A few days later, I handed an item over to Chris that I had created in collaboration with S’yne.

“Here you go, Chris. I did consider making you some armor or something, but I think this suits you best,” I said.

“Pen!” Chris replied. I had given Chris a red hat with a pointed design—the kind of thing you would see Santa wearing.

“That’s just like a pekkul! Mr. Naofumi, are you playing around?” Raphtalia accused.

“No, I’m not. Kizuna told me that Chris was born around Christmas, right? So my design plays into that backstory,” I told her. It wasn’t what you said but how you said it, I had always thought. “You make good use of that hat, you hear me?”

“Pen!” Chris replied, full of energy, almost giving me a salute.

“Raph!” said Raph-chan. Ah, she was jealous! I would have to make something for her later.

“I’m not sure I like this. It feels like Chris is getting more selfish,” Glass said.

“This isn’t being selfish,” I told her. “Chris is eager to take action.”

“Noninterference isn’t the same as taking care of something,” Raphtalia commented, striking at an unprotected spot. Not long afterward, Glass complained to me that Chris had started to keep things in the hat. Was it so wrong to make effective use of potential storage space? Still, it really felt like Chris’s pekkul transformation was proceeding apace.

Our journey with Glass continued. We reached the country that traitor we defeated had been in league with, just to hear that Kizuna—who we had been hoping to rescue here—had already been captured by a different vassal weapon holder. Our plan to meet back up with Kizuna slammed right into another brick wall.

“What’s going on here? Is Kizuna some kind of poor princess, continually getting kidnapped in each new destination?” I bemoaned. We had to return to L’Arc’s castle, find a room, and discuss what to do next. I’d thought we’d save her easily, just to find her captured by someone else. Confounded by another trope!

“So? Which of the other vassal weapon holders is responsible for taking Kizuna?” I asked.

“From the information we acquired, it sounds like it is the musical instrument vassal weapon holder. If I recalled correctly . . . they are a summoned hero,” Glass explained.

“So someone summoned from another world is causing havoc again,” I said. Just doing whatever they liked. Like the other three I’d come in with—back at the beginning.

“This is just a guess based on the weapon they had, so I can’t be sure,” Glass continued.