Chapter 214: Boss (2)

They stopped after removing my hunter’s cloak and the clothes covering my upper body.

The sight of my clean, uninjured white skin and the firm, unblemished flesh beneath was apparently enough to make them back away.

"What was all that about?"

I got back to my feet, clutching my clothes as I looked from one face to another.

Their expressions showed a strange mixture of emotions.

Relief, astonishment, and a lingering trace of disbelief.

"You fought a Saint-rank boss all by yourself..." Luna said quietly.

"And what about it?" I asked, genuinely confused.

But they seemed even more bewildered by my reaction.

"They were worried about you, kid."

It was Jackson who finally explained what was happening.

He approached me with Asterion still on his back, his snake-like eyes opening slightly wider.

"You faced a boss of a higher rank than your own, fought him alone, and won. But we were afraid you’d suffered serious injuries that might threaten your life."

"Ah..."

I finally understood what was going on.

And now that I thought about it, their concern made perfect sense.

Aldrich was supposed to be stronger than me, and under normal circumstances, my chances of defeating him would have been slim.

Yet I’d beaten him and returned without so much as a single injury.

Their reaction was perfectly reasonable.

"I got lucky..."

That was the only explanation I could offer.

And it wasn’t a lie.

The battle would have ended the moment Aldrich possessed my body, since I had absolutely no way to defend myself against that ability.

If something hadn’t happened to make him flee from my body, terrified out of his mind, I never would have won so easily.

"If defeating bosses were merely a matter of luck, we’d have conquered the Night Lords a long time ago... But hey, even luck counts as a skill in our lives as hunters."

Jackson nodded twice before placing his enormous hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you... for bringing this nightmare to an end."

The words of gratitude came out of nowhere, spoken with a sincerity I’d heard once before, not so long ago.

From Ars, the Golden Dawn Knight.

"I only did what I had to do to survive... There’s no need to thank me."

"Regardless... I still have to thank you, kid. No... That doesn’t sound right."

Jackson suddenly fell silent, sinking into deep thought.

"What’s wrong?" I asked curiously.

He answered with a broad smile.

"Hmm... It’s just that I don’t want to call you ’kid’ anymore. I need to come up with a new title for you."

"Seriously? That’s what you were thinking about? Why bother with titles? Just call me by my name like everyone else."

I let out a long sigh.

And here I’d thought he was considering something serious.

"No, no... I’m not going to call you what everyone else does. What’s special about that? You’re the one who led this hunting expedition to victory. You even defeated the final boss all by yourself. Doesn’t that make you someone special?"

Suddenly, Jackson’s eyes widened as though he’d just realized something.

His smile grew even broader.

"I think I know what to call you from now on..."

I had a bad feeling about this.

"Which is?" I asked cautiously.

"Boss!"

Jackson practically roared the word as he slapped me on the back.

"You’re the Boss from now on! Hahahahaha!"

The giant burst into delighted laughter, repeatedly slapping my back with enough force to threaten to break it.

Boss...

That was a bit much.

It was almost as though he’d acknowledged me as his leader.

I wanted to object, but then I noticed something different about Jackson.

He wasn’t quite himself.

Even his voice trembled occasionally between bursts of laughter.

’Sometimes... I forget that Jackson is nothing more than a ghost who’s been wandering alone for hundreds of years...’

He must have kept so much buried inside him, carrying a burden I couldn’t even begin to imagine.

And somehow, I’d ended up being the one to bring his suffering to an end.

"Call me whatever you want."

I nodded in acceptance.

If it made him feel even a little better, I didn’t mind being called Boss.

"Excellent! Boss it is from now on!"

"I’ll need some time to get used to that..."

I sighed softly, wondering what kind of relationship Jackson and I would develop in the future.

"A King-rank hunter calling you Boss... That sounds like a greater achievement than defeating that Saint-rank monster."

Raiden laughed, still relying on Chai and Alicia to keep himself standing.

"How’s your injury?"

"As you can see... I can barely stand. I’m supposed to be this team’s protector, yet I collapsed in the very first battle... Pretty pathetic, aren’t I?"

"Not at all. You did everything you were supposed to do."

I meant every word.

It wasn’t a good idea for everyone to push themselves beyond their limits.

As an Elite-rank hunter, there was only so much of an impact Raiden could realistically have.

Although that sounded rather hypocritical coming from me, considering I was still stuck at exactly the same rank.

Fortunately, he didn’t point that out.

"Can we please leave this place first and talk later? I can’t stand being here for even another minute."

Alicia interrupted us from Raiden’s left side, where she was helping support him.

She looked more exhausted than usual.

The past few months must have taken a serious toll on her nerves.

"Yeah! Now that we’ve found Big Brother, we don’t have to waste any more time searching."

Chai spoke up, clearly just as eager to leave.

"Calm down, everyone."

Moon interrupted in a weaker voice than usual, gesturing toward Jackson with her chin.

"We still need to decide what to do about him."

She raised a valid point.

"Jackson is a man who should have died a long time ago, but he’s still a hunter with our clan’s blood running through his veins. That means the Blood Curse still affects him."

Jackson nodded.

"That’s right. I still can’t disobey orders from the Arden family."

"In that case, I think you should stay out of sight," Moon replied, offering what seemed like the only sensible solution.

"If the royal family never learns you’re alive, you’ll be able to live a normal life as a dead man who’s disappeared from the records. The elders will help you. We don’t turn our backs on our own."

Jackson had a genuine opportunity to escape the shackles of the Blood Curse.

It would still exist within him, but as long as he received no orders, its presence would make little difference.

Hiding him within the clan was an excellent solution, especially with the elders’ assistance.