“Raph, raph!” said Raph-chan. I wondered what they were talking about. If Filo had been there, she probably could have translated, but I’d sent her to help Sadeena and the others. Ethnobalt was training Rishia, and L’Arc was working to rebuild the nation.

I realized that I had hardly spent any time together with just Glass. Kizuna had always been there between us. Raphtalia seemed to have spent longer with her than I had.

“Raph,” said Raph-chan.

“Pen,” said Chris. The two of them seemed to have reached some kind of understanding, like an earthling and an alien touching their index fingers in what looked like a sign of friendship. Then a faint light started to shine out from where they were touching.

“Pe, pepepepepe—!” Ah! Chris fell flat on his back and it looked as though he was having some kind of seizure.

“Hey! What are you doing to Chris?” Glass shouted, immediately noticing what was happening.

“Yes! What are you doing?” Raphtalia helped Glass pull the two critters apart.

“Raph?” Raph-chan asked.

“Pen . . .” Chris managed. Raph-chan looked at Raphtalia while tilting her head, while Chris looked a little disappointed.

“Seriously . . . just what was that? You need to train your shikigami better, Naofumi,” Glass said.

“Train her? Raph-chan has never done anything wrong,” I said.

“You bet she has!” Raphtalia retorted, choosing this moment—for some reason—to come at me with her brow furrowed. Raph-chan doing something wrong? Like what? If she’d tried to pull something when I wasn’t looking, I’d have to have some words with her, of course.

“What, then? What did she do?” I asked.

“The Raph species!” Raphtalia immediately replied.

“I’m not sure that really counts,” I countered. The monsters in the village had wanted to become members of the Raph species, after all. They had done great things not only in the Phoenix battle but also when defeating Takt, and Raph-chan II more than pulled her weight. They were like the leaders of the monsters and the guardians of the village.

More than anything, they could get really big and were so soft and comfortable to lean on. I mean, I loved the Raph species.

“I really wouldn’t class that as being bad,” I continued. I hadn’t told her about Ruft yet. We could save that one for after the two had been reunited.

“It seems our opinions have diverged on this matter, Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia said.

“You said they were convenient!” I countered.

“. . . I admit to saying that,” she acquiesced. Deploying the Raph species against Atla had led to an unprecedented victory. They also got on really well with everyone in the village.

“I’d love Raph-chan even if she turns Chris into one,” I said.