The Petite Dungeon Explorer 24 Not My First Doll, Rather My First Set Of Armor

"Excuse us, Mother," Ambrose clears his throat and straightens his jacket.

"Kiss a.s.s," Clemente coughs into his hand and I look at him. He gives me a wink and places a hand on my head. He was defiantly the affection older brother it seems. Also, probably a troublemaker as well…

Ambrose shoots him a dirty look but refrains from saying anything.

"You two are still as childish as ever," Salem comments as he swirls his drink.

I'd almost forgotten that he was there, he had been silent the whole time. These past few days, my Brother has been seeming different these days. I couldn't pinpoint the reason for it either.

"Oh, baby brother see you still had that sharp tongue," Ambrose comments, giving him a pointed look. But that didn't seem to faze Salem, he swirls his cup of blood and takes a drink from it, completely ignoring Ambrose.

"I enjoy your comment's brother," Grail says, as he smiles at Salem. Even still Salem didn't pay any of the attention.

My mother raises her hand, and the table falls silent.

"I know that you all have your own thoughts about each other. But could you possibly put your differences aside? Don't you all have something for your sister?" My mother asks.

"Yes," they all a.s.sented.

Without delay, Clemente clears his throat and I direct my attention towards him. As if pulling it straight out of thin air, he has a present that gift wrapped in his hands.

"Sister allow me to go first, I know that I haven't been around for four years. But I've thought of you the whole time and had someone make you something that will always remind you of your dear older brother," he says bending down to my level.

I raise an eyebrow but don't say what I'm thinking.

"Here." he hands me the present box. "Go ahead and open it," he says.

The box was very long and a little heavy when it landed in my hands. It was wrapped in a silky black paper with a silvery bow in the center of the box.

Now, how was I supposed to open this?

Bending down, I place the box on the ground and then pull at that paper that's on the box.

It makes a crisp and loud sound.

Once the paper's torn off a beautiful dark wood box appears in front of me. Along the box carved into the wood was a sword design, and then underneath it was a simple letter inscribed 'z.'

"Keep going," Clemente urges an excited look on his face.

I nod my head and completely shed the rest of the paper off the box. I notice that the box has a lip, at the bottom I press my hand on the box and the wood easily slides up and off the box. Inside the box lays a huge sword.

The folded steel had a bright red glow to it, and a black shine along the bottom of the edge of the sword. The blade was set in the hilt of the sword that was wrapped in a bright golden thread; it looks beautiful. Besides, it rests in an inky black sheath.

Strong sent of steel wafts up into my nose, and I smile as I run my hand along the blade.

"I hunted all the materials for it from the world dungeon, it's not something that is easily reproduced. It's been forged by one of the best blacksmiths that has graced the dwarf's community in the past hundreds of years," he says excitedly as he touches the box.

"What sort of blade is this?" I ask him.

But as if on cue a message appears in front of my eyes.

「Appraisal」

「A nameless Odachi, crafted from the steel of a h.e.l.l demon, it's been set into the wood from a ten-thousand-year-old life tree. The golden string comes from the hair of a golden unicorn. The sheath is made from a giant black viper. 」

These seem like very expensive materials…

"It's an Odachi, I thought that it'd be a good gift. There's not a shred of doubt in my mind that you wouldn't be able to handle a sword," he explains with a grin.

"You realize that the sword is almost the same size as her! How do you expect her to use that?" Ambrose comments and I nod my head in agreement.

A snort leaves Clemente's mouth as he turns his attention to Ambrose.

"She's going to grow, besides it not as if she isn't strong enough to lift a sword," he says rolling his eyes at my other brother.

"That's true, she's got to be strong coming from our family," Grail agrees.

Marigold stands up and walks over to Ambrose and loops her arm around his. He visibly relaxes now that she is standing next to him and holding him. She gives me a small wink.

"Go ahead and try to lift it," Clemente urges.

Sucking in a breath, I grab the hilt of the sword and lift it from the confines of its box. It lifts up out of the box with ease, like it weighs nothing. It was indeed slightly taller than me. But other than that, I could easily hold it.

I look at Clemente and his eyes are twinkling; he had a proud expression on his face. Like a proud father!

"You'll have to teach me how to use it," I tell him with a smile as I return it back into its box.

A glint of joy appears on his face.

"Well obviously, what type of Brother would give his little sister a sword and not teach her how to use it?" He snorts and I chuckle.

Pure and honest, are the words that I would use to describe Clemente.

"I'll go next then," Ambrose says.

Raising a hand two butlers comes out and carry a huge chest to Ambrose's side. The chest was creamy white and gold.

He waves a hand for me to come over, I round the table and head over towards him and Marigold. She clings close to my brother and a serene expression was on her face.

"Hollis, I've heard that your planning on being an adventure. Unlike our brother that only thinks about attacking, I've prepared something that's good for defense," he says his emerald green eyes look down at me with a warmth reflected in them.

With his free hand, he undoes the latches on the side of the chest, and peels open the top. Standing inside the chest is a beautiful set of armor. It's black as night, with a few hints of white in the collar, it's a full-body set of armor.

The collar off it was simple, but the armor itself was crafted to look a lot like a dragon, I even saw a dragon tail peeping out from the back of the armor. The tail was completely white in color and looked sharp as a razor.

It's the same size as me, and above the body of armor, there is even a delicate mask, that was shaped like a dragon's head. The dragon head was the only part of the armor that wasn't completely black instead, it was half black and half white. The white half had a golden eye covering, whereas the black side of the mask had a red covering.

"Can I touch it?" I ask.

"Of course, it's a gift for you," he says with a small chuckle.

I nod my head and step forward. Reaching a hand, I run my fingertips along with the armor. The parts that are covered in black felt like they're on fire as if it was a living and breathing work of art. When I pa.s.s my fingers over the parts that are white, it gives off a soothing and maternal feeling to it, as if it was a mother's embrace.

Finally, the mask had the strongest radiation of energy that I could practically see the mana forming around the mask. It was thick and vivacious, on the black side, whereas the white side was just as strong but instead it gave off warmer energy.

「Appraise」

「A Duality armor set, that's created from the scales of a white dragon and a black dragon! The dragons are at least over a thousand years old. Other information available, but the skill level is too low. 」

Who made this?

I look over at Ambrose, and a smug look is one his face as if he knew that he'd just pulled out a super rare item to beat Clemente.

"Brother! Who made this armor?" I ask him.

He chuckles and looks at Marigold that's still got her arm around his shoulder.

Her soft eyes are half-open.

"I made that armor," she states simply.

I felt my face twitch.

"If it's not rude to ask… is this made from your scales?"

"My scales and my Brother's scales. I'm a white dragon, and he's a black dragon," she says raising a hand to cup her face as she looks at me.

I felt my throat close up, Marigold was around the same age as my mother and father, if not a little older.

The more I looked at her the more I realized that she was actually a monster, a monster that was beautiful. But she was seriously scary! My bones were telling me that she was indeed a scary monster.

"Oh," she says and leans down towards me and I felt my neck stiffen. "Can you feel the mana in the in the armor?"

Her golden eyes are soft but piercing.

I nod my head.

She places a hand on my face and a soft feeling pa.s.ses over my body. The anxiety that I felt vanishes from my body.

"You're a special one, aren't you?" She says with a bright smile as she stands up and moves back to Ambrose's side.