A Basement-Dwelling Loser, the Inquisitor – Chapter 120

“…Looks weird after all!”

“Bell! I’ve told you so many times not to say that!”

“It’s fine. …It’s not wrong, either.”

I shrugged in response to Bell’s finger-pointing.

At first, I thought the silvery-white hair and red eyes were pretty, but living in this world made me realize something.

Regardless of whether I thought I was pretty or not, this appearance was unusual in the eyes of others.

With memories of Earth, I knew this was completely a Fantasy World.

Even in such a fantasy world, silvery hair and red eyes were rare, and together, they were beyond rare.

I couldn’t blame a child for finding such looks odd.

Of course, it stung a little to be treated this way by kids I grew up with at the monastery, which felt like home.

But I had to understand.

I could be seen as an adult compared to these kids.

“…Well, saying it looks weird doesn’t mean it looks ugly, right?”

…What does that even mean?

Is that a roundabout way of saying you’re useless, but can still do things?

★

Crash!

“Ugh…!”

“Haha! Did you really trip, you fool!”

While returning to my room after eating, Bell tripped me, and I fell to the floor.

Fortunately, I wasn’t seriously hurt, but my right elbow scraped against the ground.

“See, that weird hair!”

“It’s not weird…”

“Bell! Are you doing that to Rene again?”

“Gotta run away~!”

Don’t talk about hair color like it’s an insult.

I used to think I couldn’t help it when kids acted this way, but as Bell led the teasing to worsen, I had no choice but to stand up for myself.

No matter how annoying it was, I couldn’t just let it slide, especially since there were no allies among the kids I grew up with in the monastery.

Especially with Bell, who continued to bully me even under the nuns’ watch. Just seeing her face made me want to shrink away.

Of course, my resistance was just a claim that I wasn’t weird at all.

What have I done to deserve such animosity?

“Rene. I hope you don’t hate Bell too much. She doesn’t really hate you, you know.”

Still, I quietly nodded at Sister Lily’s words.

Because I didn’t particularly hate Bell.

After all, she was family who I would keep seeing.

“Hey! I’ll take care of it, so you just stay back and watch me!”

Even if her intentions weren’t good, she sometimes helped me out, which made it even more complicated.

This must be what family is, I guess.

Maybe.

“You’ll never find another guy who’ll marry you with that hair and those eyes!”

…But Sister Lily.

I think Bell truly hates me, though…?

No matter how much I have no intention of marrying, saying that is over the line….

★

“Oh my. That child just got recognized as an Inquisition Officer….”

“That kid is so young?”

Excuse me, I can hear everything.

If you’re going to talk about me, can you do it when I’m not around?

Becoming an Inquisition Officer and receiving blessings from Iya improved my physical abilities to an incredible extent.

Of course, I had started training personally, but my hearing and eyesight couldn’t improve through simple training—they were significantly enhanced.

Thanks to that, I often heard things I didn’t want to hear.

“Sigh…”

I sighed and quickened my pace.

It’d be better for me to get away quickly.

I should go back to my room and just sleep.

“Look at that hair and those eyes. Seriously too….”

“Yeah, really, totally….”

“Ugh….”

I was escaping the conversations that had followed me from the monastery.

While there weren’t kids openly bullying me like in the orphanage, I couldn’t help but shrink away under the same kind of gazes they gave me.

“You should have some confidence. Or is it okay to just ask out loud? Why are you so interested in me?”

So noisy.

“Hmm… those reactions are kind of cute too.”

Your tastes are just weird.

“Is that so?”

Then it must be so.

You’re the only one who finds these looks cute when everyone else is saying they’re odd.

In a fantasy world, how could having such looks be considered strange?

It doesn’t make sense, seriously.

“Sometimes I feel like you have an enormous illusion about our world, Rene. This world is just as usual to me, filled with ordinary kids like yours.”

Don’t talk from a godly perspective.

Go pitch that to Ariel instead.

“I can’t help it because I’m a god.”

That’s true, but…

★

“You monster…!”

The male elf shouted that as he conjured a spell.

Isn’t it a bit off to say that to a girl so much younger than you?

I mean, you’re the one who messed up first, so don’t shift the blame to someone else.

Just look at what you’ve done.

You burned down your hometown for siding with Iya and even tried to kill nine of our church’s Paladins to convince them!

“Do… do you have any intention to repent…?”

“Shut up, monster! Do you know how I got here!!! …Well, I guess, from the get-go, my appearance was already nonsensical. That the so-called gods are the real abnormal ones!”

“…Ah.”

This is personally when it hurts the most.

I want to get used to it, but I just can’t.

It’s not like I chose to be born with this appearance, so why is it wrong?

Being told in such an easy yet effective way that it’s an attack on my character instantly darkened my mood.

No.

Just facing someone like this is enough to ruin my mood… Thanks to that, I suddenly wished I could just die.

But.

I still have to do what I must.

“Die, monster!!!!!”

Lightning of ice began to rain down from the sky.

Seeing that scene, I quietly closed my eyes.

I lightly grasped my Warhammer and slowly stepped forward, opening my eyes.

In a vision tinted in monochrome, I could see the face of the heretic in front of me, startled.

Running lightly and quickly, enough to walk on water, I closed the distance between us.

Boom!

And the first lightning bolt fell right in front of me.

I didn’t swing my Warhammer.

When facing magic, swinging wildly would only expose weaknesses.

If I get hit while being careless, that would just make things annoying, and I’d dislike it.

I briefly removed my left hand from the handle of the Warhammer, stretching it out fiercely toward the falling lightning.

“What…?”

As if carving out the icy lightning, I dug in and tore it apart.

My hand began to freeze solid, as if it were going to devour me, but I was just a bit faster.

Clank!

The ice dispersed as it crystallized and disappeared.

Regrettably, my left hand disappeared with it, but… I can just go back and heal, so it’s fine.

The second bolt of lightning didn’t fall.

No, to be precise, it couldn’t fall.

My Warhammer smashed down on the heretic’s head faster than that.

“Repent…!”

Boom!

“Mon…ster….”

★

“It’s the silver monster!!!”

“Why of all things, does the silver disaster have to be in front of me….”

“Silver-haired, red-eyed witch! Do you truly think you’re in the right!”

Why… do I have to hear such words…?

I didn’t expect the heretics to confess their sins from the start.

So I understand perfectly why they fear Inquisition Officers.

Other Inquisition Officers are also treated as terrifying to heretics.

But… hearing that only I am treated this way among the heretics feels pretty over the top.

I wasn’t just a heretic Inquisition Officer feared for the title; I became an object of fear, including my appearance.

“Am I really that strange…?”

“Don’t come near me, silver monster!!!”

“Is my hair and eye color… so intolerable to you that even looking at me is unbearable? I didn’t choose to be born like this….”

Kkang!

“…Repent.”

★

“Wow… Just look at that….”

“Crazy.”

“Hey, if you talk to her, you’ll totally acknowledge it.”

…Yeah, I guess having such reactions is natural.

If it’s like that on this side of the fantasy world, imagine how it would be on Earth… Korea would be even worse.

If anything, it’s probably worse, actually.

I was a fool to have any expectations, even for a moment.

★

[Rene]

[Taking a break tomorrow]

[Talk | 6899 viewers are watching | 01:42:31]

“Anyway, I’m sorry… I don’t think I can turn on the camera… Puhuh…”

─Ugh, the smell of alcohol

─I suggest everyone does a drinking broadcast at least once a month.

─I agree, lol.

─100% true, haha.

─But really, what kind of life must this guy have led for his self-esteem to be like that?

─I can clearly see that you’ve worked really hard on your body…

“Anyway, I’ll be getting sleepy soon… gotta sleep… be good, everyone…”

─?

─You idiot.

─Finish what you’re saying before leaving.

─There are two ways to make someone angry: first, interrupting while they speak.

─Later? What later? What later? What later?

★

[Rene]

[Taking a break tomorrow]

[Talk | 6621 viewers are watching | 01:59:51]

─What’s that???

─Why won’t the broadcast end?

─I’m cold, Rene… I’m cold, Rene… I’m cold, Rene… I’m cold, Rene…