Villain Retirement
chapter-1012

"I feel like I do need to warn you, Riley — there is a chance that you might encounter a god during your hunt."

"Hm…?"

Riley was still inside Tsula's domain, surrounded by all the solid elements of earth as he seemed to be prepping himself to hunt for ingredients. He was kneeling on the ground, and in front of him were several knives, a bow and arrows, as well as a wooden spear.

"Which clone was the one who used these last?" Riley then breathed out as he glanced at Tsula, "They did not take care of it."

"Your clones are all the same," Tsula let out a small sigh; her breaths, being reflected by the spherical space they were in, "And I am serious — they are on high alert now because of what you've been doing — that Wind God even detected you were here even despite me trying to hide your presence as always. Why even do that?"

"I do not know, Tsula," Riley let out a small sigh as he started grabbing the hunting tools and equipping them around his leather garb, "It would seem I am unfit to be a father."

"You're really saying that after you already have 5 of them little critters roaming around?" Tsula let out a small scoff as she slowly approached Riley; the branches and vines that were connected to her veins, carrying her, "But I am serious, Riley — you have been hunting in these grounds peacefully for 16 years without the gods knowing, and now you're being careless and just revealing yourself. If you are planning something, I deserve to know because I don't just literally live in this planet. I am the planet."

"I am not planning anything, Tsula," Riley once again just sighed as he stood up, "Right now, I only want to get some ingredients."

"...Fine," Tsula just shook her head as she returned to the center of the spherical space, "But if you get caught by these gods, do not tell them of my existence."

"They have not known your existence for centuries despite you literally living here, Tsula — they might not even believe me even if I tell them that you are here," Riley stepped forward to the empty wall of branches and roots.

"Well, it's not like I have to worry about you telling anyone about me — if you want a secret buried forever, they should tell it to you," Tsula scoffed as she flicked her finger, and as she did so, the wall in front of Riley opened up.

"That is not entirely true, Tsula," Riley shook his head, "If it will benefit me, I reveal secrets — and I reveal them in the most dramatic way possible."

"Right. Anyway, I liked the dish you cooked last time; with the meat covered in some sort of leaf."

"Thank you, I am glad you liked it," Riley then stepped forward, but the opening slightly closed as he did so.

"That means I want to eat it again, boy," Tsula sighed, "I swear. When I think you've completely changed from when I first met you, you prove me otherwise."

"I am not capable of change, Tsula."

"You are, you've changed," Tsula flicked her finger again, completely opening the way for Riley, "And just go — you have too many rituals when you could just pull out one of the creatures all the way from here and be done with it."

"Cooking should be done by one's hands, Tsula."

"You're not cooking."

"Cooking does not start in the kitchen, Tsula."

And with those words, a hint of a smile crawled on Riley's face as he stepped out of Tsula's domain. And as soon as he did so, he was welcomed by the spherical world of Sub-Theran — vast, extremely lush, and completely filled with all sorts of life; land and avian… each of them, probably capable of swallowing an entire planet whole in less than a single second.

"Well then…" Riley breathed out as he stared at the vast plane,

"...Time to hunt."

Riley then stretched his hand forward, and as soon as he did so — a bird the same size as Riley appeared in front of him; its talons, clawing his arm and flying him away at the speed of light; literally.

Riley remained completely calm as he just stared at the bird, looking at it from beak to tail. But after a few seconds, he just let out a sigh and shook his head before grabbing one of his knives and just stabbing the bird's joints — freeing himself.

The bird, however, just let out a loud whistle as before once again diving for Riley; not letting him drop to the ground, as this time, it used its large beak to grab Riley's torso.

"Why are you doing this, Bird?" Riley looked at the bird's eyes, "You do know that I am letting you go? I do not want to serve poultry to my children. But if you wish to die…"

"!!!"

And as soon as the bird met Riley's eyes, it instinctively opened its beak; letting Riley fall. It did not really understand Riley's words, but it understood something as soon as it saw Riley's eyes — the creature he thought was easy prey, was no prey at all, but a sleeping apex predator lying in wait… and it disturbed him.

And ever-so quickly, the bird flew up as fast as it could; almost disappearing completely from view… but sadly, not completely enough as a lion leaped from the ground and managed to grab the bird around its neck; the lion's jaw, completely snapping the bird's neck instantly.

There wasn't really anything interesting about the lion physically, it truly just looked like a lion one could find on Earth — nothing special… except for the fact that it just caught a bird that was going faster than the speed of light like it was nothing.

Riley then watched as the lion landed right in front of him. And the lion did the same, the two of them staring at each other's eyes. Unlike the bird, however, the lion instinctively knew that Riley was dangerous — too dangerous to the point that the lion found itself approaching Riley and offering the bird it just caught to him.

"I do not need it, Lion," Riley just looked at the dead bird before shaking his head and walking away, "And feline meat is too hard."

"Grh…" The lion quickly lowered its head before lying down as Riley walked away, completely submitting to him; seemingly sighing a breath of relief.

Riley continued to walk across the vast world of Sub-Theran, with most of the beasts andcreatures completely avoiding him. Riley did not mind, however, as he was just looking at a set of footprints on the ground, following it deep into a thick bamboo forest.

The bamboo doesn't really break even as Riley pushed them away; they just bounce and return back to their original state as he makes his way through them. And soon, Riley reached some sort of glade, and there… several sheep-like creatures flocked, no.

They were not sheep-like at all; the only thing similar was their thick fleece covering their bodies. Their legs and neck were long like that of a giraffe, and head was that of a deer; horns that protruded in an elegant way on top of their heads.

"I suppose this would do," Riley held his breath before grabbing his bow as quietly as possible; not even using his collection of abilities to hide the noise. And yet as he drew it, his target still seemed completely unaware of its impending death, "I thank you for the meal you are about to provide."

Riley then let loose his arrow… but it did not pierce through his target, and instead was caught by a green-haired woman… not even a foot away in front of him.

"Who are you?" The woman quickly asked as she snapped the arrow in half; the crack it created was almost a thunder, alerting all of Riley's soon-to-be ingredients and causing all of them to run away,

"And why are you hunting on our grounds?"

"Our?" Riley tilted his head before just calmly wrapping the bow around him again and looking to his left, where a tall muscular man was very slowly emerging from the bamboo; his camouflage slowly fading away, "Forgive, I was not aware that this area was reserved by someone."

"Reserved? No…" The man's large muscular chest contracted as he stepped toward Riley, "...We own this land — everyone knows that, and since you don't… I can only assume that you're an outsider."

"You own this land?" Riley looked the muscular man in the eyes, "Very well, I will not address this any further because I want to cook something for my children. I will just leave and find another ground to hunt on."

"I don't think that is going to happen," the woman instantly appeared in front of Riley as he turned around, "You've already intruded, we will need something in return."

"Pain, then."

"Huh…?"

"I will not hurt you…

…that is the price I am willing to exchange in return."