While Shizu and Kajima lead the expedition party in repelling the incoming attack. Rulu, Yashimu, and Touma were bringing Azi to Shizu's personal tent.
Along the way Rulu requested that Nosuri and Ougi bring water, clean towels, and what medicinal herbs they could find in the camp.
As they entered the tent, Touma and Yashimu set Azi down onto Shizu's cot. Azi was still shivering but his body was warm and sweated an incredible amount of moisture from every pore on his body.
This reminded Rulu of the time she saw her mother ill in bed. She was only a child at the time, but she remembered the helplessness she felt that day.
She was a different person now. She could do something. She. Could help this person. With a compassionate tone, Rulu commanded
"Touma, if you have any magic energy left, I need you to cast detection magic on the boy. I need you to monitor his pulse and examine his magic channels."
"Understood." Touma gathered white motes of light into his hand, which then began to spread themselves across Azi's body. Rulu then turned to Yashimu and told him to send their brothers to the walls.
With a commanding tone Yashimu did so and the four brothers saluted in earnest before they left. While they were leaving Nosuri and Ougi entered with a bundle of random medicinal herbs, clean towels, and a water bucket in hand.
"Lady Rulu, I have brought what you asked for."
Holding the towels out to her, Rulu accepted them.
Ougi knelt beside Rulu and laid a bucket of cold water beside the cot, which Rulu proceeded to dunk the towel into and then squeeze out any extra moisture from the towel. Placing the wet towel on Azi's forehead, it helped to control his fever from getting too high.
Acting quickly, she opened the front of Azi's shirt. To everyone's shock their eyes widened to as wide as saucers.
Azi's chest was caked in a layer of sweat but what surprised them was what was under it. His body was riddled with burns and scratches, they did not know that these were from his reckless blacksmithing and thought that it was a product of his earlier attempt to sacrifice himself.
Rulu shook her head and began to focus, with a towel she began cleaning Azi's chest while also preparing a poultice out of the medicinal herbs that Ougi and Nosuri could procure.
Azi, in his dazed state of mind, he felt that a cooling sensation was pressed to his head and when his shirt was opened, he stirred somewhat awake. He was dizzy and felt warm and cold at the same time, it was an uncomfortable sensation and he writhed a bit in discomfort which prompted something to hold his legs down.
His vision was clearer than before, and he could make out the sight of a familiar item as he looked around in confusion. He remembered what the familiar item's properties were since he was the one to make it. He knew that his body was in a critical condition, so in an attempt to convey his intent he reached out to grab the familiar item.
To Rulu's surprise, Azi's hand suddenly sprang up and moved to grasp her chest. Yashimu was about to move to grab Azi's hand but stopped as he saw that Azi was only grasping the black chest plate Rulu was wearing.
Azi's labored breaths grew heavy as he attempted to rip the breastplate off of Rulu. He was unsuccessful, but Rulu, while not fully understanding the situation, instinctively knew what Azi was trying to do.
Unclasping the breastplate, she moved Azi's hand to a better position to grip the breastplate in his hand. Feeling that the breastplate was coming free, Azi pressed it to his bare chest.
With what strength he had left he began to squeeze the breastplate hoping that it would break. Azi could not speak through his labor breathes and delirious state of mind, so he could not explain that he needed help.
Picking up on this, Rulu moved her hand to the breastplate. She began to tug at it but her strength was insufficient, so she turned to Ougi and Nosuri who were beside her.
"Help me break the breastplate, quickly!"
Hearing the concern in her voice, Nosuri and Ougi did not argue and placed their hands on the breastplate. With a few grunts, the breastplate was then broken in half.
As it broke, a flash of blue light was emitted from the broken breastplate. This caused everyone's attention to now be set on the bright blue light that started to emanate from the pieces of the breastplate. The emitted blue lights then became blue motes of light that moved to permeate Azi's body.
Azi began to stop shivering and fell into a light spell of sleep as his body relaxed slowly.
"No way!?" Exclaimed Touma.
"What is it Touma?" Asked Yashimu.
"Whatever that breastplate was, it had an infused healing spell. His body is starting to regain some of its original magic energy. " Responded Touma.
"So, will he be ok?" Asked Rulu.
Touma told Rulu to give a few more moments as he was not yet finished with this analysis. After a few more moments, Touma explained that his magic channels were partially filled with magic energy and that he should be able to recover his stamina in time. The issue is that his heart rate and temperature are still elevated as he was still sick.
Rulu sighed in relief but was still on alert to ensure that Azi's condition did not worsen. Now that Azi's body had magic energy to spare, he was able to have a fighting chance against whatever sickness he was fighting. Rulu's mother died in a similar manner as she had lost the use of magic energy, which left her unable to recover from an illness in time.
Rulu checked Azi's temperature and heart rate one more time before calling to her brother.
"Yashimu, I believe it would be best if you head out to the wall to help Shizu. The same goes for you two as well." Said Rulu as she then looked to Nosuri and Ougi. "We need as many fighters as possible to defend this fort. Touma will stay with me as my temporary guard and my assistant to help nurse Azi."
Yashimu was about to retort but could hear the sounds of battle intensifying. Grimacing, he nodded in acquiescence to Rulu's suggestion and left the tent. Nosuri and Ougi did the same after they were further coaxed by Rulu's further reasoning.
Rulu then turned to Touma to ask.
"Just who is this boy?"
While still monitoring Azi with the white motes of light in his hand, Touma responded curtly.
"This is Azi, he is Shizu's apprentice. Like you saw earlier, she has... well....hmmm. Hard to explain, but they are close friends."
'Really?'
While Rulu could not wholly believed that Shizu would get along with someone of the opposite sex, when she realized that the boy was likely very young it began to make more sense to her.
Shizu would usually not get along with older men or younger men as they had a tendency to look down on her or disrespect her but since Azi was only a child, it was no wonder that they got along.
'Shizu did always have a love of children.' Thought Rulu, which brought a smile to her face.
In the corner of Touma's eye, he noticed that Rulu was thinking about something but opted to just continue explaining.
"He is also an apprentice to your Uncle Kajima. He has been helping Kajima in the forge these past two weeks. I don't know much about his past due to how he has amnesia, but he's taken up residence with Kajima."
"I am glad to hear that, I was worried that this boy had no guardian. Since it's Kajima, he should be in good hands. But I can't understand why Shizu would make him her apprentice."
"I'm sure Shizu will explain the whole story when we get through this."
*****
At the fort's wall, the gengiri had made it to the foot of the 3 meter tall wall. While the gengiri could not climb the wall, they piled on top of each other like a growing wave against the wall.
The expedition drew their weapons and fought them back. Blade and spear glinted through the torch light night as the expedition held out for reinforcements.
With great timing, Yashimu, Nosuri, Ougi, and the four brothers arrived in time to support the counteroffensive to push the gengiri off the wall.
By the time the latest swarm of gengiri and kengiri made their attempt up the wall, the morning rays began to shine in the sky with orange yellow shade coloring the horizon. The snow storm had passed and Shizu was able to see far out into the clearing.
There were still a considerable number of kengiri, but the number of gengiri had been reduced considerably. Steeling herself and her men for another hard-fought battle with the tougher kengiri she casted her support spell which caused everyone to yell an invigorated battle cry.
As if on cue, the sound of a horn could be heard to their rear. Making a snap decision, Shizu commanded the thaumaturge to bring down the earthen barricade at the rear entrance. As the wall of dirt began to crumble away, a force of 100 soldiers marched into camp with Manu leading at the front.
Making his way through the fort's interior, Manu met with Shizu on the walls of the fort. After giving a situation report to Manu, Shizu ordered Manu to take command. She needed to get the wounded from her expedition back to Shisayama for treatment.
While the battle was a defensive exchange, some of the wounds they had suffered were still grievous which, if left untreated, would claim the lives of her men. Manu, understanding that they could not risk the potential loss of manpower, agreed and took command full.
The expedition operation was now turned into an extermination operation as they could not allow the unnatural influx of monsters into the nearby forest.
After discussing the plan of action, Shizu agreed that Manu would have 1 week to exterminate any remaining gengiri and Kengiri. The makeshift fort would act as their base of operation and Shizu, with the help of Yashimu, would oversee village duties while Manu was away.
With that, Shizu's expedition and the Rulu's rescued caravan party departed the fort to make their way to Shisayama.
On the morning of Decem 12th of 4831, the expedition into the western forest had returned to Shisayama. This was considered to be a success as the source of the monster attacks was discovered.
In the coming days, Shizu would report her finds of curse bait and the presence of an unknown noble to Ozen which allowed him to inform the emperor of the possible presence of foreign spies in the empire. In response, the emperor would send one of his personal guard commanders to the nation of Kujyuri to investigate and eliminate any foreign spies.