Villain Retirement

"Wh—Supers do not emit any distinguishable energy like other species! Themarians can't distinguish—"

"But you can. How do you think you found me so easily once you realized I was back, Silvie?"

"That's…"

A drop of silence crawled its way through Silvie's ears, drowning all the other noises inside the restaurant as she could not really find an answer to Riley's question. How did she, indeed, know where to find Riley?

Of course, it was quite easy since she only really needed to follow the trail of blood he left behind in New York City — and then she just needed to fly and ask around and she would have eventually known that there was a new restaurant that served the most incredible food.

She would have quickly found Riley then.

But no, she did not do all of that at all. The most investigating she did was when she went to Anastasia to confront her about the undead themarian she bought from an auction — Silvie did not even relate it to Riley just yet because in truth…

…she and almost everyone else who knew Riley thought he died in the Domain of the Gods since he was completely absent during the war, not even showing himself once.

But once she saw Halfday on the news, she knew it could be none other than Riley himself. And then and there, she knew where he was by just having a feeling.

"That's… impossible." Still, Silvie could not believe it as she just looked to the side and whispered, "Supers don't have discernable energy signatures, even Diana said that. And even Aerith couldn't. Can… Esme do it?"

"No, I can't, Miss Silvie," Esme, who was just quietly wiping the wine glasses near them, joined in on the conversation as soon as she heard her name and answered Silvie. But after staring at each other for a couple of seconds, she just focused on cleaning again.

"See? Themarians don't just suddenly develop new abilities like that, Riley," Silvie shook her head.

"But you are not exactly a themarian, Silvie."

"..." The somewhat excited expression on Silvie's face faded away as soon as she heard Riley's words, "You're right. I'm… just a clo—"

"You are something even more special," Riley breathed out as he looked at the diners, who were starting to get curious as to why the applications suddenly stopped, "Aerith herself said that to me, Silvie."

"She… did?"

"Yes," Riley then nodded as he started making his way back to the stage, "And please, Silvie — we have many more applicants to interview. Let us not keep them waiting."

"Good luck, Miss Silvie."

"T… thanks? But you should say that to the applicants instead," Silvie let out a small chuckle as she smiled at Esme.

"No," Esme shook her head, "As long as you walk beside Master, you would need all the luck you can get, Miss Silvie."

"I'm not walking beside him. This is a momentary truce."

"If that is what you believe, Miss Silvie," Esme nodded before returning to her job.

"...What does that even mean?" Silvie raised an eyebrow.

"Everyone who walks beside Master, sooner or later…" Esme then looked Silvie in the eyes, causing her to slightly take in a small gulp as this was perhaps the very first time Esme ever did that,

"...We all stand by his side in the end. As Miss Pepondosovich said, he has that effect on people."

"I… won't be one of you," Silvie shook his head, "Megawoman can never be on the side of darkness."

"Perhaps that is true," Esme shrugged, "But your predecessor, Princess Aerith, might be carrying Master's offspring."

"Wait… what?" Silvie could not help but completely turn around to talk to Esme, "What do you mean?"

"I mean they are romantically and sexually involved with each other, Miss Silvie."

"Wh—"

"Megawoman."

And before Silvie could even say another word, Silvie realized that Riley and everyone else in the restaurant were waiting for her to go back to the table.

"We… will talk about this more later, okay?"

"Hm."

And with a new weight burdening her on her shoulders, Silvie just let out a very long and deep sigh before joining Riley again and continuing the interviews — if it could be called that at all since Riley was still not passing anyone.

Silvie was even consciously trying to put up a poker face since Riley said he was able to read her face. Sadly for her…

'I can read your thoughts, Silvie,' she suddenly heard Riley's voice whispering right inside her mind.

'S…since when can you read thoughts!?' Silvie's eyes widened as she just looked at Riley, 'And themarians should not be susceptible to this!'

'Ever since I received Pirate Queen Xra's abilities from King, Silvie. Now please, focus on the interview.'

Just… how many abilities does Riley have, exactly? — was Silvie's thought. But she quickly shook her head off of the thought as she knew the answer would probably scare her. And so, she just did what Riley asked and focused on the next applicant.

"Please, take a seat." And finally, after just failing people left and right before they could even introduce themselves, Riley beckoned to an applicant to sit down on the chair that has been lonely on top of the stage for quite a while now.

And suffice it to say, all the diners quickly swallowed their food so they would not miss a thing — and with all the eyes on the applicant, the applicant could not help but just take in a deep breath as he tried to focus solely on Riley and Megawoman.

"My name is Pietro Varker, thank you for this opportunity."

"I'll be the one to ask you a question first," Silvie then quickly said something before Riley just decided to fail the applicant there and then, "How old were you when the Blink happened, and what have you been doing the past 600 years?"

"I… think I was 14 years old. And I was… just trying to survive. I'm…"

The boy, Pietro, then started telling his story, making some of the diners break into tears — how could they not, when his story was their story too? All of them were supers, and yet when the war happened — they felt powerless.

And when Pietro was done telling his story, some of them just clapped for him. They all stopped, however, when Riley raised his hand.

"If Megawoman turned evil…" Riley then just asked without even any warning, "...Will you fight her?"

"...Yes," Pietro thought for a while before just nodding his head, "Even at the cost of my life, I will fight for what is right and—"

"Hm," Riley once again raised his hand and smiled,

"Fail. Next."