While Azi was conversing with Ben and Bail at the weapon shop's front counter, Shizu was contemplating her emotions, feelings, and thoughts. She was thinking about her decision to make Azi her fiancé if he proved himself by passing her trials. She felt that after getting to know him these past couple of days, she thought he could have a chance at being the one she was looking for. With the right training, he could be her partner, her equal, but she remembered just how weak willed he currently was and could not tell if he could really rise to her standards. While Azi showed great valor, diligence, and potential strength, she still thought of him as a weak young man due to how he only showed this side of himself when his emotions went out of control. His usual self was too kind and didn’t seem like the warrior type. If Shizu wanted to make Azi her partner she would need to train him hard so that he would be able to control his emotions to bring out his full potential. But Shizu hesit
After Azi declared his answer, Shizu's once disappointed expression soon turned up into a smile and she responded in kind. "SHOW ME!" Brandishing her sword for the first time in the match, Azi responded by throwing down his weapons. Shizu, Ben, and Bail were confused by his decision to abandon his weapons but were then shocked by his next moves. With no weapons in hand, Azi took up a boxing stance which caused Ben to speak up. "YOU NEED A WEAPON BOY. YOUR FIST CAN'T FIGHT STEEL YOU MORON." Ignoring the outcry from Ben, Azi put all his focus on the one person that was his opponent. He then rushed forward and, in an instant, the blue glow of the veins in his legs and arms shined brightly. Swift like the wind, Azi appeared behind Shizu as if he had teleported but was actually a result of pure speed. Azi had infused so much magical energy into his arms and legs, that each step gave him slight pangs of pain, but Azi soldiered on and struck out with a flurry of punches at Shizu's expo
Shizu continued walking down the road to a nearby inn with an asleep Azi held close in her arms. He was giving off a soft snore with a dumb smile on his face as he dreamed about something that Shizu could only guess at but she could hear a bit of mumbling coming from him. "So Soft ...ZZZZZZ and ZZZZ Fluffy haha... ha." As he talked in his sleep, he cuddled his head close to Shizu's furry ear which caused them to slightly twitch at the touch of his soft cheek. A bit of red began to form on Shizu's face, but she pushed back her promiscuous thoughts and she began walking a bit faster to a nearby inn. Arriving at the entrance, Shizu called out to get the attention of any staff still working. "Hello! Innkeeper, are you here?" Out from a side entrance located behind the front counter of the inn came a young woman in white sleeping clothes. This was the innkeeper and she recognized who her late night customer was. "Lady Shizu, what can I do for you? And at such a late hour." "Do you h
At an inn that specializes in a couple's experience, Shizu was hugging a small boy from behind. This small boy was Azi and he felt turmoil in his heart as he felt that this situation was wrong in so many ways. What was funny was how neither of them knew of the inn’s speciality but even without that knowledge the pair’s current situation could be called risque. From the remainder of his fractured memories, Azi felt that it was very immoral for a man and woman who are not married to sleep in the same bed. The immorality was only further compounded by how Shizu had her top off and was pressing her breasts into his lower back. This had been going on for the past hour and Azi felt that he should speak up on this matter. "I really think a man and woman should not sleep in the same bed, unless they are married. Also, you should put your top back on before you sleep or else you will catch a cold." In response to him, Shizu argued. "No, I don't think it's wrong. We are apprentice and kn
The innkeeper was making her way down the hallway to the private room that Azi and Shizu were sleeping in. As began her routine of checking up on her guests, she knocked on the door and declared her presence. She was confused to hear no response as it was already early in the afternoon and the two should be awake by now. Concerned that the two might have fallen ill as the pair looked quite tired and a bit battered when they arrived, she slid the door open to the small room. The innkeeper looked on in shock at the scene now in front of her. During the night, it seems that Shizu, on instinct, had again buried Azi into her ample bare breasts and was petting his disheveled black hair. What was different this time was that Shizu's embrace was loose, which gave Azi the freedom to move around in his sleep. Without the restrictive grip coming from Shizu, Azi had also on instinct rubbed his cheeks against Shizu's breasts as if they were the softest pillows he had ever felt. What was truly
After seeing off the two staff members that escorted him back to Kajima's house, Azi went to his room and began contemplating the recent events as he sat on his bed. When he kissed Shizu the night prior, he felt a warm unknown emotion in his heart. He wasn't sure if it was love due to his lack of knowledge and memory on the matter but could tell that he truly liked that emotion. Seeing as he liked that emotion, he deduced that it was likely an important emotion in his past and felt a bit worried that he could recall any similar memories. As he thought harder about the previous night, he was forced to embarrassingly remember that when they awoke Shizu had seen him suckling on her nipples. The memory made him blush wildly and made him question why he would do such a thing, especially while unconscious. He wondered if he had a unique interest in breasts but, wanting to not dig any deeper as he felt he might awaken a strange part of himself, he tried to take his mind off of it. Examini
-1 month later- Still the middle of winter of the Yamaton Calendar, it is Decem 2nd of the year 4831 AS (After Strife). Two guards of the village of Shisayama were standing at their post along the 3 feet tall stone walled perimeter of the village outskirts. These two guards were tasked by their leader to guard the western outer entrance with a squad of 6 people. The entrance had no gate and was just a dirt path that went between the opening in the stone wall. 4 of their group were not present at the post today as they had previously decided to work in pairs of two which allowed the other four the chance to go see their relatives and friends in the village. It also allowed them to get sufficient rest throughout their rotation of guards but left the gate somewhat understaffed. While this warranted worry, they found that since Yashimu’s investigation the number of monster attacks had lessened in the past couple weeks. So the 3 pairs thought they would be in the clear and would rotat
Opening the door to Kajima's living room, Azi saw that Shizu was sitting at the dining table writing letters and going through the stacks of paperwork that she had brought back from her office in the village. For the past two weeks, Shizu had been adapting to her new duties in Shisayama. On top of her work to do while in Shisayama and the work from Kujyuri added her workload which made Shizu's workload double. Noticing his arrival, Shizu turned her tired head up from the papers and greeted him with a somewhat dreary expression. "Welcome back Azi, how was your morning training? Did anything happen?" "Just ran into a small swarm of gengiri when I was passing one of the outer entrances. The guards and I took care of them, but I do have to fix a spear that I broke during the fight." Laying the broken spear he was carrying onto the dining table, he then sat at an open chair as he poured himself a drink of water from a jug that was set out for Shizu. The broken weapon got Shizu's atten
On the 7th day of the journey, the caravan finally arrived at the gates of the Kujyuri. The welcome was quite extravagant since word had reached the capital that Rulu would be returning early. Even though she had only left the capital for a few weeks, she was very much missed by her people as the usual sight of Rulu helping the commoner had become a daily occurrence for them.This was also a special time as all of Ozen’s children would be returning. While not making any noteworthy actions during the ambush from the Uzuruans, Ozen’s 4 youngest sons had accompanied the caravan and were delegated to grunt work by Shizu to aid in the guarding of the second carriage under Touma’s command.The 4 brothers sighed in relief when they rode past the gate on their personal hororon mounts. They heard the cheers of the citizens grow loud at the front of the caravan since the people began to catch sight of Rulu, who sat on the front seat of the front carriage with Yashimu.Rulu blushed a bit, as th
Finished with situating the captured assailants, the caravan returned to its journey to the capital Kujyuri. The assailants were tied up and sat in an empty space in the supply carriage pulled along by the second carriage of the caravan. A guard took the reins at the front while at the back, Azi and Touma sat inside. Touma, who was in charge of the second carriage’s safety, was currently applying a magic binding spell on the assailants which caused them to feel sluggish and heavy. This magic spell derived its roots from colorless magic as it did not emit any elemental color when used. When Azi asked Touma about the spell, he commented that it sounded like gravity magic which sparked Touma’s natural curiosity that came from being the scholarly thaumaturge he was. A lengthy conversation about Azi’’s rudimentary knowledge about physics ensued and this was somewhat like a kind of punishment for the assailants. The constant back and forth of the two made it impossible for any of them to
After a somewhat rough awakening, Azi now stood outside of the carriage he was just sleeping in. The cold night air chilled his skin but it did little to help his situation as he could still feel the stinging heat from the red teeth marks on the side of his neck. He looked to his right and saw the offending person who had bitten him in his sleep. Noticing his gaze, Shizu turned her head away in embarrassment and coughed a bit to divert the conversation. “Let’s get going. If we don’t act quickly, the enemy will get away and we'll be left with no answers to our questions.” Azi sighed and gave a nod of agreement before running off with Shizu who was followed by a group of their caravan’s guards. Meanwhile, Kajima and Yashimu had agreed to stay near their carriage in order to keep watch over their belongings and to guard Rulu. Of the caravan’s guard detail of 50 people, 20 guards protected the first carriage, 10 guards with Ozen’s four youngest sons and Touma protected the second car
Duodecem 18th of 4831 AS During the end of winter, snow was still prevalent in the nation of Kujyuri as it was known for its year long snowfall. The caravan, while unhindered from the lessening snow, still felt the effects as the personnel still slightly shivered from the cold while in the middle of their trek through the forest and mountain paths of the snowy nation. It had been 3 days since the caravan had begun the 7 days journey to the capital and all their pace was good. It consisted of three carriages that each pulled along an additional storage carriage that was filled with the caravan’s belongings and supplies. They traveled in a line formation and were protected by the remaining group of guards that came with Rulu when she was traveling out of Kujyuri for the first time. Over half of her original guard was killed during the trek to Shisayama since they redirected their travel path to answer a distress call made by Shizu and her forces who were out on an expedition concern
Duodecem the 15th of 4382 AS On a somewhat warmer winter morning, for the first time in a while, Azi was spending time outside of his house and getting some exercise by sparring with Nosuri. As two arrows came flying at him, Azi jumped to the side in a panic. Being somewhat quick on his feet, he narrowly dodged it but was unable to retaliate against his opponent as he did not have his gauntlets equipped nor was he reinforcing his body with magic energy. In fact, Azi was purposefully not using his magic since the scrutinizing gaze that Shizu gave at the side told him to not even dare to try it. The reason for this started with Azi who, after constant protest, was able to convince Shizu to let him out of the house under the condition that he would be supervised by her at all times and that he did not use any magic. Shizu added the no magic condition as she had started to suspect that his magic energy was somewhat unusual and out of control. Recently, she deduced that a possible cau
A few days after Azi awoke from his long slumber, he felt a familiar, but overly warm sensation encapsulating him. His eyes flickered open as his usual habit of waking at the crack of dawn kicked in. He moved his head to survey his surroundings and he again felt a soft sensation brush against his cheek. Believing that it was a pillow, Azi proceeded to bury himself in its ever comfortable feeling. Unexpectedly, what caught his attention was that he felt as if the pillow was pushing him closer. It took him a couple seconds to realize that there were a pair of arms around his head that were holding him firmly while at the same time a pair of legs were wrapped around his lower waist. Waking up a bit more, Azi then realized that he was in the somewhat clingy, but unsurprising position of being hugged like a pillow by Shizu. For the past few days, Azi noticed that Shizu had become more clingy since the day he woke up. She would usually hug him from behind whenever they slept together in
On the night of the fourth day after the incident, Shizu had invited Rulu, Nosuri, and Ougi for dinner as Rulu offered to make Shizu a meal to help lift her spirits. While Shizu wanted to help cook for everyone she was not allowed into the kitchen due to Rulu’s insistence, so Shizu was relegated to setting the table. Her mind was still on Azi as he still showed no signs of waking up anytime soon, but after placing down the last of the plates Shizu caught a whiff of the food and felt her mind calm a bit. She then saw that the meal was ready as Nosuri and Ougi were walking over with plates of food in hand. Taking another whiff of the delicious smell in the air, Shizu sighed in relief and she complimented Rulu. “Your cooking always smells so good Rulu, I truly wish I could eat your food everyday.” Shizu then proceeded to rub her cheek against her younger sister’s as she gave a forceful hug charged with sisterly love. “T-Thank you Sister, but please not in front of the others. P-Ple
Shizu slumped on the couch in the living room of Azi’s house. It was a piece of furniture they had picked out on their day out due to how soft and comfy the black colored couch felt to the touch. Filled with Horonon feather, the couch felt somewhat firm but pliable like a stiff bean bag. Its outer cover was made of fur from an animal that was not local to Kujyuri which made buying it quite pricey, but the two of them chose to splurge a bit on their shopping date.It had been 3 days since the festival disaster and since then, Shizu and Yashimu were at work as they took turns throughout the day to take command of the relief efforts. One would take command of the village guard while the other would rest. It was currently Shizu's turn to sleep but she had to attend an unscheduled meeting with Jerome who demanded to see Azi.Shizu told him that he was injured during the disaster and that he would not be able to see anyone at the moment. This caused Jerome to protest and reasoned that he h
“Damnit!!” Shouted Jerome as he pounded his fist into the top of the table he sat at. He was currently inside his room at a luxurious inn. After his failed attempt to join the fight, Jerome was whisked away by his mercenary captain, Ghost.Due to Ghost’s rough handling of Jerome, the captain had inadvertently caused Jerome to pass out. While passed out, he had a continuous nightmare of his traumatic experience which eventually woke him hours after the battle ended. He was then called to meet with Shizu and Yashimu to discuss the relief efforts to combat the issues that will arise from this sudden monster attack. Jerome expected to get a tongue lashing from both of them, but he didn’t expect what was now on his table.After their meeting, Yashimu gave Jerome a packet of papers and was instructed to review them for the meeting that would take place the next day. It was already the middle of the night but Jerome, a “hard working” council member, pushed forward with his pride as his fuel