Chapter 20: Chapter 20 Kajima’s Lesson

Azi and Kajima were currently conversing about the different uses of a gengiri's carapace which had Kajima show Azi some armor made from multiple gengiri carapaces put together in a scale mail pattern.

Kajima: "Gengiri carapaces are lighter than steel but have any the strength of bronze, so using a steel knife or saw makes it easy to reform the carapaces to the needed shapes. This is my current design and it's supposed to be worn over leather armor to provide more light weight protection."

Azi: "Could I try my hand at shaping some carapaces?"

Kajima: "Yes but let's have you first study from this monster anatomy book."

Azi: "Alright, I'll hold onto the book for now. What's next?"

Kajima: "Next I will show you how to disassemble a gengiri."

Kajima walked to leave the workshop with Azi following behind. They step out into the snowy grounds surrounding the house and arrived in front of a small warehouse. Kajima opened the door and began searching in a practice manner, as if he were just picking up some groceries. Azi could see that Kajima was moving to grab something that was wrapped in a cloth and what looked like a wooden stand with hooks. After retrieving what he need, Kajima moved to the outside of the warehouse and began to step up the wooden stand with its hooks. What now hung in Azi's sight was gengiri corpse hanging from the hooks. With practiced motions Kajima moved to the wooden stand.

Kajima: "First, you would drain the blood by making an incision and the sticking a tube into the incision to drain the blood into containers. The blood of the gengiri is poisonous but is useful as a poison and can be made into gengiri poison antidotes. I have already removed the blood and since this is simple you will have no problem. The real issue is how to remove all the flesh from the corpse to ensure that there is no flesh remaining on the carapace."

Kajima began showing Azi the tricks he came up with to more easily remove the flesh from the carapace which involved shoving the knife in between each carapace piece to loosen them from each other. Then cutting as many of the contact points between carapace and flesh. The final tip was to cut a grid pattern into the underside of the gengiri's body so that a large shovel could then be used to scrape out the flesh from the carapace. With the flesh cut into smaller pieces and its connection to the carapace weakened. The flesh was scooped out cleanly in only a few shovelfuls. Any remaining flesh could be either burned off or cut off with a knife.

After Kajima finished giving his example to Azi, he grabbed a fresher gengiri corpse from the warehouse and told Azi to try. Azi equipped himself with the carving knife and began to disassemble the gengiri from Kajima's example. He grabbed a few buckets and a rubber-like hose from the workshop and began to drain the blood. He then began cutting the carapace connections to each other and the flesh. Made a grid pattern on the underside and finally scooped out the flesh with a shovel. This took Azi much longer than Kajima, but Kajima told him to take his time. 

Kajima: "It's better that itt is done right rather than quickly. When you make tools from materials, it is best if those materials are in good condition."

Azi nodded in affirmation and a few more moments passed as he soon finished his first disassembly. Kajima appraised Azi's work and made comments on how he could have improved and where he went wrong. Azi listened to every word Kajima told him with a passionate focus which amused Kajima as he had to ask.

Kajima: "Why do you always seem so interested when we talk about things like this?"

Azi: "I don't really know; I just find it fascinating. Also, there are many topics I have no knowledge of, so when I think about being able to learn it, I feel an urge to learn." 

Kajima: "Your motivation and passion to learn is admirable, I'll be sure to teach you what I can."

Azi: "Thank teacher."

Kajima: "Teacher?"

Azi: "Yes, Teacher, that is what I'll call you now."

Kajima laughed and said:

You are reading story Thy Travels Through Tales at novel35.com

Kajima: "Alright but only during lessons its embarrassing to have someone as old as you call me teacher.

Azi: "Deal. I'll do my best Teacher."

Kajima: "As will I."

Kajima and Azi both had a small laugh and then continued with their lesson where they then moved on to beowolves. While Azi was having his lesson, Shizu had finished cleaning and left Kajima's house to handle the transactions of the kengiri and other materials. She arrived at the village barracks and acquired two men to aid her in moving the stored materials to the assigned village store houses. She then discussed the price of the materials with the village warehouse master.

Shizu: "So what can you give me for what we brought you."

Warehouse Master: "In all you have 1 kengiri, 28 kengiri, and 4 beowolves. The usual going rate for each gengiri and beowolves are respectively 1 bronze plate and 2 bronze plates. The kengiri comes to 1 silver coin, so after a bit of math the payout is 4 silver coins and 6 bronze plates or 46000 Minos (~$4600)"

The warehouse master handed Shizu the money and then bowed before leaving to deeper inside the storehouse to direct the workers on moving the materials around. With her business finished Shizu returned to the village barracks and divided the money into portions. With 46000 Minos and with 6 teams, each team would receive around 7ooo Minos and the remainder would then be given to the village treasurer as a gift. During usual subjugations, soldiers would usually not be paid extra for monster material submissions, but this case was different as Ozen had negotiated how to use the money from the materials they had gathered. It was agreed that the soldiers would be given a bonus on this last hunt, while remainder of the money would go to the village for its growth. With the extra money, the village could pay the troops coming to reinforce the village watch and offer the rest as an up-front tax and early offering to the emperor of Yamato. At the turn of every season, a tax would be collected by the emperor so sending some of the taxes early was a small gesture to curry favor with the emperor.

After Shizu's business in the barracks was finished she made her way back to Kajima's house. Along the way she bought a few meat skewers and a few bottles of sake for everyone back at the house. While the time was still in the afternoon, Shizu decided to take today off to let Azi and Kajima relax after a hunt and their lessons. She opened the door to the living room of house and saw Azi sitting down at the dining table reading a large book. She heard the loud banging of metal coming from the workshop and deduced that Kajima was working on some of his commissioned work. Shizu called out to Azi.

Shizu: "I'm home! Azi you want a snack."

Startled from his intense focus by Shizu's sudden call. He reflexively turned his head to the direction of the niose and saw that Shizu had bags in her hands. Azi got up and walked over to grab them from Shizu.

Azi: "Here, pass it to me. Where do you need them?"

Shizu: "Thanks, just put them on the dining table. It's mostly food and drink so let's enjoy it together."

Azi smiles and took a whiff of what was in the bag. A smile formed on his face as he could recognize the smell of grilled meat that reminded him of bbq from his memories. He wondered if the meat would taste like chicken, beef, or pork and this thought caused him to slightly drool. Noticing Azi's smile and drool, Shizu cracked up as she called out to Azi.

Shizu: "hahaha don't drool on the food Azi, we all need to eat it."

Azi recomposed himself and deftly wiped the drool from his mouth with his sleeve.

Azi: "My bad, Kajima said he will finish soon so let's get started since he will be out soon."

Shizu nodded at Azi in affirmation and the two began to set the table.

You can find story with these keywords: Thy Travels Through Tales, Read Thy Travels Through Tales, Thy Travels Through Tales novel, Thy Travels Through Tales book, Thy Travels Through Tales story, Thy Travels Through Tales full, Thy Travels Through Tales Latest Chapter