"TO OUR NEW, UP AND COMING BLACKSMITH! CHEERS!" Making a toast with a raised cup of sake, Kajima congratulated Azi for his recent success. While they had already celebrated the news of Azi's workshop, today's dinner had an excessive amount of people which made the situation devolve into a party. So, following the flow, everyone raised their cups of sake and drank it down with festive expressions and cheers. Moments before the start of the impromptu party, Azi was given a large pouch from Kajima. When it was dropped into his hands, he was stunned by the weight and the number of silver and bronze coins and plates that were contained inside. He knew that Ben and Bail were going to give him a share of the sold blood steel weapons, but he was not expecting such a large amount, this was due to how he was not kept in the loop about the business side of Bail's work which was quite secretive. While surprised, he was also somewhat relieved and excited as he could do so much more with this
Undice the 1st of 4831 AS A large tent was erected in the snowy grounds on the outskirts of the southern part of Shisayama. Under the tent was an area sparsely populated by a large table, chairs, and few wooden crates filled with writing supplies. With a charcoal pencil, Azi was checking the final details of his house's blueprint. For the past week, Azi had been overseeing the construction of his house with help from Manu who was the approver of the construction project. Azi had put a great deal of time and effort into planning out the first floor which included his living room, bathroom, kitchen, storehouse, and finally his workshop. The floor plan would be similar to Kajima's abode but would be less than half the size as it did not include the extra spare rooms, a large living room, and family sized bath. It was much like a downsized version of Kajima's house since Azi had no intentions of getting any additional residence other than himself at the moment. Manu had suggested maki
Undice the 14th of 4831 AS Waking up a bit after first light, Azi awoke to the familiar sight of his room in Kajima's house. He could feel the warm blanket of the futon bed upon his skin but felt a slight tingle of cold air somewhat tickle his legs. His slight movements caused a bit of air to enter the gaps between the blanket and bedding, making him shiver a little. Luckily, there was a warming sensation that was comforting him from behind. Moving in a practiced motion that seemed as if he had done this too many times, he turned his body over and saw Shizu's sleeping face. Her red hair covered one side of her face which made her appearance seem as if she could enchant any man, but Azi knew better. This woman was more like a wolf in sheep's clothing and without fear, he dared to wake the beast. He parted her crimson hair away from her face, which caused Shizu to stir in her sleep. In reaction to the slight touch of his hands, she tightened her grip around Azi's back. While Azi w
Undice the 15th of 4831 AS As the unknown figure reached their hand to Azi's neck, they quietly knelt down next to him in a somewhat timid manner which contrasted with the somewhat overly tensed hand. The extended fingers of their hand looked like a shadowy claw in the moonlight, but it suddenly changed to a cupped hand and moved to touch Azi's cheek. The hand brushed softly against his face and the figure came into view under the moonlight that shone through the window across from the bed. It was Shizu and she had snuck in when Azi was fast asleep. Her plan this night was to surprise him the next morning with the news of her officially moving in with him and to tease him while he was in a drowsy state of mind. But while she could have just slept at Kajima's house and then surprise him when he woke up, she felt that her plan would give her a greater element of surprise and expected that she would get a much better reaction out of him. She had already gotten the okay for her move
After recovering from Shizu's morning surprise, Azi was now seated in the wagon pulled by Kokona. Across from him was Shizu who was pouting somewhat as Azi had refused to sit on her lap or get close to her after her little prank this morning. His pride was somewhat damaged as a result of her actions and he was not in the mood to indulge in the antics of his tormentor. "It was just a prank. Come on, stop pouting and come over here." Shizu held her hands out in an inviting hug, but to her dismay Azi turned his head away from her with a hmph. Shizu slumped in frighten a depressed look and walked over to her sister at the front of the wagon. "Wah, Rulu! What should I do? He’s really mad at me." *Sniffle Sniffle* Patting the top of her elder sister's head, Rulu timidly placated her the best she could. She couldn’t tell if her sister was really sad or not, but she tried to push her sister away since she was getting a bit too close. Luckily, Kokona did not need instruction to pull the
Placing the cooled ingots into the wooden crate, Azi looked at the now orderly filled crates of stacked ingots. He had just completed Manu's order of 100 ingots of blood steel. He now had four days to prepare for the blacksmith's meeting and he truly wanted to make an impression so he would use this time to attempt to make his own custom equipment. But he ran into a snag. "No! I am not letting you do that again." "But Shizu it's the only way I can make the equipment." "Too bad. I won't have you passing out on me again just for you to make something as trivial as equipment. A knight's health should be greatly cared for and should not be undermined." Shizu and Azi were in the living room of his house and were having lunch. Azi had suggested that he would have to do another marathon of forging to create his equipment, but Shizu was not having it. The last time he did such a stunt, he ended up sick and almost died during the expedition. She wanted Azi to find a less drastic way to
Undice the 21st of 4831 AS It was one day before the blacksmith's meeting and Azi was pounding away at a piece of blood steel on an anvil, he was sweating so much that drops form and dripped to the ground from his brow. After shaping the metal to his specification he then tempered it and looked over to his left. On a nearby table was an hourglass he had bought during his shopping spree with Shizu and Rulu days prior. The top was completely empty of sand so Azi began to put down his hammer and stowed the shaped piece of metal. He then pulled up a chair and turned over a smaller hourglass next to the larger one. Azi had bought these hourglasses as he wanted to have them as a decoration in his house. The second one was quite small and cute but was also functional. The other larger hourglass was the same and estimated to time for 2 hour intervals while the smaller one was for half an hour. Azi used these to solve his issue of not being able to keep track of time while he worked. Whi
As Azi approached, Shizu tensed as she knew that Azi was likely going to tease her. Worst of all, they were in public and she would have a little time to avoid him due to how close they were. She had once again made Azi sit in her lap as they enjoyed the hot spring but it would seem that her teasing actions and words have backfired on her. She tried to back away but Azi pursued quickly nimbly for someone walking in the water. Knowing that she could do nothing to avoid him, she closed her eyes in a panic as her imagination began to picture what he was about to do. Darkness covered her vision for a few seconds but in the next moment she felt the unexpected sensation of two hands grasping her cheeks. “Azi?” Peeking one eye open, Shizu saw Azi’s head move close and then felt his lips upon her forehead. The nearby girls blushed at the sight while the men hooted and hollered at the somewhat sweet sight. Azi then lowered himself into the water and hugged her as he rested his head on h