Villain Retirement

"Welcome to Grandarena City!"

"So, this is where the word 'Grand' comes from, Miss Pepon."

As its name suggests, out of all the cities Esme and Riley had seen in the expanse of the Domain of the Gods, Grandarena City was perhaps the grandest of them all. It was the only city that would make one think that it was truly made by and for gods, every god that was walking through the wide streets actually felt like they belonged there.

Riley had seen a lot of advanced cities throughout his adventure in his universe, and yet Grandarena city held something none of them had — formidability. The structures were colossal, loud, and domineering; if structures could be domineering, that is. But in the Domain of the Gods, anything is possible. The buildings were made of probably some material unknown to the rest of the multiverse. They looked like marble, and the surface was incredibly smooth… but they were not reflecting anything at all.

The buildings did not even have doors, they just had entrances the size of highway tunnels. But if Riley actually had to describe it, he really only had one word to use.

"This place is empty, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley said as he looked into one of the buildings, and with the entrance as big as they were, he could almost see everything inside… and there was absolutely nothing there but just people seemingly talking to each other.

"That's what you think…" Miss Pepondosovich just let out a somewhat cheeky giggle as she gestured to Riley and Esme to follow her. Marleen, who was walking beside her, also smirked as she and Miss Pepondosovich led the two newbies to one of the buildings.

The two spectrum buddies were wondering why they were being led to a large and empty building at first, but as soon as they passed the entrance, the scenery around them suddenly changed — the once empty building, now filled with all sorts of colors and things; shops, stalls… it actually almost seemed as if they were outside due to the fact that there were also buildings inside, but a completely different design, and dare they say, culture.

The people that they saw outside who were just talking to each other, actually buying and trading goods. The buildings inside were somewhat familiar to Riley, modern… but still very much different in a way they used a lot of spherical shapes. Even the buildings themselves were spherical in nature. Riley could even spot a tower from afar… with the top being a sphere.

"I do not see why this place does not just reveal what is inside the buildings, Miss Pepon," Esme breathed out as she looked around, "Would it not be much better for the people wanting to get or buy things if they could see what the buildings are offering?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Miss Pepondosovich chuckled, "The different buildings you see outside are actually all owned by gods who had just chosen to make the 91st floor their home."

"How does that work, Miss Pepon?" Esme seemed visibly confused, "Won't they be called to fight?"

"Yes," Miss Pepondosovich shrugged, "And if they lose, they will just climb back up again — the gods you see here, they are physically much stronger than the rest of the gods residing in this Domain."

"That seems very tiring."

"It is basically just exercise for these people," Miss Pepondosovich snorted as she waved her hand, "Enough about that, I want you to taste the delicacy they have here."

"I think I have had enough carrots, Miss Pepon," Esme sighed.

"Look at you learning how to complain now," Miss Pepondosovich smiled as she looked at Esme, "Look, Riri — your spawn is much more human than you now."

"She is not my spawn, Miss Pepondosovich. She is her own person," Riley breathed out, "And I do agree with her, I think I have had enough carrot dishes for now."

"No, no!" Miss Pepondosovich formed her arms into an 'X' before moving close to Marleen, "Explain to them how the buildings work here."

"...Aren't you supposed to be their tour guide?" Marleen raised an eyebrow. But as Miss Pepondosovich widened her eyes like a puppy, the only thing Marleen could really was sigh, "Listen, each of the gigantic buildings you have seen outside, like the one we are in right now…

…is actually a domain of its own."

"Interesting."

"It is," Marleen nodded, "And what is more interesting is that these domains are created by the gods who manage them, basically their Territory. You know what a Territory is, so I won't explain that anymore."

"Hm."

"Since each of the buildings is owned privately by other gods, all of them are unique from each other — that means the food, the scenery, the culture, and the overall ambiance of each building are unique," Marleen adjusted her imaginary glasses, "And this particular building…"

"Ah, it's Lady Marleen!"

"...Is owned by me."

And as soon as Riley and the group reached some sort of large plaza, one of the merchants selling in one of the stalls suddenly pointed at Marleen. And without even a second later, almost all of the merchants and vendors all turned their heads at her.

"Lady Marleen!"

All the merchants left their shops, causing their customers to also wonder what exactly was going on.

"Just how many gods are there in the Domain of the Gods, Miss Pepon?" Esme could not help but blink a couple of times as she saw all the people approaching them, "There seems to be a lot."

"Not as much as you think," Miss Pepondosovich gestured to Esme and Riley to move closer to her for some reason, "Probably less than a million — the only reason why it looks like there are a lot of us is because we're just gathered in the same place. And it doesn't help that Marleen's domain is a little bit more popular than most. And also…

…it would be best for the two of you to get away from Marleen there."

"Hm…?" Although Esme and Riley had no idea why Miss Pepondosovich was urging them to move, they still followed her since she was their tour guide, after all. Soon, however, they found out why.

"Lady Marleen… Did you raise the taxes again!?"

"Why would you even do that…? Didn't I just give you that weird egg last time!?"

"Lady Marleen, you said this one was a genuine product — one of my customers said it was fake!"

And in just a blink of a moment, Marleen suddenly found herself surrounded by an angry mob.

"Let's… just leave her alone for now," Miss Pepondosovich pulled Esme and Riley away, leaving Marleen to fend for herself, "Don't worry about her, she'll find us — this is her domain, after all."

"I am a bit confused, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley's eyes were still fixated on the angry mob that was very slowly swallowing Marleen even though he was being dragged away by Miss Pepondosovich, completely focusing on the items they were holding, "Where are they getting all of those items?"

"Marleen makes all of them," Miss Pepondosovich just glanced back, "Of course, the other domains on the 91st floor are also selling items that were created either by gods, or by the mortals in Manirosa. In some rare instances, gods would even sell some of their belongings from when they were still outside the Domain of the Gods… as you can imagine, those go for a lot."

"Miss Marleen does not seem to be good at making them, then," Riley breathed out as he finally strayed his eyes away from the angry mob.

"Oh, no, no… That is where you are wrong, Riri," Miss Pepondosovich started clicking her tongue and wagging her finger as she let go of Riley and Esme, "For me, Marleen is actually one of the more special gods here — I could even consider her the most godlike out of the rest of these people."

"Hm…?"

"Oh ho, now you're curious, aren't you?" Miss Pepondosovich continued to walk, gesturing Riley and Esme to follow her, "You know Marleen's physiology makes it so that she can read other people's minds, memories, and feelings, right? That's just the way her kind was made, they were born that way. But what made Marleen special, aside from her raw strength…

…is her ability to draw things from memory."

"That does not seem like a special ability, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley shook his head, "I can also draw from memory."

"W—No, what I meant was that she could summon non-organic things out of nowhere as long as she remembers them," Miss Pepondosovich raised a finger, "You might already think that is already a monstrous ability, but you might be forgetting the fact that once she reads someone else's memories, it also becomes her memories. That means that if you remember exactly how the thing you want replicated works…

…she can summon it."

"Hm…" Riley let out a small hum, "I wonder…

…if she could create the Cosmic Compressor?"

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