Demon Sword Maiden

“Shiu?!” At the very least, it was impossible for Mayumi to forget this name as amidst all the calculative and lucrative gazes directed at her, Shiu’s gaze was the only one that looked at her with sincerity.

Mayumi lifted Shiu’s chin and turned her face aside to observe it and recalled the past.

Although Shiu’s childhood features had become a bit fuzzy in time within her memories, Mayumi could never forget the eyes that watched over her as she leaped towards the waterfall looming down into the chasm.

The helplessness, concern and worry within them were the same as within the gaze being directed at her at present.

“It really is you… Shiu…” Mayumi’s gaze softened momentarily, but it turned sharp again quite quickly with the blade still pressed against Shiu’s neck, “I heard the Fūma clan and the Midō clan perished in all of their entirety, so how come you are still alive? Did you betray the Fūma clan?”

Shiu, however, didn’t respond immediately, and shed tears of joy.

“It really is you, Lady Mimori! Thank heavens you are still alive, Miss Midō Yumi. Really.”

Sadness filled Mayumi’s being when she saw Shiu look like this and she withdrew the blade back before allowing Shiu to sit across her.

“Why are you here, Shiu? Don’t you know this place is pretty dangerous for us kunoichi of the Hundred Demons?”

“Lady Mimori, I’m not associated with the Hundred Demons,” Shiu laid the truth bare.

At this moment in time, Lily still wasn’t aware of the encounter that had taken place in the 100 sqft or so room within this corridors-filled building.

She opened her eyes slowly and soliloquized, “Good. My strength has improved significantly post assimilation of the complete magatama. However, based on the margin of improvement, it’s safe to assume that I’ll need to assimilate at least three complete magatama to become a 7th-stage Awakened. Fortunately, I have the exact number on hand.”

As long as my spirit power advances to the 7th-stage, the threefold constitution boost1 as well as the combination of the blade maiden attribute and the Tsukuyomi Swordstyle, may allow me to put up a fight with even Furinkazan’s Tokugawa, humph! After all, a 7th-stage Awakened is thrice as strong as a 6th-stage Awakened.

Lily assumed that no one would probably visit a critical location like Lord Tokugawa’s luggage room so late into the night and thus planned to continue with the advancement until the moment everyone woke up in the morning, smoothly becoming a 7th-stage Awakened in the process.

However, the room’s door opened right when Lily was about to retrieve the second magatama.

“What?!” Lily panicked internally, but fortunately, she saw a drunk Sakai advance inside the room with a skeptic look, “Hmm? Did I take a wrong turn? Who are you and why are you here?”

“I…” Lily’s heart thumped wildly as Sakai was by no means weak, and if they were to clash blades, it would alert Tokugawa Shigemori who was next door. “Lord Takeda sent me to serve Lord Honda…” Lily couldn’t think up any other excuse under the duress of anxiety.

“Oh,” Sakai was pretty drunk too, “I-I remember it now. You’re quite pretty, so Takeda gifted you to Yahatarou. What are you doing here instead of serving him, then?”

“I-I don’t know which room Lord Honda is in,” Lily answered in a feigned anxious yet shy tone.

“Oh, I know where he is! He’s in the easternmost room. Let me guide you there, come.”

Lily’s body tingled in nervousness but the only option she had was to stand up and follow Sakai.

“It’s the one ahead,” Sakai stated with a wobble.

“You have my gratitude, Lord Sakai. I can go in by myself, so please have some rest at the earliest,” Lily bowed.

“Yeah. I-I’ll go sleep now, but this is pretty darn awkward indeed. If I knew something like this was going to happen earlier, I would’ve asked Old Man Takeda for a maid as well,” Sakai left while wobbling forward2.

Lily planned to flee the moment Sakai left her line-of-sight as she absolutely couldn’t spend even a moment longer within this building after getting seen inside that storeroom.

However, in the next moment, Sakai turned around and yelled out suddenly, “Honda Yahatarou, the maid you like has come knocking on the door! Come out and receive the beauty into the room at once!”

“Damned drunkard!” Lily cursed internally, and at the same time, a valiant aura emerged from behind her.

“Ah, it’s you, Lynne. You really came. Come in quickly,” A huge, black-armored shadow that almost occupied the entire width of the corridor and was donning an antler-horned helmet called out to Lily.

Lily’s eyes loomed with darkness.

As matters stood, the only choice she had was to follow Honda inside the room.

Sakai, on the other hand, flashed a pretty obscene gesture to Honda and said, “Have fun, Brother!” and then disappeared into the corridor perfectly content.

Lily really wished she could catch up to him and send him on his journey to Yomi, but she could only follow Honda inside the room helplessly.

The room was considerably huge, and as the building was the sub-tower of the castle tower, the ceilings were all especially high, but even then, the 3m tall Honda still had to walk with his head lowered3.

Honda’s build was much more well-proportioned and brawnier in comparison to Dijon, and also handsomer than him.

Lily’s thoughts were flashing at light speed as she entered the room as she knew that she wasn’t Honda’s match at this moment. If they fought, it would definitely draw Lord Tokugawa, as well as Lord Takeda and the thousand elite samurai stationed in the castle tower towards her, so she had to wait for the opportune moment to flee.

Lily recalled Honda’s behavior from the time she served the sake to him, and though she felt that he was pretty strong and much more dangerous than Lord Tokugawa, his head seemed to work a notch lower than others. Thus, she planned to seek an opening from this aspect.

Honda sat down cross-legged at the center of the room and began the conversation, “I turned 19 this year and have never lost once in my 7 years of service to the Mikawa Province. At present, I’m serving as a general under Lord Tokugawa and have a higher yearly salary, about 1000 kan, in comparison to other generals because of my combat excellence and bravery. My father served as a vassal to Lord Tokugawa as well and my family owns 33,000 hectares of land as well as a fishing port…”

Why the heck is this Honda starting the conversation with a background and asset report? This isn’t a marriage interview!

Although Honda looked handsome, Lily was pretty much assured that he was pretty much the same as the average 19- or 20-year-old with how bad he was at using his head.

Thus, Lily interrupted his introduction and stated, “Lord Honda. Let me serve tea to you.”

“Ah, as you wish, Lady Lynne. I shan’t hide it from you, I’ve never seen a lady as pretty as you in all my time in Mikawa! There’s a lot of samurai in Mikawa, but the women there are all as rough and unruly as men. To be honest, I prefer a gentler and slender lady like you, hahahahaha,” said Honda.

Lily prepared tea with the tea leaves and set within the room and then poured it for the exceptionally tall samurai in front of her, sobbing intermittently as the tea fell into the teacup.

“Why are you crying, Lily? Did someone bully you? Tell me who it is, and I shall kill him at once!” Honda stated resolutely.

Although feeling speechless internally, Lily wiped the tears dropping from her eyes and said, “I’m afraid even you are powerless about it, Lord Honda.”

“Who exactly is it that has dared to bully you, Lady Lynne?!”

“My original name was Ogasawara Lynne, and I was the daughter of the lord of Ogasawara City. However, our city was captured, and my father was slain when the Takeda clan’s forces invaded Shinano Province and was then brought here to serve as a maid. Although I’m a mere woman, my heart bleeds whenever I recall that I have to serve my father’s foes. However, Lord Takeda is a fearsome man, and there’s no way for a weak and feeble woman like me to have my vengeance as it would only lead to a vain death. With no possibilities of taking revenge, living is the same as death for me, and each time I recall this fate of mine where I might be subjected to horrendous humiliation and am forced to serve my foe unwillingly without being able to take revenge, holding back my tears is simply impossible,” Lily stated while wiping her tears.

Internally, however, Lily praised herself for being able to really shed tears at this perilous moment.

“Well…” Honda continued embarrassedly, “This is a tough nut to crack. Although I’m not scared of Takeda, he is, after all, Lord Tokugawa’s ally. It would harm the lord a lot if I were to kill Takeda.”

Lily also wasn’t hoping that Honda was actually dumb enough to really go and kill Takeda as he would be a real idiot in that case and Lord Tokugawa wouldn’t have allowed such a person to lead troops into battles.

“I know it’s normal for the weak to become the prey of the strong in these chaotic times. It is because you are strong, Lord Honda, that Lord Takeda gifted me to you. As a woman living in such times, I’ve long accepted this ill-fate of mine and just grieved momentarily after recalling the past.”

“No! Don’t feel so sad, Lynne! Although I spoke bluntly in front of Takeda, my feelings for you are sincere! I-I won’t treat you as a maid. As you are a noble’s daughter and I’m still unmarried, how about I take you as my wife formally?!” Honda turned anxious after seeing the grieved Lily. He was a simple man and though he served a devil like Tokugawa, he was good to his people.

“Hearing you say that makes me very grateful, Lord Honda. It’s just that I wish to speak to my mother first as marriage is a pretty major event in life.”

“It’s nice to hear that mother-in-law is still alive! I thought she died in the chaos of war.”

Lily responded gently, “Mother is buried on the hillside west to this Tsutsujigasaki Castle. I wish to talk with her tonight.”

“Forgive me… Lynne. I didn’t expect that mother-in-law has already… You should go then. Not only are you so beautiful, but also filial and kindhearted as well. How could such a good woman like you exist in this world. Are you really the scion of the Ogasawara clan?”

“Huh?” Lily panicked internally and wondered if she had overdone the act and roused Honda’s doubts.

Honda’s eyes turned pious, “I have received the blessings of the Heavens ever since my childhood and I’m aware that I’m a bit dim-witted, but I have a good eye for people. You don’t seem like a well-bred young lady from Shinano Province and seem more like a fairy from the Heavens!”

Lily turned speechless after a bout of panic and only wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible as she didn’t want to hear Honda sing praises of her continuously.

“I’m no fairy. If I were really one, there’s no way I would sit back and watch as my family suffered.”

“The Heavens are fickle, Lynne. There comes a time when even a celestial maiden experiences Naraka.4”

“Huh?” Lily wondered why Honda had spoken such esoteric words suddenly.

“Huh? What were we talking about?” Honda scratched his head.

“Lord Honda, as I mentioned earlier, I wish to visit my mother’s grave outside the city.”

“Oh, right! You should do that, However, it’s too dangerous for a pretty woman like you to walk alone at night, Lady Lynne, so I shall accompany you outside.”

“That’s out of the question, Lord Honda. You attract too much attention and would definitely land in trouble if the Takeda clan’s people discovered that you accompanied me to visit the grave of an enemy.”

“Oh, that does make sense, Lynne. How about this? I shall arrange for two of the most reliable Mikawa samurai to escort you so that you can finish the trip early and return soon, we can also have a nice chat after that… what do you say?”

“Well…”

“Don’t refuse again, Lynne. This is a dangerous place, so letting you go outside alone worries me a lot! I definitely won’t let you go if you refuse again!”

“If that’s the case, you have my gratitude, Lord Honda.”