Volume 2, Chapter 20 – The Furinkazan

Volume 2, Chapter 20 - The Furinkazan

Translator: Snoring Dragon

“M- my young master is T- T- Toku...”

“Enough!” Shigetsugu pointed at the bullock cart with a whip and said, “I am Tokugawa Shigetsugu! In this Kamakura City, there is no woman who dares to block my path. Isn’t that adding misfortune to my going out to fight against monsters in the early morning? Get out of my way!”

“This road is so wide that you can easily go side by side. Why...”

“Forget it, Shiu!” Lily slightly raised a corner of the curtain. She saw that Shigetsugu harbored malicious intentions as his eyes leered at the cart. She lowered her head to let her long hair cover her face and said, “Senseless matter, why argue? We will just let him go.”

“Master... Ah no, miss...” Shiu thought of how to address Lily outside.

“Shiu, let that Shigetsugu pass by first, it won’t take much time. Such a dispute is just asking for trouble.” Sakiko also said indifferently.

Seeing that both of them said this, Shiu unwillingly drove the bullock cart to one side and let the people of Shigetsugu walk away with pride. Contrary to what one might expect, each and every samurai of Shigetsugu’s party had resolute facial features and emitted formidable violent aura.

In the cart, Sakiko said: “Lily, you did the correct thing. Shigetsugu is not a common person. Although his strength is also ranked top among his peers, his father, Tokugawa Shigemori, is a magnificent hero of the Eastern Nation. Looking at the eight nations in the Kanto region, he can be regarded as a real top hegemonic power.”

“Eastern Nation’s top powerhouse? Isn’t that the Six Swords?” Lily asked in surprise.

“Hehe, Little Lily, the Six Swords of the Eastern Nations are just six most talented persons of the younger generation of the Kanto region. However, there is still a gap between them and the mighty warriors who have existed for hundreds of years.”

“Ah? I- is that so?” Lily thought that her Sister Uesugi was already the second strongest in the Eastern Nation. She didn’t expect that there were even stronger samurai. Could they be some kind of old monsters?

“That’s right. Now that you have joined our main dojo, some secrets of the Eastern Nation can be revealed to you.” Inside the dimly lit cart, Sakiko’s eyes flashed with reverence. She raised her delicate body to an upright position and said: “The strongest in the Eastern Nation, except for Duke Kamakura, are the Furinkazan.”

“Wind, forest, fire, mountain...”

Just listening to these four words, Lily felt the majestic aura of the Eastern Nation’s samurai assaulting her senses.

It could be said that these four words epitomizes the Eastern Nation’s four elements. It portrayed the strength and images of these four people!

“Yes, the Furinkazan are the real top four samurai of the Eastern Nation.

Echigo Province’s Uesugi Sokei, Kai Province’s Takeda Tsunenobu, Totomi Province’s Ashikaga Makoto, and Mikawa Province’s Tokugawa Shigemori!”

Sakiko looked at Lily blinking naively so she continued to speak: “That Uesugi Sokei is now sporting tonsure. He is also known as Uesugi Hage and is a legendary samurai and general. Uesugi Rei is his granddaughter.”

“Ashikaga Makoto is not originally from the Ashikaga family and her original surname was Shiina. After she married into the Ashikaga family, she took up the Ashikaga surname. She is Ashikaga Kiyoshi’s mother and the youngest one in Furinkazan.”

“So that’s it...”

Lily nodded and thought to herself, “It turns out that Ashikaga Kiyoshi of the Six Swords and Sister Uesugi are both related to the one of most powerful samurai of the Eastern Nation. No wonder they are so strong. There is a huge gap between them and others. I need to work harder.”

Sakiko also said with reverence: “Demons wreak havoc all over the country. It is said that the Central Wilderness and the Endless Mountains have been occupied by monsters and the Demon Kingdom. However, the Eastern Nation can stand strong like a boulder and deter the monster’s invasion, it is all because of the fact that Duke Kamakura oversees the middle region and the Furinkazan guards the four sides!”

Sakiko then said to Lily, “They will arrange other things for you. This includes the arrangement for the enrollment, accommodation, and everything else.”

“Yes, Lily will follow the arrangements of these two seniors.”

“Miss Kagami, we are just servants. Please don’t call us seniors. We are just your humble servants. Only those formal disciples of the dojo are your seniors.” The male servant was shy and embarrassed. After all, the disciples who were able to enter the main dojo were either extraordinary geniuses or children of the noble family. They were all very arrogant.

“Oh! It’s so heavy —!” Although the four middle-aged workers were not tall and some of them were less than 1.5 meters, they were all very sturdy and strong. However, they couldn’t move the trunk Lily carried along.

Those who worked in the main dojo were by no means an ordinary person. At the very least, they had the strength of mid-tier samurai.

However, the metal seal alone was heavy and there were even fifty kilograms of gold placed inside Lily’s trunk.

“Please, I’ll do it myself...” Lily said awkwardly.

“How could you do that?!” The honest middle-aged factotum looked at the sexy beautiful girl who was much taller than him and said, “How can we let a noble lady like you do this kind of work. That would become the shame of our dojo factotum. Come on, brothers!”

Six factotums worked together and finally succeeded in lifting Lily’s trunk off the ground. Sakiko sat back in the bullock cart and a servant drove the cart to the Magistrate’s residence. She seemed to have something to do and so Lily didn’t ask much about it. Lily saluted and followed the departing cart with her eyes

“Miss Kagami, please follow us.” A man and a woman invited Lily.

“Excuse me, this one is...”

“She’s Shiu, my attending ninja.”

“Oh, understood, every dojo student can take two live-in attendants in the dojo. If there are too many, they will not work properly.” said the male servant.

“Please come with us. First, please go verify the recommendation, register, and then we will arrange accommodation for you. They will send you to your place of residence after that.”

“Thank you.” Actually, Lily was worried about the metal seal but then again, nobody would just casually search through her luggage for no particular reason.

Following the two attendants in white garb, they stepped into the gate of the dojo. A lush and grassy place came into view. The air was also filled with the scent of fresh grass.

In the inner courtyard, one could hear the melody of birds from time to time, a rare bright morning, and the gentle sunlight that filtered through the vines of the trees cast assorted spots of light on the shade of the tree, providing people a pleasant and very peaceful feeling.

After Lily took a few steps into the courtyard of the Dojo, she felt that her body and mind seemed to have relaxed. It seemed that this elegant and quiet place was really suitable for training.

‘How romantic would it be if one could talk about love in such a poetic and quiet dojo garden...

Huh? What are you thinking about, Lily! You’d better not think about this kind of thing. If you show any signs of falling in love, you’re really unworthy of senior sister! No, no, the romance I want is to walk around the courtyard with senior sister in my arms and sweet talk under the trees and among the flowers...

However, all I can do is to endure the provocation of these beautiful sceneries and devote myself to practice.’

A sad and self pitying smile appeared on Lily’s face.

Deep in the shade of flowers and lush gardens, on the cloister of a small waterside pavilion, there was a young girl with dark blue hair in a small pure white Furisode, watching Lily from the deep forest.