After getting their fill of each other's company, Shizu released her hold on Azi and they both got up from the couch. Shizu was the first to move away which prompted Azi to call out to her.
"You can expect your weapon ready and with an improvement as well. I'll see you later tonight."
Shizu, looking refreshed, responded with a smile and nodded. She went back to the dining table to continue her paperwork. For the past 2 weeks, Shizu has been attending to her work but was also writing regular reports to Ozen about Azi.
She made sure that Azi was never able to see the contents of her letters as she prefaced them as confidential information of the nation to deter him. While she thought of Azi as a close friend, Shizu was not willing to share her and Ozen's agenda with Azi.
She did not want to jeopardize her duty to the nation of Kujyuri, which made her feel guilty for hiding the contents of the letters from Azi.
Ozen had also been sending response letters that congratulated her for her success and also elevated her standing within the order of knights of Kujyuri. Ozen implied in his letters that he was considering Shizu to be the next leader of Kujyuri which only strengthened her resolve to continue endeavoring to involve herself with Azi.
Ozen's letters also excited Shizu as she had a competitive streak when it came to achieving merit. She hoped to hold a higher position or standing than her brother Yashimu or any other man who would dare to look down upon her.
This was due to how there was widespread prejudice against women in the army in this feudal era. The social norm of this world was that women were considered the less strong of the two genders.
Shizu, being the stubborn kind of person she was, went against the norm and developed a competitive attitude with the men around her.
This included her brother Yashimu and on a personal basis the two were a competitive pair and got along as well as oil and water. But when their duties as a knight came into play, they were able to put aside their competitiveness.
Unfortunately, this was not the case with other men but with Azi being the most recent exception.
Finishing up a letter to Ozen on Azi's progress in combat and blacksmithing, she saw in the corner of her eye the figure of Azi donning his goggles, strapping his tool belt to his waist, and making way to the workshop entrance.
Seeing his back, she noticed it looked a lot bigger than that time at the inn 2 weeks prior. While Shizu always saw Azi as a person short in stature, his current presence made him seem taller or larger than how he physically looked.
Whenever she saw this particular sight of Azi's back, she felt as if he was some unstoppable warrior who never yielded to failure but instead pushed forward with unceasing passion.
Unbeknownst to her, her heart had skipped a beat at her runaway thoughts.
*****
Entering the workshop, Azi took stock of what he had left on hand to use in his experiments. The materials Ben and Bail had delivered two weeks prior were already dwindling as the number of experiments Azi did to find a substitute for refined steel were numerous.
Most of the byproducts of his experiments were small knives and shields that were either too heavy or too brittle to be used as proper armaments. But Azi had recently had some success as the hammer he had affixed to his tool belt was made from one of the recent successful experiments.
The hammer was 3 pounds in weight which was much lighter than Kajima's 10-pound hammers. The metal of the hammer head was made from one of the experiments of mixing iron ore, nickel ore, grounded kengiri carapaces, and grounded beowolf fangs.
He previously tested many other combinations and landed on the current mixture of ores and monster materials. Kajima argued that there was no way that monster materials could be used in forging a new metal but was rebutted by Azi's curiosity and reasoning that they won't know until they try.
He was in the later stage of his experiment as he was testing the mixed materials in various ratios in order to find the best combination that had the most similarities to refine steel.
Due to the inclusion of monster parts, the metal was not a shiny color of whitish silver but was instead black and gray.
The metal also had small red streaks on the metal's surface which was an interesting development founded by Azi. He deduced that these red streaks were magical energy channels that formed from the already present channels contained within monster materials.
Azi took his hammer from his tool belt and began inspecting it. His recent experiment the day before was to test the limits of the new metal and to have him use it for the past couple days in his work at the forge.
Writing down his findings in a brown book, Azi bookmarked the last page he wrote on and closed the book.
With a bit of a smile on his face Azi, talking to no one in particular, stated. "It's a success. I guess I can now start preparing for the long forging process ahead."
The day prior, Azi had put his new hammer through a round of tests that were used to find its limits. He applied heat, force, and examined it with thaumaturgy techniques that Touma had taught him to find out just how strong his creation was.
His recent test ran late into the night, so he did not have time to read over his findings in greater detail, so he called it a day and decided to check tomorrow.
Looking over to the forge, Azi gathered what little material he had left and began forming them into ingots of the new metal he created. While Azi had gotten stronger with his training, he still did not have enough muscular endurance to handle the stress of working the forge for long hours, but he found a work around.
Channeling the blue glowing lines in his arms, the lines of blue energy extended from his fingertips and grabbed the hammer he was previously examining. This was an original magic created by Azi by accident.
This original magic allowed Azi to tether his magical energies to physical objects. When Azi thought to lift the hammer, the tethers wrapped around the hammer's handle and moved to lift it.
Azi's trouble in the forge was that he needed to find a way to hammer the metal in a manner that he could sustain for long periods of time and when Touma told Azi that his magical energy reserves were quite large, he got the idea to use his magic as a way to help him forge.
At first Azi thought to reinforce his hand by magically tethering it to the hammer with the glowing blue lines of energy to get a better grip. This was unsuccessful as he still got extremely tired from the heat and physical exertion he needed to perform.
On accident, the hammer in his hand slipped and fell to the ground a few paces from him. When Azi stretched his hands to pick up the hammer, the hammer suddenly moved on its own and returned to his hand.
He then noticed that the magical tethers from his hands were still connected even when the hammer was a distance away. This got the gears in Azi's mind turning as he thought of ways to use what he discovered to his advantage.
Manipulating the hot metals with metal tongs in hand, Azi moved the red-hot metal from the forge to the anvil and began having his hammer start pounding away at the metal.
This was a strange sight. as onlookers would see the fantastical sight of a hammer magically moving around the workshop. When Kajima first saw this, he was surprised but nonetheless proud of Azi's feat and ingenuity.
After using up all the materials he had in stock to create more metal ingots, he remembered that he needed to repair the spear from this morning's fight with gengiri.
Taking a spare long wooden polearm without its spear head, Azi set it down to the side and began fashioning a new spear head using his new metal as an apology gift to the guard.
He made two spearheads which had three points like a trident but with the middle point being the longest of the three. The second spearhead was for Ben and Bail as he planned to meet them tomorrow and talk about the recent developments.
Finally finished his work, he noticed that the sunlight was no longer shining through the nearby window. Instead, Azi saw the stars and moons, admiring the sight for a bit. Azi turned away from the window as he felt he needed a bath and some food.
He had again forgotten to take a break as he was so engrossed in his work that he could now feel the hunger inside him was like a pit in his stomach. Quickly moving to the indoor bath, Azi bathed himself and got a change of sleepwear on. His sleeping wear was a basic white shirt and pants, they were soft which was to Shizu delight.
Coming out of the bath with a towel on his damp head of hair, he greets Shizu and Kajima who sat around the dining table. It seemed that today, everyone would be having a large amount of meat for dinner as a large roast of what looked like beef was on the table.
The animal that was butchered for this meat was a cow-like animal called a moosu. After filling their bellies full of the sweet and savory taste of meat, everyone cleaned up the dining room and went to bed.
Of course, Shizu joined Azi in his bed and the two had a short talk about their day. Shizu complained about all the paperwork and the lack of weapons to supply to all the soldiers on the village watch.
Recently, Ozen had sent more soldiers to help with the monsters in the nearby forest of Shisayama but with the increase in soldiers came an increase in weapon expenditure.
Azi offered his help after he finished work on Shizu's weapon and shared how his experiment was a success.
"I think it will be done in 7 days at this rate, but I won't be able to sleep in the same bed with you starting tomorrow."
Pouting, Shizu complained. "Why not?!"
"The process I plan to do to create your weapon is special and complicated so please understand." He said in a placating manner.
Not convinced, Shizu put on her best pleading voice and asked. "Can't I just sleep in the workshop with you?"
Nodding his head in firm denial, Azi said. "I need total focus for the next 7 days. I swear it will be worth the wait."
Sighing after hearing how adamant Azi's tone was, Shizu nodded. Before the two started to sleep, Shizu informed Azi that her younger sister, Rulu, had finally got permission to come visit her in Shisayama.
The news came as a surprise to Shizu, as it came in with the recent bundle of paperwork she usually dreaded to receive from Kujyuri. When she read Ozen's letter which mentioned Rulu's estimated arrival to be on Decem 12th of 4831, Shizu jumped for joy in her office.
The anticipation of seeing her younger sister again almost made Shizu want to jump for joy again in the bed, but she was prevented by Azi who, with a calming hand, brushed the back of her fluffy ears.
Azi teased her for her childish mannerism which made Shizu pout a bit but after a few more minutes of bantering the two of them fell asleep. Both were excited for the days to come.