A Basement-Dwelling Loser, the Inquisitor – Chapter 184

“Hello, Rene!”

“Ah, hello….”

On the day of the New Dimension offline event.

Should I take a taxi?

While I was pondering this, drying my damp hair, Tuni came to see me.

“The director said I should take you to the offline event, so here I am to personally pick you up!”

“Ah, thank you….”

“I’m actually the one who should be thanking you. Honestly, I wanted to go too, but I failed to reserve a ticket. Thanks to you, I get to participate as a guest, so it’s totally a win!”

“Haha….”

This offline event for New Dimension had plenty of major company streamers and celebrities, enough to make you wonder if any of them had ‘super’ attached to their titles.

Tuni spoke with sparkling eyes, saying it was an opportunity to expand my network.

“Well, I’m still enjoying New Dimension, but fundamentally, I’m a comprehensive game streamer. So while I enjoy being a New Dimension player, I have to make sure I keep my options open.”

…Speaking of Tuni and New Dimension, something reminded me.

“Are you still raising the heretic, Tuni?”

During the arm wrestling championship, Tuni had mentioned she was still raising a heretic.

I had intended to talk about it afterward but completely forgot.

So this was my chance to ask.

“Huh? …What happens if I still am?”

Surely my Warhammer sleeping in the closet wouldn’t wake up… definitely not.

“I think I’d be pretty sad….”

Just like how Tuni was the one who taught me about internet streaming.

I was the one who taught Tuni why she shouldn’t raise a heretic.

But for all the effort, it seemed nothing had changed.

That thought was so sad…

In fact, there was a time in the other world when one of our cult’s priests fell into heresy.

Well, they weren’t exactly someone I was close to.

The only people in the cult I had regular conversations with were Pope Grandpa and Ariel, which is something.

But that person wasn’t a total stranger either.

They were the ones who gave me a tour of the Papal Office when I first arrived.

When I went to confront that person as an Inquisition Officer, my feelings were… well, certainly not good.

“When you showed me the Papal Office, you were such a devout priest. How did you end up like this…?”

He spoke with tears in his eyes.

He said his whole family had died of illness.

Since suicide was forbidden for priests, he chose this different path.

So he begged me to kill him.

But I had no intention of doing that.

Not out of personal reasons, but because that wasn’t the role of an Inquisition Officer.

An Inquisition Officer’s role is to subdue heretics, interrogate them, and help them find their way back to the right path.

In the end, he was subdued by me and dragged back to the cult.

I had many conversations with him, hoping he could return as a priest.

I didn’t force an interrogation.

He had once been a devout priest, so I believed he would come back quickly.

And he committed suicide a month later.

Leaving a letter of apology addressed to me.

In the end, he remained a heretic until the very end.

Seeing that, Iya once said.

She said she felt her helplessness every time that happened.

I felt exactly the same way.

The existence of things I can’t change, no matter how hard I try… It was something I couldn’t easily accept, even if it was just empty words.

So I hoped Tuni wouldn’t raise a heretic.

“…Actually, I’ve given up.”

“Huh…?”

“It’s not specifically because of you, Rene, but I made a bet with my fans and ended up raising a Spear Master. So I transitioned from that; it turns out I find it more fun than being a Priest…. Saying I’ve given up feels less fitting than saying I’ve switched, I guess. Everyone had said you’d like it, haha.”

…What a relief.

Tuni has strayed from the path of heresy.

I was right after all….

“Well then, let’s get going! It should take about an hour to get there, so I think leaving now is a good idea.”

“Yes….”

In any case, after chatting about that, my hair had completely dried, and having confirmed that, we left the house.

Unlike Tuni’s quite flashy outfit, I was dressed simply in a shirt and jeans.

It was an unbelievable difference for going to the same event.

Of course, I also wore a hat and sunglasses, but… well, still, a clear difference in attire remained.

Is this what being in-crowd is like…?

“By the way, Rene.”

“Yes…?”

“How did you end up going to the event in person? I thought with your personality, you’d definitely stay at home….”

As soon as we got in the car, Tuni asked me that question.

Just hearing the question stung my heart…

“Well, originally, I was supposed to log into New Dimension at the scheduled time from home…. They told me I didn’t need to show up at the venue at all….”

“…Huh?”

“But, uh, I spilled cola on the Reverse Capsule….”

“Oh, did your hands slip?”

“Well, that’s not quite it….”

“…What?”

Tuni tilted her head and glanced at me.

…It was an obvious mistake.

I should just say it was that, why did I deny it?

“So how did you end up spilling it?”

“Well, I placed the cola on my breasts while drinking and… forgot and got up, spilling it….”

“…What?”

Tuni looked at me as if trying to grasp the absurdity of my answer.

I wished she would stop looking at me with that expression, as I didn’t even understand myself.

After all, people don’t always act in ways that are easy to understand, right?

“So I contacted the director, and they said they’d finish replacing the cushions in the Reverse Capsule and send it until tonight, so they asked me to come to the event in person….”

“…You seriously attended for that reason?”

“Yep….”

“Haha….”

Tuni let out a chuckle.

If I were in Tuni’s shoes, I would have had the same reaction.

“It’s amazing that you’re attending for such a reason and… that you spilled the drink on your breasts while drinking. No, wait. Why were you drinking with it on your breasts in the first place?”

“It’s just super convenient since you can sip it with just a little lean forward…. You should give it a try sometime, Tuni…. Once you get used to it, it’s really comfortable….”

“I think I… wouldn’t do that.”

Why wouldn’t she? It’s truly comfortable.

As I thought that, I looked at Tuni and realized.

“…Ah.”

“Rene.”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to die?”

“…Sorry.”

What the heck did I do wrong?

★

The event venue was already bustling, despite there not being any attendees yet.

Would it really be okay to want to go home right away?

Probably not….

“Hello, Rene and Tuni! I’m Felt, the external planning manager from Liming!”

In the waiting room, following the staff’s guidance, Felt was already there waiting for me. I had already chatted with her through Miscode before.

“Rene, it’s my first time meeting you, but Tuni, we met last time in a meeting, right?”

“Yes. It’s been a while, Felt.”

“We originally brought up the idea of including Tuni in this project, but we decided to only invite streamers who primarily focus on New Dimension. Sorry about that.”

“Ah, it’s fine. I mean, it’s a New Dimension official event, so having me here, someone who doesn’t frequently stream it, feels a bit strange.”

Felt and Tuni naturally started chatting.

Of course, my role was just to listen in on the conversation.

“You can look around freely as much as you want. Just make sure to come back here by 6 PM. Since Tuni is here, we might have a few requests, is that alright?”

“Of course, that’s more than fine! Just call me as you need!”

I am a butterfly…

A butterfly that will certainly hatch beautifully from its cocoon someday…

Once this conversation ends, I will surely be able to… Would it be alright to borrow that capsule to play New Dimension?

I should ask.

“Excuse me….”

“Hello?”

Just as I reached that conclusion and tried to call Felt, someone tugged on my wrist from behind.

Turning around, I saw a girl standing there.

She was shorter than me, maybe around 150 cm.

Her shoulder-length bob had something peculiar; the light brown hair was dyed blue in the middle.

Her eyes… were the same red as mine.

The dress she wore was adorned with various decorations and overall had a flashy appearance matching her extravagant outfit.

“Ah, Edde! Where did you go?”

“I was hungry, so I brought food.”

The girl called Edde held a triangular kimbap in her right hand, just as she said.

“This is the streamer Rene I mentioned earlier, who will be your opponent today.”

…Wait a second.

Are they saying I’m the opponent today?

That means….

“I was invited to the event today as a special guest just like you, Rene. I look forward to working with you.”

So this person is my PVP opponent today.

“You obviously know, right? This is Edde.”

From how Felt spoke, it seems like she’s an extremely famous person.

Naturally, I had no idea who she was.

“So, nice to meet you….”

“I’m looking forward to a good match today. I’m curious about the skills of the person acknowledged by Ga-eun oppa.”

But, there’s a sharp undertone to her words that’s been lingering from earlier, or am I just imagining it?

…I shouldn’t be, right?

It’s just I’m meeting her for the first time today.

“I’ve been hearing a lot about it in the community lately. If I face off against you, who will win, I wonder? Well, I don’t think I’ll lose at all.”

…It doesn’t feel like I’m imagining it?

And what does she mean by the community talking about this?

I had never heard such a thing before. Could someone explain what’s going on?

“Well then, I’m going to look around the event now.”

That girl… Edde poured out her words and then left the waiting room, and finally, I was able to ask Felt and Tuni.

“Uh, who exactly is she…?”

“…Huh?”

“Do you really not know, Rene?”

The fact that I genuinely didn’t know made me nod in affirmation, and both of them chuckled.

“She’s currently the number one global ranker for New Dimension PVP.”

…Huh?

What does that even mean?

“She’s someone who said it was boring to play professionally….”

“Uh… Huh?”

So, essentially, I’m about to have a PVP match today against the world’s top ranker, who is even better than Ga-eun, while I’m merely an ordinary streamer who doesn’t play ranked?

…Why on earth?

I couldn’t comprehend it at all.