The Porter is Secretly an SS-Level Hunter - Chapter 17: Hunters aren't Fun (2)

When Neban made it in front of the others, he waved his hand in front of them, causing them to start moving. Owain bent down to help pick Isona up as the girl was breathing hard, looking a bit pale. Hopefully, she won’t throw up.

Wey looked calmer than the others, but his hands were trembling.

“What should I do with the hunters?” Neban asked as he looked at the still unconscious hunters, stuck on the web that he made. The others turned towards what he was looking at before turning back to him.

“E-erase their memories.” Owain’s mind was still on the Aifin, but he tried to lock up the memories dealing with the monster entirely and focus on Neban’s question.

“I do not see a reason to kill them,” Wey answered. Isona nodded her head in agreement; she did not feel like talking because she might throw up if she opened her mouth.

Neban rubbed his chin, thinking on it as he ignored his bruised and bleeding wrist, “They did run, trying to leave us to fend for ourselves. I should kill them.” He meant to think the last sentence in his mind, but he accidentally spoke it out loud.

Owain was getting ready to say something to stop Neban from killing the hunters when he noticed that the man’s wrists were bleeding. He grabbed Neban’s arms, pulling them closer so he could look at the wounds on the wrists.

Neban did not say anything about the grabbing as he observed what Owain was doing. “How come you did not say anything? You need first aid.”

“I am fine,” Neban answered, but he still did not take his arms back from Owain.

Isona and Wey moved their gazed towards his wrist, looking concerned. “I will pull out the first aid,” Wey spoke as he walked behind Owain; the man was still holding the packed bag.

Opening one of the zippers, Wey pulled out the first aid before zipping the bag back up. He walked in front of Neban, opening the box as he pulled out bandages and a healing potion. He handed the box to Isona to hold once he finished taking them out.

“Keep holding his arms, so I can put medicine on his wrists,” Wey told Owain.

“This is not necessary,” Neban commented.

“You say that, but you haven’t moved your arms away,” Isona mentioned as she finally spoke. All her attention was on Neban’s wounds, making her forget about the dead monster in the other room.

“My son would worry if I am hurt.” He answered. Neban did not think that at first, but if he did return home with an exposed injury, his son would worry.

He did that before; when a high-level monster got lucky and stabbed him, Neban returned home without cleaning or stopping the wound. Blood soaked through his shirt, making its way to his hand as he pushed his hand against it. When his son saw the blood, that was the last time Neban vowed to get hurt or return home with blood on him.

He broke the vow of not getting hurt, but at least he was allowing someone to clean and wrap his wounds. That was an improvement in itself.

Once Wey finished pouring the potion on his wound and wrapping it, Neban pulled his arms back, making his sleeves cover the wrap when he set them down. “Can I kill the hunters, now?” Neban asked.

He already said his thoughts out loud, so he might as well ask them. He said he would ask for their opinion, but he did want to kill the hunters. They are supposed to be hunters that are not scared to fight monsters, and they ran instead. At least if they are going to run, they should take porters with them, but they did not.

Owain was shaking his head, hard, almost making himself dizzy, “No killing the hunters, please.”

“If dead hunters keep showing up when we are the porters to them, companies will start to grow suspicious and try to monitor us,” Wey answered, stating an apparent reason on why not to kill the hunters.

Isona hummed at that response as she added, “So, it is better to rewrite their memories. And if they ask to work with us again, we will decline it. There is no reason to deal with them any further.”

Neban sighed, but he could see why it was better to keep the hunters alive, even though he did not want to.

‘We can always find them and kill them slowly. Make it look like an accident.’ Siren said, sounding close to him, even though the sword was far from him, still stuck in the Aifin’s throat.

He was not surprised that the weapon could still talk to him from a distance.

‘No, that is murder.’ Neban answered as he started walking to the unconscious hunters.

‘And what you wanted to do, is not?’ Siren responded; if the weapon was a human, he bet its eyebrow would have been up.

‘What happens in the dungeons, stay in the dungeons. It is a dangerous place.’ He cryptically answered. He heard the weapon laughing in response.

Neban started to block out Siren once he was in front of the hunters. He touched their heads one by one as he used [Memory Rewrite] to change how things went down in the dungeon. Once he finished, he began to walk back to the monster, picking up a bag along the way to see if the Aifin dropped anything besides ameis; he did not check earlier.

‘I finished feeding; put me back in that weird space.’ Siren practically ordered. Neban almost rolled his eyes at that as he pulled the sword out, watching as the lingering blood started to disappear off the blade.

He put the Siren back in his sub-space as he started to look at the ground for any loot. The Aifin dropped ameis, three healing potions, and one protection bracelet. He put everything in the bag, besides the bracelet. He put the jewelry in his pocket; Neban decided to give it to Isona for her birthday.

When he finished, he made his way back to the others. “Are you ready to go?” He asked them.

“Do we have to carry the hunters out? There are seven of them.” Owain asked.

“We did it last time,” Neban answered.

“We were not as scared as we are now,” Isona spoke up.

Neban sighed, dropping the bag as he walked back to the hunters. He used [Mini Shadow Web], wrapping the hunters in the second web as he pulled the ends, dropping them to the ground; the hunters did not wake up.

Then he proceeded to drag them, stopping when he realized the others weren’t following. “Grab the bags, and let’s go.” The others started moving after he spoke those words.

They walked towards the dungeon’s entrance as Neban dragged the hunters the whole time, not caring that he was hurting them in the process. Bruises were forming on the hunters. When they reached the entrance, he made the web disappear as the hunters were in a pile on the ground.

Neban started to put the hunters against the wall with the others’ help, waiting for the hunters to wake up.

Neban looked at the others and asked, “Do you want to sneak into a dungeon with me?”

****

When Neban returned home, the sight of his son and Xan finger painting on a big white sheet of paper caused him to stop in his tracks. He did not know what to say because Xan, a man who always looked tidy, had paint all over his face and clothes while Theo only had it on his clothes.

They laughed, having fun while it looked like they were trying to paint a flower (?). Neban watched for a while, not saying anything or making his presence known because it looked like his son was having a lot of fun.

A smile reached his face as he stared at the big one on Theo’s. ‘He is so adorable.’ Neban thought. But, his presence did not stay hidden for long when his son turned around, probably looking for more paint, and saw his dad.

Theo’s smile got more prominent as he yelled, “Papa!” He stood up and ran towards Neban with his hands open wide. Neban did not care that his son had paint on his hands as he picked the boy up, letting Theo wrap his arms around his neck. He felt the boy’s hand on the back of his jacket, knowing there was paint on it.

Neban kissed Theo on the cheek, “Did you have fun today?”

Theo nodded his head, his smile still present, “Yep! We watched movies, read, played puzzle games, and now we are painting flowers.” So, Neban was right with what they were painting.

“That is good, but I need you to wash your hands, and I will put up the paint. I want to do a puzzle with you.” On the way home, he made a stop and picked up a 1,000-piece puzzle.

Neban put his son back on the ground as the boy nodded. Once Theo was on his feet, he ran to the bathroom to wash his hands; he was excited to do a puzzle with his dad.

Neban felt Xan’s gaze on him, but he ignored the man to focus on his son. Now, he turned towards the man, looking at him as he walked over to the paint. “I can help you pick them up.” Xan finally spoke as he started closing the paint and putting them back in their package.

“Your hands are dirty,” Neban responded.

Xan looked at his hands and hummed, “They are.”

It was silent as Neban picked up the mess while Xan still helped him anyway, even though his hands still had fresh paint on them. When they were all picked up and back in their packages, Neban stared at the paper, looking at the flowers his son made. ‘I should hang up Theo’s part and throw away Xan’s part.’

“I stayed respectful and followed your rules. I promise I did not invade your privacy nor tried anything to your son. I enjoyed my time.” Xan started as he stared at Neban.

“I do not care if you were enjoying yourself; I only care about the safety of my son and if he had fun,” Neban answered, still not looking up from his son’s drawing; he wondered where he should put the art. ‘Maybe somewhere in the living area.’ He thought.

“I should probably leave.”

“Wash your hands first, and I will take you back to the company.”

Xan nodded as he stood up, stretching his legs since he has been sitting on them for a while. As the man walked to the bathroom, Theo was running out, making his way to his dad.

Theo sat next to Neban, poking his leg. “How was your day, papa?”

“Boring,” Neban answered as he looked at Theo, who was pouting at him.

“You have to speak more.” Theo would not let his pout leave him; his dad was always giving him short responses. He wished Neban would speak more.

Neban bit his lip before sighing and adding more, “There was nothing much; the hunters took care of everything.” He lied at the end, but he did not want his son to start asking if he got hurt if Theo knew he was fighting.

Theo smiled, satisfied, “Okay. Can we start on the puzzle?”

“After we take Xan home.”

“Xan was a fun babysitter. Would he be back again?”

“That is good, and I don’t know.”

Theo was getting ready to say more, but Xan walked into the room, cutting him off. “I am ready to go.”

Neban picked up Theo as he stood up, making his way to Xan. He grabbed the man, using [Shadow Travel] as he took Xan back to the company. When they appeared in his office, Neban told him, “Thank you,” as Theo said, “Bye.”

Then he disappeared, not waiting for Xan’s response as he made his way back home. He forgot to tell the man that if those hunters request him again, to tell them no. But he will text him later. First, he will finally do a puzzle with his son.