Chapter 33 The Couple’s Return

The innkeeper was making her way down the hallway to the private room that Azi and Shizu were sleeping in. As she knocked on the door and declared her presence, she was confused to hear no response.

This was odd as it was early in the afternoon and the two should be awake by now. Concerned that the two might have fallen ill as the pair looked quite tired and a bit battered when they arrived, she slid the door open to the small room. The innkeeper looked on in shock at the scene in front of her.

During the night, it seemed that Shizu, on instinct, had again buried Azi into her ample bare breasts and was petting his disheveled black hair. What was different this time was that Shizu's embrace was loose, which gave Azi the freedom to move around.

Without the restrictive grip coming from Shizu, Azi had also on instinct rubbed his cheeks against Shizu's breasts as if they were the softest pillows he had ever experienced.

What was truly shocking to the innkeeper was that Azi was in fact unconsciously suckling on one of Shizu's tits, which seemed to be felt by Shizu as she had a relaxed expression with slightly red cheeks of arousal.

In a soft tone, the innkeeper spoke while she began quietly sliding the door closed.

"Ara Ara, what a lovely sight. hehehe"

It would not be until a couple hours after high noon that the two would be awakened by a familiar face that was informed of the pair's location. This familiar face was Kajima as he had received an urgent letter from the innkeeper who tasked the staff to find the guardian of the two sleeping love birds.

The staff had gotten in contact with Ben, Bail, Saki, and Elder Sung and they all referred the staff to Kajima.

When the staff came to deliver the innkeeper's letter to Kajima at his smithy, he was a bit confused by the turn of events and decided to pick the two up. After finishing up his work, he arrived at the inn and was guided to the room where the two were still soundly sleeping.

Kajima looked at the two and was surprised by how bold Azi could be when unconscious and how comfortable Shizu looked when embracing a person of the opposite sex. While he did feel a bit bad for interrupting their moment, he believed that they had fooled around long enough.

Requesting for a small gong and mallet from the inn's staff, which they oddly had in storage. Kajima banged the mallet on the gong to awaken the sleeping couple.

*gong*

Azi and Shizu began to stir from their deep slumber. Their eyes were able to open but were still glazed over with sleep. They were both still exhausted from their bout yesterday as it had gone on for a few hours. It was only thanks to Shizu's and Azi's reserve of magical energy that allowed them to recover quickly from battle.

Kajima was no stranger to this, as a soldier in the army he was taught how to manipulate his own internal magical energy to act as a source of energy. It was what got him through the long campaigns of war.

When he saw how tired they were, he wondered what happened yesterday for the two of them to look somewhat battered up. Azi's clothes were ripped and torn at the sleeves and Shizu's seemed to have a few small stains of dirt.

Bringing his attention to the scene in front of him, Kajima witnessed Azi separating his mouth from Shizu's nipple and began looking around. After a few moments, Azi's sight was locked with the glazed eyes of Shizu who was looking down at him in her arms.

Shizu, remembering what they were doing prior to falling asleep, unconsciously began where the two left off in the middle of the night as she pulled Azi's face to her own. With no resistance, Azi complied with Shizu's actions as he began to be kissed by Shizu and in compliance did the same.

With the sight of the pair intertwining their tongues and lips, Kajima facepalmed at the sight in front of him and could only produce a dry laugh. He wondered just how in love these two were and felt that he might want to rethink on if he should allow Shizu to live under the same roof as Azi.

He feared that the two would be unable to restrain themselves as it was evident in front of him that the two did not hold back when it came to showing their feelings for each other.

*Gong* *Gong* *Gong*

Kajima then repeatedly banged on the gong in an attempt to really wake up the two passionate idiots, which was successful as the couple stopped their deep and passionate kiss and began scanning their surroundings with more focused and aware eyes.

Their eyes landed on the entrance to the small room and the couple's expression froze in embarrassment. Their eyes opened so wide that Kajima thought they were going to pop out.

In a harsh tone, Kajima intoned.

"Shizu! Get dressed!! Innkeeper, see Azi to my home!! I will deal with you later AZI!!"

At Kajima's words, the innkeeper motioned to two staff members who dragged Azi out of the room by the scruff of his collar while he had a reddened face as he stared back at Shizu's equally red face for as long as he could.

"Innkeeper, I need to have a talk with my niece. Can I use your private quarters?"

"You may, I will personally get it ready. Bring your guest when both of you are ready."

The innkeeper walked off and began securing her private quarters for use. Kajima wanted to have a confidential conversation with Shizu which was why he asked for the use of the innkeeper's private quarters due to the level of security it had and the soundproofing its thicker walls provided.

Kajima looked sternly at Shizu and stated.

"We need to talk about this."

Shizu gulped and responded meekly as she got her top back on.

"I understand, lead the way."

Shizu gathered her belongings and took one last look to see that all her clothes were securely affixed to herself. Then she rose to her feet and began following Kajima to another room that had a hearth in the middle of the room. Kajima sat down with a harsh thump and had disappointment on his face.

Shizu sat across from him and steeled herself for the coming conversation.

"Firstly, tell me what you both did yesterday?"

Shizu began to retell what she and Azi did the day prior. Firstly, was their meeting with Touma and the aptitudes that Azi has. Secondly, we met friend Saki and her apothecary teacher Elder Sung. Shizu paused for a moment and was deliberating if she should share the events of the kiss of fealty that she and Azi exchanged.

Knowing that Kajima would be able to find out through other channels than her, she opted to tell him now rather than having him find out later on. Her tone a bit firmer, Shizu stated.

"When we were meeting with Saki and Elder Sung, they offered us a discount on the items Azi wanted but they demanded that we give a kiss of fealty as a requirement."

Hearing this Kajima sighed and with a disappointed tone scolded Shizu.

"I understand that your goal is to bind Azi to Kujyuri, but to use the kiss of fealty as a means of binding him to you is a definite breach of morals, integrity, and trust. I am going to have to talk with Ozen about this later on, but please continue. What happened after?"

"When we performed the kiss of fealty, Azi and I were tricked into kissing each other on the lips."

Sighing again, Kajima could only give Shizu a deadpan glare that put pressure onto her. Wincing at Kajima's glare, Shizu's once resolved tone turned meekly, but she continued.

"After the umm kiss, we were both in a bit of a distressed state, so I sat down at Ben and Bail's shop to clear my head while Azi finished his business. After a bit of deliberating, I decided to clear my head by ummm "sparring" with Azi."

"Did you force him to fight you?"

"Kind of?"

"So Yes *Sigh*, I told you to not force him down a path he did not choose for himself. You are pushing the boy down a path he is woefully unprepared for. The path of a soldier or warrior is one full of blood and only those knowledgeable of the ways of the world can even hope to live long enough to be at an age like me.

You might possibly be sending Azi to an early grave at worse or to a fate where he will have a broken sense of self at the least. You understand that right?"

"Yes!!" Shouted Shizu, who was angered by Kajima's implicating words.

"But you cannot deny that Azi has talent. He could be the one that can help reinvigorate Kujyuri's economy and be a big help to our lack of manpower. We could have him become a knight and have him take on numerous apprentices. He would be able to share his knowledge with so many other people in the future."

When Shizu ended her statement, Kajima's voice raised in an explosive manner that made Shizu flinch back as she could feel the sound impact her eardrums.

"AND WHAT OF AZI'S OPINION ON THIS MATTER, DO YOU NOT SEE THAT YOU ARE CHOOSING A PATH FOR HIM WITHOUT ANY CONSIDERATION FOR WHAT HE WANTS. IS THIS WHY YOU ARE TRYING TO GET CLOSE TO HIM, TO GET AT HIS HEART AND USE THE EMOTIONS HE HAS FOR YOU TO YOUR ADVANTAGE!!!!"

After Kajima's outburst, Shizu fell into depression as she tried to think of what to say to deny Kajima's claim. But she knew in her mind that the main reason why she associated with Azi was due to his talents that would benefit Kujyuri and that he met her criteria for strong men who could potentially pass her trials.

There were no emotional grounds that she could stand on to support her claim to his heart for his love. What she has done so far has been for Kujyuri.

Witnessing Shizu's depressing expression his anger began to subside as concern for her began to fill his heart. He believed he was too harsh with his last statement but resolved himself to his actions. In a softer tone and a caring intonation, Kajima instructed Shizu.

"For now, stay separated from Azi for today. You have work to do at the village chief's house and with the village watch. I will allow you to room in my house while Azi is your apprentice, but should he choose to no longer be your apprentice I will not allow you to live under the same roof as him.

And do not tell Azi of what we conversed about before and what we have said here. Now, get going."

Shizu nodded her head up and down at Kajima's instructions and soon left the room to attend to her duties for the day. There was a slight amount of moisture in her eyes as she left.

After she had left the room, Kajima rubbed his forehead with his thumb for a moment and quickly stood to make his way back home to talk with Azi.