Villain Retirement

"It's just grass."

"!!!"

And once more, Riley was left confused in this weird world he found himself in. The distances do not make sense, the sky is also land, dragons floating in and out of solid clouds, grass that felt like fur…

…and now people were completely shocked at seeing the said grass, when there were billions of it just outside the city. Perhaps he should have actually waited for the Book Keeper to explain things to him; after all, it felt like he was about to before Riley just decided to leave him.

"Where… where… where did you get that grass from!?" Big Teeth stummered his words; his finger, trembling the same way as he pointed at the grass in Riley's hand. It wasn't only him, the other gods watching from the side could not help but all whisper and look at each other as they saw the grass.

"From outside, Big Teeth," Riley could really only just blink as he quickly hid the grass back in his pocket, "Are we not allowed to pluck them? I was told by Aulus that there were no rules here."

"That… It's not like you're not allowed to pluck them but…" Big Teeth squinted as he looked at Riley from head to toe, "...You were really able to pluck them?"

"Yes," Riley nodded. And as he did so, the whispers of the other gods started getting louder and he could hear gasps escaping their mouths here and there.

"...You're lying," Big Teeth then let out a sigh as he started waving his hand, "Phew, you almost had us there with your overly convincing tone. A young god like you capable of pulling out Grea's grass? Ha… funny. Nothing to see here, folks! Nothing to see here!"

And with the Big Teeth letting out a laugh, the other gods quickly lost interest and just started leaving one by one.

"Hm…" Riley did not really heed them any mind, however, as he just shrugged and also started to walk away.

"Wait, do you know the direction to Grea's class?" But before he could take 3 steps, Big Teeth quickly blocked his path; his palm opened, "If you give me Grea's Grass, I will tell you where it is."

"No, the grass is mine," Riley quickly shook his head, "I will find Grea's class myself, the place is not that big unlike your teeth, Big Teeth."

"Oh, are you sure?"

And with those words, like being woken up from a dream, Riley suddenly realized just how large the city truly was. Once again, weird. The city did not look that large when he was outside — but now, as he looked across the street he was on, he could not even see the end of it. The buildings looked medieval, eerily similar to themarian architecture… but shinier with all the marble.

"New gods have come and gone through this gate, young one," Big Teeth gestured to Riley to hand over the grass, "And they all returned to me when they could not find what they were looking for — and that is why I am here, the Gate Keeper."

"..." Riley could really only stare at Big Teeth, before just shrugging his shoulders and walking away.

"What the—where are you going!?"

"To find Grea's class, Big Teeth."

"You don't even know where that is!"

"Yes, that is why I am going to find it, Big Teeth."

"You… Fine," Big Teeth sighed, "Watch…

…you are going to come back here sooner than you think.

***

"I am lost."

Big Teeth was right, Riley was not able to find Grea's class even after hours of walking around the city. He was going to return back to the gate…

…but he forgot how as he truly was utterly lost.

He tried flying, but an invisible force immediately forced him down — Aulus said there weren't any rules here, but it would seem the domain's tenants took it upon themselves to make one simple rule.

The strongest makes the rules… something Riley was very, very familiar with.

But of course, he did not want to cause trouble on his very first day in this new world, he was not that kind of person.

He found himself on a large plaza, standing alone beside a decently sized statue of a woman with similarly decently sized breasts and four slightly muscular arms. He failed to find Grea's class, but he did find her statue, as obvious from the plaque attached to the fountain circling it which Riley could mysteriously understand even though it was written in a language he had never seen before.

He was in a plaza, or it seemed like it — but the buildings within its perimeter were probably around 400 meters away. And yet, even then, Riley could not see even a single person. Just where did the crowd from earlier disappear to?

"..." Riley then turned to look back at the domineering statue, thinking that if he destroyed it, someone would probably arrive. He quickly shook his head off of the thought, however. After all, he was not that kind of person — actively destroying property is illegal in his world, and he will abide by it even here.

Riley placed his hand on his chin to think of how to solve his current predicament. This place was completely different from all the other planets and universes he had visited, and he couldn't just quite figure out how things worked here. Granted, he had only been here for a day, but it was slightly starting to frustrate him a little.

He stayed still like this for a few seconds, before an idea finally popped into his mind. Bernard taught him that if he was in a different place, then Riley should always play by their rules unless he wanted attention. The problem is that this place did not have rules, but Riley did have something from this place that attracted quite a lot of attention — and Bernard also taught him about setting up bait.

Grea's Grass.

"Hm…" He removed Grea's Grass from his pocket, making sure to wave it in the air for a few seconds before just casually placing it on the marbled ground and slowly walking away and hiding himself behind the statue.

And not even a minute later, Riley could see a small silhouette dashing toward the grass; running on all fours and even hopping around. Riley did not even wait for the person to reach the grass as he immediately trapped it in an invisible barrier.

"W—What is this!?" The person waited no time to kick the invisible barrier; causing a violent wave to ripple across the entire plaza. Unfortunately, the cage it found itself in just instantly regenerated as Riley revealed himself from the statue,

"Is this your doing, Cloud Person!? I demand you to free me at once or face the wrath of I, Miss Peponvondosovich! You—"

"I apologize, I thought you were Big Teeth, Miss Pepo."

And before Miss Peponvondosovich could finish her words, she found herself almost flying away from the force of her own kick. If it wasn't for Riley creating another invisible wall to catch her, she would have probably sent herself flying miles away.

"Big Teeth!? Are you talking about Kurdi!? You dare mistake me for that rodent-looking feces!?" Miss Peponvondosovich quickly crossed her arms as her large bare feet touched the ground; her stride, extremely confident as she walked closer to Riley, "And my name is Miss Peponvondosovich, not Miss Pepo, Peponvondosovich!"

As for Riley, he could really only look down as Miss Peponvondosovich stood in front of him, all 3 feet of her. She did not look like a dwarf at all, and aside from her thick legs and large feet, the rest of her body was proportional. Of course, there was also the fact that she had ears similar to a rabbit on top of her head.

"I apologize, Miss Pepo. I dare not say your full name in fear that I mispronounce it," Riley bowed his head.

"That is not even my full name. My name is Miss Peponvondosovich Livre ton Roblochs - Saleminoux Jefferson," Miss Peponvondosovich scoffed as she looked at Riley from head to toe, "And you, do you even have a name, Cloud Person!?"

"My name is Riley Ross."

"How do you expect me to memorize that? I will call you Riri instead, pronounced as Ree instead of Ry!"

"Whatever you are comfortable with, Miss Pepe."

"Do not call me that!" Miss Peponvondosovich pointed at Riley's face, before pointing at the grass he was holding, "Anyway, I found that first. So, you should give it to me."

"But this is mine, Miss Peponvondosovich," Riley started waving the grass in the air and watched as Miss Peponvondosovich's eyes followed it without fail.

"Nonsense. You are like at most 10,000 years old. How can a youngling like you have Grea's Grass?" Miss Peponvondosovich started waving her finger and clicking her tongue, "You—"

"I can give you half of it, Miss Peponvondosovich."

"Half? How are you even going to do that?" Miss Peponvondosovich's eyes quickly squinted as she looked at Riley from head to toe again, "What do you want for it?"

"I was told I should go visit Grea's class by Big Teeth. Can you lead me there?"

"Grea? She has a class ongoing? I thought that wasn't until 500 years from now…" Miss Peponvondosovich's eyes slightly widened. But she did not even need to think about it, however, as she quickly turned around and started hopping away, "...Anyway, I might as well go there too. I wasn't able to attend the last one since I missed it last time…

...Follow me."