“Nope, no good,” she replied. She sounded so much like Atla in that moment it reminded me of when Atla had attempted to take the gauntlet seven star weapon. We were going to be fighting powerful monsters and the ones who assume the name of god in the future, so I wanted as few casualties as possible. With that in mind, I watched the proceedings, hoping that someone would get picked to bolster our forces, but in the end, none of those Mamoru brought along were able to take the hammer vassal weapon.
“What about you and your allies, future Shield Hero?” Natalia asked me.
“It could be a massive pain in the temporal ass if any of us got chosen,” I cautioned. We may even have to leave that person here in this time.
“That depends on the hammer vassal weapon, surely,” Natalia replied, showing more forbearance than I’d been expecting.
“Dafu!” said Dafu-chan.
“Raph!” added Raph-chan, both of them chirping about something. Dafu-chan could use hammers.
“Maybe we should let this little one try,” I suggested, picking Dafu-chan up.
“Dafu!” said Dafu-chan. “Dafu, dafu, dafu!” She was going wild. It looked like she really didn’t want to.
“It’s rare to see a Raph species that doesn’t want to be held by you, Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia commented.
“I guess so,” I replied. We knew Dafu-chan was the past Heavenly Emperor, so there had to be some reason for this. “Okay . . . maybe let Ruft have a go. Even if he gets picked, when we go home, we’ll persuade the hammer to release him.” Ruft had looked pretty good swinging that axe around, so giving him a hammer could be a big attack boost for us.
“If you want me to, Shield Hero,” Ruft said.
“It is highly unlikely that a Heavenly Emperor would ever be selected without extreme extenuating circumstances,” Natalia said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“We’re here to watch over the heroes. What do you think would happen if one was selected to actually become a hero? Do you think the spirit implements—the vassal weapons—have not considered this?” Natalia asked. I could see her point. If the ones who were meant to stop abuse were given the power to cause the abuses they were meant to stop, that could definitely be a conflict of interest, and one easy to give into.
“What does that mean about me?” Raphtalia asked, a frown on her face. She was the holder of the katana vassal weapon.
“That’s a vassal weapon from another world, so it’s not the same thing. The hammer vassal weapon is from this world,” Natalia replied. Raphtalia was the holder of a vassal weapon from another world, so this rule didn’t apply to her.
“That means Ruft is off the table,” I said.
“Really? That’s a shame,” Ruft said. He seemed to want to give it a go, but not if Natalia wasn’t going to allow it. I wanted to avoid contravening any of the rules of Q’ten Lo at the moment.
“You want to ask anyone else before the summoning, Mamoru?” I asked.
“I do have some other ideas. People I’d like to ask. Can we wait on the summons a little longer?” Mamoru replied. It sounded like he might have someone else he could ask—and it seemed like he was saying we were finished here for today. As we started to withdraw—
“Seriously . . . I hope we find someone soon,” Natalia said.
“Dafu!” said Dafu-chan intently. But it was too late. Natalia reached out and stroked the hammer vassal weapon. With a popping sound, the weapon freed itself from the Rosetta stone and stuck to Natalia’s hand. Dafu-chan’s fur was raised, and she was growling. She’d tried to warn Natalia before she touched it!
Natalia could only gasp. She was staring at the hammer in her hand while the Rosetta stone turned into light and vanished. Everyone who had been getting ready to leave turned to look at Natalia.
“Oh my. The hammer vassal weapon has made a strange choice. Does it have any idea what this means?” the Water Dragon said, sounding bemused. Natalia had told Ruft not to try and then been picked herself! The hammer vassal weapon was sparkling in Natalia’s hand. She was the holder now, no doubt about it. Natalia herself had a hand pressed against her forehead and was shaking her head.
“Choosing a pacifier as its holder! What is the spirit of the hammer vassal weapon thinking?!” Natalia started raging at the hammer, but of course, it didn’t reply.
“For better or worse, you’ve been selected as a vassal weapon holder. Now you will need to set an even better example for all heroes. Natalia the Hammer Hero! Redouble your efforts to maintain an honest heart!” the Water Dragon said.
“Silence!” Natalia raged back. “I feel like cursing this world and my fate, cursing everything! We’ve found a potential way to end the waves! Is this kind of exception to the rules even required?” She’d just become a holder and I was already worried about her getting cursed. She was setting the perfect example of what a hero shouldn’t do, which was highly conflicting, given that she was also a pacifier.
“I think you might be suited to the role from a combat perspective,” Mamoru said, trying to calm her down. His approach was quite different from the one I would have taken.
“Ah . . . good luck,” Raphtalia said.
“Wow, this is amazing!” Ruft added.
“Raph!” said Raph-chan. They all seemed pleased for Natalia.
“I’m not happy about this,” Natalia said with a sigh. “How did this even happen?” Having both the power of a hero and a pacifier could be powerful. She could use a hero’s power while also holding the power to seal it.
Natalia looked even more exasperated than before as she followed us with the hammer vassal weapon on her back. We left the clearing.
Then something caught my eye deep among the trees. Something was moving in the underbrush with what looked like a golden tail.
“Mr. Naofumi?” Raphtalia asked.
“No, it’s nothing,” I replied. Probably just a monster watching what was going on. I set off after the others.