Villain Retirement

"I'd like to welcome you to Earth again, Admiral Varen."

"Please, just Varen is fine, Madam Empress."

"Then you may just call me Adaeze."

A few hours after the eventful first meeting between the humans and the evaniels; the alien race was finally able to land on Earth… in good faith. And to prevent anything like the earlier mishap from happening again, this time, it was decided that only Admiral Varen and Dr. Vella would land on Earth.

Currently, they were inside a car; something that they have seen once or twice during their journey to other civilizations.

As a species of the Higher Race, the two have already visited many planets much like Earth before— it was something they have already seen a hundred times. But of course, as a scientist, a new civilization, a new planet was something that brought forth many new things to be studied.

Right now, however, it wasn't the land and not the entire civilization as its whole that was worth studying, it was their people.

Although a normal-looking humanoid, the people of Earth were probably the most unique species Dr. Vella had seen in her entire life. And so, her sights were completely on the people around her. They were all looking at her with curiosity, but she was also doing the same.

She had already seen many of them earlier since Empress held a short press conference when they landed to introduce her and Admiral Varen to the people of Earth, but it wasn't enough. She needed to meet them personally. She also wanted to meet the scientists of Earth to compare some notes, but Aerith told her that it wasn't possible as they still don't know what sort of diseases both races brought each other.

She already explained to Aerith that all the evaniels on a research mission are injected with a vaccine that would prevent most unknown diseases, but Aerith still told them to limit contact as much as possible for now.

And as Dr. Vella was lost in all the possibilities of the new race, Admiral Varen's eyes were completely watching out for potential dangers— specifically Riley Ross.

After the stunt he pulled inside their ship and almost killed one of them, Admiral Varen almost called and asked for a warship. It didn't take that much convincing not to, of course… considering it was Aerith that asked.

And they were warned in the first place to avoid Riley Ross. But it would seem there were forces at play that… wanted something to happen. And so, right now, as Admiral Varen was supposed to be focusing on a diplomatic mission…

…his commander was being interrogated for potential treason and being held for attempting to sully their relationship with the humans.

As for the prince, he was locked up in his room right now. They have already called the Queen and told her what Val did, and the only thing she said was that they were sending someone over as a sign of peace… whatever that meant.

"We're here."

And after a few more moments, the two evaniels and Empress finally arrived at their destination— the Mega Academy. After all, what better way to learn about the cultures of a new civilization other than their youth?

Dr. Vella quickly leaned her head out of the window of the car as she examined the large dome that was on the horizon. It was weird, Aerith had already told them that she didn't influence the planet's industrial advancement— but throughout their long travel on the ground, Dr. Vella could see traces of a highly diversified and isolated technology; something she had only seen whenever an advanced civilization tampers or aids a more primitive one.

Most of their transportation is still powered by oil and gasoline, but then they have ships with technology that should be more or less 300 years into the future. And now, even this structure in front of them, the Mega Academy, was something that was out of place from most of their infrastructure. It would have been normal if the more advanced technology was the more prevalent aspect on the planet, but no— it was the other way around here.

Curious, very curious. Was it the other Themarian that Aerith was with? They still had no information on who she was, but they didn't really want to investigate so as to not cause any misunderstandings with them.

And while Dr. Vella's eyes continued to glisten from all the new possibilities that opened up to her, Varen's eyes were still on the lookout for Riley Ross.

"...Is Riley Ross going to be in Mega Academy?" And finally, Varen could no longer help himself and asked Empress the question that has been bothering him since earlier.

"...No," Empress didn't really know whether to sigh or sympathize with Varen's question, "You don't need to worry about him that much, he has been pretty tame ever since he came back with Aerith from… Hotis 4J? Do you know that place?"

"Riley Ross has been to another galaxy!?" Dr. Vella's leaned her head back to the car as soon as she heard Empress's words, "...But why Hotis 4J? That's an old outpost filled with dubious people."

"Yes, he's the only human that has been," Empress nodded; slightly curious about the planet.

"Riley Ross, just what is he?" Admiral Varen raised his hand to stop Dr. Vella from asking any more questions, "Just through our ride across the outside cities, I have seen billboards and images of him scattered everywhere— most were vandalized."

"...Aerith did not explain to you what he is?"

"No, she just told us to avoid him."

"I suppose you have the right to know since you and your species would be living here for a while," Empress let out a long and very deep sigh as she looked at Varen and Dr. Vella, "But since you are going to the Academy, it would be better for you to learn from him there."

"...Your students are learning about Riley Ross?" Dr. Vella raised an eyebrow.

"Darkday."

"Hm?"

"They are learning about Darkday," Empress closed her eyes, "You'd know soon."

"...And can I ask where Riley Ross is now?" Admiral Varen once again raised his hand to prevent Dr. Vella from asking too many questions.

"He's everywhere," Empress scoffed, "Aerith is here, so you don't have to worry too much. He listens to her…

…he won't misbehave."

***

"I am the Queen's son! You have no right to lock me in here, do you hear me!?"

Back in the colossal ship of the evaniels, several claps of thunder reverberated in the air as Val was running back and forth in his room— trying to break down his door to escape. But alas, no matter how many times he used his name, everyone on the ship had strict orders directly from the Queen herself to not let the prince out of his room.

"Argh!" The young prince continued to scream, even lying on the floor and kicking the door at high speeds in hopes that someone would actually listen to him. He then stood up and prepared to run through the door again, but before he could take a step, several figures just… suddenly appeared in front of him.

"What… Ri—"

The prince wanted to scream but found himself no longer able to move his lips. He wanted to run, but his legs were the same— completely frozen.

"Is… he going to be alright? Ack, my legs are starting to hurt from not moving too long."

"He will be fine, Paige. The evaniels are sturdier than normal humans."

"I still think we should kill him now, master. He tried to attack you."

"..." The only thing that Val could do was watch as the three figures started to casually talk to each other almost as if he wasn't there. As soon as Riley looked at him, however, Val suddenly wished he wasn't actually there.

"I am going to let you go now, Prince Val," Riley then said as he approached Val, "If you scream, I am going to hurt you. If you do anything suspicious, I am going to hurt you. If you do anything I don't like, I am going to hurt you."

"..."

"..."

"You can move now."

"!!!", Val quickly let out a huge breath as he dropped to the floor. After a few moments, however, he ran towards the corner of his large room.

"Why… how are you here?"

"We have been here since earlier, Prince Val," Riley then said as he floated towards the trembling prince. As for the two companions he was with, Paige and Tomoe, they started looking and walking around the vast room.

"What… what do you want from me?"

"Commander Voris," Riley said with a smile on his face, "But I was thinking you would give us a tour around your ship first."

"W… what?" Val took in a small gulp as his eyes looked at Riley's companions, "You… you'll be discovered by my people!"

"Thank you for worrying about us, Prince Val. But we have ways to blend in," Riley nodded to himself, "So please, the tour."

"E… Even if you forced me to, I won't be able to do it! They locked me inside my room!"

"It's alright, we can wait until they come in to give you food. You're royalty, I expect you have your own personal chef."

"N… no, I don't," Val's eyes started to twitch as he looked to the side, "And why are you doing this anyway!? The themarian princess would not stand for this!"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about her," Riley shook his head and sighed,

"She was the one who told me to do this, after all."