After a night of intense cuddling, Azi was the first one to wake up. After wrestling himself out of Shizu’s embrace, which was much easier as she was somewhat weakened by the grape wine they drank last night. As he inspected himself, he noticed that the top of his yukata was somewhat sliding down his shoulders and it was the same for Shizu. Sighing to himself, he pulled up his yukata and helped Shizu do the same. She was currently nursing a hangover as she laid in bed. Patting her head to placate her, Azi informed her of his plans for the day. “I need to get going to set up for the blacksmith’s meeting. So, I’ll see you later. For now, stay in bed for an hour. I’ll tell the staff to come help you get dressed.” He then attempted to get to his feet, but Shizu stopped him by tightly holding onto his arm for support while she attempted to push herself out of bed. “No I’m fine I can, ugh.” Cut off by the pounding feeling she felt in her head, she slumped back into the futon with a no
From a luxurious inn in the northern section of Shisayama, Jerome awoke near noon time. He was a late riser as his work kept him up during the nights as most of the letters he received would come in during the afternoon or during the night. This included emergency calls for aid from his businesses or from his associates around the nation of Kujyuri. His day was mostly filled with desk work and he rarely left the capital. At most, he would leave the capital for a couple days but would always endeavor to return as quick as possible. He would rather work from the comfort of his home as he had the comforts of his wives and servants at his beck and call. But now, it has already been a week since he left the capital of Kujyuri and he could feel that his stress was building. Feeling his forehead, he noticed that the bruise on his head was still throbbing which made him remember how Shizu had punched him when he suggested changes to the blacksmith’s meeting days prior. Thinking back he rem
A couple hours after dawn, the festivities began. The official part of the meeting was scheduled to start in a couple hours and Azi had already finished his checks and preparations with enough time to look around. He was walking around the festival’s stalls and booth with Rulu as she had come to help out with the event’s preparations.Earlier, she was working over a large pot of what looked like chicken soup when Azi was wandering around. She was helping to feed the workers a hot meal during their breaks since she wanted to help the villagers. Azi offered to help but was prompted by the staff to take Rulu out for a break as they argued that children like them should make sure to have some fun during a festival like this one. Azi was thankful for the staff’s words and used the moment to his advantage so he took Rulu with him before she could correct the staff about his age or to make a retort. “Why did you not tell them about your age?” Asked Rulu, a bit confused by why Azi was not
Breaking the silence, the loud noises continued to ring out but what was concerning were the cries of agony that came from beyond the wooden bleachers that now filled the once festive atmosphere. The first to react was Shizu, who prompted the nearby guards to get her a report on the situation. Yashimu then directed everyone to stay calm while Kajima and Elder Sung aided him. Azi, who was left standing at the front of the forge, quickly helped Yashimu to calm the crowd as he directed the speaker at the side to call out in his loud and affirming voice to calm and instruct the now panicking villagers. 10 minutes passed and when he felt that everything was in a somewhat orderly state, he then made his way to Shizu who was listening to a report from a guard who was attending the festival. She grimaced at what she heard which made Azi ask. “Shizu! What is happening?” “A large horde of monsters are attacking the southern entrance, we suspect that all the southern outskirts guards were
Rulu’s POV (Point of View) I was such a frail child back then, I was always in bed and needed the help of others in order to live. I was unable to give anything back as thanks as I was too weak to lift heavy loads and I was not as intelligent as my older siblings. I loved to read but I wanted to do something more with my hands. I learned to sew from the artisans when I was not sick and I learned how to cook from the hired cooks who made my meals whenever I was bedridden with a fever. When I was finally freed from my bed and was able to walk on my own two feet without fainting from a lack of energy, I began to do what I could to help the people in the capital. I learned of their struggles against the monsters and harsh winters. So I learned to nurse the wounded and cooked a warm meal to fend off the cold. I made many friends and was able to meet Kokona, my long-time mount and best friend. She was an unusually large hororon and I helped nurse her back to health when she was only a
With a katana in one hand and her metal umbrella in the other, Shizu slashed through scores of gengiri as if their carapaces were paper. The quality of her new weapon made by Azi still amazed her, since as long as she kept fueling the weapon with magic energy it seemed to keep its edge.After making quick work of a group of 3 gengiri, Shizu stepped back from the fight to get a feel of her surroundings.In front of her were still a swarm of gengiri and kengiri, while a large figure stayed in the back as it watched over the fight. Shizu kept her eye on it and wanted it to stay away as she would not like to fight it again in this situation. To her left was Azi who was a few paces in front of her as he was in the middle of loading what looked like a metal square into his gauntlets.She then saw Kajima, forcefully pushing and dragging the group of old blacksmiths away one by one from the fight.“Lady Shizu! We are here to help. Where do you need us?”Behind her came a shout coming from Nos
-A couple hours ago- Azi stood up and got into a battle stance as he readied his fist in front of him. Shizu did the same but with her umbrella and katana drawn in preparation for the foreboding feeling in her stomach. Shizu’s sight was set upon a large figure in the distance and she instructed Azi to strike when he found an opening while she distracted it. Azi nodded in agreement and loaded a blood steel square into his gauntlets. It was just in time as the head of the figure that looked to be 3 meters tall was soon upon them. It was all black and had the appearance of a large centipede that was similar to a gengiri but was incredibly large. From a distance, one would mistake it for a worm but upon Shizu’s closer inspection, she realized that it was an overgrown baby gengiri. The color of his carapace was black but not as black as it had a slight gray hue. Steeling her resolve for the fight, Shizu unhesitantly attacks with her umbrella but it surprisingly bounced off its carapac
After being tossed by Kajima, Azi infused what magic energy he had left into his arms and his veins glowed blueish white as he flew through the air. Coming from behind its head, he brought his fist down upon the giant centipede-like monster. His punch impacted the top of its head while it was mid-motion to attack Shizu. Caught off guard, this again caused the monster to be knocked to the ground. This time, Azi gripped its head with his other free hand as the monster was knocked down. Once he and the monster slammed onto the ground, he slid off its head while tugging on its head. This rolled it over to reveal its side. Shizu took the chance to again slash at its underbelly, learning from her previous attempt, this time she infused her blade with fire magic. A long black gash was made in the monster's underbelly and this time she saw that her attack was effective. The monster’s wounds from her previous attacks seemingly disappeared so she thought to burn the monster to death. Takin