The Helmet of Salvation

Aaah, the world of New Dimension is overflowing with heretics…

After logging out of New Dimension, I immediately threw myself onto the bed. “I’m so tired…” Who would’ve thought that just clearing a few basic quests would leave me so exhausted I could barely move? For now, I decided to sleep on all the questions that had popped up today and look into them tomorrow. Even using the computer to search for anything felt impossible right now.

Yeah, thinking back on it, the game really asked for way too much. Harvest the barley, then go to the brewery and talk to the owner? What kind of terrifying game is this… With that thought, I quietly closed my eyes…

…Wait. No. Actually, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous this whole thing seems.

I consider myself a pretty open-minded person. If I had to give evidence, there’d be so much I wouldn’t even know where to start. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t understand the current situation. Even someone as broad-minded as me couldn’t forgive this.

When I reincarnated, I kept all my memories from my previous life? That’s fine. Gods are supposed to be omnipotent, yet they still have these strangely human slip-ups sometimes. I can understand why one might forget to erase my past-life memories before reincarnating me.

Making me be born as a girl? That’s okay too. I learned countless times in my previous life that things don’t always go the way I want. Even if I’m a girl now, the memory that I used to be a guy doesn’t erase my sense of identity, so it doesn’t really matter.

No. I could understand all of that.

The fact that I, someone with modern Earth values, had to become an Inquisitor and smash people’s heads in? Fine. The sudden decision to send me back to Earth without warning? Also fine. I don’t have any real complaints.

But if you’re going to send me back to Earth, shouldn’t you at least provide some basic after-sales service?

I’m not even asking to be turned back into a guy. But at the very least, you should’ve fixed this personality of mine so I could live normally on Earth. Because of the personality you guys gave me, I can’t even enjoy a game properly… This is so unfair.

But there’s no way to resolve this resentment. If I ever get the chance, I swear I’ll smash that Iia bitch’s head in someday. What a shady bitch.

★

This can’t go on.

After waking up and thinking long and hard, I reached that conclusion. It made sense—I’d invested half a year’s living expenses into this game. Quitting just because I couldn’t talk to people? Anyone who heard that reason would probably laugh at me.

No. To be precise, it wasn’t even people. Quitting a game because I couldn’t talk to NPCs? What kind of nonsense was that? If Iia saw it, she’d be clutching her stomach laughing at how ridiculous it sounded.

In other words, I had to find a solution.

That meant the first thing I needed to do right now was browse the internet. If this was the place where all the world’s knowledge slept, surely the answer would be here.

The moment I searched that, a flood of posts poured out like bamboo shoots after rain. I clicked on the very first one at the top.

The title alone gave off a professional vibe. This had to be written by someone who majored in psychology or something equally impressive.

【People who can’t hold conversations tend to interrupt others and just talk about themselves… blah blah blah.】

…What the hell am I supposed to do with this? This is just someone who’s bad at conversation, not someone who literally can’t talk. I feel like an idiot for reading all the way to the end just in case. Sure, this might help people who actually worry about stuff like this, but it was completely useless to me.

I took a deep breath and checked another post, but they were all pretty much the same. Listen carefully to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠other person. Don’t interrupt randomly. Think about whether your story fits the current topic…

The one thing I was actually confident in right now was listening. Since I couldn’t speak, listening was the only thing I could do.

“What am I supposed to do…?”

I had considered asking for a refund. But the Reverse Capsule already had my biometric data registered, so the refund process was complicated and I wouldn’t get the full amount back anyway.

…Even considering that, if it was a game I genuinely couldn’t enjoy, getting even half the money back through a refund would be better. But I’d already fallen completely in love with the scenes I saw in the promotional video. So if possible, I wanted to find a way to make it work.

“How should I do this…?”

Let’s think step by step, starting from the beginning.

I can’t talk to people. In that other world, because of my unusual silver-white hair, people avoided me. With no one to talk to, I kept living as an Inquisitor, and eventually just seeing someone’s face started to feel uncomfortable. The fact that I had to smash a warhammer down on anyone who looked at me had been incredibly burdensome at first.

No matter how many times the priests healed the heretics after the interrogation, it was still extremely difficult for me, someone who still carried modern values at the time. Of course, I eventually got used to it… but by then my communication skills had already been completely destroyed. Just having someone’s gaze on me made my body freeze up. And the moment our eyes actually met…

Ah, I shouldn’t have thought about it. Anyway, the conclusion was that I couldn’t talk to people.

“…Oh.”

Wait a second. So that was the problem.

The moment I realized the perfect solution, I immediately logged back into New Dimension. No one could stop me now.

★

The place I headed to after logging into New Dimension was a forge tucked away in a corner of Barley Town. The dwarf who owned the shop was slumped over looking incredibly annoyed. Even after noticing me enter, he didn’t seem to have any intention of moving.

…Shouldn’t a shop NPC at least offer some basic greeting when a customer comes in? The question crossed my mind for a moment, but honestly, the fact that he wasn’t paying attention to me actually felt more comfortable.

Leaving the lazy owner behind, I turned my gaze and saw various weapons lined up, as expected from a forge. Starting with ordinary swords, there were shields, spears, daggers, protectors, and more. And among them was exactly what I had been looking for.

“U-um, that one…”

It cost five gold—the exact half of the ten gold I’d earned from yesterday’s quest. After paying, I immediately checked its information.

《Gort’s Helm》

《A helm carelessly forged by Gort, the dwarf smith of Barley Town, because he was tired.》

《Although it is low-grade armor, its performance is quite good.》

I felt a momentary sense of unease at the “carelessly forged” part, but that wasn’t what mattered right now. I immediately equipped the helm and looked at the dwarf owner—Gort.

[What?]

Gort answered gruffly when I stared at him. I met his eyes directly, but I didn’t feel any particular aversion.

“…As I thought.”

It really had been the gaze. Making eye contact with someone, feeling their stare on me—it had been uncomfortable. But once I put on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the helm, that feeling of eye contact disappeared, and I barely felt their gaze at all. Of course, my field of vision was a little awkward, but that was something I could get used to.

In other words, I had just overcome my weakness.

I could now be considered a perfect Inquisitor Selene.

…Since I’ve come this far, wearing a full set of plate armor to match the helm wouldn’t be bad either. And just like that, my goal in New Dimension was decided.

★

“No way, this guy is seriously vicious…”

Tyuni had ultimately run away. No, she had no choice but to run. After getting her head smashed more than thirty times in Barley Town, any sense of pride she once had was completely gone. Like Pavlov’s dog that drooled at the sound of a bell, the moment she heard the heavy clank of full plate armor, Tyuni’s entire body would freeze up.

After barely escaping, Tyuni started searching various communities for information after hearing that the “Inquisitor” was a vicious monster. The conclusion?

The player with the nickname “Inquisitor” was a concept-obsessed freak. He didn’t just smash priests’ heads. He smashed inquisitors’ heads, holy knights’ heads, and even the heads of people who had only temporarily joined the church for a quest… If someone in front of him had anything to do with the Elun faith, he would smash their head first and ask questions later.

In New Dimension, killing players inside a town made it increasingly difficult to move around due to PK penalties, but he didn’t seem to care about that at all.

“Yeah. Good thing I ran.”

If she had stayed in Barley Town out of pointless pride, Tyuni’s head would have been smashed hundreds of times for sure. Even the veteran priest players ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who had been playing much longer than her had posted threads saying to run away the moment you saw him.

And judging from all that, this [Inquisitor] had been doing this for at least a year. Continuing this kind of extreme roleplay without rest for over a year—what kind of person was he?

Tyuni quietly decided to bury that question deep in her heart. She wasn’t stupid enough to ignore Nietzsche’s words: “When you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

★

That newbie heretic hasn’t been seen lately. Did he delete his heretic character and completely repent thanks to me? Or did he move to another town? I don’t know. It would be nice if it was the former, but since we’re not friends, I have no way of knowing.

But at least he must have understood my sincerity a little, right? When someone helps you this much, it’s only natural to start wondering if there’s something wrong with your chosen profession.

Once that question takes root in your mind, it grows bigger and bigger. Memories of how I used to help people who ran into problems while playing as heretics would surface, forcing them to acknowledge that they themselves had been heretics. After all, my head-smashing technique had been regarded as an instant cure for heretics even back in that other world. I’m confident in it.

“Hmm.”

With that thought, I swung my warhammer. A sharp cutting sound rang out as the Spartoi’s body collapsed. The item it dropped was “Spartoi Bone.”

In other words, this was the last one. With this final material, my old friend the warhammer could become even stronger. If this thing smashed their heads, even the most stubborn heretic would surely repent. Whether they called themselves priests, inquisitors, or holy knights.

Aaah, the world of New Dimension is overflowing with heretics…

“Die!”

With a whoosh, I dodged the spear that tried to pierce through me. At the same time, I turned my gaze behind me. There stood three players.

What the hell is this? Suddenly attacking an innocent player like this. If this had been inside a town and I hadn’t reacted in time, I would’ve gotten a PK penalty for sure.

…Should I ask what they want?

“You should experience it too. How annoying it is to die without even knowing why.”

Fortunately, I didn’t even need to ask. The spearman standing in the middle kindly explained why they had come looking for me. He must be one of the heretics whose head I had smashed before. He didn’t look like he was here to repent and thank me…

Well, if that were the case, he wouldn’t be saying he died without knowing why. So he’s still a heretic?

I hadn’t finished reinforcing my old friend yet… but since a heretic had appeared before me, it was time to return to my main job.

★

“No, what the fuck is this game…”