"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.
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.
"I'm okay-" Rocky affirmed as he displayed the same cold indifference that he was famous for, showing a full control over his range of emotions.
" I'm terribly sorry for prying more into this topic, however, from your statement it seems like you doubt that there might be someone close to your sister who must have betrayed her…." Sunny said in an unsure voice, as the system screen before Rocky changed.
[ *Nod solemnly*
"Yes, there are many things fishy with the incident when I think about it and I do fear it to be an inside job.
I have no hard proof to back my belief, however, there are things that just won't add up in my mind.
The True Elites guild was supposed to be protecting my sister, there was meant to be a guild member looking after her 24x7, however, there was a 3 minute window between when she was attacked and when the apartment exploded where no-one came to her aid.
It's almost been a month since then and the progress about finding her whereabouts is non-existent.
The guildmaster Karna personally assured me that the guild is working hard on this topic and that they would not hesitate to go on a war for Riva, however, I just don't see it.
The best guild in the entire world making 0 progress while investigating using all its available resources doesn't make any sense to me.
The guild member who was assigned to my sister's security detail, not showing up in her time of need is not normal.
My gut tells me there's someone within the guild torpedoing the flow of essential information….. that someone Riva trusted has a big hand in betraying her" ] Rocky said, as he felt sweat form on his back as he uttered these words with conviction.
There was no turning back now, he had officially bit the hand that was feeding him, as the mad system had made him go after the integrity of the largest and most successful guild in the history of humanity.
"Wow…. Those are some very serious accusation's young man" Sunny said, as her tone while addressing Rocky shifted significantly after he openly criticized the True Elites.
In this world, where monster outbreaks occured every four years and climbers were forced to risk their lives to defend the normal citizens, it was beyond taboo to criticize a guild.
However, the True Elites was not just another guild and was the largest and most successful one in the history of humanity.
Karna was akin to humanity's chosen son, and even insinuating a hint of criticism towards him was akin to committing sacrilege.
To make matters even worse, Rocky had chosen to push the narrative that there was someone within the guild who had betrayed Riva when the True Elites famously had the slogan "One for all and all for one" which signified their unity and integrity.
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'.
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/// A/N - This bonus chapter is sponsored by patron allcat_gaming, please thank him in the comments for this one ///