Chapter 21 Eating, Drinking, and Fighting

After setting the table with food and drink, Azi was about to take a seat but before he did Shizu pulled out a chair for him. Accepting her gesture, with a bit of hesitation as he was still somewhat scared of her, he sat in the chair and was pushed in by Shizu.

She then pulled up a seat next to him and began to pour herself a cup of sake.

While Azi wanted to tell Shizu that she should not drink in the middle of the day, he remembered how Shizu had a silver seal and he imagined her childishly commanding him to let her drink in peace. 'Is she really a knight?' Is what he thought as he witnessed Shizu drink so casually and in such a lackadaisical manner.

Shrugging off this thought, Azi sighed in exasperation and grabbed a meat skewer. He began nibbling on it and savored each bite as he could taste the heavy and robust taste of the meat's fat spread across his tongue. An uncontrollable smile formed on his lips but was soon broken as Shizu had offered a cup of sake to him to wash down the food.

He accepted it hesitantly since he got a foreboding feeling that he should not drink but due to his amnesia he had no memory of why he felt this way. He put the feeling he got to the back of his mind and resolved himself to enjoy the calm moment he was having with Shizu.

'Ugh, this tastes so bitter.' Is what Azi thought. The taste of the alcohol was just as he expected from the smell, it was so bitter that his face scrunched up and a sudden sensation of uncomfortable burning formed in the back of his throat.

Letting out a sigh after the burning sensation ceased, Azi felt a somewhat refreshing feeling on his taste buds. 'Hmmm I guess it goes really well with meat, now that I think about it the taste helps get rid of the greasiness of the meat.'

As he mused such a trivial thought about the meal, Shizu chuckled when Azi coughed a bit to help get rid of the uncomfortable sensation from the alcohol, but she didn't want to spoil the mood so she kept herself from teasing him.

They continued to eat and drink for a few minutes and noticed that the noise coming from the workshop had stopped. The two turned their heads to the workshop door and saw that Kajima had stepped out.

In response to the pair's eating and drinking, he moved to the kitchen to grab a few drinks and snacks he had in stock.

Kajima brought some hard crackers, sliced cheeses, and an ornate glass bottle filled with an amber colored liquid. After setting what he brought onto the table, Kajima pulled up a seat across from the two. He then began to eat and drink along with the two as he eyed them a bit when they weren't looking. 'These two seem to be getting along well. I wonder, does Azi see Shizu as a woman or as an acquaintance?'

Joining the two in their bantering, he hoped to glean what kind of bond they shared. Everyone shared a bit about their day's events and in the middle of Kajima's talk about Azi work, Shizu interrupted him and decided to inform them about the bonus that they would receive.

"Speaking of monsters, in total our team gets to receive 7000 Minos from the hunted monsters we bagged." Turning her gaze to Kajima, she handed a bag of money to him. "If you are okay with-it Kajima, let's put it to Azi's lessons. He doesn't have any money so this should get him on his feet."

Kajima agreed and took the proffered bag. He thought that the proposition was a good idea and told Azi to use the bonus to acquire what he needs in the coming days. Azi was grateful as he had worried how he was going to afford anything in the village if he had no money in his possession.

While Kajima would provide the basics of what he needed, he hoped to be self-sufficient one day. As he took one of the coins in hand, he began to think. 'Maybe I can get a house in the future and start my own business. I would love to have a place I can call my own.'

Azi then began to think about what he could do with the money. Possible investments and the kind of things he should buy to help earn a living. He smiled, thanked the two for their kindness.

Not wanting the joyful atmosphere to die down too quickly, Kajima looked to the glass bottle he had brought out.

"In celebration of returning from a hunt, you should try this Azi. It's liquor from Yamato that is called dragon's breath." He uncorked the glass bottle filled with amber liquid and began to pour Azi a small drink. "It's easy to drink due to how sweet it is but be careful as it makes you get drunk faster than usual due to how the ingredients invigorate the body."

Offered the small clay cup filled with the amber liquid, Azi took it with careful hands as he didn't want to spill any of it. Shizu attempted to grab the bottle but her hand was slapped away by Kajima.

"This drink is for adults and not for inexperienced children like yourself."

She pouted and glared back at Kajima and thought to retort that Azi was also a kid but remembered that he was much older than he looked. 'Just how is he 27? I wish I could look that cute at that age!'

"No fair! Azi! Share some with me? Please?"

With a pleading look, Shizu looked like a cute begging cat as her eyes were a bit teary and wide. Her quivering lips added to her cute look and Azi was somewhat perturbed by the submissive display.

Azi could not believe that Shizu had turned into this adorable creature and pondered. 'Is this really Shizu? How can she be so ferocious and be this cute?'

Not able to resist her pleading, he yielded to her desperate plea and drank half of the small cup's contents.

The taste of the drink was overly sweet which made Azi grimace a bit due to how the sweetness overpowered his senses. He did enjoy the aftereffects of the drink as it did invigorate his body since a small warmth began to form in his stomach which was comforting as the climate here in the village was somewhat cold.

He then offered the last half to Shizu who accepted it with glee.

"Yay, I always wanted to try this. It's so hard to get in Kujyuri. As thanks I'll be gentler on you during your lessons with me."

To this, Azi was relieved as he may have just increased his chances of surviving Shizu's training and lessened his future suffering. He tried to not show his exasperation by how Shizu was so insistent on training him in combat but he could keep from making a face. Kajima laughed at the grimacing reaction and patted him on his back.

"Don't worry Azi, Shizu won't kill you during training..... much."

"What was that last part you just said? What do you mean by "much?!" Terror creeped onto Azi's face, as he could hear some worry in Kajima's tone.

"Oh don't worry you'll be fine..... I think?"

Azi could only gawk as Kajima looked away nonchalantly with a distant look in his eye. He imagined just how brutal Shizu would be in training him. If he had to face such indignation and turmoil like his morning he felt that he was in for a world of hurt. 'I'm in for hell aren't I, Oh god what do I do? NO NO NO, Not again.'

To push back the unsettling ideas out of his mind, Azi took a large size cup that was set out on the table and poured the dragon's fire liquor into it. When the cup was full, Azi then began to drink it down in hopes to get his mind to calm down. In hindsight, Azi thought that he was an idiot for doing such a stupid action but hindsight was hindsight and he was prone to making rash decisions when he felt as if his life was in danger.

The taste of the overpowering sweetness helped him get his mind off of his previous thoughts and his mind buzzed as he continued to down the last half of his drink.

The liquor was quite good as it had the best part that Azi liked, which was how it lacked the burning sensation that came with drinking the usual kinds of alcohol. Instead of a heat in his mouth and throat, he felt it spread in his stomach but it was much more pronounced due to the amount he had drunk.

Kajima attempted to stop Azi from drinking the entire cup but was too late as he had drunk it down like water. Concerned for him, Kajima turned to Shizu to make a request to help Azi to bed but saw that she had already gotten red in the face by the small amount of dragon's liquor that Azi gave her.

This was when Kajima remembered that Shizu was a lightweight when it came to the higher proof stuff and mentally facepalmed.

Unable to stop at what he knew was going to happen next, he decided to just observe and jump in when necessary. 'I really hope Shizu doesn't break the house. *sigh*'

After finishing his drink, Azi's face had also turned a bright red. He felt the feeling of drunkenness overcome his mind and this familiar sensation made him remember why he had abstained from drinking. This was due to how rowdy and overly excited he became if he lost control.

Unable to prevent the inevitable at this point, Azi allowed himself to go into autopilot and he glared at Shizu as he remembered how she had tormented him this morning. While it was pleasant, it felt so embarrassing and painful that he felt great indignation from just recalling the event. So in reflex to his now drunken thoughts, he got in her face.

"Ne...xut timme, ac....tooo with more eti....qu.iette Shizu. Y-you a-are aaa knig-th are..n't you?"

Shizu did the same and glared at Azi as she butted her head against his.

"Yeaah, Yeaah. Bu...t you had it *hiccup* coming Azi. You are...*hiccup* too weak."

(Author note I'm not writing in slurs from now on. Dear lord, the effort to write like that makes my head feel drunk. Fitting.)

"Who are you calling weak?! I'M STRONG. I TOOK THAT HIT FROM THE KENGIRI. NOOO PROBLEM."

"HAAAAAAAAAAAA, YEAH RIGHT. THE APOTHECARY AND THAUMATURGE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD. YOU HAD ME WORRIED. THAT IS WHY I'M GOING TO TRAIN YOU HARD!"

"YEAH BUT I'M NOT DEAD, SEE!" Azi pounded his chest with his fist as a show of how tough he was. "I'M JUST FINE. HECK, I COULD TAKE YOU ON LIKE I DID WITH THE GENGIRI AND KENGIRI."

A tick mark of anger appeared on Shizu's red forehead so she stood up from her seat and looked down on Azi with a taunting expression.

"THEN LET'S FIGHT! OR ARE YOU TOO SCARED TO FACE ME LIKE YOU DID AT BREAKFAST?"

Not taking it while sitting down, Azi rose from his seat. While he was unable to get to eye level with her, he still nonetheless glared up at Shizu in defiance. "FINE!" Azi then turned in Kajima's direction. "KAJIMA! GIVES ME A SWORD, THE BIGGEST ONE YOU GOT."

Feeling that he should intervene, he decided otherwise as he was stunned for a moment when he saw the look Azi had in his eyes. They were filled with the passion and excitement he had earlier in the day during his lessons.

Not wanting to let Azi's enthusiasm go to waste even though it was caused by the alcohol, he sighed and walked over to the storage room's entrance in the living room. Pulling out two swords, a blunted katana for Shizu and a large blunt greatsword for Azi, he handed them over.

A slight chuckle came out of Kajima when he saw Azi was struggling to wield the greatsword that was much larger than himself. Before Kajima could suggest a different weapon for him to use, he and the drunken Shizu were shocked by the sight of Azi using one hand to lift the greatsword.

Swinging it a bit, Azi felt the weight of the greatsword in his hand and had a satisfied grin on his face.

"PERFECT! LET'S FIGHT!"

(Please support me on patreon so I can write more stories.)