Traveling Through Tales

Chapter 10 The Investigation

After Azi, Kajima, and Shizu equipped themselves at Kajima's smithy, the trio were making their way to the central section of the village. The group of soldiers that came along with Ozen, Yashimu, and Shizu were taking up residence in some of the barracks used by the village watch.

Kajima led the group with Azi following behind and Shizu at Azi's back.

While they were walking, Shizu had a noticeable grin on her face whenever Azi turned to meet her gaze. This caused Azi's face to redden due to how he remembered that when he came to from passing out earlier, he noticed that he was drooling and while he would not usually feel that embarrassed about drooling in his sleep.

It was different this time as his head was in Shizu's lap.

His situation was made worse as Shizu described how much of a dumb face he had when he was sleeping in her lap and that he acted like a docile puppy that wanted to be pampered.

This was evident as she saw him grasping and nibbling onto her lap that now had a spot of his saliva on it. Shizu laughed when this happened and allowed Azi to continue his unconscious antics until he woke up.

Shizu's comments had made Azi embarrassed as he didn't know exactly how he acted when he was unconscious and was worried that he had lost the dignity he had as the older one between the two of them.

Azi turned to Shizu, who was following close behind and asked. "I would appreciate it if you showed some propriety next time. You should really work on your etiquette skills."

"OH so you would like for me to do that again but with propriety?" Shizu said sarcastically.

"Cheeky Girl, don't tempt me." Azi said with a pouting face as he admitted his defeat.

Taking pride from the results of her teasing, Shizu bellowed a laugh. "HAHAHA so you can make a face like that as well eh."

After finishing her laughter Shizu then asked. "In any case, how do you feel? Feeling nervous?"

"*Sigh* Overall I am a bit excited and scared, so yes. The idea of battling with some monsters excites me, but I feel scared by how I might die." He said while rubbing his arm. "I don't think I was a soldier, and this is only compounded by the fact that I feel I have very little experience in combat."

Turning his head to the side, Kajima at the front of the group reassured Azi with his words.

"Not to worry Azi, since you will be with Shizu and myself, your protection is guaranteed as while I may not be a soldier anymore, I still retain all my skills with a weapon. Additionally, Shizu is considered a talented ordained knight of Kujyuri.

She is currently under consideration for becoming the next King, or in this case Queen of Kujyuri."

Azi was surprised by Kajima's praise about Shizu, but it irked him a bit due to how he saw Shizu looking smug as she pushed out her chest proudly. Shizu gave a look to Azi which he could interpret as her saying. 'See, I am quite famous and impressive aren't I.'

Composing himself to prevent him from retorting on her behavior, Azi just smiled and asked Shizu. "Impressive, what did you do to gain such merit, Shizu?"

"During the previous war I took to the battlefield under my father Ozen as one of his field commanders. I was able to cause a large amount of damage to our enemy and was able to cripple the main invasion force.

This bought the army time to make ample preparation for a later surprise attack that was key to the final push to end the war. From my merit I was awarded by the emperor and my father with a silver seal." She said.

Raising his brow Azi asked. "What is a silver seal?"

Shizu reached into a pouch on her hip and took out a silver-colored circular piece of metal with what looked like a cherry blossom embossed on its front and that unknown emblem Azi had on his shield on its back.

"This is a silver seal, and it is a reward that can only be obtained with recognition from both a King and the Emperor. It shows that I have been recognized as a veteran soldier with a high amount of authority. With it, I am able to hold authority second to that of the King of Kujyuri but this is limited as I can only use this seal in Kujyuri."

Azi was able to understand just how powerful the silver seal was and noted to himself that he should probably stop teasing Shizu as he might feel her wrath should he push her too far.

So, while swallowing the knot that formed in his throat, he praised Shizu. "Well now that I know that I feel a bit more confident. I'm glad both you and Kajima are with me."

Shizu was delighted by Azi's compliment but also noticed the gulping noise that came from Azi. She felt that she should tease him a bit after the hunt. Maybe another hug she thought.

The trio, after arriving at the barracks in the village, saw Yashimu and a group of soldiers waiting and discussing plans.

Yashimu noticed the arrival of the trio and spoke to them. "Thank you for joining us, Shizu, I see you brought Kajima and the boy. Why is that?"

"Kajima intends to show Azi around the nearby forest to get him familiar with his surroundings." She said. "I will be with them to act as protection."

After sighing, Yashimu stated in a slightly exasperated tone.

"I am unsurprised that you are still making your own decisions even though I am supposed to be the one in charge, but I will allow it. We are short on time as we have only a little over a day to finish this investigation."

Thinking to himself that he should brief them on the potential danger, he instead pushed that idea out of his head as he wanted to make haste as time was short.

"Alright, let's move people. Our objective is to investigate the nearby forest. We need to hunt and report any predatory animals or monsters you find. If they escape, make sure you keep a tally and give an accurate report of what happened. AM I UNDERSTOOD SOLDIERS!"

"SIR YES SIR." Said the soldiers in a loud and united tone.

The investigation party consisted of 12 parties of 3. 6 parties were assigned to the eastern forest and the same number was assigned to the western forest. Each person in the party was given two metal tubes with a cord attached to the bottom of the tubes.

One tube was blue and the other red, all 12 parties were instructed that should they find something unusual the blue tube's cord is to be pulled to launch a blue colored magic flare and if any party was in danger the red tube's cord should be pulled to launch a red colored magic flare.

In both cases, it is a signal to all parties to meet up with the party that launched the flare. After Yashimu's instruction on the proper use of the flares, all parties made their way to their assigned forest to begin the investigation.

Azi, Kajima, and Shizu were a team assigned to the western forest and while they were walking Azi noticed that the mountain he saw in the distance was likely the one where he and Ozen met. He recognized the far-off ledge that he slipped down near the top of the mountain.

Bringing his attention back to the forest in front of him, Azi began to survey his surroundings. He saw large trees of 10 meters in height with no discernible leaves due to winter. He also saw that there were a few large rocks and boulders scattered around each of the 10-meter-tall trees.

The number of rocks and boulders increased as his party made their way closer to the mountain in the distance. What was unusual was that as they got closer to the mountain, Azi could feel that the temperature was slightly increasing.

While not hot enough to melt the snow, the change in temperature was noticeable.

"Does anyone else feel a little warmer?" Azi asked.

"Yes." Shizu responded. "But this is normal. The forests usually have varied temperatures due to the nearby mountain giving different parts of the forest a varied amount of cover from the wind and sun."

Continuing to share what she knew as she vaulted over a fallen tree. "What is strange is that a change was noticed only just last week in a previous report, usually the change in temperatures like this only happens near the change of the season but we are currently mid-winter. Father and I went to investigate and found that a hot spring has recently formed near the top of the mountain. Maybe that is the cause?"

Looking behind her, she then said. "Father had me and my men return first to make a report while he made his final inspection of the surroundings of the hot spring. I believe that this was when you first met him."

"Yes." Azi said. "I believe I fell unconscious in the mountains, I remember traveling some but due to being struck by something? I then found myself on the mountain. My clothes were in tatters, and I had no belongings so I believe I might have been robbed then left to die in the mountain by bandits?"

"It is odd that we did not find you sooner, but due to how visibility was low during our investigation of the mountain and that we were in a rush since we had little time left in Shisayama. It's not surprising that we were cutting a few corners to get work done faster." Said Shizu as she laughed a bit at her comment about cutting corners.

The trio's investigation continued from when the sun was at its highest point to when it was about to touch the top of the mountain in the horizon. During this time the party encountered and killed beowolves and gengiri, which were common monsters that could be usually found near Shisayama.

The beowolves ranged from 1 to 2 meters in length and had an average height of 1 meter. They had black fur with red streaks in its main, blood red eyes, and sharp wolf teeth in its maw. They were both strong and quick animals which made them hard to deal with but due to how they were a species that did not hunt in packs like the wolves from Azi's memories.

These wolves either hunted solo or in pairs with their mate, which made it easy for them as they would outnumber the wolves in a confrontation.

On the other hand, the gengiri were an overgrown insect type monster that looked like a millipede which had an average size of 1 meter in length and 0.5 meters in height. They used their long front feelers to push up the front of their long bodies to make themselves look taller and had an insect-like maw with multiple feelers coming from their mouth.

They also had a pair of insect jaws that were hard and sharp enough to clash with steel weapons and sturdy enough to make a dent in Azi's metal shield. The gengiri stayed in packs of 4 to 6 so when encountering them, the party would either engage as a group to prevent themselves from being picked off.

If there were too many, they would flee and try to outrun the gengiri but it was unnecessary as Kajima and Shizu were quite formidable warriors.