PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

“Cecilia, are you okay?”

Pulled out of her thoughts by a male voice, Cecilia turned her attention back to serving food for the children at the orphanage. Supporting the Green Seed Town orphanage became one of the few ways Cecilia spent her time besides reading. Still, recently she had been somewhat distracted by both activities.

The reason for her distraction was precisely the man who took her out of her thoughts, Erick. Erick was a handsome young man with brown hair and green eyes, a kind-hearted man who came to help at the orphanage whenever he had time. As expected, Cecilia and Erick spent time together during their work. Before Cecilia knew about it, Erick had fallen in love with her.

Every time she thought about the subject, Cecilia felt uncomfortable. Erick was not particularly upset or insistent with his feelings. In fact, he was pretty sensible and sensitive on the subject, which put Cecilia in more trouble. Somehow, the more good points Cecilia found in the handsome man who took an interest in her, the more complicated her situation became.

At some point, Cecilia had to face a reality that she had been refusing to accept... She was in love with Desmond. Although reluctant to have those feelings towards Desmond, she had to accept that, being influenced by Erick to think about love, Desmond was the only person who came to her mind.

Leaving aside the tears of blood that Erick would probably cry if he found out about Cecilia’s train of thought, Cecilia was most worried about her current situation. Although in her home was quite common, especially among nobles, the idea of ??sharing the man she loved with other women did not sit well with Cecilia.

In a way, that was very much in keeping with Cecilia; her first instinct was not to take the man she loved for herself but to give him up and let Claire, Sasha, and Revna share his love.

For the annoyed Cecilia, that thought never lasted too long. Cecilia always remembered how Desmond had fought for her, put his life on the line for her, and saved her from her fate. Cecilia even used the Desmond last name now, something that gave her a family and a home to belong to, something she had always wanted.

.....

Recalling her few intimate moments with Desmond, her face couldn’t help but blush to the extreme. She hated admitting it, but she felt great being around Desmond.

Of course, she still wouldn’t do things like a hug and kiss him like Claire and Sasha did, much less the other kinky things they did in private. The mere thought was enough to make Cecilia dizzy as all her blood went to her head. “I would never do shameful things like that.” Cecilia thought.

For Cecilia, leaning on Desmond while she read or watched TV was already incredibly intimate. Other things were out of the question for her. Although Cecilia couldn’t help but think that if she felt so nice just to lean on Desmond and feel his warmth, maybe a kiss felt a thousand times better.

Once her mind got there, Cecilia lost a heartbeat. To begin with, she was simply too shy to do something so shameless. Besides, Cecilia didn’t feel that her relationship with Desmond had reached that level yet. Also, Cecilia had a rather sad memory of her first kiss, which she was still working on getting over.

The memory of Nana made Cecilia feel ridiculous for thinking nonsense. Cecilia had been mourning Nana for a few months now, but the memory of her best friend was still too precious for her, bringing with it complex feelings.

Nana was always in love with her, but Cecilia avoided the subject despite being aware of it; Cecilia did not want to hurt her. In the end, all Nana got a bloodstained goodbye kiss for her loyalty and love.

Cecilia’s heart became heavy remembering her first kiss, Nana’s last kiss. Ignoring Erick, who was mesmerized by seeing her blush a minute ago, Cecilia finished her work and went home.

As usual, the Astryd residence was a lively place. Sasha was in the living room scantily clad, watching some show about magical girls while she mumbled potion formulas absentmindedly.

Claire was in an open studio off the living room, practicing painting with watercolors. Cecilia was impressed by how much Claire had improved in just a few months. Revna was at the dining table drinking tea and eating snacks while reading documents from .

Estela could be seen through the window tending to the garden. Judging by how she was still wearing the apron Desmond gave her, she was likely the one who prepared Revna’s appetizers.

Cecilia giggled a little as she remembered how happy the little maid of the stone had been when Desmond gave her that apron. Estela treated that apron as if it were the most precious treasure in the world, which was quite strange, considering that Estela was made of a couple of tons of precious gems and minerals.

Last but not least, Kyuru, the mischievous fairy, could be seen circling between the living room and the dining room. Kyuru is watching the same show as Sasha, but whenever she gets hungry, she sneaks off to steal Revna’s snack before fleeing back to the living room like a thief. Revna just laughs at the fairy’s antics.

“This is my family.” Cecilia thought with a radiant smile filled with the purest happiness. After thinking about it for a second, her smile receded. Her family still wasn’t complete, not when Desmond was out having who knows what kind of dangerous adventure.

Cecilia wasn’t the only one worried about Desmond. She knew that all the girls in the house missed him and worried about him. Claire tended to spend more time painting when stressed; it helped clear her mind.

Sasha seemed less motivated to investigate alchemy with Desmond out facing unknown dangers. Revna had been in straight-up shit ever since Desmond left. And Kyuru had quietly been trying to keep all the girls up through his jokes.

Nor was it correct to say that the harmony that Cecilia saw was false. The people here really enjoyed coexistence and the simple joy of spending a quiet afternoon at home; Cecilia was the same.

Although Cecilia always found it strange that they all got along so well. After all, although ignorant of many things, Cecilia was an avid reader. She had read a lot of the so-called harem, for purely research purposes, of course.

According to what Cecilia had read, a harem used to be chaotic, conflictive, and hardly functional in the vast majority of cases. That was the case when it came to historical records and social studies that Cecilia had read. Cecilia could only attribute the harmony of the Astryd residence to the sincere love that Desmond had earned from all the girls, as well as their willingness to live together as a family.

After some thought, Cecilia fixed her gaze on Kyuru, the playful little fairy who was much more mature and intelligent than she appeared. Remembering how Kyuru had settled the small conflicts that sometimes arose between the girls and how even she had received some advice from the fairy, Cecilia couldn’t help but think. “Well, that and the influence of that little manipulator.”

Probably not even Desmond was aware of the constant and effective efforts Kyuru had made to maintain harmony between the girls. As the only one without a job or real responsibilities, Kyuru figured she could at least help with the emotional issues at home. Otherwise, her ability as an empath would go to waste. Of course, as proud of the fairy as she was, it didn’t take long for her to call herself the genius therapist.

Even now, Kyuru was bragging about her accomplishments with Sasha as she puffed out her chest with pride. Cecilia just laughed; she really loved this strange family of hers.

Out of nowhere, a small device placed in the living room started to glow. It was something that Desmond had gotten; it was supposed to alert them when Desmond got home. Immediately all the girls stopped what they were doing, heading straight for the basement that Desmond had set up as the teleportation destination.

Although they were eager to see Desmond again, neither of them wanted to look too ridiculous in front of him after not seeing him in a long time. One can imagine the kind of expression they had when they saw the scene in the basement.

Desmond was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. One of his arms was missing, blood spurting from where it had been ripped from. There was a deep cut on Desmond’s right thigh and some cuts and electrical burns on the rest of his body.

The wood splinters had pierced all around his body. But the huge gash in Desmond’s abdomen where his internal organs were spilling out really made all the girls gasp.

Desmond looked no different from a corpse in his current state. Desmond, the man they loved, the always brave, domineering, wild, and caring Desmond, had been reduced to such a state. The previously love-filled hearts of the girls were filled with searing and overwhelming pain.

COF COF

Desmond suddenly vomited blood, snapping the girls out of their daze. Sasha immediately ran over, taking out potions from her backpack. Claire tried to use her telekinetic energy to stop the wound bleeding.

Meanwhile, Cecilia immediately channeled her bloodline powers. She channeled her starlight field into Desmond to ease his pain and injuries. Cecilia’s hair had been filled with a beautiful stellar glow, but its shine only made the torrent of tears trickling down the girl’s cheeks more obvious. Her face filled with pain as she thought of how history seemed to repeat itself. Was she going to get one last bloodstained kiss from Desmond too?

Kyuru’s wings filled with an emerald glow as she used all the mana she could manipulate to fuel her healing abilities. Revna was the only group member who needed help figuring out what to do. She didn’t possess any skills or knowledge about healing. But from the light in her eyes, it was obvious that she would give her life for Desmond if possible.

The color drained from the faces of all the girls participating in the healing as they felt a foreign Aura fighting fiercely against their healing energies, further hurting Desmond in the process.

Desmond wasn’t even conscious at this point. His dying wish to see his family again didn’t seem like it would come true, not when his life was slipping away from him with every passing second.

Sasha, Cecilia, and Kyuru looked disturbed; they felt their time was running out. Still, they had no other means at their disposal. They could only keep desperately trying to save the life of their loved one.

Out of nowhere, a lovely voice interrupted the gloomy atmosphere filled with low sobs. “Wow, I didn’t expect to find so many beautiful girls when I arrived. This guy has really been blessed by love.”