PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Titania had black hair, long enough to reach her ankles, so dark that it seemed to devour the light around her. Although a closer look would reveal this was not the case, it was more just a general sentiment around it.

Titania’s feet, as perfect as a porcelain masterpiece, seemed to stand on the air itself, as these never touched the ground. However, it seemed slightly different from how Kyuru floated on her wings. Speaking of wings, Titania didn’t have one; that was a detail that caught Desmond’s attention after snapping out of his daze.

Although Titania’s pleasant attitude never faded, she was somewhat surprised inside her. At first, Desmond seemed to have lost his soul upon witnessing her beauty, which lasted only a brief moment. Coming out of his daze, Desmond only appreciated Titania’s beauty as a person would a work of art, and there were no lust or evil thoughts in his mind. To Titania, this appreciative gaze was much more pleasing than those eyes filled with desire and passion she had seen in the past.

Completely unaware that he had just scored a couple of points with the faerie queen, Desmond couldn’t help but ask a question that now bothered him. “Where is this place? I know you called him Avalis, but I understood that Kyuru was born in Serefia. How come her home isn’t in it?”

Of all the doubts that Desmond had, that was the one that bothered him the most. After all, Desmond knew that Kyuru was, in fact, originally from Serefia. This was something Kyuru herself had said in the past. Beyond that, when Desmond met the fairy, the fairy’s full name was Kyurustrae Exzar Serefia. And according to the fairy’s words, she received that name from the world itself at birth.

Titania might not know all the details, but she was smart enough to infer much of what was happening. The friendly smile on her face gave her a hint of warmth as she thought that at least her little Kyuru’s man had her as a priority.

Titania’s thought was not unfounded. Desmond had a thousand and one questions on his mind at the time. But the first thing that went through his mind was the situation around Kyuru.

Instead of answering, Titania turned around and started walking in a particular direction. That’s right, walking, the queen of the fairies, whether, for pleasure or another reason, she walked instead of floating or flying directly in one direction. Of course, she still walked on air as if she were a solid surface.

.....

The sensuous curves of the fairy queen were perfectly visible through the tight black dress she wore, but no one had time to admire such a thing.

“Come on. We have much to discuss; Kyuru’s sisters are eager to see her.”

Unable to follow the sequence of events, Cecilia could only look helplessly in Desmond and Kyuru’s direction. The poor priestess had spent her entire life inside the church. Traveling to another world and meeting the queen of the fairies was enough to leave her speechless and unable to think.

Desmond had a much stronger mindset and had seen at least a few unique things that he was less surprised about. However, Desmond had his reasons for letting Kyuru get the upper hand. That was not only Kyuru’s mother but also the queen of the fairies, and this seemed to be her kingdom, her world; acting without thinking could be dangerous.

A second ago, when Titania turned around, Desmond wanted to use the hunter’s book to analyze her and learn any useful information. Things didn’t go as Desmond expected; the hunter’s book showed no reaction. Forget to even analyze Titania; the book wasn’t working at all. This was the first time such a thing had happened, and looking at the smirk on the corner of Titania’s lips as she turned slightly to look at him, this was not a coincidence.

First was the incident with Katya, who seemed to be able to interfere and even alter the information in the hunter’s book when Desmond discovered that Cecilia was a Celestial in the making. Now the book had stopped working. Whether it was interference from being in a world beyond the reach of the association or interference from Titania, it didn’t matter. The real problem was that the association seemed far less capable and powerful than it appeared on the surface.

As Desmond’s doubts about the association grew in scale, Kyuru could only give a helpless sigh before following Titania. “Forget it, Desmond. Sometimes it’s better to do what she says.”

Speaking of first times, this was the first time Kyuru had been so well behaved. Remembering how his mother used to be the person he listened to the most, Desmond had a reminiscent smile before following the faerie.

If there was one way to describe the landscape around the trio, it would be this: A plain of boundless expanse and beauty. It was like walking in a sea of ??beautiful, colorful, soft, and fragrant flowers.

Bushes full of delicious-looking fruit were becoming visible from place to place. Perhaps the only type of vegetation rarely seen were large trees. However, there were still some with strangely colored trunks and dense foliage full of leaves of various shapes and colors.

The place was also not devoid of water sources since many rivers, streams, and lakes full of crystal clear water gave an extra touch of vitality and calm to the whole environment.

Even Desmond was amazed at the atmosphere. With a sigh full of peace and satisfaction, Desmond exclaimed. “I guess that was to be expected from the fairy realm.”

Cecilia nodded absently at Desmond’s comment. The priestess couldn’t stop thinking about the prophecy, in which it was said that Desmond would take her to places beyond Serefia, beautiful and limitless places. To Cecilia, Avalis was just that.

Kyuru was the only quiet one of the trio. This was her home; she had lived here for a long time, so she was already used to its dreamlike beauty. Nonetheless, Kyuru was still quite satisfied and glad to be able to return home.

This place not only brought great comfort to Kyuru due to her homesickness but also had the ideal environment for a fairy. This wasn’t just about the aesthetic beauty of the place. It was something else.

It took Desmond a second to notice because he was too distracted to process everything going on as he admired the scenery.

“This place feels strange.”

It was none other than Titania who responded to Desmond’s comment. “It’s the mana.”

Feeling their full attention on her again, Titania turned sideways to the rest of the group as she continued. “This place is filled with incredibly pure mana. Although it would be correct to say that it is filled with pure elemental energies, neutral mana without an elemental aspect is very scarce here.”

Following Titania’s words, Desmond attempted to extend his mana sense to sense his surroundings. Desmond frowned in discomfort after doing so as a feeling of pain washed over him. It was like standing in the middle of a dense multicolored fog, where all the elemental energies saturated the environment.

“I would advise you not to do that. Unless you want to suffer from mana poisoning one more time.”

Desmond smiled bitterly. He understood what he had felt earlier when he went through Titania’s little test in front of the stone door. Mana poisoning, Desmond had never heard of such a thing. However, he could still make some inferences from everything that had happened.

“The mana here is too dense and pure, making this place unsuitable for certain lifeforms. On the other hand, this place has the perfect environment for fairies to live in comfort. A human juts as you can only live here if you have a high enough affinity for mana; you barely meet such a requirement.”

Although there was a hidden taunt there, Desmond completely ignored it; Titania’s words hid more than just that.

This time, it was Cecilia’s turn to butt into the conversation. “Wait, why do you sound like Desmond is the only human here?”

Desmond wanted to curse out loud when he heard Cecilia’s question; this was precisely what he feared. Katya had warned Desmond that nothing good would come of Cecilia finding out about her status as a Celestial-in-the-making. But Desmond had no way to stop Titania from doing what she wanted; it was already too late to do anything.

Titania stopped her footsteps, turning around to face the trio for the first time since they began their walk. She responded as she looked Cecilia in the eye. “What are you talking about, little girl? He is the only human being here.”

Desmond wanted to intervene, but his instincts prevented him from doing so. Titania seemed calm on the surface; still, something told Desmond that it wasn’t a good idea to be rude to her. Desmond could only pray that things didn’t turn out badly on his visit to the faerie kingdom.