Volume 3, Chapter 32 – Infiltrating the Castle Tower

Volume 3, Chapter 32 - Infiltrating the Castle Tower

Translator: Aoi

“That’s the Tokugawa clan crest.”

Shiu stated in a low voice next to Lily after seeing the clan crest depicted on the banners held by banner holders among the troops.

Lily had also noticed that, but she didn’t employ a spirit probe carelessly to test the waters as Lord Tokugawa and Lord Takeda’s strength were above hers. Furthermore, the antler-horned, black-armored samurai felt much more threatening to Lily for some reason.

She scoured the ranks and fixed her gaze on a short-looking, hardened samurai who rode a majestic bull.

With such a robust aura, there’s no doubt this man’s stronger than me.

He’s probably Tokugawa Shigemori. Fortunately, his son doesn’t seem to be present among the group.

The group arrived in front of the castle tower’s gates and sent a messenger, after which, the gates opened briefly. The group of about one hundred people consisted of samurai attendants as well as a few carriages that were packed to the brim with gifts.

There was also a very luxurious carriage among the group which seemed to be the medium of transport for the women of the family. On the outside, it looked as if Lord Tokugawa had come to the land of the Takeda to pay a friendly visit, but since he was allowed to bring in so many soldiers, it was clear that the two parties had an exceptional relationship.

“To visit at such a time, is Tokugawa unaware of the strange occurrences in the Takeda territory?”

The timing is really too suspicious.

“Shiu, prepare the rope,” Lily commanded in a low voice.

“Yes.”

As a kunoichi, Shiu always carried a rope on her, and the rope she used at the moment was gifted to her by Lily. It was made from the spider silk Lily had obtained after slaying Genja, so it was pretty tough and durable.

Once the patrols passed by, Shiu used the opportunity to throw the hook attached to the rope towards the castle tower’s stone wall and climbed up the wall alongside Lily with ease.

From the top, Lily saw Tokugawa’s and his entourage split into two groups. Tokugawa Shigemori, the black-armored samurai, and a few other vassals entered the castle tower under the guidance of a Takeda clan samurai. From the looks of it, it seemed that Tokugawa planned to meet with Takeda on this very night, but after pondering about it again, Lily concluded that it was probably afternoon in reality, so there wasn’t anything wrong with meeting right now.

The other members of the group laid down the large number of gifts before accompanying the luxurious women’s carriage led by a Takeda clan retainer to a three-storied side tower that stood behind the castle tower. That seemed to be the dwelling arranged for Tokugawa’s entourage.

“Although the castle tower probably has over a thousand soldiers, allowing about one hundred armored Tokugawa troops to reside in the castle is pretty unusual,” Lily speculated.

Lily and Shiu jumped off the wall and landed on the branches of an old and tall pine tree.

“Sis, I’ll infiltrate the tower and try to eavesdrop on Tokugawa and Takeda’s conversation. Please wait for me here,” Shiu suggested.

“No way!” Lily rejected, “Tokugawa and Takeda are both members of the Furinkazan and are apex powerhouses of the East. It’s very likely that they might see through your disguise, so it’s too dangerous to do that. Go shadow the women of the Tokugawa clan and investigate their situation while I infiltrate the tower.”

“Huh?! Sis, you aren’t a ninja, so how will you take covert action to obtain information?”

“Hmph,” Lily chuckled, “Have you never heard about hiding in plain sight?”

“Sis?”

“I have my methods, Shiu, just follow my orders.”

He had a purplish complexion and a greyish-black beard with some white strands and was shrouded in a robust and steady aura.

Even though she hadn’t seen him before, Lily was convinced this man was none other than Takeda Tsunenobu!

However, Lord Tsunenobu’s complexion looked a little abnormal and even though she inferred that he still possessed a complete mind based on his expression and movements, she could sense that the robust and steady aura he was shrouded in contained a trace of a formidable and turbulent fiendish energy!

It was certain that he wasn’t a demon samurai and highly likely that he had demi-demonized like Hojo Dijon. However, Lily wasn’t sure how much stronger he was compared to Dijon, and this filled her with fear that caused her slender calves to quiver a little.

Naturally, it was pretty normal for a new maid to tremble after seeing Lord Takeda.

Although Lily was certain this man had given the order to kill her, he had never seen her before, so she believed she would go undiscovered as even he couldn’t have predicted that she would actually appear in front of him with shōchū in hand.

Lily didn’t stare at him too much and entered the room cautiously, but she panicked after entering inside.

As someone who had never acted as a servant, she didn’t know which order she was supposed to serve the sake in.

Lily peeked at the people within the room and noticed Tokugawa Shigemori and the black-armored samurai to one side with the company of two valiant and old retainers, Sakai and Sakakibara.

On the other side were the retainers of the Takeda clan, Amari Naoto, Oda Nobutada... and Itagaki Nobuyoshi.

It was just that he had a grim look on his face and seemed to be in the middle of collecting his thoughts regarding the ongoing conversation, so he hadn’t noticed the newly arrived maid’s incongruousness.

These majestic and straightforward samurai naturally didn’t stop their talks because of a maid’s arrival. Tokugawa Shigemori continued speaking, “Brother Takeda, Lord Kamakura can’t leave Kamakura City because of that, so other than the people of the Minamoto clan, the only people Lord Kamakura can control in the East are that woman, Ashikaga Makoto, and the silly brat, Kiyoshi, from the Ashikaga clan.”

Lily stepped forth while Shigemori spoke and arrived beside Tsunenobu, and after a show of slight hesitation, she feigned reverence and kneeled down sideways to put the cup of shōchū in front of Tsunenobu.

However, Lily found herself in a conundrum soon after as there were only six cups of shōchū while there were seven people within the room.

But she didn’t have the time to ponder about this issue and turned towards Tokugawa’s side before placing down the cups in the sequence that she believed to be correct.

“Thus, we can expand our territories with you advancing north and west from Kai, Brother Takeda, while I advance east from Mikawa. I’m willing to move at your command if you’re willing to undertake this campaign,” Shigemori added.

Lily felt dread after hearing this and wondered if he was planning to rebel.

“Lord Tokugawa. You must speak with prudence. Your words are akin to rebelling!” Itagaki Nobuyoshi pointed at Tokugawa Shigemori from the back just as Lily planned to place the next cup of sake in front of Shigemori.

“You are mistaken, Master Itagaki. Lord Kamakura’s overly conservative strategies have caused the Hundred Demons to surround us from all ends, so we should be taking the initiative to attack them instead of staying on the defense! Although we respect Lord Kamakura, in terms of strategies, it’s best not to heed the elder’s instructions all the time,” the honest-looking Sakai interjected.

“Master Sakai, are you planning to make the Minamoto clan a mere figurehead?” Itagaki’s subsequent question turned the mood tenser.

As Lily had finished placing the sake in front of Shigemori, she intended to move.

However, Shigemori’s callused and oversized palm, which was incongruous with his height and almost as huge as half-a-washing-basin, caught Lily’s slender hand before he questioned her, “Who are you?”

As they were in the middle of discussing provincial matters, none of the people within the room had minded this maid and they were arguing so intensely that at least half of them had overlooked Lily’s beauty. However, all of their gazes fell on Lily when Shigemori changed the topic suddenly.

“I-I’m a new maid,” Lily trembled all over and pretended to be quite hurt from Shigemori’s grip and assumed a restrained puckered expression that seemed to convey that she was holding back from screaming in pain.

When Itagaki Nobuyoshi saw Lily evade Shigemori’s gaze faintly, his eyes opened wide suddenly, and he almost lost his voice.