PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

“Please tell me you’re not planning to make a mess?”

Only then did Desmond realize that he had been too careless to make his intentions so clear. Looking at Siliva, who was on the verge of tears and already playing out who knows how many ghoulish scenarios in her head, Desmond had no choice but to assure Silvia that he would do nothing for the time being.

“Don’t worry, Silvia, it’s not me who is planning something. Just don’t be surprised when a certain idiot tries something, and I respond with all my energy.”

Silvia was not an expert on human nature and the subtleties of social interactions; however, she was pretty sure Desmond was lousy at comforting other people. It didn’t matter which way Silvia saw it; between planning to attack someone and planning how to fight back, there wasn’t much difference in the outcome; in the end, a lot of blood would be split over the floor.

“Try not to think about it too much. Until now, I’m just guessing things, it could be that nothing happens in the end, and then you will have worried about nothing.” Desmond added.

Silvia hardly seemed better than before, but at least she was grateful that Desmond tried to comfort her. “I guess you’re right. I’ll worry when trouble comes to us.”

Desmond noted, of course, that Silvia seemed entirely sure that trouble would come eventually, but he didn’t bother to correct her because he felt the same way.

As the two of them walked down the corridors, the starry sky and the bright moon overhead occasionally became visible whenever they passed a window. The meeting had taken much longer than Desmond had planned, so much so that lunchtime was long past.

.....

It was unnecessary to add one plus one to know it would be the same for Silvia. Thinking about it, Desmond had a good idea. Since the tension between him and Silvia had improved a lot recently, and as her right-hand man in the army, she was going to be more and more involved in his activities. Desmond thought it would be good for Silvia to get to know the Astryd family better.

“Hey, Silvia, how about you come to my house for dinner tonight? I’m sure Claire and Sasha will be happy to see you. Of course, you can bring your sister Samantha.”

The invitation took Silvia by surprise, who instinctively became defensive for a moment, but hearing Claire and Sasha’s names, Silvia relaxed. Silvia believed that even Desmond wouldn’t be brazen enough to make inappropriate advances in front of Claire and Sasha.

In the case of Samantha, Silvia had no problem. Her sister had recovered at a fantastic rate with the support of the medicines and potions provided by Desmond; at this point, Samantha could already walk small sections on her own.

After thinking about it for a couple of seconds, Silvia accepted the invitation, agreeing to meet in an hour, which would give her time to pick up her sister. Silvia and Desmond separated without further ado, heading to their respective homes.

For Desmond, it was pretty simple. With the support of Estella, there was no longer a single task to do at home, so he just had to get home and relax in the company of Claire. With Cecilia in the garden reading avidly and Sasha in the lab working on who knows what, Desmond spent his time enjoying a little privacy with Claire in the living room. Apart from a small moment of awkwardness that occurred while Cecilia went back inside to get another book, there was nothing more to add.

On Silvia’s side, with her house being further away and having other things to fix, things were not so easy. In the first place, she had just arrived at her home; Silvia was greeted by a living room full of medical equipment that she no longer needed. She had not yet had time to get rid of it.

Walking a little further, voices and cartoon sound soon reached her ears, bringing Silvia a smile. It had been almost five years since Samantha fell into a coma; during that time, only her body kept developing, but her mind didn’t keep up. Today, Samantha still had the same interests as she did five years ago.

Fortunately, Samantha was always a sensible and mature child, so it wasn’t challenging to take care of her even if her mind hadn’t developed as much as it should have. In a certain way, the sisters had many similarities, both physical and mental, since both have similar personalities, except that Samantha wasn’t completely apathetic toward romance like her sister was.

Whatever the case, both sisters loved each other very much. In both minds, the other was the most important thing in the world. Silvia had made Samantha her only priority and motivation for years. At the same time, Samantha was smart enough to understand the kind of sacrifices her sister had to make to take care of her.

As the days passed, and Samantha understood more and more of this new world that she had woken up in, at the same time, it became more and more apparent to her how difficult it had been for her sister to take care of her.

In fact, there was a pretty big argument when Silvia told her sister that she was a soldier now, something that Samantha couldn’t understand at the time. But none of that mattered now; both sisters lived in harmony.

As Silvia expected, as soon as she entered her sister’s room, she found Samantha watching some cartoons. Silvia ignored, by default, the content on television. With some exceptions, there had been no new productions of entertainment content for years; she was tired of seeing the same things repeated on television over time.

Samantha hadn’t gone through five years’ worth of content, so she didn’t suffer from the same as Silvia. However, as soon as Silvia entered the room, Samantha lost all interest in television.

As it had become a custom for the pair of sisters, the first and most important thing they did when they saw each other was to share a warm hug. Only people like them would know how much it meant to have each other, a privilege many in the current era would yearn for.

Once the hug ended, Silvia told her sister about the dinner invitation they had received from Desmond, something that moved Samantha very much. Claire’s natural charm had quickly won the heart of young Samantha, who now saw her as a great friend, something Silvia approved of.

What didn’t make Silvia the least bit happy; was all the interest Samantha showed towards Desmond. It couldn’t be helped; despite her emotional maturity, Samantha’s fourteen-year-old body was full of hormones, and it was normal for her to show interest in the opposite sex.

The only saving grace for Silvia was that Samantha just found Desmond interesting the way an astrologer would find supernovae interesting; she didn’t seem infatuated or anything.

Perhaps, for a brief moment, there might have been a spark of something else in young Samantha’s people, but that died as soon as she found out about Desmond’s love life. She wasn’t at all interested in something like polygamy, and that was another thing the sisters had in common.

Whatever the case, the sisters were ready to visit Desmond’s house in just half an hour, during which Silvia changed out of her uniform and dressed in something more casual.

It took some time as Samantha still couldn’t walk at a fast pace, but both sisters eventually reached the Astryd residence. Seeing the height of the concrete fence that surrounded the house on the top of the hill, as well as the roof in the distance, Silvia realized that although she had seen the outside many times, she had never entered it.

Out of courtesy, Silvia knocked on the entrance, hoping someone would come to open the door, and someone or something did.

Her tiny body was no more than five feet tall. From the waist down, the only thing visible was a long black skirt and a pair of needle-like black legs; from the core up, her body seemed to be made of porcelain or white jade. The overall appearance was humanoid, but no matter which way someone looked at it, with a body that appeared to be made of mineral materials, the creature was not human.

The song of an oriole came from Estella’s tiny mouth, trying to attract the guests’ attention, who now seemed completely dumbfounded. Feeling the innocent and harmless emotions that shimmered in the emeralds Estella had for eyes, Silvia and Samantha stood there, not knowing how to react.