Villain Retirement

Chapter 1163: Chapter 1163: Transcendent

"Young Master Louis, what is that noise we’ve been hearing?"

"It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it."

Louis stepped out, closing the door behind him.

He had seen enough violence in both his lives—first as Gary, and now as Louis in this completely black-and-white world. He thought he was numb to it, immune to the horrors that came with it.

And perhaps he was.

But the kind of violence Riley enacted? That was something he would never get used to. He was used to violence, but he wasn’t used to Riley at all.

Think of the worst thing a person could do to another, multiply it by infinity—and even that wouldn’t be enough to describe what Riley was doing in that room.

And right now, the person on the receiving end of it was screaming.

"H... help me...! Someone, help me!"

A trained assassin, someone conditioned to withstand the most excruciating pain, was begging. Her voice echoed through the hallway, loud enough to reach the ears of passing staff.

Including the head maid.

"Young Master Louis," the old woman’s sharp voice cut through the tension. "A maidservant was tasked with bringing you food. She hasn’t returned."

Louis turned to face her.

There was... something odd about the way she looked at him.

Before he arrived, the manor’s staff had been instructed to treat him with thinly veiled contempt—an unspoken effort to drive him away. They all knew the reputation of the youngest son of the Zimmer family: talentless, lazy, sleazy.

Or so they thought.

But the moment he stepped through the manor’s doors, that all changed.

The head butler gave them new orders—to treat Louis with even more respect than the master of the house. And they all knew why.

Louis was with a Hero.

An existence equal to the King.

And if the rumors were true, he was even part of the Hero’s party.

The staff had questions, of course, but none dared to ask them.

Still... whatever was happening in that room now was something the head maid couldn’t ignore.

"What exactly are you doing to her, Young Master?" Her voice remained even, but her eyes twitched. There was a weight behind them, the authority of someone who had served the manor longer than most had been alive.

But Louis’s next words stopped her cold.

"She tried to kill me."

Silence.

The hallway, once buzzing with the distant murmurs of staff, seemed to still.

The head maid’s breath hitched. She hadn’t expected a boy so young to stare at her the way Louis did just now.

"She... tried to kill you?" she echoed, almost in disbelief.

A small, collective gasp even came from the maids hiding around the corner. Whispers. Gossip.

"Yes."

Louis turned back to the door just as the assassin’s screams finally stopped.

"And Riley’s trying to find out who sent her," he added casually. "But it seems... he’s done."

"She... was an assassin?" The head maid’s voice wavered. "But she’s been with us for two years. She can’t—"

"My engagement to Janine was announced two years ago."

Louis exhaled deeply, turning back to her with a tired look.

"Coincidence?" he mused.

"I think not."

The head maid struggled to find her voice. Her lips parted, but no words came out.

She wanted to deny it—to insist that one of her own maids couldn’t possibly be an assassin. She had always treated them like her own children, even the new ones.

But if the Hero himself had been ’interrogating’ her...

Then it had to be true.

Still, her mind resisted the thought, grasping for some explanation, some mistake—until the door creaked open and Riley stepped out.

To her surprise, he was completely clean.

No blood. No signs of struggle. Not even a wrinkle in his clothes.

He even smiled as he wiped his hands with a cloth—an entirely clean cloth.

The head maid’s breath paused.

Had she been wrong? Had he not tortured the assassin at all? But then... why was she screaming like that?

"Did you get the information?" Louis asked, hesitant as he eyed the unsettling smile on Riley’s face.

Riley glanced at him briefly before offering a casual shrug.

"Yes and no," he replied. "She does not know who hired her, Louis—they are not allowed to ask questions. However, she belongs to an organization called the Last Order."

"The Last Order?" Louis narrowed his eyes. "I’ve never heard of them."

"And it would seem neither has she." Riley cast a brief glance back at the door before nonchalantly closing it behind him. "I read her mind. It seems their members are trained to follow orders without question."

Louis stiffened. "You... read her mind?"

"Yes."

"Then you didn’t have to torture her at all!?"

Riley tilted his head slightly before shaking it. "Torture is never necessary."

Louis exhaled in relief—

"...But it is fun."

Louis’s breath caught in his throat.

"What the..."

And while they were having their conversation, the head maid inched toward the door. She had to see.

Had to know what he had done.

She barely peeked inside.

And then she slammed the door shut.

Her hands flew to her mouth as bile burned at her throat. She barely swallowed it down, her body trembling.

It was horrific.

She had seen her fair share of slaughter before—but only of animals meant for food. This?

This was something else.

The assassin had been stripped of more than just her dignity, literally.

Her skin was gone. Flayed. Peeled away like the hide of an animal. Her bones had been twisted, some piercing through their own flesh.

It was the work of a devil.

And yet—

This had been done by someone the Fate itself had deemed a Hero.

The head maid shuddered. Her faith in the Fate was absolute—and yet, this sight... this monstrosity... made her question everything.

She clenched her jaw, forcing herself to breathe.

If the Fate did not punish Riley, then what he did was right.

And that was all she needed to know.

She turned back to Riley—who had, of course, already noticed her.

"I did not realize you were here, Old Maid," Riley mused, his eyes flicking toward her with mild curiosity.

She bowed in response, pressing her trembling hands together to keep them still.

And then, Riley smiled.

"Are you here to tell us dinner is ready?"

***

After several minutes, the head maid was now serving Riley his meal.

The master of the house was present, seated stiffly at the long dining table. Beside him sat Janine, Louis’s fiancée. This was their home, their table—yet all eyes, all respect, were unmistakably drawn toward Riley.

Even his seat was telling.

Where the master of the house should have been presiding over the meal, Riley sat instead.

An unspoken shift in power.

A fact that everyone at the table was aware of.

The silence stretched—awkward, suffocating. Only Riley and Louis ate, their utensils the only sound filling the massive dining hall.

Finally, after a few more strained breaths, the master of the house could take no more.

He cleared his throat, his voice measured yet laced with carefully restrained tension.

"We have never heard of you before, Master Riley."

His tone held respect—the kind ingrained into every noble since birth when speaking to those far above their station.

Because that’s what Heroes were.

Legends. Myths. Gods in mortal form.

And now, here sat one at his table. Eating so casually.

An assassin had infiltrated his own home. And right when a Hero was present?

A disgrace. He had already shamed his family beyond words.

And yet—

Riley had not brought up the topic.

Perhaps this was his chance to change the subject. To understand the man, the myth, the legend before him.

"May I ask... where have you been all this time, Master Riley?"

"I came from outer space, sir."

Every breath, every hand, every heartbeat at the table froze as soon as he said tat.

Janine’s fork clattered onto her plate.

The master of the house slowly turned to face Riley, his expression barely containing the weight of what he had just heard.

"...Outer space?"

His voice, once steady, now wavered.

"...You’re..."

A bead of sweat trailed down his temple.

"...You’re a Transcendent!? Like the Monkey Queen!?"