Chapter 7 The Blacksmith

After quite a bit of walking, Azi and Shizu arrived at the smithy on the edge of the southern portion of the village. The smithy was a large wooden house that had an attached section that was made of stone. It looked somewhat worn down but was standing nonetheless, yet the foreboding large scratches and gashes against the walls of the house were worrying.

A large chimney was protruding from the roof the stone section of the smithy and the clanging of metal could be heard ringing out in a rhythmic pattern.

As Azi and Shizu made their way to the stone section of the house, which Azi could deduce was the workshop made evident by the large amount of heat encroaching onto him as he got closer to the entrance.

Shizu opened the workshop entrance to the smithy and she shouted in a loud voice.

"Hey, Uncle Kajima, are you here?!"

With a grunt, an enormous man, of over 6 feet in height, threw a hammer towards the door which startled Shizu as she panically moved Azi and herself out of the path of the hammer to avoid getting struck in the face.

It seemed that luck was on Shizu's side as she was quick enough to move herself and Azi out of the way but was horrified by the sight of the hammer impacting the hard ground with a hard thunk. The hammer had embedded itself down into the ground until only the handle could be seen.

"Oi Kajima." Shizu yelled. "What was that for?!"

Walking up to the entrance of the workshop, the enormous man named Kajima scolded Shizu.

"Little Shizu, for the last time never bother me when you hear me working. How many times have I told you this?"

Shizu, looking a bit pale as she remembered she promised to never interrupt his work, turned her head away but was met with the deadpan eyes of Azi. She was able to read what he was saying with his eyes.

'Not only do you lack patience, but you lack memory as well.'

A discernible smirk appeared on Azi's face which was followed by a noticeable tick mark appearing on Shizu's forehead as her pale expression became one of red anger and embarrassment.

"You!!! ...." As Shizu was about to speak she was interrupted by Kajima.

"Who is this Shizu? Have you finally found a man? He looks good, a bit scrawny and short but he has got a good physique even with his clothes on. Ha ha ha Oh, to be young again."

Turning an even deep shade of red Shizu scoffed and aptly corrected the misunderstanding.

"Never! Not in a thousand years would I marry this abhorrent child. I have better taste in men than that Uncle Kajima and I am only 21. I still have time to get married, while I bet this boy hasn't even come of age."

"Oh?" Kajima said jokingly. "My mistake Shizu, but you are a bit behind. At your age you should be settling down with a husband. How about you boy, how old are you?"

Azi, hiding his chuckling, calmed himself and said plainly.

"I'm 27."

"27!!!!" Exclaimed Shizu and Kajima.

"Yup."

"You are lying, there is no way you are that old. You look like a kid." Shizu said in a befuddled tone of voice.

Retorting, Azi teased Shizu.

"Says the one acting like one, but I find that fitting as I'm the older one ha ha ha."

To this, Shizu pouted at his comment and gave him the silent treatment as she refused to make eye contact with him until she had calmed down. Following her silence, she walked away from the workshop and began to take time mumbling to herself in a whisper to calm herself down.

Whispering that Kajima knew was mostly likely in anger towards Azi and about her 4 previously failed fiancés.

Azi and Kajima were left looking at Shizu's back as they gave her a wry smile and a slight chuckle. Noticing each other's small laugh, they both coughed and began introductions.

"Name's Azi Montagne and yes I am 27." He said. "I got saved by Ozen from the dangers of the mountain and I was told I would be left in good hands. I believe he was referring to you."

"Well met Azi, as you know from Shizu my name is Kajima. I have known Ozen since we were just soldiers in the great Yamaton Army. Considering how Shizu is with you and your statement of how Ozen said he would leave you in good hands, I believe you are correct. Seems it's time for me to repay my debt to the King of Kujyuri."

"What is this debt you speak of?" Asked Azi.

Kajima explained, while motioning Azi to come into the workshop.

As Azi walked in, Kajima explained. "During the previous war, I asked Ozen to take care of my family as I went on campaign to fight in the war. With how he was King of Kujyuri and I was a simple peasant at the time, between the two of us, I was the one conscripted back into the army to fight in the war.

While Ozen did act as a general, he rarely got to enjoy his favorite pastime of fighting and brawling like in his youth. After the war, I owed him a favor as my family was able to survive the 2 years I was away for and the 2 brutal winters that plagued Shisayama."

"I see." Said Azi. How about you introduce me to them?"

Kajima's face morphed into an expression of sadness as he began reminiscing about the past.

In a soft tone he stated. "They have passed on."

Shock marred Azi's face at Kajima's words.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Azi said with as much compassion he could muster.

With his words, Azi did a slight bow to show his sincerity. In response, Kajima brushed off his brief reminiscence of his family and motioned to Azi to take a seat as he grabbed a stool for him to sit on.

Azi then sat on the offered stool and Kajima did the same on another stool he had procured.

They then began getting to know each other as Azi shared his story of how he came to be here but gave very little explanation due to his memory loss. He did inform him that he felt as if an accident had befallen him but could not tell him about his hellish experience as it made him feel uncomfortable.

He also informed Kajima of how his memories weren't all in order and that he did know of the names of any family, friends, or even where he was from.

Kajima also shared that after the war, he returned to his family and put all his time into blacksmithing to hopefully get away from war and do what he loved to do. He began to create tools meant to ensure the lives of others in their work as he learned from war that he could not ensure the lives of all the people he cared about with only his singular self.

So, he endeavored to give them reliable tools for their trade, which indirectly allowed him to protect those he cared about. They continued their conversation as it soon turned to different topics that Azi had a curious fascination in.

He was luckily able to at one point convince Kajima of his age. It took a bit of effort on Azi's side, but Kajima could see how serious Azi was when it came to his age.

*******

Sitting on a nearby boulder Shizu was contemplating or .... calming down as she processed her thoughts and emotions. Which resulted in her talking to herself in a soft tone.

"Just how can he look that young but be that old. I thought he was just an orphan or lost kid my father found in the forest, but how in God's name is he 27 years old."

"But now that I think about it, he seems so naive and laxed which makes me want to believe what he says. He has no reason to lie, and I find it hard to believe that he forgot his own age. *sigh* I screwed up..."

With her hand she facepalmed herself as she remembered that she struck Azi, who by age, was her senior in life experience. She was frustrated by how laxed she was in front of him as she usually acted more refined with people older than her as a sign of respect.

While not true for those she found weak or of poor character, she respected her elders.

While it was different with Kajima but this was due to how he was a family friend.

Remembering her actions, she felt like crawling up into a ball to hide away her embarrassment. Her initial view towards Azi was that he was an uncivilized boy, but when she found out he was older than her she realized that she had already made a horrible impression on him.

She should have been showing some respect to him due to his age but remembering how young he looked she felt uncomfortable giving that kind of respect to what looked like a cheeky boy.

She wanted to somehow show him her good side to make up for her actions and possibly see if he was a worthy man as she was somewhat interest in him.

For the last 6 years Shizu has been trying to get married but after 4 attempts, which resulted in the incapacitation of 4 fiancés, she was feeling depressed. In her eyes there were no good men that could be her equal.

The 4 fiancés all failed her first test which was to survive one of her strikes without fainting and be able to land a follow up strike in retaliation.

6 years passed without success and she felt that she should give up on looking for a man but now came along Azi, and she was surprised to find out that he somewhat passed her first test. Not only did he not faint from her punch, but he had enough energy to stand up to her and condemn her for her actions.

While Azi's words were not a physical strike, his words left an impression as she was usually idolized for being Ozen's oldest daughter and for her looks.

She was curvy in all the right places, had a well-developed chest, was incredibly skilled in warfare and single combat, and her looks were envied by the more mature women of the capital city. So, when she was called a psycho by Azi, she was taken aback by how anyone would use such a word to describe her.

She then remembered how Azi had teased her for her lack of patience and remembered the feelings she got when he looked at her or teased her. This caused her cheeks to become bright red with embarrassment and she hugged her knees against her chest to hide herself away as she silently screamed in her mind.

For the next few moments, she tried to think of a way to regain the dignity she had lost or a way to get one over at Azi as payback.