After setting the table with food and drink, Azi was about to take a seat but before he did Shizu pulled out a chair for him. Accepting her gesture, with a bit of hesitation as he was still somewhat scared of her, he sat in the chair and was pushed in by Shizu. She then pulled up a seat next to him and began to pour herself a cup of sake. While Azi wanted to tell Shizu that she should not drink in the middle of the day, he remembered how Shizu had a silver seal and he imagined her childishly commanding him to let her drink in peace. ‘Is she really a knight?’ Is what he thought as he witnessed Shizu drink so casually and in such a lackadaisical manner. Shrugging off this thought, Azi sighed in exasperation and grabbed a meat skewer. He began nibbling on it and savored each bite as he could taste the heavy and robust taste of the meat’s fat spread across his tongue. An uncontrollable smile formed on his lips but was soon broken as Shizu had offered a cup of sake to him to wash down th

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: SHIZU AND AZI ARE STILL BOTH DRUNK AND SLURRING) Shizu fell to her knees after she witnessed her katana break from Azi's heavy strike with his oversized greatsword. He stood triumphant over her with a gleeful expression of victory as he pumped his fist up in the air as he cheered. "YES! I WON! I DID IT! I DIDN'T FAIL....huh?" Hearing a soft whimpering Azi cut his cheering short as he began to notice the tears on Shizu’s face, he initially thought that Shizu was crying over her loss but felt that his assumption was wrong. "Whatsup, what is wrong?" Shizu looked up at Azi and then at her katana on the ground and then back to Azi. Affirming how indifferent Azi looked made her cry as tears streamed down her cheeks. "500,000!" "500,000?" Asked Azi, he didn’t understand what she meant at this moment but seeing the broken katana a line of cold sweat began to form on his brow. "This costed me 500,000 Minos to fix and costed me more to get it customized. Waaaah, you broke

In the central area of Shisayama, Azi and Shizu arrived at the village barracks. According to Kajima, all thaumaturges are currently stationed at the barracks due to the increasing monster attacks and number of wounded. While apothecaries were the healers of the army, the Thaumaturges were the specialist when it came to the manipulation of magical energies which could aid the body in natural healing or be used to unleash elemental might upon their foes. Azi posed a question to Shizu, as he began searching around with his eyes. "Shizu? Do you know of a thaumaturge by the name of Touma? Kajima said that he could help me with my idea on how to fix your katana." "Yes. He should be somewhere around here in the village barracks, give me a second I think he should be around here." Shizu began to scan the area with her eyes to find Touma amongst the surroundings. The village barracks consisted of numerous 2 story wooden buildings that had a few clearings to allow the soldiers to gather fo

Hearing the unknown concept, Azi turned to Shizu and parroted in confusion. "A kiss of fealty? What is that? Is it some kind of oath?" Hearing no answer, Azi began to press Shizu for an explanation but didn’t answer, instead she looked more stunned and a bit red as she silently brooded. It was common knowledge by all of the citizens of the Empire of Yamato that a kiss of fealty was usually done between the upper classes of society to show and swear loyalty to each other. This was the same between Knights and their apprentices. Shizu knew the basic procedures of a standard kiss of fealty used between Knights and their apprentices but was informed that it was done on the lips. This was a possible way to get Azi to concretely become her apprentice but this had slipped her mind as she was more focused on testing Azi with her trials. Additionally, due to Shizu’s sensibilities, this detail was part of the reason why she believed that the only apprentice she would ever have would have t

While Azi was conversing with Ben and Bail at the weapon shop's front counter, Shizu was contemplating her emotions, feelings, and thoughts. She was thinking about her decision to make Azi her fiancé if he proved himself by passing her trials. She felt that after getting to know him these past couple of days, she thought he could have a chance at being the one she was looking for. With the right training, he could be her partner, her equal, but she remembered just how weak willed he currently was and could not tell if he could really rise to her standards. While Azi showed great valor, diligence, and potential strength, she still thought of him as a weak young man due to how he only showed this side of himself when his emotions went out of control. His usual self was too kind and didn’t seem like the warrior type. If Shizu wanted to make Azi her partner she would need to train him hard so that he would be able to control his emotions to bring out his full potential. But Shizu hesit