PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Due to the bloody mess Desmond found in his yard, his day had to start with a fair amount of explaining to his superiors, not to mention the work that went into cleaning up human remains from the lawn.

With no tears to shed, Desmond even had to skip breakfast, though given the strange looks he received from Sasha and Claire as he passed through the dining room, perhaps it was for the best that he didn’t stay. As for the other person involved in the incident last night? Desmond caught a glimpse of her looking back at him from a corner with a blush painting her face all over.

Saving for later the memory of Revna shyly touching her lips while she gave him loving looks, Desmond had to focus his attention on what he was about to do.

As expected, the headquarters was a mess, with people running around carrying documents. The previous day’s battle had been enough to strain the operational capabilities of this military base. The nightly sneak attack targeting high-ranking military officers only added more weight and difficulty.

It should be noted that, due to Desmond’s efforts and the information he had stolen from the enemy operations center, the skirmishes in the forest ended up being almost dominated by Country C, leaving the invading army in a very awkward position. With the previous day’s murders, the scales had regained some of their balance, thus negating the progress made the day before.

The only good news they had received at headquarters all day was that at least half of the incidents that occurred the night before had ended with the death of the enemy forces and the survival of the officers targeted for assassination.

As one of the people on the kill list, Desmond had to make an appearance to deliver his incident report. Desmond had initially wanted to hide the incident so he wouldn’t have to leave the house with his right arm still crippled by the stigmata that filled it, but it seemed that wasn’t an option.

It turned out that the invaders were too confident in their chances of success and were reckless enough to carry around a target list containing Desmond’s name. It would have been too suspicious if he didn’t show up to report the incident.

.....

Having one of his arms immobilized was a considerable inconvenience to Desmond, who didn’t think he would get such retribution for overdrawing his newly acquired arcane ability. It seemed that Desmond had grossly underestimated the cost of bending the laws of reality; honestly, he was just too reckless about it.

Using his ability to lie without any trace of shame, Desmond passed off the injury to his right arm as a wound he received during the assassination attempt the night before, which was corroborated by Melissa Collins after what many would consider an abuse of authority by Desmond.

Whichever the case, Desmond wasn’t too focused on delivering his report or the incident itself; no, Desmond was focused entirely on how to retaliate against the pieces of trash that dared to send assassins into his home.

Desmond wasn’t a good person, but he couldn’t be considered a villain either, as long as no one was stupid enough to mess with his family. Now that someone had dared to target his home, Desmond was ready to cover the sky in red.

Having no idea of ??the killing spree Desmond was planning, the supervisor in charge of Green Seed approached Desmond as the latter finished delivering his report. If not for the tremendous self-control he had developed over the years to hide the darker sides of himself, Desmond would have grinned madly when he heard what the supervisor had to say.

To put things in perspective, country C had entered a full-fledged war with country F. Meanwhile, some neighbors had started to greedily look at the small country with too many resources in its hands.

The initial victory during the skirmish the day before had made a solid impression in front of all the spectators, creating a slight deterrent effect by showing that ‘country C was not a fish on the cutting board. Unfortunately, the murders of the previous night had the opposite effect.

According to the supervisor, Country C just couldn’t afford to look weak right now. One wrong step would cause the neighboring countries to turn into hungry wolves; With that in mind, the central came to the conclusion that retaliation should be taken as quickly as possible with the intention of putting up a fierce front.

When orders came from headquarters, the supervisor was tempted to send Commander Rundert directly to wreak havoc on some border town in Country F, but the risk was too high and the reward too low. Unfortunately, Rundert had neither the training nor the ability to carry out any complex operations on enemy soil, the commander was powerful, but that was all.

It was then that the supervisor thought of Desmond. Having read Desmond’s file beforehand, the supervisor knew that Desmond not only had the strength to pull off such an operation but also had a good head on his shoulders.

As such, Desmond was tasked with infiltrating Country F and causing as much damage as possible, preferably taking the lives of as many enemy officers as possible and doing things in the most conspicuous way possible.

Because the supervisor had too much to do to keep the city running and no more trained personnel were available, Desmond was left in charge of all the details and planning, with full access to available military resources.

The only condition Desmond was given was a three-week time frame, partly in the hope that he would have time to recover and plan well what he would do. The supervisor could never have predicted that Desmond was not the right person for the job right now, not when his family had just been threatened.

It had to be noted that no matter the outcome, a group of people infiltrated the Astryd residence while everyone was sleeping, intending to kill all the people inside. Desmond didn’t give a shit that the invaders were dead; in his mind, whoever the son of a bitch was who targeted his family needed to die.

Of course, having the approval of his superiors in the military made things more convenient, so Desmond was, in fact, in a good mood. Being in a good mood while thinking of a thousand ways to kill someone was probably not very normal, but Desmond was never completely sane.

Desmond intended to go back home to talk to the girls about his plans to visit C Country and work out his muscles, but an unexpected phone call took him out of the way. The detour wasn’t that long; after all, Garden’s restaurant was on the way home.

Entering the basement floors, Desmond was greeted by Sara, who didn’t seem as sprightly as usual.

“Master, I’m afraid I have good and bad news.”

Desmond thought he couldn’t have been more upset after the assassination attempt on his house, but he was wrong. The bad news he received from Sara was enough to make him even more furious.

“I see. It doesn’t matter if her death was a coincidence; make sure her sister and daughter are well taken care of, arrange some simple but well-paid work for the sister, and send some scholarship funds for the girl. The mother might not have been one of the flowers in our Garden, but our canaries deserve at least this.”

Sara nodded thoughtfully, hiding a trace of satisfaction and admiration inside. The truth was that Sara did not expect one of her canaries to die as collateral damage during the infiltration of enemy forces into the city. It was a complete coincidence and had nothing to do with Garden, but Sara still felt terrible about it, especially knowing that the dead woman had left behind a younger sister and a young daughter.

Deep down, Desmond had a similar train of thought as Sara; he knew what it was like to be an orphan and how hard it was to survive in today’s world. So, even if there was no real responsibility on his shoulders, Desmond decided to do something just because he could. On the other hand, this could be good for Garden morale, which was very important considering that the small organization was about to go through its first draft.

Suddenly remembering the subject, Desmond decided to ask; after all, he had left most of the preparation in Sara’s hands. “How are the preparations for the recruitment going, any good seeds to plant in our garden?”

Sara showed her professionalism immediately as she got into her serious mode, wiping the glint of admiration from her eyes. “At the moment, everything is going according to plan. As you ordered, we compiled a list of candidates and ran it through multiple filters before selecting some good seeds. According to what you said about not wanting to personally engage with the new recruits, I am currently setting up a second facility where the new recruits will operate. With our new computer and digital interface, it shouldn’t be a problem to operate and control both bases from here.”

As always, Desmond was pleased with Sara’s performance and had no qualms about letting the young maiden know. “Simply excellent as always, Sara; I guess that was the good news you had to give me.”

Sara almost got carried away by the praise, but Desmond’s comment returned her from her cloud of happiness. “Oh, actually, that’s not the case. I wanted to tell you that we captured an enemy spy near Rundert’s mansion.”

Sara might have wholly ignored it due to her unrealistic perception of Desmond, but anyone else might have noticed the bloodthirsty expression on Desmond’s face. One could only imagine that the captured spy was about to have the worst day of his life.