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The village chief brought Lily and Yoriko inside the dim room and lit the oil lamp up.
She then fetched a few yellowed books and scrolls from the dark and old wooden shelves.
“Please have a look, Miss Lily.”
The chief placed the books and scrolls down on a short wooden table and placed the oil lamp aside.
Lily sat down in a seiza and flipped through these scrolls and ancient books which had foundational martial knowledge related to the sword, bow, naginata, spear and other weapons. Most of these martial arts were oriented towards women and with her current outlook, it didn’t take long for Lily to determine that these ancient martial arts were too plain even though they had some originality within them. They were more about practicing basic skills and becoming proficient in basic tactics. From the looks of it, they seemed to be written by an exceptionally excellent influencer and had a very strong foundation.
These martial arts were useful enough to increase Lily’s insight a little, but it wasn’t enough to catch Lily’s attention and worth her time to train in them.
“Huh?” Right when Lily was feeling disappointed, Lily suddenly discovered that although these martial arts looked basic, when trained mentally in succession, they formed a faint intent, and though it wasn’t that useful to ordinary samurai in real combat, what amazed Lily was that this intent seemed to have some kind of connection to the unfathomable Tsukuyomi Swordstyle that Lily had learned.
“This is
” Lily thought internally, “It’s not strange that the men-oriented sections in these foundational martial arts are pretty mediocre and nothing worth mentioning, but the women-oriented sections totally overshadow the style of the author of the men-oriented sections! I can sense the sword intent infused in these brushstrokes depicting these foundation sword arts even after so many years have passed and can feel that the author had pretty exceptional attainments that can probably be traced back to the Tsukuyomi Swordstyle. Although the degree of proficiency is as different as night and day, it encompasses a characteristic style that links them together.”
“Could it be
” Lily felt astonished, “That this is the foundation swordstyle of Tsukuyomi Swordstyle?!”
Lily just needed to look through each page silently to remember the contents perfectly with her remarkable memory as these foundational martial skills weren’t that complicated.
However, now that she went through it, although it didn’t look that complicated, it contained a subtleness that seemed to articulate the return to original purity and simplicity.
Although Lily felt that the realm of the person who compiled this foundational swordstyle paled in comparison to that of Goddess Tsukuyomi, she was certain that the author was a noble who was truly familiar with Tsukuyomi Swordstyle!
“Grandma Chief. May I learn these ancient martial arts?” Lily asked with a passionate gaze.
Although it was somewhat sudden, the chief didn’t feel any malice from Lily’s sincere eyes.
“Miss Lynne. There’s no problem with that as long as you intend to practice them within the village and don’t take these books and scrolls passed down in my clan outside this room. If so, feel free to take a look at them within this room along with Yoriko. Although this doesn’t conform with the rules of my clan, there’s not much meaning in guarding these things when our village has become like this. It’s quite possible that we may never be able to return to the human world, so there’s no point in keeping them hidden. Also, who knows whether Miss Lynne’s arrival in this village might’ve been actually arranged by unseen fate,” The chief stated.
“Thank you so much!” Lily bowed deeply at once.
“Grandma. Can you tell me how you and the people in this village arrived here?” Lily inquired.
The village chief sat down in a seiza and stated slowly, “It seems like you were able to guess that we didn’t live in this underground space originally, Miss Lynne. The reason why we are like this is because we were forced by the darkness of this world’s ways
”
“Hmph! What world’s ways! It’s clearly because of that woman’s wickedness! That traitor!” Yoriko seemed unable to restrain her anger.
“Yoriko! Don’t tell that to outsiders,” The village chief stopped Yoriko.
“Why not?! I want the outside world to also know that she’s a traitor, a traitor who sold all of her clansmen to save her own life!”
“Yoriko, calm down a little
” The village chief struck the ground with the crutch and the wrinkles on her face seemed to increase, “Miss Lynne. We are a clan who arrived here from a faraway region and were forced to live in this underground space because of a certain reason. However, this isn’t something that we can change and also isn’t something that you need to care about. There’s no need to mention the past again now
”
Lily’s eyes reflected the lamp’s light as she stated solemnly, “Grandma Chief, since you’ve spoken until here, forgive me for asking this boldly, but are you and the people of this village one of the Mirror Girl branch clans from Kansai?”
The village chief and Yoriko were both shocked after hearing this and Yoriko picked up the pike she had placed aside and pointed it at Lily immediately, “Just who exactly are you?! Why did you say such a thing?! Don’t even think of leaving this place alive unless you provide us a rational explanation!”
Lily remained completely unmoved even when faced with that pike and directed a rather sincere gaze towards the village chief.
“It’s fine, Yoriko. Lay down the pike now. Although I’m not that proficient in martial arts, I’ve seen a true powerhouse once and this woman’s eyes resemble that person’s as well. Your pike is simply no threat to her,” The village chief stated.
“What?! What do we do then?! If this woman manages to leave this place and reveals this
” Yoriko stated anxiously.
“The premise is that she’s able to leave first. Besides, this clan of ours has fallen to the state that it’s become impossible for us to even see sunlight again and face the threat of genocide by the monsters at any time, so there’s nothing to worry about,” The village chief looked at Lily, “Although I don’t know how you learned about it, Miss Lynne, you are right about it. We are indeed one of the Mirror Girl branch clans. The Mirror Girl clan has experienced multisided attacks by the imperial court, monsters and dark factions from a few centuries ago and suffered grievous casualties, causing us to split up and flee anywhere we can. The fate of this clan of ours is a tragic tale of homeless and miserable life filled with obstructions
”
Lily trembled all over. Although the demon hound had told so, and the foundation martial arts contained a trace of Tsukuyomi Swordstyle’s intent, hearing the true confession from the mouth of this aged old lady filled Lily with shock. The tragic past of the Mirror Girl clan was visible to the eyes even without asking any questions just by looking at her expression.
“So you were really from the Mirror Girl clan
” Lily pondered for a moment and thought about taking out her mirror, but the current situation was still unclear to her and she also shouldered an unimaginable mission. There was no need to let these ordinary and pitiful people know about it and sacrifice their lives that almost had nothing left in it now once again for the sake of the mirror girl’s mission.
“Sit down, Yoriko, and listen well after laying down the pike. I haven’t told you some matters as well,” The chief stated.
Yoriko had no choice but to comply.
The village chief continued, “After experiencing centuries of pursuit, most of the branch bloodlines of the Mirror Girl clan lost contact with each other long ago. I know that there are still descendants of the Mirror Girl clan somewhere in Kansai, but I have no idea where exactly they are. As for us branch family members, we also underwent centuries of genocide and suffered grievous losses to the extent that we were on the brink of extinction, but we were rescued by a great eminence.”
Lily’s eyes turned a little moist, “That eminence is the greatest onmyƍji of Heian-kyo, Fujiwara no Ayaka, right?”
The village chief trembled all over and seemed deeply moved after hearing the name of this great benefactor. She nodded and said, “Indeed.”