Chapter 35 Progression

Chapter 35 Progression

-2 weeks later-

Still in the middle of winter of the Yamaton Calendar Decem 2nd of the year 4831 AS (After Strife). Two guards of the village of Shisayama were standing at their post along the 3 feet tall stone walled perimeter of the village. These two guards were tasked by Shizu to guard the western outer entrance with a squad of 6 people.

The entrance had no gate and was just a dirt path that went between the opening in the stone wall.

4 of their group were not present at the post today as they had previously decided to work in pairs of two which allowed the other four the chance to go see their relatives and friends in the village. It also allowed them to get sufficient rest throughout their time stationed in Shisayama.

The 3 pairs would rotate in 8-hour shifts around the clock to always keep an eye on the outer western entrance.

From the village came a small girl with brown hair. She looked to be about 7 years old and was carrying a boxed lunch to the western entrance by following the path out of the village. One of the 2 guards recognized the approaching girl to be his youngest daughter.

The guard turned his whole body around and raised his arms in front of him so that he could welcome his daughter with a hug.

"Airi, what brings you here today? Shouldn't you be with your mother?" Said the guard as he hugged his adorable child.

"Mama told me to give you this, Mama complained that you don't eat enough. So Airi brought you lunch mama made." Said Airi, who then held out a wooden lunch box.

With a smile the guard gratefully accepted the proffered lunch box, the aroma coming from the box smelled of his favorite smoked meat and cured vegetables.

"Thank you, sweetie. Now it is time that you get going back to your mother. Make sure to behave and be a good girl, alright?" Said the guard.

"Okay papa, but one more hug." Demanded the cute child.

His smile now turning a bit wry, the guard moved to hug his daughter, but stopped mid-motion when he heard the concerned outcry from his fellow guard.

"WE GOT TROUBLE. AT THE TREE LINE! IT'S A SWARM GENGIRI!!"

The guard's expression turned concerned, and he spoke in a fatherly tone to his daughter as to not frighten her..

"Airi, run home, Daddy has some work to do."

With a smile on his face Airi responded and obediently turned herself around. She began running back to the village, unaware of what was about to occur. She did not know what made her papa stop himself from giving her a hug, but she was taught to always listen to him no matter what.

But after only a few steps, curiosity got the best of her, and she turned around to see what was happening.

The 2 two guards took up a defensive stance with their spears pointed at the approaching gengiri. They numbered 10 in total, and the two guards felt a trickle of sweat forming on their brows as they felt that death might come and take them this day.

Sure, the guards could run away, but they understood that if they fled, many of the villagers working in the field near the entrance and Airi would likely be killed. In a snap decision the guard followed the protocol set by Shizu and launched a red magic flare from a tube-shaped device.

Now at best, the pair of guards could by time for reinforcements to arrive to pull their ass out of the fire they found themselves in.

In the distance, a figure could be seen running along the outer perimeter of the wall. His attention was drawn to the red light of the flare in the sky, understanding what it meant he started to speed up his pace.

With the guards' full attention on the gengiri approaching their position, they did not notice the approaching figure. It was not until they could hear the heavy footsteps that crunched down the snowy ground.

The guards worried that it would be more gengiri, but to their relief it was just a short young man with black disheveled hair wearing shorts, a shirt, and running boots. One of the guards called out to the young man.

"Run back, Get out of here!"

The young man noticed the shout from the guard in the distance and looked over to his right. He spotted the approaching gengiri and concern marred his expression.

Not heeding the guard's shouting, he began changing the direction of his running, but it was not in the direction the guards were expecting.

With a hup, the young man began sprinting towards the group of 10 gengiri. He bellowed out a war cry that got the small swarms attention. The two guards stood in befuddlement at the sight but recomposed themselves as they ran forward to provide support to the short young man.

When the first gengiri was only a few paces from the young man, he moved to clasp both his hands that had a matchstick sized flame in each palm into fists. In the next moment, his arms burst into flames that ran along the length of his arms. Grinning, the young man reeled back his right arm, jumped forward, and punched out at the foremost gengiri.

The blow caused a sound of a bang then a kaboom as the gengiri's body was struck by the young man's fist and which made the gengiri erupt into a ball of exploding fire that was pushed into the gengiri behind it. The resulting fire had engulfed the other gengiri and they burned to an ashy black stain that contrasted the snow-white ground.

The young man then did the same with his left fist and another two gengiri met the same fate as the first two.

With his arms no longer engulfed in flames he turned around and shouted at the guards.

"Throw me a weapon!"

One of the guards responded and tossed his spear to the young man who caught it and gave it an appraising look. Furrowing his brows, the young man broke the spear in half. He held the half with the spear head in his right and the now self-made wooden stake in a reverse grip with his left.

The young man again cried out another war cry and charged the closest gengiri. With swift and precise swings, the heads of two gengiri went flying away from their bodies. Purple blood trailed behind the heads which stained the ground in purple lines of blood.

Three gengiri showed a hint of intelligence and attempted to get around the young man's right side to flank him, but this was foiled by the two guards who suddenly charged at them.

One guard used his spear and stabbed at the soft underside of the gengiri, the other guard withdrew his single edged sword from the sheath at his hip and sliced at the remaining two gengiri that were caught off guard.

Both soldiers reinforced their bodies with their internal magical energy, but it was not as pronounced as the young man's as his arms were shining a bright blue color.

The last gengiri was finished off by the short young man as he stabbed the gengiri in its head with the sharp point of the wooden stake he held in a backhand grip.

With the gengiri now lying dead upon the white snowy ground. The pair of guards and short young man took a couple moments to recompose themselves and survey their surroundings.

"All clear, how about you two?" Said the short young man.

"Clear as well." Said the 1st guard.

"Yup all Clear." Affirmed the 2nd guard.

Nodding to the two guards in affirmation, the short young man introduced himself.

"Sorry for interrupting your battle. My name is Azi Montagne, I'm an apprentice to Lady Shizu and Blacksmith Kajima. It is nice to meet you."

Surprised by his name the two guards offered him their thanks.

"Yes, nice to meet you as well Azi. I have heard the rumors about Lady Shizu's apprentice, so I know a bit about you." Said the first guard.

"Same here, but I know more about your work with Blacksmith Kajima. Speaking of which, you think I can have my spear back." Asked the second guard.

"Sorry but I broke it, but don't worry I will fix it up for you at no cost."

"Really?" Asked the second guard. "Well, if you are offering, I'll accept. I leave it in your capable hands."

"I'll do my best. I must be going now. I have to meet with Lady Shizu and Kajima after I finish my morning training. Come to Kajima's place tomorrow to pick up the spear. Either myself or Kajima will be waiting for you in the morning. Good luck with your work."

Azi waved goodbye and he soon stepped into a running pace.

As the guard waved goodbye to Azi, Airi had run up to her papa and asked while grasping his leg.

"Daddy, who was that kid?"

Grimacing at the comment his child made, he noted that he would have to fix a misunderstanding his child had about Azi. While everyone in the village knew of Azi's position as apprentice to Ordained Knight Lady Shizu and Blacksmith Kajima, not everyone knew his actual age due to his outward appearance.

"Just a well-known apprentice. I'll tell you more when I finish work today." Said the second guard as he patted the head of his child with a wry smile.

******

After aiding in the defense of the village's western outer entrance, Azi continued his morning training which consisted of him running laps around the outer perimeter of the village as many times as it took until he worked up a good sweat.

He would then perform practice swings outside Kajima's house with a self-made forging hammer and a heavy greatsword he had previously used in his drunken fight with Shizu. He continued to practice at least 100 swings with each hand each day.

He had gotten used to reinforcing his body to carry heavy loads so swinging the oversized greatsword was currently no problem for him, but I did make his arms sore which helped his muscular development.

The purpose of this training was mainly a means of increasing his strength and endurance so that he could keep up in a long fight or work long hours in the forge. His internal magical energy helped with his stamina, but there was no issue with having more at his disposal.

For the past 2 weeks, Azi has been simultaneously receiving combat lessons from Shizu and blacksmithing lessons from Kajima. He was also tutored by Shizu in learning the written language of Empire of Yamato which was surprising at first to Shizu but not so much when she considered that Azi had amnesia.

So, they all assumed that he forgot how to write due to his memory issues.

Azi's progression as a fighter had progressed quickly at Shizu's recommendation and to Kajima's worry. Kajima warned Azi multiple times to not be too rash with his training, but he could not contain the gung-ho attitude Azi exhibited when learning and training.

The same could be said for his skills as a blacksmith, Azi was now able to take on simple commissions such as weapons maintenance on behalf of Kajima.

He was still not as good as Kajima as a blacksmith or as skilled as Shizu as a warrior, but he has become their second helping hand with their work.

Azi was now able to spar with Shizu on equal footing for long periods of times, but he still failed to achieve a win in all the bouts they had.

At best Azi could keep up with Shizu's movements, but he still fell short when it came to technique and skill.

He also helped Kajima with the basics of his work, such as forging ingots, monster butchering, and weapon repair.

Speaking of weapons, the progress on Shizu's custom weapon repair was also nearing completion as Azi felt that he was confident enough that he could easily mend the broken weapons.

But since he had previously promised to do his best on this project and go an extra mile, he decided that a simple mend was not enough.

After 2 weeks of constant experimentation, Azi was close to creating a new material that could substitute refined steel which was an issue that persisted as Azi did not want to use lower quality materials for Shizu's weapon.

He now just needed to gather a new supply of materials and confirm his final hypothesis on his forging process. If he was proven right, then Azi could begin reforging Shizu's custom weapon.

Swinging the greatsword for the 100th time, he had completed his morning training. Stabbing the heavy greatsword deep into the ground, so that no one could steal it, Azi made his way into Kajima's house.