Ah. He looks a spot awkward at the prospect of explaining. It's all pretty blurry, when he goes back far enough, but he thinks he can get a few things straight.
"Well... I'm kinda more used to things around a shrine than on the battlefield myself. Spent a long time in one," he says. "Used to belong to an emperor before that... didn't get used for combat much, more scarin' the other guys blunt, but ... you do what you've gotta do."