of acting, where any threat was crushed with brutality and speed; Desmond now had to consider Cecilia’s opinion and her image as a holy priestess.

As Desmond would expect, this holy knight was here to cause trouble anyway; so it would be a shame if Desmond didn’t even give him a chance to act like a jerk before beating him up.

“But what a fortune mine to be able to witness your divine beauty Cecilia; I wonder if you would grant me the honor of being your escort and bodyguard today. I promise to be much more reliable than the piece of garbage that accompanies you now.”

As if he were trying not to disappoint Desmond’s expectations, it didn’t take long for the man in shining armor to insult both Desmond and Cecilia in one way or another.

For although, on the surface, the man had only insulted Desmond by calling him garbage, the truth is that the man was speaking directly to Cecilia without the use of any honorifics, implying that Cecilia’s status was not above his own.

“I apologize to Sir Erigard, but I am quite satisfied with my current escort.” Unfortunately, Desmond didn’t get a chance to say anything before Cecilia gave her own response.

Desmond almost wanted to drag Cecilia back to the tower so he could give her a long lecture since her tone in responding to him was too passive and submissive, something that would only goad the likes of Erigard.

“I’m afraid I must insist. After all, I can’t let the holy priestess go around with an unreliable escort.” Erigard acted exactly as Desmond had expected, practically imposing his opinion on Cecilia in an authoritarian and rude way.

But Cecilia was not as submissive as she seemed on the surface. She was essentially a kind person by nature but not a person who was easily pushed around by others.

“That’s something you have no right to comment on, not to mention I outrank you; you are already someone else’s knight. I have a business to attend to if you’ll excuse me.”

However, Cecilia was still too naive; Erigard was here to cause trouble, so rhetoric wouldn’t work; moreover, Cecilia’s argument only seemed to have made him angry.

Seeing that there was no one at the training grounds, as planned, Erigar left the pretense and declared with a vicious expression on his face. “A little whore who got to where she is fucking decrepit old men dares to reject me. I suppose that was to be expected; everyone knows that besides being a whore you are stupid. Forget it, I’ll just beat up your so-called bodyguard, and after that, I can have as much fun with your body as I want.”

It was almost unbelievable how quickly Erigard went from being a courteous and elegant gentleman to behaving like an obscene asshole. Still, considering the status and support of the gentleman, it was understandable that he would dare to treat Cecilia in such a way, who had lost all her power within the church.

Cecilia couldn’t believe it; even when she knew that Erigard was against her, she didn’t believe that he would be so vulgar in addressing her, not to mention all the nasty things he spoke about her as if these were the truth.

Needless to say, Cecilia felt incredibly offended and humiliated, but she didn’t know how to react, even under the insults and the obsessive and lustful gaze of Erigard; Cecilia’s heart could not give birth to hatred or aggression.

But Desmond was a completely different matter; this was no longer about protecting Cecilia’s honor as established by his mission; From Desmond’s heart grew a genuine feeling of hatred for someone like Erigard.

It wasn’t the first time Desmond had dealt with people like Erigard. In fact, Desmond had had to resort to violence on several occasions in the past to keep that kind of scum away from Claire.

Somehow, those memories crept into Desmond’s subconscious, bringing a slight protective tinge to Desmond’s wild and aggressive aura, not unlike a lion protecting his cubs.

That feeling distracted Desmond enough to make him the victim of a familiar situation. However, Desmond is usually on the other side of the conflict. Erigard took advantage of Desmond’s distraction to lash out with a lightning attack.

It was only due to his superior reflexes that Desmond managed to back up enough to avoid being decapitated, but Erigard’s attack didn’t stop there; several more sword slashes followed the first attack.

Desmond found himself unable to fight back. He continued to retreat, waiting for an opportunity to activate any of his abilities, but Erigard was constantly pressuring Desmond.

Erigard’s swordsmanship was crude and unsophisticated, somewhat by Desmond’s standards; it couldn’t even be considered a sword art. However, Erigard was strong; his slashes were swift and broad, forcing Desmond to go to great lengths just to retreat.

This was, after all, Desmond’s first encounter with a holy knight. The hunter would, of course, take the time to analyze his prey for future reference, so he carried on with the little charade; To be honest, Desmond wasn’t surprised by the abilities of the so-called holy knights.

Little did Desmond know that he would pay dearly for underestimating his opponent.