Chapter 82 First Day of Work

Undice the 14th of 4831 AS

Waking up a bit after first light, Azi awoke to the familiar sight of his room in Kajima's house. He could feel the warm blanket of the futon bed upon his skin but felt a slight tingle of cold air somewhat tickle his legs.

His slight movements caused a bit of air to enter the gaps between the blanket and bedding, making him shiver a little.

Luckily, there was a warming sensation that was comforting him from behind. Moving in a practiced motion that seemed as if he had done this too many times, he turned his body over and saw Shizu's sleeping face.

Her red hair covered one side of her face which made her appearance seem as if she could enchant any man, but Azi knew better. This woman was more like a wolf in sheep's clothing and without fear, he dared to wake the beast.

He parted her crimson hair away from her face, which caused Shizu to stir in her sleep. In reaction to the slight touch of his hands, she tightened her grip around Azi's back.

While Azi would usually get the life squeezed out of him, he had developed a way to prevent such a predicament from happening. He brought himself closer to Shizu's body and then moved his body up so that his lips intertwined with Shizu's.

As soon as they kissed, Shizu's arms stopped mid motion and began to relax. Feeling Azi's tongue invade the inside of her mouth, her eyes began to flutter open in slight surprise but with a sense of content in them.

After a good amount of kissing, the beast was completely relaxed in bed and allowed Azi to part. But to ensure that the beast was sufficiently spoiled, he pulled away for just a moment to indicate he was going to leave the bed.

Feeling his weight leave her arms for a moment, her heart ached a bit but in the next moment it was soothed.

Azi went in for another kiss as he had picked up on the slight furrowing of her brow and slight twitching of her fluffy ears.

After another sufficiently long kiss, Azi left Shizu fully satisfied as she had a blissful smile on her face while she continued to sleep in bed.

On a usual day, Azi would be up at first light, but he had to work late into the night yesterday as the old blacksmiths of the village kept complaining about the construction work. They argued about the slightest flaw or issue they could come up with as an attempt to dishearten him but more likely bully him.

These old men saw him as an upstart in their field of expertise and did his best to reason with them, but all attempts failed as they were quite stubborn. They looked rugged, had tall and stout frames, and their long gray beards made them out to be elderly men.

But the rippling muscles they had would speak otherwise. When they saw how scrawny and young Azi looked, they felt an overwhelming sense of superiority which they lorded over him.

He was somewhat irked by this and While Azi could have possibly wrestled the men with fortifying magic to put them in their place, he opted to wait until the day of the blacksmith's meeting to show off his skills.

If it were a verbal bout, he might be willing to retort but Azi had already tried and failed. Their headstrong attitudes caused his words to fall on deaf ears.

After a quick breakfast of buttered bread and vegetable sandwiches courtesy of Rulu's diligence, Azi rushed out of the house with a bit of skip in his step. Today would be the first day he would be able to work in his new workshop and when his 1-month rest period would be over.

Azi had an itch that could only be scratched by working as staying in bed or reading were the only other things he could do as he recently had to stop training with Ougi as Shizu and Kajima had scolded him for getting too heated during a recent spar.

So he tried to busy himself with other work, but his plan to scratch his itch instead backfired due to all the strife he had to deal with concerning the stubborn blacksmiths. His stress was building, but he told himself it would all be worth it when his rest period ended.

All he had to do was finish up the inspections and then he could start working in his own workshop.

Arriving he saw Manu, who was waiting at the front door to his home. He noticed the sound of Azi's quick steps across the snowy ground and he greeted him in a businesslike manner.

"Good Morning Sir Azi."

With the same mannerism, Azi responded.

"Good Morning Village Chief, Thank you for coming so early."

Azi had first met Manu during the construction of his workshop.

He would describe that their first meeting was more like two business partners meeting for a project rather than two friends seeing each other. They had kept their interactions concise and short to ensure that they both showed the proper respects to each other.

Azi's position was still lower than Manu's as he was considered an official resident of Shisayama, so Azi endeavored to keep his manners in check.

Shizu's etiquette lessons were paying off, as Manu's impression of Azi was that of a respectful young man. Unbeknownst to either of them, Manu did not know of Azi's true age.

After a round of inspections, Manu handed the keys to his house, there were 4 keys in total on metal loop which Azi considered overkill for a single house but after being warned about security issues from Kajima, Yashimu, Shizu, and Manu, Azi opted for the extra locked doors.

The keys were to the house's main entrance, to the forge, to the living room, and the storehouse.

After a few pleasantries were exchanged, Manu promptly left to attend the next task on his list. He looked somewhat tired as he had to deal with the stubborn blacksmiths as well, but he nonetheless walked off with a firm stride.

Azi felt a sense of comradery when he saw Manu sigh before he turned away to depart which made him crack a small smile. He then turned around and looked on in pride at his house.

Seeing something go from a simple drawing to a physical creation filled him with satisfaction and completion. Taking only a few seconds to bask in the moment, Azi refocused as he knew that he had more work ahead of him.

He had about a week to prepare for the blacksmith's meeting and to deliver the first shipment of blood steel ingot to Manu. This was not a lot of time but Azi liked a challenge. He focused his mind and planned his next few steps as he entered the house.

The first order of business was to create the supply of blood steel as he had to ensure that he upheld his end of the deal for his workshop. He would pay his share back in full with 100% certainty, so after preparing the needed tools he then went to his storehouse to grab some raw materials.

The house was lightly furnished, but the main bulk of what was moved into Azi's house was his recent delivery of raw materials, so he was fully stocked.

Luckily the storehouse was built into the house's first floor so it would only take a few trips to move what he needed. It was originally going to be a separate building, but Kajima told him that he regretted building his storehouse so far away from his workshop.

Yes, it allowed it to have more room, but Kajima told him that he felt it was simpler if the storehouse was built into the house to make it easier to access.

Azi agreed as he felt that making multiple trips over a long distance to only move a few items seemed too taxing and a waste of time. Exiting the forge, Azi stepped out to the hallway connected to the entrance to his house which was now to his right.

Moving to the other door now across from him, he unlocked the door and saw the shelves of materials stored in wooden crates that lined the walls. After making a few short trips, Azi settled down in the forge.

Firing up the kiln with a bit of fire magic, Azi began to fill a large stone basin with a mixture of iron ore, nickel ore, and grinded gengiri carapaces. Azi would heat these materials together and then add some grounded beowolf claws.

Gengiri carapaces had an unusual hardness that was greater than refined steel as he could remember the first gengiri he fought. He had to slice at their undersides as the carapaces were strong enough to deflect his blade.

He was able to slice through it when he went into a rage but the blade only lasted through one strike.

So Azi thought that he could possibly incorporate the hardness of the carapace into the metal. It took him many attempts but he eventually stumbled upon a ratio of materials that had the properties he wanted.

He initially got the hardened property he wanted but the metal became brittle no matter how much he tweaked the ratios. But he did not give up, being the curious tinker he was, Azi thought to try a mixture of numerous materials that were commonly available material to see what would happen.

To his surprise, the beowolf claws added magic properties that he previously did not know about. It was only after Azi made his goggles that he was able to partially understand the phenomenon.

With his goggles on, could see the flow of magic energy within the monster materials. Carapaces had little magic channels, but the claws had an unusually large amount. In the back of his mind, he remembered the Uzuru beast gods and thought that there could be a connection to the beewolves as he read that these beast gods were "magical" creatures. So maybe beowolves were a distant cousin.

Nevertheless, the magic channels within the materials would break apart and only after mixing them in a certain ratio would the lines of magic begin to reform and cause the molten liquid to turn to a slightly darker shade of red.

Grabbing the stone basin with a pair of metal tongs, Azi poured the molten liquid into square casting molds that were in the shape of a standard sized ingot.

After all the casted ingots cooled, he would inspect and hammer out any imperfections or excess slag he found. He would then stack them into wooden crates and after the first couple of hours, Azi was able to create 10 ingots of blood steel.

The work was boring and slow as the stone basin only had enough capacity to make 5 ingots at most. It took him an hour to finish 5 ingots so Azi could finish the quota of 100 ingots in 20 hours.

But, not wanting to burn himself out with such boring work, he decided to take a break.

As he was doing the repetitive work, he was concurrently thinking about the design of his new equipment and tools. He was thinking of possibly making a bladed weapon, some armor, and a new forging hammer.

Moving over to his sketching table, Azi cleaned off his hands with a towel and began to draw a few more designs he could think of.

Time passed relatively quickly as Azi's heightened focus caused him to sometimes lose track of time. It was only when he heard the door behind him open and close with an audible clunk that he turned around.

Azi saw Shizu holding a basket filled with what looked like sandwiches. He wryly smiled as he knew he was caught skipping lunch.

Shizu gave him a glare as she had repeatedly reminded him to always give himself a break whenever he worked. Kajima had said the same to him multiple times in the past, but it seemed like Azi never learned.

"You forgot to eat lunch again, didn't you?"

Azi looked away in shame to hide his embarrassment, but Shizu promptly walked up to him and shoved a sandwich into his mouth

Somewhat startled by the sudden mass of food in his face, Azi almost choked on it. Thanks to a canteen of water that was offered to him, he was able to wash it down.

The two of them then enjoyed a nice lunch of sandwiches, juice, and a bit of alcohol to celebrate his first day in the shop. Azi noticed that the alcohol had a funny taste, but he thought it was likely due to how it was fermented and aged.

She noticed the sketches that Azi had nearby. There was one that looked interesting as it looked like the gauntlet he and Shizu saw at the bookstore. The shape reminded her of the first kite shield Azi equipped himself when they first met.

Thinking that he might be falling back to his old ways of going on the defense, Shizu made a recommendation.

"What about a sword? I know you like to play defense due to how much magic energy you have. But a sword would equally do well as a defensive measure."

"I agree, but I think I prefer hand to hand combat. I'm not really used to weapons since I'm pretty sure I wasn't a soldier in the past. For some reason I think hand to hand combat is more my specialty."

"Alright but at least take my suggestion to heart. the blade you crafted me is exquisite, you would do well to equip yourself with one."

Remembering the katana he made for her, he had to agree. Wielding a katana seemed both cool and functional as it had a farther reach than his fists.

After they bantered and talked about weapons for a couple of hours Shizu promptly left to attend to her own duties.

"See you tomorrow morning Azi. Take care and sleep well."

After she left, Azi got back to making blood steel ingots but as he looked over at the door with a inquisitive look on his face.

He distinctly remembered locking the door to his workshop but he chalked it up to his imagination as he could have easily forgotten to lock the door due to his excitement.

After a few more hours of working Azi had completed half of the needed bloodsteel by the time the moon was high in the sky.

He allowed himself a break for dinner as Rulu was kind enough to drop off a bento box to act as his dinner. Rulu was such a considerate girl and Azi could understand why Shizu had described her as an angel in the past.

After dinner and a bit more work, he believed that he had done enough work and promptly went to bed. Since the bath was still not up and running due to the plumbing not being fully installed. He opted to douse himself with cold water and wipe himself down with a wetted cloth.

He then quickly dried himself with a large towel as he did want to catch a cold.

He had already moved the few belongings he had from Kajima's house to his own the night before, so donning his usual sleep attire he quickly got into the small futon bed that Kajima was kind enough to gift him.

He shivered a bit due to how cold his "bath" was, but it didn't affect his sleep as he felt more tired than usual. Am I really that tired, he thought but he ignored this thought as he soon felt his consciousness slip into dreamland.

He had to go shopping with Rulu and Shizu tomorrow, so he had to wake up early tomorrow. So, the more sleep he got, the better.

When only the sound of Azi's breath filled the room and his house fell silent, an unknown figure began to approach his house, with keys in hand the figure opened the door in a quiet manner. They then tiptoed their way up the stairs and stood over Azi's sleeping figure. They gave a sly grin and then began to move their hand to his neck.