Chapter 299 The Interview


    Human Empire, Capital City Astra.


    National Airport, 9:00 A.M.


    The spaceshipnded on the airport, and a portal opened right in front of it, from which Rio and others walked out one by one.


    A red carpet wasid down for them beforehand, and bodyguards were standing on both sides to keep the cameramen and reporters in check.


    As the champion returned home, Rio led the group and raised his hand in the air to wave at the cameras, which were broadcasting everything live.


    Rio was wearing his shadow robe, which he had modified to look better. He also didn''t cover his face so that the cameras could take his picture.


    ''Hmm, I think the shadow robe is good enough to be a good-looking dress…''


    Rio unsheathed his sword and raised it towards the sky, saying,


    "Glory to the human empire!"


    The whole inte went crazy at those words; they knew that Rio was conveying that he had won the championship not for himself but for the whole human race.


    That victory in the tournament of supreme talents belonged to the whole human race, and everyone felt proud of it. They had defeated the whole world and shown their immense strength.


    Seeing that those words had a positive effect, Rio sheathed his sword and left with the others.


    Link and others also waved their hands at the cameras and smiled a bit before following behind Rio to leave.


    All of them are eager to go back home and sleep all day long now, so they wanted to be done with this all and leave early.


    Although the cameramen and the reporters wanted to get closer, the bodyguards stationed around the red carpet stopped them all.


    The others entered the luxurious cars stationed nearby, one by one, except Rio, who stayed behind with Jin and Ashtel.


    Lia looked at him in confusion and asked, n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "You aren''t leaving with us?"


    Rio shook his head and opened the car''s door for her.


    "No, I have to give an interview; no worries, I will be with Mr. Jin and Mr. Ashtel; let''s meet up in the evening; you can go ahead."


    Lia nodded her head at his words and entered the car.


    Rio closed the door for her, and the car left immediately.


    Observing that the others had left, Rio nced at Jin and said,


    "Shall we go to the interview area now?"


    Jin nodded his head and led the way.


    While walking, Rio said,


    "Well, I haven''t really been in interviews before; what should I keep in mind?"


    When he heard Rio''s question, Ashtel, who was walking right beside him, crossed his hands around his chest and said it in his usual calm voice.


    "Hmm, it''s nothing special, actually… They will just ask you some random questions, and you just have to answer them ording to your heart…"


    "Even if you mess up something, they will likely filter out the unnecessary parts, so you just need to go through it with a rxed mind…"


    Rio frowned a bit at those words and said, in his usual emotionless tone,


    "I don''t like talking about myself that much, though… "It kind of feels weird to be praising yourself…"


    Rio is the type of guy who doesn''t brag about what he has achieved.


    For example, imagine if he has won a prize of millions and you have won only a pocket of money, and you are bragging about it in front of him; he won''t even try to stop you.


    Instead, he will cheer you up, saying it''s a very good asion. He''s the type of guy who won''t even tell others about his achievements unless you find them out first.


    Seeing the troubled look on Rio''s face, Jin felt amused.


    "Haha, so going in front of the camera for the first time can make even a calm and collected guy like you get nervous? I am d I asked you toe…"


    Rio rolled his eyes and said,


    "It''s not like I am nervous; I am worried that I will say something that will cause problems… The whole nation will be watching the interview after all; you didn''t even give me a chance to prepare…"


    Jin shrugged his shoulders at Rio''sints and replied in an amused tone,


    "Hehe, I wonder how your expressionless face will react when the reporters bombard you with questions."


    Before Jin could continue, Ashtel kicked him lightly in the back.


    "Go away; don''t make him more tense than he already is!"


    Jin rubbed his back with a look as if he were wronged,


    "Ugh, that hurt, Mr. Ashtel. You should hold back a little on us weak and fragile people…"


    Ashtel red at Jin a bit, and Jin had no choice but to stop speaking.


    "Okay, okay, no need to get so tensed; I was just joking…"


    ''D*mn it! I nearly got my spine broken by that kick!... No wonder they say that Ashtel is the strongest…''


    Seeing that Jin had stopped talking, Ashtel nced at Rio and said in a calm voice,


    "Just think of it as if Lia is asking you questions… I am sure you will be able to talk more easily if you think about it like that…"


    ck lines appeared all over Rio''s face after hearing that weird advice from Ashtel.


    ''What do you mean, think about Lia while in the interview!? If that happens, I''ll end up spilling all of my secrets!''


    Rio shook his head and stopped asking for advice from these two guys.


    ''They might be SS-rankers, but sometimes… I feel they are kind of useless…''


    Jin and Ashtel are both open-minded people, and they can talk for hours in an interview without any worries because it''s natural for them.


    But Rio is different; he rarely ever talks with anyone, and chatting with random people for apparent reasons feels like a waste of time to him.


    ''Ugh, I already want to go home… If not for the sake of the date with Lia, I would not bother doing all this…''


    …


    Airport, VIP hall.


    Rio and the other two entered the hall and walked towards the stage without hesitation.


    All three of them sat on chairs designated for them, and hundreds of reporters and cameramen that were already standing in front of the stage focused their cameras and mic''s at them.


    The interviewer turned out to be a prettydy; she nodded at them all as they sat in their seats.


    She was sitting on a chair right in front of them.


    She nced at the camera and said, with a smile,


    "Hello everyone! Today we are weing the star who won the championship of the supreme talents, and with him are the two SS-rankers of our nation, Jin Walt and Ashtel Rex!"


    "Let us wee them with great apuse!"


    After she was done with the greeting, thedy smiled, nced at Rio, and asked in a gentle voice,


    "So, can you tell us how you feel after winning the biggest tournament in the world?"


    Rio''s face remained just as emotionless as ever as he said,


    "I feel quite lucky, actually; in thest match I would have lost if not for the fact that my luck helped me in thest minute…"


    ''I can''t say that I feel ''nothing'' in front of all these cameras… They will think I am mocking the other candidates…''


    Since Rio couldn''t say the real truth, he was lying without showing anything amiss on his face.


    He really felt nothing at all about winning the tournament; for him, it was all part of a process to steal the protagonist''s chance, so he didn''t even care about the tournament in itself.


    Only the final result mattered to him.


    "Yeah, but I feel kind of regretful that I had to injure my fellow ssmates and friends in the tournament…"


    Rio''s words made the audience appreciate him, and they assumed that Rio was only telling the truth.


    Once Rio was done answering, thedy then asked Ashtel a question:


    "Mr. Ashtel, How do you feel from the perspective of a protector of the human race about this victory that the human empire has secured…"


    Ashtel nodded his head and replied in a calm voice,


    "I feel great; although I was expecting my son Link to win, it''s still a good thing that the victory stillnded in the hands of the human empire… Rio has brought a lot of fame to us, and we are grateful for it…"


    Jin also nodded his head in response to those words.


    "Yes. Just as Mr. Ashtel said, we are grateful for the fact that Rio has won the tournament and has increased the reputation of the whole human race…"


    The reporterdy nodded her head and then asked Rio another question:


    "Which fight did you feel was most difficult for you?"


    Rio pretended to be contemting for a moment and then said,


    "Hmm, actually all fights were difficult as I had to raise my sword against my friends, but if you ask a specific one, then the fight against Link was the most difficult…"


    Although Rio said that without changing his expressions, he was already thinking a lot in his mind.


    ''Can''t say that the most difficult was actually the fight against Lia… I didn''t even want to unsheathe my sword in that fight…. It took a lot of determination to attack her…''


    ''If not for the fact that I couldn''t afford to lose the protagonist''s chance, I would have already surrendered at the start of the fight…''


    …


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