After some time going back and forth, Kajima could discern that Azi was truly older than he looked. With his years as a veteran soldier in the Kujyurian army, nowadays, Kajima had been able to discern a person’s age from simply speaking and observing them.
He had plenty of time to refine that keen sense of his by identifying the corpses of his allies. Morbid as it was, he needed to know and had to tell the family of their loss. Giving his condolences was the least he could do, especially for those he was close with.
Also, it was better than letting them be kept in suspense as they wondered if the man or boy who went to war was still in this world or not. Was he suffering, a prisoner, or was he alive but lost and they didn’t know it? Was Azi lost, where were his folks, the must miss him?
Kajima sighed, he knew he had amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience in his years, but he wished it hadn't come from war.
It’s all in the past now. He thought. I have to focus on the future, and the present. My family would want that for me, right? Luna?
“Kajima? Hey, Kajima? You look kind of off, is something bothering you?”
His attention blinked back to Azi. The kid, or well, the young man, who had his lips curled in concern.
“No, No, I’m fine.” Kajima replied, somewhat shaken. He held it in, and exhaled. “Ahem, Anyway kid, I must say, you're quite talkative. Not to mention knowledgeable, tell me, have you gone to an academy of sorts?”
“Not sure, hold on, let me think.”
He watched as Azi put a finger to his chin. His eyes went focused as if peering into himself. Again, Kajima hadn’t expected that from this kid, and he could tell yet again that Azi wasn’t all that he looked to be.
How a person carried themselves, acted, and talked were all tells of how old they were or what kind of person they could be.
While in Azi’s case, you would believe he was a young genius due to short stature and youthful appearance, but those kinds of kids at least had a monicome of naivety or childishness in their daily life.
Not in this kid though. Yes, Azi showed signs of above average intelligence, and he was fascinated, if not overly so, in all the implements and tools hung around Kajima’s forge, but he handled them with care.
A child wasn’t usually so careful and neither were young men if not trained in the trade of blacksmithing, or educated to know better.
No, the boy was definitely not a kid or a young man, he seemed like an adult, a young one, but still an adult nonetheless.
“I’m not sure.” Azi tapped a finger to his temple, as if trying to rattle something back into place. “I can’t remember the names of things, but I remember studying a lot. I liked to read in my spare time, not to mention play around with all kinds of.. Stuff. Jeez.” He groaned. “These blank spaces of memory are kind of hard to make sense of.”
“Ah, well. Don’t kick yourself on that.” Kajima reached a hand to him and held his shoulder. “You’ll remember yourself one day, if not, then you can always look to tomorrow.”
“Yeah.. thanks.”
Spotting his hint of irksome awkwardness, Kajima knew something was up, but he held his tongue. Delving too deep into memories could be painful at times, it was the same for him, and he wasn’t going to put any more pressure on the boy, or well, not boy.
He was Azi, which is what Kajima decidedly chose to call him from now on at the least, he wasn't a kid or little boy, he was Azi, a grown up.
“So~ Besides your past, Azi, what else do you want to talk about?”
Immediately perking up like Kajima guessed he would, Azi gleamed an excited smile.
In no time, the two of them got into another bout of back and forth discussion, time passed as they had a few snacks and drinks. Of course, no alcohol was served since that was expensive, a fact wholly new to Azi that Kajima found naive.
Instead, sipping on fruit juice and some small grilled snacks, they both answered question after question they had for each other.
Most imperatively, Kajima was able to answer a few of Azi's questions concerning what the Empire of Yamato was. That surprised Kajima.
Everyone knew about the Empire of Yamato, but on second thought, it wasn’t like the empire held domain over all the lands in the world. To help Azi get a better understanding of the current common sense of the world map, Kajima explained what common sense he knew everyone should know.
Comparing his own knowledge, Azi determined he truly knew nothing about where he found himself. Apparently, the Empire of Yamato was founded by the Gods of a religious faith which called their gods the Furuhitokami. These beings were believed to be the creators of humanity.
The Furuhitokami was also known as the first race to inhabit the lands of Ancient Yamato and were humanities creators and life bringers. This seemed like a fairy tale to Azi, or more like a skeptical history from a realistic perspective.
God’s were an esoteric and strange topic for him.
He was, or he thought he was, an atheist or had a kind of belief that depended on observation rather than blind faith. While not wholeheartedly, Azi could say he would be willing to pray to a higher being from time to time, but what Kajima described as a higher being was different.
It wasn’t spiritual or a concept, it was an actual being, the gods were real.
The furuhitokami seemed real and it became more evident when Kajima showed him a drawn picture book of the supposed ruins of their civilization. Questions came up as Azi examined the hand drawn illustrations of such angular and complex structures.
Some looked similar to what was left of the images in his he could remember. Tall structures that towered in the sky, except the ones in the book seemed to be built higher from the ones he knew.
Another obvious difference was that the drawn sketches showed how worn down the ruins were to what looked like years of vegetation. Plastered with drawn vines and green patches of what he guessed were moss, the structure looked like a ruin.
Most curious though was the attention to detail in the stoney exterior and shading, that kept most of each building's shape.
Were they God’s or an Advanced Civilization? Both, perhaps? Azi couldn’t discern any viable theory or conjecture. Like his memory, there wasn’t much proof to go on.
It was still hard to believe that they had been around even before the recorded history of Yamato. From the dates Kajima shared about Yamato’s history, the age of the ruins was estimated to be more than a few thousand years. The last piece of common sense Kajima shared was how the current Emperor was the last Furuhitokami.
That got Azi’s attention.
"So you are saying that the Emperor of Yamato is one of the Furuhitokami and has lived for more than a few thousand years? And he’s the only one left?"
"Yes.” Kajima said. "In the texts of the faith, the Furuhitokami are stated to be immortal beings of great wisdom. The emperor has guided the Empire of Yamato ever since it was just a small nomadic tribe."
"But what happened to the rest of the Furuhitokami, surely there must be more than just the Emperor?" Azi asked and brewed on what he currently knew.
Functional immortality, the stuff Azi thought of as legend, though it seemed possible for a race of people he had never heard of and were considered gods. The more and more he heard about this topic, the less skeptical he became that it was just a folk tale.
It was not because he became a believer of the faith, no, Azi was making sense of the pieces of information.
Real or not, this seemed to be how the people here, the Yamaton’s and Kujyurian’s, praised their emperor. The full picture wasn’t in frame yet, but Azi began to see it take shape.
Though one missing piece stuck out with his question as to why only one remained. If there was only a singular person left of the furuhitokami, why hadn’t they reproduced or made an effort to multiply if there was only one left. These were lifebringers, yet they couldn’t bring to life more of their own.
If that were the case then Azi expected that the furuhitokami would multiply A sexually. But he realized he was getting ahead of himself with his line of thinking.
He mentally shook himself to get back on track as he watched Kajima respond to his previous question.
Ruffling his hair as he tried to put it into words, Kajima explained after a brief groan.
"I don't know much about the details of ancient history, but it's believed that another God-like race came into conflict with the Furuhitokami. With it, a divine war took place and it was before even the empire was created. This time period was known as the Age of Divine Strife which in the end left both sides taking heavy losses. The Emperor of Yamato is believed to be the sole survivor of the fallout of the war as he has led the mortal races since the end of the Age of Divine Strife, we don’t know what happened to the rest of the furuhitokami. Most information concerning the Age of Divine Strife has either been lost to time or has been withheld by the emperor. What we do know is that the empire was created after that calamitous war."
"That’s.. odd.” Puzzled, Azi got the feeling the story was incomplete. “Why do the people of Yamato not ask the emperor to share this information? It seems important to prevent the same disaster from arising."
"Would you be able to ask an Emperor, who created your ancestors and who you are a follower of, to share his history on how he had lost the majority of his kin? That would be just improper, right?"
That retort made Azi take a pause and he felt a bit of regret for asking such an inconsiderate question. Yes, the emperor was god, a possible tyrant in Azi’s opinion, though the people of the empire both admired and loved him, rather than fear him and feel oppressed by his over ruling power.
Azi pushed his hands through his black, a kind of calming ritual for himself. He was really getting too deep into this talk about God’s and ancient history. It seemed like dangerous territory with how little was known and withheld, as if all of it was being censored.
"Do not worry Azi." Kajima assured him. "It is fine to ask questions but be sure to be mindful of who you talk to about this. Scholars and researchers would love this kind of discussion, but I would be careful of the religious zealots.”
He almost laughed as he spoke about them. Azi could tell Kajima wasn’t much of a religious type, something Azi could find common ground with.
Taking a gulp of water, Kajima continued. “Those priests, or well ‘fanatics’, they might persecute you if you question the emperor's decisions or make any negative implications towards the big man, so be sure to watch your words around those types of people."
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"Hmm.. Alright, thanks for the advice."
Wanting to change the subject, Azi turned to asking a more pressing question related to the local fauna. The image of those large beasts of burden roaming in the village found its way back into his head, and he was raring to get answers on what they were.
"About the mounts I saw in the village, I saw a few more on the way here but I’m still confused about them. What do they do specifically? And what are they?"
Kajima nodded, and he began describing the mounts commonly used as transportation in the Empire. It was either a large bird-like animal called a Hororon or a lizard-like animal called a Kibusanshou, or more shortly known as a Kibu.
The Hororon are swift creatures on plains and in mountains, but they are limited on how much an individual Hororon could carry. They also get tired quickly if they run too quickly with a heavy load, so they are mainly used as traveling mounts or to pull personal carriages. The other uses they have are for fast patrols on a light pack or as scouting mounts.
The Kibusanshou on the other hand are slower than the Hororon but they have great endurance and are strong enough to pull multiple carts of stone on their own. They make for great mounts for pulling wagons and carts over long distances, or as war mounts to charge through the enemy lines to trample them.
A bit put off by the image of that last explanation, Azi winced, another tell that Kajima picked up from him. Guess Azi doesn’t prefer these kinds of topics.. Good.. It’s better if he stays away from these kinds of things.
Following that line of thought, Kajima moved onto more topics of common sense such as currency and economy. Azi, with his fractured memory, could interpret from Kajima’s explanation that the Empire of Yamato was similar to a medieval culture. It had some Asian background, especially in the kinds of clothing.
Kajima wore a kind of long sleeved Hakama, though with how he had been working in the forge with it, Azi guessed it was made of some high quality and durable linen. There was also the fact that everyone either wore leather boots or geda sandals with split toed white cloth socks.
He wasn’t sure if he was from such a culture, it felt foreign yet not fully distant. He wondered if he could really make a living here, it was odd to fit in with the new cultural distance he felt around himself. But the only way forward would be to find out if he could. He listened closely, picking up whatever knowledge was available.
Currently, the empire had a system of feudalism where the class of a citizen could be divided into different tiers.
From top to bottom would be the emperor, the royal family, the Great Generals, the Kings of Yamato's individual nations, the ordain knights, and finally the peasantry. It was sobering to know he was at the bottom rung of society.
The idea of being a bureaucrat or statesman was another off putting topic for him.
A more welcoming topic was the currency used among the Empire. Called Minos, they were divided as colored coins minted in the Capital of the Empire, Yamato. Pulling out a pouch, Kajima laid an assortment of metal coins on the workshop table they shared.
Kajima moved the metallic colored coins and small rectangular metal pieces around, explaining how they work.
The coins mainly used by the peasantry were Silver, Bronze, and Copper, where 10 copper coins turned into 1 copper plate, 10 copper plates into 1 bronze coin, 10 bronze coins into 1 bronze plate, 10 bronze plates into 1 silver coin, and 10 silver coins into 1 silver plate.
Handing Azi a copper coin, Kajima grabbed and showed a silver coin to help explain the topic.
“Usually, a person can live a modest life with about 10 silver coins a year. That one copper can buy you small things like used clothes or a snack or two, though I wouldn’t try the street food too much, it’s a hit or miss with those.” Kajima chuckled and Azi could relate.
“No kidding.” Said Azi. “Earlier, Shizu bit into some pungent grilled innards. You should’ve seen the face she made, it was like she wanted to spit it out but couldn’t since she was too proud to do it.”
“Ha ha ha, now that sounds interesting. Shizu’s always trying to look proper all the time, though she loses herself most of the time she tries too hard for the smallest of things. It's funny when she does though.”
“Yeah, I got the feeling she was like that. Though, the innards weren't so bad, just strong tasting.” Salivating at the memory of the grilled innards, Azi shook himself before he actually started to drool.
He popped a grilled snack into his mouth and chewed, hoping it would sate his hunger. It didn’t, and Kajima knew it, so he pulled out some jerky. While not tender, it got the job done in giving that savory punch.
“Thanks Kajima.”
“No problem Azi. I realized that we’ve been talking for so long that it’s already the afternoon.”
“Do you have something you need to do today?” Azi asked, worried he was affecting his business.
“Nah, not really. I do have some orders to fill, but I mainly work and run my shop on my own time. Now, let’s move onto the rest of the currency used.”
Kajima explained that only the first three metals of coins and plates were only used by peasants due to the absurd conversion rate from silver plates to gold coins, which was an astounding 100 silver plates into 1 gold coin.
Yet again, from 100 gold coins, it could then be converted to 1 gold plate and finally 10 gold plates would turn into 1 platinum coin. Since 10 silver could afford a single year of modest living, a peasant having one of the higher denominations meant they were somewhat set for life if they lived frugally.
Only people like the emperor, royal family, Great Generals, and Kings would use or get their hands on gold and platinum colored currency due to the amount of luxury items and wealthy lifestyles they had. Additionally, the Empire’s currency was strong.
As one of the largest nations in the surrounding lands, it held much political power and international trade. So nobles in the high life used these higher denominations of currency for large scale business deals and other trade exchanges.
With how compact the higher valued coins and plates were, coupled with the absurd denomination and how the emperor himself created the currency, it was easy to transport and difficult to copy and counterfeit.
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Author's Note: See below for Modern world equivalent
Currency:
Platinum Coin ~ $1,000,000,000 ~ 10,000,000,000 Minos
Gold Plate ~ $100,000,000 ~ 1,000,000,000 Minos
Gold Coin ~ $1,000,000 ~ 10,000,000 Minos
Silver Plate ~ $10,000 ~ 100,000 Minos
Silver Coin ~ $1,000 ~ 10,000 Minos
Bronze Plate ~ $100 ~ 1,000 Minos
Bronze Coin ~ $10 ~ 100 Minos
Copper Plate ~ $1 ~ 10 Minos
Copper Coin ~ $0.10 ~ 1 Minos
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“I think I understand now.” Azi said. “But what about governance? Who keeps the peace? Are there any civil servants or a policing force?”
“We have knights for policing. Civil servants are usually working in the capital, writing laws or attending to court duties, you know, all that stuffy work at a desk.” Kajima waved a dismissive hand to pull the conversation along, not really finding this part interesting.
He reached to the table, holding up a bronze coin, he compared it to a silver one.
He described how anyone at the level of a King, the silver coin, had the undisputed authority over the nation they govern, the bronze coin. On top of them both, Kajima pulled out a gold coin, continuing to explain that the authority of Kings under the empire are only surpassed by the Emperor's own authority, the gold coin.
“When a king dies, a vacancy of power is left open, so to fix that, the emperor has instilled a kind of system.” Kajima grabbed up and showed a fist full of random copper and bronze coins in his hand as he explained. “Chosen knighted members of the past king’s family or any ordained knight from the nation's population can potentially be the next king, though the selection is rigorous if a successor is not announced before a king’s death.”
He dropped the coins and then fished out a gold one to get the point across.
"So, there is no such thing as a concept of princesses or princes in each nation or a legacy?” Azi asked. “Wouldn't a prince or princess take over should the position of king be left vacant."
"There is a concept of princes and princesses, but this was abolished by the emperor near the beginning of the Empire's history due to too many political disruptions and civil wars concerning the inheritance of positions.”
Kajima felt a headache overcome him, this topic seemed to ruffle him up as it usually led to civil unrest, and that meant blood.
“You see, the royal family in the Capital still has princesses and princes like our current princess to be. The royal family has the so-called divine blood of the gods, so their station of power is permanent. In any case, the classification of Ordained Knight was made for the family members and close confidant of the Empire’s Kings. Through merit and recognition of either the majority of the royal family, the decision of the emperor, or recommendation from the current nation’s king, can a knight become a king."
“Merit Eh, that kind of makes sense.” Azi muttered. It wasn’t a perfect system, he could see the loopholes and possible backstabbers, but what system of governance didn’t. Politics were a pain and he wanted nothing of it.
Kajima then paused and turned to the door. Hearing a thunk, Azi turned as well to the door and saw that Shizu had finally come inside. Smirking, Kajima thought it a good time to further his explanation.
"While we don’t have princes and princesses, we do have some brats that like to act as if they are a spoiled princess."
Shizu noticeably pouted at Kajima, finding his comment very much insulting and implicating.
"I'm not that bad uncle, the nobles in the Capital of Yamato are much more uptight than me. Not to mention the few corrupt nobles that leech off the emperor's graces."
“Perhaps.” Kajima mused as he raised his brow up and then down. “But time will only tell how you’ll grow up to be, little lady.”
“Hmmm.. is that so.” Azi hummed, looking Shizu up and down. She didn’t seem like the princess type. He tried putting a crown on that head of long red and brown hair she had, but that only made her seem more like a tyrant.
Yup, she’d probably be the punch first and ask questions later kind of type.
“Hey!” Shizu shouted. “Stop looking at me like that!”
“Like what?” Azi shrugged, a hint of obstinance in his gesture. He narrowed his eyes as he chewed on a piece of jerky, making it look like he was trying to pierce her with his gaze. She flustered and gritted her teeth.
“Hmph!” Huffing, Shizu sat down at the table and snatched up the piece of jerky he was about to eat.
“What the? Hey!”
But before Azi could do anything, Shizu dug her teeth in, baring them at him as if she was growling. That made him back off and a shiver ran down his spine.
If anyone knew how to break men, Shizu definitely knew how, a point Azi made sure to remind himself of in the future. The way she acted and how she punched him cemented that she was a meathead, a dignified meat head, but still a meathead.
Sighing, Azi let it go and closed his eyes to process all he had discussed with Kajima. In his opinion of everything he now knew, he was in a pickle. From his fractured memories, he knew his life before coming to Shisayama was in a democratic society without feudalism.
While he didn’t know where in the world that place was or the name of it, he’d have to make do with his current situation. It was not like he was getting all his memories back anytime soon.
A sour note for him. From his point of view, feudalism was somewhat flawed due to how a centralized power was weak. If someone were to assassinate the emperor, this empire might become lost. Though, since the emperor was regaled as a God, he believed it made some sense.
A god was hard to kill, especially if this god was able to endure a time period that was so harshly named as the Age of Divine Strife.
He had his worries going forward but he knew there was no changing his current situation. He’d have to resolve himself in the fact that he needed to adapt to this new environment quickly in order to survive.
To accomplish that, he’d need to not only learn but keep what little he knew as common sense from wherever he was from on the downlow since this would bring a lot of unneeded attention to himself. If he suddenly talked about different ideals or ways of governance, he would likely be branded as some kind of heretical naysayer to the current rule of law.
Taken it a bit further, if he pissed off the religious fanatics of the Emperor, he’d probably be executed.
Noticing Azi's silent contemplation, Kajima broke him out of it by changing topics yet again to get his attention. Azi always seemed up for a chat about almost anything. Maybe it was a product of his maturity or curiosity, either way, Kajima liked it.
"Let's move to my living room for now, since you will be staying in Shisayama and will be rooming with me here at my smithy. Let's get you equipped and settled in."
“Hmm? Sure, where should I get started?”
Getting up from his seat, Azi put on an excited smile.
“What a kid.” Shizu muttered. She kept a keen eye on him, more out of her responsibility.
Azi's eyes beamed at Kajima, who bellowed a raucous laugh.
“Heh, You really are quite interesting. Come on, we’ll head over to my storage room and see what we can scrounge up for you to get settled in. You’ll need some shoes, some extra clothes and a bunch of other things. There is a lot you’ll need to get started, but we’ll take this one step at a time.”
“Again, thanks for letting me room here. When I get back on my feet, I’ll be sure to pay you back.”
“How about taking some time to help me in my shop? I could use an assistant as knowledgeable as you.”
“Really? You think I could help? I’m not sure if I know the first thing about blacksmithing.”
“Neither did I. I was an amateer when I started.” Laughed Kajima. “But we’ll find out. Like I said, one step at a time.”
Following close behind, Azi’s got an odd feeling of renewed confidence. Kajima’s recent compliment was so flattering, had he really made such an impression on him, Azi wasn’t sure yet.
But right now, he at least knew that perhaps this was a new step forward in his life. Amnesia or not, he at least found a direction he could go now.