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Editor(s): Nobody (I may have ran out of time……)
“Hojo Dijon?!” Lily could feel her heart beating faster. Why would she run into that man here?
Hojo Dijon was not an opponent she could deal with at her current stage. However, since they were blocking the entrance, it was impossible for her to get out of this sticky situation.
Despite her heart thumping like crazy, Lily knew better than anyone that panicking here wouldn’t help. She just had to wing it.
Nagahide’s face was clearly panicked.
From the look of it, he must have come along with Hojo Dijon.
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Though he did try to urge Lily to leave, judging from his earlier reaction, it didn’t seem like he knew Lily had killed Hojo Motoshige and Akira. In that case, Hojo Dijon shouldn’t have been aware of their demise yet.
In this world, there was nothing as convenient as a cell phone. Their communication technology was still pretty undeveloped. The fastest way to send a message would be through the air by means of an eagle or a dove. Once the samurai went on a trip, it wasn’t anything uncommon to lose contact with them for a year.
Lily took a deep breath to calm her nerves, she had to make sure no one would notice the obvious movement of her breasts. She pretended to sound amazed, “Lord Hojo Dijon? Would he happen to be one of the Six Swords, His Highness Hojo Dijon himself?”
Nagahide had an ugly look. With a bad premonition, he spoke without too much zeal, “Precisely.”
“I didn’t expect to meet the famous Hojo Dijon in this kind of place. Can Master Matsuda introduce me to him? If I leave just like this, it might be a bit rude,” said Lily.
Nagahide also nodded with a heavy feeling. Indeed, since the exit was already blocked, it was only a matter of time until they discover her. If that’s the case, then he might as well take the initiative to bring her to them.
Therefore, he agreed to Lily’s proposal, “Miss Kagami, please follow me. But I must remind you that His Highness has a bit of a temper, you should do well to avoid offending him.”
“Yes, I understand…” That’s what she said, but it was already too late for that. She had already killed Dijon’s brother.1 Even if she had a proper reason, she was not naive enough to think she could reason with him. If talking could resolve conflict, then why would the samurai continue to fight and kill?
Lily followed Matsuda Nagahide out of the cave.
As soon as she stepped out of the cave, she could see dozens of samurai in the open space just outside the cave entrance and some scattered around the hillsides.
And among them was a man who stood at three meters tall. He had thick eyebrows and a really tall top knot for the hair. His braided top knot looked like a black raging flame that made him look all the more domineering!
This was very shocking to Lily, how could a human grow to be this big?! Even if one surveyed the entirety of the billions of population in the modern world, it still wouldn’t be possible to find someone this tall. Moreover, Dijon didn’t look like those with a big build. He looked more like a normal handsome man who had been enlarged to twice his original size! That was truly inconceivable.
Lily resisted her fear and got a little closer to the man. When she lifted her head to look into the eyes of this giant, a chill involuntarily ran up her spine as cold sweat seeped out.
This man is too strong!
He was stronger than any of the opponents Lily had ever come across to date!
She won’t be able to survive a single one of his attacks. Even running away would be impossible without a perfect opportunity!
Though Dijon’s eyes may look ferocious, when he looked at Lily, his reaction was leaning more towards those of a man who just saw a beautiful woman. No other meaning could be discerned from his expression.
It seemed that Dijon had yet to receive news of Motoshige’s demise. Then there would be no way he would know it was Lily who killed him! As such, Lily could finally relax a little. So long as she showed some courtesy and excused herself appropriately, then there should be no problem.2
Matsuda stepped forward to make an introduction, “Your Highness, this is Kagami Lily. Miss Kagami once learned the way of the sword from my Matsuda clan. She had just recently received the qualifications of a samurai and came here to train.”
“Lily greets His Highness,” Lily greeted Dijon with a slight bow. Even when standing before this scary giant, she was neither servile nor overbearing. She tried to keep her tone and posture as gentle as possible.
Dijon looked at Lily with an arrogant and imposing gaze, but he still nodded comparatively politely. There was a deep and sonorous quality to his voice, “Oh yeah? So you are the rumored Miss Kagami. I have heard of you from my clan.”
Hearing these, Lily panicked in her mind.
Then Dijon continued, “I once heard my brother Ujizane keep singing praises about you. Saying that your beauty surpassed that of a fairy. But when I look at you today, hmph, it seems that you are even more beautiful than what Ujizane made you out to be!”
“Your Highness is exaggerating, Lily is just a common female samurai who come from a poor family. I just wanted to train for a bit by myself in this Suruga region and earn a bit of cash to buy myself a sword and so on,” Lily responded courteously.
“Looks like Miss Kagami is truly blessed with talents and good-look! Oh, that’s right, I have another brother by the name of Motoshige. He once commended you for skillfully slicing a teacup! He said that even though you are a woman, you have the spirit of a real man! It’s such a pity that I have sent him to handle some work. We still haven’t received any news from him. Otherwise, you guys can have a nice chat about old times, hehehe!”
Dijon’s words almost caused Lily’s heart to jump out of her mouth. He didn’t know, but there was no way Motoshige would ever come back anymore.
“However, my two brothers and I share a different view,” Dijon’s tone of voice suddenly changed, it seemed to contain his natural discrimination against women, “For such a beautiful woman to hold and brandish a sword, what if one day you die at the hands of some monsters or lose your virginity to some evildoer3, wouldn’t that be unfortunate?”
Naturally, Lily was very displeased to have heard those remarks, but she refrained from direct confrontation and instead said with a slightly cold tone, “Your Highness, as a disciple of Genji Dojo, how would Lily dare to slack? Especially when Lady Sakiko has such high expectations for me. Even if I do run into danger, it is the path I’ve chosen and won’t have any regret. Even Lord Ashikaga Kiyoshi had once said that Lily is worthy of taking this path despite being a woman.”
Lily pulled out the name of Sakiko and Kiyoshi so as to make Dijon have second thoughts before making careless remarks.
“What? You are the disciple of Genji Dojo? And you are even acquainted with Ashikaga Kiyoshi?” Dijon frowned. Annoyance and disappointment could clearly be seen on his face.
“Yes, after discovering my talents, Lady Sakiko personally received me as the dojo’s disciple. She even taught me the Japanese tea ceremony by herself. I am now living in the back garden of Lady Sakino. She’s my most respected elder. His Highness Kiyoshi is young and talented, his appearance and manners are also out of the ordinary, he left a deep impression in me,” Lily tried to pull her relationship towards those two, who she suspected Dijon wouldn’t so easily provoke, as close as possible. Since she lacked the power to fight Dijon in a battle, then she could only fall back to the battle of wits.
Dijon had a clear disgust hearing Lily speaking highly of other men, but since the man in question was Ashikaga, he didn’t lash out at Lily. He only knitted his brow and said, “That’s right, it is only natural for Ashikaga to take notice of such a beautiful woman as you, especially when you can also do a little swordplay. Miss Kagami, since you are a friend of Ashikaga, and also a disciple of Genji, then I really cannot be unconcerned of your well-being. This is absolutely not a place a Low-Tier Samura can come and go as they please. For you to remain alive until now, if not because you are very lucky, then perhaps you are hiding your true strength.”
“Huh?” Lily jolted momentarily. Sure enough, this Dijon wasn’t a degenerate like Motoshige. He was meticulous and hard to handle! Lily feigned ignorance as she answered, “What does that mean, Your Highness? I have been here for a few days, but I have yet to encounter a powerful monster. The mountain woods in the vicinity of Suruga should be a relatively safe place according to Lady Sakiko.”
“Your Highness!” Matsuda Nagahide matter of factly stated, “Miss Kagami is indeed a Low-Tier Samurai, when she practiced swordplay at my place, I have personally confirmed that was her first time waving a sword! However, it is also true that Miss Kagami is very gifted and improved at an incredible pace.”
“Oh?” Dijon took a glimpse at Nagahide. He was not a man who would tell a lie, thus Dijon laughed heartily and said, “Hahahahahaha! I’m just joking, don’t take it to heart, Miss Kagami! However, I must remind you that, this isn’t really the mountain woods near Suruga, but Mount Amegyo instead. This is considered one of the most dangerous zones in the Kanto region!”
“Eh? Mount Amegyo? W- where is that? I was only wandering in the mountain woods and wasteland near Suruga. But as I walked on and on, my sense of direction became fuzzy. I thought I was still close to Suruga…” Lily acted slightly surprised and looked all around in concern.4
‘Hmph, a woman’s sense of direction is as bad as expected! They aren’t fit to become samurai!’ Dijon had biased thoughts about women. Although Lily was more beautiful than any of the girls he had met before, the sense of prejudice was still much stronger.
However, that didn’t imply Dijon would leave Lily alone. He spoke in a domineering yet supportive tone, “Since Miss Kagami is a Low-Tier Samurai, it would be too dangerous to leave you in Mount Amegyo alone. If something really happened, I might get blamed by that Ashikaga. However, since we have an important mission, we can’t really pull out some of our manpower to escort you back. Therefore, you shall come along with us!”5
Though that was what Dijon had proposed, his tone didn’t allow any room for refusal.