Giving a tour of his house, Kajima had Azi get acquainted with where he would be living for the time being. Shizu tagged along, more to make sure the annoying newcomer didn't cause too much trouble for her uncle.
Through a door out of Kajima’s smithy, the floor noticeably changed to smooth wooden features. Adorning the walls were an assortment of shelves filled with books, scrolls, and all kinds of daily life essentials.
Hand tools, parchment, ink, wooden containers that Azi had no clue what could be inside, and more that seemed like rural tools found in a house in the sticks.
He looked back and realized that the floor of the workshop was made of tiled stone. Likely to prevent a fire hazard when Kajima worked the forge. Shizu and Kajima moved over to a nearby wooden rack and took the chance to take off their respective geda sandals and boots.
Doing the same, Azi took off his leather boots and put them down with the others in a bin next to a rack for where he thought you’d hang your coat. Traversing across what looked to be a living room, Azi followed them and they then entered what Kajima called his storage room. The fact that the door had multiple locks on it gave it away that he kept it secured tight.
It was a given that it was important for a blacksmith like Kajima to handle and secure his work carefully, especially since he’d be handling weapons. Having those out and about would be troublesome, so a secure place to put them gave him and his client some peace of mind, both in the fact that the goods wouldn’t be stolen, nor would they be misused or out of Kajima’s watch.
After a few clicks and the twist of a key he took from an inner pocket in his tunic, Kajima removed all the locks and motioned Azi to enter as he informed him.
"Come on in and see what I have. There has been an increase in monsters and predatory animals in the area, so grab something to help defend yourself. I’ll see what else I can get that you can use further back in the room. I have some spare old clothes over there you might be able to fit into, or we can cut it down to size.”
“Sure.” Azi said. “But do I really need a weapon? I don’t even know how to fight.”
“It’s best that you have one.” Said Shizu. “If you plan to live long, then I suggest you learn how to use a sword.”
“Are you sure? What if I hurt someone on accident? I’m not confident enough to wield one.” Of all things, Azi didn’t want to even touch a weapon. He felt like he came from a peaceful country, but that realization made him dawn on another.
He was in a different nation, with an entirely different culture. Compounded by how drastically contrary his surroundings were to his expectations of the norm, he again knew he needed to adapt.
“Oh come on, you’ll be fine.”
Shizu seemed to be earnest in arming him for his own safety. Her tone was mocking, yet a hint of concerned firmness was laced in, as if she were an older sister nagging her younger sibling.
“What are you? A chicken?”
Though now, it wasn’t the caring words that helped to coax him, more like the insistent badgering to get him to do what she wanted. It was humiliating though he kept any discomfort in.
“No? It’s just, I’m not fully sure if I can even wield a weapon properly.” He stretched his arms out in front of him for Shizu to see. They were thin and short, he didn’t think it made sense to arm a frail person like him.
“Don’t worry.” Kajima said. “We all start somewhere, and Shizu’s right. Since we’re close to the edge of the village, monster attacks here are becoming common these days and there are times where a few stealthy creatures go bump in the night by chance."
“I see, I really have no choice then.”
Azi sighed and nodded in reluctant understanding. Equipping himself for the sake of self-defense was important and didn’t break any of his morals but this was first. He didn’t like it, though an unfamiliar spark of excitement was stoked inside of him.
This would be like those fairy tales where a young hero gets his first common weapon. Then he’ll go on to fight monsters and then save a princess from a big bad monster. Heh, like that’ll happen.
It was amusing to think he was getting into those kinds of trope situations.
He went inside the store room and browsed around for something he could use. Reminded by all the swords and spears laid against the wall, Azi had remembered he once dreamed of wielding two swords. The figure of a black swordsman wielding both a single handed blue and black sword came to mind.
Going for it, he tried to lift two single handed swords he found, but as soon as he picked up the first he realized that he lacked sufficient strength to carry them both or even swing one of them with one arm. It was a long shot but he at least now understood his limitations.
His stance was off when he tried to balance himself, and it was like his legs and arms had turned to stone from all the straining he needed to keep both swords up in a ready position.
Yeah, this isn’t going to work.
He put them both down and noticed that some swords in the storehouse, while similar in appearance, were all of varied sizes rather than the usual uniform shape that he had expected.
Another odd and remnant memory came across him, long ago, he read from a book about world history that each sword made from a blacksmith could all be the same if they were of a mass produced variety.
Yet soldiers would modify them to fit their needs after purchasing them. This was especially done during what he partially knew was called the feudal periods or medieval times.
Swords were crafted to be a standard length for the common folk but were customized by their owners, likely knights or professional soldiers, to fit their physical builds. Height, arm length, technique, and a number of factors could be used to modify a sword to match the wielder's purpose.
The swords Azi had picked up earlier were both 1.5 meters in length by his guess, and were likely one-handed weapons for people much taller than himself. For him though, he would need two hands to deftly grapple with one of them.
By his own estimations, Azi stood 5 feet at the most. In comparison, most of the people, except the children he passed by in the village, seemed to always be one or two heads taller than him. Kajima was an astounding 3 heads taller and Shizu was a modest head taller.
If he was going to arm himself, he was going to do it right and find a weapon that would fit him. This was his life he was putting on the line. If he couldn’t trust the weapon or himself to use said weapon, then he’d be dead on the first encounter with whatever monster he’d cross paths with.
Wait? Monster? Like creatures of the dark or the mutated variety? Eh? Whatever, one step at a time Azi, can’t learn everything in a day.
From the corner in the back of the room, Kajima and Shizu watched over Azi as they all rifled through the wooden crates. They were impressed by his decision. Usually, a first timer like young boys, would just immediately pick up whatever sword he could carry with his two hands.
So, when they saw Azi's careful consideration with that focused look of his that made him seem different than the usual young boy, they both knew he was putting much thought behind his actions.
It was one of the many behaviors that made him seem like a grown up, and if his age was really 27 years old, then this was proof that he had the instincts and the mature decision making to think for himself.
Additionally, Kajima picked up that Azi had an attention to detail and the diligence to make choices with caution.
In his opinion, Azi initially came off as a very laxed person from what he could tell from their previous conversation, so seeing him become all serious was out of nowhere. Still, Kajima knew he had a fascination in all kinds of things. It wasn’t detrimental but was more of a weird quirk of his.
Observing closer, the new look in Azi’s eye changed as he darted his head around from one set of weapons to another. He narrowed and his scrutinizing was thorough. He peered at the weapons up and down several times before making a decision to grab it. Only then did he test the weapon’s feel, if it didn’t pass, his brows would furrow and he would repeat the process.
Azi continued to grab and test each weapon in the storehouse. Giving a few potential options with a few test swings, he examined the blades length and the handle length to ensure that the weapon was close to what he could efficiently handle.
After going through numerous weapons, he decided upon a modest option. Grabbing a spare leather belt, he looped it around his hip and tied the weapons off.
Now equipped on a leather belt wrapped around his hip was a sheathed double-edged straight short sword of about 40 to 50 centimeters in length. On his left arm was a small kite shield which had an unknown emblem embossed he didn’t know on its front. Kajima gave him a nod.
"It seems you have made your choice, how does it feel?"
"Kind of unnatural. But it's the first time I have ever armed myself with a weapon. I can at least now say for sure that I wasn’t a soldier in the past. Carrying this around is.. uncomfortable."
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"Really? That's surprising. Have you not wielded a weapon, not even a knife.”
“No, I've held a knife, but nothing bigger.”
“Oh, so this was your first time feeling out a weapon you’ll use for fighting? You were taking quite a while and looked so focused ,I thought you’d at least knew the basics around a sword. What made you decide to grab that?"
Azi gathered himself for a moment.
"Well let me think.. Its weight, my height, how heavy it was in one then two hands, how it felt swinging it, and a few other things like dimension and grip. But the first couple were the basics of what I was thinking when choosing."
"Interesting. As I thought, you’re well educated wherever you come from. Analyzing what you can and cannot do is a good skill to have, hmmm.. Keep at it Azi. I think you’ll do great as my assistant."
"Thanks, I’ll try. By the way, should I wear some armor, some tanned leather would do. Metal armor would be too heavy and would chill my body too quickly when out in this snowy weather."
"Another good observation.” Nodded Kajima. “I got an old one in the back corner of the storehouse. Hold on, I'll get it for ya. For now, take these.” He pointed to a stack of boxes he fished out and then turned to Shizu. “Show Azi to one of the rooms will you? I need to reorganize in here.”
“Okay~.” Shizu said, though not as enthusiastically when she crossed Azi’s path. She scowled a bit at him, eyeing the small sword at his waist, scoffing at how tiny it was. She quickly tightened up her composure, but Azi noticed how she was looking down on him.
In her personal opinion, Shizu respected his intelligence but that didn’t mean she’d treat him as an acquaintance yet. He had to earn that, like the peasant he was. Furthermore, that sword he chose would do him little good in her opinion.
“Take it.” Shizu said hurriedly, passing him a couple small crates. Each was filled with some clothes and other everyday essentials like blankets, a coat, and a few other knick knacks.
Grabbing a stack of 4 crates herself, Shizu led Azi to one of three guest rooms in Kajima’s house.
Getting another look at the house again, Azi could tell that Kajima made a good amount of money with his blacksmithing business. The size of the place and all its facilities were more than enough for one person.
He then remembered that Kajima had had a family, had, having being emphasized.
It was sombering to know that he had likely taken one of his family members' room. It made him feel indebted to Kajima, and Azi reminded himself to not take advantage of his kindness. He was grateful and didn’t want to impose anymore on Kajima’s good graces if he could.
“There we go.” Exhaling, Azi breathed a sigh of relief. Those boxes were heavy, though Shizu didn’t think so. She was carrying double the weight than him and wasn’t breaking a sweat.
“Tired already? You are a guy right? Aren’t you supposed to have more of a back bone?”
“Hey don’t insult me. And I’m not even tired, see!” Azi flashed a cheeky smile at her, but his bravado didn’t hold up with how sweaty he was.
“Then why are you sweating so much? And stop leaning to one side, I know that having a sword at your waist is throwing you off, but at least keep upright.”
“Oh! Like this?” Azi moved his feet out a bit and tried to stand in a better posture.
“No no no, hold on. Your legs are too wide now. Keep yourself tight but don’t extend too much. You’ll tire yourself out at this rate.” Shizu gave his foot a nudge and poked a finger at his arms and back to get him to straighten up.
Eventually, Azi got the hang of it. Walking with a weapon would take some time getting used to. Having a sword on you was difficult, and he’d have to learn fast.
“Thanks for the advice.” He said. Shizu shrugged, thinking nothing of it.
“You should know how to do this, kids younger than you can do it with toy wooden swords.”
“That’s a bit harsh, did you have to say that?”
“I’m saying it so that you understand how weak you are.”
“Oh~ Hmmmmm..” Unable to find a retort, Azi had to submit to that shortcoming. Shizu found his slight frustration as a victory, another irksome point for Azi.
To him, Shizu was an unruly girl of noble status. Common sense dictated that he’d show her respect for her position as King Ozen’s daughter, but to him, respect went both ways.
If she treated him like a kid, then so would he, still, he was grateful for her help. Unpacking, Azi found a few items he thought to bring with him.
“Hmm? What are you doing?” Shizu noticed and came over to look over his shoulder. She found him scribbling some weird characters with a charcoal pencil into a notebook he found in one of the crates.
They were quite expensive goods since you could only buy them in the capital, so she wondered why he was wasting them with those odd scribblings. “What is that?”
She pointed and Azi tilted his head in confusion. “I’m writing down notes, what else do you think I’m doing?”
“You can understand that gibberish. What language even is that?”
“It’s.. um It’s..hmmm? I can’t remember.”
“It's your amnesia again, well what are you writing? I recognize a few of the shapes but it only looks like a jumble to me.”
“Well, it's what I learned from Kajima? Plus a few of the symbols I saw around the village?”
“Symbols? You mean the word on some of the signs around the shop’s? You were looking at them so intently. Wait! Do you even know how to read?”
“Yeah, I can read this.” He showed off the scribbling in the notebook but Shizu had no clue what they were. They weren’t Yamaton nor were they any of the languages she knew of from other nations.
“That’s not what I meant. How are you going to be able to shop if you can’t read? In fact, you can’t do much if you don’t learn how to read Yamaton.”
“Yes I know, that’s why I was looking at the signs.”
“Oh god.” Shisu groaned. “We better hurry up and teach you the basics.”
“I should be able to figure it out.” Azi waved her worry off. He was sure he could learn the language in no time but Shizu was skeptical.
Closing the notebook, Azi put away the last of daily essentials out of the box.
Heading back down they met up with Kajima. Exiting from the storage room, he held and placed down another small wooden box. This one was dusted and caked all around with the sides even having a thick layer of dust on it. Popping it open, Kajima coughed a few times from all the dust.
“Woah? Guess I haven’t aired out the store house enough.”
Waving away the dust, Kajima reached inside, taking out an old leather breastplate, arm greaves, leg greaves, and a pair of thick fur boots. Kajima patted them down the best he could and then handed them to Azi.
"Here, I’ll help you put it on later. While it's a bit dusty, I can say for certain that they’re in working order, and you can trust me on that, I know weapons and armor pretty well.”
"I’ll take your word for it.” Azi said. “Again thanks, I'll be sure to pay you back when I can."
"No need for that, let's just say it is on Ozen's tab, ha ha ha." Kajima laughed and Azi followed, finding him funny since he had this warming and welcoming atmosphere.
"So, what is next Kajima? I have no plans today so I'm free to do whatever you have in store."
"Well, you already got a tour of the village, though it's the same all around. The northern part is more or less the same as the southern part."
Azi thought that if that were true, then his short walk with Shizu had been enough touring for now. If need be, he could always go on his own but right now he had other concerns.
“Then if touring the village is off the table for now, Do you have any books I can read?” Azi asked. “Could start learning how to read the language here. Apparently, I can’t read Yamaton.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Said Shizu. “Show him what you were writing, maybe Kajima would know where your scribblings come from.”
“It’s not scribbling, it's a written language, I just don’t know what language it is.”
“Sure sure, hurry up and take it out.”
“Fineeee.” Azi wearily took out the notebook and Kajima had a look. He flipped through the couple and pages, finding such a densely packed amount of text onto each page.
“Oh, I see. Hmmmm? I’ve seen it before, but it's been decades.”
“What is then?” Shizu asked. “Is it from a nation we know of?”
“No, it was from an old book I found in my younger years. Found it in some ruins through. I think it was a journal but it didn’t come from anywhere.”
“What happened to it? Do you have it with you?” Azi asked. This was a clue. If perhaps this old book was in the language he commonly knew, then maybe it could jog his memory. Unfortunately, Kajima handed back the book and shook his head.
“Sorry, but I sold it decades ago. By now, it’s probably in the capital or somewhere in the market. Maybe even a random library.”
“Aw man.” A bit glum, Azi had really banked on trying to find a hint to his past.
“Well, nothing we can do.” Shizu said, patting him on the back. “For now, Kajima, could you get him some books, the simple picture kind. He’ll need to start somewhere.”
“Hey! Don’t treat me like a kid, I can handle the ones without the pictures.”
“Whatever~.” Shizu dismissed herself, making her way to the door. “I’ve got work to do, so I have to go. Kajima, I’m sure you’ll handle him well.”
“Not a problem Little Shizu. Tell your father my debt to him is paid and that I’ll get in touch with him in the future. Also, take this to him..”
Kajima handed Shizu a rolled up scroll. She pocketed it and made to leave.
“I’ll be sure to check in with you concerning my own weapon.” Shizu said, putting on her geda sandals. “Do you think you can have it done in two days?”
“Sure, but I’ll have to charge you extra for the rushing work.”
“Aw really? Can’t you give me a discount?”
“Nope, not for your’s. It’s finicky, so I’m already cutting you some slack.
“Fine! But I expect it to be done, alright? It better be spick and span.”
“Yeah yeah, Now get going.” Kajima waved and Azi did as well.
“Nice knowing you Shizu.” Azi said, though not really finding much enjoyment in his recent time with her. “Well, kind of nice to know you’ll be going.” He smirked.
“You! Urk! How are you so annoying!” Turning flustered, Shizu left, kicking up snow as she went. Kajima looked fondly at her and then looked at Azi, who still had that smirkish look on his face.
“I can’t tell if you two get along or like messing with each other.”
“I think it's the latter.”
“Maybe.” Kajima knew that friendships could pop up out of nowhere, so maybe the two had hope of being friends. In fact, Azi was possibly the only mature man that Shizu had interacted with in such an upfront manner.
Usually, she’d treat men with more of a heavy hand. Kajima shook his head and moved on, Shizu was fickle so dwelling on her was too much to handle. “In any case, Let's settle you in and have an early dinner. It’s a special occasion today with you living here.”
“Really? Special? I’m fine with a dinner, but let’s not make a big deal out of this. I’m freeloading aren’t I?”
“Bwahaha, yeah I guess so, but I could always use an excuse to drink good liquor.”
Azi curled his lips into a smile as he chuckled.
“Well don’t let me stop you from having a good time, but I think I’ll abstain from drinking. I have a bit of studying to do tonight.”
He waved his notebook and turned to help Kajima set up their little impromptu feast. The day went by and Azi got to expand his palette of cuisine.