Villain Retirement

Chapter 1138: The Fourth Island

Chapter 1138: The Fourth Island

"My name's… V."

"That's a letter."

V, truly, was shocked when she realized that the crew that Riley kept mentioning was not actually the Baby Crew, but an entirely new crew of unfamiliar faces. The only reason why she was so courageous in joining Riley in the first was because she thought the others were going to be here – but alas.

But of course, she wasn't just going to back down now. This just means that her hurdle became bigger, larger… harder – and she was totally not thinking of anything else.

"It's… short for Victoria."

"That's too long, I'll just call you V. I'm Miss Pepondosovich."

"...Okay."

V could really only blink a couple of times as Miss Pepondosovich introduced herself – of course, Riley's companions would be weird, that was really the only prerequisite if one wanted to actually stay sane while being in the same room as him.

"I'm Aurora."

At the very least, however, it would seem there was someone who at least seemed normal among the crew.

"I'm V," V shook Aurora's hand; quickly noticing her star-shaped eyes – it would seem that none of the crew were actually human or from Earth, "It's very nice to meet you."

"I should be the one saying that," Aurora let out a sigh of relief as she completely shared V's sentiment, "You don't know how long I've waited to talk to someone who actually seems normal."

"My name's Monkeh."

"I'm V," V quickly looked at Monkeh's face – and although she was beautiful, she was definitely not human at all, "It's also very nice to meet… Wait, you're all women."

"Except for the captain," Monekh pointed at Riley with both of her index fingers, "...I didn't really notice until you mentioned it. Huh, cool."

"Hm…" V's eyes quickly squinted as she stared at Riley, who was just standing on the captain's deck and not even looking at them, "...Are any of you three in a relationship with Riley?"

And as soon as V asked that, both Aurora and Monkeh quickly turned their head toward Miss Pepondosovich.

"..." V's eyes widened in shock as she also looked at the smallest person in the room, "...You?"

"I'm more like the caretaker of his children," Miss Pepondosovich did not really let the misunderstanding go on for more than a second as she just shrugged, "Like a permanent party member of some sort."

"Children… wait, you added more!?" A small trickle of electricity snapped from V's eyes as she once again glanced at Riley.

"Oh, he has more," Miss Pepondosovich chuckled, "I'm guessing you were one of Riri's friends from way back?"

"I'm not his friend!"

"No, you were more than that," Miss Pepondosovich's nose started fidgeting – her head, leaning closer to V — and since she was only as tall as a knee, there really was only one thing she was sniffing,

"I could smell him from you."

"W…what!?" V just quickly stepped back, instinctively closing her legs, "H… how would you even know that!? It's been more than 600 years!"

"I have a very strong nose," Miss Pepondosovich shrugged.

"Ugh…" V could really only cover her forehead – perhaps this was a mistake after all. She should have just stayed in the Sphere World, where the only people that surrounded her are those who worshiped her – but then again, she did not need their worship at all. If anything…

…the best outcome here would be for Riley to worship her instead, make him feel what she felt all those years ago and then break his heart. Yes… that's it.

That should be her plan from now on.

"Anyway, I forgot to ask… but why are all of you traveling in the Grand Triangle again?"

"Our main mission is the elimination of the Order of Nothing," Aurora swiftly answered, "We believe they are hiding in the deepest parts of the Grand Triangle – unfortunately, we need to travel to each island planet in order to get there. Well, I guess there's still some merit to it since you and Riley reunited."

"...I don't even know if that's a good thing yet," V once again glanced at Riley, who was now also looking at her, "Riley and I… have a really complicated past."

"Oh, we heard," Aurora could not help but wince as she glanced at V before turning her focus back to driving the ship, "You… kinda screamed your issues throughout the entire planet."

"Ugh…" V just once again covered her forehead.

"So, what are you? Some kind of god of lightning?" Aurora asked.

"...Just human," V shook her head before pointing at Riley with her thumb, "I don't really think anyone could claim to be a god while that guy's here."

"...That I agree on." Aurora shrugged.

Monkeh, however, slightly squinted her eyes as she glanced at Riley.

"I'm guessing you're from the Unknown too, V?" Monkeh asked. "Hm," V nodded.

"How did you get to the Grand Triangle…?" Monkeh asked, "I tried searching for the Unknown a very long time ago, but I didn't really have the patience."

"I… don't really know," V sighed, "I just wanted to run away from it all, to escape my… addiction. And that required time away from everything."

"Huh…" Monkeh and Aurora looked at each other, "And then after all of that, you and the White Face still found each other…

…I would say fate likes the two of you."

"...That's not true at all," V scoffed.

"Uuh… you managed to find yourselves back together?" Monkeh raised an eyebrow, "I do not need to tell you how impossible that is."

"Well…" Aurora seemed to disagree as she hummed, "...Not for creatures like you – as they say, the stronger the magnet, the stronger the connection."

"...What are you even talking about?" Miss Pepondosovich joined in on the conversation with a sigh, "But both of them are right – fate allowed you to meet again… and I'm probably the reason for that, sorry. Fate is… kinda my thing."

"What do you–"

"What are all of you talking about?"

"!!!"

The four could not help but almost leap from the spots as Riley suddenly and unexpectedly joined them; still wearing his pajamas as he looked at each of them one by one.

"We… we're not talking about anything! Why are you even suddenly sneaking up on us?" V clicked her tongue, crossing her arms as she looked Riley in the eyes.

"We were talking about how the two of you are intertwined by fate, Boss," Monkeh smirked, "V here says you're not, but we all know that you are. What about you, what do you think?"

"Perhaps," Riley shrugged, "But I believe it does not really matter in the end – after all, if fate does not want us to be together, then I only need to be stronger than fate so we could be."

"...So, you're saying you want to be together?" Aurora squinted her eyes, slightly excited by the sudden change to gossip.

"Aurora!" V could not help but just widen her eyes – she just met these people, and yet they seemed to already be treating her like she had been one of them from the start. Well… it wasn't a bad feeling to actually belong to something instead of being held to a pedestal.

"Hm…" As for Riley, he placed his hand on his chin as he seemed to truly think about it, "...If I have to answer, then I would answer yes."

"W… woah," Aurora gasped as she looked at Miss Pepondosovich and the others, who also just started looking around.

"After all, Sister and the others are also fond of Victoria," Riley squinted his eyes, "After we leave the Grand Triangle, I would call them so that they would know I found you – Sister and Silvie are trying to find you, after all."

"They… are still trying to find me?" V could not help but almost choke on her own breath as she heard that, "But… it's been hundreds of years. Why…?"

"Because they are your friends, Victoria," Riley shrugged, "And also, I did not come here to join your conversation."

"Are you talking about the intruder in our ship?" Miss Pepondosovich just casually said as she looked at the door of the bridge, "I, too, am wondering when they would reveal themselves. They've been here for like an hour."

"What…?" Aurora blinked a couple of times before quickly checking the ship's system for any intruders, but aside from the people on the bridge, there were no other heat signatures.

"Oh, that wasn't one of you?" V blinked a couple of times as she looked at Miss Pepondosovich, "I thought it was someone who was handling the ship's maintenance?"

"...Do you want me to flush them out, Boss?" Monkeh let out a wide yawn as she started walking away.

"No," Riley, however, just shook his head, "I will just kill them from here, Monkeh. There is no need for–"

And before Riley could finish his words, Monkeh suddenly moved toward him – catching what seemed to be… some sort of dart.

"Oh my…" And all of a sudden, silhouette emerged from the wall of the ship,

"...Now, this is an interesting party you got here, Monkeh. But the question is…

…what are you doing back here when we specifically told you not to go anywhere near Aegard?"