Chapter 17 Recompense

After Shizu concluded her discussion with her father, she began packing her bags as she was going to move into Kajima's house to monitor Azi. While packing, she thought of a training schedule for Azi, but realized something important.

'How am I going to convince him?'

Initially, she proudly thought that Azi would take her up on her offer to be her apprentice, but remembered that her standing with him was not even close to the level of friends. As she began to realize that she might have not thought this through she shook her head to dispel the negative thoughts.

'No, even if he doesn't accept. I can test him with my trials. Wait!'

After tightening the string on her bag, she made another realization. She remembered Ozen saying that she had to win Azi's heart and thought back to the times she courted a man.

But all she got was a blank which left her somewhat flustered. She had no experience when it came to charming men or even getting intimate with a person of the opposite sex. Besides her family members, Shizu was always the one being sought after.

'Should I seduce him with my body? Or should I try to be friends with him first? Maybe I should just be a bit playful? Hmmm'

As she thought about how to approach Azi, a more pressing matter came to mind and she decided on first punishing him for his disobedience during the investigation. It would act as a way for her to approach him naturally but to also set her place amongst the two of them.

While settling her internal thoughts, she had already left her original room and was passing by the village barracks where a part of Yashimu's group had arrived after delivering a few bags of what looked like blue crystals and monster parts.

Shizu was unaware of this as her mind was more concerned with Azi.

During this time, Yashimu's party had furthered their investigation area up the mountain.

There, they discovered two more kengiri nests and were able to successfully eliminate both with only their group getting a few minor wounds that the apothecary could handle without the thaumaturge's aid.

Initially, Yashimu wanted to only gather the previously eliminated animals and monsters, but as they were organizing the spoils they found a strange blue crystal in a gengiri's sliced open stomach. The thaumaturge reported that the blue crystal emitted magic energy of a kind never seen before. This was a new find that Yashimu eagerly decided to jump upon so he changed the investigation area to include more of the mountain's surroundings in an attempt to find more of these blue crystals.

Their investigation now included the objective to find where these blue crystals came from and it progressed to a point where they began to find fist sized stones scattered across the mountain. What was confusing was how it did not form on rocks but looked to have been manually scattered since some were hidden in the trunks of trees, bushes, or even buried in the dirt at random.

Yashimu was disappointed by how the source of the blue crystals could not be found but endeavored to gather as many as he could with what time he had left. He thought that perhaps the scholars and researchers could use them in some way to benefit Kujyuri.

As he was gathering the blue crystals, he noticed that many trees and boulders were broken in a line that seemed to span quite a distance down the mountain.

It was as if something had crashed through all these trees and boulders which caused Yashimu to have his team be on high alert as whatever could have done this kind of damage would be too much for them to handle. They were running low on supplies and still needed to travel back, so Yashimu proceeded with an even higher level of caution.

"Be on high alert, move in groups of three, and keep within eyesight of each other."

"UNDERSTOOD!"

As Yashimu was continuing his investigations, Azi was sleeping soundly in the bed of one of Kajima's spare rooms. For the first time ever since his arrival in the village, he was able to sleep without being forced unconscious.

Azi was having a dream of his memories but what he saw in his dream felt unfamiliar as he could not remember the people's names and the faces he saw were blurred to him. The dream then changed and he was now playing a visual novel on his laptop.

The current situation he faced in the game was a war from a slaver nation that came to collect slaves as products in their auctions and as a labor force. Azi felt a large amount of disgust for the slavers and was more inclined to wipe them out, but due to the nature of the game the situation would only follow a predestined path.

The game's code gave him the illusion of control as he was able to move his characters in turn-based combat along tiles and give them commands to attack and defend. As he was finishing a fight, the game turned to a cutscene that showed the slavers cursing at a masked man and vowing that this would not be the end.

They would return next year like the year before that and the year before and so on and so forth. The slaver continued preaching on and on as his minions dragged him away due to how the slaver had lost his mind to his own vengeful wrath.

Azi felt that the battle went well but also felt a bit disappointed that there was nothing he could do to change the course of the game's story. He could do nothing to prevent the next invasion and felt that the end was bittersweet.

Moving on, after thinking that he was overthinking over a video game, Azi was then going through his leveled-up characters as he crewed on a bar of dark chocolate, he began to allocate the stat points his characters gained but allowed himself to enjoy the artwork of the characters.

Slowly scrolling through, his attention was caught by one character that looked familiar. The girl wore red and white clothes, had fluffy ears, and a familiar face that was younger than what he remembered. Focusing his mind to remember who he was recognizing, he was suddenly awoken when he began thinking too hard.

Azi's eyes were now open and he stared at another unfamiliar ceiling above him. He lifted himself from the futon bed and saw that he was in a room with a table, chair, and a small hearth at its center. He could estimate that the room's total length and width was 15ft by 15ft.

Seeing a nearby glass window next to his bed he moved to look outside. The sun had not yet come up since he could only see the first light creeping over the sky.

'I still feel a bit tired so I'll get some more sleep.' Thinking he still had time. he got back in bed, covered himself in the blanket, and began his journey back into dreamland.

This was short lived as the door opposite to him suddenly opened and something massive leapt from the door to jump on the bed he was sleeping on.

Not startled by the opening of the door, he initially ignored the noise but did not expect to then feel a large weight fall atop him. Azi could feel that whatever was on top of him had started trying to wrestle the blanket from him.

So stubbornly, he moved his hands to pull the blanket back to him as he did not like being messed with in what he assumed to be his own room. He gripped the blanket but was perplexed when he felt a soft sensation and heard a small sensual moan come from behind the blanket.

Turning his head up, he saw Shizu's eyes peeking above the blanket as they were glaring daggers at him. Azi's face began to redden at the realization of what he had touched and with-it, a drop of blood began to trickle from one of his nose's nostrils.

Shizu noticed this and grinned a foxy smile at him. Choosing to push his hands against the blanket. Shizu had Azi continue his fondling of her chest through the relatively thin blanket.

She was entertained by the face Azi was making as he was so red and exasperated that she could only describe him as a little innocent boy. While somewhat indecent on her part, she was more inclined to get on his good side and to also tease him a bit.

Taking it further, she pounced on Azi as she began wrapping him in the blanket so that he could not move.

"No man has ever touched my chest." Said Shizu, her face smugly smiling at him. "There was always a cost for those who tried but since you were successful, I will be merciful as I dispense the proper recompense I deserve. This will also be your punishment for your disobedience during the investigation."

Her smug smile soon became an evil grin as Shizu bared the hidden fang of her somewhat troubling whims. Now looking like a predator that just found its first meal in days, Azi shivered for a moment before attempting to retort.

But instantly, he did not get the chance, as he soon began laughing uncontrollably as Shizu began pressing his sides repeatedly with one of her hands.

The other had moved to hold the back of Azi's head as Shizu pressed it into her chest which caused him to suffocate.

After a bit of time passed, Azi felt like he was going to pass out but felt a slight sensation of relief when he was allowed to take a deep breath when Shizu freed his head from her chest. It was still hard for him to breathe as he was still laughing uncontrollably from Shizu's other hand which was repeatedly prodding his side that made him reflexively laugh.

Barely able to catch his third breath, Shizu again forced Azi's head into her chest to then only allow him a brief chance to breathe that prevented him from passing out. While some would believe this situation to be heavenly, Azi would not deny that claim. Even if he did enjoy the soft feeling of Shizu's ample chest, he would say that it was not worth experiencing this kind of pain that felt as if he could die at any moment.

This repeated until Kajima came to check on Azi, which Azi tried to use as a chance to ask for help but was too late as his face was again forced into Shizu's chest.

Kajima, seeing the spectacle in front of him, had a wry expression as if he knew this was coming. He was somewhat surprised, but after seeing his niece have so much fun messing with Azi gave him the confidence that Shizu meant no harm. "I'll wait in the kitchen, breakfast will be ready in an hour so finish up by then."

"Sure thing Uncle Kajima." Said Shizu with a happy grin. "I'll be sure to be gentle."

While Shizu sounded sure of herself, Kajima wanted to make sure.

"Alive?" Asked Kajima, his tone plain.

"Alive." Responded Shizu, her tone also plain.

Not believing what he was hearing, Azi began to flail around in the blanket he was tightly wrapped in and cursed Kajima in his mind for his betrayal of leaving him in his time of need. Kajima only smiled at this and then left to prepare breakfast.

Azi was again released from Shizu's chest and pleaded through whatever breath he had. "Please ... stop...."

"Nope."

After giving that short reply of refusal, Shizu endeavored to more "harshly" punish him.

With his face pressed harder into Shizu's chest again, Azi's vision started to become white as he fell into another bout of unconsciousness.

'Dammit, not again.' Were the last words he thought before he was gone from the conscious world.

Witnessing Azi fall unconscious, she began to pinch his side with her hands which caused him to suddenly wake up in a daze from the sudden pain.

Breathing heavily, he had no time to speak as Shizu began to press his sides to make him laugh.

Out of breath, Azi's laughs were weak and his face was redder than a tomato. She paused for a moment to let him breathe a bit more to let his face return to a normal shade. She then smiles down on him with a gleeful expression as if she was having so much fun for the first time in a long while.

Azi's eyes were glazed over and he was unable to fully understand what was happening to him. In the next moment his head was again buried in Shizu's chest.

Her unusual punishment continued without pause and without mercy as Azi was repeatedly forced awake whenever he passed out. He would not get any additional sleep this morning but would feel oddly refreshed.

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