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CHAPTER 73 – THE TRAGEDY OF FEMALE NINJAS IN HEIAN ERA
As that question left her mouth, Lily felt like she was doing something shameful, even though she was clearly the victim here.
“That grannie is okay. She was sleeping so I had to wake her up. When she found so many dead ninjas she got so frightened that she ran to the dojo to ask for help,” said Sakura.
“Right…” Lily responded absentmindedly, preoccupied with thinking about how to deal with Shiu.
Standing before Shiu, she lifted the others chin with her slender finger1, “I will hand you over to the government officials and let the samurais finish you!”
Although Takeshita Town was predominantly ruled by the Genji Dojo, it was still nominally governed by a samurai family; The Takeshita’s samurais to be exact.
Shiu started to panic, and shook her head in tears repeatedly, as she heard that. Droplets lingering in her sorrowful eyes as she begged, “What— No, don’t bring me to the officials!”
“Huh? Why?” Lily asked skeptically, not expecting Shiu to be so terrified.
Shiu furrowed her brows, speaking with a flushed face. “I- it’s too cruel and humiliating. Shiu can’t say it!2 When the officials deal with female ninjas who have committed crimes, they won’t deal with them the same way as they would with male criminals. Especially those with a beautiful face, it will be as though they’ve just found a treasure. They will play with her, making her their private property. After they’re satisfied they will toss her to jail. The jailers will then take turns to ⓡⓐⓟⓔ her.3 Finally, she will be beheaded, or drowned in a lake to cover their wrongdoings!”
“What the…?” Lily was astonished. In this dark and primitive age, women were bereft of high status, but she never thought they could be so licentious and cruel. However, it wasn’t hard to believe. She was just an innocent girl, but the Daidouji Clan had bullied and persecuted her unreasonably. Let alone a beautiful criminal who had forfeited their legal rights.
This time, Shiu was really scared. “Big sister! Sister Kagami4, you can do anything you want to Shiu. Shiu will listen to you, I am even willing to serve you as my master for the rest of my life. But please, just don’t hand me to the officials!”
Hearing her, Lily felt sympathetic. The resentment from the slaughter and previous battle seemed to have faded a lot, and Shiu was a girl of simple mind. Everybody worked for their masters. She couldn’t blame everything on her, right? Even if she had committed some crimes, as the big sister, she could just punish her a little bit. There wasn’t a need to take things too far.
Lily gently rubbed Shiu’s petite face. Then with a disgusted expression as a cover, she snarled, “Though a lowly little ⓢⓛⓤⓣ5 like you dared to attempt assassinating me, big sister still can’t bear to let a beautiful flower like you be defiled by those vile officials.”
“Big Sister…” Shiu seemed to see a ray of hope. The tears in her eyes warped into joy, she really gave the impression like she would do anything as ordered.
Lily’s beautiful eyes turned sharp, “You said that you would be willing to stay loyal to me for the rest of your life? Aren’t you afraid of betraying the Wind Demon Clan?”
Shiu’s face turned glum at the inquiry, “This time Shiu’s mission ended in complete failure. I’m afraid my end wouldn’t be any different than going to the officials’ place when I return to the Wind Demon Clan. In Wind Demon Clan, I’ve seen many female ninjas receive nightmarish punishments when their missions failed…”6
Coming this far, Lily couldn’t control her sad face. She sympathized with this little girl. No one could think that the sexy-looking female ninjas with heroic composition would have to face something so tragic. Whether it be their own allies or the world itself, they would still be treated harshly all the same, yet they were left with no choice but to undertake those extremely dangerous missions. No matter what, their ends would often end up in tragic.
To a man, their death was a sacrifice for a greater cause. But if the same case was applied to a woman, not only would they lose their social standing, their entire clan would be humiliated! This dark era was crueler to women in such a way.
Although Shiu looked naĂŻve and somewhat absent-minded, she understood that cruel reality clearly enough.
‘I don’t have the obligation to change this world, but I can’t push this naïve little girl into the fire pit.’
“You said you’re willing to pledge your loyalty to me?”
Shiu nodded furiously. She wasn’t afraid of death. However, she fell apart all too soon when pitted against an end that was ten thousand times worse than death. She had no hint of unwillingness, indeed. Under the effect of the drug, her body had already submitted to Lily’s power and beauty.7
“Being permitted to serve a prodigy like yourself, the legendary Demon Sword Maiden, I’m… delighted to, ah no, it’s the luckiest event in my life,” said Shiu as she twisted her flushed face around.
Listening to Shiu, Lily felt a little reluctant. It was just her feeling sorry for the other girl.
Having pledged her loyalty, Shiu’s attitude changed. Her beautiful eyes lingered on Lily, reluctant to part. Her restricted body finally relaxed as she involuntarily spun her body from side to side, as though she was enjoying Lily’s bondage. Indistinct white vapor could be seen as she exhaled seductively.
“Big Sister…”
“Call me master8,” Lily said sternly. As long as Shiu remained loyal to her, she might as well make use of the ninja to collect information. Thus, they had to distinguish their roles. Big sister was not a title any random younger girls could use.9
“Yes, master,” Shiu parroted obediently.
“How did you end up like this?”
Looking at Lily with glum eyes, Shiu spoke with a growing blush, “You already know that and you still ask. It’s really embarrassing… Master… please release me so that I may serve you.”
“Huh?” Lily awkwardly covered her face, blushing herself, “T- There’s no need for you to serve me or anything.”10
Lily gazed at Shiu being hung in the middle of the room defenselessly. For the time being, it was hard to say she didn’t have any such thoughts. However, the reason Lily became Shiu’s master was so that she wouldn’t fall into such merciless and immoral punishments. It wasn’t like Lily could do anything strange to her, nor did she have any unhealthy hobby!
However, seeing Shiu under the control of that secret drug, something primal in her body was about to burst out.
How could it be!? That Uesugi Rei could force a kiss from me because I was helpless at that time, but I will never proactively do anything offending to my senior sister!
“Sakura! I leave her to you!” Lily covered her mouth, still blushing. Giving such a shameful order as she ran out of the log storage to escape. Closing the door behind her so she could lean against it. Her ample breasts heaved as she panted, letting the cool night breeze wrap around her shapely figure to suppress her rising heat.
Then, she heard the sound of Sakura’s scolding accompanied by some whipping, “How dare you call me a monster! Let’s see if you dare to call me a monster again!”
She even heard Shiu sobbing.
So it turned out that was how Sakura was dealing with Shiu. Lily exhaled in relief, at least she didn’t do anything bad to her. It was okay.
Lily also heard a loud commotion coming from the front yard of Chrysanthemum Inn. It seemed the reinforcement from the dojo had arrived. She easily recognized Master Sakiko’s voice.11