“Huh . . . You know what? She did, but it was a while back now,” L’Arc recalled. I’d expected as much. Being able to change her own weapon into a variety of forms probably meant it wasn’t too bad for her, at least.

“I bet this ‘blunt instrument’ gives access to some pretty gray-area stuff, like axes and sword maces—just like how the Bow Hero can turn his weapon into a gun,” I surmised. I looked over at Itsuki, and he obliged by turning his bow into a gun.

“I’m sure you are right. There’s not much we can say for sure,” Ethnobalt said.

“The weapons in our world are closer to what Japanese people are used to thinking of as weapons. They are definitely a bit easier to understand,” Itsuki said. I was pretty glad we’d got normal weapons for our four, I had to admit. The shield though . . . That one was definitely out of place. I wondered if there was some way to turn the shield into something else.

No. Best to just think about something else entirely.

On a separate track, it might be worth asking S’yne about this stuff, through her familiar of course. Find out what the holy weapons were like in her world before it was destroyed. It would be funny if they had a sword vassal weapon.

“Getting back on topic, that means there is a total of twelve weapons in our world,” Ethnobalt concluded.

“I see. And this musical instrument vassal weapon holder is the one who nabbed Kizuna?” I confirmed.

“That seems to be the case,” Ethnobalt replied.

“No chance of a diplomatic solution?” I ventured.

“We have sent messages of protest, but they claim to have no idea what we are talking about,” Glass explained.

“We might have been able to have more of a discussion if they had demanded a big pile of cash,” I pondered aloud, wondering exactly what it was they wanted. I was starting to want to find these enemy vassal weapon holders and just cut them down where they stood.

I pressed on with getting the situation in order.

“The book—we defeated Kyo, but have you found the new vassal weapon holder?” I asked.

“No. Both the book and the mirror are still missing,” Ethnobalt replied. I didn’t really like the sound of that, but that was also a matter for later consideration. It would be a pain, of course, if one—or both—of them suddenly showed up in opposition to us.

This meant that the three other holy heroes had been killed, and we still had to deal with enemies holding the musical instrument, harpoon, and Ethnobalt’s ship.

That was fewer enemies than I had been expecting, perhaps. When I took their mobility into account, though, the group with the ship vassal weapon holder was going to be a pain to deal with.