As has been established, the crux of the issue with this Contract was a single concern regarding the Protagonist's secret; her #HiddenTruePower.
As for what that power might be, I could only assume that it was some kind of magic or other similar power that exists in this world. Of course, there was no way to confirm that for sure, so all I could do was focus on other things that may be able to give me a lead.
On that front, I tried thinking about various things for a while before I had somewhat of an epiphany. It was related to the Protagonist's behaviour.
'She shows nothing but vulnerability...'
It was a detail hard to ignore, but one I hadn't really thought too deeply into, just chalking it up to being the #NaiveProtagonist Tag.
Even in the middle of this academy, full of powerful young nobles and students of various arts like swordsmanship and magic, it would be effortless to just summon the Black Wisp from the Storage and shoot her in the head right where she stood.
Walk into the classroom or wherever she might be, point the gun at her, pull the trigger, done.
It really would be that easy. She would be done for in the blink of an eye, and there wouldn't even be an opportunity for any of the love interests to do anything.
Since she seemed exceedingly negligent regarding the safety of her own life , it would be so, so easy. After all, when she's careless even around a stranger like me, who directly serves the one person she should hate and avoid the most, there's no way she could have survive for long.
In fact, let alone simply acting carelessly, she'd even begin to blatantly flirt with the crown prince of the empire, as well as multiple other high-profile individuals. We already knew this. The question I wondered was 'why' she acted in such a way.
One could pose the argument that the reason the Protagonist acted so recklessly was because she knows she'll be safe thanks to her hidden power. Unfortunately, there's no evidence of that, so I can't make a judgement either way.
It was also purely conspiratorial to assume she had bad intentions when there was nothing in the Tags or in her behaviour until now to indicate that, and bearing in mind the #NaiveProtagonist Tag, there's no logical reason why an "ordinary" girl like her should feel the need to be overly cautious whilst attending school in the first place.
It would be really fucked up if that #NaiveProtagonist act was a trick, and although she acted like that, whoever or whatever is in charge of assigning the Tags gave her that one without realising she was only acting in reality...
But, I doubted that was the case.
Hell, she could have no idea at all that she possessed a hidden power.
If that was true, it proved just how serious that power was. See, regardless of whether the Protagonist should be acting more cautiously or not, the fact remains that she was careless with how she acted around other people, and at the same time, the Difficulty was 3-star.
Ergo, the Difficulty was this high even when the Protagonist was this clueless.
Naturally, this must mean her hidden power was more of a concern than I initially thought.
It would probably be good to assume that she had some kind of magical defensive ability at the very least; otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for the Difficulty to be that high whilst also considering her thoughtlessness.
There's also a point to be made that there might be something serious about this that is unrelated to the Protagonist's hidden power. Not only something that might have a positive or negative influence on the Difficulty, but something I would have no idea about without spending some time in this world first...
This is only a concern I'm beginning to have with the realisation that I'll probably end up spending quite some time here, but it's yet another screwy factor that messes with my brain.
What I'm getting at is, the nine descriptive tags this Contract was assigned on the Contract Details might not necessarily be all there is to it.
Because, the plot as it is―just doesn't make sense for the assigned Difficulty.
And the Protagonist's hidden power―also doesn't make sense for the plot of a school romance.
That's why, until I've figured everything out-- No, even if I feel like I have figured everything out, I shouldn't get overly comfortable.
All of a sudden, a particular voice interrupted my thoughts from the side, and I flinched. Hearing that light, high-pitched utterance, I instinctively snapped my head.
At the same time, soft piano notes began to flow and fill the air.
"Wh-- Miss Ayla? Shouldn't you be in class?" Googlᴇ search novel·fire.net
'God, that was scary.'
Judging by her reddened, glistening eyes and ever-so-faintly scrunched up nose, it wasn't at all hard to imagine what might have occurred inside the classroom.
'I guess Lucretia's performing her role just fine...'
Not waiting for a proper response from her, I patted beside me on the bench.
"Mmn... thank you..."
Though tentative, she took a seat on the bench a little further away from where I had pat, her downcast head staring at the paved path on the ground before us.
'Huh... is she afraid of me or something? That can't be right. Then, is it because of Lucretia...? Ah, she might be hesitant to interact with me 'cause of this morning.'
There was only one thing I had to do to solve that. Cleansing my mind of all prior pollution that might've gotten in the way, I put my all into the situation at hand, donning a similar gentle smile to yesterday.
One I couldn't get used to wearing at all.
"Miss Ayla. It must be hard for you in this academy full of nobles."
"Oh... N-no, it isn't that bad, really..."
Listening to her stutter, I did my best to soften my voice, curating a tone I felt would soothe her heart the quickest.
"You don't have to pretend, I know what it's like. As someone who wasn't born to be fickle like a noble, you probably feel like you don't belong here. I'm the same. I've seen firsthand how nobles like My Lady treat you, too. Do you think I wouldn't understand?"
She didn't respond to my question. Thereafter, we sat in silence for a while, the tender breeze stroking our faces simultaneously.
Together with the Protagonist, in this tranquil embrace of nature.