Villain Retirement

1031  Chapter 1031: Kicked Out

"Riley Ross…?"

"Do we have a religion like that?"

"You do now, Guards."

"Dad…"

Karina and Angela, who were watching Riley from inside the city, could not help but both cover their faces as they heard Riley's words. They wanted to just pull him away, but honestly, the two no longer wanted to get involved with him as the people started to gather and look at him.

"Is it a new religion?" The guard did not seem to heed it any mind; probably already used to people having different beliefs. He just grabbed a binder he was carrying on his waist and started looking at it, "I do not think it's in our list just yet, you have to register it once we let you inside."

"Dad… just say you don't have one," Karina whispered loudly in frustration.

"Very well," Riley nodded his head as he looked at the guard, "I will ask my companion how to do that."

"Good," the guard nodded as he started flipping the binder he was holding, "And what is your name so that we would know the name of who started the practice?"

"Riley Ross."

"Riley—" The guard immediately stopped writing as he looked at Riley. He then turned toward his colleague, almost as if quietly asking him if he heard what he just heard, "You… are starting your own religion?"

"Another one of those," the other guard let out a small sigh as he waved his hand and walked away to process the other people wanting to enter the walled city, "You handle him."

"...Great," the guard let out a loud and obviously exhausted groan as he lowered his binder and once again looked at Riley, "Look, man — I do not care what your deal is, as long as you don't cause any trouble inside, we're not going to have a problem. Is that understood?"

"Of course," Riley just casually nodded.

"What planet are you even from?"

"Earth."

"Earth…?" The guard looked at Riley from head to toe before glancing at Karina and Angela. One also had incredibly white skin and hair, while the other had her eyes completely sewn, "Are you sure you people are from Earth? Like Supers, right? Then I'd advise minimal contact, ever since everyone started aging again, the Supervirus is spreading like wildfire and it is making people nervous."

13:07

"Okay."

"Okay," the guard nodded as he made a path for Riley, "It is good that you're more approachable than the other crazy people who want to build their own religion. You can go."

"You have my gratitude, Guard," Riley also nodded his head before entering the city. And before he could even gather the sights, Karina and Angela both stood in front of him and started pointing at his face.

"What was that, Darkday!?" Angela voiced out her frustration, "I have already told you, it would be best to travel incognito and not cause any troubles — my mission is to get you from point a to point b, I won't be able to do that if you just do your usual pranks."

"I do not do pranks, Miss Angela."

"Dad, you could have just said you don't have one — you see how they just let me pass without any more questions!?" Karina also heavily breathed out while still slightly covering her forehead, "How did Mom even fall in love with you!?"

"Katherine is mentally unstable, Karina."

"You—Ack, nevermind. Let's just explore this place," Karina groaned as she turned around and started scanning the place; her eyes, widening as they finally had a chance to look at the grand, immaculate, but somewhat chaotic city.

There was no chaos per se, but the design of the city was noisy; there were a lot of buildings and towers that looked completely different from each other, no doubt because of all the different religions living in one place.

You look to the left, then there is a church with lots of spikes and pillars. You look to the right, and then there's a church which was basically almost outside, covered with plants and trees as its frame and foundation.

"Oh, this place is low-key slaps," Karina uttered; her mouth slightly opened due to the fountain of colors of everywhere.

"Low-key… slaps?" Angela tried her best not to chuckle as she heard Karina's vocabulary, "I forgot how young you were supposed to be before all the chaos happened."

"Don't start," Karina rolled her eyes before looking at the people — none of them were really walking alone and always had a group with them, ranging from groups of 3, to sometimes even more than a dozen of them just strolling the unusually wide streets. There was also a sort of canal at the center of the roads, making a path for those who were more comfortable in water,

"You see this, Dad? This is the real definition of inclusivity, not the New World where the Androids were just thrown away, and then the variants were being kept inside cages as a reserve. I don't even know what Aunt Paige was thinking when she created them."

"Paige's illusions have their own sentience," Angela was the one to answer Karina's question, "I've met her a couple of times when she built the orphanage, she wouldn't stand for that kind of world. However this New World you speak of turned out, then it's because the people living in it made it the dystopian it is."

"I keep forgetting you don't even know that the New World exists," Karina once again rolled her eyes, "How do you even know Dad, anyway? You seem like the two of you have history."

"The Pope likes him for some reason," Angela only scoffed as she glanced at Riley, who was just quietly following behind them as they strolled the streets, "And… he was also present during a complicated time in my life."

"Yuck, don't tell me you're one of the people that likes Dad?"

"What!? What blasphemy dares utter from your mouth!?" Angela quickly pointed the helmet she was holding at Karina, "My body and soul is reserved for Him, and only Him!"

"For… Dad?"

"No, you—Wait," Angela quickly glanced back at Riley as she raised her voice, only for her to halt her steps as she noticed Riley was suddenly no longer behind them, "Where did your father go? He was literally just here a second ago!"

"Why ask me!? Aren't you supposed to be the one with the weird eyes!?" Karina widened her eyes; even prying them open with her fingers almost as if to mock Angela's sewn eyes, "Find her."

"There!" Angela completely ignored her attempts to mock her as she quickly found Riley amongst the crowd. It did not really seem he was trying to get away from them, as he was just casually walking toward a certain building, "Darkday, stop!"

"...Why is this my life?" Karina could really only let out a groan as she followed Angela, who was chasing Riley, not even heeding the others any mind and pushing them to the side, leaving Karina to apologize to each of them, "Angela, stop pushing people!" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I'm not pushing anyone!" Angela screamed, "My armor's just too bulky!"

"Then take it off! We're inside the city for fuck's sake!"

"My armor is blessed by the Pope, it can only be taken off when I'm dead!"

"...Does that mean you don't take a bath!?"

"Wh—of course, I do! What kind of logic is that!?"

It did not really take long for the two to catch Riley, who was now standing at the back of a short line leading to a building that seemed incredibly neutral compared to the rest of the infrastructure in the Holy City of Mold.

"This…" Angela placed her hand on Riley's shoulder before looking at the building, "...How'd you even found this?"

"I asked people, Miss Angela."

"You… I was going to take you here after we get something to eat," Angela let out another loud groan of frustration as she visibly tried pulling Riley away. Riley, however, completely stayed in place despite her putting strength.

"What even is this place?" Karina looked at the short line.

"...The place where people register their religion," Angela could not help but just turn her groans into a sigh as she looked at Karina, "I… actually had no plans in bringing him here."

"Ah, crap," Karina also sighed, "Dad, let's just go."

"No," Riley shook his head, "My goal is to let Paige Pearson know of my existence, this is one of the ways I could see that happening, Daughter. You do not have to worry, I promised to the guard outside that I will not make trouble for him, I intend to keep that promise."

"...Let's just let him do what he wants," Karina patted Angela's pauldron. Of course, Angela could not really do anything with the situation anymore and do just that. The line was incredibly short, and it did not even take an hour before it was Riley's turn.

"I am afraid you can't register a religion with less than 1 follower."

And almost immediately, the person at the back of the counter looked at Riley; her eyes, completely uninterested with everything that was happening.

"There are two of us," Riley pointed at himself and Karina.

"The religion is named after you, Riley Ross. You are not a member," the girl just looked at Riley again with her stoic eyes, "Come back if you have another one."

"There is no need for that," Riley shook his head before looking at Angela, "Can you register her as the 2nd member of my religion?"

"What are you—"

"I need to kick her out from her previous religion. Done. Next."

"Wh—wait…

…What!?"