Villain Retirement

"..."

"..."

"Are we really on Theran? Why do I feel like we've traveled to the past instead?"

"That can't be the case, Miss Hera. Look."

"Sshh, what are you doing just pointing at people?"

Hannah tried to stop Riley from stretching his hand and pointing at the table next to them. But alas, she was too late. The only thing she and the others could really do was look to where he was pointing, only to see one of the collar-wearing themarian fidgeting with a device—a device that projected a small and very sharp hologram.

No, it wasn't only him. Most of the themarians were all holding their own device; all of them producing their own projections.

"Here you go, honey ale for everyone. And milk for the gentleman!"

And after a few more moments of curiously glancing at the other tables, the barkeeper finally placed their order on their own table. Hera had noticed it before, but aside from the barkeeper himself, there was no other staff inside the bar—but the barkeeper could still very much keep up with everything. Of course, it was already expected for a themarian.

"...Ale?" Hera blinked a couple of times as she looked at Xra, who was the one that ordered for everyone, "I was expecting something harder."

"You are not on Earth," Xra only smirked as she lifted her mug, "Even the lightest beer on Theran already has… sufficient alcohol in it for the rest of the universe."

"...If you say so," Hera let out a small hum of curiosity as she lifted her mug… only to find her arm quickly turning gray; her muscles, contracting tight to the point they produced a pulling sound before she was finally able to lift the ale.

"..." Hera turned to look at the others, only to see Katherine not even able to lift her mug for even a single millimeter. Throughout the short time Hera has been on the planet, the feeling of being with a race filled with people like Megawomen has not sunk in just yet—after all, she has not seen anything quite 'Mega'.

There were no people just free flying above the skies, no one lifting their own houses. Everyone just looked incredibly… normal.

But now, finally—like a slap on her face, she was splashed by a cold, chilling water and shown where she truly was. The barkeeper was holding a tray of these mugs and just casually placed them on the table without even as much as a breath.

"..." Hera then quickly looked down and examined the chair. She initially thought that the chairs were attached to the floor when she couldn't move them earlier… but to think it was just that heavy.

The floors and houses she thought were just made with bricks and stones truly were anything but ordinary. And for the table to even carry the weight of the mugs would mean that everything… every material in this place was made to be strong enough to withstand the strength of a themarian.

"Katherine."

"...Thank you, Riley."

"..." Hera lifted her head up, only to see Riley handing straws to almost everyone. To Katherine, Tsula, Hannah, Tomoe, and even Vera.

"...Where's mine?"

"You seem to have no problem lifting the mug, Miss Hera," Riley then said as he casually lifted his glass of milk… before taking a sip on the straw that was already in the glass.

"...Does our months of traveling together mean nothing to you?" Hera rolled her eyes, before finally taking her first gulp of themarian ale—and Xra was right, it was strong. It almost felt like she swallowed something solid with the way it hit her throat.

There was a sense of sweetness to it, but the alcohol completely overpowered everything as it went straight to Hera's brain and almost caused her to black out. As it was non-life threatening and self-induced, her body did not really do anything to keep her from enjoying the alcohol.

"I… suppose I should start my report," Katherine was about to take a sip, but when she saw the shocked, but blank expression on Hera's face, her lips quickly let go of the straw. She still wanted to try it, but not before updating Riley and Hera about what happened.

"But… is it really alright for her to hear?" She then said as she glanced at Xra.

"It is fine, Katherine. She will become my Third Subordinate sooner or later. Letting her be acquainted with our situation is for the best."

"..." Katherine was still hesitant to open her mouth, but could really only sigh as she saw Riley gesturing to her to continue. As for Xra, she just shrugged her shoulders and continued to ignore her ale.

"I… will start with our daughter," Katherine sighed as she closed her eyes, "As Karina was a direct experiment of her grandmother—Diana Ross, she is currently being analyzed and checked by themarian scientists."

"..."

"You don't have to worry, Riley. Megawoman promised me that she would be safe."

"I am not worried, Katherine. Continue," Riley just took a sip of milk as he nodded.

"Hm. Gary is currently with the royal family of Hel. Since he is Megawoman's biological son from a different race, her family seems to be quite… perplexed as to how he has inherited themarian traits and abilities."

"Megawoman's son was traveling with us? That tall annoying guy?" Hera blinked a couple of times as she looked Katherine in the eyes; her face, slightly red, "You're saying he was in the ship this whole time?"

"...Megawoman brought him."

"It is a big ass ship, no?" Hera giggled on her own as she took another sip of the ale. And it would seem she wasn't the only one affected by it, as Hannah also started giggling as she rested her head on Riley's shoulder.

Tomoe's glass was completely untouched, and Vera seemed to have already finished hers—but aside from her face being flushed, she was still completely calm. As for Tsula, she was just quietly enjoying the alcohol on her own.

"Whiteking was also with us," Katherine then continued.

"...Bernard was also on the ship?" Hera couldn't help but comment again.

"Yes. He… was sleeping somewhere on the ship. And last time we checked, he was still there, sleeping—" Katherine nodded as she finally took a sip of the alcohol, causing her to almost cough as it hit her throat. Fortunately for her, she knew how to handle her alcohol,

"Diana said that Whiteking's body was still taking in the Guardian Force he swallowed. And since this is the first time a human is melding with it, even she doesn't know how long it would take for Whiteking to wake up."

"There is no need to worry about father, he will be fine," Riley gestured to Katherine to continue.

"Megawoman," Katherine then breathed out, causing Riley to place the glass of milk he was holding back on the table,

"We don't really know where he is right now. She might be with Gary, but she left him with her family to escort us to this city—and then she took Paige with her when she left us. We haven't seen both of them since."

"She took Paige with her?" Riley squinted his eyes as he placed his hand on his chin, "Interesting."

"Hm. And then…" Katherine then turned to look at Hannah, who quickly perked up as she nodded and removed her head from Riley's shoulder.

"...Mother," Hannah then breathed out after taking a large sip of ale, "Mom… is currently being guarded and escorted 24/7."

"I thought prisons do not exist here, sister?"

"They don't," Hannah shook her head, causing her to almost lean back from the alcohol, "But with more than a dozen themarians around her at all times, her movements are limited. Mom… has a pretty bad rep in this place."

"Hm…"

"It's not good, Riley. Everyone's saying she is crazy and needs to be put to eternal death," Hannah closed her eyes and sighed.

"Caitlain'Ur is the bane of themarians."

"Hm?" Hannah quickly looked at Xra, who was shaking her head and sighing, "What do you know about mom?"

"Let's just say she and I… were friends," Xra shrugged as she chugged down her ale, "Although we didn't really separate in the best of conditions. And since I am here now, I plan to… change that."

"...You're suspicious," Hannah squinted her eyes as she looked Xra in the eyes.

"Compared to Caitlain'Ur, I might as well be an open book."

"...Right," Hannah stared at Xra for a few more seconds, before shaking her head and letting out a deep and very long sigh,

"If mom is as strong as everyone makes her out to be, then I think she'll be fine."

"Of course, sister," Riley nodded, "Mother is the scariest being in this universe, even before we discovered she is a themarian."

"Hm, hm…" Hannah nodded several times in agreement, "Everyone else seems to be fine at the moment…

…except for Silvie."

"I almost forgot about her with everything that has been happening, sister," Riley's eyes slightly widened, "Is she dead?"

"..." Tomoe glanced at Riley for a few seconds, before turning her head down and closing her eyes.

"Silvie is…" Hannah also turned her head down as her voice became meek, "...since she is Megawoman's clone, they plan to execute her soon. We need to do something, Riley. You might not care for her now, but I know there's still a part of you that does—remember when you first saw her during the Academy's entrance test."

"Hm…" Riley only placed his hand on his chin as he nodded.

"Megawoman Jr?" Hera slammed her mug on the table, but the table remained completely still, "Do we even know where she is?"

"That's… the thing," Hannah shook her head and sighed, "We don't know. It's been weeks and we've been trying our best to gather intel—but no one really talks to us. We've just been helplessly waiting for something to happen. We can't even make a move since we're surrounded by… well, a bunch of mega people."

"Mega criminals."

"..."

Hannah, along with everyone else, very slowly looked at Riley as they heard his words. And there, they saw a wide smile that wasn't previously there.

"We are surrounded by mega criminals, everyone," Riley proudly said as he nodded to himself, "The reason why Theran is just letting us collar-wearing people free, is so that if anyone wanted to kill us, they could do so without any repercussions."

"...Where did you even hear that?" Hannah raised an eyebrow.

"From Pirate Queen Xra."

"It's true," Xra smirked as she nodded, "Themarians are a race of warriors—they may not necessarily welcome death. But for them, it is really the only way to leave this plane."

"Since nothing is happening," Riley then stood up as he finally finished his glass of milk, "Let us make something happen, everyone."

With Riley suddenly standing up, Xra also finished her ale and started stretching her neck.

"Wait, Riley…" Hannah quickly grabbed Riley's wrist, "...Don't tell me your plan is to make trouble?"

"Yes, sister."

"...That's not a plan."

"I disagree, sister," Riley breathed out as his feet started leaving the floor,

"Causing trouble is the only way to lure out Megawoman."