Villain Retirement

Chapter 1164: Chapter 1164: The Church of Fate

"The Monkey Queen?"

Riley’s ears moved on their own as soon as he heard the words that came out of the master of the house’s lips. He hadn’t actively tried searching for his traveling companions yet, and now he already had a clue of where one of them might possibly be.

"Could I know more about this Monkey Queen you speak of?" Riley asked as he gently put down his fork on the plate, but the only answer he received from the master of the house was silence.

Well... a deafening silence, that is.

It wasn’t only the master of the house, the rest of the people inside the dining hall all had their mouths wide open. Riley tilted his head, slightly confused as to why they were doing so.

"Have all of you contracted the same disease?" He asked curiously, "If so, then I must say that that is a horrifying disease—flies could get into your mouth."

"My... my apologies." But after a few more seconds of the loud silence, the master of the house finally said something. The tone of his voice, now even more careful than it already was before, "Are you... truly a transcendent?"

"I do not know what that is." Riley immediately shook his head.

"You said you came from beyond the heavens, the Outer Space." The master of the house gulped.

"Yes. Is that—"

"The Hero is making a joke!"

Before Riley could say anything else, Louis jumped from his seat to cut him off. He attempted to cover Riley’s mouth, but he immediately leaned away to avoid his hand. Riley was about to say something else again, but Louis raised his voice before he could do so.

"Why... why would a Transcendent even bother joining us mortals again, right?" Louis awkwardly chuckled, "Especially a... a Hero. Why would he return from the heavens here in the mortal world?"

"That’s... true." The master of the house narrowed his eyes, "There are no tyrants to slay and cities to free—the world has been peaceful for more than a hundred years."

"Right?" Louis pointed at the master of the house, "We should just eat! Eat and forget all the heavy talks."

Louis began waving his hands, gesturing to everyone at the table to eat as if he were the owner of the manor. No one minded, however, as it could be argued that Louis’s position right now was higher than the master of the house.

"Hmm." As for Riley, he just stared at Louis for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders. He didn’t really need to ask the master of the house or anyone else for information regarding this world—he had Gary to ask.

For now, he might as well relax and go with the flow and see how things unfold with Louis and all of this... debacle. And since Monkeh seemed to be a prominent figure in this world, it would be easy to find her—and it would also be easy for her to find Miss Pepondosovich and the others.

"Ah!" The master of the house suddenly stood up from his seat. His eyes, slightly trembling as he looked at Riley before bowing his head and stuttering, "F...forgive me. I have forgotten to introduce myself!"

Riley shrugged again and gestured to the master of the house to continue.

"My name is Gilbert Warde. I am the current head of the Warde family," Gilbert introduced himself with a bow, and the rest of the people inside the hall followed and bowed their heads in respect to him.

As for Riley, well... he just nodded his head before introducing himself, "My name is Riley Ross. I am Louis’s stepfather."

"Huh!?" Gilbert, his wife, and Janine almost choked on their own breaths as they heard Riley’s words. Fortunately for them, Louis once again quickly leaped from his seat to explain things.

"He is joking again!" Louis smiled, "The... The hero likes to joke around."

Gilbert paused with his breaths at first as his eyes darted between Riley and Louis. But after a few seconds, he let out an awkward chuckle,

"O...Oh. Oh!" He breathed out, "Of course. Of course! The hero likes to jest, everyone. Hahaha!"

And everyone laughed with him.

As for Riley, well... he just shrugged and continued eating. After all, what he said wasn’t necessarily true since Louis was no longer Gary.

After a long and somewhat awkward dinner, Louis was invited by Janine’s mother to walk with her and Janine to talk about the specifics of their engagement.

Louis traveled to this city fully expecting to be treated like shit—after all, his reputation wasn’t the best, and he made it to be like that.

When he was transported into this world, he had been granted his memory and even his powers. And when he realized that he was born as the youngest son of a noble, and from a commoner mother, he knew exactly what he wanted to do.

Like most of the novels and webtoons he had read, he wanted to be the underestimated main character who suddenly grows in power and slaps everyone’s faces out of nowhere.

At least, that is what was supposed to happen. He was expecting for the soldiers of the Warde family to challenge him to duels because he wasn’t worthy of their young lady—but all of his work had already gone down the drain.

He could no longer go that route because of Riley’s presence. He could no longer go that route because... the true main character was here.

Couldn’t he have arrived when I’m old and wrinkled!?

And while Louis was contemplating his life, Riley was alone in the garden of the manor. Gilbert invited him to walk with him, but he flat-out refused.

He had no reason to refuse, he had nothing to do, after all. But he did—because he had been sensing someone since earlier.

"Who are you?" And soon, a man completely covered in robes casually approached him, appearing from nowhere,

"We were told that a Hero wouldn’t be born in a hundred years. So...

...who are you? If you do not give a proper answer, then the Church of Fate shall cleanse you from this world."