Name: Indestructible Large Shield

Rank: A

Level: 5

Attack Power: 0

Benefits: Strength +50 Endurance +240 Agility +0 Magic +50 Vitality +220

Skill: "Indestructible"

Endurance: Infinity/Infinity

What's up with this durability?  I've never seen an endurance as high as this before, how is this even possible?!

Are my eyes deceiving me?! Surely this can't be her weapon's properties? There must have been a mistake!

In addition to the fact that this is an 'Indestructible Large Shield' or something like that, it also took me by surprise to find out that it is actually an 'A-ranked' sacred weapon! 

Like Ruby's Fire Breathing Large Sword, it is a sacred weapon that has the highest rank.

Judging by its rank alone, it is enough proof that it possessed some rare ability. On top of that, it has skills that I've never seen in a sacred weapon before. 

'Indestructibility' means that the sacred weapon's durability never diminishes. Furthermore, its properties say that the wielder is resistant to poison and curses.

"With the indestructible skill, the durability of my shield never decreases.  For that reason, the durability property displays a strange value.  In addition to that, curses and poison are ineffective against me.  Therefore, I never have to worry about me or my shield being destroyed."

The white haired girl spoke to me in a nonchalant tone, as if we were only talking about the weather or a rather obvious thing. She spoke as if she hadn't found it strange, not even by a little bit.

Despite her composed appearance, I couldn't help but be rendered speechless.

I would never have expected this from her, especially when I first saw her. 

Back then, she looked rather small and inexperienced when it came to battling against demons. Anyone who would see her would think little of her, including me. I couldn't help but not expect anything great from her. 

But now that I knew what she was capable of, my jaw involuntarily dropped in awe at her hidden talent.

"That indestructible large shield is unbelievable!" I exclaimed.

She gave me a confused look before responding softly, "Eh?  Is that so?"

"Yes.  It truly is!  Certainly, your weapon may have no attack power and is incapable of defeating a monster, but you don't have to worry about your sacred weapon being destroyed and therefore losing your benefits.  It seems like your equipment has every type of durability benefit attached to it.  This truly is an indestructible shield. Next time when you meet people and say 'I have the power to defend', it would be better if you say it with more confidence. This is something you should be proud of!"

I told Diamond excitedly, but the girl just stood there in unreadable silence. I started to notice that when she is praised a lot, she ends up just standing there with her mouth open.

Before long, her face began to redden like steel being heated, and again she hid her facial expression behind her shield.

What is she so embarrassed about?

It would be great if she had more self-confidence, especially in front of those three girls from earlier. Why did she seem so meek when talking to them back then? I found myself shaking my head as I remembered how she told them, "I have the power to defend", without any confidence.

If she had believed in herself more, had more pride in her weapon and abilities, and made her appeal knowing that she was a wielder of an A-ranked sacred weapon, then she would never have been rejected and treated badly by them.

At the very least, this girl is talented!

I began to feel excited, it's just my luck that somehow I was the only one who found a treasure that everyone else was unable to find.

"Rust, you're giving me too much praise.  You're making too much of a fuss out of this." She told me dismissively but I wasn't having any of that.

"No way! Diamond you need to be more self-aware of how amazing you are.  It seems like you can still go up more levels.  Because you have a small amount of magic ability, you should learn some enchanting skills.  I'm truly excited for all of this!"

"Isn't enchanting usually used to strengthen a sacred weapon's power and special attacks?  I don't think that enchanting is useful for shield sacred weapons."

What Diamond said may be true, but because her shield is an A-ranked sacred weapon, I think it's possible that there is a new power that could be awakened if she just trained some more.

With this new found knowledge, my mood started to change, and I resolved that from here on out, I would expect a lot from her shield.  I really am looking forward to seeing what happens with it.

If Diamond manages to muster up some self-confidence, and gets the courage to stand in front of others...

Then it's possible that she'll be able to protect more people than any of those heroes who have come before us. Anyhow, after revealing to each other our respective powers and sacred weapons through two battles, once again we decided to search for more exam dolls. 

When the two of us started to pick up our pace, from the corner of my eye, I saw a reflection of something, and reflexively stopped, "Huh?"

It was coming from the thicket where the gnome had jumped out from earlier.

The 'something'  that caught my eye, resembled a person's hand, of that I was sure of.

I unknowingly emitted a gasp of surprise as I approached it closer.  That hand wasn't a living hand.  

It looked like something I had seen before! 

I continued to stare at it.

"What is that...?"

I got closer to the thicket, and I tried to pull on that hand.

When I did, what I pulled out was a doll dressed in gothic Lolita clothing. I've seen this doll someplace before...

"Perhaps this is one of the exam dolls we needed to find in order to pass the Adventurer's Exam." Diamond told me as she peeked at what I was doing.

I shook my head, "...That's what I think too, but..."

My eyes met with Diamond's, and we exchanged a look of understanding.

As expected, this is the same kind of doll the examiner had shown us earlier. Why was it in the middle of this thicket?

"Maybe that gnome from earlier had it.  It did jump out from that same thicket earlier..."  

"Ah.  That seems about right.  I wonder if that gnome is a 'Snatch Thief'  that the examiner had spoken about earlier."

"Yes.  It seems to be like it was."

I see.  This makes sense.

It makes sense that that gnome is a snatch thief, as it seemed to gravitate and cling to our sacred weapons. It's a monster whose known characteristic is stealing human possessions. Back then, what it was doing was actually trying to steal our sacred weapons from our hands.

It seemed regardless of whether or not what we had were sacred weapons didn't matter to its kind. It was in its nature to steal whatever equipment or things humans had on them. If we hadn't succeeded in defending ourselves, my 'Cursed Demon Sword' and Diamond's 'Indestructible Shield' would have been stolen. 

Though as long as the sacred weapons weren't destroyed, the benefits wouldn't disappear, we still wouldn't be able to use their magical properties and skills if they were taken from us. Therefore, losing them was just unthinkable!

Anyhow, I'm glad everything ended with no problems.

"For the time being, we have one 'exam doll'.  Let's go and find one more quickly, and then let's pass this exam together!" I told her.

"Y-Yes!"

So far, we've been able to obtain one exam doll and we still needed to search for another one since there are two of us taking this exam.

But it seems we may be running out of time, so I decided to give the first exam doll we collected to Diamond. To be honest, I feel that Diamond has been blessed with more talent than I was.

The first one to become an adventurer should be Diamond, as she was far better than me. If everyone knew how powerful she is, she'd be receiving invitations from a lot of different parties.

What's more, and hypothetically speaking, even if we were to fail this exam, she could win the favor of someone, since there was even a possibility that someone would discover her and recommend that she become an adventurer.

Furthermore, it's unthinkable that I'd just disregard Diamond, and pass the exam by myself. My conscience would never let me do that, especially when I know that my sacred weapon is either a rusted sword, which has a weak attack power, or a cursed magic sword that steals the strength of other sacred weapons.

My weapon is the most unreliable of all!

While I was engrossed in my own thoughts I suddenly noticed that we weren't alone. We stopped on our tracks when we heard a familiar voice call out to us from behind, "Oh?  It's Diamond.  What are the odds of meeting you in a place like this?"

Perhaps both Diamond and I were being careless and let our guard down because we did not notice how close they were to us. We spun on our heels in panic and faced them.

"Ah.  It's you guys..." It was the three girls who had blatantly and cruelly turned down Diamond's request to join their party during the start of the Adventurers' Exam.

-To be continued.