Chapter Three: Holn’s Research Weapon
After returning to the village, I gave Keel and the others orders to disperse before heading over to where Fohl, Ren, Eclair and the others were training. Natalia was there with them too. We arrived at the training ground to hear—
“Hah! Eight Trigrams—” It was Natalia, swinging a hammer with all her might.
“Dafu!” said Dafu-chan, otherwise known as Raph-chan II, and the intended target of Natalia’s attack. Dafu-chan dodged easily to the side and then countered by whacking Natalia on the head with a mallet.
“Bah! What is this creature?! I can’t believe how capably it evades my attacks!” Natalia fumed.
“Because you still overcompensate for everything . . . but that doesn’t seem to matter in this case,” the Water Dragon admitted with a sigh. “I’m willing to state that this creature is more powerful even than your own father.”
“Dafu!” said Dafu-chan. I took in the whole scene. Dafu-chan was clearly having fun toying with Natalia.
“Raph!” said Raph-chan, noticing our arrival and rushing over to me.
“We’re back,” I said.
“Welcome back,” Ren said, noticing us, stopping the training, and coming over. “You’ve got quite the party together. Any reason?”
“A few things did come up,” I replied.
“What’s this?” Natalia came over. “Surprised to see me losing?”
“Not really,” I replied. “I don’t even know how strong you actually are.” Mamoru and his allies seemed pretty concerned about her, so she had to be pretty powerful, but with Dafu-chan giving her the runaround so easily, she probably wasn’t all that strong.
“Dafu!” said Dafu-chan.
“There’s something with this little critter! It’s like she can read every move I make!” Natalia complained.
“I mean, I’m not surprised,” I said with a shake of my head. Dafu-chan was powerful enough to take Sadeena on and beat her too. If she got totally serious, there were only a handful of us who could hope to match her technically. Raphtalia had been hard-pressed to land a single blow, and that was when Dafu-chan had been holding back. Shildina had had trouble too. That’s how strong she was. In her Raph species form, she faced no impediments. She was really something.
“Dafu!” said Dafu-chan. I didn’t see any reason to hide it. But Dafu-chan was hopping about, making it clear she didn’t want me to let the cat out of the bag. I wasn’t sure why. It seemed pretty unfair for Natalia. There was a whole load of stuff she didn’t know now, including all of Mamoru’s secrets.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if this creature had some Q’ten Lo technology embedded inside it. Like a Dragon Emperor core, perhaps,” the Water Dragon hypothesized. Close, but no cigar. “It sounds like there is all sorts of strange technology sealed away in the future. Q’ten Lo must be secure, if they have access to it. It’s certainly running rings around you.”
“I don’t think we need the extra hassle of Natalia getting any stronger,” Mamoru muttered, mainly to himself. It would be a bit of an issue if she got any stronger. It hadn’t looked like she was holding back when fighting Dafu-chan.
“This seems like an opportunity for you to learn some new tricks,” the Water Dragon suggested.
“I don’t especially like it, but very well. I might pick up something useful. Before we start that though . . .” Natalia said and looked over at Filolia. “Didn’t you die in battle? How can you be here now, and with a strange pair of wings?”
“Me? Die in battle?” Filolia retorted with a cackle. “That was all misinformation, pacifier who espouses justice!” Her tone was full of life, and she struck the same kind of pose as when she introduced herself to me, the one with her hand covering one of her eyes. “I fight while feeding on the power of evil, but sometimes it resists and weakens me. Expecting just such a situation, I worked with Brave Whip to create a dummy that could fight in my place. That dummy is all that was destroyed, nothing more!” She had probably worked out this explanation with Mamoru ahead of time.
“I see,” Natalia replied, looking highly suspicious but seemingly letting it slide for now. Natalia probably found dealing with Filolia a pain too.
“As for these wings, pacifier, do you know everything about my race? One of the secrets of my race is being able to absorb the strength of a particularly compatible enemy! This is the power of Suzaku itself! Watch my future ass-kicking and despair!” Filolia crowed.
“So you’re telling me you have the power of Suzaku in your body now. Okay then. I’m hardly an expert on races from other worlds. I will admit that,” Natalia conceded. It wasn’t such a crazy story as to clearly be a lie, after all. There was no way Natalia could know much about Filolia’s race. To top it off, Filolia was hyperactive and a pain to interact with. It was like trying to handle a child looking for some attention, and so she always spouted stuff that might be true but also might just be made up. “Did you need me for something?” Natalia asked. It looked like she had given up on getting to the bottom of Filolia’s return already. I understood that feeling. I wanted as little to do with her as possible myself.
“Do you know anything about the hammer vassal weapon? Mamoru is looking to boost his fighting strength,” I explained.
“The hammer is a vassal weapon of the shield holy weapon. It plays a role in activities like forging and also in providing advice to the shield. Think for a moment about what would happen if someone with a shield fought someone with a hammer,” Natalia quizzed us. “You can consider the compatibility of claws and hammer at the same time.” I took a moment to consider how someone equipped with a regular shield, rather than myself as Shield Hero, would approach that situation. A hammer would likely be used as a blunt, smashing weapon. I considered what it would be like using a shield to defend against a hammer and against claws. Claws mainly dealt with slashing attacks. Punching would be more the role of gauntlets. Scratching attacks could be effectively deflected with a wide-surfaced shield, making it easy to repel and withstand them.
A hammer, meanwhile, would employ hitting attacks. Even if the shield or armor being struck could take the hit, the impact would still be imparted into the hand or body behind them. That suggested a shield-bearer would have trouble fighting someone with a hammer. If there wasn’t someone around who could use it, we needed to find someone and fill that spot.
“Enhancing your fighting strength. I see where you are going with this,” Natalia said, nodding as I pondered the problem she had presented. “The hammer vassal weapon’s whereabouts are currently unknown. It apparently departed after the previous holder was killed. This might be a good time to look for it.”
“You can track it down?” I asked.
“Within certain limits, yes,” Natalia replied. So she had that kind of ability too. I would very much like Raphtalia and Ruft to learn a bit of that. With that thought, I looked over at the pair of them. They seemed to have read my mind, because Raphtalia gave an understanding nod, and Ruft’s eyes were sparkling. “I will need a little time, but I will start at once.” Natalia moved to leave, and then Holn—who had been silent until that moment—stepped forward.
“Wait a moment. If a pacifier affiliated with the force who defeated one who assumes the name of god starts making some big moves, we don’t know what kind of trouble it could stir up,” Holn said, voicing her concerns.
“I can handle any trouble I might ‘stir up,’ I promise,” Natalia shot back immediately. She really didn’t like Holn.
“Oh really? I only have the best intentions, and you don’t even want to look at what I’ve invented?” Holn replied, one eyebrow raised.
“What have you done now? You don’t give up, do you?!” Natalia said, exasperated.