Antagonist Protection Service-Chapter 86: Itemisation

Under the Items category, most of the weapons available were melee, meaning basically useless for me, and I think the last thing I needed right now was more offence regardless.

...Of course, that didn't mean there was nothing I had my eye on.

Item - [APS White Death (HP07-Stealth Series)]

Long-distance, high-power sniper rifle with high-quality scope and suppressor attachments, coated white. Accepts various ammunition types.

Professionals use professional tools.

*Possesses Anti-Protagonist properties

*Magic Bullet Enhancement

Grade : Superior

Price : 3,300 U

Just as it stated, the graphic displayed was of an all-white suppressed sniper, reflecting an impressionable, yet dull radiance like a snow-white, porcelain beauty. Indeed, something like this would undeniably be useful for long-distance stakeouts.

The appearance alone was something that called to my heart like a siren's melody, and combined with that, a certain image flashed in my mind―Of lying in wait at the peak of a mountain, finally pulling the trigger to pull off a multi-thousand metre snipe against a defenceless, clueless Protagonist fleeing in the distance for his life to no avail, only one, inevitable end waiting for him.

Clearing my thoughts I paused for a few moments, then smiled.

"...Librarian. Should I?"

"Certainly! I think a long-range option is a marvellous idea! But but, it is quite expensive, and you will be left with no defensive capabilities, Enki! Are you most certain?"

With utmost confidence, I shook my head.

"No. But I want to get it. What else would I even get right now anyway? I don't need any of the Traits, and I'm not really feeling any of the Skills will be useful right now. Consumables are trash because you can only use them once, pretty much everything in the Miscellaneous section is useless or too ambiguous to even consider, and--"

"Erm! You could take a look at the Armour section...?"

At that suggestion of something I hadn't gotten to yet, my eyebrows rose.

"...Well, you know, that's not a bad idea. But look. The Protagonists I'm facing right now aren't so strong that I need to worry about my life like that, are they?"

Though I said that, it couldn't be denied that guaranteeing some amount of protection would be critical for the future, and in fact, it probably wasn't even something the importance of which could be overstated...

The Librarian's words that followed exemplified this.

"E-even still, to be so reckless...! Don't you agree that it would be prudent to purchase such a defensive option ahead of time―before you find yourself in such a dire situation? What if something dangerous happens?!"

"Uh... I guess that's true."

'I still don't think I'd have that much trouble, though.'

Maybe it was because I managed just fine even in a 3-star Contract with no protection, but I couldn't guarantee things would be the same every time.

In fact, if Drakon-Rasa turned out to have the #Action tag, I would probably have died a long time ago.

Regardless of what I felt, I could recognise its importance. Seeing no room to refute, I sighed and opened up at the Armour section, just as she suggested.

"Hm..."

There was surprisingly a lot of variety here, though it was questionable whether many of the items listed even had a chance of being useful as protection.

'Wow, they've seriously got everything from heavy metal knight armour from hundreds of years ago to some bizarre nylon spacesuit straight out of a sci-fi...'

And more.

There were a few unique items as well that seemed to be a single article of clothing rather than a whole set, but which evidently possessed special effects.

Having scrolled through the list for a while, I came across such a peculiar item, upon which my eyebrows tilted slightly.

"Hey, look at this one."

I pulled up the description of a sable black mask with only two small holes for eyes.

Item - [Villain's Vizard]

A sinister vizard that obscures the whole face of the wearer, crafted from unknown material.

Because it is the Villain's, the wearer's identity cannot ever be revealed.

The only exception is the Hero.

*Possesses anti-Magic properties

*Possesses Recognition Disruption

(Effects cannot be neutralised by any being other than the designated Protagonist)

Grade : Unique

Price : 2,000 U

Looking at the description of the mask displayed before me, I laughed.

"It's like the Villainous Blade except useless. That's crazy."

Immediately, the Librarian refuted my claim.

"I-I don't know if I would call it 'useless', per se...! Look, it possesses recognition disruption―effective against everything! That's an exceedingly rare trait to have, Enki! A-and and, because it also possesses anti-Magic properties, that means the recognition disruption cannot be removed or seen through even with magic...! That's a very very very rare and extraordinary property to possess, in fact!"

Glancing at her, I nodded.

"Yeah. But it looks suspicious as all hell though, and it's not like you need magic to tell that much. Plus, 2,000 Units? I ain't spending all that on one mask just to stop people from knowing who I am. What's the point? I'll be in other worlds anyway, so nobody knowing who I am is the default."

The Librarian, awkwardly clutching at the oversized robe that obfuscated her entire body, seemed to hesitate before stammering out an answer.

"C-certainly, I... I suppose so... it would be wise to keep it in mind for the future, however!"

"Sure. Anyway, out of everything in the armour section, what do you recommend? I have no idea what I'm even looking at here."

"Oh, certainly! I will see if I can find anything that promises only the most superb value!"

Ideally, something lightweight, inconspicuous and yet with a solid degree of protective capability would be my preference, but I don't know how many options that included all three like that were available.

At the very least, my budget was high enough that I could afford a good chunk of options if I wanted to.

Of course, it would be nice if I had enough World Stability left over to afford some other things too, but since defence was obviously important, I would be willing to spend a lot for something that would last me a long time.

'Huh... it looks like that's exactly what I'll need to do... Metal armours are too conspicuous and heavy, whilst modern-day ballistic armours are more lightweight, but since they're mostly used for stopping bullets and shrapnel, it doesn't seem like they can really stop swords or magic, or anything like that...'

There were also some armours that seemed to utilise advanced materials not invented on Earth yet, and they were both very lightweight and provided a high degree of protection against bullets, the environment, and other threats, as well as having self-repair with nanomachines, but the problem with those is that they were exorbitantly priced, and again, they weren't great for preventing injuries from the likes of swords and other melee attacks, as well as magic.

Well, they claimed to guarantee protection against slashes and stabs, but the problem was that the kinds of slashes and stabs I'll be taking aren't coming from an ordinary steel-blend knife, so I wasn't sure if that applied quite the same.

They would probably be perfect if my opponents weren't coming from fantasy worlds, but I had to keep in mind that my future targets might end up being as strong or even stronger than that tank knight captain from the first Contract.

On top of all that, magic was also something I direly needed protection from.

In fact, that was probably my biggest weakness right now.

"Enki, if you scroll further down the list, there are a selection of armours that provide protection against magic!"

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"Yeah, I saw those, but they're also damn expensive."

It was becoming a bit of a pain, to be honest. Even with the giant reward I just received after three months of hard work, I could barely afford the most mediocre of the lot.

'Still, if I want to buy something that'll last a long time and still be useful, one of these will have to be it...'

Rather than mediaeval, or modern, or even futuristic options, none of which seemed particularly exceptional, fantasy seemed the best way to go for what I was looking for.

There were some options that had extra effects if you infused mana into the outfit, like automatic cleansing, automatic repair, or even just for extra protection, but since I couldn't reliably make use of them, I had to instead base my pick on the materials used.

That's when I stumbled across something extraordinary.