Chapter 13 Backup

As Kajima heavily slashed with his halberd, he kept the attention of the kengiri away from anyone else. This allowed Shizu the chance to tend to Azi and she was able to stop the bleeding from his arms by bandaging them up the best she could.

But he was not out of the woods yet as she was concerned about his insides as she knew that he likely suffered from internal damage from taking such a heavy strike. Shizu had no way to heal Azi as she knew no healing magic or had packed any potions. Time was running out and it was disconcerting that Azi was also not waking up or even responding to the pain.

He just laid there in her arms like a lifeless corpse. She shook him, hoping to get some kind of a response. "Azi! Wake up, Wakeup, WAKE UP!"

Tears began to form in her eyes, but before sadness could overtake her a familiar voice called out.

"APOTHECARY AND THAUMATURGE STABILIZE THE WOUNDED! ARCHERS AIM FOR THE LEG! SPEARMEN AIM FOR ITS LOWER BODY! ON MY MARK! "

Coming from the nearby treeline was Yashimu with the other 5 parties of the investigation. They had rushed to Shizu's position in response to Azi's flare and followed the sounds of battle to guide themselves there.

With deft movements of a veteran soldier, the archers then began to fire their volley of arrows at the soft legs of the kengiri. The spearmen surrounded the kengiri from behind while Kajima continued to hold its attention from its front.

"READY!!! AND!!!!.... CHARGE!!!!"

Upon Yashimu's command, the spearman then rushed forward and jabbed their spears into the small gaps of the kengiri's carapace. 7 spear heads struck out as the spearman began to repeatedly rip into the kengiri's flesh as its maw screamed out a high pitch screech of a death cry.

The apothecary approached Shizu and began examining Azi's wounded body. She deduced that he had suffered a concussion and poured a medicinal potion down a tube that she had shoved down Azi's throat. The medicine would act as a temporary painkiller and antidote to help with the festering wound on his shoulder as it seemed that he was slightly poisoned.

The thaumaturge besides the apothecary then began to cast a spell with her staff as motes of green light began to form around Azi's chest. The motes were absorbed by Azi's body and had the purpose of boosting his body's ability to heal itself.

The three were surprised by what happened next as the apothecary, thaumaturge, and Shizu witnessed his bruises and shoulder wounds beginning to heal much quicker than expected.

The blood from Azi's mouth had stopped dripping out and enabled him to be able to take a breath. The blood in his throat made it hard for him to breathe, so it was a relief to Azi's unconscious mind to be able to breathe clearly, but he was still unconscious which concerned Shizu upon why he was not waking up.

"Will he be, ok?"

"I do not know." The Apothecary then checked him over with her eyes. "His internal and external wounds are healing but he hasn't regained consciousness due to a reason that isn't related to his injuries. He had a slight concussion but it shouldn't have knocked him unconscious as there was no visible head injury."

The Apothecary then turned to the Thaumaturge. "What do you sense?"

Prompted by her compatriot, the thaumaturge inspected Azi's body with her now slightly glowing eyes and frowned at what she discovered. "I do not sense or see a spirit within his body, it is as if we are looking at a living corpse which befuddles me since a body should have its vital energy dissipated should it be devoid of a spirit, but in this case his body still retains its vital energy."

"IS HE DEAD OR ALIVE?!"

Grimacing at Shizu's cry of desperation, the Thaumaturge sighed and gave her the truth. "His body is alive, but I sense that his mind is gone. I do not think he will wake up and it's very unlikely that he will." The Thaumaturge then paused as she pondered if she should say this but gripped her staff with resolve. "He is dead."

After hearing these words, Shizu began to hug Azi's head into her chest and brought his body close as her small tears began to form and fall from her eyes.

In a soft tone that she could only hear, she whispered to Azi's body. "Please come back, please don't die. I finally found someone who was worthy. You can't die yet, not until I say you can. Please wake up."

As the tears ran down Shizu's face, the Apothecary and Thaumaturge looked on with sadness and guilt in their hearts as they were unable to help the wounded in time. Yashimu looked on from a distance as a bit of regret had appeared on his face.

In his mind he thought.

'I should have informed her about the details concerning the investigation. If I had only told Shizu that the parties might encounter a powerful monster or animal, she could have made proper preparations or would have been more cautious. Now! Due to my decisions, a young boy's life was needlessly lost.'

"Dammit All."

Kajima, overhearing Yashimu's curse, looked over at what Yashimu was looking at. As he was walking away from the now dead corpse of the kengiri a look of shock overcame him as he saw little Shizu crying over Azi's body. He rushed over to find out what had happened and after hearing about the thaumaturge's findings that Azi was dead, Kajima's mind was filled with rage.

"DAMMIT, NOT AGAIN! I HAVE FAILED AGAIN. AHHHHHHHHH." In his anger that sent shivers down the soldiers back, Kajima punched the ground which audibly cracked under his strength.

******

Hearing Kajima's rage-filled scream, Yashimu motioned the remaining soldiers to quickly disassemble the kengiri corpse to break them out of their momentary fear. He then sent a team to deliver a short-written report to Ozen back in the village. The report stated the following:

*

Powerful monster discovered - Kengiri

Location - Western Forest, Base of Mountain Clearing

Situation - All Clear (Currently)

Message - Gathering of prey in progress. Return: 1 Day

Wounded - 0

Lost - 1 (Note: Your recent seed has died)

*

After checking over his short-written report, Yashimu handed it to a party of 3 soldiers who then saluted and began running through the forest to make their way to the village.

Yashimu then commanded his remaining troops to begin setting up camp but was interrupted by Kajima who had recomposed himself as he told Yashimu that their camp was nearby and had enough room for everyone.

Nodding to Kajima who had a sullen expression. Yashimu hesitated to ask him to lead the way but before he could get a word out Kajima, through gritted teeth, started directing everyone to their camp.

Noticing Yashimu coming to her side, Shizu brought her head up. Her eyes still had tears falling down her face, but nonetheless she looked into Yashimu's eyes.

"Let's bring him with us sister, we should give him a proper burial." Yashimu reached his hands out to take Azi's body away from her but with a glare Shizu rebuffed him.

"HE IS NOT DEAD." '

She slapped Yashimu's hands away and then stood up with Azi's body in her arms. She then began to follow Kajima back to the camp and held him close to her chest.

When she did so, she noticed that his body had no heartbeat but was still warm. In her mind, she prayed to the furuhitokami to ask for a miracle to bring Azi back.

Left standing next to the remains of the kengiri, Yashimu surveyed his surroundings and grimaced. He nevertheless followed as he reflected on his actions up to this point.

When everyone arrived at the campsite, Yashimu aided the troops in setting up more tents and starting more campfires. Shizu on the other hand brought Azi into her tent to lay him down on a small mat.

She covered him in the fur blankets they had in their camping equipment and looked on at his face. His eyes were still closed and she could not hear him breathing.

Azi looked as if he was sleeping but this was different from the prior times he was unconscious. This time Azi made no noise and didn't even twitch which made it look as if he were truly just a corpse. Feeling that she was about to cry again, she gritted her teeth as she held back another wave of tears the best she could.

She then recalled what Azi had said to her before they went on this investigation. "Don't tempt me, you said." Her voice becoming low and sad. "I suppose you would have indulged yourself if I did tempt you, but I guess I won't be able to find out now."

Feeling sadness and regret fill her heart, Shizu's eyelids began to falter due to mental and emotional fatigue. She soon slipped into sleep next to Azi's body and in her unconscious state of sleep she began to hug his body. The warmth that came from him was more comforting than a fur blanket on a winter night.

"Please wake up." Her tone, like a little girl's wish on a shooting star.

At the entrance of the tent, Kajima witnessed Shizu's interaction with the boy's body. It broke his heart to see the tears coming from her eyes and he felt that it was partially his fault for what occurred.

It was his role to keep the kengiri's attention, but due to a wound he took, his attention was drawn away from the fight for a moment. He saw the kengiri move to attack Shizu but was not fast enough to make a difference.

"If only I was a step faster." As regret tinged his words, he did his best in keeping his feelings from showing. He turned away and went to contemplate in his tent.

There he saw a brown notebook on Azi's mat in the tent. During Kajima's lessons, Azi would always take notes in this brown notebook. Wanting to see what the boy had written to gleam some amount of comfort for his shaken heart, Kajima opened the notebook.

There, at the first page of small light brown parchment was a simple phrase, but one filled with devotion and heart.

-I swear to do my best-

Azi Montagne

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