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CHAPTER 5 – OTOME KIYOKO
Although Lily was not someone who judges people based on their appearances, she made her position clear on the matter of succession within her mind when she saw Kiyoko and recalled how the bunch of old snobs had tried to bribe her in an attempt to have Kiyoko’s shrine master qualifications taken away.
“I’m Kagami Lily. I arrived from the capital just recently,” Lily bowed to Kiyoko politely in response.
“The capital, huh? You’ve made a long journey… I saw you descend from the mountain just now. Did you come here via the teleportation formation?” Kiyoko asked.
“Yes.”
“Are you perhaps one of the Fujiwaras?”
“I’m a samurai who serves Ms. Ayaka.”
“Ayaka, you say?!”
Kiyoko revealed a strange expression when she heard Ayaka’s name, and Lily also noted that she had not used an appellation when she blurted out her name just now.
“Oh… So, you were the chief advisor’s councilor!” Kiyoko added when she noted Lily’s expression.
“Yes. I’m headed towards Mt. Izumo, and visited the shrine to fulfill a task which Ms. Ayaka entrusted to me. I wonder if you can show me around, Ms. Kiyoko,” Lily asked.
“I sure can. However, I need to instruct the onmyōji students after this…”
“You’re headed for the Onmyō division at the foot of the mountain then, I suppose. I was curious about it as well. Do you mind if I tag along with you?” Lily asked.
“Well…” Kiyoko revealed a somewhat embarrassed expression and said after ruminating for a while, “All right. You can come along with me to take a look…”
“I hope there’s no issue, Ms. Kiyoko.”
“Of course not. I’m glad to guide you, immortal!”
“Thank you for that,” Lily smiled. “You can just call me Lily, by the way. There’s no need to refer to me as immortal and such, Ms. Kiyoko.”
“Please, Ms. Lily. You are far wiser than a battle instructor like me who teaches in this mountain and are as beautiful as immortal fairies and goddesses from the legends. You shall always remain an immortal in my eyes.”
“Hah?” Lily blushed when she heard a beautiful and mature teacher like Kiyoko compare her to immortal fairies from legends and resolved to train her mind further since she was weak to such praises.
“No, you’re the prettier one, Ms. Kiyoko.” Lily complimented back since it was her motto to respond with politeness when treated politely.
“Please don’t console me like this, Ms. Lily. I’m just an old woman who has passed the age of marriage. Follow me to the Onmyō division, then.”
“All right.”
However, Kiyoko paused when the two of them reached an empty clearing and asked while looking down, “You referred to the chief advisor by her name just now, didn’t you, Ms. Lily?”
“Umm.” Lily looked at Kiyoko and said after a moment of silence, “Didn’t you do the same, Ms. Kiyoko?”
The two of them came to the mountain’s foot after that. The hall and the training platform here were much shabbier than the ones uphill and lots of instruments were arranged chaotically here. The place also had signs of magical destruction here and there.
The onmyōji students, which included men and women with a higher ratio of men, gathered languidly when they saw Kiyoko arrive with Lily.
“Who’s the pretty woman beside you, Ms. Kiyoko? Is she a new student or a transfer student?” A dark-skinned, red-haired, thin, and thug-like student with a crooked hat called out to Kiyoko.
Lily was surprised when she saw this group of people as half the students matched her image of scholars while the rest were either ugly or seductive and looked just like thugs in formal wear because of their odd dressing styles.
Is this really one of the Fujiwaras’ important places of origin? Don’t tell me these youngsters are going to represent the Fujiwaras in the future?
Lily worried about Ayaka’s future burdens.
Kiyoko said solemnly, “Enough with the nonsense now. She’s Ms. Kagami, a samurai from the capital who serves the chief advisor and has come here for an inspection. You better act with propriety now! Why haven’t you greeted her yet?!”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kagami!”
“Ms. Kagami, my a̲s̲s̲. Isn’t she just a samurai who’s as old as us? No way I’m gonna call her Ms. Kagami! She sure has a huge rack, though!” The red-haired student commented.
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“Hahahahahahaha!” The thug-like students laughed along with him while the decently-dressed students revealed embarrassed expressions and turned silent.
“I told you to act with propriety, Inanoji!” Kiyoko stressed.
The thug-like men, however, continued to laugh and chat with each other, and directed ***** gazes towards Lily while the women with heavy make-ups directed jealous gazes towards her.
The red-haired thug-like student walked in front of everyone and asked, “I wonder what business you have at the onmyōji division, miss? Are you here to teach us the sword?”
“Just shut up, Inanoji. Don’t you understand that she’s from the capital…”
“You’re the one who should shut up, Kiyoko! I want to see how skilled this samurai woman from the capital is!”
“She can show us how skilled she is in bed if she’s unwilling to do that, though,” A handsome yet vicious faced student surrounded by several thug-like students joined the conversation.
“Don’t call me by my name directly!” Kiyoko scolded them, “I’m your instructor!”
“Let’s go on a date, Kiyoko!”
“When are ya getting married, Kiyoko?”
“Stop kidding, man. That’s never gonna happen.”
“I told you to shut up!” Kiyoko unleashed her spirit power as she thundered at them.
Lily used this chance to probe her power level in secret. It was not as if she wanted to do such a rude thing to someone who was not her enemy, but she ended up sensing that Kiyoko was in the middle-stage Spirit Jade level when she unleashed her spirit power just now, which was by no means weak.
As for the students, Lily did not even bother to probe their levels.
Everyone quieted down for a moment when they heard Kiyoko shout, but the vicious-looking student spoke up at this moment. “You must be skilled at sword arts since you are a samurai who serves the chief advisor, right, Ms. Lily?”
“Her power level is…”
“I want to hear her answer me, Ms. Kiyoko, not you!” The student interrupted her.
Lily shook her head and said, “I’m just subpar at the sword.”
When compared to a martial saint like Ms. Yoruko, that is.
The hunchbacked Inanoji stepped forward with large steps at this moment. “I believe I am qualified to become a samurai and am quite confident in my skills, and even planned to participate in the Yoshitsune Memorial Competition a few days, but Ms. Kiyoko refused to let me take part in it because the samurai in the capital are all pretty powerful.”
He then turned around to look at the other students and said, “I believe that Ms. Kiyoko was just trying to scare us! The samurai in the capital are just a bunch of cowards, from what I’ve heard!”
“Hahahahahaha!” The bad-mannered students laughed in response to his words.
He then looked at Lily again and said, “I hope you won’t misunderstand me, Ms. Kagami. I wasn’t referring to you just now. I’m sure you are a wise woman and aren’t some wallflower who fawns on the nobles. I see that you have a pretty long sword and hope that it isn’t just for show now. How about we swap some pointers, miss?”
“How could you act so shamelessly, Inanoji? A woman like Ms. Lily obviously can’t compare to an energetic man like you in terms of strength and skill. You’re just taking advantage of her here! It’s no fun seeing you beat her when she’s the same age as us!” A green-haired chubby student chided him.
“Yeah. You might as well let us girls swap pointers with her instead. We’ve worked hard to train the sword as onmyōji students, and I’m sure the foolish samurai aren’t our match!”
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Lily revealed a helpless expression. She just intended to come take a look and had not expected the bad-mannered students to provoke her for no reason and felt really worried about placing the court’s future in the hands of such delinquents.
“I told you she’s here to inspect in the name of the chief advisor, didn’t I?! She doesn’t have the time to accompany you for such games!” Kiyoko thundered.
Lily pulled Kiyoko’s arm gently and said with a faint sigh, “It’s fine, Ms. Kiyoko. I might as well exchange some pointers with them since they want to do it so much.”
“But…”
“Don’t worry, Ms. Kiyoko.” Lily chuckled1.
“Hah? You’re willing to do it?” Inanoji grimaced in astonishment when he heard her words.
A neatly-dressed girl with a single ponytail stepped forward at this moment and said, “Please don’t listen to their nonsense, Ms. Lily. There’s no need for you to lower yourself to their level. I am Kagami Yoshifusa’s granddaughter, Kagami Tomoko, and am the third best swordswoman among all the girls here. I hope you’ll swap some pointers with me since we have the same family name.”
The female onmyōji were not needed to wear hats since the regulations allowed it.
“Kagami Tomoko?” Lily recalled how she had claimed that she was someone from Kansai’s Kagami clan when some samurai had threatened her back when she had just arrived in this world, and never expected to come across someone from the clan after so long.
I might as well accompany them for these games, then.
Although Lily’s age was around the median age of the group in front of her, she still considered them as children.
Lily smiled faintly and asked, “Do you have a wooden sword?”
“A wooden sword?” Inanoji laughed. “This isn’t a dojo in the capital. We always train with real swords here.”
“I hope you won’t blame me for any injuries since we’re using real swords, Ms. Lily!” Tomoko said solemnly.
Lily did not even need to probe her to figure out that she was a 5th-stage Awakened.
“I hope you’ll be lenient with me in that case, Ms. Tomoko.” A grade six katana appeared in Lily’s hand the next moment while Yasutsuna still remained tied to her waist.
“Where did she take out that katana from, boss?” The chubby student asked in doubt.
Inanoji was stunned as well. “That’s…”
“Don’t tell me she has a storage treasure?”
“That’s just impossible!” Inanoji exclaimed, “A storage treasure is pretty rare! I don’t believe she has such a legendary item with her2! I bet she took it out from her skirt!”
“Her skirt, huh?” The chubby student laughed wickedly.
Tomoko looked at them in disgust and muttered, “These scumbags!”
She then faced Lily and drew her sword out.
“Let’s battle then, Ms. Lily!” Tomoko leaned forward and rushed towards Lily.
“Mhm. This girl has decent aptitude and also has a smooth flow that backs up her decisiveness. She’s a million times more talented than Eiko in terms of the sword. I bet she has a pretty high potential if she trains in Onmyō mainly.” Although Tomoko seemed fast in everyone’s eyes, Lily had enough time to ponder on such matters since she moved pretty slowly in her eyes.
References
Robinxen: Gonna lay the smackdown.Robinxen: Where does this baseless confidence come from, she literally just showed up from the capital city.