Traveling Through Tales

Chapter 4 Shisayama

Black, all Azi could see was black as his awareness came back to him. He felt like he was lying down on a hard floor as he could begin to feel the aching in his lower back and neck. A chill ran across his body and he wondered to himself.

'Hmmm? What happened, wasn't I with Ozen? Where did he go? And why am I laying down? And why can't I see anything? Hmm....'

From the black came an unknown noise. It sounded like a voice but was too soft to hear.

"W….up….. Wak…. p."

Azi's attention was drawn away from his thoughts as he attempted to focus on the noise to better hear what it was saying, and it soon became loudly clear as the noise formed into a voice calling out.

"WAKE UP!! BOY!!"

'That sounds like.... a girl?'

In the next moment, Azi could feel a cold sensation across his face and a wet sensation on his skin. With a cough Azi cried out.

"What the heck. What was that?!"

Feeling as if he took a hit of ice-cold water to the face, his eyes reflexively shot open from the biting cold and surprise that overwhelmed him for a brief moment.

His eyes now wide open he got to his feet and wiped at them as he attempted to get out whatever had gotten into them. It turned out that his previous thought was correct as the voice he heard did come from a girl.

To be more precise, she was a tall voluptuous woman who had a scowl on her face and a now empty wooden bucket in her hand. Noticing that there were still some chunks of snow clinging to the bucket's rim, Azi deduced that he got splashed with water that had been mixed with chunks of packed snow.

After wiping the water and snow away from his face, he noticed a sudden chill envelop his body due to his now wet clothes. This was further emphasized by the night air as its breeze made his bones shiver a bit.

Looking around Azi saw Ozen and, in his befuddlement, he asked him.

"What is going on Ozen, did something happen while we were on the way to the village?"

Ozen looked at Azi with a deadpan look and stated plainly.

"You passed out boy. By the time I noticed, we were already at the entrance to the village."

Ozen then sighed and complained.

"Just how weak willed are you? Does a simple run through the forest scare you?"

Recomposing his thoughts, Azi remembered the experience of Ozen's so-called "simple run" while atop his back. It was a horrifying experience as he felt that his insides were moving around in ways that they were not supposed to. Speaking out his complaint Azi said to Ozen.

"There is no way that that was simple! You were jumping so much that I felt like I was going to hurl up my guts. Just how are you able to move at such scary speeds like that?"

Responding to Azi's question, Ozen, with a prideful look, felt obliged to answer him.

"Well as king of a nation, my body must be strong enough to face all the enemies of the Empire of Yamato. Additionally, considering the enemies I have gained over my years as king, I would say that my current ability is expected of me."

Scoffing in response to Ozen's blatantly prideful claim, Azi said to him.

"Really? Aren't kings supposed to usually be sitting his ass down on his throne all day as he handles meetings and paperwork while other people do the real work in the fields. Whenever I think of a big shot like a king, this is what usually comes to mi.."

His words cut off as a sudden impact was then felt on his left cheek which in turn sent him flying off into the wall of a nearby structure. Luckily, Azi's impact into the wall was not as bad as he thought, but the punch seemed to have killing intent behind it as Azi had felt a chill up his spine before he was hit.

Quickly recovering from the sudden surprise attack, he attempted to look for the culprit.

To his surprise, he saw the woman who had the empty bucket in hand. She was emitted an intimidating aura while she talked to Ozen with a concerned tone.

"Father, why have you brought a boy like this to one of our villages. After only a few moments, I can already tell that he is trouble. Anyone who would dare to insult the honor of a king is nothing more than a stain upon the nation he would inhabit."

Ozen responded with a sarcastic nod and explained.

"Yes, Yes, Shizu I understand. But there is a simple reason for this, he is likely a foreigner from a place far far away from the influences of the Empire of Yamato. He is also likely a peasant as when I first met the boy, his demeanor was casual which I could suspect came from his upbringing.

With these two points in mind, from what I can tell he is likely from a nation where titles like king have no real power but are instead utilized designations for responsibilities and duties."

Ozen then looked over to Azi, calling out to him.

"Isn't that right boy!"

Letting Ozen finish stating his estimations of him, Azi stood up as his hand was rubbing the bruise on his cheek and stated in a voice Ozen could hear from a far. "I think so, but there is a hole in your explanation."

Azi's statement caused one of Ozen's brows to raise as he questioned.

"Oh, and what would that be?"

Walking towards Ozen, Azi gave his own estimations of himself.

"While it is true that I am a foreigner, I get this feeling that it isn't the right word, but it is accurate. This is supported as I don't remember where I came from. For all I know, I may be someone who just had his memories messed with or just has a unique case of amnesia."

Attempting to think about his past, Azi showed signs of feeling a slight headache as he grasped his head a bit and grimaced in a bit of pain. Ozen noticed this and made a mental note to himself.

Off to the side Shizu, who was dumbfounded by the current situation. She had punched the boy with the intent to kill on accident as her anger had boiled over at the boy's rude remark to her father Ozen. Raising her voice, she questioned Azi with a dumbfounded expression.

"How are you still conscious? I was sure that my punch would kil .... umm I mean knock you out. Just who are you?"

His headache ceasing at her words, he turned to her and asked Shizu with an angry expression.

"Knock out? KNOCK OUT! That felt more like you were trying to do more than just that you damn psycho!!!"

Sending a glare at Azi, Shizu was somewhat annoyed by his response. How dare such a small boy call her a psycho. She thought herself beautiful and retorted back.

"Psycho? You dare use such a vulgar word to describe me. You not only have a mouth on you but also some balls. Maybe I should remove both as a recompense for your transgressions."

An evil grin began to form on Shizu's face which Azi returned in kind as he talked back sarcastically. He knew that the girl was only trying to intimidate him so that he knew his place but not wanting to take her aggression so one-sidedly, he acted out.

"OH, well aren't you kind, but unfortunately, I will have to decline your offered "mercy". Good job though, a good 10 out of 10 on negotiation skills."

With the most insincere gesture of mock compassion, he gave a sarcastic bow as he spoke. This caused Shizu to glare even more harshly at him which Azi returned in kind.

Now, the pair then began to glare at each other with an intensity that exasperated Ozen's mood. On the side, Ozen looked on at the two and could swear he saw electrical spark form between their glares. Sighing, Ozen called out to both of them to stop their foolishness.

"Alright you two enough of that!"

Breaking up their glaring match, Ozen stood between the two, he then said.

"*Sigh* Let's get the introductions finished first. Azi, this is my oldest daughter Shizu and Shizu, this boy's name is Azi Montagne. I found him in the mountains and decided to give him a helping hand. I am going to need you to be his guide around Shisayama for the next couple of days. So, the both of you, please get along."

Azi broke his gaze from Shizu's and turned a confused look at Ozen.

"Shisayama? What is that?"

Seeing Azi break eye contact with her, Shizu responded with a scoff as she also turned her head away in the opposite direction of Azi's gaze.

Chuckling from Shizu's childish action, Ozen responded to Azi.

"That would be the current village we are in. It is near the city Kujyuri which is the nation's name and main city. We are at a small village that is on the way from Kujyuri to the capital city of the Empire known as Yamato."

After Ozen's words, Azi finally took notice of his surroundings in greater detail. He was in a small square clearing that looked like the garden of an aristocrat's home. This garden had smaller houses spread around.

He could see alleyways and dirt paths that went to and from the clearing they were in and could see that the sun's edges were beginning to crest up into the sky.

He noticed that some of the buildings had stone chimneys billowing smoke out of them into the morning sky. The sources of light that lit the roads and dirt paths were by torches and very few fixed lamps.

It seemed that this village did not have the common resource of electricity for light but had to rely on torches and lamps to light the darkness.

Azi then realized that he had likely passed out for quite a while as he remembered clearly that when he met Ozen, the sun was still slightly above the horizon. But now Azi saw the sun just about to rise and realized that both Ozen and Shizu were probably waiting for him to wake up.

They had laid him down on a mat outside on the porch of a large house. The two were likely sitting nearby waiting for him to awaken, but it seems that the sit and wait approach reached its limit as this was evident by the empty bucket that Shizu held.

Azi noticed the empty bucket in Shizu's hand and turned to give her a deadpan look of annoyance and asked.

"You lack patience, don't you?"

Shizu, not expecting him to put two and two together, could only turn away as she threw the empty bucket far out of sight.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"I see." Said Azi as his eyes began digging holes into the back of Shizu's head.

In the next moment the sound of a THUNK and BONK could be heard, followed by a man's voice.

"Ow! What the heck?"

The young man looked around for the culprit of his distress and after a few moments his eyes locked with Shizu standing across from Azi. With an annoyed expression on his face, he approached her and questioned.

"Sister, what did you do this time?"