Antagonist Protection Service

My mouth gaped for a second, then I asked.

"You actually know something about it?"

Unresponsive, the Librarian's thin lips remained firmly shut.

"Is there really nothing you can tell me? Nothing at all?"

"...My apologies."

I pursed my lips at the curt answer. It was unfortunate, but in the end, nothing could be done about it... Before I got too ahead of myself, I gave a small sigh and dropped my gaze to my food.

At the same time, I subconsciously raised a hand to my chin.

The Tower... was it actually related to the Library in some way? If so, what did it mean...?

No, did it even mean anything at all?

I couldn't even begin to imagine what kinds of implications a correlation between the two draws, but did it matter?

Even if the two were somehow related, it shouldn't affect me in any way, right...?

'..Ah. Unless...'

"Wait. So, is the Tower related to Protagonists and Antagonists somehow?"

"..."

Throwing a glance at the Librarian, I thought I might be able to receive an answer by catching her off guard, but as expected, such a cheap scheme would never work.

When her eyes were completely covered by that thick blindfold, and with the rest of her face remaining entirely expressionless at my question, I couldn't even know if she heard me or not, let alone what she was thinking.

Anyway, what a stupid thing to ask. It just doesn't make any sense.

All Contracts are to assassinate the Protagonists that exist in fiction, right? During my time in Drakon-Rasa, I indeed came to the understanding that Illusory Worlds were in fact real―in the sense that they are fictional worlds ported into reality.

Illusory Worlds were originally fiction, but the Tower exists on Earth, in firm reality.

Then...

'Could it be the case that the Tower is what ports them to reality...?'

Ultimately, after a prolonged period of racking my brain, I came to such a conclusion.

If that were the case, then I would end up having to clear the Tower after all, wouldn't I? To prevent any more Protagonists from appearing, or something like that.

Of course, I did feel like there was something else to it, something I wasn't aware of right now, but... well, since there was no way to confirm any of it, I could only postpone that thought.

'...Just stop. It doesn't matter, and there's no way I'll figure it out by myself anyway.'

Even if the Tower was somehow related to all of this Protagonist and Antagonist and this World Stability business, if there was nothing I could do to confirm the veracity of any of the claims I made, there was nothing I could do.

At the end of the day, that's all there was to it.

I might find out whenever I meet the Spirit of the Library, but... for now, nothing was gained by excessively brooding over the solution to a puzzle I had only a few pieces for.

And anyway, regardless of the truth, it wouldn't change anything.

So long as things don't get out of hand, I should still be in a good position no matter what happens. All I can do is be prudent and take things slowly, to steadily make progress.

That way, if the Tower turns out to be something bad, I'll at least have the means to deal with it.

If it doesn't, then that's good too, and I won't have to do anything.

Although, I struggled to imagine a situation in which Frontliners like that John Pierce guy wouldn't continue to do a good job clearing it on their own.

In any case, anything regarding the Tower probably wasn't something I needed to urgently worry about, otherwise I would have been told something already.

Meaning, I can just focus on my own thing, at least for the moment.

❖─────☆☆☆☆☆─────❖

In order to grow stronger and take on higher Difficulty Contracts, I'd need to think ahead in terms of what direction I want to head in.

I only have a limited amount of World Stability I can use, and I don't have a chance to regain any World Stability that is spent on something useless. That means careful planning will be required before I take on future Contracts, for one, and it also means I'll have to come up with some kind of growth strategy for myself.

At the very least, I should make a faint outline so that I know where I'm taking things.

Although this job isn't a game, the progression was exceedingly similar to one; I've done similar immoderate planning when playing hardcore modes in the past, so this shouldn't be much different.

For starters, let's review what we have right now, including everything gained from Drakon-Rasa.

Excluding the Authority of the Library and Professionalism, both of which I started out with for free, I have one Skill, one Trait, and one Blessing―They are Sneak, Charismatic, and the Grace of the Winter Mother, respectively.

As for equipment, I have the Black Wisp, the Jackass Hero's Holy Sword, the Villainous Blade, and the newly-acquired 'Amulet of the Holy Sun'.

The Amulet's description is as follows:

Item - [Amulet of the Holy Sun]

An aureate amulet in the shape of a star and blessed by a celestial being.

This heavenly token is filled with the divine energy of Soldeus, Father of the Holy Sun, and endowed with the purpose of warding the wearer from all harm.

However, because the Amulet can only hold a limited amount of divine energy, the effect will cease to function after a single use.

*Concealed When Worn

*Possesses Holy properties

*Wearer Will Resurrect Upon Death

(Effect will not function for those with antithetical compatibility)

Grade : Divine

―This item, combined with the Drakon-Rasa Protagonist's supposed Blessing of the Sun Father, was the secret to her #HiddenTruePower, and thus the primary reason behind the assigned 3-star Difficulty.

It was an item that essentially gave the wearer one free revive if they died.

Its value was tanked by the fact it was a single-use item, but perhaps, if the divine energy within could be replenished, that might change.

At least I had managed to acquire it without the effect going off, meaning it still had value.

Reading this description, I was initially a little confused why such a powerful thing belonged to the main character of a story for young girls―I had not heard anything that would suggest the Protagonist would die in the original story, but perhaps there was some kind of story event that occurs, and this was such a "Key Item" that was supposed to prevent her death in that scenario.

'Maybe I should look it up and check it out at some point...'

In any case, that wasn't something that mattered now that I was back on Earth.

Unfortunately, due to the penultimate line, I couldn't make use of its game-changing effect. It was undoubtedly a big shame, but there was no use making a fuss over it.

Moving on, the upgrade for the Villainous Blade was a further evolution of its physical form, and perhaps one that took it to its final state, as it now took the model of a long, sleek, even elegant blade, the black metal(?) encompassing its full length, having darkened to the extent that it appeared to absorb all light completely.

Simply put, it was a katana, and although it felt unusually long even to my untrained eye, its weight in this new form was even greater than I imagined, as if the density had also increased somehow.

Needless to say, the sheathe had evolved alongside the weapon itself, and the unsettling, violet-hued pulsating veins on its blade, akin to a pattern of foreign characters, had transformed so inexplicably that I wasn't quite sure how to put it.

Didn't it appear like magical runes? Perhaps only naturally, I was still unable to decipher what it said or meant, if anything, even with the Librarian's assistance, but I didn't think it was a bad upgrade overall.

In any case, next on the list, I also had a Standard Health Potion in the Storage that I had purchased in a hurry just prior to taking on the Drakon-Rasa Contract, but since that wasn't really anything important, I ignored it for now.

Now then.

Currently Available World Stability : 5,750 Units

Let's see what the reward from our first Red Contract can afford us.