Villain Retirement

"That's it! Everyone is there already, we won't have any seats!"

Riley's mistake was thinking Grea's class would be inside a building, it was not. It was being held outside in a large amphitheater—no. Perhaps large was an understatement, as the amphitheater was at least a couple of football stadiums large; one could not even see the people who were lucky enough to get the front seats.

And once again, Riley found this incredibly weird. After all, the number of gods did not warrant this kind of venue. The seats were far and few in between; seemingly separated into groups and there were probably not even a thousand of them there.

Perhaps… do the gods just treasure their personal space that much? Why is everything in the Domain of Gods so far from each other?

"Riri! What are you doing!?"

Riley was not even able to take 3 steps forward before he was pulled back by Miss Peponvondosovich.

"I am going to the front, Miss Peponvondosovich," Riley blinked a couple of times as he looked at Miss Peponvondosovich's hand.

"What? No. Why would you—Ah, I forgot that you are only a little babe, a fledgling," Miss Peponvondosovich's started wagging her finger and clicking her tongue, "How long have you been here for you to not know Territories?"

"Less than 24 hours, Miss Peponvondosovich."

"Wow," Miss Peponvondosovich let out a small gasp as she looked at Riley from head to toe, "We weren't informed that we would have a newborn god among us. Huh… anyway, let me explain to you what a Territory is. It's—"

[What is up, people of the universe!?]

"Gah! It's Grea!" And before Riley could hear Miss Peponvondosovich's explanation, she just suddenly sat on the marbled ground and locked her eyes onto the stage that was probably at least a kilometer away.

"Hm…" Riley did not really mind this, however, as he just also focused on the stage. And there, he saw the silhouette of a four-armed muscular woman; the same as the statue he saw back in the plaza.

[I have heard all of you are excited to hear what I have to say!?] Grea flexed two of her arms, before contracting her muscles and causing a ripple to wave across the entire amphitheater, [But I really have only one thing to say…

…Destroy yourself, and then rebuild yourself with what is left!]

And with those words, Grea left the stage.

"Such…" Miss Peponvondosovich quickly got up from the marbled ground; her thick legs trembling as tears fell from her eyes, "...Such magnificence. I could feel the power of her words flowing through me."

"...Interesting," Riley could really only place his hand on his chin as he looked at Miss Peponvondosovich, and the other gods who were there that truly seemed to look as if they had just heard the most inspiring speech they have ever heard.

"It sure is, it sure is," Miss Peponvondosovich nodded several times as she stood in front of Riley, "Now give me what you owe, I have brought you to Grea's class, and you have listened to Grea's words, now give me Grea's grass."

"Although I have no idea what I gained here, you did truly accomplish your end of the deal, Miss Peponvondosovich," Riley nodded as he pulled out the grass from one of his many pockets. And as soon as he did so, all the gods that attended Grea's class quickly turned their heads toward him — even Grea, who had already disappeared, stepped up on the stage again to look at Riley even from a distance away.

"H… hurry up!" And while Miss Peponvondosovich was visibly sweating as she gestured to Riley to just give it to her, Riley heeded them no mind as the blade of grass just started to hover from his palm, "W… what are you doing!?"

"Giving you some of it, as per our deal, Miss Peponvondosovich," Riley just shrugged as the grass became flat in the air.

"You're not—I thought that was just a phrase! Just give it to me, what you are doing has only been done by the Higher Gods!"

"I have already pulled this grass from the ground, Miss Peponvondosovich," Riley shook his head as the very air itself started to tremble as the grass seemingly started to stretch, "I believe pulling it apart would be easier."

"Stop it with your jokes. You just got lucky and found a loose blade!" Miss Peponvondosovich could not help but take a few steps back as she stared at the trembling grass, "D—!!!"

And before Miss Peponvondosovich could finish her words, a little piece of the grass separated from the whole. And as it did so, a black dot started to build from between the broken cracks, absorbing light itself before just dissipating away.

Riley then grabbed the centimeter he cut off from his grass, and casually handed it to Miss Peponvondosovich.

"This is your share, Miss Peponvondosovich," Riley said as he placed the grass in front of Miss Peponvondosovich's face, "I know this is not a lot, but if you sauteed some onions and garlic, It still won't be a lot, but at least it will taste better…

…you are going to eat it, correct?"

"That's…" Miss Peponvondosovich took in a small gulp as she looked back and forth between the small cut of grass and Riley. And after a few seconds, she just quickly snatched the piece and started running away. Before she could get far, however, a large silhouette suddenly blocked her path; she very slowly looked up, only to see Grea also looking down at her,

"...Grea."

"Hm…" Grea squinted her eyes, before just tilting her head and gesturing to Miss Peponvondosovich to move to the side. And as a matter of course, Miss Peponvondosovich quickly hopped to the side; she, however, did not leave and started subtly signaling Riley to run away.

Riley, of course, just stood there.

"I have not seen you here before, boy."

"I also have not seen any of you before, Great," Riley blinked before looking at Grea from head to toe, impressed with how uncanny and realistic the statue of her from earlier actually was… because her skin itself seemed to be made of stone that Riley would have also mistaken her as a statue if she wasn't moving — even her hair seemed to be made of stone.

"So, it is you…" Grea crossed her four arms as she also looked at Riley from head to toe, "...The Book Keeper informed me just earlier that there was a newborn god who just left him without even hearing a word."

"Yes, that was a mistake on my part," Riley sighed, "I am used to being forcefully put in a different universe or domain, that I did not really think I would get answers here, Grea."

"So, you're a little brigand, are you?" A small grin crawled on Grea's face as her eyes turned to look at the grass hovering above Riley's palm, "It has been a while since someone was able to pull out the roots I have planted. How old are you before you transcended here, Newborn?"

"I have not really counted since I have been quite busy. And after being trapped in eternity it has become quite hard to—"

"No, it is fine," Grea raised a palm, "It is common for us to have already forgotten our age, it has become useless to count how long we have existed after the first few thousand. You are very lucky, Newborn — you get to hear me speak personally. Most of the people here have not even heard me address them even after a million years."

"Hm…" Riley watched as the crowd very slowly gathered around them; most of them, however, seemed hesitant to even approach and were just happy to hear Grea speak more.

"Do you know why I am even speaking to you, Newborn?"

"Because of this?" Riley let the grass fall onto his palm, "You are not going to get it back from me, Grea. I believe I plucked this from a public property even if it has your name on it."

"You are weird. But yes, it is because of the grass — more specifically, the fact that you were able to pluck and even cut it with ease," Grea then turned around and gestured to Riley to follow her, "The gods who are able to do that could be counted in one hand, as you can see why Miss Peponvondosovich's here seems to be quite shocked with what you have done."

"You… you know my name!?" Miss Peponvondosovich's eyes turned white as foam started escaping her mouth, and soon, she just fell to the ground and started convulsing.

"She will be fine," Grea only sighed as she picked up Miss Peponvondosovich with one hand and started carrying her, "Follow me, we need to see how old you are before you transcended."

"Okay," Riley nodded and just followed Grea even though he had no idea why it mattered how old he was.

"You are not aware, of course," Grea let out a confident chuckle as she noticed Riley's confused look, "But you will be."

"Hm…" Riley squinted his eyes as he continued to follow Grea. And soon, he was led to another plaza. This time, however, there were a lot of people there; all of them, circling a large transparent orb which was emitting all sorts of texts and numbers.

"Beings like us, who have transcended, become stronger the older we are — and it already starts before we are even sent to this place. That is why the people here revere me so much, Newborn…" A path was quickly made by the other gods for Grea as she just casually walked toward the large orb and placed her palm on it — and there, Riley saw the entire orb get overwritten by a long line of digits,

"…because I am the oldest in this city."