Chương 418: (411) 6.25. A Quick Soundbite

Vin took in the comfy chairs scattered about the room and inspirational posters someone had painstakingly taken the time to recreate hanging from the walls. Each one had their own little Edregon flare, and he thought the sight of a cat dangling from Terra's outer wall with the phrase 'Hang in There' printed along the bottom was a nice touch.

Avaline had done such an impressive job redecorating and turning the room into a comfy office space he could barely even tell they were in one of the private rooms within the Support Guild.

"Thank you for agreeing to speak with me," Avaline said, flashing him an award-winning smile as she motioned for him to take a seat before sitting across from him and crossing her legs. He had no idea where she'd managed to get a pressed pantsuit of all things, but it seemed Terra's Tailors had really come a long way.

"I know you just experienced a rather blood-pumping fight, but I've been trying to get the chance to interview you for the paper for sometime now, and I didn't want to miss my shot when I saw you standing there all on your own."

"Frank said he didn't need any help, so I'm all yours," Vin shrugged. After Avaline had made her pitch, Vin had agreed on the condition that they swing by the hospital and see if Frank needed him first. Frank's actual words had been somewhat less couth, so Vin had agreed to speak with the Writer.

It had actually been Spur weeks back who had suggested he do a piece for the paper if he wanted to try and humanize himself more with the Earthers, but in typical fashion, Vin just hadn't found the time to actually hunt Avaline down and ask about doing such. Seeing as whatever was going to happen to Waltz and Curash was going to have to wait until Spur and Golrim returned to Terra, he figured now was as good a time as any.

"The legendary Roamer, here in my own office," Avaline smiled, clicking her pen as she gave him a hungry look that reminded Vin far too much of how Shia occasionally looked at her own dinner.

"I have so many questions for you I'll admit I'm not even sure where to begin, so let's start off on the simpler side, just to get the interview juices flowing. You came in with the very first wave of Earthers, correct?"

"Yep, I'm a first waver, through and through," Vin nodded, relieved they weren't delving into anything too scary right off the bat.

"Signed Sean's autograph book and everything."

"That's right, I have heard rumors that one of the guards was going around collecting autographs from the surviving first wavers," Avaline said, scribbling on her notebook as she spoke.

"I might have to see if he'd be interested in me doing a piece on him at some point. But let's try and keep the focus on you today. I mean, you're arguably the most talked about person in all of Terra. Were you aware of that?"

"I could have guessed," Vin drawled.

"It seems pretty obvious just from that answer that you're not exactly a fan of your newfound fame," Avaline pointed out, giving him a curious look.

"Any particular reason for that? Most people can't get enough of the limelight."

"No real reason. I just like doing my own thing, and some of the rumors people spread about me are so ridiculous that listening to them causes me physical pain," Vin admitted.

"That's sort of why I'm even here."

"Well, now would be the perfect time to correct some of those very same rumors," Avaline agreed, pulling out a sheet of paper and starting at the top.

"For example… Is it true you gained your immense power from eating nothing but monsters for three square meals a day?"

"What?" Vin asked blankly, staring at her as he tried to figure out if she was serious.

"No, of course not. That would drive you insane! My team fought against a high-level Relic Guardian who went mad from doing just that. In fact, he's the one who cut off my arm."" Really now?" Avaline asked, her eyebrows skyrocketing as she scribbled away.

"Good to know. I've heard rumors that a few combat classes were thinking about trying that as a unique diet to grow stronger. In that case, moving onto the next rumor… The Slayer. Another rather famous figure around town. Is she actually your own disembodied soul you bound to a suit of armor?"

"This one is still going around? No, she's a friend. I found her trapped in her home fragment as a ghost, and eventually helped her find a new body for herself. Alka is her own person in charge of her own decisions. We're close, but she's not my literal soul."

"Noted," Avaline said, scribbling some more.

"What about the claim some people are making that you're secretly one of the Gods pretending to be a fellow Earther, sent down to keep an eye on us and make sure we don't break any of their rules?"

"…I'm not?" Vin offered, that one catching him completely off guard.

"But what kind of question is that? I mean, even if I was, it's not like I would admit to it. But I'm not!"

"Of course, of course," Avaline said, scribbling in her notebook. Vin tried not to sigh as he glanced down and caught the large question mark she added beside his answer. This was going to be a long interview. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Avaline continued asking him about the more popular rumors he was a part of, and as much as Vin disliked hearing them laid out one after another like this, he wasn't about to give up the opportunity to finally put some of them to rest. Once they finished up with those, she tried to transition to asking him about his magical abilities and the spells he knew, but Vin decided revealing his hand like that to anyone outside of the council probably wasn't the best idea.

As soon as she realized he wasn't going to give her a list of what he was capable of, she shifted gears once again, moving right onto questions about himself instead.

"The people are just as curious as to what makes you tick as they are what you can do," she admitted, tapping her pen as she watched him.

"Earlier, you said you like doing your own thing, yet somehow you ended up as a member of Terra's famous council, where your vote is cast on pretty much any matter of any real importance involving the entire town. How did that happen?"

"There was… a lot of stuff going on back when the council was first founded," Vin said, scratching his head as he debated whether it was worth getting into a lengthy discussion surrounding Patty and her attempts at snatching power away from Spur during those first ten days. Even if Spur had been a fan, the entire concept of the council had originally been her idea, and Vin had only ended up getting a seat due to Spur making a snap judgement call to limit the amount of influence Patty would have.

She'd originally wanted it to just be representatives of the combat, support, and crafter classes. Spur was the one who had decided they needed a general overseer and a foreign branch as well, nominating himself and Vin for those two spots.

"Back then, witnessing people die and struggle to survive was more commonplace. I just wanted to do whatever I could to try and prevent that as much as possible."

"That's quite heroic of you," Avaline smiled.

"However, would you say that's fair when you miss the vast majority of council meetings?" Vin was caught off guard by the change in tone of the question, and he gave Avaline his own questioning look. In response, she merely shrugged as she waited for his answer.

"I'd say it's largely unavoidable. As the leader of the foreign branch, naturally, I have to run around and interact with other fragments pretty much constantly. I told the rest of the council as much when I took the position, and they told me it was fine."

"Some people don't think it's fair that Spur is given your voting power when you're not here," Avaline pointed out, scribbling away in her notebook.

"…Okay?" Vin said, raising an eyebrow.

"That's not a question."

"Sorry, Vin, I'm just trying to ensure I capture both sides of Terra when it comes to my interview with the Roamer. I can happily tell you that practically everyone in town is a fan of yours, which is pretty remarkable. Believe me, that sort of approval rating isn't seen back on Earth anywhere but in dictatorships where the numbers aren't real to begin with. The closest I've ever gotten to hearing people being disgruntled with you is from those who think how your seat on the council is handled isn't fair.

And those are more people who are anti-Spur than anti-you. I'm just curious if you have anything to say on the matter."

"I mean, not really?" Vin admitted, unsure what Avaline wanted from him. He only really cared about trying to dispel some of the crazier rumors he kept hearing floating about town and to try to get people to stop staring at him like he was some sort of God incarnate. While he didn't think Avaline was the type to take something he said and twist his words against him, he didn't want to accidentally say something that might hurt Spur in the long run.

"I think Spur's done a great job during the meetings I miss. Terra has held out against six waves of monster attacks, people are happy and leveling, and everything appears to be working. I won't pretend like I know how to run a town on my own, but having seen how dozens of other worlds handle their civilizations, I'm more than happy to chime in and offer unique perspectives when needed."

"You really aren't one for politics, are you?" Avaline asked, her smile only growing as she jotted down his answer.

"I have to say, it's a breath of fresh air finally getting to speak with you. I'll admit I found your glowing reputation a bit hard to believe the first time I heard about you."

"It doesn't help that people keep making up more and more ridiculous stuff the more time goes on."

"No, I bet it doesn't," Avaline giggled.

"Now then, there's really only one last thing the people want to know about. Your legendary, elusive girlfriend."

"I'm going to stop you right there," Vin said, holding up a hand and continuing despite Avaline's first frown.

"What I will say is that her name is Lumel, and she is a person just like me or you. I don't want to reveal anything more about her without her permission, so you'll have to wait on that front. Maybe we can do a joint interview with the three of us sometime down the line or something if she is interested. I certainly wouldn't mind."

"I would like that very much," Avaline said, her frown vanishing almost as fast as it had appeared as Vin floated the possibility of doing another interview. Getting to her feet, Avaline shook his hand and gave him one more smile.

"In that case, why don't we stop here for now? You've given me more than enough to fill an entire newspaper, let alone the front page, so I'll hold off on my other questions. Though I'd be a terrible newspaper writer if I didn't at least ask you for any details or information on what happened in the park before I caught you."

"I'm not sure how much I should say on that just yet," Vin said slowly, deciding the smart thing to do would be to wait until Spur got back and explained what he wanted to do.

"All I can say is that from what I saw, Frank had everything under control with healing those who were harmed, and Phil managed to take down the one responsible without issue."

"I can't help but notice you said nothing about your own role in the incident," Avaline pointed out.

"Like always, I helped where I could," Vin shrugged.

"Of course," Avaline said, looking like she wanted to say more before catching herself and giving him another warm smile.

"Well, thank you for taking the time to speak with me. Don't forget to run that interview idea past Lumel when you get the chance! Nobody has seen her in almost a week. Is she doing alright?"

"Nice try," Vin said, returning her own smile before seeing himself out.

"You'll have to ask her yourself if you want to know what she's been up to!"