Chapter 14: The interview

Chapter 14: The interview

"I understand it's a sensitive issue to talk about for you, but can you please shed some light on the events that lead to her kidnapping?"

Rocky heard the question and then saw the system panel appear before his eyes.

Having never seen the system panel popping up before in public, Rocky was a little worried if others could see it too, however, from Sunny and the audience's reaction it seemed like no-one beside him could. Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

However, as soon as he read the text displayed on the system screen, he realized that he was worried about the wrong thing, as what he should worry about was the system text.

[ "I was on the phone with my sister, I had gone to my friend's for new years and she was worried about why I had not returned home although it was past my curfew time.

We were on the phone when she was suddenly startled by someone entering the house as she said

'It's you? How did you enter the house?'

She seemed to clearly know the individual who entered the house, however, unfortunately I could not hear a name.

Then, suddenly she dropped the phone, I could hear distant noises of two people fighting and struggling as I shouted over the phone, calling desperately for my sister as I took off barefooted from my friends home and towards my own apartment, and being only five minutes away I felt like I could reach it pretty quickly.

Alas, right as I was around my apartment's street corner, I heard a loud explosion as I saw the glass windows of my apartment burst open, as flame engulfed it all.

My mind blanked out for a second, I feared my sister was dead, however, they later confirmed that there were no traces of her being killed in the explosion and that she was kidnapped" ]

Rocky narrated quite calmly, as he heard sympathetic gasps from the audience.

On the surface, this tale sounded accurate enough to what the media had reported, however, only Rocky understood that it was not entirely true.

Riva had never said the line 'It's you? How did you enter the house', neither did her actions reflect that she knew who the attacker was.

The system was making Rocky bluff on a critical point and he understood the dangers of lying about such a sensitive case all too well.

"I'm so sorry to hear this, are you okay?" Sunny asked sympathetically as she reached out and placed her palm over Rocky's hand in show of her solidarity.

All of humanity knew just how tight knit and pure the guild environment was, by throwing around such accusations, Rocky was throwing mud at white walls that had never seen stains before.

Rocky could sense the shift in atmosphere very well, every member in the audience had their burrows furrowed now and they looked at Rocky with a hint of hostility.

He had to tread very carefully about what he wished to say next.

[ "I know very well what I'm saying and what the consequences of my words might be.

But I choose to say it regardless.

People keep asking me under my vlogs about why do I train as hard as I do?

What demons am I fighting?

Well, I've never said it before, but I'll say it here.

I'm training so hard, because I swear to bring the culprits who kidnapped my sister to justice.

I'm too weak now, and anyone who can kidnap my sister is clearly a very strong climber as my sister was incredibly strong herself.

Agents of Olympus? Church of cowards? Someone she knew and trusted?

It doesn't matter who did it...

It doesn't even matter if it turns out that the entire True Elites guild is complacent of the crime.

If they hurt my sister, I'll fight them all" ] Rocky said with conviction, as although it was the system who offered him the words, the emotion with which he delivered it was very real.

Rocky did actually feel this way, and if it turned out that the entire guild was complicit in kidnapping his sister, Rocky would actually fight them all, however, it was not a wise thing to say on national TV, as this statement was what marked him as the 'Villain'.

—----

/// A/N - This bonus chapter is sponsored by patron allcat_gaming, please thank him in the comments for this one ///