Volume 3, Chapter 6 – Fuji-san

Volume 3, Chapter 6 - Fuji-san

Translator: Aoi

Lily didn’t know why Lord Yosh*tsune’s ancient will had warned her not to answer Lady Shizuka’s call for help if she runs into her. From the decades-old voice of the remnant will, Lily was certain about the fact that he loved his wife the most, and thus, his warning perplexed her even further.

Lily bowed once again and left the cave where Yosh*tsune had once dwelled. She arrived outside the cave and surveyed the wasted land. Each time she had battled with Dijon, she had ended up in dire conditions. Even now, she vividly remembered the deadly battles she had engaged in with him. She could only tremble before him powerlessly and wait to get rescued by Uesugi Rei as just the aftershocks from a swing of his sword had rendered her immobile in the past. But now, she had taken his head in just a few moves!

Furthermore, she had accomplished this within just six months.

However, even though she possessed a rapid speed of advancement, Lily hadn’t let it get to her head. No matter whether one was a genius or not, their talent and luck would all be for naught if they ended up dead because of their arrogance.

I was able to advance rapidly thanks to this Ancient Mirror, the Sakura Parasol, luck, and perhaps because of Senior Sister’s blessing from the shadows.

“Senior Sister. I might be able to embark on the journey to awaken you soon.”

Lily’s hair fluttered across the wind as she stood on that fault and gazed down into the Abyssal Rift underneath. The endless and eternal eldritch energies shooting out from within the rift made her heart tremble even now while the Endless Demon Mountains at the distance left her in awe.

“My strength will increase substantially when I achieve the Spirit Jade Stage, and that’s the time when I embark on a journey to Kansai!”

Lily used the tough rope made of spider silk that Genja had used to rappel down and climbed the several hundred meters tall cliff with ease, returning to the top of the precipice that hung above Mt. Yoshino.

“Sister Shimizu...” Lily’s first thought after reaching the top was to look for Shimizu.

As such, she sent a spirit probe outwards.

Lily supposed that she was unmatched in Mt. Yoshino currently, so she executed a large-scale spirit probe that covered a range of over 1000m without the slightest inhibitions!

The monsters who felt Lily’s spirit power scan across them either hid or fled in fear, with some even fleeing underground.

However, even though she scoured the surroundings for quite some time, Lily failed to find Shimizu.

“Sister Shimizu... Just where are you?”

It was late into the night right now and the surroundings were covered in dense mist that obscured the mountains. Lily had no clue where to even begin looking for Shimizu.

In this moment of helplessness, all she could do was release a faint sigh while staring at the Endless Demon Mountains. Sister Shimizu wouldn’t have gone into the Endless Demon Mountains. Dijon has been killed by me already, so she’ll probably be safe as long as she doesn’t run into that demon kunoichi Yuki Mayumi again. I should probably look for her on the way back to Kamakura if I want to find her.

Lily then recalled something suddenly, “Oh no! I totally forgot about the ponytailed senior sister!”

“Kagura, I want you to return back to the Sakura Parasol for now. I want to bring Nanako out.”

“Understood, Master. Congratulations on your victory after learning the Tsukuyomi Swordplay, Master. I’ll go rest first then.”

Lily willed her mind using No-Thought and a giddy Nanako manifested in the outside world following a flash of light.

“Ngh... I feel so tired. Huh? How did I return here? Sister Lily? Did you bring me outside?” Nanako was drenched in sweat all over right now, and from the looks of it, it looked like Kagura was in the middle of training her prior to this. Kagura had already explained the matter of entering and exiting the mirror space to her, but this was her first time experiencing it.

Lily found that Nanako’s strength had shot up significantly as well. It seemed that the combo of the celestial maiden’s physique plus the mysterious effects of the mirror space as well as the proper instruction from Kagura had benefited her greatly. As such, Lily felt that Nanako’s future strength was something to look forward to as well.

“Nanako, we’ll be returning now, but I want to know what happened to that senior sister later on? Is she still alive?” Lily asked worriedly.

“Ah...” Nanako also donned a guilt-ridden expression. As she had experienced too many shocks, and had her body taken over by Kagura intermittently, she had completely forgotten about the ponytailed girl.

However, since Lily had witnessed it, she couldn’t just sit back and watch these wicked forces run amok.

She rushed forward to catch up to them, but she wasn’t a sage, so even if she was strong, she needed time to cover a distance of 1 kilometer! Her Sakura Blizzard’s range was also just 100 meters.

By the time Lily had arrived at the spot, the young man had already suffered a fatal blow and was lying in a pool of blood.

Just when the two sword masters were planning to grab the package on the young man’s back, they noticed Lily standing nearby to them.

The sword masters saw the katana in her hand, as well as the elegant kimono she had donned, and one among them questioned her, “Who are you? What happened here is none of your business, so why don’t you get lost now.”

However, the other man had different plans, “This woman looks quite pretty! Heh. Go get the tea set while I catch this woman. We’ll drag her into the woods and have some fun then!”

The other man nodded readily after hearing this.

Lily just gazed at them coldly.

One of the sword masters walked towards Lily while the other crouched to untie the package.

“Splash!” A patch of blood dyed the ground red.

The crouching samurai raised his head after hearing a whoosh and saw the lifeless body of his companion fall sideways to the curb.

“What?!” He asked in shock, “W-Who are you? We are Lord Tokugawa’s...”

“Spurt!” Lily arrived in front of him instantly and stabbed his heart.

The two sword masters were now dead.

“Sister Samurai...” The young man called out weakly. It seemed that he still had a breath of life left in him.

He had witnessed everything that had happened just now and used his remaining strength to call out to Lily.

Lily probed his condition after crouching down and sighed in her mind, “Do you have any final words?”

“Sister Samurai. My father was originally the lord of a small town in Mikawa. However, as that Tokugawa Shigemori fancied our family’s heirloom tea set, he took over our city, killed my father and also captured my mother... I tried everything I could and finally managed to snatch back this tea set so that I can obtain a city from the Takeda clan in exchange for it and recruit troops to rescue my mother and avenge my father. However, it seems that I was too naïve and reckless...”

“Tokugawa Shigemori is one of the Furinkazan. Even if you had obtained a city, it would’ve been impossible to cause him any harm,” Lily shook her head.

“You’re right, Sister Samurai. I don’t want to take revenge anymore. The package on my back contains my family’s heirloom, a precious grade 7 tea set called Fuji-san. Sister Samurai, could you help me pass it to my sister? No matter what, you must not allow this tea set to fall into Tokugawa’s hands once again...”

“I can’t guarantee that, but I’ll definitely pass it on to your sister if I meet her. What’s her name and where does she live?”

“She... She... Sister Samurai, why do I feel like you are my sister? You are gentle, pretty and strong, just like my sister... do I feel like this because I’m going to die soon?” The young man’s breath turned weaker and weaker.

“Tell me. Who is your sister and where does she live? Hey? Did you hear me? Can you still speak?”

However, the young man gave no response. He was dead.

Lily’s heart filled with pity. She untied the package from the young man’s back and stored it within the mirror immediately. The item within the package was really a precious tea set as he had mentioned, or else it wouldn’t have entered the mirror.

“I’ll help pass it on to your sister if I meet her. But I have an important matter to attend to right now, so I can’t bury you. Forgive me,” Lily’s cold gaze was tinged with the colors of grief as she turned around and her long hair swayed gently as she walked through the vast nightly wilderness under the illumination of the moon.