Hearing Shizu’s concerned tone to retreat, Azi turned around and began running to the fort’s wall. He had expended much of his magic energy and was unable muster another infusion into his legs as he had not fully recovered. As he attempted to run, he also felt sluggish as his body was still fatigued but knowing that the situation was dire Azi attempted to infuse any amount of fire elemental energy just one more time into his legs so that he could make a long jump to the wall. When he was 10 meters away from the wall, a bout of dizziness and a heat began to overtake his senses. He fell forward into the snow on all four. He felt sick and when he felt his forehead with the back of his hand, he could tell that he had a fever. Azi cursed in his mind at the luck he had. 'Damnit, not now. Just a few more meters.' He attempted to crawl the rest of the way but the feeling in his body was getting faint. The fur coat he wore helped to insulate him from the snowstorm, but his lack of magic
While Shizu and Kajima lead the expedition party in repelling the incoming attack. Rulu, Yashimu, and Touma were bringing Azi to Shizu's personal tent. Along the way Rulu requested that Nosuri and Ougi bring water, clean towels, and what medicinal herbs they could find in the camp. As they entered, Touma and Yashimu set Azi down onto Shizu's cot. Azi was still shivering but his body was warm and sweated an incredible amount of moisture from every pore on his body. This reminded Rulu of the time she saw her mother ill in bed. She was only a child at the time, but she remembered the helplessness she felt that day. She was a different person now. She could do something. She! Could help this person. With a compassionate tone, Rulu commanded. "Touma, if you have any magic energy left, I need you to cast detection magic on the boy. I need you to monitor his pulse and examine his magic channels." "Understood." Touma gathered white motes of light into his hand, which then began to sprea
Chapter 57 Behind the Darkness In a secret chamber in Kujyuri's capital, numerous young men were sitting around a round table. These men were some of the ordained knights of Kujyuri who took part in Ozen's council. While the men here did not make up the entire council, they made up a good majority of it. A heavy atmosphere permeated the chamber as everyone had grim expressions on their faces. One of those faces was council member Jerome who was in opposition to Ozen. After a recent one on one discussion with Ozen, Jerome was ordered to command a force of 50 mercenaries himself to transport supplies to Shisayama. He was setting out in a few days, and he loathed Ozen's order. He would much prefer the comfort of his home in the capital with his wives, rather than the countryside bum of a village like Shisayama. Remembering that he would likely have to meet Shizu the Man Killer, he sighed in exasperation before he broke the silence. "So how was the operation in Shisayama?" "If you me
The pair of Azi and Shizu eventually released their lips from each other's necks from their nibbling. They now had a crimson red mark adorning the sides of their necks. The two locked eyes and saw the saliva on each other's lips. Both lick their lips which prompted them to move in for a kiss. *Bang* The door to Azi's room suddenly fell off its hinges and in came Kajima who had a pile of people lying on the floor behind him. Shizu was the first to notice the entrance of the uninvited guests and saw that Kajima was standing beside the futon they were in with a frown. Shizu was about to turn her head to meet Kajima's eyes, but a resistive force prevented her from moving her head. She noticed that Azi had firmly held the back of her head as he continued to move his lips closer to her own. Azi's eyes were glazed over from their long intimate exchange of nibbling and Kajima's sudden entrance was not enough to wake Azi from his stupor. "Wait Azi, n-not here we are in publ.....mmmh" S
After a "refreshing" bath, Shizu and Azi now sat on a large couch with Kajima who had the new residents of the house taking a seat on the other couch across from them. On it, sitting from left to right was Rulu, Nosuri and Ougi. They all looked on with wry and awkward smiles as they witnessed the eye-catching event in front of them. There sat Shizu, Kajima, and Azi, but the last person was not sitting on the couch. Instead, he was sitting in Shizu's lap as she cuddled him from behind. Azi was slumped back into Shizu's embrace like a worn-out doll. He looked as if he had just lost a battle in utter defeat and Rulu swore she could see a wispy ghost somewhat floating out from his mouth. His embarrassment was also very much visible to everyone as the steam that emanated from his head was definitely not a product of the hot bath. Rulu and the others could only wonder what Shizu had put the small boy through to bring him so low. Rulu's thoughts began to wander as her cheeks began to tu
Shizu, Nosuri, and Ougi had left Kajima's house and made their way into the village chief's office. Inside was Yashimu and his 4 younger brothers who were standing around a table with a large map with numerous markings and notes attached to its surface. The map showed the surroundings of the village, from the nearby forest, mountains, and main roads. The marking denoted the location of the past and recent investigations with their accompanying reports. Turning their eyes up from the papers they were examining, all 5 brothers turned to the entrance and greeted the timely arrival of their older sister and the two mercenaries. Yashimu called out to her first. "Shizu, it's good to see that you are well rested. How is Azi, is he alright?" "He has a mild fever and he is resting in bed right now." "Speaking of this Azi boy, just who is he? He can't be just some normal villager. Is he a foreigner from another nation of Yamato?" Asked the youngest brother. "We actually don't know much.”
Exiting his room, Azi saw the familiar sight of Kajima in the kitchen. He was joined by Rulu who was wearing an apron as she stirred a pot of what looked like meat and potato stew. The smell of the stew reminded him of what he had eaten before in his past and it succeeded in getting the intended reaction as it had whetted his appetite. Hearing him approach, Kajima looked over from the oven to speak to Azi. "How is your fever? All better?" "I think it's gone down a bit. But I think I’m more concerned about how hungry I am." Azi rubbed his stomach to indicate his increasing appetite, to which Kajima reacted by smiling wryly. "You didn't eat much when you were asleep but don't worry, I made plenty for tonight. Dinner will be ready soon, Nosuri and Ougi came back and said that Shizu would be bringing Yashimu over for dinner. The two mercenaries are currently in their room getting changed and Shizu should be back soon." "That's good to hear. Anything I can do to help?" "Well, if you
Kajima left the dining room for a moment and returned with an ornate box with a familiar emblem on one of its sides. Shizu and Azi recognized that the box was from the well-known pastry shop in the village. Azi perked up and asked with upbeat expectation. "No way, is that what I think it is?" "You would be correct. Thanks to Rulu we were able to get plenty of your favorite dessert." Sadi Kajima as he set the box down on the dining table. Azi turned to Rulu and asked in a surprised tone. "How did you get one? They are usually sold out since you can only get them if you reserve an order and the amount it costs to do so is incredibly high for just one." A bit fluster, Rulu explained as she flailed her hands around in a panic. "Well, when I went to the shop with Kajima, they recognized me and gave it to me as a gift to celebrate my arrival to Shisayama. It-its really n-no big deal." Azi was amazed by Rulu's simple explanation as he had gone several times in his free time in an att