Her actual age was one month less than the total amount of time that had passed since I’d been summoned to this world. In other words, the three and a half months was about the same as the total length of time that Filo had been alive.

“Fehhh . . . No time for a break, I guess.”

That was Rishia that just made that whiny “feh” sound. Rishia’s abilities fluctuated based on her emotional state, but the girl had the potential to be a real heroine. I had to give her credit for contributing more than anyone else in our fight against Kyo.

I took her in after Itsuki, another one of the heroes, tossed her aside for having nothing to offer the team, but her performance had made it clear that she had plenty to offer. She still couldn’t manifest that strength without becoming extremely emotional, but I was sure that would change once her abilities had really blossomed. I figured she was just a late bloomer and her stats would only improve going forward.

“Yeah, not really. We need to figure out how to get stronger before it’s too late. Not to mention, we’ll be fighting the Phoenix next, so we better train hard. Time is limited.”

“Okay!”

“Rafuuu!”

Raph-chan responded along with Rishia.

Oh yeah, Raph-chan was a shikigami that had been created using a lock of Raphtalia’s hair. She was a cute little thing that looked kind of like a tanuki or a raccoon. I imagined it’s what Raphtalia would look like if she were turned into an animal. Raph-chan was surprisingly sharp and had proven useful in all sorts of situations.

I noticed my shield was reacting to something. What’s this? Familiar Shield?

When I checked the flashing shield icon, it indicated that the Familiar Shield had been unlocked. It was pretty much the same as the Shikigami Shield. I must have needed it to use Raph-chan and that’s why it appeared.

I sure was glad that Raph-chan hadn’t disappeared or something due to differences between this world and Kizuna’s world. It seems things that weren’t compatible with both worlds ended up with their names garbled in the status screen and ceased to function after crossing over. I’d thought about how depressing it would be if the Shikigami Shield ended up with some unrecognizable name and Raph-chan turned into a stuffed doll or something, but thankfully nothing like that happened.

“Mr. Naofumi? You’re thinking about something weird, aren’t you?”

“I was just thinking about how happy I am that I can use Raph-chan in this world, too.”

“Oh . . .”

It seemed like Raphtalia wasn’t really sure what to think about Raph-chan.

“Although, it looks like all of the powering up that I did has been reset. I’ll have to do that over again, but this time it will be in a more familiar world. I’ll make you more powerful than you were in Kizuna’s world in no time, Raph-chan!”

“Rafuuu!”

I loved how Raph-chan always knew just how to respond. She was standing up on two legs as if to show a sense of determination.