Chapter 105 Entua

After situating the captured assailants, the caravan returned to its journey to the capital of Kujyuri. The assailants were tied up and sat in an empty space in the second carriage of the caravan. A guard took the reins while Azi and Touma sat inside the carriage.

Touma, who was in charge of the second carriage's safety, was currently applying a magic binding spell on the assailants which caused them to feel sluggish and heavy. This magic spell derived its roots from colorless magic as it did not emit any elemental color when used.

When Azi asked Touma about the spell, Azi added that it sounded like gravity magic which sparked Touma's natural curiosity that came from being a thaumaturge.

A lengthy conversation about Azi''s rudimentary knowledge about physics ensued and this somewhat like a kind of punishment for the assailants as the constant back and forth of the two made it impossible for any of them to get any sleep or get comfortable in their seat.

By the time of the 6th night of the 7 day journey, the two had finally stopped talking and were getting ready for bed. The caravan was still on the move as they needed to make up for lost time. Azi had opted to sleep in the passenger area of the second carriage as he did not want to be bitten again by an unattentive Shizu.

Of course, Shizu protested and demanded that he come back to the first caravan but was summarily shut down by Kajima and Yashimu who tried to reign in her antics and her clinginess.

Deprived of her favorite "hug pillow" she blames Yashimu for this development which causes a somewhat comedic argument between the two siblings.

As sparks flew between the two, Rulu was the one who stepped in to mediate.

"Now, now. I-It'll be alright Shizu. I-I'm sure Azi will forgive you." Said Rulu, her voice a bit hesitant. She was somewhat meek at the moment since her two older siblings had scary looks on their faces as they butted heads. This frightened her as she thought that the two would start throwing punches.

Unfortunately Rulu's attempt was unsuccessful and Shizu complained with a tear in her eye. "But he seems really mad. I know that it was my fault but... what do I do?"

Sighing from exasperation, Yashimu suggested harshly. "I have an idea, how about you stop using him as a pillow?"

This made Shizu glared at him as if he was trying to ask her for the impossible and fired back with some twisted reasoning about how soft and warm Azi felt. The argument continued throughout the journey until one of the two siblings had to switch out for guard duty.

Meanwhile, Jerome was relaxing in his carriage as he drank a bit of wine he had kept stored away in his personal carriage.

While initially worried that any of the belongings of the assailants could have contained evidence that involved him with Uzuru, Jerome was in luck as the caravan personnel had disregarded their duty to check the belongings of the captured and deceased.

The caravan had a schedule to keep so the guards had gathered the assailants' belongings and buried them so that it could be retrieved later.

While they could have stored it on the carriages, space was currently limited and Shizu chose to prioritize the schedule of arrival since she knew that war with Uzuru was on the horizon. This meant that she needed to prepare by getting to the capital as she inferred that Ozen also summoned her so that she could talk strategy about the coming conflict.

This played to Jerome's advantage since all he had to do now was to dispose of the buried belongings. So he instructed Ghost to secretly leave the caravan while it was on the move and go handle it.

As Ghost began to blend into the shadows of Jerome's carriage, Azi was currently passing out blankets to the captured assailants. Now stripped of her weapons and her few belongings now gone, the young woman was left bound and sitting on the wooden floor of the second carriage's storage compartment.

This model of carriage was made for the transportation of goods rather than comfort so there was just enough space to fit the three assailants.

Accepting the offered blanket from Azi, the woman began to wrap herself in it. Azi did the same but was across from the three bound assailants. He was on first watch for the prisoners and would switch out with the guards in a couple hours.

Seeing that one of the three was still awake, Azi offered to strike up a conversation to help take his mind off the cold and to sate his curiosity about Uzuru.

"My name is Azi, What is your name?" He asked, but there was no response. The young woman was somewhat stubborn and was not willing to give up her name as she felt no obligation to show any kindness to an enemy.

Azi sighed when he received a cold glare from the girl and opted to do something else to take the mind off the cold and to sate his curiosity. Taking out his white notebook he began writing about his day into the notebook. On the last page of his entry page, he began to draw and sketch the girl in front of him as the scene in front of him was somewhat artistic.

You see, the barred window a couple paces away from the girl framed the moon and stars perfectly this night. This also allowed Azi to document some of the physical characteristics of a Uzuruan who had Yamaton blood.

The girl was beautiful but in a different way when compared to Shizu, she had dark blue hair and eyes, and her figure looked thinner which was likely due to a lack of food since Uzuru had little farmable land.

Her clothes were somewhat of a different design as they looked more Arabian rather than Japanese or eastern. Purple cloth clung to her body and was slightly transparent. A sleeveless top and numerous other layers of cloth helped to clothe her, but Azi was somewhat interested in how the layers of cloth came together to make such a nice pattern and design but used such a minimal amount of material.

Noticing his gaze upon her, the girl covered herself fully in the blanket which made Azi pout a bit as it interfered with his attempt to draw her and her clothes, so he asked.

"Could you move the blanket a bit? I'm almost done with my drawing."

"Drawing? Just what are you drawing, boy?" Said the girl, her tone accusatory.

"I'm drawing your clothes. I've never seen such intricate layering with such little cloth. It intrigues me, so if you could, please move the blanket a bit." Added Azi as he continued to scribble into his notebook.

Seeing the intense amount of focus Azi had, the girl pondered if she should humor the boy. She thought that if she coaxed him, she could attempt an escape so she offered.

"Ok, but come loosen my bindings a bit. They are too tight."

To this, Azi raised a brow and got to his feet. He approached the girl who had anticipation growing in her eyes but unfortunately, her hopes of escape were dashed as Azi had instead tightened the restraints a bit more and forcefully took away the blanket he had offered to the girl.

He then sat back down, placed the blanket to the side, and continued to draw in his notebook while he said blatantly.

"Your attempt at coaxing me was written on your face. You should work on your poker face."

The girl pouted at his jab to her skills and asked a bit teary eyed. "Poker face, just what is that?"

This made Azi's hand stop mid motion as he pondered where that phrase came from. With a sigh he said. "No clue, I can't remember." This causes the conversation to end on a somewhat low note.

After an hour passed, Azi noticed that the girl was shivering since he could no longer feel her glare on him.

Opting to try again another, he offered. "If you tell me your name I'll give you the blanket."

The girl turned her head up from her knees that she was clutching to for warmth and accepted the offer. The air in Kujyuri was no joke and the girl felt that giving her name for a blanket was a good deal.

"E–E-E-Entua, M-My …name…. is En-Entua." She said through her shivering breaths.

Nodding in affirmation, Azi then gave Entua her blanket back and asked her to not wrap herself too tightly. Entua protested as she felt as if she was going to die from frostbite but was surprised by the sudden warmth that enveloped her.

Azi had conjured a flame in his hand and brought it between himself and Entua.

"Better?" He asked.

Entua nodded her head up and down, which had Azi see a slight shade of embarrassment on her face. She likely thought that she had started to look like a whining child just a moment ago. After stifling a laugh, which got a glare from Entua, Azi took up his charcoal pencil and began to draw her visage and clothes into his notebook.

Since he was so close to Entua, he could now draw the finer deals of her clothing. This was somewhat difficult to do as he had only one hand free at the moment. To ensure that the notebook did not move around too much from the slight rocking of the carriage, he opted to use his magic tethers to hold his notebook in front of him as he drew.

This somewhat startled Entua as she asked in a surprised tone. "You are a mage? At your age?"

Frowning a bit, Azi affirmed and corrected her. "Yes I am a practitioner of Thaumaturgy and for your information I am, in fact, 27 years old.

Stumped by his proclaimed age, Entua promptly asked about the veracity of his claim as she was unconvinced as his appearance at best would make him a young man but not a full adult. Somewhat irked, Azi said plainly.

"Believe what you want but don't underestimate me. My ability to take you down and my mannerisms is proof that I am mature."

"I find that hard to believe. You and that other man were chatting like little boys who found something interesting to look at in the sky." Retorted Entua.

Azi sighed and scratched the back of his head. "You got me there, but still, I am older than I look. You'll just have to take my word on this."

Entua gave him a probing look but Azi didn't pursue the conversation as he was more interested in his notebook than in the conversation.

His full attention was on his drawing and soon a half hour passed. Entua, at this point, was surprised by how long Azi was able to keep his magic flame conjured. Practitioners of magic were able to keep a flame conjured,but this was in the case of those who had trained for years. Entua knew this and began to believe that Azi was truly older than he looked, so she took the opportunity to gain whatever information she could about this unusual boy.

The two talked for the remaining half hour since Azi had to switch out with the guard to allow them to rest inside as any extra space for resting was limited.

Azi would take the next chance he had to ask about Uzuruan food and what the land was like. The guard rotations continued and soon Azi was able to continue his conversation with Entua who had started to ask about Azi's life.

While Entua first came off as being stubborn, Azi came to the realization that she was actually quite kind.

There were times when Entua would tease him by treating him like a child in a somewhat motherly or superior tone, but Azi was able to make a rebuttal by making somewhat embarrassing comments about her attire which made Entua blush.

Her attire was transparent in a few places and revealed much of her skin, which Entua had to embarrassingly admit was a blunder on her part as she wanted to look somewhat stylish in her uniform.

At some point, Azi noticed a change in scenery from the barred windows of the carriage and got to his feet.

He looked outside and saw the destination they were heading to. His eyes grew wide and he gawked at the sight of the capital of Kujyuri.

Entua saw the child-like look of amazement on his face which caused a small smile to form on her lips but it quickly changed to a sad frown as she worried for the fate of herself and the two men who were taken prisoner with her.