Hacker Accusations
Wow! Heretics! While New Dimension's overwhelming freedom is definitely one of its strongest points, the game isn't solely about soaking up that liberty. Since it brands itself as an RPG, it has status windows, inventories, quests, and even raids as its ultimate endgame content. And right now, the pinnacle of New Dimension is the demon Tagirion, who resides in Cliphort's Castle. Today just so happened to be the day the entry restrictions for Tagirion reset.
So, as usual, I started recruiting party members for the raid in front of Cliphort's Castle.
Tagirion Raid Recruitment. Heretics Absolutely Declined | Inquisitor | Traveler
.....
...Huh? What is this? Something's off. Why isn't anyone applying?
The popularity of New Dimension among gamers right now is absolute. That's why recruitment posts for the endgame content, Tagirion raids, normally get flooded with applications at an insane speed the moment they're posted. Sure, my party rejects heretics, so we're less popular than other groups... but even then, there's no way we should be this dead.
"What the..."
It wasn't like the area was empty. Of course, since Tagirion raids are endgame content, it wasn't packed like a major city, but there were still more than enough people for raids to form. Maybe the recruitment notice had a bug?
With that thought, I checked other parties' posts. Sure enough, the other raid recruitment notices that had just gone up were already completely full.
"What the hell, seriously."
Seah has applied to join the party. | Spearman
While I was frowning at this incomprehensible situation, the first application finally came through. It was a familiar nickname I'd seen quite a few times while running Tagirion raids. The moment I accepted, the system message 'Party' appeared above a girl's head far off in the crowd. She'd spotted me too. She walked over, stopped in front of me, and gave a polite bow.
"Hello!"
When I answered through party chat like always, she smiled awkwardly and spoke up.
"Um... I'm not actually here to run the raid with you today. There's something I need to tell you..."
Something to tell me? What could it be? What's going on?
...Ah, wait a second. Could it be that?
The weirdly low number of people joining my party. The phrase "Heretics Absolutely Declined" attached to my recruitment post. In other words...
Had every single user in New Dimension turned into a heretic...?!
No way. If that was true, I shouldn't be worrying about raids right now. I'd end up way busier than I ever was working in the other world.
"Um... Inquisitor?"
"There are posts on the New Dimension community and the official homepage's free bulletin board... claiming that the Inquisitor is a hacker..."
...Huh? What the hell was that supposed to mean? A hacker? Me? Why?
My face scrunched up involuntarily at the ridiculous claim.
"Yes... That's probably it."
I genuinely didn't know how to react. To think there was actually a faction out there slandering someone as virtuous as me by calling me a hacker. Of course, I didn't even need to guess who was behind it. It was one hundred percent the heretics.
"Ah, sure. Just a moment. I'll send them right away."
Seah immediately dropped more than ten links into the party chat. The first was a direct sniping post on the official homepage. The rest seemed to be community reactions to it.
Lowering their head in the middle = completely predictable
Parrying with a warhammer = difficult but not impossible
I genuinely don't understand what you're looking at that makes you call it a hack. Think about your own skill level before running your mouth.
Well, no need to read any further. I'd been curious who reported me as a hacker, and it turned out to be those guys who suddenly jumped me last time. Instead of looking for the problem in their own weakness and inadequacy, they just shove the blame onto someone else. They're heretics trapped at the peak of stupidity. This must be what they call the Dunning-Kruger effect. Or maybe not. Either way, there was no point looking at any more of it.
And if I were to put it another way, this wasn't even something that needed explaining. They were calling a play that no one in their right mind would consider hacking as a hack. There were plenty of people saying it didn't look like a hack at all. It was a problem that didn't deserve even a shred of my attention.
Rather than wasting time on such ridiculous false accusations, I found myself more interested in that HeadSmashPriest guy. Maybe because I'd smashed his head so many times, his name had stuck with me. He was one of the stronger ones among the heretics. Was that why? He seemed capable of looking at the situation objectively.
...To be that rational and still a heretic. It was truly a shame. Still, someone that smart was bound to repent someday. I'd just have to help him properly until then.
"Um... are you okay?"
When I stayed silent, Seah must have gotten worried, because she spoke up quietly.
"Ah, okay. So what are you going to do now?"
"Ah... hang in there. I have a raid scheduled with my friends, so I'll head out now."
Seah has left the party.
After Seah left the party and I had nothing left to do, I immediately departed from Cliphort's Castle. No matter how quickly the controversy would die down, running a raid right now would be difficult. There were quite a few people who were on my side, but still, it would feel awkward to raid with the very person who had sniped me, especially over hacking accusations.
Well, it was a shame, but I didn't feel any real attachment. The reason I ran raids in the first place was simply because they were part of the content. I wasn't after any specific items from them. Even without raids, New Dimension had plenty of other content to enjoy.
HeadSmashPriest.
After all, this was my real job.
Wow! Heretics!
"...Ah, fuck."
Clang!