I hate being in pain, so I think I'll make a full defense build

Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 190

Defense Specialization and a Helping Hand

“For now, I need a potion! Potion!”

Maple sat up and took out a potion from her inventory and drank it down.

When her HP was fully recovered, she slowly stood up.

“Phew…that was close. But what was that? Instant death?”

Maple stretched her limbs and looked around her.

No matter where she looked, it was all white. She had no idea how large the space that she was in was.

“Something…there! Oh, goodbye Oni!”

The monsters began to disappear as their time ran out. Eventually, it was just Syrup and the twin monsters that remained.

Maple waved at them and walked towards the thing she had found.

“I feel like I’ve seen this up there before. Just for a second.”

Within the white space, an old crucifix was piercing the ground. And there were wilted flowers laid in front of it.

As Maple squatted and stared, she thought she could hear a faint voice.

“Thank you…good night…”

“Who, who are you?!”

Maple quickly raised her head as light floated up and surrounded her.

The light began to take a shape, and Maple saw that for a second, a woman had appeared in front of her.

The woman had stretched out a hand towards Maple before disappearing with the light that floated upwards.

“…Was it the ghost? Is she…free now? Hmm?”

Maple felt something strange around her neck and so she touched it.

And then she realized that there was something there.

“Um, what was this thing again… A locket pendant? Inside is… Hmmm…is it from that woman? It’s so old that I can’t tell…”

The photo inside was so aged that she could not tell who it was. But Maple thought that she could make out the silhouette of a woman and a field of flowers behind her.

Maple took the locket off from around her neck and checked to see if there was a name.

“Ah, it’s not an item then. Accessory… ‘Helping Hand?’ So it helped me? I don’t even know what happened in the end…”

Maple had been more panicked than she had ever been before, and she could not properly remember the events that led to her being safe.

But there was nothing she could do about that, and so Maple looked at the accessory more carefully.

‘Helping Hand.’

Accessory.

Adds two equipment slots to either your right or left hand.

“Oh! This is perfect for Sally, isn’t it? I even want it a little… But not enough to come again. I don’t even know how you can come here…”

Maple had decided that she would give it to Sally.

And so she wrote her a message so they could meet in the town of the fifth layer.

Sally replied immediately, and so Maple rushed to the town.

When she arrived in the guild home of the fifth later, Sally was already there.

“Sally! I’m sorry for calling you so suddenly.”

“I don’t mind. What is it? It’s unusual for you to call me like this.”

“Oh, I was in such a hurry because I realized that I was finally able to give something back to you. Here it is!”

Maple said as she took out the shoes and locket pendant from her inventory.

Sally instinctively felt that they were items from the sixth later, and so she closed her eyes and looked away.

After a moment, she opened her eyes a crack and looked at the items.

“Ummm…mmm. I-I’m fine, I think. The shoes are a little eerie…but there is nothing inside, right?!”

“Huh? Oh, uh. I don’t think there is…”

Maple began to squeeze the end of the shoes and saw that nothing happened.

Sally accepted the shoes and locket pendant hesitantly and read their descriptions.

“They weren’t the shoes I was expecting…they’re stronger. And this locket pendant…huh…oh?”

Sally looked at Maple with a confused expression.

There were so many questions spinning in her brain that she wanted to ask Maple, but she could not put them into words.

“It will be pretty hard for me to get them again. Uh, I don’t really know how to get back…so, take good care of them!”

“Uh…yeah. I will. Thank you.”

Sally said with the biggest smile. Maple had nothing left to say.

“Alright, I’m going to go test them.”

“Yes! Have fun!”

Maple waved as Sally left the guild home.

She was glad that Sally was happy, and she sat down on the sofa and swayed side to side in a good mood.

And then came the next day.

Sally had given the locket pendant back to Maple.

“Uh, it’s fine you know? You can keep it?”

Maple thought that Sally was just being modest, but Sally shook her head.

“Maple…I’m sorry. I can’t use this…”

Sally’s voice seemed to fade as she said this. Maple wondered what she meant.

“Maple, try using it in the field. I’ll be here in the guild home…”

So saying, Sally ran towards the back, as if running away from her.

“Huh?”

Maple decided she would do as she said. And so she went out into the field and equipped ‘Helping Hand.’

“What!?”

Two translucent hands appeared behind her, and then they moved and stopped in front of her.

“Ah…oh…I see…so…she isn’t resting in peace at all!”

In a way, the ‘Helping Hands’ were quite literally that.

The hands that floated in front of her that stopped at the wrists. There was no way that Sally would have been able to accept them.

“These didn’t help Sally at all! If anything…Argh!”

Maple felt bad and decided that she would definitely check the effects of items in the future when giving out presents.