Volume 3, Chapter 109 – Fetching the Flames

Volume 3, Chapter 109 - Fetching the Flames

Translator: Aoi

The duo finally arrived at the volcanic crater of Mt. Fuji with each other’s aid.

It was a massive crater that had a perimeter of nearly a thousand meters and ash clouds fumed out from it all year long. The heatwaves ascending to the skies as well as the surging sparks left a deep impression in Lily’s and Haihime’s eyes.

Their heartbeats quickened when they gazed down at the orange lava beneath the vast abyss. The orange shade looked plain yet impressive and even felt a little dreamlike, and the two of them were only able to see it by taking a careful look with their spirit power enhanced vision.

It was possible to see the heatwaves and bubbles surging across the lava’s surface and even a Spirit Jade powerhouse would vaporize instantly if they were to fall into this lava.

This was the power of nature. UppTodated from nô/v/e/lb(i)n.c(o)/m

In comparison, Lily sensed her own insignificance even further and felt as if she had really become a powerless little girl.

The dark orange light from underneath illuminated the pitch-black rock walls with a luster and the light reflecting off them gave Lily and Haihime’s skin a magical glow.

Haihime felt embarrassed after seeing the volcano’s condition, “Master, it looks like these outer flames aren’t enough to reach the temperature of grade 9 Eternal Flames, so we’ll need to fetch the flames from the depths of the crater. However, how do we do it? Even we won’t be able to survive the depths of the crater.”

“I’ve thought about this previously and actually came up with a few methods to do it. All we need to do now is...”

Lily drew her cursed katana out and manifested the demon hound from the surging grudge.

“Heh. I understand now,” Haihime also drew her blade out and released the white tiger.

The white tiger and the demon hound were formed from grudge, so a high temperature had no real effect on them. They would naturally perish because of the spiritual flux present in nature if they were to dive into the lava, but it wasn’t that much of an issue for them to withstand the heat from the lava.

If it weren’t for the fact that these grudge embodiments had a distance and time limit, Lily and Haihime would have remained behind at the foot of the mountain.

The demon hound and the white tiger dived down into the volcanic crater while holding a block of grade 9 Azure Dragon Wood in their jaws.

The two grudge beasts acted quite cautiously as they would have to reform on the cursed katana and start all over again if they were to slip down and fall into the lava.

The demon hound and the white tiger were both seasoned beasts with sharp senses and quick reactions. They arrived close to the lava about an hour later and collected the flames of Mt. Fuji by igniting the Azure Dragon Wood with the flames and rushed back to the crater’s surface. Unfortunately, the white tiger suffered a hit from a massive crimson rock that flew out of the lava and ended up dissipating. The demon hound, however, had better luck and managed to return to the crater’s mouth with the torching wood block 3 hours later. The bundle of grade 9 flames was pretty small in size, but Lily and Haihime sensed the temperature rise up significantly the moment it got closer to them. Lily stored it within the mirror space and incredibly enough, the heat from the flames stopped influencing the other regions in the mirror space once the Azure Dragon Wood was placed into the stone lantern within the mirror space, which was a pretty magical phenomenon.

As for the grade 9 Azure Dragon Wood, it would last for 3 years even if other grade 8 or higher coal, charcoal or oil weren’t used to fuel the flames of Mt. Fuji.

Lily also had a lot of Azure Dragon Wood, so it wasn’t that hard for her to conserve the flames.

The flames of Mt. Fuji required grade 8 or higher inflammable items as fuel to preserve their power, or else the power of the flames would dissipate pretty quickly. If normal charcoal were used to fuel them, they would burn into ashes the moment they were added in.

However, that age-old stone lantern was able to bear this kind of temperature incredibly.

Even if that were the case, Yuki-Onna still hovered to the other side discontentedly, “Keep these flames as far as possible from me. It’s so damn hot.”

Lily used the Art of No-Thought and moved the stone table to the room with Lunar Blossom’s monolith that had become a room with 3 strata.

Now that she had obtained the flames, Lily had finally collected all the items required to smith Evil Slayer Yasutsuna. A sigh escaped her mouth as she knew it would be pretty difficult to obtain the flames of Mt. Fuji, but she never imagined that she would actually experience so many challenges on this trip.

However, Lily’s gains were also pretty impressive as the ‘Record of One Hundred Demons’ was a really rare treasure.

Also, Lily felt that it was worth the trouble no matter how dangerous or tiresome it was since she was able to rescue a woman like Haihime from the fetters of the monsters.

This was a new sister of hers!

And any price was worth it for a sister.

Setting aside things like sacrificing herself for the sake of friendship, even if there was a risk of getting chained and tortured after falling into the Demon Realm, Lily still wouldn’t have cowered at all!

“Brother Itagaki, I must thank you for passing me the information on that night in Tsutsujigasaki Castle.”

“I was just acting according to my conscience and righteousness back then. You’re a woman who stands at the summit of the East now, Lady Kagami, so I feel quite honored that you were able to visit my home to have tea. I’m the one who needs to thank you for saving my lord’s life as that’s more important than saving his reputation.”

Lily bowed to him silently.

“However, Miss Shimizu also visited me to talk about the day I divulged the information to you, Lady Kagami, but I wasn’t able to probe into it much deeper.”

“You don’t need to mind that, Brother Itagaki. So, you met with Sister Shimizu then?” Lily asked calmly. The current Lily really didn’t need to fear the tricks of such a minor character.

“Yes. It looks like she isn’t planning to return to Kamakura and told me that she’s going to Owari. It’s difficult to find her tracks as she’s quite elusive and even I’m clueless about what she’s thinking.”

Lily nodded. She was also carrying out a pretty important and dangerous task back then, so she didn’t request Shimizu to stay behind that insistently. However, she had the Cherry Blossom Valley now, so she wanted to live in the valley with Shimizu if possible. They would be able to aid each other if they were together and this would also reassure Lily since the trip to Heian-kyo was strife with danger.

“By the way, have you heard anything about Miss Uesugi recently, Lady Kagami?” Itagaki finally got to the main topic.

Lily had roughly guessed that Itagaki liked Uesugi Rei, but this wasn’t something that she could interfere with. However, she believed that he wasn’t really a good match for a proud woman like her sister Uesugi, and he also knew this, which was the reason he never crossed the line with his words or actions until now. In the end, he was just worried about her.

Lily also regarded this man’s honest feelings quite highly.

“Sister Uesugi?” Now that he had mentioned her name, Lily finally recalled that she also didn’t know where Rei had gone to train. This time’s trip had been too long, so Lily thought that Rei might’ve returned to Kamakura or Echigo province by now. After all, she had been within the Endless Demon Mountains for too long, so she was cut off from any news.

Itagaki added after seeing the thoughtful look on Lily’s face, “Miss Uesugi is a free spirit and much braver and valiant than any men. Her talent with regards to advancement is much higher than mine, so I’m not usually that worried about her. However, she’s been quite close with Minamoto no Kenki and Taira no Seina recently, which has really left me a bit worried.”

The 20-year-old Itagaki, who had an aged face that made it look like he was in his forties or fifties, wore a worried frown.

“Taira no Seina?” It was Lily’s first time hearing this name.

“Ah. She’s the daughter of Taira no Kagemori, the clan head of East’s Taira clan. Taira no Seina, Minamoto no Kenki and a few others are pretty ostentatious people who aim too high. They don’t really possess much strength, but they’re always thinking about doing some world-shaking matter. I don’t really care much about these wealthy ladies, but it’s really quite worrying as Miss Uesugi is moving along with them.”

“To be honest, I’ve been exploring outside all this time, so I haven’t met with Sis in a long time, Brother Itagaki. I will make some inquiries about her once I return and send a ninja to inform you if I get any news,” The city of Kamakura had more information in comparison to Tsutsujigasaki Castle, which was a mountain fortress blocked by heavy snow in winter.

“I’ll have to thank you then, Lady Kagami.”

“You’re too polite, Brother Itagaki.”

“By the way, if you see Miss Uesugi, could you please advise her to maintain some distance from Minamoto no Kenki and Taira no Seina for me? Lest she... sigh. I won’t say anything further. I have one more thing to ask you, Lady Kagami. Your status is quite special right now, and you’re highly principled too, so I hope that you can warn Miss Uesugi for me... I know that I don’t have such qualifications, but all this is a show of my sincerity.”

“Feel free to mention it if you have something to say, Brother Itagaki.”

“I’ve heard some immodest rumors about Miss Uesugi, that she likes women. A personal matter like this isn’t something that I can get involved with, but she is after all the inheritor of the Uesugi clan and is obliged to pass on the Uesugi clan’s bloodline. If she doesn’t give birth to a scion, the Uesugi clan would fall into chaos for a long time, so I hope that she can reconsider things again. The Land of East has a lot of frank, upright and hotblooded men, so is there really no one that catches her eye? Must she pursue a woman?” Itagaki stated somewhat unenthusiastically in a depressed tone.

“Lord Itagaki,” Lily’s expression turned for the worse after hearing this, “This is a private matter and it’s really quite inappropriate to request a girl like me to tell this to Sister Uesugi. Please tell her this directly if you’re really worried about her. I’m in a rush, so I have bid farewell first.”

Itagaki was a bit astonished as he didn’t know why Lily had gotten upset.

However, Lily still acted with poise after getting up and left the mansion courteously after bowing to Itagaki.

The group left Tsutsujigasaki Castle and continued moving north, aiming for Cherry Blossom Valley via the woods. This area belonged to Takeda, so they were completely unhindered with his support.

Lily wasn’t really bothered by Itagaki’s final words while journeying. Although he had crossed the line a little with such words, he had spoken them with good intentions.

However, what Lily was really worried about were the two people that Itagaki had mentioned first, Minamoto no Kenki and Taira no Seina. The current world was a cruel place for kids who acted ostentatiously and aimed too high. Lily was worried that Rei would get implicated by them. Moreover, she had heard from Yoriko that Minamoto no Kenki had died from the grievous wounds he got from falling into the underground space.

This made her question the identity of the current Minamoto no Kenki and made her wonder whether it was just a coincidence that they had the same name.

The situation back then didn’t give Lily much leeway to investigate this deeply, but after learning that Rei was actually together with Minamoto no Kenki and his faction often, she felt quite worried about Rei since there seemed to be no news about her in a long time.