Deep in the heart of central Raison city lies the famous news street as referred to by the locals. This street is the address for all the news houses in the city. Almost all have been established since the founding of the city itself and conveniently placed close to the seat of power of the city, the governor's palace.

The Raison Times Now is one such news house located in the news street. The Raison Times Now operated from an old two storied building. Presently the building looked to be in a state of disrepair. Its walls were missing chunks in some areas while its colour had faded a long while back. Currently the whole building is surrounded by scaffolding made from bamboo. After years of negligence the owner finally agreed that the building was needed to undergo repair and renovation.

Many people were rushing into the building in the early morning. Guards posted in the front office constantly checked the identification papers of the people entering. One of those people, a young man,made his way up the big round staircase onto the second floor and walked inside the section where a sign hung on the wall ‘Sports Department Office’. He was a lanky fellow but taller than the average person. In a bid to look mature, he was attempting to grow facial hair in which he was failing miserably. Only had a thin line of hair on his upper lip to show for his troubles.

He sat down on a desk which was placed near a window of the office. He liked to see the view from there but the scaffolding obscured his precious view of the outside. A name plate was neatly placed for the convenience of anyone who would try to find him. The name plate read, Sujor Chako, Sports Writer.

A peon approached his desk and informed him that he was summoned to the Sport Chief's office. He promptly got up and walked inside the chief's office.

A tall, brown haired woman was sitting on her chair and reading from a stack of papers. She had a few wrinkles on her face due to stepping in her mid forties. She was the current head of the Sports Department of the news organisation. Her office was filled with potted plants and sunlight coming from the open window, lighted up the room. Her room was immaculately kept and tidy. She had an unusual hatred for closed office rooms so she maintained an open door policy during the working hours.

Sujor walked inside her office and sat down in one of the chairs. She looked up from the paper she was reading and put it down.

“Sujor, I need you to go to the ‘O’ family house and interview Jann” She informed him while signing the paper she was reading earlier.

“And I need the transcript by this evening.It will be published tomorrow.” She added.

Sujor sat there digesting her words for a few moments. He cleared his throat before voicing his question.

“I’m supposed to interview the champion, Katyin?” He asked to confirm.

“Yes, Sujor and you better get going.” Katyin replied to him while continuing to read other reports placed on her desk.

“Why me?” He asked again. Sujor seemed sceptical about it.

Katyin put the paper she was checking down and looked towards him.

“If not my sports writer then who should interview the biggest attraction in the combat world right now?” She asked him purplexed.

“I mean shouldn’t Maynor handle these kinds of assignments?” He voiced his confusion.

“Sujor, it’s my fucking decision who does what. So get the fuck out of my office and get your ass to the ‘O’ family house as quickly as you can. They are expecting you and don’t ask lame questions. I fucking hate it.” She cussed at him and handed him a paper.

“Here, it’s your confirmation of the assignment paper. Show this in the ‘O’ house and they’ll let you in. Now get out.” She finished and got back to reviewing the remaining papers on her desk.

Sujor, not wasting any more time, walked out of her office with his order paper in his hands. His heart was beating fast, his palms felt sweaty to him. He couldn’t believe the fact that he had to interview the current champion. He had been the champion for nearly a month and he hadn't been interviewed before. He couldn’t believe his luck and a smile started forming on his face slowly.

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He quickly walked to the stationery counter on the first floor of the building from where after showing his work order, he was issued a whole stack of blank papers to write and record the whole interview along with a couple of new feathers and an ink pot. After collecting the supplies, he made his way to the southern part of the city.

The ‘O’ family house was in the southern part of the city. The area was known to be the residence of many prestigious combat families. Officially, this area was called the Fighter Lane. This area had a strong presence of the city guard along with many people coming and going out of the area. Merchants were barred from setting up shop in this area. Sujor had to show his credentials to the guards who were posted in front of the entryway of the area. He was let in without any fuss.

Once he reached the ‘O’ family house, he showed his order paper to the receptionist working the front desk. He was immediately escorted to an empty room and was asked to take a seat and wait.

The room had two chairs kept at a fair distance with each other. A slanted front writing desk kept close to one of the two chairs. He took the chair in front of the desk and placed the supplies he brought with him. He took a few minutes to get ready and wrote down a few ideas for the interview in one of the papers.

The door of the room opened and a person entered carrying a plate and a jug with her. She put the plate and the jug along with a glass beside him on a small table.

“Please help yourself to some light snacks and there is cold water in the jug” she walked out, closing the door behind her.

Sujor had to wait close to an hour before the door of the room opened. His eyes went wide after recognizing the person walking in. It was his first time seeing in person, let alone meeting the new champion of the city, Jann Bollo.

He stood up quickly.

“Please sit” Jann smiled while he himself took his seat on the chair placed opposite to Sujor.

“Ya… yes, yes” Sujor sat back down.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr… “ Jann asked.

“Su-Sujor, Sir. It’s Sujor Chako from the Raison Times Now”

Jann smiled and nodded.

“Yes, Sujor. I hope you don’t mind my tardiness?” Jann asked.

“No-no. Not at all, Sir. It’s an honour meeting you” Sujor answered.

“Then let’s start, shall we?” Jann asked.

“Yes, absolutely” Sujor brought his chair close to the slanting table. He dipped his feather in the inkpot and started his interview.

“How is life now that you are the new armed combat champion of Raison?” Sujor started with his first question and was ready to write down whatever Jann would reply.

Jann smiled upon hearing the question and replied with, “ To be honest it has not been quite what I had expected”.

“Why not?” Sujor asked the natural follow up question.

“I expected once I was champion, I would get to focus more on training. Now that I am champion, I have misjudged the outside responsibilities which entails with this championship”. Jann replied with a smile.

“Is it safe to say these outside responsibilities are interfering in your normal training schedule?” Sujor asked his next question.

“I wouldn’t say that. My family has been strictly maintaining my training time ever since I won the championship as well as handling the outside responsibilities thoroughly and efficiently. They have made sure nothing hampers my training time, but I would say, now, I have less time for myself”. Jann honestly answered to which Sujor asked another follow up question.

“Then you really must be impressed with the previous champion, Ray’Eh’ Nos for maintaining an iron hold on the championship for so long even with these increased outside responsibilities?”

Jann gave a slight nod of approval before replying “I respected Ray when was champion. He was a dominant champion and very few fighters can maintain such long reigns but now I see what he had to put up with while he was champion. It raised my level of respect even more for him”.

“As you mentioned, he was a dominant champion so a lot of people are really curious about how you were able to edge out a victory over him when many failed to do so” Sujor asked his next question.

“First of all, I didn’t just edge out a victory, I beat him going toe to toe with him and secondly, he was already a beaten man when he faced me” Jann quickly replied.

“Why do you think he was a beaten man when the two of you fought?” Sujor wasn’t late with his follow up question.

“I meant even though physically he was the champion but mentally he was tired. I could see in his eyes. There was no fire in them, no push back to my desire to beat him. It felt to me that he had given up even before he set foot in the circle” Jann clarified his thoughts.

Sujor prodded a little further by asking “You have been in the game for a long time. Some people can’t help but wonder if you could match Ray’s legacy. They say that you, Jann Bollo, have more days behind you than in front. What do you say to those people?”

By now there was no hint of a smile on Jann’s face.

“I am at my peak shape right now and this championship around me proves my ability. I do not care for loose talks by idle people. I will defend my championship when I’m required to and build my own legacy, not follow someone else's” He answered seriously.

“Then you will not mind if you have to defend the championship in a second match, Jann vs Ray II?” Sujor asked.

“If he manages to earn himself a chance then I will, but from what I saw last time… he’s done at the elite level”

“Then maybe against someone new within the ‘Eh’ family?”

“Sure, but I don’t think they have anyone else close to operating at an elite level or has a chance to be in an elite level. Frankly, I think ‘Eh’ family’s time is over as far as operating in the championship scenario. As of now, they are finished.

What I’m counting on is other families stepping up. There are other fighters who have the capability to be at that elite level required to fight at a championship match. They are not there yet, but I’m sure in the next tournament you will certainly see one rise to that level”. Jann finished with speaking his line of thought and he relaxed a bit.

“Can you name some of the other houses which you think could be next in line for a championship fight?” Sujor enquired.

Jann smiled again upon hearing Sujor’s next question.

“As champion, I’m ready for any and all challengers. It does not matter who I name, the only thing that matters is this… whoever rises will get smashed by the torrent of my own desire to continue being ‘the’ champion” Jann replied.

There was a knock on the door before the door opened slightly, “It’s time to resume your training, Jann”. A person said then closed the door.

Sujor understood that his time was up and it was time to finish the interview.

“I think we have reached the end of the interview, but before I finish this interview, I would like to end with this question.

Do you have anything to say to your fans?” Sujor asked.

Jann nodded a little before replying, “Yes, please keep cheering me on when I beat each and every contender that dares to step up to me. I promise you I will smash them and I promise you… you will be entertained when I do that”.

Jann stood up and said, “It was nice meeting you. Thank you for coming over and I hope we can meet again sometime”. He walked out of the room without waiting to hear Sujor’s answer.

Sujor didn’t move from his seat and arranged hoped Katyin liked what he got today.