PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

201 Chapter 201 An Unpredictable Man

(Three days before, Third-person POV)

“Newbies dismiss”

“Thanks, Sir.”

Without even wasting a single second, all the recruits under Desmond’s command ran out of the place as if they were being chased by wolves that, considering the code name of their lieutenant, this attitude was quite appropriate.

Desmond on the other hand let out a funny laugh seeing the effect it caused on his recruits, To be honest, they reminded Desmond of something from the past, when he was just a child and his father made him train as if there was no tomorrow.

Back then Desmond couldn’t wait for the day to end so that he could go play some musical instrument with his mother company, but time is relentless and now Desmond could only look forward to those days.

“Desmond?”

Taken out of his daze by Claire who appeared at some point beside him, Desmond snapped out of his memory and accompanied Claire out of the barracks with renewed energy.

Halfway home Desmond saw a small sign in one of the restaurants where he used to buy food, seeing the strange promotion on huge orders Desmond couldn’t help but have a smile on his face.

.....

Claire who was next to him silently observed Desmond’s smile that was three parts warmth and seven parts loneliness.

Moments later they both arrived at the orphanage that Desmond used to visit, they were quickly greeted by the girl who always welcomed Desmond and they both delivered the ridiculous amount of food they had bought for the children.

During the brief exchange of words, it didn’t take long for Claire to notice the metaphorical hearts that filled the eyes of the girl helping out at the orphanage when she looked at Desmond, but the girl’s infatuation was as obvious to Claire as the subtle rejection she had received from Desmond.

The conversation quickly ended with Desmond subtly declining the girl’s invitation to stay for dinner, but not before hearing from the girl that a new director had arrived at the orphanage because the previous one had fallen ill.

“The name of the new director is Ernest Silford, he just arrived yesterday, but he seems like a great guy, are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner and meet him?”

“I’ll meet him another day, I’m sorry I have things to do today”

(Today, Third Person POV)

Seeing the alias Ernest Silford made Desmond remember his little visit to the orphanage a couple of days ago and all the alarms inside his mind went off like the most ominous Christmas tree ever.

The very idea that this individual was the same individual who had been suddenly placed as director of the local orphanage caused Desmond to completely lose not only control over his emotions but also control of his mana.

But after having calmed down a bit, Desmond rationalized that although he was almost certainly the same individual it was still unlikely that he had already caused any harm to anyone.

Most likely, Gerard Mclain found a way to deceive the people of the orphanage and took over his current position as a way to hide from the government.

After all, who would fetch a runaway from an orphanage? Not to mention that orphanages, in general, were poorly guarded places that occupied quite geographically remote locations in their respective cities.

Having come to that conclusion Desmond believed that the people in the orphanage should be fine for now, of course, that would not change the way Desmond planned to solve this problem at all.

“Lynwood, Trevstone, and Morales ... all three come with me, the rest can leave”

The new squad members who were not named left the office with a mixed sense of disappointment and relief while the three who had been appointed by Desmond just waited patiently as their lieutenant grabbed his coat and gun before leaving the office together.

Silvia and her partner Morales, a young man of Latin descent with a slim body, were curious both about their fate and the reason for the fury seen in their partner and Lieutenant Astryd, but they were forced to just walk silently behind Desmond who was walking quite quickly.

In just a matter of minutes the group approached the vicinity of the orphanage leaving everyone but Claire and Desmond somewhat confused, unfortunately, Desmond didn′t stop for a moment and simply made his way inside the orphanage.

It should be mentioned that under normal circumstances the arrival of a group of military men with such an imposing presence would certainly attract a lot of attention in an orphanage and would make everyone nervous, but contrary to expectations the few people who saw Desmond’s arrival greeted him with a smile.

If he knew what was going on, the criminal who had chosen to hide in this place would certainly curse his luck for having chosen one of the few places where Desmond could easily find him.

Even more so if he knew that the respect and affection that Desmond had earned from the residents of the orphanage were the reason why he wasn′t alerted to Desmond’s presence.

In this way, Desmond, who had just said goodbye to a couple of naughty children who ran to hug him, continued on his way to the orphanage director’s office along with Claire.

On the other hand, the ice beauty named Silvia and the energetic Morales had a strange expression on their faces as if they had just seen a ghost; Seeing Desmond being so kind and warm to the kids at the orphanage was something their brains were unable to process.

Of course, when they saw Desmond look back at them with aggressive eyes, they both came out of their daze and followed their lieutenant as fast as possible.

Upon arriving, Desmond went straight into the orphanage director’s office without even bothering to knock on the door, and as soon as he entered he saw his prey; Gerard.

Without giving anyone time to react Desmond entered Full Drive and appeared behind Gerard, to the perception of those present it almost seemed that Desmond had vanished and instantly appeared behind the man at the back of the room.

Gerard who was calmly contemplating his plans for the future and fantasizing about torturing a certain young lady he felt his neck suddenly being grabbed and in a matter of a split second he was unable to breathe or scream for help.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Fresh out of his daze and unable to adequately rationalize, the first to react was Silvia who lashed out at Desmond due to the prejudices she had against him.

But Desmond didn’t answer her, he didn’t even turn to look at her, no, Desmond now had his eyes on his prey and anything else was of no relevance to him.

“Nice to meet you Director Ernest... or should I call him Gerard? I think we need to talk. ”

Desmond’s tone of voice was flat and dry during his statement without sounding aggressive at all, but to Gerard who couldn’t get air into his lungs Desmond’s voice sounded like death itself and he could only pray that whoever it was holding him by the back let his guard down so he could escape.