PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Cecilia’s tower was no exception to this rule. Although her enemies preferred Cecilia to be weak and defenseless, not even they were so strenuous in their efforts to have the entire tower demolished to remove the training area before handing it over to Cecilia.

This ultimately benefited Desmond, who had already spent several days using the training area to practice his swordsmanship and consolidate his base before advancing to the max-level one-star class.

Due to how ridiculous Desmond’s combat prowess was, every time his mana reserves leaped forward, his destructive power increased almost exponentially.

Precisely because of the way things looked now, Desmond knew that he would need every last ounce of strength he had within him to complete his mission. This understanding primarily helped Desmond push further and further away from the shadows of the past and move further and further down the path of sword and mana.

For starters, Desmond had made impressive strides in the past few months, beginning with the day he met Kyuru and regained all of his repressed memories of him. From then on, Desmond had been facing his demons in one way or another and had begun to accept his past sins and his true nature.

It was likely that were it not for all the stress and exhaustion that went along with all the shades of morality, Desmond hadn’t been under so much psychological pressure recently.

Whatever the case, Desmond was getting stronger, not only in the body but also in his mind, which positively affected his training in both the ways of mana and the ways of the sword.

To date, twenty-two days had passed since Desmond had met Cecilia. Their relationship was not always the best, both were not very compatible, and the misunderstandings did not help the equation either.

.....

After that incident last week, Cecilia was furious for days, and Desmond had to stay away from the girl for a while. Desmond’s only saving grace is that Cecilia has decided to stay in the tower these days because of everything that has gone before.

Today, as had become routine, Desmond practiced his sword forms in the training area. Near where Desmond trained, Kyuru could be seen with her cheeks adorably puffed out as she kept putting sandwich after sandwich into her cute little mouth.

Occasionally, Kyuru’s purple eyes would stray to look at Desmond, and though it was unknown what the faerie was thinking, it only took seeing her flushed face to know that Kyuru was up to no good.

At a specific time of the day, it had become usual to see Nana arrive at the training area bringing a cart with breakfast, dessert, and a tea set. Nana was one of the few people Desmond had interacted with recently. The atmosphere within the church became increasingly hostile; Desmond couldn’t afford to stay away from Cecilia.

Usually, Nana would stay to chat with Desmond for a bit since he would never refuse the company of a beautiful woman. Still, today Nana had an uncomfortable expression on her face.

“Something happens?”

“You probably already know this, but today is the festival of candles; the festivities in the city have already started, and Cecilia doesn’t want to let the day go by without visiting the children at the orphanage.”

“I see. I guess you don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Normally, I’d say it’s unlikely anything will happen during the festival, but I can’t bring myself to make that bet with Cecilia’s life on the line.”

“Is this festival important to her?”

“Every year, Cecilia takes the children from the orphanage for a walk. She buys them toys and snacks; it is probably the best day of the year for those children.”

Desmond could already feel the headache, he would generally curse Cecilia for being foolish and unaware of her own safety, but Desmond shared Cecilia’s soft spot for orphans.

“Probably trying to convince her not to do it will be useless... Forget it. I have to accompany her all day; I’ll take care of the problems as they arise.”

“You have my thanks; I just wish I could be of more help to her.”

Perceptive as Desmond was, he had long since noticed Nana’s feelings for Cecilia, so it wasn’t hard for him to understand the helpless expression on Nana’s face at this moment.

“You never thought to tell her?” Desmond was unable to contain his curiosity and ended up asking.

Confused, Nana replied. “What thing?”

“That you’re in love with her.”

Nana just smiled helplessly as she shook her head and replied. “I’m sure she already knows, but she doesn’t have the heart to turn me down. Cecilia doesn’t have that kind of feelings towards me; it’s something I’ve come to accept.”

Desmond didn’t know how to respond; he had no experience being on that side of unrequited love and was genuinely unable to understand Nana’s conviction to stay by Cecilia’s side in the face of adversity, even when she knew her love would never be reciprocated.

The conversation made Nana uncomfortable, who finished her cup of tea before leaving the room, while Desmond reflected on himself and his own convictions.

“There is no point in thinking about it; she and you are different. Also, despite a certain melancholy in her, Nana is genuinely happy just being by Cecilia’s side, although she would prefer her relationship to be of a different nature.”

Appearing out of nowhere, her mouth smeared with some sort of jelly, Kyuru appeared sitting on Desmond’s shoulder at some point and interrupted Desmond’s train of thought with a surprisingly mature and on-point comment.

In fact, Desmond tended to forget about it, given the childlike attitude Kyuru used to have most of the time, but when it came to emotions, there was no one as sensitive and experienced as Kyuru; at least no one Desmond knew was.

Desmond erased the unnecessary thoughts from her head and headed to Cecilia’s chambers to escort her for the day’s rest. Cecilia had already gotten over her anger last week, so they shared a relatively pleasant chat.

His path to the orphanage area was reasonably uneventful, at least as uneventful as possible due to the candlelight festival. Desmond didn’t fully understand the nuances of the festival. Still, his mind related it to the Day of the Dead culture that Desmond knew was celebrated in some Latin American countries.

At least the Serith candlelight festival was about celebrating the memory of the deceased, reminiscing about the good times, and sharing the joy of life with those who are still among us.

Its called the candles festival because the souls of the deceased are represented by beautiful candles. Carved by the hands of the relatives served as an anchor for souls to return and spend the day.

Even though both of these customs were true, the uncharacteristic festive and cheerful atmosphere of a day meant to commemorate the dead reminded Desmond of things he had heard about Latin American culture.

Inevitably, the nature of this holiday led Desmond to think of his parents but perhaps affected by the bliss and joy around him; it was not melancholy that Desmond felt but longing.

Almost immediately, Cecilia felt the change in Desmond, and although she didn’t know him that well, she only needed to see the wistful smile on Desmond’s face to see that he was thinking of those who were no longer here.

“Did you lose someone too?” Taking courage from an unknown place, Cecilia was encouraged to ask the question that now occupied all of her thoughts.

It was strange; Desmond was almost surprised that it wasn’t pain and anger that filled his heart at the thought of his parents for the first time in a long time.

“I lost my parents a few years ago.”

It was Cecilia’s turn to be surprised, as she expected Desmond to not be honest in his response, but she could sense how genuine Desmond’s response was.

“Do you miss them?”

“Not a single day goes by that I don’t miss them.”

“I understand. You know you can use this occasion to do something to remember.”

The idea caught Desmond’s attention. Where he usually would try to keep those painful memories out of his mind, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to reminisce and indulge in nostalgia.

Noticing Desmond’s interest, Cecilia smiled and explained. “Many children in the orphanage lost their parents during the war. Every year I helped them carve candles to commemorate their parents; maybe you could participate.”

Desmond’s footsteps paused for an instant; a notion that never crossed his mind or perhaps he always kept out of his mind hit him like a hammer. It was such an obvious, simple fact that he shouldn’t need any clarification, yet it was always kept out of Desmond’s mind. He was an orphan, not unlike any other child in the Green Seed Town orphanage, and that was why he had a soft spot for those children and the people who took care of them.

It was almost laughable that Desmond had never given that fact a second thought, that he had never seen himself as an orphan, perhaps a part of him refused to accept the death of his parents, or maybe it was the need not to feel vulnerable; Desmond didn’t know.