Villain Retirement

"Roger, Boss."

Somewhere in Luz city, a shadow was walking across a room; seemingly just having finished whispering to someone, but no other shadow but his was there. He walked toward the window, only for the colorful lights dancing on the walls of the brothel across his room to reflect on the visor covering his eyes.

And he just stood there, neither enjoying nor watching anything. He had his eyes closed, just seemingly waiting for something to happen.

And very soon, a voice came knocking from the door of his room.

"My name is Father Edmund. We have permission to break into your room," the words seeped from the outside and into his room, "But I much prefer for you to just let us in, traveling god."

"...You may come in." And as the shadow flicked his finger, the door of his room opened up; letting in the lights of the corridors to instantly fill his entire room with a dim yellow. His silhouette, however, still remained a shadow as it did not reflect any light at all… all except for the visor of his helmet, which showed Father Edmund and several of his knights entering the small room.

"I am going to ask you a question, traveling god," Edmund raised his hand, and as he did so, an orb of light emerged from his palm—no, it was not exactly an orb, but an eye that lit up everything in the room, revealing the man previously hiding in the shadows,

"If that is alright with you."

"Darkday."

"Hm?"

"You may address me as Darkday," the shadow moved—and even in the light, he was indeed just that, a shadow walking, "It is what people used to call me back in my home planet."

"That… is a very ominous name," Edmund breathed out as his wings protruded from his back.

"Well…" Darkday looked to the side, "...I have done some ominous things, Edmund."

"You know who I am?"

"And I know what you will be," Darkday stretched his hand to the side,

"A dead god."

And as soon as he said that, the entire tavern just withered away into existence—no, it wasn't just the tavern, but the entire city was suddenly completely gone.

"Hm…" Edmund let out a small hum as he looked around him, only to see that his knights were also no longer there, "...You did not have to do that, it took a lot of effort to raise them."

"Well…" Darkday floated closer to Edmund with his hands still stretched to the side, "...That's why you should have just kept them inside a cage. But you do not have to worry, Father Edmund…

…I will have a nice comfortable cage just for you, and the many others who will follow."

***

"I welcome the two of you… to Rosa! One of the biggest cities in Manirosa!"

Several weeks after their encounter with Edmund, Riley and Esme were now once again being welcomed by Miss Pepondosovich. No, this time, it wasn't only her — there were also several other ladies and men welcoming them, dancing and even hanging garlands around their necks.

Esme just clapped as she leaned her head down to accept the garland, while Riley just moved away to avoid the joyous people.

"Is there some sort of festival, Miss Pepondosovich?" Esme asked as the three of them were escorted inside the gates — and true enough, the streets of the city were as festive as the people who welcomed them. There were banners hanging across the lamp posts, and the entrance of the city was immediately a bazaar with a lot of people selling all sorts of stuff.

"No," Miss Pepondosovich waved her hand, almost causing some of the flowers hanging around her neck to fall down, "This is just how this city is, it has been like this for thousands of years."

"It is truly curious how their technology does not seem to progress," Esme said as she looked around, "If it is as you say and the monsters halt their progress, should it not be the opposite? War is the key to progress."

"But they're not in a war, Miss Esme," Miss Pepondosovich tried to lower her voice as much as possible, but it was hard to do so due to the dancing crowd around them, "It's a massacre whenever monsters show themselves."

"Hm, a pity," Esme sighed, "I would have loved to see what sort of civilization could grow from this kind of environment where gods and monsters are ever present."

"Well, if you visit further into the endless land of Manirosa… you might just see more advanced cities," Miss Pepondosovich shrugged, "But really, don't you see the appeal of something like this!?"

Miss Pepondosovich then joined in on the people who were walking and dancing through the streets, making a sort of chain as they all sang a song fit for the eternal festivity they found themselves in.

"...I suppose they are already lucky to exist at all," Esme could really only nod as she watched everyone having fun. Miss Pepondosovich was gesturing to her to join the chain, but Esme just shook, "What about you, Master? Do you think—

Master?"

Esme turned to look at Riley, only to see that Riley was in front of one of the many stalls in the bazaar.

"Master?" Esme blinked a couple of times as she tilted her head. She then glanced at Miss Pepondosovich for a bit, who also seemed to wonder what was up, and separated herself from the chain dance; the two of them, now approaching Riley.

"You found something interesting, Riri?" Miss Pepondosovich quickly scanned the items being sold at the stall, and aside from some trinkets and some small statues, there was really nothing that caught her eye — but something definitely did for Riley, as he was holding something in his hand,

"What's… that?" Miss Pepondosovich squinted her eyes as she looked at the figurine Riley was holding.

"This wooden figurine," Riley whispered as he turned the figurine to Esme,

"Does it not look like Aerith?"