A Rematch with the Heretic

"God is… something that exists within your hearts…"

I was surprised when I first entered and heard a woman's voice, but when I heard it was a guy using a voice changer I almost threw up. Even though people said the content was good, I tried to stick around and listen, but there was literally nothing, you fucking bastard. Why the hell would you recommend this shit?

(Inquisitor Lene Broadcast.mp4)

[You can see here how the heretic suddenly goes "pop!" and disappears…?]

— I don't get it

[Uh… anyway, it goes "pop!" and disappears, which means it used an ambush skill from behind… so of course you just go "whoosh!" and "shwick!"]

What the fuck does "whoosh!" and "shwick!" even mean lol

By the time I finished the review, the viewer count had risen to 15. Was it because I provided high-quality information? I felt proud of myself.

"Everyone. Is there anything else you'd like to hear?"

"I thought it was basic stuff, but… was it too difficult…"

Well, no matter how simply I tried to explain, if our levels were completely different, it might be hard to understand. Let's try breaking it down in more detail.

"Um, so… to put it simply? In New Dimension, if you run, you can go faster, right?"

"No, that's not what I meant… The running speed in reality and in New Dimension are different, right? 'Shuuuk!' becomes 'shuk!' That's because of the system correction. So rather ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than using skills well, it's more important how you move ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠when you're not using skills."

"Hmm. I guess that's about it."

Why were the reactions so bad? Earlier it seemed like I was even getting donations and good responses…

Wow, I really learned something good. I wanted to climb the PVP rankings anyway—

…Oh. So they were trolling me. I got fooled. Still, it didn't feel entirely bad. Even while messing with me like that, the fact that they liked the stream meant my follower count had reached 8.

Anyway, once the review broadcast ended, viewers started asking questions about me. It might sound a bit mean to say this, but it was much ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠livelier than when only Lionel and Moriarty were around, and I liked it. Those two had been chatting steadily the day before yesterday too, but there were moments when the chat would go quiet.

"Yes. I am a guy. I'm using a voice changer… I-I haven't trolled anyone. I really don't understand why you're calling me a troll when I'm just trying to make heretics repent…"

"Uh, um…"

Well, bringing up Ia's name here wouldn't be bad, but given the current atmosphere, I'd probably just hear something like "What the hell are you talking about, you fucking otaku?" So rather than provoking backlash, it was better to gloss over it with a safe answer.

"God is… something that exists within your hearts…"

"There was a heretic hiding here. Three-minute ban."

"Anyway, the review is roughly done… What should I do now?"

Using this momentum to do some PVP seemed good, and I also thought the AOS mode, which could show more varied gameplay, would be fine. I'd already finished this week's Tagirion raid…

While I was pondering that, the chat offered a rather unexpected opinion.

Moriarty had said something similar last broadcast too. These people… weren't they from the New Dimension Gallery? I thought they'd obviously want to see something related to New Dimension. But it seemed quite a few of them, not just one or two, wanted to see other games. Why?

"Everyone… you don't want to watch New Dimension…?"

70% wanted to see New Dimension. About 30% wanted to see something else. Their reasons for wanting other games were also fairly reasonable. The guys who hang around the New Dimension Gallery usually live on a different schedule from normal people, so there was no need to watch New Dimension-related content even on stream. …But Tuney had said that right now, just doing New Dimension would make viewers gather pretty easily, so I decided to try other games once I was more settled.

"For games other than New Dimension, I'll look for something I like later and give it a try. For now, let's stick with New Dimension a bit more…"

Ranked matches. To be honest, until now I hadn't really considered it. It was annoying to seriously compete with people and climb scores. But now that I'd started streaming, ranked matches seemed like they could be pretty good content. From what I'd looked into, in game streams, just having a high rank as a streamer was enough to draw some attention.

"…Ranked matches. Should I give it a try?"

I'd heard that just reaching A-rank put you in the top 5%. Maratang? Maribako? That heretic had been B-rank and still had pretty decent skill, so I figured A-rank would definitely be more fun.

After deciding on ranked PVP as content, I changed the stream title and started matchmaking, only to be greeted by a rather long wait time.

"Normal matches usually get found in 10 seconds…"

Two minutes had already passed just from waiting.

And then a viewer's chat caught my eye.

"One of two things…?"

The moment I found it and was about to ask why—

I accepted the match without hesitation.

"Huh?"

And the opponent that appeared was yesterday's heretic.

Marariko had decided to think of yesterday's events as nothing more than a natural disaster. Just like there were sometimes things you couldn't avoid no matter how much you tried, what happened yesterday was also an unavoidable accident. He quietly resolved to himself that he would just think of it that way and move on. Thanks to properly spreading the burgers in the gallery, he had received thanks rather than insults. He had also memorized the "Inquisitor's" IP right after yesterday's PVP ended. Since that person didn't do ranked matches, they were someone he would never meet again. So yesterday had simply been an unavoidable accident, Marariko thought with a smile as he moved on. That was how it should have been.

But there was one mistake Marariko made.

He had forgotten the truth of the world—that something that happened once could happen a second time.

"…Fuck."

Clang!