“Right. I had Rishia use those. They have all sorts of magic contained in them,” I recalled. When we were here last time, Rishia had used ofuda and provided backup from the rear. When I thought about it now, she’d shown an aptitude for projectile weapons even back then. Not to the same extent as Itsuki, perhaps, but she had provided excellent support from the rear.

Now, of course, Rishia was the projectile hero. Ofuda, used as a thrown weapon, might actually be effective for her.

“I want them too! Tell me how to make them!” Shildina just loved card games. She still carried her holder of cards around with her. She’d used them as part of her oracle powers, so maybe she could make use of them with her own unique abilities.

“If you want to learn more, why not see if there’s someone among Glass’s allies who can use this technique?” I said. I turned to look at Glass, just to see her actively put some distance between herself and Shildina.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I’m not sure I really understand it myself. Shildina, was it? I just feel something telling me not to get too close to you,” Glass explained.

“Oh my!” Shildina wasn’t quite sure what to do either, being told that to her face.

“Don’t worry, sweet Naofumi. I’ve heard far worse than that before. I’m used to it,” she said to me.

“That’s nothing to be proud of,” Raphtalia told her, not unkindly.

“Oh my,” Shildina said again, still not really sure how to respond. It might be better to call Sadeena over, I mused. Getting this kind of reaction from people due to being a former executioner was probably something only someone from the same line of work could hope to understand.

Not to say I didn’t have any experience with persecution myself. However, in the most recent instance when Takt and his women had been laying into me as I beat them down, I had to admit I’d really rather enjoyed it.

Of course, those feelings had all turned a bit more complex once we started killing them.

“I’m really sorry,” Glass said. “I know that was a nasty thing to say.”

“Rare to hear something like that from you, Glass,” I commented.

“I know,” she replied. “Shildina, do you have some kind of secret or something?”

“A secret? Is that your warrior instincts speaking?” If it was, she had a pretty keen observational eye. From a combat perspective, Shildina had strength to match that of Sadeena.

“No, I wouldn’t quite say that . . .” Glass replied.