Demon Sword Maiden

The avian creatures of the night flew across the skies and landed on the wrinkled branches of the mountain trees under the bright and cold glow of the moon, letting out drawn-out hoots.

At the foot of Mt. Aoame rested a series of pitched tents with campfires lit before them, spanning as far as the eyes could see. A total of twenty thousand troops had gathered up here right now.1

At the center of the camp, the generals of the branch clans of the Genji were all seated on small, foldable wooden chairs inside a square-shaped formation surrounded by an enclosing made of white-fabric, and at the forefront sat Ashikaga Makoto, her gaze fixed ahead.

Lily and Shimizu were also present here and sat together to the side.

As the representatives of the Genji, Minamoto no Kenki’s, and Minamoto no Shimizu’s status was actually pretty high.

Soon after, followed by some ruffling sounds from outside, Itagaki Nobuyoshi entered inside along with a few generals of the Takeda clan and greeted Ashikaga Makoto with a bow.2 She then hinted them to take a seat.

Lily’s focus, however, was still fixed at the entrance.

A tall figure donned in a black, skin-tight, full-body armor entered inside under the gloomy radiance of the night. Her pair of huge knockers3 appeared a size smaller under the constraint of the armor, yet they still bounced up and down in a lively manner as she walked.

As for the lower section of the armor, it actually wasn’t in the form of a skirt. On the contrary, its model was the same as the modern world’s one-piece swimsuits. This armor formed of metal and fabric covered her pubic mound and her genitals, and also had huge, circular openings present on the sides of the hips for ease of movement.

Her long legs were bare of stockings and attracted the gazes of several pairs of eyes as she sashayed inside the formation, while her feet were secured in a pair of black leather boots.

As the armor didn’t have shoulder plates, her fair shoulders were also out in the open.

“Sister Uesugi.”

After a long amount of time, Lily was finally able to see Uesugi Rei again. Her bosom heaved up and down uncontrollably as she ran short of breaths. When she noticed Uesugi Rei’s nonchalant expression while being dressed in such an excessively revealing outfit, she ended up blushing unintentionally, almost as if she were feeling ashamed in place of Uesugi Rei.

Sister Uesugi really works at her own pace. She left with just a word last time, and now, she has similarly joined the expedition. Moreover, does she not realize her outfit is too revealing? Sister Uesugi, are you really that indifferent to the gazes of all the people present here?

Lily actually felt a little anxious before Uesugi Rei had appeared, and even faintly looked forward to seeing her. However, she wasn’t conscious of this. Also, once Uesugi Rei had arrived, Lily began fuming with anger for some reason.

With her long legs out bare and a significant section of her bosom exposed, Uesugi Rei walked towards everyone seated in the center of the formation. Then, she looked at Lily without even greeting Ashikaga Makoto first.

“Lil’ Lyn, I just learned that you have also come over. I never expected I’d find you sitting here,” Uesugi Rei smiled.

“Ehhh?” This stunned Lily. As she was dressed in an embarrassing armor, she could only nod silently in response to this ill-timed greeting and avoid her gaze. For some reason, Lily had a feeling that Uesugi Rei’s gaze was much more passionate today compared to before. It made her wonder whether it was because they hadn’t seen each other in a long time4.

The expressions of a few generals turned unsightly as they believed Uesugi Rei’s actions were disrespectful. However, Ashikaga Makoto wasn’t someone who cared about things like this, and she knew Uesugi Rei too well. Hence, she smiled at her and said, “Lady Uesugi, the journey must have been tough on you.”

Uesugi Rei wasn’t a woman without a sense of propriety. She flung her long hair back, walked before Ashikaga Makoto, and kneeled down somewhat aggressively with a faint smile and slightly closed eyes.

“Commander,” she then greeted.

“It seems like I’ll have the chance to see the might of Uesugi clan’s famed Kantō cavalrywomen unit,” Ashikaga Makoto chuckled.

“Perhaps,” Uesugi Rei responded curtly.

“Please take the seat of honor over here, Lady Uesugi.”

“No, I’m fine over there.”

After answering in such a manner, Uesugi Rei walked over to Lily’s side. A samurai woman with short, mauve-colored hair entered inside the formation at this time. She was donned in a midnight-blue-colored, full-body, single-piece armor formed of several square-shaped armor plates. Her thighs were covered by a dual-sectioned battle skirt, but her posterior only had an underwear-like black leather armor covering it. She had brought in a small chair and arranged it beside Lily, according to Uesugi Rei’s intentions. Many generals looked at her with fixed gazes when she bowed to arrange the chair as her pert buttocks seemed to have become entirely bare, just having a small black band between her butt cheeks.

Uesugi Rei then took a seat beside Lily.

And sitting on Lily’s other side was Shimizu.

For some reason, Lily felt an immense pressure loom over her in between them.

Ashikaga Makoto glanced at the 169 cm tall woman standing behind Uesugi Rei and questioned, “Lady Uesugi, this is…”

“She’s my second-in-command and the leader of the cavalrywomen unit, Shiina Airi5,” Uesugi Rei answered.

“So, it’s Lady Shiina. Why don’t you take a seat too then?” Ashikaga Makoto suggested.

A soldier brought a chair over for Shiina.

After everyone had taken their seats, Ashikaga Makoto began speaking, “It’s been a long time since the clans of the Eastern Nations’ Genji have assembled their generals and troops together in such large numbers. It must have been a hard journey for all of you to travel from afar. You may all rest in your camps tonight as we will set out early in the morning tomorrow. Please watch out for the sound of the horn as it marks the start of the march.”

“Understood!” All the generals accepted the order with a nod.

Once everyone had begun dispersing, Shimizu got up and turned around to gaze at Uesugi Rei, “Lady Uesugi, it’s been a long time since we last met.”

Uesugi Rei also got up and faced Shimizu. She was taller than her and also had an overwhelming advantage in terms of bust size. However, Shimizu’s icy aura and her courteous yet indifferent manners towards Uesugi Rei didn’t lack in momentum at all.

Uesugi Rei replied, “Miss Shimizu, I thought the next time we would meet would be on the day we pledged to have our duel. I never imagined I would run into you here today.”

“Hehe,” Shimizu smiled icily, “To think the duel would be the first thing you would mention. I assume you have already made ample preparations for it, Lady Uesugi?”

Uesugi Rei’s eyes reflected the light from the campfire lit inside the formation as she revealed a harmless smile, “Not at all. It’s just a casual duel between sisters to compare notes, so I’m actually not that worried about it. It’s just that Miss Shimizu rarely speaks much, so I just mentioned it without thinking as I couldn’t think of anything else to talk about.”

“Hehe, it almost makes it seem like it’s my fault for rarely going outside to meet with everyone when you put it that way. Pardon me for making you spend your thoughts on finding a topic to converse with me, Lady Uesugi.”

“Hahahaha,” Uesugi Rei’s impressive and voluptuous breasts bounced as she burst into laughter, “It’s not as bad as you say, Lady Shimizu. It was just a casual comment, so please don’t mind it too much. Hahaha!”

“Hehehehe,” Shimizu also chuckled with her eyes narrowed.6

Although their exchange sounded normal, to an outsider, it would have appeared pretty weird to them as Shimizu and Rei were having this conversation with Lily still in between them.

Lily felt as if two invisible auras were suppressing her from both sides, so she tried her best to shirk backward. She feared that these two girls would lean so close to her that they might as well end up riding her shoulders with their hips.

Uesugi Rei noticed she had placed Lily in an awkward position, so she changed the topic, “By the way, I was wondering whether it was a coincidence. How come you were sitting together with Lil’ Lyn, Miss Shimizu?”

Shimizu’s expression flickered, “Oh? Were you aware of it, Lady Uesugi? Lil’ Lily has long become a member of the main dojo of the Genji in the Eastern Nations. She is accompanying me to represent the Genji in this expedition. I heard you were close with Lily, so I thought she must have told you about it already.”

There was no obstruction of information in this world of Heian, so it was possible to send messages over long distances. However, Uesugi Rei had indeed never heard of this matter, and she had even learned about Lily’s presence here from Ashikaga Kiyoshi’s mouth just recently.

“Ah… So, it was like that,” This had stunned Uesugi Rei a little. Hence, she embraced Lily’s neck with her arm from behind to compliment her, “To think you were able to join the main dojo of the Genji in the Eastern Nations. That’s so formidable, Lil’ Lyn. Yeah, this warrants a reward later on.”

The sensation of her long, slender finger stroking her nape made Lily’s sensitive body tense up.

Minamoto no Shimizu’s expression turned very serious when she witnessed this scene.

She continued in a somewhat icy yet proud tone, “I forgot to mention this, but there’s another thing you ought to know as well. Lily and I have already become training sisters.”7