Villain Retirement

1113  Chapter 1113: A Place of Lawlessness

"It's… really beautiful."

They have been hovering in the Grand Triangle for several minutes now, and yet Miss Pepondosovich still found herself completely enamored and awed by the sight surrounding them. Unlike Riley, Miss Pepondosovich did not travel that much across the expanse of space before she was thrown into the Domain of the Gods.

And so, she let the scenery reflect in her eyes as much as possible; just letting them dance inside them as she continued to absorb everything.

"The children should see this!" And after a few seconds, Miss Pepondosovich finally left the window shield and quickly left for her quarters — not even saying anything to Riley as she left the bridge…

…and leaving him and Aurora alone there.

Aurora wanted to tell Miss Pepondosovich to stay since she was the friendlier of the two and she could talk to her. But alas, she couldn't even follow her with her eyes at all. The only thing Aurora could really do was also stare at the sight in front of her, only glancing at Riley from time to time.

But of course, as someone who had been surrounded by a squad for so many years, she was absolutely not used to the silence at all.

"You said the two of you are from the Unknown, right…?" Aurora carefully asked; gauging Riley's reaction, but not getting any at all. But still, he answered her.

"No," Riley shook his head as he approached Aurora, causing her to just awkwardly make space for him as he stood beside her and also started taking in the sights, "The Unknown is very much like the rest of the universe, vast and mostly empty for hundreds of millions of kilometers."

"I… I see…" Aurora cleared her throat as she looked ahead instead of looking at Riley's somewhat ethereal face, "It is also plagued with war and death…? The Order of Nothing has ravaged thousands and thousands of planets, and we can't seem to stop them."

"War and death," Riley let out a small hum as he looked at Aurora, "I suppose you could say that, Red Helmet. There are only around 20 billion people left."

"20 billion…?" Aurora blinked a couple of times before squinting her eyes and also looking at Riley, "But that's still quite a lot, no? 20… wait… as in 20 billion for all of you, or your race…?"

"For all, Aurora," Riley shrugged, "There used to be trillions 600 years ago."

"What the…" Aurora's breaths started to get heavy, "What… happened?"

"The gods escaped their prison, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley breathed out, "And with half of the population disappearing, there truly was not enough to stop them from rampaging — the death only stopped when the gods were satisfied and a winner was decided."

"...And you and Miss Pepondosovich are two of those gods?" Aurora gulped.

"She is," Riley shook his head, "I am a different kind altogether, Aurora — they told me I was a Primordial. But I would just like to think of myself as only Riley Ross."

"What…?" Aurora could really only squint her eyes again as her confusion was reaching the top of her head, "Are you saying that you're some sort of—"

"Riri!"

Fortunately for Aurora, before her mind could actually welcome the start of her loss of common sense, Miss Pepondosovich cut them off.

"Riri!" Miss Pepondosovich rushed back to them, waving her phone around as she looked at Riley, "You need to hear this! Renna's saying something!"

"Hm?" Riley leaned his head down so that he could see what Miss Pepondosovich was trying to show him, only to see Renna there.

[Ah, Father!] Renna quickly moved away from the camera and started stretching her arms to the side.

"Why are you dancing, Rennalyn?"

[No!] Renna quickly returned to the camera, [I wanted to go there since I wanted to see what you were seeing in person, but I couldn't seem to create a portal. And it is not because you are too far…

…but something seems to be stopping me.]

"...You think it might be One?" Miss Pepondosovich looked at Riley.

"Perhaps," Riley shrugged, "But as I mentioned before, we should stop speculating for now, Miss Pepondosovich."

"I guess you're right…"

"Rennalyn, please do not create portals to visit me without my permission again for now," Riley looked at the lens of the phone.

[Of course, Father. I will ask permission from now on and—]

[Father! Father! Enel ate your milk pudding!]

[N…no! Dad, don't listen! Lucy is a liar!]

[Father!]

[...I will hang up the phone before they arrive and annoy you, Father,] Renna bowed her head, [Please take care out there.]

"We will," Riley nodded, "Take care of each other, Rennalyn."

[Hm,] Renna smiled, she tried to hang up the phone before Lucy and the others were in view. But alas, Lucy was able to snatch the phone away from her.

[Woah… it's beautiful there, Father. Everyone, everyone! Look where Father is!] The screen then just started shaking as Lucy started to run; Riley and Miss Pepondosovich could see Enel also running behind him with a smile on… pudding-filled face.

[Lucy, are you disturbing your father again…?]

[They're the ones who called us. But look, look!]

[Wow… it's beautiful.]

[Lucifer! Give me the phone back!]

[Try it if you—]

And with those words, the line was finally cut off.

"That lady… is your daughter?" And as soon as the phone was hung up, Aurora quickly asked as her curiosity was getting the best of her.

"Yes, Aurora."

"But they are in the Unknown…" Aurora blinked a couple of times as she just looked to the side, "...You're able to connect to people from there?"

"Yes."

"How…!?"

"Tut, tut…" Miss Pepondosovich then leaped into Riley's arms, who just casually caught her before she started wagging her finger at Aurora, "That is a trade secret, I am afraid. And also, where's this first island planet or whatever you kept on mentioning earlier?"

"We… will be there in a few hours if we maintain our speed," Aurora was still quite curious, but she really could do nothing if they didn't want to tell her, "But… you left your family to go on an adventure, Riley Ross?"

"I did," Riley nodded, "I started this adventure to be as far away from them as possible — they are safer without me there as danger tends to follow me around."

"That's… very noble of you."

"No," Riley shook his head, "I should not have brought them into this world from the start. I made a mistake, and now all of them are paying for it."

"That's—"

"Don't mind him," Miss Pepondosovich leaped from Riley's arm and started patting Aurora's leg, "He can be like that most of the time, he loathes himself."

"...Right," Aurora could really only squint her eyes as she looked at Riley one last time. And it was quiet after that, no one said another word as everyone was just doing their own thing until Aurora spoke up again.

"We're here." n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Woah…" Miss Pepondosovich once again quickly placed her face on the large windows, "...It really is an island. Wait… I don't notice any changes in atmosphere or whatever."

"Yes," Aurora nodded several times, "The entire Grand Triangle is actually livable, Miss Pepondosovich."

And as Aurora said that, she pressed a button to open up that large window shield.

"There is a theory that all life originated here," Aurora then took in one large breath, "The air here is… perhaps the freshest in the entire universe."

"Oh…" Miss Pepondosovich also breathed in while standing on her toes, "...You're right. That's… quite nice, actually."

"Why don't the rest of you just live here?" Miss Pepondosovich asked as their ship started to dock on the island.

"That's actually everyone's first thought when they realize what the Grand Triangle is…" Aurora let out a small sigh while shaking her head and opening up the hatch of the ship, "...But when they realize what it really is, then—"

"Oi!"

And before their hatch could even fully open, there was already a group of men waiting for them outside; peeking inside the ship, all of them carrying all sorts of scary weapons.

"Why are you just docking here without any permission? Pay us up if you don't want to—"

The hatch was still not fully open as Miss Pepondosovich, Riley, and Aurora watched as the group just started dropping one by one as another group rushed to their ship and started killing them.

"Heh, you really think we're going to give this one to you? Fucking Garboza gang. Oi, give us a toll if you want to step into the island alive."

"As I said…" Aurora then let out a sigh as she looked at Miss Pepondosovich and Riley, "...This is a lawless place…

…these people don't even know about the Immortality event because they keep killing each other."

"Does that mean that we get to kill whatever and whoever we want in this place, Aurora?" Riley asked.

"...Yes?"

"Hm…" Riley then started stepping out of the ship, "...Then perhaps we truly are in the right place."

Deymn, riley's home

Romeru