Chapter 63 Nosuri and Ougi

After helping Kajima clean up after dinner, Nosuri and Ougi had entered their room to begin their preparations for bed.

While they had changed into their sleepwear, they had yet to organize the luggage into the nearby closets. Nosuri's clothes mostly consisted of a few pairs of her casual attire which was a skintight white blouse that did not have sleeves as they got in the way when she operated her bow.

The white blouse clung tightly to her skin which accentuated the bountiful and curvy breast and rear she had. To add a bit of modesty to her attire, she wore clothes that went over her blouse that looked like a coat with short sleeves with a short straight blue skirt that at least cover her hips but left her bountiful chest free due to how the second lay of clothes were not big enough to cover her breast.

Nosuri did not mind the amount of exposure her body was presenting, but rather took pride in her womanly charms as she believed that any "good" woman would have no shame in her body but rather a pride to show it off without fear.

This prideful and naive attitude matched her somewhat outspoken personality, but she at least showed self-control when it came to etiquette.

On the other hand, Nosuri's brother wore a large black coat with a form fitting military style clothing that was a dark blue color down its sides and white color down the front of his chest. He wore white gloves that made him appear as if he were a butler, but the two sabers at his hips would deny that very notion.

He was loyal to his sister's antics and took pleasure in watching the events of another person's life play out in front of him. He saw much potential in his sister as a leader and felt that it was his duty to support her whenever he could. He was less outspoken than his sister but did not mind speaking his mind when called upon.

He was also highly adept in spying. He had a keen sense of hearing and was quiet on his feet. You could say that Ougi was the support, while Nosuri was the vanguard.

They had both been selected by their father and King of Izuru, to help aid King Ozen in his endeavors. The King of Izuru, was known as Genho and he was a war buddy of Ozen when they were both still only fledgling kings of their respective nations.

Personally, the two are on good terms, but from a political standpoint they were rivals who fought for the emperor's favor. This was due to how many of the people in their courts prioritized in appeasing the emperor, which at times conflicted with the agendas of other allied nations.

This did not divide the two from still being friends but made it difficult for them to make decisions for the nation they governed when the other was involved. They could not let the other take all the credit and had to somehow negotiate how merit would be divided amongst them.

The rivalry with Izuru was recently caused by Ozen's feats which expanded his country in recent years which made Genho's people jealous of their southern neighbor. Not wanting to cause conflict, Genho barred any aid to Ozen as a kind of fake out to mislead his people to convince them that they would not "associate" with their rival.

In secret, Genho had his children help aid Ozen under the guise of mercenaries for hire. While this went against the political views of the people of Izuru, it did not go against their more sacred rule. As members of the senshokenishi, they honored their teachings to help the weak and expunge the wicked.

While this was an obvious twisting of the rule, Genho deduced that even if he was found out he would just have to repeat the senshokenishi doctrine as an unshakeable counter that he knew was still valid, twisted or not.

After organizing their luggage into the closets, they began to do maintenance on their weapons.

Nosuri's bow was a mixture of different woods that allowed for great flexibility and rigidity that allowed her to release arrows with a high enough force that it could pierce through refined steel. This was an incredible feat but was only made possible due to her natural draw strength.

Examining the bowstring, Nosuri deduced that she would need to get it replaced. Her recent participation in the expedition's siege battle had meant she had to use her bow constantly and had to continue to do so without giving it proper maintenance as the swarm of monsters relentlessly attacked them through the night.

When she looked over the bow's composite body of a red and white lacquered piece of wood, she could see that the wood was chipped or slightly cracking in a few places. Sighing at this, she could only imagine just how much it would cost her to fix her bow.

"Brother, how much money do we have left?"

Turning his attention away from his own work, Ougi said plainly.

"About 10,000 Minos. I suggest we ask Shizu for some work in the morning. My blades have been considerably dulled from our recent battles. Additionally, we lost some of the equipment we brought with us on the carriage."

"Umu, Indeed, that attack from the Kengiri broke our camping equipment and some of our tools for maintaining our weaponry. Do you think Kajima would be willing to fix our weapons?"

"I don't believe so sister. I have done some digging and found out from the villagers that Kajima is a well-known blacksmith. While his skills are more than enough to fix our weapons, he is so overly qualified that we don't have enough to pay him for his service."

Sighing deeply, as if resigned to her defeat, Nosuri stowed her bow and arrow away before slumping onto her futon. She could think of a solution for their current problems and the soft and firm feeling of the bedding did little to comfort her aching head as she continued to think. Nonetheless, it helped to take her mind off the topic of their financial situation.

Remembering the events of the recent dinner, Nosuri recalled how their newly met comrade, Azi, had amnesia.

"Ougi, Do you think we can do anything to help Azi?"

"And, why would you want to help him? He is a stranger."

To this, a frown formed on Nosuri's face as she rebutted.

"We are senshokenishi, we help the weak and those in need. Azi is weak and needs our help. It is only natural."

"Your logic is sound sister, but I find that the "boy" Azi is not that weak. His recent stunt at the fort is mysterious, on top of that his relationship with Kajima and Shizu leave a lot to the imagination."

Nosuri understood what her brother was referring to. The amount of power Azi demonstrated at the fort was not normal. She wondered just how skilled a warrior he was and what else he could do. His glowing veins when he uses thaumaturgy was also another point of interest as she had never seen such a technique before.

Yes, there was the technique for body fortifying which caused one's veins to glow a bit, but it was not to the extent that Azi's had gone. It seemed more powerful and Nosuri envied his power and wished to learn from whoever taught him that technique,

Remembering that he was apprentice to Lady Shizu, it then clicked in Nosuri's mind as she realized that Azi likely received training from Lady Shizu. Nosuri did not have a full grasp on how powerful Shizu was yet but could make assumptions based on her title as Man Killer and Ordained Knight of Kujyuri.

"Ougi, how do you think I would match up against Lady Shizu?"

"Without doubt I believe you can win, but only with great difficulty."

Noticing the smirk Ougi had on his face, Shizu retorted.

"Stop with the empty praise. I know that I'm at a disadvantage, but still in your honest opinion. What would happen?"

"I mean no harm with my praise, but in my honest opinion. I would rather you not try to fight her, but I know that you will anyway."

"You got that right, a good woman does not back down from any fight whether it be a fight she can win or even lose. A good woman accepts the outcome nonetheless."

With a smile on her face, Nosuri puffed up her chest with pride as he got up to a sitting position to make eye contact with Ougi who was beside her futon sharpening his sabers with a whetstone.

*Thump*

Suddenly, the pair heard a sudden noise impact the nearby wall of the room. On the other side was the room where Azi and Shizu were sleeping, and the pair of brother and sister were curious about what made the sound.

They thought that one of the pair had likely turned roughly in their sleep, but this was disproven in the next moment.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

As the sounds became louder and more frequent, more of the pair's attention was focused on hearing what was happening in the other room.

After focusing a bit more, the pair was able to hear what was being said on the other side of the wall.

Nosuri's face flushed at what she heard while Ougi stated his reaction plainly.

"Oh my, that is quite interesting."