As if instinctively reacting to his usual routine, Azi awoke at first light. He felt a wet sensation on his lips and that there was something soft missing from his palms. Taking stock of his surroundings, he recognized that he was in his room. He felt oddly refreshed from his recent lucid dream as it felt so real that he thought he would get completely lost in it. He slightly flushed as he remembered the finer details of his dream and he thought to himself. 'That was quite a dream. It is a good thing it didn't actually happen..... Right?' A bit of doubt sprouted in his mind, but he nonetheless lifted his body up with his hands. He saw that Shizu was lying beside him, which was no surprise. Shizu did have her top off like she did in his dream, but this had happened before when they slept together. Azi knew that she had a sloppy posture when sleeping so he played it off as coincidence. Remembering that he had to stay in bed for a month and had no pressing work, Azi began to wake Shi
After Kajima understood the current situation from Yashimu and Rulu, he sat Shizu and Azi down inna seiza posture on the floor of the dining room. As they sat on their knees, they looked up in horror at the expression of rage in Kajima's devil-like eyes. He began his tirade about the modesty that an unmarried man and woman should have and threatened to throw them out to the streets if they continued such behavior under his roof. This was countered as Azi and Shizu explained what really happened with blushing faces. They took turns as they retold their intimate moment last night and explained how it was a lucid dream. Kajima's eyes of wrath lessened as they then explained the details and learned that nothing sexual had occurred, but concern began to mar his expression. He worried that Shizu was possibly forcing Azi down the path of her choosing by constantly enticing him with her body and antics, but it seemed that Azi explained how it was his own choice. While it was an unconscious
Azi conjured his magic tethers from his arms and as they extended they began glowing a brighter color of blue-ish white that made Nosuri and Ougi squint at the bright sight. While somewhat uncomfortable to look at as the shined is more in the confined space of the workshop, they could still see what Azi's tethers were doing.The tethers that came from each of his hands began to split into smaller lines of blue light that then connected to the 15 individual square pieces that were now attached to their weapons."This will only take an hour so please be silent as I work."With those curt words, Azi closed his eyes and focused on infusing magic into the square black pieces. The rune on each square piece began to glow and soon magic power began to circulate through the internal structure of their weapons.Nosuri and Ougi stared in great curiosity, they have been all across the lands of the Empire and they have never seen a kind of crafting, forging, or thaumaturgic technique that was like
As Azi told Nosuri that he was going to smack her weapon around, Nosuri paled and began to back away from the boy who seemingly had an innocent smile on his face as he shouldered an enormous great sword on his shoulder.Nosuri had misinterpreted his words as a proposition to spar with him. After seeing the abnormal strength and skills that Azi had in fighting and thaumaturge, Nosuri felt as if she had little chance of victory in even a simple spar. Before she could say a word in refusal, her brother Ougi had cut in."Excuse me Azi, but if you don't mind? Could we test my weapon first?"Azi shrugged in agreement as he didn't have any objections. Sighing, Nosuri gave her brother a silent prayer of thanks which Ougi responded with a knowing nod. Azi then instructed Ougi to prepare himself to block one of his attacks. He was going to perform a simple vertical downward slash, so all Ougi had to do was block it with both his sabers.Ougi nodded in understanding and drew his sabers from the
After everyone had stopped laughing and bantering, Azi was taken inside Kajima's house to get a medical checkup from Elder Sung and Saki. Rulu decided to do some housework as she did not have time to go shopping today as she had enjoyed Nosuri's story for too long and the market would be closed late into the day.Kajima went to his workshop to do his blacksmith work while Nosuri and Ougi decided to train until it was dinner.Inside Azi's and Shizu's shared room, Azi sat on the futon and was being examined by Elder Sung. She examined to see if there were any abnormalities in his physical body as she knew that his stunt in the forge had likely taken its toll on him.Elder Sung saw that Azi's body did have a few new scratches and faded scars and burns which prompted her to ask a pressing concern."Didn't I give you enough ointment and creams for your little project on Shizu's weapon?"Azi embarrassingly explained that he had gone through the entire supply of ointments and creams that he
Decem 17th of 4831 AS A few peaceful days had passed and Azi was currently lightly sparring with Ougi in the clearing near Kajima's house. It was just after lunch and both fighters had a surplus of energy after eating a hearty meal. Kajima allowed Azi to spar with Ougi as he knew that the sparring he would do with Ougi would be less taxing than the sparring he usually did with Shizu. The Shizu’s usual sparring involved the use of actual weapons and Azi's use of magic which were not present in the current sparring session which was obviously evident by the lack of craters in Kajima’s wide yard. Throwing a punch aimed at Ougi's chest, Azi thought that he was able to land a clean hit but just before he made contact Ougi deftly moved the side with a single turn of his waist and then grabbed Azi's outstretched wrist in a firm grip. Repositioning himself, Ougi tripped Azi's leading foot which had caused Azi to fall forward. Ougi then used this to his advantage as he swiftly threw Azi
Decem 18th of 4831 AS During the morning of the 4th day of sparring practice with Ougi, Ben and Bail had dropped by Kajima's house. It was an awkward situation as Ougi had again thrown Azi over his shoulder. Lying flat on the snowy ground, Azi groaned a bit but noticed that two familiar figures were standing over him. They looked at him wryly, and Ben asked a bit worried that they might have come at a bad time. "Hey Azi, is now a good time?" Getting to his feet, Azi dusted the snow off his clothes and looked to Ougi who was a few paces away. Giving Ougi a look to convey his question of if they could have a break, Ougi responded with a smile and a nod. In the few days that Azi spent with Ougi, this was a way of communication between them was picked up as it seemed that Ougi had the ability to read the mood and expressions of others. It made conversations with him brief and concise. Azi still had a hard time trying to read Ougi's expressions as his squinted eye made it hard for hi
Decem 20th of 4831 ASIn the throne room in the capital, Kujyuri, Ozen was having a meeting with his council members concerning the recent letter delivered by the group of his 4 youngest sons. They had arrived a couple days prior and had already left for Shisayama as they intended to spend time with Rulu in an impromptu vacation in preparation for the heavy amount of work they would face at the change of the season.Ozen would have usually scolded them for skipping out on their work but realized that it was better that they went to Shisayama to protect Rulu due to recent events. He could also trust Shizu and Yashimu to whip their younger brothers into shape as the noticeable bruise on the second youngest was still noticeable when he arrived in Kujyuri.Deftly bringing his attention back to Jerome, who was the current speaker of the meeting, Ozen listened as he relayed the contents of the recent letter.*To King Ozen,During a recent expedition into the western mountains of Shisayama,