Academy, Boy’s Dormitory,
Rio’s room.
A week passed by in a blink of an eye, and the panic in the nation calmed down slowly as time went by.
Raji’s efforts paid off as she held a conference and explained publicly that things were under control.
Sitting on the couch, Rio sipped tea as he watched the news on TV.
The reporter was standing in Oaklum and was reporting news from an event that was held yesterday.
[In the ’Chorons Incident,’ a brave warrior sacrificed her life and helped in defeating the ’Demon Prince’!]
[Unfortunately, she lost her life in battle, but her sacrifice didn’t go in vain and even resulted in the birth of a new S-ranker!]
[Today, Raji Croft and students from academy held a funeral for her and made a tomb in her memory!]
[The newly ascended S-ranker, Rio Flash who is the son of late ’Kevin Flash,’ the ’Soul Splitter,’ personally came to pay his respects!]
Seeing his own statue-like expressionless face appear on TV, Rio couldn’t help but feel awkward.
’I don’t like appearing on tv... ugh...’
As said in the news, he, Lia, and others all went to Oaklum yesterday to carry out Riko’s funeral and made a tomb in her memory.
The tomb was built right beside Zach’s, and thus Rio and others visited it too.
Rio talked to Zach’s family and told them that he has already dealt with the demon who killed Zach, and Riko helped him in that matter.
Zach’s family members thanked Rio, and they allowed Riko’s tomb to be placed beside Zach’s.
Raji personally came over for a brief amount of time and then teleported back, as she still had the duty to guard the Rex Mansion and couldn’t stay for long.
She even arranged for people that informed Fade and Kira’s family members about their unfortunate death. Kira’s family was already sad that their daughter had been missing for so long, and this news dealt a critical blow to them.
Her mother fainted, and her father cried silently while holding his wife with a look of sadness.
Although Rio doesn’t have any ties with Kira, he still went to her funeral and paid his respects.
Only Fade’s case caused more headache. It turned out his family was nowhere to be found, and further investigation had to be launched to find them.
Since there was no one available to handle Fade’s funeral, Raji decided to conduct it alongside Kira’s and to place both of their tombs in the same location.
While attending Kira’s funeral, Rio stood in front of Fade’s tomb for a good few minutes as he felt guilty for this situation.
He knew that stealing Fade’s chances might change the future, but even he never expected that such a massive change might happen.
’In fact, I still can’t believe that the heaven’s chosen would have died just like that... I have a lingering feeling that something is not adding up...’
Rio couldn’t come to a proper conclusion, as he had no evidence; thus, he could only shake his head and accept that Fade had already passed away.
Although Fade wasn’t exactly a good person or a trustworthy comrade, Rio still felt that it was a shame that he ended up with such a terrible fate.
’I feel guilty for doing this to him but even if I had to start over again... I would still choose to steal his chances...’
It’s not that Rio hates Fade or anything; it’s just that this is a world filled with dangerous things, and Rio doesn’t want to stay weak and helpless.
He prefers taking his fate in his hands rather than depending on some unreliable protagonist who might even fail in saving the world.
Moreover, Rio couldn’t have achieved whatever he has today if he never had this current strength.
Even if he knew beforehand that stealing Fade’s chances might put him in a bad situation, Rio is no saint at all; he’s a selfish person who will care about himself first before thinking about others.
’Sigh, sometimes I envy those anime protagonists who have such a bright and benevolent personality... I can never be like them...’
Rio shook his head and changed the channel, as he didn’t want to continue seeing that reporter show his face from hundreds of different angles again and again.
[Breaking News! The SS-ranker Raji Croft has announced that one of the academy students has ascended to Rank S!]
[A new S-ranker is born!]
’Ugh, are all channels playing this same news over and over!? It’s already been a week since the press conference!’
’Can you stop talking about me already!?’
Rio couldn’t help but sigh in defeat, as no matter which news channel he switched to, almost all of them were talking about him.
"I see... this is a strategy to suppress public fear and panic... they are using me to settle down the chaos in the empire..."
As dozens of pieces of bad news kept piling up and thousands of people died in this incident, people of the nation have been living in fear for quite a few days.
The government wanted to somehow calm the panic, and Rio became the perfect scapegoat for this matter.
As he has newly ascended to rank S and Raji herself announced this matter, the government likely told the media to stop reporting all the negative news about damages and focus on Rio more.
This way, the media will finally show some good news amidst the dozens of bad news, and people will finally be able to see some hope.
[Yes! Everyone! This is the face of the ’Hero’! Who stopped the ’Chronos Incident’ single-handedly!]
[The evil demon prince was defeated by none other than this newly ascended S-ranker, the ’Dark Star’ Rio Flash!]
[Sources have confirmed that during the incident, the ’Dark Star’ had to confront the demon prince and fight him to a bitter end!]
[Just when things were looking grim, he broke through his limits and achieved victory! He destroyed the schemes of the demon prince and saved the day!]
[It won’t be wrong to call him the ’Hero of Dawn!’ as he brought a new dawn on this nation by defeating the demon prince and blowing up his evil plan!]
Rio’s face twisted in shame as he heard the news anchor exaggerate his deed over and over.
"They even gave me a new title!? Why does this title sound so cringe!? This is why I don’t like appearing on tv!!"
"I can already see Link and Liam laugh in amusement at this news!"
Rio couldn’t help but rub his temples to stop the coming headache.
"I knew it that I shouldn’t have told them that I defeated Alverto... ugh... I should have just said that Riko killed him instead..."
Now that things have escalated to this level, Rio is feeling regret that he told Raji that he was the one who defeated Alverto.
’Thankfully I didn’t speak about anything else or the chaos would have been completely unstoppable!’
"What kind of assassin will I be if everyone already knows my face and identity! I was supposed to keep myself low-key and was planning on avoiding the spot-light..."
Rio shook his head in helplessness and sipped tea to calm his mood.
He switched the channel again to see if there was some decent news playing, but his expectations were betrayed.
[The newly ascended S-ranker, Rio beats the sh*t out of the demon prince!]
[Breaking News! The demon prince screams in fear! The ’Hero’ chases him with his metal spear!]
[The powerful S-ranker Rio, beat the demon boss and taunts the demons, asking, ’Who’s Next?’!!]
[SS-rankers pay respect; a new star, the Dark Star rises in the sky as the demons cower in fear of his shining aura!!]
[All people bear witness! This person will be the next SS-ranker of the empire!]
*pfffttttt*
Rio spat out the tea he had just drunk as a look of shock and bewilderment appeared on his face.
"What the actual f*ck!? When did I taunt the demon race, saying, ’Who’s next?’.. wha!?"
"And what is this weird phrasing, ’chased with metal spear’!? Why are you making this sound so suspicious!?"
Rio immediately turned the TV off and placed his palms on his face to calm himself down.
Ever since he came to this world, Rio has never felt as embarrassed and awkward as he is feeling now.
"I should start wearing mask from now on... I might end up getting assassinated by demons instead at this rate..."
Rio couldn’t help but sigh in defeat at that moment.
The news channels are exaggerating Rio’s deeds just to calm down the public and get them to move their attention from the previous sad incident.
But by doing this, they have placed Rio in the spotlight, and this news might even reach the demons, who will likely attack Rio if they get a chance in the future.
’I will have to be careful in the future whenever I go out of the human empire from now on...’
Moreover, they are even claiming that Rio will be the next SS-ranker of the empire; this will bring Rio attention from even SS-rankers!
"Ugh, I need to improve my stealth skills fast or I might really get ambushed ten times a day from now on..."
Rio summoned his sword and placed it on his lap before holding it to calm down his emotions.
’Most of the times I am envious of others that I don’t feel emotions but it’s these weird situations that end up causing my emotions to go haywire...’
’Only my sword is the most reliable companion aside from Lia... holding it makes me calm...’